Battle of Trafalgar
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50 free Battle of Trafalgar trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Battle of Trafalgar is the sea fight that made Horatio Nelson immortal and ended any French hope of invading Britain. On 21 October 1805, outnumbered 27 ships to 33, Nelson drove two columns straight into the Franco-Spanish line off Cape Trafalgar, shattered it, and captured or destroyed 18 enemy ships without losing one. He was shot from the mizzentop of Redoutable and died three hours later, having just been told the day was won. These 50 questions cover the campaign before it: Napoleon's plan to clear the Channel, Villeneuve's dash to the Caribbean and back, Calder off Finisterre, the blockade of Cádiz. Then the battle itself: the Nelson Chequer paint, the signal that nearly read 'confides', Collingwood in Royal Sovereign, the 130-gun Santísima Trinidad, the raking of Bucentaure, Temeraire's carronade, and Nelson's last words. And the aftermath: the storm that sank the prizes, Cape Ortegal, the barrel of brandy, Villeneuve's strange death, Austerlitz, and the columns and pillars raised from Glasgow to Dublin. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a pub quiz history round.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Cape Trafalgar, which gave the 1805 battle its name, lies just outside the entrance to which strait?
Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar: the Franco-Spanish fleet was making for it, under orders to carry troops into the Mediterranean, when Nelson brought it to battle off the cape.
Q 02By the time of Trafalgar, Nelson had already lost which limb in battle?
His right arm
His right arm, shattered by a musket ball at Tenerife in 1797 and amputated that night. Within half an hour he was issuing orders to his captains again.
Q 03Napoleon's invasion army, camped on the Channel coast, marched east in 1805 under which famous name?
La Grande Armée
La Grande Armée had trained for two years to invade England. By the day of Trafalgar it was deep in Germany, where an Austrian army had surrendered to it the day before.
Q 04Who commanded the combined Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar?
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve had already wrecked Napoleon's invasion plan that summer: ordered north to the Channel, he turned south instead and took refuge in port.
Q 05From which port did the combined fleet put to sea before the Battle of Trafalgar?
Cádiz
Cádiz became a trap: the survivors who struggled back in were blockaded there until 1808, when Spain changed sides and seized the French ships.
Q 06Which name was carried by a ship in all three navies at Trafalgar, British, French and Spanish?
Neptune
Neptune: HMS Neptune, the French Neptune and the Spanish Neptuno all fought. There were two Swiftsures as well, the French one a prize taken from the British in 1801.
Q 07Which Spanish ship was the largest warship in either fleet at Trafalgar?
Santísima Trinidad
Santísima Trinidad was built with three gun decks and later given a fourth. She was captured, but was so badly damaged that the British sank her in the gale that followed.
Q 08What was Nelson's coffin made from?
The mast of an enemy flagship
The mast of an enemy flagship: it came from L'Orient, a French ship blown up in one of his earlier victories. One of his captains had the coffin made for him as a wry gift.
Q 09In what formation did Nelson attack at Trafalgar?
Two columns
Two columns, sailing head-on: the leading ships had to take enemy broadsides with no way of firing back, but it cut the line into pieces and brought on the melee he wanted.
Q 10Trafalgar cost the enemy over half its ships, but Nelson's fleet what?
No ships
No ships at all: several British ships were so badly damaged that they had to be taken in tow, but every one of them stayed afloat and in British hands.
Q 11What was Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar?
HMS Victory
HMS Victory sailed at the enemy under fire she could not return, and some fifty of her crew had been killed or wounded before she fired a single gun.
Q 12Who killed Nelson at Trafalgar?
A French musketeer
A French musketeer, firing down from the rigging of the ship locked alongside, hit him in the shoulder. "They have done for me at last," Nelson said, adding that his backbone was shot through.
Q 13What was the French flagship at Trafalgar?
Bucentaure
Bucentaure surrendered with the French admiral aboard. Her crew then won her back from the small British prize crew in the storm, only to wreck her on rocks as they ran for port.
