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

8 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTone another in the foggy dark, unbeknownst to those aboard. Later, Nelson,afraid the French had eluded him, so pushed his ships that they far outran theFrench vessels.Only thick fog could have made the huge French fleet invisible. Along withthe men carried on French vessels that rendezvoused with the main squadron fromCorsican ports, the number of troops under arms had swollen to about 36,000.They included 276 officers, 28,000 infantrymen, 2,800 cavalrymen, 2,000 artillerymen,1,157 military engineers, and 900 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, scientists,artists, and writers. 14 If one counted, as well, all the bureaucrats, sailors, merchants,and hangers-on, some 54,000 men were now racing for parts unknown across theindigo Mediterranean—in all, the equal of a fair-sized city at the time.The rough waters sent many troops abovedeck to feed their lunches to thefish. Even General Bonaparte himself had his bed mounted on casters in hopesof alleviating the symptoms of seasickness while he tried to sleep. Bernoyer oncewent over to visit the massive flagship Orient, which, he wrote, carried 120 cannon,1,300 sailors, and hundreds of soldiers, and there he saw Bonaparte’s quartersand his comportment. He said the general’s rooms were furnished lavishlyand in good taste, and that his opulent receiving room “was more made to accommodatea sovereign, born in flabbiness and ignorance, than a republicangeneral, born for the glory of his country.” The officers gambled on a goldtable, “as though we were setting out to conquer Peru.” Bernoyer disapprovedof the ostentation, which reminded him more of royally chartered Conquistadorssent to the New World in search of precious metals than a Republicanarmy fighting for liberty, equality, and fraternity. He added that there “reignshere a most severe discipline among the troops, and with the general they observethe strictest etiquette. They seek to copy the former usages of the court,which usages seem just as ridiculous to us as those of a great feudal lord wouldbe in the middle of a camp of Spartans.” The testy Bernoyer spoke for many inthe Republican ranks who remained suspicious of Bonaparte’s tendency to puton airs and create new hierarchies to replace those overthrown in 1789.On 9 June 1798, the squadron arrived at Malta. Bonaparte demanded from theGrand Master of the Order of St. John of the Hospitallers, who ruled the mainisland along with the smaller islands of Gozo and Cumino, that his ships be allowedto enter the port and to take on water and supplies. The Grand Master,Baron Ferdinand von Hompesch, replied that only two foreign ships could beallowed to enter the port at a time. Bonaparte, aware that such a procedure