French Muster Rolls from the Battle of Trafalgar

After the Battle of Trafalgar, Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Richard Strachan led a Royal Navy squadron to capture four French ships in the Bay of Biscay on 4 November 1805. They seized documents from the vessels and you can search and download the entries of all those listed in the four muster rolls.

You can also download the Helmsman's Log from the Mont-Blanc. The Helmsman's Log provides an eyewitness account (in French) of the Battle of Trafalgar as it happened.

Use the links below to jump to the topics you are interested in.

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Copyright © National Maritime Museum, London (ref. BHC0574)

Soyez le bienvenu à DocumentsOnline où vous pouvez consulter le fonds digitalisé de The National Archives. Il s'agit de sources academiques et généalogiques. La consultation de la liste alphabétique est gratuite, et il coûte £3.50 pour télécharger une image. Notre fonds le plus récent se base sur les rôles d'équipage et sur d'autres documents decouverts à bord de quatre vaisseaux français après la bataille de Trafalgar. Il vous est possible de rechercher les noms de ceux à bord du Scipion, Mont-Blanc, Duguay-Trouin et Formidable.

Il vous est désormais possible de faire une recherche (par nom, lieu de naissance et nom de vaisseau) ainsi que de télécharger les listes d'équipage des quatre vaisseaux.

Vous pouvez également télécharger le journal de la timonerie du Mont-Blanc, qui fournit un témoignage oculaire de la bataille de Trafalgar telle qu'elle se déroulait.

Introduction

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Four French ships from the vanguard of the combined fleet, under the command of French Rear-Admiral Dumanoir Le Pelley, retired from the Battle of Trafalgar. These ships were called: Scipion, Mont-Blanc, Duguay-Trouin and Formidable. Formidable was Dumanoir's flagship. The fifth vessel under Dumanoir's command, Neptuno, had been captured at Trafalgar by HMS Minotaur and Spartiate. Strachan returned to Plymouth with the captured ships. These were the only enemy ships involved in Trafalgar to be taken to the UK.

At the time Royal Navy sailors received bonuses for capturing enemy vessels. They were rewarded for each ship captured and returned to the UK, as well as a further bonus for each man they captured. The "prize; money" was then distributed to the respective crew according to their rank. The High Court of Admiralty in Plymouth used the French Muster Rolls from each of the four ships to assess how much "prize; money" should be paid to Strachan and his crew. The muster rolls and other documentation seized at the time then became a part of the High Court of Admiralty's archive, which has since been transferred to The National Archives.

What information can I find?

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The records found consist of one muster roll for each ship. They list in detail the sailors, soldiers and passengers of each vessel. The details recorded for each individual vary from book to book, but most entries include:

You might also find details of:

You can see an example from the Mont-Blanc muster roll by clicking on the image on the right.

Although involvement in the battle had been minimal, deaths, injuries and sickness are recorded in these documents, including the names of those who were killed at Trafalgar.

The records reveal that there were a number of nationalities aboard the French ships at their time of capture. These include Americans, a company of Swiss Guards and other Europeans. Intriguingly an Edouard Hill from Halifax is also listed. Did an Englishman assist the French at Trafalgar? Or had he travelled from Nova Scotia, Canada, or Virginia, USA?

Eyewitness Account - the Helmsman's Log

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One of the documents seized from the Mont-Blanc was a Helmsman's Log which covers the period of 29 Fructidor Year 13 to 13 Brumaire Year 14 (16 September 1805 to 4 November 1805). It describes the preparations of the combined fleet at Cadiz, the difficulties of making ready for battle, events at Trafalgar as they happened, and the subsequent flight and capture of Dumanoir's squadron. Reports written by the French commanders (including Rear-Admiral Dumanoir) are known to exist but these were written some time after the battle.

The Helmsman's Log was recorded at four to six hourly intervals as the fighting was taking place and this is the first time there has been access to an eyewitness account from behind the French line. The document also provides an account of the French response to Strachan's actions and subsequent capture.

You can also download the Helmsman's Log in full (in French) or read a transcript of key entries (in French) or an English translation.

The documents record French Revolutionary Calendar dates; this table will help you to convert them.

How do these records differ from those held in France?

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Duplicate copies of muster rolls were kept on land before the ships left Toulon and some of these survive in France today. However, they were last updated when the ships left mainland France in March 1805.

In the period between this departure and the battle, the fleet sailed to the Caribbean and back, calling at Martinique, La Coruna, Vigo and Cadiz. Many men embarked, disembarked, deserted or were hospitalized at these ports, meaning that the copies held by The National Archives are the only way of determining which men were actually present on these ships at Trafalgar and during the later action against Strachan.

The records are also unusual because most of the papers carried by the enemy fleet at Trafalgar were destroyed as vessels were captured or sunk or thrown overboard to avoid capture.

What became of the four ships?

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All the French ships were later commissioned into the Royal Navy and renamed:

HMS Implacable served as a Royal Navy vessel and later as a training ship, until the Royal Navy ended sail training in 1903. After a period as a holiday adventure ship HMS Implacable went on to be used as a coal hulk in World War Two. HMS Implacable was sunk in late 1949 and the file of correspondence relating to this (Catalogue reference FO 371/79151) is held at The National Archives.

HMS Scipion would later become the flagship of Rear Admiral The Honourable Robert Stopford. HMS Mont-Blanc was used as a gunpowder hulk from 1811 to 1819 and HMS Brave became a prison hulk at Plymouth.

Further research

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The National Archives document references for each of these files are:

The records of the Formidable and Scipion also contain a number of documents that are tied into bundles. Due to their fragile nature we have been unable to include them in our online collection. Please contact The National Archives if you would like to investigate these further.

Another vessel, Rhin, returned to Cadiz after the Battle of Trafalgar and became the fifth ship to be captured by the Royal Navy, in Spring 1806. The National Archives reference for documents seized from Rhin is HCA 32/1161. These are not available online so again, please contact us if you would like to investigate these further.

Le Calendrier Républicain (the Republican or French Revolutionary Calendar) was adopted officially on 24 October 1793. It was abolished on 1 January 1806. This table will help you to convert the dates given in the documents.

The National Archives hosts a Trafalgar online exhibition and the Trafalgar ancestors database collection. You might also be interested in The National Maritime Museum Nelson and Napoléon portal.

Image of Strachan's action

The image of the ship, above, is "Strachan's Action after Trafalgar, 4 November 1805: Bringing Home the Prizes" which is one of a pair of paintings by the maritime artist Francis Sartorius. This image shows the four French ships being taken back to Plymouth. You can buy a print or search for selected maritime artworks by going to the National Maritime Museum website Maritime Art Greenwich.