French brig Alerte (1787) at Venice between June and July 1797. On 1 August 1798 she was at the battle of Aboukir Bay (Battle of the Nile). Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs "Alerte" and "Railleur" to act as decoys in the shallow waters, but the plan failed. Then, as the British fleet approached, Brueys sent "Alerte" ahead, passing close to the leading British ships and then steering sharply to the west over the shoal in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded. None of
Bay Fleet Bay Fleet The Bay Fleet was a summer convoy of trading ships that travelled through the English Channel from and to the important trading areas of the Hanseatic League, Holland and Flanders in the Middle Ages. The fleet's frequent destination was the salt manufacturing lands of the Bay of Bourgneuf, which they duly plundered. In 1449, a fleet organised by Henry VI to keep the Channel free of pirates, turned to piracy themselves under the charge of Robert Winnington, attacking the Bay fleet in an unprovoked peace time assault. Sixty Hanseatic ships and fifty ships from the Low countries were