Mediterranean campaign of 1798
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The Mediterranean campaign of 1798 was a series of major naval operations surrounding a French expeditionary force sent to Egypt
under Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars
. The French Republic sought to capture Egypt as the first stage in an effort to threaten British India, and thus force Great Britain
to make peace. Departing Toulon
in May 1798 with over 30,000 troops and hundreds of ships, Bonaparte's fleet sailed southeastwards across the Mediterranean Sea
. They were followed by a small British squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, later reinforced to 13 ships of the line, whose pursuit was hampered by a lack of scouting frigate
s and reliable information. Bonaparte's first target was the island of Malta
, which was under the government of the Knights of St. John and theoretically granted its owner control of the Central Mediterranean. Bonaparte's forces landed on the island and rapidly overwhelmed the defenders, securing the port city of Valletta
before continuing to Egypt. When Nelson learned of the French capture of the island, he guessed the French target to be Egypt and sailed for Alexandria
, but passed the French during the night of 22 June without discovering them and arrived off Egypt first.
Unable to find Bonaparte, Nelson turned back across the Mediterranean, eventually reaching Sicily
on 19 July. While Nelson was returning westwards, Bonaparte reached Alexandria and stormed the city, capturing the coast and marching his army inland. His fleet, entrusted to Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
, was anchored in a line of battle
in Aboukir Bay. On 1 August, Nelson, who had returned to the Egyptian coast after reports gathered at Coron
revealed the French invasion, arrived off Aboukir Bay. Although it was late afternoon and the British fleet had no accurate charts of the bay, Nelson ordered an immediate attack on the French van. Brueys was unprepared, and his ships were unable to manoeuvre as the British split into two divisions and sailed down either side of the French line, capturing all five ships of the vanguard and engaging his 120-gun flagship Orient
in the centre. At 21:00, Orient caught fire and exploded, killing most of the crew and ending the main combat. Sporadic fighting continued for the next two days, until all of the French ships had been captured, destroyed or fled. At the Battle of the Nile
, eleven French ships of the line and two frigates were eliminated, trapping Bonaparte in Egypt and changing the balance of power in the Mediterranean.
With the French Navy in the Mediterranean defeated, other nations were encouraged to join the Second Coalition and go to war with France. Portugal
, the Kingdom of Naples
, the Russian Empire
and the Ottoman Empire
all subsequently deployed forces to the Mediterranean. The Russians and Turks participated in the blockade of Egypt and operations in the Adriatic Sea
while the Portuguese joined the Siege of Malta, which was distantly conducted by Nelson from his lodgings in Naples
. Nelson, who had been wounded at the Battle of the Nile, became involved in Neapolitan politics and encouraged King Ferdinand
to go to war with France, resulting in the loss of his mainland kingdom. In the Western Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Earl St Vincent
, who commanded the Mediterranean fleet from off Cadiz
, deployed forces against Minorca
, rapidly captured the island and turned it into an important naval base.
and the Rhineland
confirmed by the Treaty of Campo Formio
. Of all the major European powers that had at one time allied against the French Republic, only the Kingdom of Great Britain
remained hostile, and the French Directory
determined to end the French Revolutionary Wars
by eliminating Britain. A series of invasions of the British Isles
were planned, and the 28-year old General Napoleon Bonaparte, who had defeated the Austrians in Italy the previous year, was assigned to lead the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England) that had been assembled at Boulogne. However the English Channel
was firmly controlled by the Royal Navy
and French invasion supplies, particularly of viable landing craft
, were totally inadequate for the purpose.
In the early spring of 1798, Bonaparte left his command at Boulogne and returned to Paris, reporting that continued British naval supremacy in Northern European waters made an invasion impossible in the near future. With operations to the north impossible, Bonaparte directed his attention southwards to Toulon
, the principal French seaport on the Mediterranean. There a French army and fleet had begun assembling for a secret location, speculated by French commentators to be aimed at a wide variety of places, including among others Britain, Sicily
, Malta and the Crimea
. The expedition's intended target was actually Egypt
, which formed an important link in the chain of communications between Britain and the economically vital colony of British India. Bonaparte considered the capture of Egypt as the most important step in neutralising the massive economic benefits that Britain gained from trade with India and bringing Britain to terms: in August 1797 he wrote "The time is not far away that we will feel that, in order to truly destroy England, we must take Egypt." Possession of Egypt could grant the French control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea
, forcing severe delays to dispatches sent between Britain and India and obstructing trade worth £2.7 million (the equivalent of £ as of ) to the British economy. In addition, a successful invasion of Egypt could be followed by a direct attack on British territory in India, possibly in conjunction with the anglophobic Tippoo Sultan of Seringapatam. The French Mediterranean Fleet was unopposed at the start of 1798 – following the Treaty of San Ildefonso
in 1796, in which Spain formed an alliance with France and declared war on Britain, the Royal Navy had withdrawn from the Mediterranean bases of Corsica
and Elba
. By early 1798, their Mediterranean Fleet was based at the Tagus River in Portugal, their one remaining continental ally. With no permanent British fleet in the Mediterranean and an uprising
imminent in Ireland, Bonaparte firmly believed that the Royal Navy would be unable to intervene in his plans, even if they should discover them.
With passage to Egypt seemingly unopposed Bonaparte gave orders for a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, led by the 120-gun Orient
under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
and numerous smaller warships, including the entire Venetian Navy, captured the previous year, to prepare for sea. The fleet was to be accompanied by up to 400 transport ships, which were to carry the 35,000 men detailed for the invasion. On 3 May, Bonaparte departed Paris, arriving at Toulon five days later to oversee the final preparations. On 9 May he reviewed the assembled army and gave a speech announcing that the expedition was bound for an unspecified foreign land. The speech was met with an enthusiastic response from his soldiers and a revised version subsequently appeared in Le Moniteur Universel
and was widely distributed throughout France as a poster. Despite Bonaparte's pronouncement the French departure was delayed: a strong headwind prevented the fleet from sailing for another nine days, conditions finally lifting on 18 May that permitted the 22 warships and 120 transports that made up the French fleet to sail the following day.
Britain was not unaware of French preparations at Toulon and along the Mediterranean coast, but despite sustained efforts by British agents in France the destination of the French fleet was unknown. Egypt was not seriously considered by the British government: when Secretary of State for War
Henry Dundas
suggested it, he was urged by Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville to think "with a map in your hand, and with a calculation of distances." Letters reached London and St. Vincent at the Tagus describing extensive preparations right along the French and Italian Mediterranean coastlines, but the distances between the base in the Tagus and Toulon prevented any sustained observation of French movements. Urgent orders were sent from Lord Spencer
at the Admiralty
to Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent
, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet at the Tagus, to despatch a squadron to investigate under the command of for Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Nelson had returned to the fleet three days earlier at Lord Spencer's order, following recovery in Britain from the loss of an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
in July 1797.
St. Vincent had already been preparing for an expedition to Toulon with Nelson in mind, and the rear-admiral departed the Tagus in his flagship HMS Vanguard
on 2 May. St Vincent was overjoyed to be able to place Nelson in command of the mission, writing that "the arrival of Admiral Nelson has given me new life ... his presence in the Mediterranean is so very essential". However, his preference for Nelson over the more senior admirals Sir William Parker and Sir John Orde
provoked a storm of protest, which eventually culminated in Orde challenging St Vincent to a duel, and being subsequently ordered to return to Britain. On 9 May Nelson collected the ships of the line HMS Alexander
and HMS Orion
under Captains Alexander Ball and Sir James Saumarez the frigates HMS Emerald and HMS Terpsichore
under Captains Thomas Moutray Waller and William Hall Gage
and the sloop
HMS Bonne Citoyenne under Captain Robert Retalick at Gibraltar
, and passed into the Mediterranean. Despite leaving under cover of darkness, Nelson's departure was observed by Spanish forces at Cadiz, and the fort at Cape Carnero fired several shot, striking Alexander but inflicting negligible damage.
On 17 May Terpsichore captured the privateer
La Pierre off Cape Sicié, and from the crew Nelson learned that Bonaparte's departure was imminent, although the destination was still unknown. On 21 May, as his squadron reached the Îles d'Hyères
near Toulon, they were struck by strong winds that snapped Vanguard' s topmasts and brought the wreckage down onto the deck, killing two men. Vanguard was left struggling in heavy seas, blown 75 nautical miles (138.9 km) southwards in one night. So severe was the damage that Vanguard was almost wrecked on the Corsican coast on the following day and Nelson even ordered Captain Ball, who had managed to attach a towline to the flagship, to abandon him. Ball refused the order and the British ships of the line rode out the storm together. Although Alexander was able to tow Vanguard to San Pietro Island
off Sardinia
for repairs, the gale had forced the squadron's frigates to separate from the larger ships.
Thomas Waller on Emerald was divided from the other frigates, and his lookouts had observed Vanguard in its dismasted state at the height of the storm. The other two frigates had reefed their sails and ridden out the storm together, Captain Gage turning towards the Spanish coast when the storm abated and on 29 May encountered HMS Alcmene
under Captain George Johnstone Hope
, which had been sent by St. Vincent to augment Nelson's force. Two days later Hope's squadron encountered Emerald, which had captured two merchant ships, and together they sailed for the prearranged rendezvous point 60 miles (96.6 km) off Cape St. Sebastian near Barcelona
. Hope ordered Terpsichore and Bonne Citoyenne to cruise off Sardinia and on 3 June encountered the brig HMS Mutine
under Captain Thomas Hardy, the scout of a fleet sent by Earl St. Vincent that was approaching the rendezvous. Knowing of the damaged suffered by Vanguard and aware that the French had left Toulon, Hope then took the unilateral decision to search for the French himself, dispersing the frigates across the Western Mediterranean. Hope's ships failed to find either the British or French fleets and none of the frigates returned to Nelson's command until after the Battle of the Nile.
to Genoa
, where 72 additional transport ships were collected. Sailing south, the fleet reached Corsica on 23 May and collected a fleet of 22 transports from Ajaccio
on 28 May. The convoy remained within sight of the eastern coastline until 30 May, crossing the Strait of Bonifacio
and following the coastline of Sardinia
in anticipation of combining with fleets of transports sailing from Civitavecchia
. On 3 June, a message reached Bonaparte reporting the presence of Nelson's squadron at San Pietro and the French general sent a French squadron to investigate, although by that time Nelson had sailed and the harbour was empty. Abandoning the wait for the Civitavecchia force, which had still not arrived, Bonaparte gave orders for his fleet to turn southeast, passing Mazara on Sicily and the island of Pantelleria
on 7 June. There a report from a captured British merchant brig warned Bonaparte that Nelson was only a short distance behind his force with a powerful Royal Navy fleet and, concerned for his transports, Bonaparte gave urgent orders for the French fleet to steer for Malta, arriving off Valletta
at 05:30 on 9 June, shortly after uniting with the 56 ships of the Civitavecchia convoy, which had missed the rendezvous and continued to Malta alone.
