Page "Battle of the Nile" Paragraph 19

Although initially disappointed that the main French fleet was not at Alexandria, Nelson knew from the presence of the transports that they must be nearby.

At 14: 00 on 1 August, lookouts on HMS Zealous reported the French anchored in Aboukir Bay, its signal lieutenant just beating the lieutenant on HMS Goliath with the signal, but inaccurately describing 16 French ships of the line instead of 13.

At the same time, French lookouts on Heureux, the ninth ship in the French line, sighted the British fleet approximately off the mouth of Aboukir Bay.

The French initially reported just 11 British ships, as Swiftsure and Alexander were still returning from their scouting operations at Alexandria, and so were to the west of the main fleet, out of sight.

Troubridge's ship HMS Culloden was also some distance from the main body, towing a captured merchant ship.

At the sight of the French, Troubridge abandoned the vessel and made strenuous efforts to rejoin Nelson.

Due to the need for so many sailors to work onshore, Brueys had not deployed any of his lighter warships as scouts, which left him unable to swiftly react to the sudden appearance of the British.

As his ships readied for action, Brueys ordered his captains to gather for a conference on Orient and hastily recalled his shore parties, although most had still not returned by the start of the battle.

To replace them, large numbers of men were taken out of the frigates and distributed among the ships of the line.

Brueys also hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs Alerte and Railleur to act as decoys in the shallow waters.

By 16: 00, Alexander and Swiftsure were also in sight, although some distance from the main British fleet, and Brueys gave orders to abandon the plan to remain at anchor and instead for his line to set sails, although Blanquet protested the order on the grounds that there were not enough men aboard the French ships to both sail the ships and man the guns.

Nelson then gave orders for his leading ships to slow down in order to allow the British fleet to approach in a more organised formation.

Convinced by this that rather than risk an evening battle in confined waters, the British were planning to wait for the following day, Brueys rescinded his earlier order to sail.

Brueys may have been hoping that the delay would allow him to slip past the British during the night and thus follow Bonaparte's orders not to engage the British fleet directly if it could be avoided.