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The Battle of the Nile, also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay, was an important naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars between a British fleet commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson and a French fleet
under Vice-Admiral François-Paul
Brueys D'Aigalliers. It took place on the evening and early morning of August 1
and August 2, 1798. French losses were as
high as 1,700 dead (including Brueys) and 3,000 captured. British losses were 218 dead.
Napoleon Bonaparte intended to threaten the British position
in India via the invasion and conquest of Egypt.
About three weeks after his landing there, a British fleet of 14 ships under Horatio Nelson, which had been scouring the eastern Mediterranean Sea looking for the French fleet, finally came upon the 15 French ships being used to
support the invasion.
Battle of Aboukir Bay
The fleets met close to sunset on August 1. The French were at anchor in
Abū Qīr Bay, in shallow water near a shoal less than 4 fathoms (8 m) deep.
The shoal was being used to protect the south-western (port) side of the fleet, while the starboard side faced the north-east and
open sea. Brueys expected the battle to begin the next morning, as he did not believe the British would risk a night encounter in
shallow, uncharted waters. Leisurely preparations began for combat.
Admiral Nelson observed that the French fleet was anchored too far from the shallows. He ordered his line of battle to divide
in two, with one division to pass between the French line and the shoal, and the other division to close from the deeper
side and so fire on the French from both sides. One British ship, the Culloden, ran aground, but the remainder were able to stay afloat and begin taking
the French fleet apart one by one. The wind from the north meant that the unengaged French ships could not come up to help their
fellows, enabling Nelson to put several ships on to a target at a time, working his way down the line.
The French flagship L'Orient came under fire first from the Bellerophon, which received a battering and drifted away dismasted, and then from the Alexander and Swiftsure. By 21:00
L'Orient was ablaze and at about 22:00 the fire reached the magazine and the flagship exploded, hurling blazing parts of
ship and crew hundreds of metres into the air. Only a hundred or so of L'Orient's crew of a thousand survived by
swimming from the burning ship.
Only two French ships towards the end of the line, the Généreux and Guillaume
Tell together with the two frigates Diane and Justice were able to escape. Le
Timoleon and the frigate Artemise were burned, the frigate Serieuse was sunk, and the remaining French
ships (Le
Guerrier, Le Conquérant, Le Spartiate, L'Aquilon,
Le Souverain Peuple, Le
Franklin, Le Tonnant, L'Heureux, Le Mercure) were captured by early morning on August 2.
The British ships were Vanguard (flagship),
Alexander, Audacious, Bellerophon, Culloden, Defence, Goliath, Leander, Majestic, Minotaur, Orion, Swiftsure, Theseus, and Zealous.
The battle established British naval superiority during the Napoleonic
Wars, and was an important contribution to the growing fame of Admiral Nelson. It is also well known for literary reasons:
Felicia D. Hemans' poem "Casabianca" (often known better by its first line, "The boy stood on the burning deck") is about the son of
Vice-Admiral Brueys, who died in the explosion of the French flagship L'Orient during this battle.
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