The report on Nelson's activity submitted to Bonaparte on 7 June was inaccurate: Repairs to Vanguard in San Pietro took six days, the squadron sailing on 27 May for Toulon, arriving off the harbour on 31 May. Nelson had already learned of the departure of the French fleet from a captured Marseilles merchant ship, but without reinforcements or knowledge of the French direction he could not begin a pursuit. On 5 June, the brig HMS Mutine arrived off Toulon and reported that a British fleet was only a few days away, consisting of ten ships of the line and a fourth rate sent by Earl St Vincent from the Tagus on 24 May under Captain Thomas Troubridge
in HMS Culloden
. St Vincent, acting under urgent orders from London to send a fleet to the Mediterranean had opted to split his forces, rather than risk taking all of his ships into the Mediterranean and leaving the Spanish at Cadiz unattended. Troubridge was considered by St Vincent to be the best officer in the fleet, and Nelson, who also held a high opinion of Troubridge, immediately sailed his squadron to the scheduled rendezvous point. On 6 June, his squadron briefly intercepting a Spanish merchant convoy and capturing two ships before the admiral called off the pursuit to ensure he arrived at the agreed time. On 7 June at 12:00 the fleets combined, Nelson now commanding 13 74-gun ships of the line, one 50-gun ship and one brig. Noticeable by their absence were frigates, vital for scouting operations in a campaign of this nature; After his encounter with Hope, Hardy reported to Nelson that the frigates were cruising independently, to which the admiral bitterly responded "I had thought that Hope would have known me better".
, which passed on the inaccurate information that the French had been seen off Trapani
, and might be anchored at Syracuse. On 17 June Nelson anchored at the Pontine Islands
off Naples
and sent Troubridge ashore to appeal to the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton
for information and for the assistance of the Neapolitan Navy in scouting for the French. Although the Neapolitan Prime Minister Sir John Acton
had already passed on reports that the French were sailing for Egypt, Hamilton did not give the report to Nelson, possibly suspicious of disinformation
. Hamilton did however relay the information that Bonaparte's fleet had passed Sardinia and were probably sailing in the direction of Malta. Despite private animosity towards France, the Neapolitan government refused to openly join the British in the war and denied Nelson the use of their frigates, although they did quietly agree to resupply Nelson's fleet. With a rough direction established and believing the ultimate French destination to be Sicily, Nelson sailed in pursuit, but light winds hampered his advances and he did not pass the Straits of Messina until 20 June. There he received a report from the ambassador at Messina that the French were at Malta. Then on 22 June near Cape Passaro, Hardy stopped a Genoese ship from Ragusa
that reported seeing the French fleet sailing southwards away from Malta, and that they had left Valletta on 16 June. This information was wrong (or mistranslated) in one important respect: although preparations had begun on 16 June the French had actually not departed until 19 June, and Nelson's fleet was just 60 nautical miles (111.1 km) miles away from Brueys. Nelson decided that the French target must be Egypt or Constantinople
and called his senior captains: Saumarez, Ball, Troubridge and Henry Darby
on board Vanguard for a conference. Together these officers determined Egypt as the most likely option, deducing that it was the best location in the Mediterranean from which Bonaparte could threaten India. Consequently Nelson turned southeast towards Alexandria
, exercising his men's gunnery daily to ensure they were ready for the battle he planned. His plan should his force encounter the French was clear: dividing into three squadrons, his fleet would strike the French at three points. Two squadrons of five ships each would engage the French fleet directly while the third would separate and attack the transports, sinking or capturing as many as possible. Nelson also deliberately forged close links with his captains at regular dinners aboard his flagship to ensure ease of communication and build confidence between them. He later said of this time that "I had the happiness to command a Band of Brothers
."
, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
(or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) to allow his fleet to enter the harbour and purchase provisions. Hompesch refused, insisting that only two ships at a time could enter the port. Bonaparte responded by opening fire on the harbour defences and on 11 June landed soldiers at seven sites around Malta under General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers
. Coming under fire from the 2,000 native Maltese soldiers that mustered against the invasion, skirmishing continued in the western part of the island for 24 hours, until General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois
entered Mdina
and the defenders withdrew to the fortress of Valletta. The Maltese troops refused to continue the fight without support from their government, and negotiations followed in which Hompesch and the knights agreed to abandon Malta on condition of financial compensation amounting to 3 million Francs. In exchange, Bonaparte gained the entire Maltese archipelago, including fortresses, military stores and cannon, the small Maltese Navy and Army and the entire property of the Roman Catholic Church in Malta.
The Maltese position had already been severely weakened by the large number of Frenchmen serving in the Maltese Army, who refused en masse to take up arms against Bonaparte. The French Revolution
had already significantly reduced the Knight's income and their ability to put up serious resistance to Bonaparte was seriously compromised by a lack of resources. On 12 June, Bonaparte finally announced to his troops the destination of the expedition and on 19 June he sailed for Alexandria, initially steering east towards Crete
. He left behind Vaubois and 4,000 men to maintain Malta as a base to control the Central Mediterranean. To ensure that news of the impending attack on Egypt did not spread ahead of the fleet, Brueys ordered that any merchant ships that sighted the convoy during the passage were to be seized and detained until his force had reached Alexandria. On 26 June, the British gained the first firm intelligence of French intentions, when the frigate HMS Seahorse under Captain Edward Foote
encountered and captured
the French frigate Sensible
, which was returning to Toulon from Malta with a cargo of treasure and wounded soldiers, including General d'Hilliers. From these prisoners the destination of the French fleet was discovered and Seahorse, joined shortly afterwards by Terpsichore, sailed in pursuit, hoping to encounter Nelson.
of HMS Leander
requested permission to investigate the strangers, Nelson refused and ordered his fleet to continue on their current heading, believing the French to be five days ahead and wishing to reach Alexandria as rapidly as possible. Had British frigates been available to approach and investigate the distant squadron, they might have discovered that they were scouts for the main French fleet, which was only a short distance away. The French frigate had sighted the British fleet and reported its presence to Bonaparte, who adjusted his convoy's direction slightly to a more northerly trajectory. As a result, Nelson's fleet passed north of the French to the east of Malta during the night in a heavy mist. Although Nelson was so close that his signal guns could be heard aboard Orient, his lookouts did not observe the French ships and the British fleet continued ahead without deviating. When dawn broke the following day, Bonaparte's diversion to the northeast had taken his convoy out of sight of the British fleet, which continued to the southeast undisturbed. On 28 June, Mutine arrived at Alexandria ahead of Nelson's fleet, and discovered that the French fleet was not in the harbour. Subsequent attempts to contact the British Consul George Baldwin
failed as he had been dismissed by the British government shortly before and had left the city. As a result, official diplomatic channels were closed to Nelson. A message warning of the French approach was carried to the Ottoman governor Sayyid Muhammad Kurayyim by Hardy in Mutine. Kurayyim replied that he had not seen the French fleet, and that he would enforce the Ottoman Empire
's neutrality and forbid both the British and the French from entering the harbour or landing on the coast. He was dismissive of the British warnings: "It is impossible that the French should come to our country. They have no business here and we are not at war with them." Without Baldwin no further entries could be made, and when there was still no sign of the French on the morning of 29 June, Nelson decided to turn back northeast and take another pass across the central Mediterranean towards Corfu
, following a more northerly course than his first voyage.
Bonaparte's fleet, delayed by its many transport ships, passed Cape Durazzo on the island of Crete
during the 30 June and reached Alexandria the following morning, driven by the fresh meltemi
winds. Bonaparte's first action was to sent a small brig into the harbour to collect the French consul, Charles Magallon, who relayed the news of Nelson's stay off the port and of Kurayyim's refusal to allow the French to land. Seriously concerned that Nelson might return while his men were still in their transports, Bonaparte gave orders for the landing to go ahead immediately. Soldiers were landed in the region of the Mirabou Creek, although the appearance of a sail to the east was mistaken for a scout from the British fleet and caused momentary panic, Bonaparte reportedly exclaiming: "Fortune, m'abandonnerais-tu? Quoi! Seulement cinq jours!" (Fortune, wilt thou abandon me? What! Only five days!). The newcomer was eventually revealed to be the French frigate Justice
sent from Malta, and the invasion continued unopposed. By evening the landing had been completed, although several boats had been wrecked in the surf and Bonaparte himself estimated that at least 20 men had drowned.
On 2 July, Bonaparte led his men to victory in the brief Battle of Alexandria and secured the city. He placed General Jean Baptiste Kléber
in command with Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
in charge of the harbour. Finding that entrances to the anchorage were too shallow to accommodate the main body of the French fleet, Bonaparte ordered Brueys to sail his squadron to the wider Aboukir Bay, 20 miles (32.2 km) northeast of Alexandria. Brueys was instructed that if he considered the anchorage to be unsafe then he was to sail for Corfu, leaving only a small light force that could anchor comfortably in Alexandria. There Brueys held a conference with his officers to decide on their response should Nelson discover them in the bay. Although Rear-Admiral Armand Blanquet
of Franklin argued that the fleet was safest sailing out to meet the British, he was outvoted and overruled, Brueys ordering that the ships remain anchored in line of battle
to receive the British attack. On 21 July, the frigates Seahorse and Terpsichore arrived at Alexandria and observed the French dispositions while flying French colours to confuse observers from the shore. With no sign of Nelson, Foote and Hall turned back westwards in search of the admiral. When Brueys learned that British frigates had been seen off the Egyptian coast, he decided that the retreat of these vessels signified that there was no danger of imminent attack by a British force and therefore failed to take precautions against attack.
on 4 July and turned westward against the wind, sailing for Sicily again. His ships were briefly scattered by a storm on 5 July, before reconstituting the following day and on 18 July the British fleet reached Cape Passaro again and on 19 July Nelson's force anchored in Syracuse to take on fresh provisions supplied in part by Lady Emma Hamilton, the wife of the ambassador to Naples. Frustrated, Nelson wrote in a letter to his wife Fanny
; "Every moment I have to regret the frigates having left me, to which must be attributed the my ignorance of the movements of the enemy." Reports subsequently reached the British fleet at Syracuse that the French had not been seen in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the Adriatic or in the Aegean Sea
, leaving either Egypt or Syria as the only likely destinations. Sailing once more on 25 July, Nelson turned his ships east once again sailing for Morea and sending Troubridge in Culloden into Coron
on 28 July for news. The Ottoman governor reported that the French had been seen sailing southwards from Crete at the start of the month and presented Troubridge with a French merchant ship that was anchored in the harbour. With their first definite sighting of the French, the British fleet turned southwards towards Alexandria.
and HMS Alexander
detached as scouts to investigate Alexandria harbour. Although the transport fleet was observed in the harbour, the French battle fleet was not. Despite initial disappointment, Nelson ordered his ships to search the coastline, and at 14:00 lookouts on HMS Zealous
reported the French anchored in line of battle
in Aboukir Bay. Brueys believed that his line, protected by shoals to the north and west, was impenetrable and that as a result the British would be forced to attack the rear and centre of his fleet. He consequently placed his strongest ships at these points, planning to stall the British fleet while his van used the prevailing northeasterly wind to counterattack. Brueys was also confident that the British fleet, strung out and with nightfall approaching, would not attack that day. He believed that Nelson would anchor off the bay and attack in the morning, giving Brueys time to prepare and leaving open the option of simply sailing away during the night, following Bonaparte's orders to avoid a direct confrontation with the British fleet.
s in cramped, shallow coastal waters. Without an accurate chart of the bay, Nelson was forced to be cautious in his advance, and ordered Captain Samuel Hood in Zealous to take soundings as he advanced to establish the depth of the bay. At 18:20, as the British ships HMS Goliath
and Zealous rounded the northern shoal, the leading French ships Guerrier
and Conquérant
opened fire. As he approached the French line, Captain Thomas Foley in Goliath noticed that Brueys had made a serious error in the distribution of his forces. Rather than place his lead ship Guerrier close to the northern shoal, the French admiral had left a gap, widened by the order for the French fleet to only anchor by the bow which meant that they drifted significantly, between Guerrier and the shoals. Sailing directly through this gap, Foley raked
Guerrier and engaged the second ship of the French line, Conquérant. Zealous also passed through the gap and attacked Guerrier, and was followed by HMS Orion
, HMS Theseus
and HMS Audacious
, all of which opened up a fierce fire on the first four French ships against their unprepared port sides.
