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Napoleonic Wars · 1798 Locked

Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay), 1–3 August 1798

On the evening of 1 August 1798 Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson's squadron found the French fleet that had carried Bonaparte's army to Egypt anchored in Aboukir Bay, east of Alexandria, and attacked at once, with only a few hours of daylight left. Vice-Admiral Brueys had moored 13 ships of the line in a single line protected, he believed, by the shoals around Aboukir Island. Led by Captain Thomas Foley's Goliath, part of the British line passed around the head of the French line and anchored inside it while the rest anchored outside, so that the French van and center were attacked from both sides while the rear, downwind, looked on. Brueys' 120-gun flagship L'Orient blew up at about 10 PM. By the morning of 2 August only Rear-Admiral Villeneuve's Guillaume Tell and Généreux and two frigates were able to escape; 9 French ships of the line were taken and 2 destroyed. The battle left Bonaparte's army stranded in Egypt and gave Britain command of the Mediterranean. Ship positions follow the recorded engagements (who anchored against whom) on a line laid out from the distances given by W. L. Clowes; the exact positions are schematic.

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The Battle of the Nile (Mather Brown)
The Battle of the Nile (Mather Brown) — Mather Brown — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 1 August 1798, about 2 PM

    The search ends

    Since early June, reinforced to 13 seventy-fours and the 50-gun Leander, Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson had hunted Bonaparte's expedition across the Mediterranean. The French took Malta on 10–12 June; Nelson guessed Egypt, outran them, and found Alexandria empty on 28 June, a day or two before they arrived. Back off Alexandria on 1 August, after watering at Syracuse and getting word of the French at Coron in Greece, he found the harbor full of transports but no battle fleet. In the early afternoon (about 2 PM) lookouts in Zealous and Goliath sighted Brueys' fleet at anchor in Aboukir Bay to the east. Alexander and Swiftsure were away to the west and Culloden was towing a prize far astern; Nelson signaled to prepare for battle and stood on.

  2. About 5:30 PM

    Brueys' line in Aboukir Bay

    Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys had anchored 13 ships of the line across the bay, the van about 2,400 yards south-east of Aboukir Island and the line stretching some 2,850 yards to the south-east, ships about 160 yards apart, with four frigates inshore, gunboats and bomb vessels among the rocks and a battery on the island (Clowes). Rocky shoals ran out past the island, so he believed his van and inshore side were safe. Many men were ashore digging wells, and Brueys reportedly expected no attack before morning. The British, sailing on the north-north-west wind, rounded the shoal off the island and formed line as they came.

  3. About 6:30–7 PM

    Goliath leads inside

    Captain Thomas Foley in Goliath judged that if the French could swing at single anchors there must be water inside them, and crossed the head of the line. He opened fire on Guerrier at about 6:30 PM and anchored inside, off Conquérant; Zealous took Guerrier's bow, Orion, Audacious and Theseus also went inside, and Nelson in Vanguard led the rest down the seaward side, anchoring abreast Spartiate, with Minotaur and Defense beyond him. The French van was caught between two fires, while the rear, downwind, could not help. Culloden, cutting the corner in the dusk, grounded on the shoal off the island and stayed there all night; Leander and the brig Mutine tried to haul her off.

  4. About 8–8:30 PM

    Bellerophon's ordeal

    Bellerophon overshot her station and anchored abreast the 120-gun L'Orient. In about an hour she lost her masts and 49 killed and 148 wounded, the heaviest British loss with Majestic, whose captain, George Westcott, was killed by Tonnant's fire; at about 8:20 PM she cut her cable and drifted out of action. Brueys was killed on his quarterdeck at about 7:30–8 PM. Nelson, hit in the head by a fragment, was carried below. The late-comers Swiftsure and Alexander took Bellerophon's place on L'Orient's bow and quarter, and Leander anchored across Franklin's bow to rake her. Conquérant had already struck; Guerrier and Spartiate followed soon after 9 PM. The frigate Sérieuse, which had engaged Orion, sank in the shallows.

