Battle of the Nile

The Battle of the Nile, fought in Aboukir Bay on 1st August 1798, destroyed the French Mediterranean fleet and stranded Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition. Rear-Admiral Nelson found the French squadron anchored in the bay and attacked at once in the evening, sending his ships down both sides of the line. His captains concentrated on the French van and centre; the flagship L'Orient blew up in a blast heard across the bay, killing Vice-Admiral Brueys. By morning only two ships of the line and two frigates had escaped out of seventeen engaged, and some two thousand French sailors were dead or wounded against fewer than a thousand British. The defeat cut the army off from France, encouraged the Ottoman Empire to declare war, and made Nelson a European celebrity; the army in Egypt would never be reinforced again. It remains one of the most complete naval annihilations of the age of sail, and the first battle that sealed Nelson's reputation at home and abroad.