Nelson followed in Vanguard, bringing the next two ships into action with the starboard side of the French van, catching the French ships and a crossfire that rapidly battered and dismasted the ships, despite determined defence. As the French van was destroyed, HMS Bellerophon
and HMS Majestic
attacked the French centre. Outnumbered and faced with the massed broadsides of Orient and the 80-gun Franklin and Tonnant
, both British ships suffered massive damage. Culloden, bringing up the rear of the British line, passed too close to the northern shoal and grounded, Troubridge suffering severe damage to his hull despite efforts by Mutine and Leander to drag the ship off. By 19:00 darkness had fallen, and within an hour the French van had been defeated, Guerrier, Conquérant, Spartiate, Aquilon
and Peuple Souverain all either in British hands or too badly damaged to continue fighting. The British too had suffered damage, with Vanguard and Goliath badly hit while to the south both Bellerophon and Majestic had been forced to cut their anchor cables and pull away from their respective opponents. Bellerophon had been dismasted, Majestic' s captain George Blagden Westcott had been killed, and on Vanguard Nelson had suffered a severe head wound.
Shortly after 20:00, the trailing Swiftsure and Alexander, joined by Leander, attacked the French centre, causing severe damage to Franklin and killing Admiral Brueys on his quarterdeck with a cannon shot. At 21:00, a fire broke out in Orient' s stern, the blaze spread further by volleys from Swiftsure that also defeated efforts to extinguish it. The flames spread rapidly, racing up the masts and across the decks until the entire flagship was a blazing wreck. At 22:00, the vast magazines detonated, tearing the ship apart and hurling burning wreckage onto the neighbouring vessels. For ten minutes not a shot was fired, as the nearest ships battled to extinguish fires and the further ones paused in shock. The first ship to recommence hostilities was Franklin, but Admiral Blanquet's heavily outnumbered flagship was forced to surrender by 24:00. Tonnant, the only French ship still engaged, fought on against Majestic until 03:00, when the mortally wounded Captain Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars
succeeded in dragging his ship to the temporary safety of the rear division under Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
.
At 04:00 on 2 August, firing began again between Villeneuve's ships and a scratch British squadron formed from the less damaged ships. By 11:00, Villeneuve had conducted a successful fighting withdrawal to the mouth of the bay, and was able to escape to open water. However, Villeneuve had been forced to abandon the battered Tonnant and the grounded Timoléon
, retaining just two ships of the line and two frigates. While Villeneuve escaped, British ships received the surrender of Heureux
and Mercure
, which had grounded shortly after the explosion of Orient, and forced the captain of the frigate Artémise
to scuttle his vessel. On 3 August, Theseus and Leander were sent to complete the destruction of the French fleet; Tonnant surrendered and Timoléon was set on fire by its crew and destroyed.
with reports of the battle. On 8 August Aboukir Island was stormed and captured, and on 12 August Emerald, Alcmene and Bonne Citoyenne finally caught up with the fleet, followed on 17 August by Seahorse and Terpsichore. Mutine was detached on 13 August with despatches for the Admiralty and on 14 August Nelson sent seven ships with the six seaworthy prizes to the mouth of Aboukir Bay under the command of Saumarez. This convoy sailed for Gibraltar on 15 August and the following day Nelson burnt Heureux, followed on 18 August by Mercure and Guerrier, none of which were fit for continued service. On 19 August Nelson separated his remaining ships, leading three vessels northwards towards Naples and leaving a blockade
squadron off Alexandria of Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure and the frigates, under Captain Samuel Hood.
By the time Nelson departed Alexandria, his first set of dispatches were already in French hands. Leander had been discovered off the western coast of Crete
on 18 August 1798
by the French ship of the line Généreux, one of Villeneuve's escapees. After separating from Villeneuve's squadron on 17 August, Généreux was sailing to Corfu when it encountered the British fourth rate. The larger French ship soon overtook the British vessel and a heated exchange followed: French efforts to board Leander were driven back with heavy casualties, and Captain Thompson at one stage successfully raked his opponent, but gradually the heavier weight of Généreux inflicted severe damage to the British ship and after six and a half hours Thompson was forced to surrender. The French captain, Le Joille, then authorised widespread looting of the personal effects of the British crew, whom he also forced to conduct repairs on both ships, an act against the established conventions of naval warfare. The prize was towed to Corfu for repairs, the two battered vessels briefly encountering Mutine, which escaped to the westwards before Généreux could give chase. In captivity Le Joille continued to refuse to allow the British officers medical attention or return their stolen property. Eventually returned to Britain, Thompson and Berry were knighted
and heavily praised for their defence of their ship against heavy odds, while Le Joille was also commended for his success, assisted by his incorrect account of the battle published in French newspapers.
Torride, one of the vessels that had fired on the British advance during the Battle of the Nile. On 2 September, another dispatch vessel reached the Egyptian coast, the 4-gun cutter Anémone carrying General Camin and 60 men from Malta. Swiftsure and Emerald managed to cut off the vessel from Alexandria harbour and drive it ashore near the town of Marabou. Although the cutter swiftly broke up in the surf, most of the men aboard managed to scramble ashore. There, while the British ships lay off shore unable to intervene, Bedouin
partisans
discovered the survivors and massacred them, dragging the few survivors inland when French cavalry mounted a rescue mission. The only survivors were rescued by Lieutenant Francis William Fane
, who swam to shore with an empty barrel attached to a rope. Despite coming under fire from the French on the beach, he was able to save five men from the Bedouin attack.
In October the small British squadron at Alexandria was briefly reinforced by a Portuguese squadron of four ships of the line and the 64-gun HMS Lion
under Captain Manley Dixon
, although the Portuguese sailed for Malta after only a few days. On 19 October the squadron was joined by two Turkish corvette
s, two Russian frigates and 16 small Turkish gunboats, arranged by Hood on a visit to Rhodes
in Swiftsure the week before. The gunboats were subsequently used to bombard Aboukir Castle and a French encampment at Lake Maadie on 25 October, although results were negligible. After the first day the Turkish crews were replaced with British sailors, but except for a complaint from the French that "unfair" incendiary weapons were used in the attack, nothing was achieved. The incendiary shells subsequently proved to have been taken from the captured Spartiate following the battle on 1 August and were found to be made of a substance that burned even under water. After three days the bombardment was abandoned and no further activity took place on the Egyptian coast during the remainder of the year. The Turkish and Russian vessels were eventually withdrawn in December, while Lion was detached to join the blockade of Malta.
. At the Treaty of Campo Formio, France had been awarded the Ionian Islands
and the four fortresses of Butrinto, Praga
, Preveza
and Vonizza
on the Albanian and Greek coasts. In early October 1798, following the declaration of war between France and the Ottomans, a large Turkish army had advanced across the Balkans and rapidly forced the fortresses to surrender. At the same time, the Ionian Islands were attacked by a joint Russian and Turkish expeditionary force, which included ten Russian ships of the line, numerous smaller Russian vessels and approximately 30 assorted Turkish ships. On board were 8,000 Turkish soldiers, which rapidly invaded and seized the islands of Paxi
, Santa Maura, Theaki, Cephalonia, Zante and Cerigo, capturing 1,500 French prisoners by 10 October. Only the large fortified island of Corfu held out, and there the defenders were forced back into the main town
. Although the town was besieged, operations were slow and the blockade was only loosely enforced, allowing Généreux to successfully breakout and reach Ancona
. By the end of the year little had changed, the French garrison remaining besieged in Corfu.
ships of the line and the British ship Lion under the command of Tomás Xavier Teles de Castro da Gama, Marquess de Niza
, initially sending them on to Alexandria. While anchored off Malta awaiting favourable winds, a delegation of native Maltese citizens was brought on board Saumarez's ship Orion on 25 September. They announced that the Maltese people, infuriated with French disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church on Malta, had risen up against the French garrison and were forcing them back towards the fortress of Valletta. Saumarez attempted to negotiate the surrender of the island with Vaubois, but was rebuffed. Unable to delay his passage to Gibraltar any longer, Saumarez gave the Maltese 1,200 muskets and promised to send assistance as soon as he was able. By 12 October, the French were besieged in Valletta by 10,000 Maltese irregulars. Vaubois had only 3,000 healthy troops, although the arrival of Villeneuve with the ship of the line Guillaume Tell and two frigates did bolster his defences.
On the same day that the French retreated to Valletta, Nelson despatched the ships Alexander, Culloden and HMS Colossus
from his squadron at Naples to blockade the port, under the command of Captain Alexander Ball. Although the Neapolitans refused to deploy forces to Malta, which was technically their territory, the squadron was joined within a few days by Niza's Portuguese ships and then by Nelson, now Lord Nelson, in Vanguard on 24 October. Four days later, Nelson authorised Ball to negotiate the surrender of the nearby island of Gozo
, the French abandoning the island's fortifications and the British capturing 24 cannon and 3,200 urgently required sacks of corn, which were distributed among the Maltese populace. With the French garrison trapped in Valletta, no further actions took place off Malta during the year, both sides settling in for a long siege.
While his captains enforced the blockade of Malta and Alexandria during September and October, Nelson was anchored in the Bay of Naples, enjoying the hospitality of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina
of the Kingdom of Naples. Arriving on 22 September, Vanguard was greeted with over 500 small vessels organised by the royal family and led by a barge carrying Sir William and Lady Emma Hamilton. Over the next weeks, Nelson was taken into the court as an honoured guest, and has subsequently been accused of neglecting his naval responsibilities. It was at this time that his mutual attraction to Lady Emma Hamilton developed in a romantic affair and he began to dabble in Neapolitan politics, combining with Maria Carolina
, the francophobe Queen of Naples, to successfully encourage Ferdinand to go to war with France. Mustering his forces under General Mack
, Ferdinand ordered the Neapolitan army to drive the French garrison out of Rome. The resulting campaign was a disaster for the Neapolitans; the French counter attacked and forced Ferdinand and his court to flee to Palermo
in Sicily, the French establishing the Parthenopean Republic in Naples to replace the monarchy.