  5. About 10 PM

    L'Orient explodes

    Fire broke out aft in L'Orient soon after 9 PM and spread into her rigging. At about 10 PM (times given range from 10 to 10:30) it reached her magazines and she blew up, an explosion heard in Alexandria; by most accounts the fighting stopped for some minutes. Of more than 1,000 men aboard, the British counted about 70 survivors picked up, while Decrès later put the number saved far higher; by most accounts Captain Casabianca and his young son were among the dead. Nearby French ships cut their cables to escape the blast and drifted. Aquilon had already struck, and the battered Peuple Souverain had drifted out of the line.

  6. Night of 1–2 August

    The center and the rear

    Franklin fought on until about midnight. Tonnant, dismasted, drifted south, and Heureux and Mercure, cut loose, grounded on the inshore shallows, where Majestic engaged them in the night and Alexander, Goliath, Theseus and Leander in the morning. Exhausted crews fell asleep at their guns as the firing died away and flared up again toward dawn. Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve's ships at the rear of the line, upwind of nothing and barely engaged, stayed at anchor through the night.

  7. 2 August, late morning to midday

    Villeneuve escapes

    In the morning Heureux and Mercure struck. Around 11 AM to noon Villeneuve got under way with Guillaume Tell, Généreux and the frigates Diane and Justice and stood out of the bay. Zealous chased alone until Nelson, with no other ship fit to support her, recalled her. Timoléon, too far south to follow, was run ashore; the next day her crew set her on fire and she blew up. The frigate Artémise struck, was set on fire by her crew and blew up.

  8. 3 August and after

    Napoleon stranded

    On 3 August Tonnant, aground and crowded with survivors, surrendered. Of 13 French ships of the line, 9 were taken and 2 destroyed (Nelson's dispatch); British losses, by Nelson's return, were 218 killed and 677 wounded, and no British ship was lost. French killed and missing are put at anywhere from about 1,700 to more than 5,000, with anywhere from 1,000 to nearly 4,000 prisoners by different counts, most of them landed on parole. Boats from the fleet took Aboukir Island, where the British buried their dead. Bonaparte's army was cut off in Egypt; the Ottoman Empire declared war on France (9 September 1798), Britain held the Mediterranean, and the victory helped bring together the Second Coalition.

Forces

Thirteen French ships of the line (one of 120 guns, three of 80) and four frigates against thirteen British 74s, a 50 and a brig; the French had more and heavier guns but were short-handed, with many men ashore. Ship counts are certain; crew totals are round estimates.

French fleet (Brueys)

ShipsOne 120, three 80s and nine 74s, plus four frigates, two brigs and some bomb vessels and gunboats (James); a battery on Aboukir Island. William James, Naval History II, p. 179; Nelson's dispatch, 3 August 179813 ships of the line, 4 frigates
Guns (ships of the line)armedconflicts.com gives about 1,183 guns. armedconflicts.comabout 1,180
MenA round figure (armedconflicts.com); the 1911 Britannica says the French fought with roughly half to two-thirds of their complements, many being ashore (James, from head-money certificates, held that the French ships had their established complements); James puts the four frigates' crews at at least 1,300. armedconflicts.com; Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911); William James, Naval History II, p. 179about 10,000 (on paper)

British fleet (Nelson)

ShipsThirteen 74s and the 50-gun Leander, plus the brig Mutine (Nelson's dispatch); Culloden grounded and never got into action, so James counts twelve 74s and one 50 engaged. Nelson's dispatch, 3 August 1798; William James, Naval History II, p. 17914 ships and a brig present; 13 engaged
Gunsarmedconflicts.com. armedconflicts.comabout 1,012
MenA round figure (armedconflicts.com). armedconflicts.comabout 8,000

Casualties

Britain lost 218 killed and 677 wounded and no ships; the French lost 11 of 13 ships of the line and probably several thousand men killed, wounded or captured, but French losses were never exactly established and estimates vary widely. Certainty: fair.

