March 2, 2003 Note: This was first posted on August 1, 1998 on the newsgroup 'alt.books.david-weber'.

On August 1, 1798 occurred one of the more decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars. However, it is not that well known (at least in the United States, where the past is another country).

Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition had left Toulon on May 19, 1798 with high hopes (IIRC, the eventual conquest of India was one of the goals). Rumors of this expedition resulted in Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson being assigned (by Earl St. Vincent, commander of the English Mediterranean fleet) the task of stopping (and destroying) the French squadron attached to that expedition. He had (after reinforcements) a squadron of 13 74s (two deck third-rate ships of the line, the standard liner of the day), plus an obsolete 50 gun two-decker, and one brig (no frigates, they were sorely missed by him). Nelson spent over two months looking for the French (during which time, Napoleon had reached Egypt and defeated the Marmelukes thus taking control of Egypt). In the afternoon of August 1st, Nelson found the French Naval squadron at Aboukir Bay (at the Canopus mouth of the Nile).

Aboukir Bay was protected on the west by a shoal that had enough overhang to the north to cover over a thousand yards of the bay from the north as well. The French squadron (of 12 two deck 3rd rates and 1 three-deck 1st rate) was anchored in line about North by North West (directly into the wind). The rear end of the line was about due south of the end of the shoal. Four frigates were also anchored between the line and the shore. A number of gunboats and mortar bombs were anchored near the shore in shallow water.

The then current thinking held that such a position was difficult (even impossible) for a force of equal size to attack successfully. However, Nelson was much more interested in writing new chapters in the "Book" rather than following it by rote. Convinced that the lead ship of the French line (the "Guerrier") was too far from the shoal, he ordered an immediate attack, despite the lateness of the day. His squadron (except for the "Culloden" which cut the corner on the end of the shoal too tight and ran aground) was able to sail close enough to the wind to steer towards the front of the French line. His lead ship (the "Goliath") was able to round the bow of the "Guerrier" (at sunset), followed by three other ships which anchored on the shore side of the French line. A fifth ship (the well-named "Audacious") was able to shoot the gap between the "Guerrier" and the "Conquerant" and also anchored on the shore side. The rest of Nelson's squadron was to anchored in line on the outside of the French line (causing a local superiority of 2 to 1 against those French ships being attacked) and did so except for the "Leonard" (50 gun ship) whose captain managed find another gap and anchored her in a racking position of two French ships (which couldn't attack her, clever man).

The French commander, Vice Admiral Brueys, had not expected that Nelson would attack at sunset, but would wait for daylight the next day, and wasn't prepared to do battle. His squadron was at anchor, bow to the wind, and had much work to do before setting sail. About a thousand sailors (the best gunners) had been requistioned for Napoleon's army and weren't available. Also, the guns on the port (shore) side of his ships were far from ready for action. When the front of his line was enveloped, the end couldn't come to the rescue (straight up wind even if they had been able to set sail immediately) and couldn't run at night without worrying about the shoals on the EAST side of Aboukir Bay. Any one of Nelson's ships on the other hand could, after taking surrender of a French ship, drift downwind and attack another.

The fighting went on into the night. While several British ships took a good deal of damage (for example, the "Bellerophon" had been dismasted while engaging the "Orient"), the French were being ground down methodically. At around 9 o'clock, Brueys's flagship, the "Orient" caught fire and burned for an hour (with various British ships backing away) before it blew up.

At dawn, Rear Admiral Villeneuve with 2 French liners and 2 frigates set sail and escaped the holocaust. Incidentally, all four ships were later chased down and captured by the Royal Navy. Several of the French ships captured at Aboukir Bay were repaired and served in the Royal Navy. One of them, "Tonnant" was at Trafalgar. Another, "Franklin" (undoubtedly named after Benjamin) had a long career in the RN as the "Canopus" (a name used later by a pre-Dreadnought). By the way several of Nelson's ships also appeared at Trafalgar ("Bellerophon," "Minotaur," "Orion," "Swiftsure" and "Defence").

Nelson was enobled as Baron Nelson of the Nile and the English language gained "Nelsonic" as an adjective.

Napoleon's big plans came to naught; he was able to return to France (via a frigate), but his army was stuck in Egypt until 1801 when an English army forced its surrender. Napoleon wasted little time once he returned to France to organize a coup d'tat (though he didn't name himself Emperor until 1803).