, and the admiral ordered his ships to establish blockades off the southern Spanish ports, especially Cadiz
, where the main Spanish fleet lay at anchor. There regular correspondence passed between St Vincent and Admiral Don Joseph Massaredo, the Spanish commander. The Spanish fleet made no major deployments during the year, except for a single convoy of the ship of the line Monarca, two frigates and several merchant vessels that sailed in April. Although privateers and minor warships fought several small engagements along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, the only significant Spanish deployment of the remainder of the year was by a frigate squadron based at Cartagena
, which was intercepted by the British ship of the line Lion. At the ensuing Action of 15 July 1798
, the Spanish ships formed a line to meet the attack of Captain Dixon's ship but the damaged frigate Santa Dorotea fell behind the leading three frigates. As the leading ships returned to Catagena after a desultory long-range exchange of gunfire, Santa Dorotea was defeated and captured.
Once the French Mediterranean Fleet had been destroyed in Aboukir Bay, St Vincent was determined to restore British hegemony in the Mediterranean. To ensure this, his fleet needed a base with a well protected deep water harbour that could not be assaulted by land. The best island harbour in the Western Mediterranean was at Port Mahon
on Minorca
, where a large modern dockyard included a careening wharf, extensive storehouses and a purpose-built naval hospital. These facilities were all British in manufacture, constructed during periods of occupation by British forces between 1708 – 1756 and 1763 – 1781. St Vincent therefore detached two ships of the line, three frigates and several smaller vessels and transports to the island under Commodore John Thomas Duckworth
, carrying a small army under Colonel Charles Stuart. The expeditionary force arrived off Minorca on 7 November and the troops were landed at Addaya Creek. There a Spanish attack was driven off and over the next two days the army continued inland, a detachment under Colonel Henry Paget
seizing Port Mahon while the main army received the surrender of town after town, including Fournella, which overlooked the island's principal protected anchorage. On 11 November a Spanish squadron of four frigates attempted to disrupt operations, but a swift counterattack by Duckworth's ships drove them off. By 16 November the town of Ciudadella capitulated and control of the island was ceded to British forces.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
under Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
. The French Republic sought to capture Egypt as the first stage in an effort to threaten British India, and thus force Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
to make peace. Departing Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
in May 1798 with over 30,000 troops and hundreds of ships, Bonaparte's fleet sailed southeastwards across the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. They were followed by a small British squadron under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, later reinforced to 13 ships of the line, whose pursuit was hampered by a lack of scouting frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s and reliable information. Bonaparte's first target was the island of Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, which was under the government of the Knights of St. John and theoretically granted its owner control of the Central Mediterranean. Bonaparte's forces landed on the island and rapidly overwhelmed the defenders, securing the port city of Valletta
Valletta
Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,098. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's...
before continuing to Egypt. When Nelson learned of the French capture of the island, he guessed the French target to be Egypt and sailed for Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, but passed the French during the night of 22 June without discovering them and arrived off Egypt first.
Unable to find Bonaparte, Nelson turned back across the Mediterranean, eventually reaching Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
on 19 July. While Nelson was returning westwards, Bonaparte reached Alexandria and stormed the city, capturing the coast and marching his army inland. His fleet, entrusted to Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers
Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, Comte de Brueys was the French commander in the Battle of the Nile, in which the French Revolutionary Navy was defeated by Royal Navy forces under Admiral Horatio Nelson. The British victory helped to ensure their naval supremacy throughout the...
, was anchored in a line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
in Aboukir Bay. On 1 August, Nelson, who had returned to the Egyptian coast after reports gathered at Coron
Koroni
Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni Koroni or Coroni is a...
revealed the French invasion, arrived off Aboukir Bay. Although it was late afternoon and the British fleet had no accurate charts of the bay, Nelson ordered an immediate attack on the French van. Brueys was unprepared, and his ships were unable to manoeuvre as the British split into two divisions and sailed down either side of the French line, capturing all five ships of the vanguard and engaging his 120-gun flagship Orient
French ship Orient
A number of ships of the French Navy have borne the name Orient. Among them :* The 80-gun ship of the line Orient * The 118-gun ship of the line Orient originally named Dauphin Royal, renamed Sans Culotte in September 1792 and then Orient in May 1795 - flagship of the French fleet at the Battle...
in the centre. At 21:00, Orient caught fire and exploded, killing most of the crew and ending the main combat. Sporadic fighting continued for the next two days, until all of the French ships had been captured, destroyed or fled. At the Battle of the Nile
Battle of the Nile
The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
, eleven French ships of the line and two frigates were eliminated, trapping Bonaparte in Egypt and changing the balance of power in the Mediterranean.
With the French Navy in the Mediterranean defeated, other nations were encouraged to join the Second Coalition and go to war with France. Portugal
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal's general designation under the monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula, Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910...
, the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
all subsequently deployed forces to the Mediterranean. The Russians and Turks participated in the blockade of Egypt and operations in the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
while the Portuguese joined the Siege of Malta, which was distantly conducted by Nelson from his lodgings in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. Nelson, who had been wounded at the Battle of the Nile, became involved in Neapolitan politics and encouraged King Ferdinand
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
to go to war with France, resulting in the loss of his mainland kingdom. In the Western Mediterranean, Vice-Admiral Earl St Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
, who commanded the Mediterranean fleet from off Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, deployed forces against Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
, rapidly captured the island and turned it into an important naval base.
Bonaparte's plan
At the beginning of 1798, the War of the First Coalition had come to an end with French control of Northern Italy, much of the Low CountriesLow Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
and the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
confirmed by the Treaty of Campo Formio
Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed on 18 October 1797 by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of revolutionary France and the Austrian monarchy...
. Of all the major European powers that had at one time allied against the French Republic, only the Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
remained hostile, and the French Directory
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
determined to end the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
by eliminating Britain. A series of invasions of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
were planned, and the 28-year old General Napoleon Bonaparte, who had defeated the Austrians in Italy the previous year, was assigned to lead the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England) that had been assembled at Boulogne. However the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
was firmly controlled by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and French invasion supplies, particularly of viable landing craft
Landing craft
Landing craft are boats and seagoing vessels used to convey a landing force from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. Most renowned are those used to storm the beaches of Normandy, the Mediterranean, and many Pacific islands during WWII...
, were totally inadequate for the purpose.
In the early spring of 1798, Bonaparte left his command at Boulogne and returned to Paris, reporting that continued British naval supremacy in Northern European waters made an invasion impossible in the near future. With operations to the north impossible, Bonaparte directed his attention southwards to Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
, the principal French seaport on the Mediterranean. There a French army and fleet had begun assembling for a secret location, speculated by French commentators to be aimed at a wide variety of places, including among others Britain, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Malta and the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. The expedition's intended target was actually Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, which formed an important link in the chain of communications between Britain and the economically vital colony of British India. Bonaparte considered the capture of Egypt as the most important step in neutralising the massive economic benefits that Britain gained from trade with India and bringing Britain to terms: in August 1797 he wrote "The time is not far away that we will feel that, in order to truly destroy England, we must take Egypt." Possession of Egypt could grant the French control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, forcing severe delays to dispatches sent between Britain and India and obstructing trade worth £2.7 million (the equivalent of £ as of ) to the British economy. In addition, a successful invasion of Egypt could be followed by a direct attack on British territory in India, possibly in conjunction with the anglophobic Tippoo Sultan of Seringapatam. The French Mediterranean Fleet was unopposed at the start of 1798 – following the Treaty of San Ildefonso
Second Treaty of San Ildefonso
The Second Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed on August 19, 1796 between the Spanish Empire and the First French Republic. Based on the terms of the agreement, France and Spain would become allies and combine their forces against the British Empire.-See also:...
in 1796, in which Spain formed an alliance with France and declared war on Britain, the Royal Navy had withdrawn from the Mediterranean bases of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
and Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
. By early 1798, their Mediterranean Fleet was based at the Tagus River in Portugal, their one remaining continental ally. With no permanent British fleet in the Mediterranean and an uprising
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
imminent in Ireland, Bonaparte firmly believed that the Royal Navy would be unable to intervene in his plans, even if they should discover them.
With passage to Egypt seemingly unopposed Bonaparte gave orders for a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, led by the 120-gun Orient
French ship Orient
A number of ships of the French Navy have borne the name Orient. Among them :* The 80-gun ship of the line Orient * The 118-gun ship of the line Orient originally named Dauphin Royal, renamed Sans Culotte in September 1792 and then Orient in May 1795 - flagship of the French fleet at the Battle...
under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers
François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers
Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, Comte de Brueys was the French commander in the Battle of the Nile, in which the French Revolutionary Navy was defeated by Royal Navy forces under Admiral Horatio Nelson. The British victory helped to ensure their naval supremacy throughout the...
and numerous smaller warships, including the entire Venetian Navy, captured the previous year, to prepare for sea. The fleet was to be accompanied by up to 400 transport ships, which were to carry the 35,000 men detailed for the invasion. On 3 May, Bonaparte departed Paris, arriving at Toulon five days later to oversee the final preparations. On 9 May he reviewed the assembled army and gave a speech announcing that the expedition was bound for an unspecified foreign land. The speech was met with an enthusiastic response from his soldiers and a revised version subsequently appeared in Le Moniteur Universel
Le Moniteur Universel
Le Moniteur Universel was a French newspaper founded in Paris on November 24, 1789 under the title Gazette Nationale ou Le Moniteur Universal by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, and which ceased publication on June 30, 1901...
and was widely distributed throughout France as a poster. Despite Bonaparte's pronouncement the French departure was delayed: a strong headwind prevented the fleet from sailing for another nine days, conditions finally lifting on 18 May that permitted the 22 warships and 120 transports that made up the French fleet to sail the following day.
St. Vincent's response
Secretary of State for War
The position of Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a British cabinet-level position, first held by Henry Dundas . In 1801 the post became that of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. The position was re-instated in 1854...
Henry Dundas
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville PC and Baron Dunira was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and the last person to be impeached in the United Kingdom....
suggested it, he was urged by Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville to think "with a map in your hand, and with a calculation of distances." Letters reached London and St. Vincent at the Tagus describing extensive preparations right along the French and Italian Mediterranean coastlines, but the distances between the base in the Tagus and Toulon prevented any sustained observation of French movements. Urgent orders were sent from Lord Spencer
George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA , styled Viscount Althorp from 1765 to 1783, was a British Whig politician...
at the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
to Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent
John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent GCB, PC was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom...
, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet at the Tagus, to despatch a squadron to investigate under the command of for Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Nelson had returned to the fleet three days earlier at Lord Spencer's order, following recovery in Britain from the loss of an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was heavily defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party ...
in July 1797.
