Letter: Agony of Victory

Few of the seamen at the Battle of Trafalgar would have seen or could even read the signal "England expects…" (Letters, 18 July).

Not only were many sailors illiterate, but during the heat of battle most were trapped below facing the feverish and horrible miseries on the gun decks. The cries of the wounded and dying rang through all parts of the ship and the blood would have been flowing like bilge water.

The greater number of these seamen were not volunteers but men who had been snatched by the press gangs. If the impressed tried to desert or refused to fight, the Royal Marines had orders to shoot them. Our naval glory was built on the agony of thousands of brutally maltreated men.

Donald J MacLeod

Woodcroft Avenue

Bridge of Don, Aberdeen