Action of 31 March 1800 fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay to support the troops ashore and was surprised and almost completely destroyed on 1 August by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. Only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped the Battle of the Nile from the 17 French ships that participated in the action. Of the survivors, the ship of the line "Généreux" sailed for Corfu while "Guillaume Tell", under Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, reached Malta with the two frigates. When Villeneuve arrived at Malta in September 1798, the island was already in turmoil: the dissolution of the Roman Catholic Church
Battle of Mandora Battle of Mandora The Battle of Mandora was fought on 13 March 1801 between the French Armée d'Orient and the British expeditionary corps, during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. The British corps, under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, had been sent to Egypt to remove the French garrison from the region, following Napoleon's departure in August 1799. On 1 March 1801, the British corps, originally consisting of 15,300 men but much affected by disease, carried by a fleet of 175 ships, arrived at the natural harbour of Abu Qir, (known to the British as "Aboukir Bay"),