5 Pounds - Elizabeth II Naval battle - first shots

Issued to mark the bicentenary of Trafalgar, this coin belongs to a sprawling series that Gibraltar — uniquely positioned as a British territory at the western entrance to the Mediterranean — has long leveraged for commemorative revenue. The battle it references, the opening exchange of fire on 21 October 1805, began when HMS Victory's bow guns answered a French broadside at roughly 12:04 pm, with Nelson already below decks wounded within the first thirty minutes of engagement.

Gibraltar itself served as the last British port of call for elements of the fleet before Trafalgar, and received many of the damaged ships and wounded in the days following.