carried (Joiimgwood's flag, led through the allied fleet some few minutes before the Victory at the head of the weather line, a circumstance very generally spoken of as if due to some better management, good fortune, or exuberant courage on the part of Collingwood. It was, to the minutest detail, pre-arranged by Nelson that it was to be so, he reserving for himself the possibly more difficult task of holding the enemy's van in check, and of taking care 'that the movements of the second in command are as little interrupted as possible.' What Collingwood did under Nelson's directions he did gallantly and splendidly ; what he did after Nelson's death left him commander-in-chief has been considered more doubtful. The last order which Nelson gave to the fleet not, as has been said, from the depths of the cockpit, but from the quarterdeck of the Victory a few minutes before she opened fire (Nelson Despatches, vii. 146) was to prepare to anchor immediately after the battle. When the order was given, Nelson knew perfectly well that the ships must be in a shattered condition, and that foul weather was fast coming on. Later on, and after Nelson's death, Collingwood's judgment of the situation was different, and the fleet did not anchor. In the gale which followed, many of the prizes foundered, and others made their escape into Cadiz ; the loss, it was said, was due to Collingwood's mistaken judgment, and the question has been often discussed with much warmth. In reality, it does not now admit of solution ; for though we know that the prizes were lost, we do not know that they would not have been equally lost if the alternative course had been followed.
Collingwood's brilliant service was at once acknowledged by his being raised to the peerage as Baron Collingwood of Caldburne and Hethpoole in Northumberland ; by a pension of 2,000l. a year for life, with, after his death, 1,000l. a year to his widow, and 5001. to each of his daughters ; by the thanks of parliament, and by a sword from the Duke of Clarence. Not having a son, Collingwood was anxious that the title should descend through his daughters, but the request was not complied with. The rank brought him other anxieties, for he was a poor man, 'and how we are to make it out' he wrote to his wife 'I know not, with high rank and no fortune. It is true I have the chief command ; but there are neither French nor Spaniards on the sea, and our cruisers find nothing but neutrals, who carry on all the trade of the enemy.'
Collingwood was continued in the command which had fallen to him by the death of Nelson, but the work had been done too thoroughly to leave him much opportunity of distinction. For the next eighteen months, with his flag in the Ocean, he remained on the coast of Spain, for the most part before Cadiz ; but in June 1807, owing to the very unsatisfactory state of our relations with Turkey, and the failure of the expedition under Sir John Duckworth, he was ordered to take the fleet to the Dardanelles, ' not so much ' he wrote 24 Oct. ' to carry on an active war against the Turks, as to conciliate them and give the ambassadors of Russia and England an opportunity of making a peace which ought never to have been broken. . . . To the Russians they would have little to say, as they always bear them a most inveterate hatred. To us it was the very reverse ; all their correspondence bore the marks of kindness ; but we had unadvisedly thrown them into the hands of France, and it was not possible to extricate them. They do not hesitate to say now that the fear of France alone prevents them making peace with us ; and when or how that fear is to cease, I do not know.' The threatening relations between England and Russia abruptly broke up this ill-judged attack on Turkey, and the Russian fleet left the Mediterranean for the Baltic, only to be driven into the Tagus, where it eventually surrendered, on capitulation, to Sir Charles Cotton.
Collingwood meantime had his anxieties directed to Sicily, on the coast of which island he continued for many months, stretching occasionally as far as Toulon, but returning to his station, generally at Syracuse. He was still there in the following year (1808) when Vice-admiral Ganteaume, who commanded at Toulon, having been joined by the squadron from Rochefort, put to sea (10 Feb.) with a squadron of ten sail of the line, with the object, as afterwards appeared, of relieving Corfu, then closely blockaded by a small squadron of frigates and the Standard of 64 guns. On 22 Feb. Ganteaume anchored at Corfu, while the Standard made the best of her way to join the admiral, who was then lying at Syracuse with five ships of the line, Vice-admiral Thornbrough with five more being at Palermo. On the afternoon of 24 Feb. Collingwood put to sea to join Thornbrough, and unfortunately an hour or two before the Standard made the port. The squadron, being under the land, was not seen by the Standard, and by some unexplained neglect she, though seen by the squadron, was not signalled to join. Collingwood thus remained in perfect ignorance of the French fleet being at sea, and went, under easy sail, towards Palermo. On the way he was joined near Maritime by the squadrons under Thorn-
