tunity, he took his ship inside the line, his anchor dragging
slightly so as to bring him up on the quarter of the second enemy
vessel, the _Conquerant_. The _Zealous_, following closely,
anchored on the bows of the _Guerrier_; the _Orion_ engaged inside
the fifth ship; the _Theseus_ inside the third; and the _Audacious_,
passing between the first two of the enemy, brought up on the
_Conquerant's_ bow. With these five engaged inside, Nelson in the
_Vanguard_ and the two ships following him engaged respectively
outside the third, fourth and fifth of the enemy. Thus the concentration
on the van was eight to five.

About a half hour later the _Bellerophon_ and the _Majestic_
attacked respectively the big flagship _Orient_ (110) in the
center and the _Tonnant_ (80) next astern, and against these superior
antagonists suffered severely, losing in killed and wounded 390
men divided about equally between them, which was nearly half the
total loss of 896 and greater than the total at Cape St. Vincent.
Both later drifted almost helpless down the line. The _Culloden_
under Troubridge, a favorite of both Jervis and Nelson, had
unfortunately grounded and stuck fast on Aboukir shoal; but the
_Swiftsure_ and the _Alexander_ came up two hours after the battle
had begun as a support to the ships in the centre, the _Swiftsure_
engaging the _Orient_, and the _Alexander_ the _Franklin_ next
ahead, while the smaller _Leander_ skillfully chose a position
where she could rake the two. By this time all five of the French
van had surrendered; the _Orient_ was in flames and blew up about
10 o'clock with the loss of all but 70 men. Admiral Brueys, thrice
wounded, died before the explosion. Of the four ships in the rear,
only two, the _Guillaume Tell_ under Admiral Villeneuve and the
_Genereux_, were able to cut their cables next morning and get
away. Nelson asserted that, had he not been incapacitated by a
severe scalp wound in the action, even these would not have escaped.
Of the rest, two were burned and nine captured. Among important
naval victories, aside from such one-sided slaughters as those of
our own Spanish war, it remains the most overwhelming in history.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE NILE]

The effect was immediate throughout Europe, attesting dearly the
contemporary importance attached to sea control. "It was this battle,"
writes Admiral de la Graviere, "which for two years delivered over
the Mediterranean to the British and call