Page "Battle of the Nile" Paragraph 24

Ten minutes after the French opened fire Goliath, ignoring fire from the fort to starboard and from Guerrier to port, most of which was too high to trouble the ship, crossed the head of the French line.

Captain Thomas Foley had noticed as he approached that there was an unexpected gap between Guerrier and the shallow water of the shoal.

On his own initiative, Foley decided to exploit this tactical error and changed his angle of approach to sail through the gap.

As the bow of Guerrier came within range, Goliath opened fire, inflicting severe damage with a double-shotted raking broadside as the British ship turned to port and passed down the unprepared port side of Guerrier, and Foley's Royal Marines and a company of Austrian grenadiers joined the attack, firing their muskets.

Foley had intended to anchor alongside the French ship and engage it closely, but his anchor took too long to descend and his ship passed Guerrier entirely.

Goliath eventually stopped close to the bow of Conquérant, opening fire on the new opponent and using the unengaged starboard guns to exchange occasional shots with the frigate Sérieuse and bomb vessel Hercule which were anchored inshore of the battle line.

Foley's attack was followed by Hood in Zealous, who also crossed the French line and successfully anchored next to Guerrier in the space Foley had intended, engaging the lead ship's bow from close range.

Within five minutes Guerrier < nowiki >'</ nowiki > s foremast had fallen, to cheers from the crews of the approaching British ships.

The French captains had been taken by surprise by the speed of the British advance, and were still aboard Orient in conference with the admiral when the firing started.

Hastily launching their boats, they returned to their vessels.

Captain Jean-François-Timothée Trullet of Guerrier shouted orders from his barge for his men to return fire on Zealous.