Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NILE THAT HAS EVER BEEN109men longer to load. The French preference for firing at the rigging of theenemy vessel rather than at the hull, combined with their cannon technique,may have caused them to fire too high. They targeted the rigging for defensivepurposes, to prevent the enemy from coming in for the kill. Some British memoirsspeak of the French balls whizzing above them. The British captains,whether by prearranged strategy, knowledge of French charts, or sheer skill,dismasted the Guerrier and disabled the Conquérant before sunset. One Britishship went aground on Alexandria’s notorious shoals, but the captain was able towarn off two other vessels following him.The ships lined up against one another by the light of their own cannonflashes, and kept up the barrage. The Spatiate fired shrapnel at Nelson’s flagshipwhile he was examining a chart on deck, striking him glancingly so as to split theskin of his forehead and blind him. He thought he would die, but he soon recoveredhis vision and had his face put back together by a surgeon. Later thatevening, the British evened the score. The Swiftsure and the Alexander doubled upon the French flagship, the Orient. Admiral Brueys took a shot in the stomach thatnearly sundered him. The Alexander hit the Orient again and again, managing toset it ablaze, rendering the ship a floating hazard to the Alexander, which wasdownwind of it. The captain of the Alexander had to cut anchor and run, fearinghis own sails would catch fire. The French ships fled it as well. Some time beforemidnight the conflagration penetrated into the ammunition magazine, blowingthe proud flagship to smithereens. Debris flew so far and high that it landed onsome of the British decks and started a fire on one that was quickly dowsed. Mostof the Orient’s crew was rendered red mist. Bonaparte’s stateroom, with the gildedbilliard table to which Bernoyer had so objected, met its end. While British sailorsand officers cheered, even some of their captains felt badly about the immensity ofthe disaster. The British rescued fourteen survivors.The fighting resumed later that night and continued on 2 August. AnotherFrench ship of the line ran aground and was scuttled by its crew. Two Frenchships of the line escaped. The British captured nine, three of which they laterburned. They took 3,305 French prisoners, a thousand of them wounded, andthe French may have lost as many as 1,700 dead. The British dead were 218. TheBritish fleet also suffered substantial damage and was far from any port where repairscould easily be made. That so many British ships were dismasted or damagedmade it impossible for them to think about any further assault on theFrench, which was perhaps the only good news for Paris and Cairo. The British,having too many captives and too few resources, were forced to return all thewounded and many healthy French sailors to Alexandria. Bedouin tribespeople