Page:Authentic account of the important battle of the Nile.pdf/2



N the 24th of May our orders came on board (we were then lying in Cadiz bay) to fall in company with nine Ships of the Line, to join Admiral Nelſon in the Mediterranean ſea, in about three weeks time we fell in with Admiral Nelſon, blue at the Mizzen, in the Vanguard, near Toulon, having with him the Orion, Alexander, the Leander, and the Mutine Brig of war; our fleet then conſiſted of thirteen Sal of the Line, one fifty gun ſhip, and a brig of ſixteen guns; the following is a liſt of the ſhips: the Vanguard, ſeventy four guns, Admiral Nelſon, Orion, ditto, Alexander, Audacious, Bellerophon, Culloden, Defence, Goliah, Swiftſure, Majeſtic, Theſeus, Minotaur, Zealous, Leander, fifty, and the Mutine Brig of ſixteen guns. From Toulon we ſailed to the Iſles of Corſica in queſt of the enemy, but not hearing of the them there we continued our courſe upwards, as we well knew the French had ſailed from Toulon, we then went through a very narrow paſſage, one ſhip only could go through at the time, with a pilot on