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
Action of 18 August 1798 Thompson had manning problems: casualties from the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in July 1797 had never been replaced, 14 men had been wounded in the battle at Aboukir Bay and two officers and fifty men had been detached to man the captured French prizes. This left Thompson with just 282 men on board "Leander". Following Nelson's orders, Thompson sailed on 5 August. After fleeing Aboukir Bay, Admiral Villeneuve had been delayed in the Eastern Mediterranean by northeasterly winds, and on 17 August he decided to split his forces, sailing for Malta with his flagship "Guillaume Tell" and the