Victors of the Nile

The Battle of the Nile (1 August 1798) was Nelson’s most elegant and dramatic naval victory. It wreaked a devastating impact on the French Mediterranean fleet, destroying 11 of their 13 warships, including their flagship L’Orient, which exploded at 10 p.m. in a mighty firestorm that halted the battle for ten minutes. The French were anchored at the mouth of the Nile when Nelson’s fleet found them around 5 p.m. Dividing into two lines, the Goliath, captained by Thomas Foley, led one line between the French and the shore, catching them in a pincer movement and enabling Nelson’s fleet to unleash a devastating crossfire. The English victory decisively altered the balance of power in the Mediterranean, enabling the Royal Navy to dominate it for the duration of the Napoleonic War.

As Nelson said after the Battle of the Nile in 1798, ‘Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene’. His captains are all commemorated in this celebratory engraving published five years later; Thomas Foley, Samuel Hood, Sir James Saumarez, David Gould, Ralph Miller, Sir Edward Berry, Thomas Louis, John Peyton, Henry Darby, George Westcott (killed in the battle), Thomas Thompson, Alexander Ball, Benjamin Hallowell, Thomas Troubridge and Thomas Hardy.

Nelson was made Baron Nelson of the Nile, and adopted the motto Palmam qui meruit ferat (Let he who has earned it bear the Palm).

Object ref PY5671 National Maritime Museum, Copyright Greenwich, London Date made 1803

Artist / Maker Robert Bowyer