d the Mediterranean and conquered Egypt. But his
victory proved worse than useless; for Nelson followed the French fleet
and utterly defeated it in the Bay of Aboukir at the mouth of the Nile on
the 1st of August, 1798. The battle was fought with the utmost firmness
on both sides, each knowing that the fate of Egypt, of the East, and of
Napoleon's army as well as of his fleet, hung trembling in the scales.
The odds were twelve British battleships to thirteen French. The French
sailors, as usual, were not such skilled hands as the British, partly
because France had always been rather a country of landsmen than seamen,
but chiefly because the French fleets were, as a rule, so closely
blockaded that they could not use the open sea for training nearly so
much as their British rivals did. Still, the French fleet, though at
anchor (and so unable to change its position quickly to suit the changes
of the fight) looked as if it could defy even Nelson himself. For it was
drawn up across the bay with no spot left unguarded between it and the
land at either end of the line; and it was so close in shore that its
admirals never thought anybody would try to work his way inside.

But that is just what Nelson did. He sent some of his ships between the
van of the French and the Aboukir shoal, where there was just room to
scrape through with hardly an inch to spare; and so skilful was the
British seamanship that this marvellous manoeuvre took the French
completely by surprise. Then, having his own fleet under way, while the
French was standing still, he doubled on their van (that is, he attacked
it from both sides), held their centre, and left their rear alone. By
this skilful move he crushed the van and then had the centre at his
mercy. The French gunners stuck to their work with splendid courage,
driving the _Bellerophon_ off as a mere battered hulk and keeping most of
the rest at bay for some time. But the French flagship, Orient, which
the _Bellerophon_ had boldly attacked, was now attacked by the
_Swiftsure_ and _Alexander_; and the French admiral, Brueys, already
wounded twice, was mortally hit by a cannon ball. He refused to be
carried below, saying that "a French admiral should die on deck in a
fight like this." His example encouraged the crew to redouble their
efforts. But, just after he died, fire broke out on board the _Orient_
and quickly spread fore and aft, up the rigging, and right in toward the
magazine. The d