Villeneuve didn't fare too well indeed, but he was not on board of the Redoutable (but on the French flagship Bucentaure).
The 3 Spanish ships mentioned and their commanders conducted themselves very well in the battle indeed, but so did the Redoutable.
Captain Lucas of the Redoutable did receive the honours his conduct in the battle deserved (received in England with great courtesy, and personally awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon himself after his release). Who knows, if Téméraire hadn't come alongside, he might have succeeded in boarding Victory and taking her...
During the battle of the Basque Roads, he showed himself again to be an exceptional commander:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Jacq ... enne_LucasIt can be doubted however how much the shot that killed Nelson was aimed accurately, or rather was a lucky shot. On one hand, the mizzen platform of the Redoutable was pretty close to the quarterdeck of the Victory, and Nelson was easily recognizable. But on the other hand, those muskets were terribly inaccurate, and the ships were pitching and rolling. I guess we will never know, especially since the man who shot Nelson was killed himself shortly afterwards (according to the book 'Voices from the battle of Trafalgar').
Meanwhile, I finally finished detailing the boats.
They took a little longer than I expected. I have to admit I underestimated a little how much detail goes into them, and there are 8 of them (7 different types), but they were a real pleasure to do.
I did most work during my holidays, so I don’t have a lot of in-progress photo’s this time.
First, I cut the vacformed hulls to their correct sheerline:
Then, I detailed the outsides: detailing the sheerline when necessary, adding keel and keelson, sternpost, rubbing strakes and mouldings.
But before that, I ‘sharpened’ the edges of the stern. The vacform technique caused these to be rounded. I used the most classic technique: putty and sanding. I did fill and strengthen the corners at their outside with some stretched sprue before applying the putty. The inside corners were carved square with a sharp scalpel.
Thanks again for pointing this out Welfalk; I think it makes a big difference to the appearance and ‘feel’ of the boats!
Next, I added battle damage to some of the hulls, and then started the detailing the interiors.
The French boats before the thwarts and their knees were added:
The British boats before thwarts and their knees were added. The gratings were cut from generic PE grating. All the rest is made from styrene sheet and stretched sprue.
And finished!
The biggest British boat, the 34ft launch, will be set in the seascape, rowing towards sailors in the water:
I left the windlass out, so the rowers on the adjoining thwart would have room for their legs. I guess this is how they must have done it?
I will have Victory tow the 28ft pinnace behind her:
This British 18ft cutter ('jollyboat') will be rescuing sailors clinging to this wreckage:
The other jollyboat (this is the only type of which I made two boats) and the 32ft barge will be on the beams in the waist of Victory. They are both damaged by the gunfire. I also added the chocks for two other boats. In between those, I added a spare topmast, and other spare spars.
Note how the rudders are not attached to the sterns, but lying loose in the boats.
The biggest French boat, the longboat, sits in the waist of the Redoutable and is damaged too. I also added two spare topmasts and associated chocks to sit alongside it, but these are near invisible from this angle.
The two remaining French boats (barge and cutter) are towed behind the Redoutable. The forward one has been hit and is slowly sinking.
French barge:
French cutter:
And the obligatory shot with a match for scale:
Usually, I don’t count parts, but this time I did get curious.
The biggest boat has well over 150 individual parts in it, the smallest almost 60.
So in that last photo, I’m holding close to 1000 pieces in my hand…
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FAQ
At least in Belgium. You managed to spend a lot of time on modelling, apparently.
Naturally early 19th century boats were even more abundant in details then those WW2 boats. 