St. Vincent had already been preparing for an expedition to Toulon with Nelson in mind, and the rear-admiral departed the Tagus in his flagship HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard (1787)
HMS Vanguard was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 March 1787 at Deptford. She was the sixth vessel to bear the name....
on 2 May. St Vincent was overjoyed to be able to place Nelson in command of the mission, writing that "the arrival of Admiral Nelson has given me new life ... his presence in the Mediterranean is so very essential". However, his preference for Nelson over the more senior admirals Sir William Parker and Sir John Orde
Sir John Orde, 1st Baronet
Sir John Orde, 1st Baronet was the third son of John Orde, of Morpeth, Northumberland, and the brother of Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton...
provoked a storm of protest, which eventually culminated in Orde challenging St Vincent to a duel, and being subsequently ordered to return to Britain. On 9 May Nelson collected the ships of the line HMS Alexander
HMS Alexander (1778)
HMS Alexander was a Royal Navy 74-gun third-rate. This ship of the line was launched at Deptford on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819...
and HMS Orion
HMS Orion (1787)
HMS Orion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford on 1 June 1787 to the design of the , by William Bately...
under Captains Alexander Ball and Sir James Saumarez the frigates HMS Emerald and HMS Terpsichore
HMS Terpsichore (1785)
HMS Terpsichore was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars...
under Captains Thomas Moutray Waller and William Hall Gage
William Hall Gage
Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Hall Gage GCB GCH was Second Sea Lord in the British Navy.-Naval career:Born the third son of General Thomas Gage, Gage joined the Royal Navy in 1789. In 1797 he was given command of the frigate HMS Terpsichore and sailed in the Mediterranean to conduct the Siege...
and the sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
HMS Bonne Citoyenne under Captain Robert Retalick at Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, and passed into the Mediterranean. Despite leaving under cover of darkness, Nelson's departure was observed by Spanish forces at Cadiz, and the fort at Cape Carnero fired several shot, striking Alexander but inflicting negligible damage.
On 17 May Terpsichore captured the privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
La Pierre off Cape Sicié, and from the crew Nelson learned that Bonaparte's departure was imminent, although the destination was still unknown. On 21 May, as his squadron reached the Îles d'Hyères
Îles d'Hyères
The Îles d'Hyères is a group of three islands off Hyères in the Var département, in the south-east of France. The three mediterranean islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant. Together, they make up an area of .-See also:...
near Toulon, they were struck by strong winds that snapped Vanguard
San Pietro Island
San Pietro Island is an island approximately 7 km off the South western Coast of Sardinia, Italy, facing the Sulcis peninsula. With 51 km² it is the sixth largest island of Italy by area. The approximately 6,000 inhabitants are mostly concentrated in the fishing town of Carloforte, the...
off Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
for repairs, the gale had forced the squadron's frigates to separate from the larger ships.
Thomas Waller on Emerald was divided from the other frigates, and his lookouts had observed Vanguard in its dismasted state at the height of the storm. The other two frigates had reefed their sails and ridden out the storm together, Captain Gage turning towards the Spanish coast when the storm abated and on 29 May encountered HMS Alcmene
HMS Alcmene (1794)
HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy...
under Captain George Johnstone Hope
George Johnstone Hope
Rear-Admiral Sir George Johnstone Hope, KCB was a British naval officer, who served with distinction in the Royal Navy throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including service at the Battle of Trafalgar...
, which had been sent by St. Vincent to augment Nelson's force. Two days later Hope's squadron encountered Emerald, which had captured two merchant ships, and together they sailed for the prearranged rendezvous point 60 miles (96.6 km) off Cape St. Sebastian near Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
. Hope ordered Terpsichore and Bonne Citoyenne to cruise off Sardinia and on 3 June encountered the brig HMS Mutine
HMS Mutine (1797)
HMS Mutine was a French 16-gun corvette launched in 1794 at Honfleur.The Royal Navy captured her from the French in May 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Mutine was sold in 1803.-French service:...
under Captain Thomas Hardy, the scout of a fleet sent by Earl St. Vincent that was approaching the rendezvous. Knowing of the damaged suffered by Vanguard and aware that the French had left Toulon, Hope then took the unilateral decision to search for the French himself, dispersing the frigates across the Western Mediterranean. Hope's ships failed to find either the British or French fleets and none of the frigates returned to Nelson's command until after the Battle of the Nile.
Malta
Departing Toulon on 19 May, Bonaparte's fleet passed along the coast of ProvenceProvence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
to Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, where 72 additional transport ships were collected. Sailing south, the fleet reached Corsica on 23 May and collected a fleet of 22 transports from Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
on 28 May. The convoy remained within sight of the eastern coastline until 30 May, crossing the Strait of Bonifacio
Strait of Bonifacio
The Strait of Bonifacio is the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, named after the Corsican town Bonifacio. It is wide and divides the Tyrrhenian Sea from the western Mediterranean Sea...
and following the coastline of Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
in anticipation of combining with fleets of transports sailing from Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia
Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometers west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. The harbor is formed by two piers and a breakwater, on which is a lighthouse...
. On 3 June, a message reached Bonaparte reporting the presence of Nelson's squadron at San Pietro and the French general sent a French squadron to investigate, although by that time Nelson had sailed and the harbour was empty. Abandoning the wait for the Civitavecchia force, which had still not arrived, Bonaparte gave orders for his fleet to turn southeast, passing Mazara on Sicily and the island of Pantelleria
Pantelleria
Pantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
on 7 June. There a report from a captured British merchant brig warned Bonaparte that Nelson was only a short distance behind his force with a powerful Royal Navy fleet and, concerned for his transports, Bonaparte gave urgent orders for the French fleet to steer for Malta, arriving off Valletta
Valletta
Valletta is the capital of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt in Maltese. It is located in the central-eastern portion of the island of Malta, and the historical city has a population of 6,098. The name "Valletta" is traditionally reserved for the historic walled citadel that serves as Malta's...
at 05:30 on 9 June, shortly after uniting with the 56 ships of the Civitavecchia convoy, which had missed the rendezvous and continued to Malta alone.
The report on Nelson's activity submitted to Bonaparte on 7 June was inaccurate: Repairs to Vanguard in San Pietro took six days, the squadron sailing on 27 May for Toulon, arriving off the harbour on 31 May. Nelson had already learned of the departure of the French fleet from a captured Marseilles merchant ship, but without reinforcements or knowledge of the French direction he could not begin a pursuit. On 5 June, the brig HMS Mutine arrived off Toulon and reported that a British fleet was only a few days away, consisting of ten ships of the line and a fourth rate sent by Earl St Vincent from the Tagus on 24 May under Captain Thomas Troubridge
Sir Thomas Troubridge, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Troubridge, 1st Baronet was a British naval commander and politician.Troubridge was educated at St Paul's School, London. He entered the Royal Navy in 1773 and, together with Nelson, served in the East Indies in the frigate Seahorse. In 1785 he returned to England in the Sultan as...
in HMS Culloden
HMS Culloden (1783)
HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 16 June 1783 at Rotherhithe. She took part in some of the most famous battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars....
. St Vincent, acting under urgent orders from London to send a fleet to the Mediterranean had opted to split his forces, rather than risk taking all of his ships into the Mediterranean and leaving the Spanish at Cadiz unattended. Troubridge was considered by St Vincent to be the best officer in the fleet, and Nelson, who also held a high opinion of Troubridge, immediately sailed his squadron to the scheduled rendezvous point. On 6 June, his squadron briefly intercepting a Spanish merchant convoy and capturing two ships before the admiral called off the pursuit to ensure he arrived at the agreed time. On 7 June at 12:00 the fleets combined, Nelson now commanding 13 74-gun ships of the line, one 50-gun ship and one brig. Noticeable by their absence were frigates, vital for scouting operations in a campaign of this nature; After his encounter with Hope, Hardy reported to Nelson that the frigates were cruising independently, to which the admiral bitterly responded "I had thought that Hope would have known me better".
Nelson's search
Delayed until 10 June by a calm and still unaware of French intentions, Nelson initially sailed along the Corsican coast, before anchoring at Elba on 12 June and sending Mutine into Civitavecchia for information. Hardy was unable to discover the French destination and, after a detour to Elba with his whole fleet, Nelson continued south. Two days later, the admiral spoke with a Tunisian ship at GiannutriGiannutri
Giannutri is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the most southerly island of the Tuscan Archipelago and a frazione of the comune of Isola del Giglio....
, which passed on the inaccurate information that the French had been seen off Trapani
Trapani
Trapani is a city and comune on the west coast of Sicily in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Egadi Islands.-History:...
, and might be anchored at Syracuse. On 17 June Nelson anchored at the Pontine Islands
Pontine Islands
The Pontine Islands are an archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the west coast of Italy. The islands were collectively named after the largest island in the group, Ponza. The other islands in the archipelago are Palmarola, Zannone,...
off Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and sent Troubridge ashore to appeal to the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton
William Hamilton (diplomat)
Sir William Hamilton KB, PC, FRS was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist. After a short period as a Member of Parliament, he served as British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples from 1764 to 1800...
for information and for the assistance of the Neapolitan Navy in scouting for the French. Although the Neapolitan Prime Minister Sir John Acton
Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet
Sir John Francis Edward Acton, 6th Baronet was commander of the naval forces of Grand Duchy of Tuscany and prime minister of Naples under Ferdinand IV....
had already passed on reports that the French were sailing for Egypt, Hamilton did not give the report to Nelson, possibly suspicious of disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...
. Hamilton did however relay the information that Bonaparte's fleet had passed Sardinia and were probably sailing in the direction of Malta. Despite private animosity towards France, the Neapolitan government refused to openly join the British in the war and denied Nelson the use of their frigates, although they did quietly agree to resupply Nelson's fleet. With a rough direction established and believing the ultimate French destination to be Sicily, Nelson sailed in pursuit, but light winds hampered his advances and he did not pass the Straits of Messina until 20 June. There he received a report from the ambassador at Messina that the French were at Malta. Then on 22 June near Cape Passaro, Hardy stopped a Genoese ship from Ragusa
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
that reported seeing the French fleet sailing southwards away from Malta, and that they had left Valletta on 16 June. This information was wrong (or mistranslated) in one important respect: although preparations had begun on 16 June the French had actually not departed until 19 June, and Nelson's fleet was just 60 nautical miles (111.1 km) miles away from Brueys. Nelson decided that the French target must be Egypt or Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and called his senior captains: Saumarez, Ball, Troubridge and Henry Darby
Henry D'Esterre Darby
Admiral Sir Henry D'Esterre Darby, KCB, was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was the second son of Jonathan Darby IV Esq., of Leap Castle, in King's County, Ireland. He was the nephew of Vice Admiral George Darby...
on board Vanguard for a conference. Together these officers determined Egypt as the most likely option, deducing that it was the best location in the Mediterranean from which Bonaparte could threaten India. Consequently Nelson turned southeast towards Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, exercising his men's gunnery daily to ensure they were ready for the battle he planned. His plan should his force encounter the French was clear: dividing into three squadrons, his fleet would strike the French at three points. Two squadrons of five ships each would engage the French fleet directly while the third would separate and attack the transports, sinking or capturing as many as possible. Nelson also deliberately forged close links with his captains at regular dinners aboard his flagship to ensure ease of communication and build confidence between them. He later said of this time that "I had the happiness to command a Band of Brothers
Nelson's Band of Brothers
Band of Brothers was a phrase used by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson to refer to the captains under his command just prior to and at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. The phrase, taken from Shakespeare's Henry V, later came to be more generally applied to his relationship with the captains and men under...
