Battle of Mahé Louis in December 1799 had restored absolute British control. The importance of the East Indies to British trade encouraged a number of French plans to threaten the region, of which the most advanced was the invasion, in 1798, of Egypt by a French Army under General Napoleon Bonaparte. Although the campaign saw initial success, the annihilation of the French Mediterranean Fleet by Sir Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798 effectively doomed the campaign to failure. Later in the year Bonaparte considered building a squadron at Suez in the Red Sea, but the plans were
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