Q 21Around which Channel port did Napoleon mass his army and barges for the invasion of Britain?
Boulogne
Boulogne: the army waited there for a fleet that never came. Two months before Trafalgar was even fought, Napoleon gave up and marched it off to fight Austria.
Q 22Who captained Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar?
Thomas Masterman Hardy
Thomas Masterman Hardy was pacing the deck beside Nelson when a shot flew between them and tore the buckle from his shoe. "This is too warm work to last long," Nelson told him.
Q 23Where aboard his flagship was the wounded Nelson carried to die?
The cockpit
The cockpit was the dim space below the waterline where the surgeons worked. On the way down Nelson covered his face with a handkerchief so the crew would not see who had fallen.
Q 14In which London church was Nelson laid to rest after his state funeral?
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral was his own choice. He had heard as a boy that Westminster Abbey was built on a bog, and thought it would one day sink back into the swamp.
Q 15Nelson's famous signal read "England expects that every man will" what?
do his duty
do his duty: the message took twelve flag hoists, and "duty" was the one word missing from the code book, so it had to be spelt out letter by letter.
Q 16In Nelson's famous signal at Trafalgar, which word did he first want where "expects" now stands?
Confides
Confides, in the old sense of "is confident": his signal officer pointed out that "expects" was a single hoist in the code book, while the other word would have to be spelt out.
Q 17He is remembered as Admiral Nelson, but what rank did he actually hold at Trafalgar?
Vice-admiral
Vice-admiral: Britain's most famous sailor died at 47 without ever reaching the rank of full admiral.
Q 18Where were Napoleon's two main battle fleets based in 1805?
Brest and Toulon
Brest and Toulon face different seas, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and a British blockade of both kept Napoleon's two fleets from joining up.
Q 19The French admiral at Trafalgar had escaped from which 1798 defeat at Nelson's hands?
Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile: he commanded the French rear there, and his was one of only two ships of the line to get away while the rest of the fleet was destroyed where it lay moored.
Q 20In Napoleon's 1805 invasion plan, where were his fleets to meet before doubling back to the Channel?
The Caribbean
The Caribbean: the idea was to draw the Royal Navy across the Atlantic, then race home and seize the Channel in its absence. Nelson chased the French there and back.
Q 24Who was Nelson's second-in-command at Trafalgar?
Cuthbert Collingwood
Cuthbert Collingwood took over the fleet when Nelson fell, and never saw home again: he stayed with the fleet for years afterwards and died just as he finally sailed for England.
Q 25What was the flagship of Nelson's second-in-command at Trafalgar?
Royal Sovereign
Royal Sovereign had just had her hull scraped clean, so she outran every other British ship and was the first to break through the enemy line.
Q 26In what colours were Nelson's ships painted at Trafalgar?
Yellow and black
Yellow and black: bands of yellow ran along each gun deck with the port lids painted black, and after the battle most of the navy copied the pattern as the Nelson Chequer.
Q 27Nelson told his captains before Trafalgar that no one could do very wrong if he did what?
Closed with an enemy ship
Closed with an enemy ship: his written orders said that if signals could not be seen in the smoke, no captain could do very wrong who laid his ship alongside an enemy's.
Q 28What news finally drove the French admiral out of port before Trafalgar?
His replacement was on the way
His replacement was on the way: Napoleon had lost patience and sent another admiral to take over. Rather than be disgraced before the fleet, he sailed before the man could arrive.
Q 29Nelson's flagship from Trafalgar still survives as a museum ship in which English naval city?
Portsmouth
Portsmouth: by 1922 she was in such poor condition afloat in the harbour that she was moved into dry dock there, and a public appeal paid for her restoration.
Q 30What did Nelson wear on his coat at Trafalgar that his officers feared made him conspicuous?
Four stars of knighthood
Four stars of knighthood were worn on his left breast. The surgeon wanted him asked to cover them with a handkerchief, but his staff said it would be useless to ask.