."
Bonaparte at Malta
While Nelson was gathering his fleet and searching for the French, Bonaparte had secured the first stage of his plan for the invasion of Egypt. Arriving off Malta on 9 June, he appealed to the island's ruler, Ferdinand von Hompesch zu BolheimFerdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim
Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim was the 71st Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, the first German to be elected to the office....
, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
(or Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) to allow his fleet to enter the harbour and purchase provisions. Hompesch refused, insisting that only two ships at a time could enter the port. Bonaparte responded by opening fire on the harbour defences and on 11 June landed soldiers at seven sites around Malta under General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers
Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers
thumbLouis Baraguey d'Hilliers was a French Army general who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was the father of Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers, a Marshal of France.-French Revolution:...
. Coming under fire from the 2,000 native Maltese soldiers that mustered against the invasion, skirmishing continued in the western part of the island for 24 hours, until General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois
Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois
Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. On 20 August 1808 he was created Comte de Belgrand de Vaubois...
entered Mdina
Mdina
Mdina, Città Vecchia, or Città Notabile, is the old capital of Malta. Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island. Punic remains uncovered beyond the city’s walls suggest the importance of the general region to Malta’s Phoenician settlers. Mdina is commonly...
and the defenders withdrew to the fortress of Valletta. The Maltese troops refused to continue the fight without support from their government, and negotiations followed in which Hompesch and the knights agreed to abandon Malta on condition of financial compensation amounting to 3 million Francs. In exchange, Bonaparte gained the entire Maltese archipelago, including fortresses, military stores and cannon, the small Maltese Navy and Army and the entire property of the Roman Catholic Church in Malta.
The Maltese position had already been severely weakened by the large number of Frenchmen serving in the Maltese Army, who refused en masse to take up arms against Bonaparte. The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
had already significantly reduced the Knight's income and their ability to put up serious resistance to Bonaparte was seriously compromised by a lack of resources. On 12 June, Bonaparte finally announced to his troops the destination of the expedition and on 19 June he sailed for Alexandria, initially steering east towards Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
. He left behind Vaubois and 4,000 men to maintain Malta as a base to control the Central Mediterranean. To ensure that news of the impending attack on Egypt did not spread ahead of the fleet, Brueys ordered that any merchant ships that sighted the convoy during the passage were to be seized and detained until his force had reached Alexandria. On 26 June, the British gained the first firm intelligence of French intentions, when the frigate HMS Seahorse under Captain Edward Foote
Edward Foote
Vice-Admiral Sir Edward James Foote, KCB was a prominent Royal Navy officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He served on a number of ships and at several actions, but is best known for becoming caught up in the aftermath of the collapse of the Parthenopean Republic at...
encountered and captured
Action of 27 June 1798
The Action of 27 June 1798 was a minor naval engagement between British and French frigates in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The engagement formed part of a wider campaign, in which a major French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria at the start of the Napoleonic campaign in...
the French frigate Sensible
French frigate Sensible (1788)
Sensible was a 32-gun Magicienne-class frigate of the French Navy. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1798 and taken in to service as HMS Sensible. She was lost in a grounding off Ceylon in 1802.-French Navy service:...
, which was returning to Toulon from Malta with a cargo of treasure and wounded soldiers, including General d'Hilliers. From these prisoners the destination of the French fleet was discovered and Seahorse, joined shortly afterwards by Terpsichore, sailed in pursuit, hoping to encounter Nelson.
Arrivals at Alexandria
Nelson's passage from Sicily to Alexandria was uneventful, the journey taking six days. Due to his lack of frigates, Nelson was unable to scout to the flanks of his advance and as a result only spoke with three merchant ships, none of which had useful information about the French fleet. The lack of frigates had already had a decisive effect on 22 June, when the British fleet sighted four sails to the southeast. Although Captain Thomas ThompsonSir Thomas Thompson, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, 1st Baronet GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American Revolutionary, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral...
of HMS Leander
HMS Leander (1780)
HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her....
requested permission to investigate the strangers, Nelson refused and ordered his fleet to continue on their current heading, believing the French to be five days ahead and wishing to reach Alexandria as rapidly as possible. Had British frigates been available to approach and investigate the distant squadron, they might have discovered that they were scouts for the main French fleet, which was only a short distance away. The French frigate had sighted the British fleet and reported its presence to Bonaparte, who adjusted his convoy's direction slightly to a more northerly trajectory. As a result, Nelson's fleet passed north of the French to the east of Malta during the night in a heavy mist. Although Nelson was so close that his signal guns could be heard aboard Orient, his lookouts did not observe the French ships and the British fleet continued ahead without deviating. When dawn broke the following day, Bonaparte's diversion to the northeast had taken his convoy out of sight of the British fleet, which continued to the southeast undisturbed. On 28 June, Mutine arrived at Alexandria ahead of Nelson's fleet, and discovered that the French fleet was not in the harbour. Subsequent attempts to contact the British Consul George Baldwin
George Baldwin (diplomat)
George Baldwin was a British merchant, writer and diplomat of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries whose career was principally based in Egypt, where he established valuable trade links for the East India Company and negotiated directly with the Ottoman governors...
failed as he had been dismissed by the British government shortly before and had left the city. As a result, official diplomatic channels were closed to Nelson. A message warning of the French approach was carried to the Ottoman governor Sayyid Muhammad Kurayyim by Hardy in Mutine. Kurayyim replied that he had not seen the French fleet, and that he would enforce the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
's neutrality and forbid both the British and the French from entering the harbour or landing on the coast. He was dismissive of the British warnings: "It is impossible that the French should come to our country. They have no business here and we are not at war with them." Without Baldwin no further entries could be made, and when there was still no sign of the French on the morning of 29 June, Nelson decided to turn back northeast and take another pass across the central Mediterranean towards Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, following a more northerly course than his first voyage.
Invasion of Egypt
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
during the 30 June and reached Alexandria the following morning, driven by the fresh meltemi
Meltemi
Meltemi commonly refers to:* Meltemi , for mobile devices* Etesian, for winds...
winds. Bonaparte's first action was to sent a small brig into the harbour to collect the French consul, Charles Magallon, who relayed the news of Nelson's stay off the port and of Kurayyim's refusal to allow the French to land. Seriously concerned that Nelson might return while his men were still in their transports, Bonaparte gave orders for the landing to go ahead immediately. Soldiers were landed in the region of the Mirabou Creek, although the appearance of a sail to the east was mistaken for a scout from the British fleet and caused momentary panic, Bonaparte reportedly exclaiming: "Fortune, m'abandonnerais-tu? Quoi! Seulement cinq jours!" (Fortune, wilt thou abandon me? What! Only five days!). The newcomer was eventually revealed to be the French frigate Justice
French frigate Justice (1794)
The Justice was a Virginie class frigate of the French Navy, originally built and completed as Courageuse in 1794, but renamed Justice in April 1795....
sent from Malta, and the invasion continued unopposed. By evening the landing had been completed, although several boats had been wrecked in the surf and Bonaparte himself estimated that at least 20 men had drowned.
On 2 July, Bonaparte led his men to victory in the brief Battle of Alexandria and secured the city. He placed General Jean Baptiste Kléber
Jean Baptiste Kléber
Jean Baptiste Kléber was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. His military career started in Habsburg service, but his plebeian ancestry hindered his opportunities...
in command with Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
Vice-Admiral Count Pierre-Etienne-René-Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley was a French Navy officer, best known for commanding the vanguard of the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...
in charge of the harbour. Finding that entrances to the anchorage were too shallow to accommodate the main body of the French fleet, Bonaparte ordered Brueys to sail his squadron to the wider Aboukir Bay, 20 miles (32.2 km) northeast of Alexandria. Brueys was instructed that if he considered the anchorage to be unsafe then he was to sail for Corfu, leaving only a small light force that could anchor comfortably in Alexandria. There Brueys held a conference with his officers to decide on their response should Nelson discover them in the bay. Although Rear-Admiral Armand Blanquet
Armand Blanquet du Chayla
Count Armand Blanquet du Chayla was an officer in the French Navy, most famous as second in command of the French fleet during its defeat at the Battle of the Nile.-Early actions:...
of Franklin argued that the fleet was safest sailing out to meet the British, he was outvoted and overruled, Brueys ordering that the ships remain anchored in line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
to receive the British attack. On 21 July, the frigates Seahorse and Terpsichore arrived at Alexandria and observed the French dispositions while flying French colours to confuse observers from the shore. With no sign of Nelson, Foote and Hall turned back westwards in search of the admiral. When Brueys learned that British frigates had been seen off the Egyptian coast, he decided that the retreat of these vessels signified that there was no danger of imminent attack by a British force and therefore failed to take precautions against attack.
Nelson returns
Nelson, having sailed northeast on the same day that the first French ships arrived off Alexandria, had reached AnatoliaAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
on 4 July and turned westward against the wind, sailing for Sicily again. His ships were briefly scattered by a storm on 5 July, before reconstituting the following day and on 18 July the British fleet reached Cape Passaro again and on 19 July Nelson's force anchored in Syracuse to take on fresh provisions supplied in part by Lady Emma Hamilton, the wife of the ambassador to Naples. Frustrated, Nelson wrote in a letter to his wife Fanny
Frances Nelson
Frances "Fanny" Nelson, Viscountess Nelson , is best known as the wife of Horatio Nelson, the British naval officer who won several victories over the French during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
; "Every moment I have to regret the frigates having left me, to which must be attributed the my ignorance of the movements of the enemy." Reports subsequently reached the British fleet at Syracuse that the French had not been seen in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the Adriatic or in the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
, leaving either Egypt or Syria as the only likely destinations. Sailing once more on 25 July, Nelson turned his ships east once again sailing for Morea and sending Troubridge in Culloden into Coron
Koroni
Koroni or Coroni is a town and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pylos-Nestoras, of which it is a municipal unit. Known as Corone by the Venetians and Ottomans, the town of Koroni Koroni or Coroni is a...
on 28 July for news. The Ottoman governor reported that the French had been seen sailing southwards from Crete at the start of the month and presented Troubridge with a French merchant ship that was anchored in the harbour. With their first definite sighting of the French, the British fleet turned southwards towards Alexandria.
