Page 11 - Cormorant Issue 20 2017

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Trafalgar Night Dinner
Lt Cdr Charlie Reaves
ON 13TH OCTOBER 2016, some 350 people from across the courses at the JSCSC gathered to recognise and
commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar and the life, and leadership, of Admiral Lord Nelson.
Celebrated across maritime and joint establishments every year, Trafalgar Night (or simply Traf Night, as
it is more commonly known by members of the Senior Service) remembers the victory of the British Fleet, commanded by Nelson, over that of the larger, combined French and Spanish eet commanded by Admiral Villeneuve on 21st October 1805.
Whilst the victory itself ended Napoleon’s plans to invade Britain, and guaranteed Britain’s domination of the High Seas for the next hundred years, it came at a high price. In the heat of the Battle, Nelson was shot and fatally wounded by a French sniper. He would see victory secured before he passed away, with the nal words ‘Thank God I have done my duty’. Indeed, such was the loss of Nelson that King George III, on receiving the news is alleged to have said, in tears, “We have lost more than we have gained.”
Arguably the de ning Royal Navy mess function and most hallowed of events in the Service’s calendar, the evening represents more than just a dinner. It recognises a time when the British Navy was at
the pinnacle of its power, and Nelson as a master tactician and gifted leader. It highlights the manner of the victory, which epitomised mission command, with Nelson rst gathering his captains (his ‘Band of
“
It highlights
the manner of the victory, which
Brothers’) on the eve of the battle to outline his plan, famously telling them ‘in case signals can neither be seen or perfectly understood, no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy’.
Very few further orders were required. Other than the famous ‘England expects that every man will
do his duty’, during the battle itself, only 3 further signals were sent including ‘Engage the enemy more closely’. As such, the evening is a hugely important part of the Navy’s history, heritage and culture; it is something totemic.
The Forum, decorated with signal ags, hosted the opening exchange of the evening during which those attending were treated to a display provided by the
Corps of Drums from the Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, Portsmouth, delivered with the usual skill and panache that a Royal Marines Band has come to epitomise. On completion, guests were invited into the aptly named Victory Dining Room for a three course dinner replicating that enjoyed
by Nelson and his captains on the night before the battle. The meal was punctuated by accounts of the stages of the Battle, and the death of Nelson, and some of the traditions and customs that are the essence of a Trafalgar Night. A Baron of Beef was paraded by a contingent from TS Resolution, the Swindon Sea Cadet unit which has supported the College in this role for the last 8 years. There followed a ‘sail-past’ of the chocolate ships of the line with suitably dazzling pyrotechnics, and an
epitomised mission command... ◆◆◆