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
Sir Thomas Thompson, 1st Baronet to allow them to withdraw. Thompson himself was wounded in the battle. Thompson was later given command of a squadron, and carried out cruises in the Mediterranean, intercepting French and Spanish ships. He returned to Gibraltar, but was ordered to sea again in June 1798 to reinforce Nelson's squadron in their hunt for the French fleet that had earlier escaped from Toulon. He was with Nelson when they located the French fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Brueys, moored in Aboukir Bay. In the ensuing engagement Thompson came to the assistance of , which had run aground on shoals in