cuckoo-land. It was almost as though the Emperor had reacted self
destructively to the manifold problems of an invasion of England by
turning it into a part-time occupation. In any case, he severely underrated
the enemy. It was true that for four months the British did not know
where Villeneuve was, but they guessed what lay behind some pretty
transparent naval posturing and simply strengthened their watch on the
Western Approaches at Ushant. Napoleon could never realize that, no
matter what elaborate feints and deceptions he attempted, the Royal Navy
would never relax its grip on the mouth of the Channel.
But Napoleon fo r a time lived in a fool's paradise. Believing that
Nelson had been successfully decoyed, he began to convince himself that
England's downfall was now a matter of weeks rather than months. On 9
June r8os he wrote in high euphoria:If England is aware of the serious game she is playing, she will raise the
blockade of Brest; but I know not in truth what kind of precaution will
protect her from the terrible chance she runs. A nation is very foolish,
when it has no fortifications and no army, to lay itself open to seeing an
army of roo,ooo veteran troops land on its shores. This is the
masterpiece of the flotilla. It costs a great deal of money but it is
necessary for us to be masters of the sea for six hours only, and
England will have ceased to exist.Then came news of the true situation. Angry and fr ustrated at the
unravelling of his plans, the Emperor tried to salvage something from the
wreckage. Hearing that Villeneuve was returning to Europe, he sent a
courier to order him to lift the Brest blockade and then proceed to the
Channel - again the assumption that naval blockades were just like land
sieges. He compounded this fatuity by ordering the still blockaded
Ganteaume to meet him at Boulogne by the beginning of August; he
omitted to tell his admiral how he was to achieve this.
On 19 July Villeneuve found himself toiling off Cape Finisterre,
running in the teeth of a violent gale. The tempest gave way next day to a
thick blanket of fo g, which hid enemy movements; had he been able to
see, Villeneuve would have observed the Atlantic fleet of Sir Robert
Calder manoeuvring to tackle any French squadron trying to break
Cornwallis's blockade of Brest. On 22 July the two fleets came in sight of
each other. Villeneuve and Gravina engaged Calder and a fo ur-and-a
half-hour pounding battle was the result. It was an indecisive clash,
which both sides claimed as a victory, and the strategic results were also
inconclusive. On the one hand, Villeneuve and Gravina were able to link
with the Ferro} fleet, bringing their total strength up to twenty-nine ships