Without further delay Napoleon led his wet and hungry troops along the hot, sandy track to Alexandria and at 10 am launched an assault on the walls of the town. The total population was only 6,000 and, although the small force of Egyptian soldiers put up a fight, they were overwhelmed. Within a few hours the town had fallen to the French. With his usual speed Napoleon pushed on with his invasion of the country. Two days after entering Alexandria, his troops had taken the nearby towns of Rosetta and Damanhour, and three weeks after landing at Marabout Bay he led his forces out on the plain by the Great Pyramids. There, on 21 July, his 25,000 men faced a warrior army of nearly 30,000 Bedouin and Mameluke cavalry and infantry. The charges of the Mameluke horsemen made little impression on the disciplined French troops and when the French heavy guns opened fire the Egyptian infantry fled. The next day Napoleon entered Cairo and completed the conquest of Egypt.
On the day that Napoleon won the Battle of the Pyramids the British squadron was at anchor in Syracuse harbour on the east coast of Sicily. Since leaving Alexandria they had searched the eastern Mediterranean, zig-zagging back and forth and intercepting passing merchant vessels in the hope of gaining information. After three fruitless weeks they put into Syracuse to stock up on provisions, and carry out necessary repairs. The Bellerophon's heavy wooden launch was rowed ashore with empty water butts and returned with each of the butts filled with 100 gallons of water. Fresh vegetables and beef were loaded on board and lemons were distributed to the ship's company. The local people gathered in large numbers on the quayside to gaze at the impressive squadron of foreign warships lying at anchor and to watch the activities of the sailors. On 25 July Nelson gave the order for the ships to prepare to sail and noted in his journal, 'the fleet is unmoored, and the moment the wind comes off the land shall go out of this delightful harbour where our present wants have been most amply supplied and where every attention has been paid to us . . '
The wind was so light that the ships had to be towed out of the harbour by the crews manning the ships' boats, but as soon as they were clear of the shore, they were able to hoist in the boats and take advantage of a light breeze from the north-west. Four days later they were sailing down the south-west coast of Greece. In the Gulf of Coron they shortened sail so that Troubridge could go ashore and seek information. They had learnt nothing useful during their stay at Syracuse but in the little Greek town of Coron they at last struck lucky. The Turkish governor told Troubridge that he had firm information from his government that the French were in Egypt. The Bellerophon's log for 29 July records that 'At 5 the Admiral made the signal for having gained intelligence of the enemy.' The squadron set all sail and with a favourable following breeze headed back to Alexandria.
TEN
Death at the Mouth of the Nile
1798
The Alexander and Swiftsure had been sent ahead of the squadron to see if the French fleet was anchored in the harbour at Alexandria. At 10 am on the morning of Wednesday 1 August 1798 the Alexander hoisted a signal to say that she had sighted land. As they drew closer the men high in her tops could clearly make out the towers and minarets of Alexandria and the low hills beyond the old town. By midday they could see the French flags flying over the forts and on many of the ships which were crowded in the harbour. This confirmed the rumours and the recent reports that Napoleon's great army had landed in Egypt and captured the city. But where was the army now, and was the French fleet still in the harbour? The Alexander sailed on and soon her lookouts were able to distinguish the ships anchored beyond the sandy spit of land and the lighthouse tower. The port was teeming with vessels. There were the distinctive local craft with their rakishly angled lateen rigs, there were several hundred transport vessels, and clearly visible were two ships of the line and six frigates flying the French tricolour. But there was no sign of the French battle fleet.
The news was a bitter disappointment for Nelson and his captains. Saumarez expressed the feelings of many of them when he wrote that 'despondency nearly took possession of my mind, and I do not recollect ever to have felt so utterly hopeless or out of spirits as when we sat down to dinner.' We do not know how Captain Darby took the news. Life on board the Bellerophon had followed a familiar pattern in the week following their departure from Sicily. With a steady following wind they had sailed at 6 or 7 knots each day, making and shortening sail at intervals to maintain their position in the squadron. The Mediterranean sun burned faces and arms to a reddish mahogany and made walking on the deck painful in bare feet. The marines continued to cause trouble and on the morning that they sighted Alexandria two of them, together with a seaman, were flogged with twelve lashes each for drunkenness. The thirteen ships of the line maintained a loose formation, spread over several miles, with the Alexander and Swiftsure scouting ahead, and the Culloden, commanded by the energetic Thomas Troubridge, trailing some miles astern because she was towing a French merchant brig captured off the coast of Greece.
After finding that the French fleet was not at Alexandria the squadron headed east along the low sandy shore. This time the Zealous and the Goliath went on ahead and at 2.30 pm the Zealous made the signal for having sighted a strange fleet at anchor. At 2.45 she sent another signal with the details they had all been waiting for: '16 sail of the line at anchor bearing East by South.' Bursts of cheering broke out as the news spread through the squadron. Men below came rushing up on deck and the lookouts in the tops scanned the coast ahead with their telescopes. What they saw was a daunting sight. The French fleet was anchored in a long line in the middle of a great bay. There were thirteen ships of the line including a massive three-decker, and four frigates, and numerous gunboats. Viewed from the sea, the French fleet seemed to be in an impregnable position. As Captain Berry noted, 'The enemy appeared to be moored in a strong and compact line of battle close in with the shore,' a position which he thought presented the most formidable obstacles.
The obstacles were indeed formidable. Aboukir Bay lay at the mouth of the Nile and was protected from the north by a long peninsula a line of shoals, a small island and more shoals. There was a fort at the end of the peninsula and a gun battery on the island. The water beyond and behind the line of French ships was shallow; one British ship had a captured French chart but the rest of the squadron would have to take soundings as they approached to avoid running aground. In addition, it was usually difficult for ships under sail to dislodge and defeat an anchored fleet in a strong defensive position, as the Comte De Grasse had discovered in the West Indies when he had been decisively beaten off by Hood's ships anchored in Frigate Bay, St Kitts.