Saumarez was an organizer willing to challenge Nelson

Saumarez's ability to restore cohesion, organize a fleet, and question a commander's assumptions would have made him valuable beside Nelson in the Trafalgar campaign. The two men sometimes clashed, but their disagreements rested on mutual professional respect rather than simple hostility. Nelson's attempt to reassure Saumarez after Santísima Trinidad escaped at Cape St Vincent, and Saumarez's indignant insistence that his report should never have been doubted, illustrate the confidence and abrasiveness in that relationship. At Algeciras, Saumarez's greatest contribution lay in repairing the squadron and setting conditions in which Keats and Superb could act with extraordinary effect. The comparison with Linois reinforces the point: each admiral succeeded by arranging the tactical stage on which individual ships then fought.