He there writes: 'Our last two reconnoiterings: Toulon has eight sail of the line apparently ready for sea ...

a seventy-four repairing.

Whether they intend waiting for her I can't tell, but I expect them every hour to put to sea.'[3] He was thus expecting to have to deal with eight or nine of the line, which is the precise contingency for which the memorandum provides.

There can be little doubt therefore that it was issued while Nelson lay at Magdalena, the first week in November 1803.[4] The second memorandum, which Nelson communicated to his fleet, soon after he joined it off Cadiz, is regarded by universal agreement as the high-water mark of sailing tactics.

Its interpretation however, and the dominant ideas that inspired it, no less than the degree to which it influenced the battle and was in the mind of Nelson and his officers at the time, are questions of considerable uncertainty.