“Shooting The Sharpshooter”--three Napoleonic British figures (two Marines & Midshipman John Pollard)
$153.00

King & Country

Item Number: GMT002

“Shooting The Sharpshooter”--three Napoleonic British figures (two Marines & Midshipman John Pollard)

It is widely accepted that the French Sharpshooter who fatally shot Vice Admiral Nelson was positioned high up in the mizzen-top of the 'Redoutable', which was locked in battle with H.M.S. Victory.  Two Marines and one young Midshipman, John Pollard, brought up their muskets and then opened fire on the enemy rifleman with Pollard's musket ball finding its mark as the lone Frenchman fell down and toppled onto the hard, wooden deck below.
This little trio of British naval figures shows Pollard firing the fatal shot as two more 'Bootnecks'* back him up.

*'Bootnecks':  A slang term for a Royal Marine, somewhat similar to the U.S.M.C. 'Leatherneck'.  Both nicknames were derived from the leather stock once worn around the neck by the two different Marine Corps.

‘The Heroes of Trafalgar’

The Battle of Trafalgar, that took place on 21 October 1805, was the greatest sea battle of the 19^th Century and was fought between the Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the France and Spain.  It was to be the prelude to Napoleon’s planned invasion of Great Britain and, if it had succeeded, would have allowed Bonaparte to take control of the English Channel and provide his Grande Armée safe passage to the shores of southern England.
 

LET BATTLE COMMENCE!

The combined enemy fleet sailed out from the Spanish port of Cadiz on 18 October 1805 and was met by a British fleet under the command of Vice Admiral, Lord Horatio Nelson.  This encounter happened, three days later, on 21 October 1805 along the southwest coast of Spain off Cape Trafalgar.  Nelson’s command was outnumbered with just 27 ships-of-the-line, compared to 33 similar Franco Spanish vessels, including what was then the largest warship in the world, the Spanish ‘Santisima Trinidad’, mounting almost 140 guns on 4 gundecks!

To address this imbalance, Nelson sailed his fleet (in two long columns) directly at the enemy’s battle line flank splitting the Franco-Spanish fleet into three sections.  Although this offensive tactic divided the enemy, it also exposed the leading British ships to intense crossfire as they approached the enemy line.

Nelson’s own flagship, H.M.S. VICTORY led the front column, becoming heavily engaged and almost put out of action.  It was then, in the heat of battle, that Nelson himself was shot by a sharp-shooter firing from the upper rigging of the French ship ‘Redoutable’.  Taken below deck, the mortally wounded Admiral died shortly before the battle ended.

By the end of the day, however, the French and Spanish combined fleet had 17 of their ships captured and 1 ship-of-the-line destroyed, the British lost none!

As for human losses… the enemy had 4,395 killed and more than 2,500 wounded plus around 7,500 captured.  On the British side… 485 sailors and marines were killed with just over 1,200 wounded and… one Vice Admiral lost in action.

Due to be released in MAY 2025.