Croisière de Bruix Earl St. Vincent to dispatch a fleet of his own under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Nelson tracked the French across the Mediterranean but was unable to discover the invasion fleet until after the troops were ashore. On 1 August 1798 Nelson attacked the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria. The ensuing Battle of the Nile was a crushing victory for Nelson: eleven of the 13 French ships of the line were captured or destroyed and Napoleon's army was trapped in Egypt. The destruction of the French fleet encouraged the allies to form a new coalition against the French
Battle of Kafr El Dawwar Egyptian lines. British troops continued to arrive at Alexandria over the following days, with the Commander-in-Chief Sir Garnet Wolseley himself arriving on 15 August. Two days later, Wolseley ordered the re-embarkation of many of his troops, and let it be known that he planned to land his forces in Aboukir Bay from where they could take the Egyptian works in the flank. On 19 August the fleet set sail, and 18 ships anchored in the bay in preparation for the supposed attack. At 8pm, though, a signal was given and the fleet proceeded eastward to Port Said. The whole affair