French fleet (Brueys)

Killed and missingnapoleon-empire.org gives 1,700 dead; modern counts cited in the literature run from 1,700 (Padfield, Castex) to 5,235 (Adkins) or 5,265 (Warner) killed or missing, and Clowes puts total French losses at 2,000–5,000 (median about 3,500); Nelson's dispatch says only that French losses were never exactly known. napoleon-empire.org; Military History Wiki (summary of Adkins, Clowes, Warner, Padfield); Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)about 1,700 to 5,000+ (1,700–5,265)
Woundednapoleon-empire.org gives 1,000 wounded; other cited estimates range from 600 to 1,500 (Castex). napoleon-empire.org; armedconflicts.comabout 600 to 1,500 (600–1,500)
CapturedCastex gives 1,000 prisoners and napoleon-empire.org 2,000; 3,305 is the figure in Adkins and Cole, 3,105 in Warner and 3,900 in Smith; most were landed on parole. napoleon-empire.org; Military History Wiki (summary of cited works)about 1,000 to 3,900 (1,000–3,900)
L'Orient's crewThe British counted about 70 survivors picked up; Rear-Admiral Decrès reported as many as 760 saved, and the Fondation Napoléon says the true toll cannot be fixed. Brueys was killed before the explosion. Fondation Napoléonmost of about 1,000+ aboard killed (70–760 survivors)

British fleet (Nelson)

KilledNelson's return: 16 officers, 156 seamen and 46 marines; Bellerophon (49) and Majestic (50) lost most. Captain George Westcott of Majestic was killed. Nelson's dispatch and return, 3 August 1798218
WoundedNelson's return gives 37 officers, 562 seamen and 78 marines (677); the 1911 Britannica gives 678 and Gardiner 617. Nelson himself was wounded in the head. Nelson's dispatch and return, 3 August 1798; Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)677 (617–678)

Equipment and ships

French ships of the lineTaken: Guerrier, Conquérant, Spartiate, Aquilon, Peuple Souverain, Franklin, Tonnant, Heureux, Mercure; burned: L'Orient (exploded) and Timoléon; escaped: Guillaume Tell and Généreux. Nelson's dispatch, 3 August 17989 taken, 2 destroyed, 2 escaped
French frigatesSérieuse sank; Artémise was set on fire by her crew; Diane and Justice escaped with Villeneuve. Nelson's dispatch, 3 August 17981 sunk, 1 burned, 2 escaped
British shipsBellerophon and Majestic were badly damaged and Culloden grounded on the shoal, but no British ship was lost. Encyclopaedia Britannicanone lost

Then and now: how the ground has changed

The open water of Aboukir Bay is much as it was, but the coast around it has changed: Aboukir Island has shrunk, the headland is built over by forts, a naval harbor and the town, the lagoon behind the bay has been drained, and the Nile's Rosetta promontory to the east grew and then retreated. The map uses today's coast.

Weapons

French fleet (Brueys)

Royal Navy ship's gun

Royal Navy ship's gun

Naval artillery · 1700s-1850s

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): L'Orient alone carried 36-pounders on her lower deck, 24-pounders on the second and 12-pounders on the third (Fondation Napoléon); her broadsides dismasted Bellerophon in about an hour.

Smoothbore cast-iron guns mounted in rows along a warship's decks were the backbone of British sea power. Besides solid shot, crews could fire heated shot and incendiary carcasses to set targets on fire. In coastal campaigns, guns were often landed from ships to arm shore batteries.

Shot
Iron balls, commonly 6 to 32 lb by ship size
Mounting
Wooden truck carriage on a gun deck
Crew
Several men per gun
Photo: Moshi Anahory · CC BY-SA 2.0
Carronade

Carronade

Short-barrelled naval gun · 1770s–1850s

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): L'Orient also mounted a few carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle; the French navy had only begun to adopt them.

A short, light, large-bore gun first made by the Carron Company in Scotland. It threw a heavy ball at close range with a small crew, earning the nickname 'the smasher'. As Victory passed astern of Bucentaure, her 68-pounder carronade, loaded with a round shot and a keg of 500 musket balls, raked the French flagship through her stern windows.

Shot
up to 68 lb (Victory's forecastle pair)
Range
short, a few hundred yards at most
Crew
far fewer men than a long gun of the same shot weight
Photo: Carronade · Rama · CC BY-SA 3.0 fr
French Model 1766 musket ("Charleville")

French Model 1766 musket ("Charleville")

Smoothbore flintlock musket · 1766–1777 pattern

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): Soldiers and marines aboard the French ships fired muskets from the decks and tops; many crewmen were ashore when the British appeared.

