Talk:Capture of the Rosily Squadron

Copyedit

The British

I forgot to add in the first edit summary that I had added the British prescence (they were blockading the port), in the info box, although I have not included their strength which presumably was fairly substantial as it had an Admiral, (Collingwood), to command it. But it is not mentioned in the article.

References

The other point I would like to make is the vintage of some the prose, such as: "to quiet the multitude", (in the 'Background' section, para 2) and "His Majesty's Foreign Secretary", (in the 'Aftermath' section). There are others in my rather long-winded edit summary from earlier today. Initially, I couldn't figure out the rather strange choice of words, but when I took a closer look at the references, the penny dropped. None of them were more recent than 1912. So I wonder, have entire paragraphs been copied and pasted here?

RASAM (talk) 13:34, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

British blockading force

The British force under Collingwood should stay in the infobox indefinitely as they were blockading the port of Cadiz since Trafalgar in 1805. It's removal is totally unnecessary and pointless when there is proof that they were there. I have added sources to back this up. Without the British fleet outside the French would have easily escaped. Bruich (talk) 01:04, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

The fact is that no British ship took part in the battle between the Spanish forces and the French squadron, which couldn't depart Cádiz due to the menace from more then 50 Spanish gunboats and bomb-vessels under Apodaca, so I proced to remove the British fleet from the infobox. ElBufon (talk) 08:10, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

They did not need to take part in the action as they were the blockading fleet and prevented their escape. Perhaps you need to add what you said and source and reference it. The British would not consent to French terms of them leaving without their arms and other offers the Rosily offered.. They will remain in the infobox as they were involved as a force. Bruich (talk) 20:35, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Considering that both countries were at war (Britain and Spain) is hard to imagine a blockading fleet helping the other enemy when there was no official alliance against France. According to spanish sources before the action began and to prevent the french from escaping the spanish closed the entry of the port with maritime chains. So there's no sense in adding the british fleet, nor was the british a belligerant of the engagement at any moment. See Crónica de la provincia de Cádiz Wrigen by Jose Bisso pp.115 / Guerra de la independencia, ensayo histórico-politico de una epopeya española, Volume 2 pp. 139 Pietje96 (talk) 00:00, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Then remove all points referring to the British blockading force then. It seems from your opinion that they were never there in the first place. A blockading force is a belligerent. Bruich (talk) 21:39, 15 August 2010 (GMT)