At 4 A.M. the British fleet, or rather its main divisions,
wore and stood N. by E. As the wind was about NW. by W., the
ships were close-hauled, and the leader of the 'lee-line,' i.e.
Collingwood's flag-ship, was when in station two points abaft
the _Victory's_ beam as soon as the 'order of sailing' in two
columns--which was to be the order of battle--had been formed.
[Footnote 86: Except the chronometers, which were instruments of
navigation so precious as always to be kept under lock and key,
there were no clocks in the navy till some years after I joined
it. Time on board ship was kept by half-hour sand-glasses.]
About 6 A.M. the enemy's fleet was sighted from the _Victory_,
and observed to bear from her E. by S. and be distant from her
ten or twelve miles. The distance is corroborated by observed
bearings from Collingwood's flag-ship.[87] Viewed from the British
ships, placed as they were relatively to it, the enemy's fleet
must have appeared as a long single line-ahead, perhaps not very
exactly formed. As soon as the hostile force was clearly made out,
the British divisions bore up and stood to the eastward, steering
by the _Victory's_ compass ENE. The position and formation of
the British main divisions were by this made exactly those in
which they are shown in the diagram usually attached to the
celebrated memorandum of 9th October 1805. The enemy must have
appeared to the British, who were ten or twelve miles to windward
of him, and on his beam, as if he were formed in line-ahead.
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