France shipped tens of thousands of these muskets to the Continental Army from 1777, quietly, before it entered the war. Lighter and slightly smaller-bored than the Brown Bess, it became the pattern for America's first national musket, the Springfield Model 1795.

Caliber
.69
Effective range
about 100 yd
Rate of fire
2–3 rounds a minute
Photo: Charleville Arsenal · Public domain

British fleet (Nelson)

Royal Navy ship's gun

Royal Navy ship's gun

Naval artillery · 1700s-1850s

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): Every British ship of the line was a 74; anchored by the stern on both sides of the French van, they fired into ships that could reply on only one side at a time.

Smoothbore cast-iron guns mounted in rows along a warship's decks were the backbone of British sea power. Besides solid shot, crews could fire heated shot and incendiary carcasses to set targets on fire. In coastal campaigns, guns were often landed from ships to arm shore batteries.

Shot
Iron balls, commonly 6 to 32 lb by ship size
Mounting
Wooden truck carriage on a gun deck
Crew
Several men per gun
Photo: Moshi Anahory · CC BY-SA 2.0
Carronade

Carronade

Short-barrelled naval gun · 1770s–1850s

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): British ships carried short carronades on their upper works, deadly at the close ranges at which the van was engaged.

A short, light, large-bore gun first made by the Carron Company in Scotland. It threw a heavy ball at close range with a small crew, earning the nickname 'the smasher'. As Victory passed astern of Bucentaure, her 68-pounder carronade, loaded with a round shot and a keg of 500 musket balls, raked the French flagship through her stern windows.

Shot
up to 68 lb (Victory's forecastle pair)
Range
short, a few hundred yards at most
Crew
far fewer men than a long gun of the same shot weight
Photo: Carronade · Rama · CC BY-SA 3.0 fr
Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Short Land Pattern musket ("Brown Bess")

Smoothbore flintlock musket · 1768–1790s pattern

At The Nile (Aboukir Bay): Royal Marines served on every British ship; the marines' losses appear separately in Nelson's return of killed and wounded.

The British infantryman's musket for most of the 18th century. Accuracy beyond about 100 yards was poor, so the tactics were volleys at close range followed by the bayonet, which the Brown Bess was built to carry.

Caliber
.75 (ball about .69)
Effective range
about 50–100 yd against a formed line
Rate of fire
3 rounds a minute, drilled
Photo: Tower (British Ordnance) · Public domain

Paintings and photographs

The Battle of the Nile (Mather Brown)
The Battle of the Nile (Mather Brown) Mather Brown's unfinished painting of the height of the battle, showing the destruction of L'Orient (about 1825; Royal Museums Greenwich). Mather Brown — public domain · source

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: August 1–3.

Accuracy score: 56/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay), 1–3 August 1798. No U.S. Army staff ride handbook covers this battle. Primary: Nelson's dispatch to Earl St Vincent, Vanguard, off the Mouth of the Nile, 3 August 1798, with the line of battle, the state of the French line and the British return of killed and wounded (transcription). Naval history: William James, The Naval History of Great Britain, vol. II (1837), pp. 162, 166, 168 and 179 (approach, stations, Bellerophon, comparative force); W. L. Clowes, The Royal Navy IV (1899), as cited for the line's distance from the island, spacing and length; the Ottoman declaration of war: McGill University, Napoleon in Egypt timeline and Belleten; Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911), 'Nile, Battle of the' and Britannica; History Today (times); Royal Museums Greenwich, Plan of the Battle of the Nile (PAD4026). Archaeology: Franck Goddio / IEASM, Bonaparte's fleet; Archaeology (1999), 'Napoleon's Lost Fleet'; Fondation Napoléon on L'Orient; The Nelson Society and Shelby White–Leon Levy Program on the University of Turin excavations on Nelson's Island. Coordinates: NGA GEOnet Names Server (Abū Qīr; Gezîret Gheroo). Ship positions beyond the recorded engagements, the approach track, drift tracks and the spots where ships grounded are schematic; the L'Orient wreck marker is placed from the line geometry, not from a published coordinate.

Where the positions come from

Further reading