1798
THE THREAT
In early 1798 the British Government became aware that Napoleon had persuaded the Directorate to mount an expedition in the Mediteranean theatre and intelligence suggested that Egypt was the most likely destination, but to be certain more information was required. In April Admiral Nelson, who had recently returned from England having recovered from the loss of his arm, was ordered to take a small force of 3 ships of the line and 3 frigates to watch the port of Toulon. Shortly afterwards the British Government decided to reinforce Nelson with a further 10 ships of the line, thereby establishing a major British naval presence in the Mediterranean, which had been absent for the previous two years. These reinforcements, under the command of Admiral Troubridge, of which Minotaur was part, entered the Mediterranean on the 26th May and joined Nelson on the 8th June some 50 miles S of Toulon. A lot had happened in the past three weeks since Troubridge’s force had left the Atlantic for the Mediterranean. On the 20th May the French Expeditionary force of 30,000 troops had sailed, undetected, in a direction that took it to the N of Corsica. The next day Nelson’s flagship Vanguard was dismasted in an unseasonable gale in the Gulf of Lyons and had had to carry out repairs in a Sardinian harbour. In the meantime Napoleon had proceeded undisturbed down the E coasts of Corsica and Sardinia having picked up additional forces from Genoa and Elba. The day after Troubridge’s force had joined Nelson’s off Toulon the French Fleet attacked Malta and on the 9th June the island surrendered.
THE SEARCH
Nelson was now in command of a powerful naval force, but had no idea where to find his enemy. On information received, third hand through a merchantman, he had been told that on the 4th June, the French Fleet had been seen off the W of Sicily steering E. Despite the uncertainty of this information he decided to sail SE through the Tyrrhenian Sea, and passed through the Straits of Messina on the 20th. The original information that he had received was confirmed on the 17th and reconfirmed on the 22nd when he had been told that the French had captured Malta and left for a destination unknown on the 16th. Nelson now had to decide where to go next. As the most likely target, Sicily, could be ruled out he decided on Egypt. The British Fleet arrived off Alexandria on the 29th June. The harbour was empty and Nelson must have thought that he had guessed wrong. In fact as history tells us, he had been right, but had arrived too soon. In fact the French had not left Malta until the 19th, were slower and had taken a more northerly course. Nelson had overtaken them and in fact one of his ships had sighted one the French force’s outlying Frigates. Napoleon arrived off Alexandria on 1st July, one day after Nelson had left. This sequence of events has often been quoted by historians as one of the big “ifs” of history. If Nelson had not ignored the French frigates or had waited one day longer at Alexandria, Napoleon’s force would probably have been totally destroyed and Napoleon’s career brought to an abrupt conclusion, with consequences that would have affected European, and even world history, throughout the 19th Century. Following this disappointment, the British fleet made a wide sweep round the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. Passing the W end of Cyprus into the Gulf of Antalya on the S coast of Turkey, they then sailed S of Crete, to the port of Syracuse in Sicily, where they arrived on 20th July. After watering and victualling, the fleet sailed four days later to continue its search of the eastern Mediterranean. On the 28th July Nelson arrived off the town of Koroni, on the SW tip of the Greek mainland. The Turkish governor ashore confirmed that the French were in Egypt and the British Fleet headed S for Alexandria. Nelson and his fleet arrived off Alexandria during the morning of Wednesday 1st August. At about 10 am the Egyptian coast was sighted and by midday it was clear that the harbour was full of the transports of Napoleon’s expeditionary force. However there was no sign of the French battle fleet. At 2.45 the Zealous, who had moved along the coast to the E, signalled that 16 men-of-war were at anchor in Aboukir Bay, some 12 miles E of the port of Alexandria. At 3 pm Nelson ordered his ships to prepare for Battle.
THE BATTLE
At 5.30 pm Nelson ordered his ships to form line of battle “as convenient”. This signal resulted in Goliath (Capt Foley ) taking his place in the lead, with Vanguard (Nelson’s flagship) sixth in the line and Minotaur next astern in seventh position. The first five ships, as a result of an inspired decision by Foley, passed inshore of the French line. Vanguard, having led the remaining British ships to seaward of the French, anchored level with the 3rd French ship Spartiate, while Minotaur, passing the Flagship anchored abreast the next ship, Acquilon. The Goliath and the Guerrier, the leading French ship, had opened fire on each other at about 6:30 pm and by 7:00 the Action had become general. The timing of subsequent events that concerned Minotaur are given in her Captain’s Log. but there is one interesting event that this document does not mention. At 8:30 Nelson received what appeared to be a serious scalp wound. At first he thought he was going to die and amongst other final messages expressed a wish that Capt Thomas Louis (who by family tradition was reputed to be a great grandson, presumably illegitimate, of Louis XIV) should be summoned on board so that he could thank him for his support. It is not known at what time Louis came on board the Flagship, but the Acquilon had ceased firing at about 9:00, so perhaps he felt he could be spared from the battle some time after that.
The next morning Thomas Miller and his son Francis John must have been a tired but elated. They had taken part in and survived one of the most remarkable battles in naval history. It had been fought at anchor and at night. The enemy had been decisively beaten, only two of the sixteen French ships of the line had escaped capture or destruction. As the Gunner of his ship he would have played an important part on this historic occasion. He and his team were responsible for the maintenance and preparation of the guns and during the battle he would have been in charge of the magazines and provision of powder to the gun crews. We do not know what Francis John’s role would have been. As a 1st Class Volunteer he might have been acting as a messenger between the Captain on the Quarterdeck and the gun decks or perhaps more likely, considering his father’s position providing powder to the gun crews. Considering the ferocity of the battle British casualties were remarkably light. In Minotaur 23 were killed and 43 wounded. In the Fleet, 16 officers, 156 seaman and 46 marines were killed. The French had not been so fortunate. Their casualties ran into thousands.
For an extract from the Captain's Log of Minotaur.
AFTER THE BATTLE
On the 14th August Minotaur sailed, in company with five other ships of the line and five French prizes. Because of the state of some of the ships, progress was slow and Minotaur did not reach Augusta in Sicily until the 16th September. After a 5 day visit she sailed for Naples arriving there on the 29th, a week after Nelson had arrived in the Vanguard. The following weeks were spent making more permanent repairs to the ships, particularly the Culloden which had grounded on entering Aboukir Bay. They also gave Nelson an opportunity to get to know Emma, Lady Hamilton, while he stayed with her husband Sir William. At this stage of their acquaintance she restricted her activities to feeding him with asses’ milk and nursing him back to health.
The destruction of the French fleet in Egypt had left the French forces in Malta in a vulnerable position which had been made worse by the insensitive way they had treated the islanders. In August a rising had taken place and the French forces were confined to Valetta. In October Nelson took Vanguard and Minotaur to the island and delivered an ultimatum to the French commander, which was rejected. Having supplied the rebels with arms the ships returned to Naples.