The Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October 1805 off Cape Trafalgar on the south-west coast of Spain, was the decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which the British fleet under Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the combined fleets of France and Spain. A number of Manx sailors served in the battle across several ships. Captain John Quilliam of Kirk Michael, first lieutenant of HMS Victory, steered the flagship from the gun room after her wheel was shot away; others among the Manx crews were killed or lost limbs in the action.