Trafalgar Day 2011

October 21, 2011 at 6:05 pm

On 21st October 1805 the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson won a famous and decisive victory over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar (for an excellent overview try here.)

Trafalgar Day, for the benefit of TheEye’s overseas readers, is the annual celebration and commemoration of the triumph.

This evening TheEye will raise a glass and drink a toast to the “Immortal Memory”. And as it is Friday..will drink a second to the traditional Royal Navy dedication for that day “A willing foe and sea room”.

The original toast of “The Immortal Memory of Lord Nelson and those who fell with him” was used and reinstated by HM The Queen on the 200th anniversary, and is drunk in silence as a mark of respect.

On Wednesday evening TheEye was at the Rock Hotel on the same table at dinner as the splendid MEPs Dan Hannan, Roger Helmer and David Campbell-Bannerman – spending time here in Gibraltar on a factfinding visit. Today in the Telegraph and written whilst he was here, Dan Hannan MEP writes Gibraltarians understand what it means to be British. Do we? and says:

Where better to celebrate Trafalgar Day than in that most demonstratively loyal of all Her Majesty’s realms and possessions, Gibraltar – whither HMS Victory limped back after the battle, bearing Nelson’s corpse preserved in a barrel of brandy, camphor and myrrh.

So for those of you in TheEye’s local area, please join me at the Act of Remembrance at the Trafalgar Cemetery at 12 noon on Sunday 23 October. Members of the Royal Navy will mark the anniversary in the company of the Chief Minister, the Governor and Commander British Forces Gibraltar. The Commanding Officer, Royal Navy Gibraltar, Commander Mark Williams, will lay wreaths on the graves of those who died as a result of the Battle.

There will be other events over the weekend too, so please take part and don’t ever let this bit of history fade away.

The Immortal Memory