At four o'clock in the morning, the moon was still hanging high above the sea. The French fleet cleaned up the remnants and opened fire again. Narson was shocked that the ship with its masts blown up was not conquered. How much could humans bear? It seemed impossible, but the naval battle did continue until the morning, when the cannons finally quieted down. The two main ships, Braveheart and Guillaume, as well as the fast ship Justice and Decris 'Diana, were able to successfully escape north at 11 o'clock. The exhausted British fleet did not have the time to pursue.
The casualties and losses of this naval battle were appalling in the entire history of naval warfare. Of the thirteen French warships, one exploded, one was destroyed by their own artillery fire, and nine surrendered to the British fleet. Regardless of what people thought, the bravery and tenacity of the French Fleet under extremely difficult conditions were admirable. The three-decked capital ship, Thunder, was on fire until August 3. The British found the bodies of 200 officers and soldiers on the wreckage of the ship's deck, and the ship had a total of 608 people. The masts of five French warships were all blown up, and the main masts of two other warships were blown up. The British temporarily disposed of six of these warships, sailed them to Buffalo for major repairs, and then put them into use by the Royal Navy (one of the famous Sparta was used by the British to attack the French in the Battle of Trafalgar seven years later). Those who survived were captured by the British, and those who died were buried by the British.
In this naval battle, the British also inevitably paid a price. The mast of the Brellephant was completely blown up by the French warships, and other ships were also destroyed. A total of 218 British sailors were killed and 678 were injured. Nelson, who was injured in the head, was knighted due to his outstanding achievements in the naval battle.
Considering the situation of the French fleet, it was not surprising that they suffered a crushing defeat. A total of 1,700 French died or drowned, 1,500 were injured, and 3,000 were captured. Only 1,800 of the 18,000-strong French fleet survived. In addition to Bruise's heroic death, the French fleet suffered a total of nine casualties, including Kazabianca and his nine-year-old son. Although Napoleon criticized Brues after the battle, the 45-year-old admiral had put his life on the line from the beginning of the naval battle. Not long after the battle began, he suffered multiple injuries to his head and body. Half an hour later, his left leg was blown off by the British cannonball, but he still refused to leave the command post on the rear deck. But not long after, he stopped breathing.
The news that the French fleet was almost completely annihilated by Nelson's fleet was a bolt from the blue for Napoleon, but he controlled himself. Throughout his military career, he had never been willing to take responsibility for any mistakes. Whether it was land or sea battles, Napoleon would soon push the responsibility to others, and this time was no exception. In his report to Paris, he blamed Bruise for it. If Bruise had followed his orders and entered Alexandria Port within 24 hours, this tragedy would not have happened. Of course, Lieutenant General Bruess did not see such an order. If he had made a mistake in this major event, Napoleon concluded that his heroic death had compensated for his mistake.
According to Napoleon's orders, Bruise had once surveyed the water depth of Alexandria Port. The results of the survey showed that the water was not deep enough, and Napoleon later reported this to Paris. However, four months after the naval battle, Napoleon ordered Major General Gantum, who took over Brues, to tell Paris that the fleet could enter Alexandria Port! This time, the weak Gantum did not obey and openly opposed his superior. I will only accept such a heavy responsibility in the most urgent situation. Entering such a port was very dangerous for any ship with a draft of more than 20 feet. The smallest ship in the French fleet had a draft of nearly twenty-two feet.
Napoleon had indeed proposed to have the fleet sail to the Corfu Strait, but this was not feasible because the fleet had not been completely unloaded and there was no food and fresh water to replenish. Moreover, Napoleon's so-called order to sail to the Corfu Strait was not clear enough and was somewhat ambiguous. Moreover, he had said that if they could not enter Alexandria, they could anchor at Abu Kiir Bay. Even if Bruise wished to go out to sea, as he had thought when he discovered the British fleet, he could not do so because there were still 3,000 men on shore. The fresh water barrels on the ship were almost exhausted, and the stored food was only enough to sail for a few days at sea. No responsible fleet commander would order his fleet to sail at sea under such circumstances.
Nevertheless, in a later report to the Directorate-General, Napoleon continued to accuse Bruise of disobeying his orders and not entering the old port of Alexandria, where his fleet could have entered. Of course, this was nonsense. There was some truth in his accusation that Bruyes had anchored his fleet in Abu Kiir Bay without any precautions. Abu Kiir Bay was not properly defended, nor were there any on the beach, and Bruise did not send frigates to patrol the bay in time to detect the attacking British fleet (although Napoleon himself thought that the British fleet was blockading Malta). Finally, Napoleon repeated his previous argument to the Directorate-General: On the 5th of July, when I left Alexandria, I ordered the admiral to sail into the port of that city within 24 hours. If he found that he could not sail into the port, he would unload the cannons and cargo on the ship and sail towards the Corfu Strait. Napoleon also believed that he had left Alexandria under the assumption that his (nonexistent) orders had been carried out. Just as Brenner had said:
In his reports to the government, Napoleon had never fully reported the truth of the entire incident. Even if it was a fact that was slightly unfavorable to him, he would cover up the truth. He was very good at disguising, altering, and concealing facts when possible. When other people's views were different from his, he would often change the battle reports written by others or add some slanderous content before publishing them. He would hide the truth for the sake of his own honor--he thought it would be foolish not to.
Therefore, of course, Napoleon did not tell the Directorate-General that Bruise and other naval officers had asked him countless times to replenish the fleet's rations. He also did not report to them that not long before the naval battle, the fleet's officers and soldiers had been living on a limited amount of food and water, so everyone was very weak. He also did not report that Bruise had almost died of malaria and was still very weak before the naval battle. Naturally, Napoleon would not admit to Paris that he had sent the fleet into a situation where it was unclear whether it could enter the safe waters of the country's only port without providing sufficient naval intelligence to his naval commander before the war.
They quickly felt the impact of the French fleet's failure. Having lost his navy and important senior generals (Bruise had died, and Villeneuve and Decris had fled from the sea), Napoleon and his expeditionary army were isolated. The sea route of retreat had been cut off, and they were surrounded by an endless desert. The only remaining route out of Egypt was on the Turkish coast of northeast Syria, but a large number of turkish garrisons had blocked the routes to acre, damask, and aleppo. In July, Napoleon had told his brother Joseph that once Cairo was captured, he hoped to return to France for a few months. Now, with the destruction of the French Mediterranean Squadron, it was no longer possible. The British Royal Navy had a firm grasp of the sea, and they could do whatever they wanted at sea. Moreover, the other two fleets in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Russian and Turkish fleets, also began to oppose France. This meant that the British navy had successfully blockaded the Egyptian coast, not only to prevent Napoleon from escaping by sea, but also to block the sorely needed reinforcements, ammunition, and other supplies from France. A month after arriving in Egypt, Napoleon and his expeditionary army became prisoners in Egypt.
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