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
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