Action of 31 March 1800 fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay to support the troops ashore and was surprised and almost completely destroyed on 1 August by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped the Battle of the Nile from the 17 French ships that participated in the action. Of the survivors, the ship of the line "Généreux" sailed for Corfu while "Guillaume Tell", under Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, reached Malta with the two frigates. When Villeneuve arrived at Malta in September 1798, the island was already in turmoil: the dissolution of the Roman Catholic Church
Action of 24 June 1801 a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson destroyed the French Mediterranean Fleet at Aboukir Bay on the Egyptian coast. The battle completely reversed the strategic situation in the Mediterranean: British forces had evacuated the region in 1796 after the Treaty of San Ildefonso brought Spain into the war on the French side, but they were now able to return in large numbers. As French maritime lines of communication were cut, the French "Armée d'Orient" under General Napoleon Bonaparte became trapped in Egypt. Unable to return to Europe by sea, the army attempted and failed to pass overland through Palestine