When two ships of the line locked together, the fight became an infantry battle fought a few yards apart, and that was the Royal Marines' moment. Posted on the quarterdeck, the gangways, and high in the fighting tops, the marines poured musketry down onto the enemy's open decks, trying to clear the men from the guns and the wheel; they formed the heart of any boarding party and stood ready to throw back the enemy's. It was deadly, close work — at Trafalgar in 1805 it was a marksman in the tops of the French Redoutable who killed Nelson, doing to him exactly what British marines were doing to the enemy all along the line.

The eight-figure set is the Marines in action — an officer, a sergeant, a drummer, and five marines firing and loading, in red coats with white facings, white trousers and black shakos. It mans the deck of a Trafalgar diorama. Line the gangway with the second detachment of Royal Marines, crew the guns with the Royal Navy, and set it all around Admiral Lord Nelson with Crew on the quarterdeck.

Tradition of London model 0751. 54mm, white metal, hand-painted in gloss enamel. Eight-figure set — an officer, a sergeant, a drummer, and five marines, 1805. Supplied in the Tradition Classic Red Box. Allow 2–3 weeks delivery.