The dancers are arranged as two, side by side, 3 couple sets, i.e. 4M, 5M and 6M are back to back with 1L 2L and 3L. The first set, couples 1, 2 and 3 represents the English fleet, the second set with couples 4, 5 and 6 represents the French and Spanish fleet.

Devised by Keith Rose for a Scottish Dancing holiday to Conil de la Frontera on the Costa de la Luz, Spain which is about 8 miles from Cape Trafalgar. The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on 21 October 1805 when Admiral Nelson attacked the larger combined French and Spanish fleets using a new strategy of attacking perpendicularly to the line of enemy ships.