Battle of the Nile
On 1 August, Nelson's fleet reached the Egyptian coast, the ships HMS SwiftsureHMS Swiftsure (1787)
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars...
and HMS Alexander
HMS Alexander (1778)
HMS Alexander was a Royal Navy 74-gun third-rate. This ship of the line was launched at Deptford on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819...
detached as scouts to investigate Alexandria harbour. Although the transport fleet was observed in the harbour, the French battle fleet was not. Despite initial disappointment, Nelson ordered his ships to search the coastline, and at 14:00 lookouts on HMS Zealous
HMS Zealous (1785)
HMS Zealous was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Barnard of Deptford and launched on 25 June 1785.She served in a number of battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, notably the Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ship Guerrier,...
reported the French anchored in line of battle
Line of battle
In naval warfare, the line of battle is a tactic in which the ships of the fleet form a line end to end. A primitive form had been used by the Portuguese under Vasco Da Gama in 1502 near Malabar against a Muslim fleet.,Maarten Tromp used it in the Action of 18 September 1639 while its first use in...
in Aboukir Bay. Brueys believed that his line, protected by shoals to the north and west, was impenetrable and that as a result the British would be forced to attack the rear and centre of his fleet. He consequently placed his strongest ships at these points, planning to stall the British fleet while his van used the prevailing northeasterly wind to counterattack. Brueys was also confident that the British fleet, strung out and with nightfall approaching, would not attack that day. He believed that Nelson would anchor off the bay and attack in the morning, giving Brueys time to prepare and leaving open the option of simply sailing away during the night, following Bonaparte's orders to avoid a direct confrontation with the British fleet.
Nelson's attack
Despite Brueys hopes, Nelson was determined to press home his attack at once and ordered his ships to advance, only pausing to fit springs on their anchor cables, which would allow them to easily direct their broadsideBroadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
s in cramped, shallow coastal waters. Without an accurate chart of the bay, Nelson was forced to be cautious in his advance, and ordered Captain Samuel Hood in Zealous to take soundings as he advanced to establish the depth of the bay. At 18:20, as the British ships HMS Goliath
HMS Goliath (1781)
HMS Goliath was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy. She was launched on 19 October 1781 at Deptford Dockyard. She was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, Battle of the Nile, and Battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815....
and Zealous rounded the northern shoal, the leading French ships Guerrier
French ship Guerrier (1754)
The Guerrier was a Magnifique class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of Minorca and in the Battle of Lagos...
and Conquérant
French ship Conquérant (1747)
The Conquérant was a Citoyen class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she was armed with only 18- and 12-pounders, and crewed by a mere 400 men, under captain Dalbarade. Second ship in the vanguard of her line, Conquérant sustained fire from...
opened fire. As he approached the French line, Captain Thomas Foley in Goliath noticed that Brueys had made a serious error in the distribution of his forces. Rather than place his lead ship Guerrier close to the northern shoal, the French admiral had left a gap, widened by the order for the French fleet to only anchor by the bow which meant that they drifted significantly, between Guerrier and the shoals. Sailing directly through this gap, Foley raked
Raking fire
In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...
Guerrier and engaged the second ship of the French line, Conquérant. Zealous also passed through the gap and attacked Guerrier, and was followed by HMS Orion
HMS Orion (1787)
HMS Orion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford on 1 June 1787 to the design of the , by William Bately...
, HMS Theseus
HMS Theseus (1786)
HMS Theseus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.One of the eight Culloden class ships designed by Thomas Slade, she was built at Perry, Blackwall Yard, London and launched on 25 September 1786.-Service:...
and HMS Audacious
HMS Audacious (1785)
HMS Audacious was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 July 1785 at Rotherhithe. She was the first ship to bear the name....
, all of which opened up a fierce fire on the first four French ships against their unprepared port sides.
Nelson followed in Vanguard, bringing the next two ships into action with the starboard side of the French van, catching the French ships and a crossfire that rapidly battered and dismasted the ships, despite determined defence. As the French van was destroyed, HMS Bellerophon
HMS Bellerophon (1786)
The first HMS Bellerophon of the Royal Navy was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line launched on 6 October 1786 at Frindsbury on the River Medway, near Chatham. She was built at the shipyard of Edward Greaves to the specifications of the Arrogant, designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1758, the lead ship...
and HMS Majestic
HMS Majestic (1785)
HMS Majestic was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line launched on 11 December 1785 at Deptford. She fought at the Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ships Tonnant and Heureux, helping to force their surrenders...
attacked the French centre. Outnumbered and faced with the massed broadsides of Orient and the 80-gun Franklin and Tonnant
HMS Tonnant (1792)
Tonnant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy and lead ship of the Tonnant class. Admiral Nelson captured her at Aboukir Bay on 1 August 1798. The Royal Navy then took her into service...
, both British ships suffered massive damage. Culloden, bringing up the rear of the British line, passed too close to the northern shoal and grounded, Troubridge suffering severe damage to his hull despite efforts by Mutine and Leander to drag the ship off. By 19:00 darkness had fallen, and within an hour the French van had been defeated, Guerrier, Conquérant, Spartiate, Aquilon
French ship Aquilon (1789)
The Aquilon was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.She served off Italy under Brueys, and took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she fought HMS Vanguard, HMS Minotaur and HMS Theseus. She was captured and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Aboukir.- External links...
and Peuple Souverain all either in British hands or too badly damaged to continue fighting. The British too had suffered damage, with Vanguard and Goliath badly hit while to the south both Bellerophon and Majestic had been forced to cut their anchor cables and pull away from their respective opponents. Bellerophon had been dismasted, Majestic
Destruction of Orient
Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars
Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars was a French naval officer, and a hero of the Battle of Aboukir, where he died....
succeeded in dragging his ship to the temporary safety of the rear division under Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....
.
At 04:00 on 2 August, firing began again between Villeneuve's ships and a scratch British squadron formed from the less damaged ships. By 11:00, Villeneuve had conducted a successful fighting withdrawal to the mouth of the bay, and was able to escape to open water. However, Villeneuve had been forced to abandon the battered Tonnant and the grounded Timoléon
French ship Commerce de Bordeaux (1785)
The Commerce de Bordeaux was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.Renamed Timoléon in February 1794, she took part in the Battle of the Nile under captain Louis-Léonce Trullet. In the confusion of the battle, her rudder was damaged by misdirected fire from the neighbouring...
, retaining just two ships of the line and two frigates. While Villeneuve escaped, British ships received the surrender of Heureux
French ship Heureux (1783)
The Heureux was a Centaure class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.She cruised in the Mediterranean in 1794 and 1795.Under Captain Jean-Pierre Etienne, she took part in the Expedition to Egypt, and in the Battle of the Nile. The first ship to spot the British fleet on 1 August, Heureux...
and Mercure
French ship Mercure (1783)
The Mercure was a 74-gun Séduisant-class ship of the line of the French Navy.She took part in the Battle of the Nile under Captain Cambon. She fought against HMS Majestic and was captured by HMS Alexander. Damaged beyond repair and aground, she was burnt.-See also:*List of ships captured in the...
, which had grounded shortly after the explosion of Orient, and forced the captain of the frigate Artémise
French frigate Artémise (1794)
The Artémise was a Magicienne class frigate of the French Navy.She was under construction as Aurore in Toulon when the British seized the city...
to scuttle his vessel. On 3 August, Theseus and Leander were sent to complete the destruction of the French fleet; Tonnant surrendered and Timoléon was set on fire by its crew and destroyed.
Subsequent operations
With the exception of Villeneuve's fugitives, the French Mediterranean Fleet had been annihilated. Nine of eleven ships of the line had been captured or destroyed, as well as two frigates. French casualties totalled more than 3,000 and possibly as many as 5,000, compared to British losses of 218 killed and 677 wounded. However, many of Nelson's ships were seriously damaged, and urgent repairs were required for both his own ships and the captured prizes before they could begin the long voyage back to Britain. For more than two weeks Nelson remained in Aboukir Bay, effecting repairs, writing despatches and assessing the strategic situation in Egypt. The first ship detached from his squadron was Leander, sent on 5 August to the fleet under Earl St. Vincent off CadizCádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
with reports of the battle. On 8 August Aboukir Island was stormed and captured, and on 12 August Emerald, Alcmene and Bonne Citoyenne finally caught up with the fleet, followed on 17 August by Seahorse and Terpsichore. Mutine was detached on 13 August with despatches for the Admiralty and on 14 August Nelson sent seven ships with the six seaworthy prizes to the mouth of Aboukir Bay under the command of Saumarez. This convoy sailed for Gibraltar on 15 August and the following day Nelson burnt Heureux, followed on 18 August by Mercure and Guerrier, none of which were fit for continued service. On 19 August Nelson separated his remaining ships, leading three vessels northwards towards Naples and leaving a blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
squadron off Alexandria of Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure and the frigates, under Captain Samuel Hood.
By the time Nelson departed Alexandria, his first set of dispatches were already in French hands. Leander had been discovered off the western coast of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
on 18 August 1798
Action of 18 August 1798
The Action of 18 August 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between the British fourth rate ship HMS Leander and the French ship of the line Généreux...
by the French ship of the line Généreux, one of Villeneuve's escapees. After separating from Villeneuve's squadron on 17 August, Généreux was sailing to Corfu when it encountered the British fourth rate. The larger French ship soon overtook the British vessel and a heated exchange followed: French efforts to board Leander were driven back with heavy casualties, and Captain Thompson at one stage successfully raked his opponent, but gradually the heavier weight of Généreux inflicted severe damage to the British ship and after six and a half hours Thompson was forced to surrender. The French captain, Le Joille, then authorised widespread looting of the personal effects of the British crew, whom he also forced to conduct repairs on both ships, an act against the established conventions of naval warfare. The prize was towed to Corfu for repairs, the two battered vessels briefly encountering Mutine, which escaped to the westwards before Généreux could give chase. In captivity Le Joille continued to refuse to allow the British officers medical attention or return their stolen property. Eventually returned to Britain, Thompson and Berry were knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
and heavily praised for their defence of their ship against heavy odds, while Le Joille was also commended for his success, assisted by his incorrect account of the battle published in French newspapers.
Alexandria
With the French naval presence in the Mediterranean reduced to a few scattered vessels, the allies of the Second Coalition were able to exert their dominance in the region. Off Alexandria, the squadron under Captain Hood successfully prevented communications between France and the French army in Egypt. On 22 August, just three days after Nelson sailed north, Alcmene intercepted the 6-gun dispatch vessel Légère off Alexandria harbour and forced the captain to surrender. As his flag was struck, the captain hurled the dispatches into the sea. This action was witnessed by sailors John Taylor and John Harding aboard Alcmene and both men dived into the water, successfully retrieving the messages. For their bravery in diving from a rapidly moving ship into unknown waters, both men were granted annual pensions of £20 (the equivalent of £ as of ). Three days after the capture of Légère, Captain Foley of Goliath sent a boat into the sheltered anchorage under Aboukir Castle, where his men boarded and captured the armed ketchKetch
A ketch is a sailing craft with two masts: a main mast, and a shorter mizzen mast abaft of the main mast, but forward of the rudder post. Both masts are rigged mainly fore-and-aft. From one to three jibs may be carried forward of the main mast when going to windward...
