uadron, into
the Mediterranean, to watch an armament known to be fitting out at
Toulon, the destination of which excited much anxiety. It sailed May
20th, attacked and took Malta, and then proceeded, as Nelson supposed,
to Egypt. Strengthened by a powerful reinforcement, he made all sail
for Alexandria; but there no enemy had been seen or heard of. He
returned in haste along the north coast of the Mediterranean to
Sicily, refreshed the fleet, and again sailed to the eastward. On
nearing Alexandria the second time, August 1st, he had the pleasure of
seeing the object of his toilsome cruise moored in Aboukir Bay, in
line of battle. It appeared afterward that the two fleets must have
crossed each other on the night of June 22d.

The French fleet consisted of thirteen ships of the line and four
frigates; the British of the same number of ships of the line, and one
fifty-gun ship. In number of guns and men the French had a decided
superiority. It was evening before the British fleet came up. The
battle began at half-past six; night closed in at seven, and the
struggle was continued through the darkness--a magnificent and awful
spectacle to thousands who watched the engagement with eager anxiety.
Victory was not long doubtful. The first two ships of the French line
were dismasted in a quarter of an hour; the third, fourth, and fifth
were taken by half-past eight; about ten, the L'Orient, Admiral
Bruey's flag-ship, blew up. By daybreak the two rear ships, which had
not been engaged, cut their cables and stood out to sea, in company
with two frigates, leaving nine ships of the line in the hands of the
British, who were too much crippled to engage in pursuit. Two ships of
the line and two frigates were burnt or sunk. Three out of the four
ships which escaped were subsequently taken; and thus, of the whole
armament, only a single frigate returned to France.

This victory, the most complete and most important then known in naval
warfare, raised Nelson to the summit of glory, and presents and honors
were showered on him from all quarters. The gratitude of his country
was expressed, inadequately in comparison with the rewards bestowed on
others for less important services, by raising him to the peerage, by
the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile, with a pension of L2,000. The
Court of Naples, to which the battle of Aboukir was as a reprieve from
destruction, testified a due sense of its obligation by bestowing on
him the dukedom and