French brig Alerte (1787) at Venice between June and July 1797. On 1 August 1798 she was at the battle of Aboukir Bay (Battle of the Nile). Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs "Alerte" and "Railleur" to act as decoys in the shallow waters, but the plan failed. Then, as the British fleet approached, Brueys sent "Alerte" ahead, passing close to the leading British ships and then steering sharply to the west over the shoal in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded. None of
Action of 22 October 1793 of Farinole from the Corsican irregulars. Corsican irregular forces had held the bay at San Fiorenzo and might have opposed the French landings, but Linzee had recently disarmed the Corsican-manned Torra di Mortella, which was recaptured. In December 1793 the French army recaptured Toulon and Hood was forced to withdraw. An invasion of Corsica was planned in 1794, with successful sieges at San Fiorenzo in February, Bastia in April and Calvi in July–August. During these operations, during which Nelson led the naval detachments ashore and lost an eye to cannon-fire at Calvi, all of Perrée's squadron, except "Hazard", was captured