The Battle of Trafalgar, 1.00pm by Ivan Berryman.  A painting from the series of Battle of Trafalgar paintings to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 2005.

Stage 1

The original pencil drawing is completed following a thorough study of the way in which this stage of the battle unfolded. Victory has broken through the line, passing the stern of the Bucentaure, almost gutting the French flagship as she passes; every gun on Victory's port side fires in turn into the Bucentaure's fragile stern galleries. Out of the view behind the gunsmoke, Temeraire continues straight ahead as Victory turns to port, the flagship's mizzen top dragging in the water, the whole ship having sustained terrible damage as the squadron had approached the enemy line. Neptune can be seen in the distance, following in Victory's wake while, on the left of the picture, the French 74 Redoutable is turning sharply to engage Victory. Soon, Temeraire, Redoutable and Victory will be locked together, pounding each other with shot. It was at this point in the battle that Admiral Nelson fell, the victim of one of Redoutable's sharp-shooters high on her mizzen fighting top.

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

It's hard to imagine the sort of carnage and destruction that fifty cannon firing in turn into the wooden stern galleries of a moderately sized ship might do, but reports of the time suggest that hundreds of men were killed or injured in an instant as shot flew and rebounded around inside the French flagship during that opening salvo. It is recorded that the stern galleries of Bucentaure were completely destroyed and many of her guns were smashed from their carriages as the shot ripped through the entire length of both decks of the ship. After just one broadside from Victory, this once proud ship was finished and began to drift helplessly, eventually being completely dismasted. She struck eventually to HMS Mars and Admiral Villeneuve was taken, incredibly, alive.

Stage 5

With the right-hand side of the painting now more or less finished, attention turns to the Redoutable, the next most distant object in the picture. The ship is turning hard to port in order to come alongside the Victory. Ships, unlike motorbikes, roll outwards as they turn. The sharper the turn, the more they lean. Redoutable's crew would have been spread pretty thin at this time, many of them hauling at the ropes to control the sail, others standing ready at the guns on both decks. Some of her guns have commenced firing already as the ship rolls, taking advantage of the elevation in order to rake Victory's masts, sails and rigging. This was common practice, as a ship with no masts or sail was dead in the water and could easily be forced to strike her colours and be taken as a prize.

Stage 6

Because the ship's shrouds and ratlines are anchored below the gunwale, it is now necessary to paint in the hull, hammock netting and gun ports. This will mean painting almost everything in, except the anchors and bow details. Smoke is added here and there and the flash of the firing cannon is reflected in the sea. Work can now being on the main mast, fighting top and main topgallant mast and the ensign billowing. Care is taken to illustrate how the standing rigging on the far side is slightly slacker than that nearest. This is because the lean of the ship causes the weight of the masts to shift slightly, placing a greater strain on the outboard rigging.

Stage 7

Now looking significantly more complete, the main sails have been painted in and the foremast and most of its rigging addressed. This process is more or less a repeat of the techniques used on the main mast, but the foresail will be rather more damaged by shot and musket fire. The curves of the headrails have been added with special attention being paid to the lighting as it passes through some of the gaps in the timbers. The bowsprit assembly, its rigging, bowchains and figurehead are ready to be painted in and Redoutable's anchors are complete, depicted in the stowed position.

Stage 8

Finished! Redoutable is now complete, her foremast, bowsprit and figurehead adding the final touches to a dramatic part of the painting. The damage to her sails is interesting because we have to bear in mind that a shot passing through the foresail would, almost certainly, pass through the mainsail too, so care must be taken to mimic the holes in each sail - not in every case, but certainly in some. Not all the holes would be large ones, either, as musket balls peppered the sails even more than cannon shot. Because the sails are under tension, remember that holes would create creases. When painting this, it makes sense to paint the creases first, then put holes along the crease lines.

Stage 9

Once the ensign and furled spanker sail is painted in, work begins on Victory's chaotic upper decks.

