Nile Clumps Nile Clumps The Nile Clumps are a series of tree clumps near Amesbury on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, purportedly planted to commemorate the Battle of the Nile. Between 1 and 3 August 1798 a British fleet, under Admiral Horatio Nelson, defeated a French fleet, under François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, in Aboukir Bay, in the Battle of the Nile. The French fleet consisted of thirteen ships of the line and four frigates. Nelson had fourteen ships of the line. All but four of the French ships were destroyed or captured. No British ships were lost. After Nelson's death at the Battle
Battle of the Nile squadron could provide essential support to the French army on shore, and called his captains aboard his 120-gun flagship "Orient" to discuss their response should Nelson discover the fleet in its anchorage. Despite vocal opposition from Contre-amiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson. It is possible that Bonaparte envisaged Aboukir Bay as a temporary anchorage: on 27 July, he expressed the expectation that Brueys had already transferred