Add MS 68936

BATTLE OF THE NILE (1798): 'Plan de la rade et presqu'isle d'Aboukir avec la position et les mouvemens des Vaisseaux françois et Anglois au Combat du 14 thermidor an 6.'; 1798 or 1799. Scale circa 1:50000. French. The map is oriented with North-West at the top; prevailing wind direction and soundings are marked. The map represents the battle at the beginning of its second stage, after the French flag-ship L'Orient had blown up. There are some errors in the order of the British ships: on the inside of the French line, the positions of Goliath and Theseus have been reversed, on the outside, those of Leander and Defence. All the ships on the outside of the French line are shown too far to the north-west, and both English lines are shown with regular spacing which did not obtain even before the battle started, because of the difficulty of navigating in shallow waters without up-to-date and accurate charts. The Culloden, which ran around before the battle, is marked about two miles from her actual position. No detailed modern study of the battle mentions the presence of French bomb-ships, marked at the fore and aft of the French line. To the north-east of the line of battle, there is a line marked 'Mouillage de l'Escadre proposé par le Capte du petit houars', and a further note against Aboukir Island which reads 'batterie de 24 canons de 36 proposés par le meme pour flanquer le mouillage proposé'. These two notes, together with the placing of bomb-ships which were almost certainly not present at the battle, suggest that the object of the map was to disguise the serious errors made by the French commanders before and during the battle. Captain Dupetit-Thouars commanded Le Tonnant but was killed early in the fighting, and could not therefore be called upon either to defend or to deny the proposals attributed to him. The gun emplacement on Aboukir Island in fact only held four guns and a mortar, and their fire against the British ships was ineffective. There is no indication on the plan that the French line was broken by the smaller British ship Leander when Le Peuple Souverein drifted after her anchor cable had been severed, all of which happened before the explosion of L'Orient. Apart from Le Timoleon and Le Tonnant, all the other French ships are shown in carefully spaced line-of-battle. This further reinforces the likelihood that the map was intended to put the best possible complexion on the French lack of preparedness to fight. For other manuscript plans and accounts of the battle, see Add. 18676, sketch plan of the battle in Nelson's hand; Add. 34907, ff. 105-153, 166-168, English and French accounts of the battle contained in Nelson's correspondence; Add. 34974, f. 3, the account in the log-book of Vanguard, Nelson's flagship in the battle; and other contemporary or near-contemporary plans and accounts, Add. 23618, ff. 20, 29-31; 37076, ff. 9-62; and 38076 C. 3. For printed plans and accounts of the battle, see O. Warner, Nelson's battles (1971), pp. 37-86; the plan on pp. 62-63 is based on that by Ralph Miller, the captain of Theseus printed in J. S. Clarke and J. MacArthur, Life of Nelson (1809). See also A. T. Mahan, Life of Nelson (1897), pp. 345-349, and D. Walder, Nelson (1978), pp. 269-287. Purchased from Roger Mason, Dec. 1988.

Ink and watercolours on paper. 513 x 397mm., on sheet 553 x 430mm.