Torride, one of the vessels that had fired on the British advance during the Battle of the Nile. On 2 September, another dispatch vessel reached the Egyptian coast, the 4-gun cutter Anémone carrying General Camin and 60 men from Malta. Swiftsure and Emerald managed to cut off the vessel from Alexandria harbour and drive it ashore near the town of Marabou. Although the cutter swiftly broke up in the surf, most of the men aboard managed to scramble ashore. There, while the British ships lay off shore unable to intervene, Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
partisans
Partisan (military)
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity...
discovered the survivors and massacred them, dragging the few survivors inland when French cavalry mounted a rescue mission. The only survivors were rescued by Lieutenant Francis William Fane
Francis William Fane
Rear-Admiral Francis William Fane son of John Fane was a British Royal Navy officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who served in several engagements while commissioned on the frigate HMS Terpsichore, including the blockade of Alexandria...
, who swam to shore with an empty barrel attached to a rope. Despite coming under fire from the French on the beach, he was able to save five men from the Bedouin attack.
In October the small British squadron at Alexandria was briefly reinforced by a Portuguese squadron of four ships of the line and the 64-gun HMS Lion
HMS Lion (1777)
HMS Lion was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, of the Worcester class, launched on 3 September 1777 at Portsmouth Dockyard....
under Captain Manley Dixon
Manley Dixon
Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, KCB was a prominent Royal Navy officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Born into a military family in the late 1750s or early 1760s, Dixon joined the Navy and served as a junior officer in the American Revolutionary War, gaining an independent...
, although the Portuguese sailed for Malta after only a few days. On 19 October the squadron was joined by two Turkish corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
s, two Russian frigates and 16 small Turkish gunboats, arranged by Hood on a visit to Rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
in Swiftsure the week before. The gunboats were subsequently used to bombard Aboukir Castle and a French encampment at Lake Maadie on 25 October, although results were negligible. After the first day the Turkish crews were replaced with British sailors, but except for a complaint from the French that "unfair" incendiary weapons were used in the attack, nothing was achieved. The incendiary shells subsequently proved to have been taken from the captured Spartiate following the battle on 1 August and were found to be made of a substance that burned even under water. After three days the bombardment was abandoned and no further activity took place on the Egyptian coast during the remainder of the year. The Turkish and Russian vessels were eventually withdrawn in December, while Lion was detached to join the blockade of Malta.
Ionian Sea
The main Mediterranean fleets of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire were deployed in the Ionian SeaIonian Sea
The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...
. At the Treaty of Campo Formio, France had been awarded the Ionian Islands
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
and the four fortresses of Butrinto, Praga
Praga
Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...
, Preveza
Preveza
Preveza is a town in the region of Epirus, northwestern Greece, located at the mouth of the Ambracian Gulf. It is the capital of the regional unit of Preveza, which is part of the region of Epirus. An immersed tunnel, completed in 2002 which runs between Preveza and Actium, connects the town...
and Vonizza
Vonitsa
Vonitsa is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. Population 4,081 . The town is situated in the bay overlooking the Ambracian Gulf and has a small forested peninsula, the peninsula and its narrow strait is in the northwest of...
on the Albanian and Greek coasts. In early October 1798, following the declaration of war between France and the Ottomans, a large Turkish army had advanced across the Balkans and rapidly forced the fortresses to surrender. At the same time, the Ionian Islands were attacked by a joint Russian and Turkish expeditionary force, which included ten Russian ships of the line, numerous smaller Russian vessels and approximately 30 assorted Turkish ships. On board were 8,000 Turkish soldiers, which rapidly invaded and seized the islands of Paxi
Paxi
Paxi or Paxoi is the name given to the smallest group of the Ionian Islands . In Greek it is a plural form and it refers to a complex of islands, the largest of which are Paxos and Antipaxos...
, Santa Maura, Theaki, Cephalonia, Zante and Cerigo, capturing 1,500 French prisoners by 10 October. Only the large fortified island of Corfu held out, and there the defenders were forced back into the main town
Corfu (city)
Corfu is a city and a former municipality on the island of Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipality Corfu, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island and of the Corfu regional unit. The city also serves as a capital...
. Although the town was besieged, operations were slow and the blockade was only loosely enforced, allowing Généreux to successfully breakout and reach Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
. By the end of the year little had changed, the French garrison remaining besieged in Corfu.
Malta and Naples
Further westwards, the newly captured French island of Malta was under a much more diligent blockade. The returning convoy from Aboukir Bay under Saumarez reached Malta in September. There he encountered a squadron of four PortuguesePortuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....
ships of the line and the British ship Lion under the command of Tomás Xavier Teles de Castro da Gama, Marquess de Niza
Count of Vidigueira
Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese count title of nobility awarded by King Manuel I of Portugal to Dom Vasco da Gama, who discovered the maritime route from Europe to India...
, initially sending them on to Alexandria. While anchored off Malta awaiting favourable winds, a delegation of native Maltese citizens was brought on board Saumarez's ship Orion on 25 September. They announced that the Maltese people, infuriated with French disestablishment of the Roman Catholic Church on Malta, had risen up against the French garrison and were forcing them back towards the fortress of Valletta. Saumarez attempted to negotiate the surrender of the island with Vaubois, but was rebuffed. Unable to delay his passage to Gibraltar any longer, Saumarez gave the Maltese 1,200 muskets and promised to send assistance as soon as he was able. By 12 October, the French were besieged in Valletta by 10,000 Maltese irregulars. Vaubois had only 3,000 healthy troops, although the arrival of Villeneuve with the ship of the line Guillaume Tell and two frigates did bolster his defences.
On the same day that the French retreated to Valletta, Nelson despatched the ships Alexander, Culloden and HMS Colossus
HMS Colossus (1787)
HMS Colossus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Gravesend on 4 April 1787 and lost on 10 December 1798.-Early history:...
from his squadron at Naples to blockade the port, under the command of Captain Alexander Ball. Although the Neapolitans refused to deploy forces to Malta, which was technically their territory, the squadron was joined within a few days by Niza's Portuguese ships and then by Nelson, now Lord Nelson, in Vanguard on 24 October. Four days later, Nelson authorised Ball to negotiate the surrender of the nearby island of Gozo
Gozo
Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...
, the French abandoning the island's fortifications and the British capturing 24 cannon and 3,200 urgently required sacks of corn, which were distributed among the Maltese populace. With the French garrison trapped in Valletta, no further actions took place off Malta during the year, both sides settling in for a long siege.
While his captains enforced the blockade of Malta and Alexandria during September and October, Nelson was anchored in the Bay of Naples, enjoying the hospitality of King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina
Maria Carolina of Austria
Maria Carolina of Austria was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV & III. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her...
of the Kingdom of Naples. Arriving on 22 September, Vanguard was greeted with over 500 small vessels organised by the royal family and led by a barge carrying Sir William and Lady Emma Hamilton. Over the next weeks, Nelson was taken into the court as an honoured guest, and has subsequently been accused of neglecting his naval responsibilities. It was at this time that his mutual attraction to Lady Emma Hamilton developed in a romantic affair and he began to dabble in Neapolitan politics, combining with Maria Carolina
Maria Carolina of Austria
Maria Carolina of Austria was Queen of Naples and Sicily as the wife of King Ferdinand IV & III. As de facto ruler of her husband's kingdoms, Maria Carolina oversaw the promulgation of many reforms, including the revocation of the ban on Freemasonry, the enlargement of the navy under her...
, the francophobe Queen of Naples, to successfully encourage Ferdinand to go to war with France. Mustering his forces under General Mack
Karl Mack von Leiberich
Karl Mack von Leiberich, Freiherr was an Austrian soldier. He is best remembered as the commander of the Austrian forces that capitulated to Napoleon's Grande Armée in the Battle of Ulm in 1805. Historians of the late 20th century widely agree that he was among the poorest of the commanders of the...
, Ferdinand ordered the Neapolitan army to drive the French garrison out of Rome. The resulting campaign was a disaster for the Neapolitans; the French counter attacked and forced Ferdinand and his court to flee to Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
in Sicily, the French establishing the Parthenopean Republic in Naples to replace the monarchy.
Spain and Minorca
While Nelson was engaged in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean, the main Mediterranean Fleet under Earl St Vincent had ensured that the Spanish Navy was unable to intervene. On 24 May St Vincent was joined at the Tagus by a reinforcement of eight ships under Rear-Admiral Sir Roger CurtisRoger Curtis
Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, 1st Baronet, GCB was an officer of the British Royal Navy, who saw action in several battles during an extensive career that was punctuated by a number of highly controversial incidents...
, and the admiral ordered his ships to establish blockades off the southern Spanish ports, especially Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, where the main Spanish fleet lay at anchor. There regular correspondence passed between St Vincent and Admiral Don Joseph Massaredo, the Spanish commander. The Spanish fleet made no major deployments during the year, except for a single convoy of the ship of the line Monarca, two frigates and several merchant vessels that sailed in April. Although privateers and minor warships fought several small engagements along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, the only significant Spanish deployment of the remainder of the year was by a frigate squadron based at Cartagena
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
, which was intercepted by the British ship of the line Lion. At the ensuing Action of 15 July 1798
Action of 15 July 1798
The Action of 15 July 1798 was a minor naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought off the Spanish Mediterranean coast by the Royal Navy ship of the line HMS Lion under Captain Manley Dixon and a squadron of four Spanish Navy frigates under Commodore Don Felix O'Neil...
, the Spanish ships formed a line to meet the attack of Captain Dixon's ship but the damaged frigate Santa Dorotea fell behind the leading three frigates. As the leading ships returned to Catagena after a desultory long-range exchange of gunfire, Santa Dorotea was defeated and captured.
Once the French Mediterranean Fleet had been destroyed in Aboukir Bay, St Vincent was determined to restore British hegemony in the Mediterranean. To ensure this, his fleet needed a base with a well protected deep water harbour that could not be assaulted by land. The best island harbour in the Western Mediterranean was at Port Mahon
Mahon
Mahón is a municipality and the capital city of the Balearic Island of Minorca , located in the eastern part of the island. Mahon has the second deepest natural harbor in the world: 5 km long and up to 900m. wide...
on Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
, where a large modern dockyard included a careening wharf, extensive storehouses and a purpose-built naval hospital. These facilities were all British in manufacture, constructed during periods of occupation by British forces between 1708 – 1756 and 1763 – 1781. St Vincent therefore detached two ships of the line, three frigates and several smaller vessels and transports to the island under Commodore John Thomas Duckworth
John Thomas Duckworth
Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, 1st Baronet, GCB was a British naval officer, serving during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as the Governor of Newfoundland during the War of 1812, and a member of the British House of Commons during his...
, carrying a small army under Colonel Charles Stuart. The expeditionary force arrived off Minorca on 7 November and the troops were landed at Addaya Creek. There a Spanish attack was driven off and over the next two days the army continued inland, a detachment under Colonel Henry Paget
Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
Field Marshal Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG, GCB, GCH, PC , styled Lord Paget between 1784 and 1812 and known as The Earl of Uxbridge between 1812 and 1815, was a British military leader and politician, now chiefly remembered for leading the charge of the heavy cavalry against...
seizing Port Mahon while the main army received the surrender of town after town, including Fournella, which overlooked the island's principal protected anchorage. On 11 November a Spanish squadron of four frigates attempted to disrupt operations, but a swift counterattack by Duckworth's ships drove them off. By 16 November the town of Ciudadella capitulated and control of the island was ceded to British forces.