Our culture, our heritage celebrated

[Blackleaf]

The biggest gathering of warships, during peacetime, IN HISTORY celebrated Nelson's victory yesterday, a victory which paved the way for Britain to dominate the world's seas for a century. Today, the Royal Navy is still the world's 2nd-most powerful navy.

The fleet's lit up

By David Derbyshire

(Filed: 29/06/2005)

The Grand Turk, standing in for Nelson's ship HMS Victory, during one of the biggest fireworks display that the world has ever known.

In pictures: Trafalgar's 200th anniversary

The Solent was illuminated last night by 10,000 fireworks in a spectacular climax to celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Fireworks light up a tall ship

A tall ship is lit up by a volley of fireworks

Tens of thousands of spectators along the seafronts of Portsmouth, Gosport and the Isle of Wight watched the display at the end of a son et lumière re-enactment of Adml Lord Nelson's glorious victory. At the end of a day of pomp and tradition, tall ships manoeuvred amid smoke and explosions in imitation of the action that secured British naval dominance for a century.

But the fleets, made up of ships from around the world, were referred to only as "red" and "blue" in deference to Franco-Spanish sensibilities. Music, booming from enormous speakers, was also neutral, Rule Britannia being noticeably absent. Holst's Jupiter, the music used for the hymn I Vow to Thee My Country, provided the closest encounter with patriotism.

The Grand Turk

Grand Turk fires its cannon during the re-enactment

One of the greatest armadas seen in peace time had assembled for the occasion and the crowds were rewarded with fly-pasts of maritime aircraft and a sail-past of graceful tall ships. The might of the modern military shared the Solent with thousands of yachts and pleasure dinghies as the Queen and Prince Philip reviewed the international fleet of 167 ships. Sixty-seven vessels belonged to the Royal Navy; the rest came from 35 allies, including Russia, Korea, Nigeria and Japan.

France sent its biggest warship, the 856ft nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

In a written message, the Queen paid tribute to Nelson, who died as he led the Navy in the decisive victory against the French and Spanish fleets. "Admiral Lord Nelson's supreme qualities of seamanship, leadership with humanity and courage in the face of danger are shared among our maritime community today," she said. "He could wish for no greater legacy."

Edited June 29, 2005 by Blackleaf

[Blackleaf]

But the fleets, made up of ships from around the world, were referred to only as "red" and "blue" in deference to Franco-Spanish sensibilities. Music, booming from enormous speakers, was also neutral, Rule Britannia being noticeably absent

Britain's politcial corectness is embarrasing.

Whilst the British decided not to play Rule Britannia, the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle boomed out La Marseillaise.

[warden]

Well you would not want to upset the PC brigade would we,Cherie blair would have you in court defending some foreigner who thought he was being made a fool of

[Blackleaf]

A tallship drifts into through smoke during the battle re-enactment in the Solent.

Photo: Chris Young/PA

Interactive guide: Trafalgar

Playing Victory

The Grand Turk takes part in a firework display during the battle re-enactment.

Photo: Julian Herbert/Getty

150,000 review historic fleet

The fleet's lit up

Fireworks explode over tallships in the Solent.

Photo: Stephen Hird/Reuters

[Blackleaf]

Re-enactment of Trafalgar ends bicentenary celebration

Maev Kennedy

Wednesday June 29, 2005

The Guardian

The Battle of Trafalgar was fought again last night, the climax of a day and night of celebrations for the bicentenary of Nelson's victory and death - only this time hostilities were suspended for half an hour so the French ferries could get out through the Solent channel.

The display used 12 tonnes of fireworks. More, Portsmouth boasted, than at the close of the Athens Olympics and the London millennium celebrations, creating a dome of fire hanging over the entire harbour.

The day - which lurched from brilliant sunshine to heavy rain and back - began with the Queen reviewing the most extraordinary fleet ever assembled for a British monarch: 167 ships loaned for the day by Britain and 35 other nations, including nuclear-powered warships, tugs, an oil tanker, submarines, dinghies, tall ships and a sand dredger - plus a Spitfire, and the Red Arrows.

Although Nelson could never have conceived of a monarch reviewing a fleet from the deck of an ice-breaker, the Queen said the great assembly was a tribute to the high esteem in which he was still held by mariners.

"Admiral Lord Nelson's supreme qualities of seamanship, leadership with humanity and courage in the face of danger are shared among our maritime community today. He could wish for no greater legacy," she said, in a written message to her fleet.

The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, was anxious to avoid any hint of triumphalism - and in response, the French flagship, the vast nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, played Rule Britannia from its loudspeaker, as the Queen passed by with a wave of one gloved hand.

Although she recently had to cancel engagements because of a heavy cold, she stood for much of the three-hour review, while other members of her party were forced to take shelter from the whipping wind. The Duke of Edinburgh, who also holds the title of Admiral of the Fleet, was seen to study the charts mapping their labyrinthine course through the maze of ships and the many treacherous shoals and gravel banks in the Solent.

Most of the senior royals were dotted around the fleet, including Prince Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall, who nearly lost her white hat. The Queen, with a lifetime's experience of these things, had secured her blue hat with a large gold hatpin.

From first cannon fire to last firework, the celebration lasted more than nine hours, and many of the estimated 150,000 spectators stayed the whole course, first baking and then soaking on the steep shingle beaches, finally rewarded with a mild and beautiful night.

But the event was never going to please everyone, and last night's climactic version of the Battle of Trafalgar, reincarnated as a son et lumière - the lumière was unarguably stunning, though the son broke down completely at times in the heat of battle - was dismissed by some Nelson descendants as pathetic.

However, Sir Alan, bearing in mind the 1,300 journalists who also turned up, was sure of his man. "Nelson would have approved of that, to get the maritime back in the public eye."

[warden]

It was a joke