Battle of the Malta Convoy (1800) fleet was surprised and attacked by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. In the ensuing Battle of the Nile, eleven of the thirteen French ships of the line, and two of the four frigates were captured or destroyed. Brueys was killed, and the survivors of the French fleet struggled out of the bay on 2 August, splitting up near Crete. "Généreux" sailed north to Corfu, encountering and capturing the British fourth rate ship HMS "Leander" en route. The other ships, "Guillaume Tell" and two frigates under Contre-amirals Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and Denis Decrès, sailed westwards to Malta, arriving just
HMS Lady Nelson (1798) driving her back to the north; on 21 June heavy seas resulted in the loss of the "Lady Nelson"s boat. The safety of Twofold Bay was not reached until 24 June by which time all "Lady Nelson"s supply of bread had been consumed and only three casks of water remained. A raft was constructed from her spars in order to get ashore to replenish their supply of fresh water and the "Lady Nelson"s carpenter was sent to cut timber with which to build a punt to replace the lost boat. "Lady Nelson" left Twofold Bay on 1 July to continue