A cross hail of enemy shot had carried away men, fixtures and rigging and her wheel was shattered. Captain Hardy, standing at Nelson's side, narrowly avoided injury as a splinter from the impact of a shot carried away the buckle of his left shoe. The Admiral's secretary, John Scott, was not so lucky, being cut in two by a cannonball as he stood talking to Hardy (much of the blood on Nelson's tunic, preserved today at the National Maritime Museum, is that of poor Scott, whose remains were unceremoniously dumped over the side). A group of eight marines that had been gathered on the deck were wiped out and the ship's mizzen top had been smashed by a double shot and had fallen over the side.

Stage 10

Work on the hull is now well underway with the basic colours, contours and lighting in place. Some of the damage caused by cannon shot deflecting off the wooden hull has already been added, together with some damage to the hammock netting above the gunwales. Further back, the fallen mizzen top has become tangled in the boat davits and the crew will be busy cutting it free.

Remember that these ships still had to be sailed and managed as the battle raged on. If a sail or mast was not lost completely, attempts would be made to salvage it for use as a spare or for repairs after the battle. It was quite common for these huge vessels simply to drift for the duration of the battle, firing at whatever they should come upon because they did not have the available men to go aloft or haul on the ropes. Ships' wheels and rudders were especially vulnerable and, with their sails shot through dozens of times, the ships soon lost momentum. Even so, when dismasted and dead in the water, these hulks were approached with caution as their gunners never gave up the fight until ordered to do so by their commanding officers.

Stage 11

With Victory's main mast, flags and sails complete, the painting is moving toward completion and the overall effect created by the lighting, the rolling sea and the gunsmoke can be perceived for the first time. The gunports have been painted now, some with their cannon rolled out and ready to fire, some with the guns recoiled. Cordite smoke is issuing from some of the gunports and some is escaping through the deck grating.

Special attention is drawn to the fallen studdingsails that hang from the port side yards. Some of these were shot away during the approach to the enemy line and some were torn away as Victory tangled with Bucentaure's mizzen gaff as she brushed past the French flagship during her opening salvo. As with Redoutable, painting of the foremast and sails will be a similar process to the main, and more fallen studdingsails and lots of damage to the foresails will add to the drama.

Stage 12

The mainmast, standing rigging, sails and running rigging are now completed, although rigging between the bowsprit, forestay and other inter-connecting features cannot be added until the bowsprit itself has been painted. At Victory's foretopgallant the admiral's flag can be seen, a simple red cross of St George on a white background. Another union jack will be flying from her foretop preventer stay, just above the jib.

Stage 13

Most of the forecastle, port-side cathead and headrails are now in place and the hull is ready to receive the two massive anchors. On the opposite side, the starboard cathead has been shot away. The anchor had to be cut free, although little of this action will be visible, as most of it will be obscured by the bowsprit and figurehead.

Stage 14

Nearly there! Looking as grand as ever, but much the worse for wear, the full extent of the damage caused to HMS Victory during the first hour of battle is evident now, as the painting enters its final stages. At the battle's end, Nelson's flagship had lost her mizzen some nine feet above the deck, the maintop, her foretop, most of her bowsprit and her hull was peppered and splintered by shot.

With the flying jib boom shot away, some standing and running rigging has been left dangling from the foremast and across the jib itself. The figurehead has been completed, taking care to note that the arm of the cupid on the larboard side had been shot off (and a leg of the figure on the other side, too!) in that first hail of enemy cannon fire. Much of the rigging to and from the bowsprit is damaged and trailing in the water. The port anchors are now in place in the fully stowed position and more gunsmoke has been laid over the entire scene, just as it must have been on that fateful day.

Stage 15

The finished painting - signed, varnished and ready for delivery. There are one or two final points to note as work draws to a close. Mention is sometimes made of the black bands on the masts of these ships and history has recorded that Nelson, in his constant quest to ensure that the nationalities of ships in the height of battle are easily identifiable, ordered that all British ships paint their mast bands and hoops yellow, the same colour as the masts. France and Spain continued with the tradition of black bands. This was perhaps more far-sighted than it may at first seem because masts - or, at least, parts of them - were falling throughout the battle and, with them, the colours and flags that might have been the only identification. It wasn't unknown for ships of the same nationality to fire upon one another in the confusion.