Harvey (Captain) in his eagerness for action almost overtook the Victory, reputedly causing Nelson to shout through his speaking-trumpet: "I"ll thank you, Captain Harvey, to keep to your proper station"; Harvey then dropped back to with a ship length of the Victory. Harvey, not aware that Nelson had been shot from the mizzen-top of the Redoutable, saved the Victory by firing the Temeraire's larboard broadside into the Redoutable. Its mast fell across the Temeraire, whose crew lashed the French ship to their larboard side. A party for the Temeraire boarded her, and took her as the first of their two prizes. In a famous passage in his dispatches to the Admiralty, Admiral Collingwood singled out the Temeraire's part for praise . This was widely publicized and secured the ship's fame. Turner was sure to have read accounts of the ferocious battle the Temeraire eventually won. Rarely mentioned, and of no direct relation to the painting is the interesting historical fact that the Temeraire was not as pure and patriotic as people would like to believe. Turner's painting conferred such nobility on the ship that it comes as a shock to learn that in December of 1801 there was a mutiny on the Temeraire. She had received orders to go to the West Indies, where a French attack was rumored. But word had spread through the ship's company that a peace treaty between England and France had been concluded. Some of the Temeraire's crew had been at sea continuously for between seven and nine years and they wanted to go home. So, they refused to weigh anchor and make sail unless for England. Although it was non-violent, 14 of the mutineers were hanged on various ships so that the fleets could witness the final penalty of disobedience. .
For Turner I think the tragedy for this famous ship was not caused by the little steamboat, or by industrialization. For him it was the thoughtlessness of the Admiralty Board and the way she treated the famous ship at the end.
