We're coming up on the end of the second big season of the year- recruiting. It's a big tine of the year for a lot of people, but, for me, it's time for more history. This week, we'll stay in sunny, warm Egypt, and discuss another battle- this one at sea, at the Battle of the Nile.
Nelson's Pursuit
Word of Napoleon's sailing got back to the British Mediterranean Squadron in Portugal, where it had retreated after the British had been forced to abandon the Mediterranean. The Admiralty decided to investigate the reports, and ordered the Mediterranean Squadron to detail a small force to investigate what was going on. The Mediterranean commander, Earl St. Vincent, detailed his most able subordinate, Horatio Nelson, to figure out what was going on. Nelson sailed with three of the line and a frigate to see what he could see.
Nelson was soon reinforced by ten more of the line, but, unfortunately for him, no more frigates. Frigates served as scouts and as signal repeating ships when operating with a large squadron of ships of the line, and Nelson needed to keep the few frigates he could lay his hands on close to his squadron in case of action. After some investigation, Nelson figured that the French had to be headed for Egypt, and so he decided to head there. However, he didn't know just how close he was to the French fleet, or exactly what their course would. be. As a result, he actually beat the French to Alexandria.
With no French fleet in Alexandria, and no real idea where they were, Nelson spent the next month sailing around the Eastern Mediterranean looking for them while Napoleon offloaded in Alexandria. It wasn't until the end of July that he found out about the French arrival in Egypt, and he didn't arrive in Alexandria until August 1st, where he discovered the French ships of the line had moved from Alexandria to Aboukir Bay.
In Aboukir, the French commander, Admiral Brueys, faced quite a bit of difficulty. He knew the British were coming, and he wasn't too sure what to do. His chief subordinate, Armand Blanquet du Chayla, a veteran of the Cheasapeake and the Saintes, insisted on sailing out to sea to fight the British while underway. Napoleon suggested, before he left, that the fleet might be better off in Corfu, which had a well fortified anchorage and supplies. Brueys opted for neither of these suggestions, and decided to hole up in Aboukir Bay. He found it hard to resupply his ships, since watering and victualling parties had to go ashore heavily armed for fear of partisan attack. As a result, repairs and drills aboard ship had to go on undermanned.
The Battle of the Nile
Aboukir Bay lacked the heavy fortifications needed to prevent, or even deter, an enemy fleet from entering the Bay and attacking ships at anchor there. Brueys decided to make his own fortifications while he stayed there, in a sense. He formed up his 13 ships in a line of battle on the western end of the bay. To his port lay shoal water, which he hoped would prevent Nelson from sailing down that side, while to his starboard lay the entry to the bay. His guns could cover any force that tried to sail in. He ordered his ships anchored, and ordered cables stretched between the ships so that they would stay together and to prevent British ships from sliding between them.
There were some issues with Brueys' deployment. First, he only had his ships anchored by the bows, which allowed them to move in and out of line with the wind, rather than staying in place. The cables that Bruey had ordered placed between ships were not always deployed, for fear that adverse wind and waves would damage the ships. The captains figured they would have enough warning to rig them as needed. This, however, left gaps large enough for British ships to sail through the French line in several places. Additionally, the French line, and the gaps between the ships, created large dead zones where a British ship could establish itself and fire on a French ship, but not receive any return fire. Finally, there was a large gap between the shallows of the shoals and the head of the French line, more than large enough to sail ships through.
Nelson's fleet arrived at Aboukir in the late afternoon on August 1st, with 13 of the line under his control. Nelson decided to attack the French at anchor as soon as he could. He slowed the ships only long enough to rig springs to the anchor cables, which would allow the ships to control their movements at anchor, and to brief his captains on his plans. Nelson's plan was a reasonably simple one: his van would cross the French line, sailing between the French and the shore, then anchor and attack the French Van. His center would proceed down the opposite side of the French van, catching the French between two British lines. The last three ships in the line would dogpile L'Orient, the massive French flagships. The winds, Nelson figured, would not allow the French rear to move in to support the French van, and, once the French van was destroyed, his ships would move in to finish them off. Because the battle would come at night, Nelson also rigged lights on his ships to aid in recognition.
When the British arrived, Brueys immediately began to abandon his defense, and set sail to meet the British at sea. However, when Nelson slowed down to rig his springs, Brueys believed that Nelson intended to avoid a night battle. Once it became clear Nelson intended to attack that evening, though, he prepared for action, placing springs on his anchor cables, and recalling his work parties. When it became clear he wouldn't get the men ashore back aboard in time for the fight, he stripped his frigates of men to man the ships of the line, then had his smaller ships sail into the shoals to try and confuse the British about the depths of the harbor and run them aground.
The battle itself went largely according to Nelson's plan. One group of British ships slipped between the shoal and the head of the French line, anchoring and battering the largely defenseless side of the French fleet- most of the French ships had blocked off their guns on the port side with supplies to ease their ride at anchor. The lead ships in the French were quickly surrounded and, after a battering, began to surrender. The only downside for the British came in the attack on L'Orient, where only one of the British ships detailed to attack her actually closed early in the battle. That ship, Bellerophon, took a horrific pounding and fell off the line. Other ships rushed to support her, however, and started an uncontrolled conflagration aboard L'Orient, leading that ship to explode around 2200. Shortly after most of the French fleet had surrendered.
Nelson renewed the attack on the disorganized and dispirited French rear at dawn on the 2nd. Two of those ships slipped away, another sank, and the rest surrendered. At the end of the battle, over a thousand French lay dead, with 9 ships of the line captured, two sunk, and two frigates lost. The British only suffered two ships seriously damaged and 200 dead.
After the Battle:
The Battle of the Nile convinced the Ottoman Sultan to declare war on the French. Previously, he weighted an alliance offer from Napoleon, which would speed the French exit from the area and send them off to India. However, with the French fleet gone, and a powerful British squadron in the Mediterranean, a French alliance was out, and a British alliance was in. The Sultan ordered two new armies raised, one in Aleppo to march on Egypt, another in Rhodes to sail by sea to Alexandria.
To meet this, Napoleon organized his army for an invasion of Palestine to defeat the Aleppo army before the Rhodes Army could get to Egypt. In March, 1799, Napoleon captured the fortress at Jaffa, and began a march on Acre. Acre, however, would prove a tough nut to crack, and the Ottoman army closed in on him as he tried to take the city. Napoleon abandoned the siege to face this army, defeating it at the Battle of Mount Tabor, and then returned to Acre. However, this allowed the British fleet to resupply the city, while a French mercenary engineer rebuilt the city's fortifications. Running low on time- his men were undersupplied, his Ottoman rebel supporters were getting antsy for a victory, and his army was ravaged through with the Bubonic Plague- he tried several times to storm Acre, and failed. He retreated away in defeat, heading back to Egypt.
In Egypt, Napoleon raced for the coast, heading for Aboukir Bay, where the Ottomans had landed an army. There, he defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Aboukir, securing the remains of his army in Egypt, for the time being. However, the gig was basically up for Napoleon, and in August, 1799, he ditched his army in Egypt and sailed back to France. The French in Egypt would fight on for a couple more years before what was left surrendered, Meanwhile, Napoleon arrived in a Europe ablaze in war once again.
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