Page:Battles of the Nile and Alexandria.pdf/7

 from that of her antagonist, was in proportion of 7 to 3, and whose weight of ball, from the lower deck alone, exceeded that from the whole broadside of the Bellerophon. Captain Peyton, in the Defence, took his station a-head of the Minotaur, and engaged the Franklin, the sixth in the line; thus was that ship, with several others, who, as has been already said, were attacked on the land side, placed between two fires. The Majestic, Captain Westcott, got entangled with the main rigging of one of the French ships astern of the Orient, and suffered dreadfully from that three decker's fire, but she swung clear, and closely engaging the Heureux, the ninth ship in the line, received also the fire of the Tonnant, which was the eight. The other four ships of the British line, having been detached previous to the discovery of the French were at a considerable distance when the action began. It commenced at half past 6; about 7 night closed, leaving the combatants no other light than that from the fire of the contending fleets. Troubridge, in the Culloden, then foremost of the remaining ships, was two leagues astern. He came on sounding as the other ships had done. As he advanced, the increasing darkness augmented the difficulty of the navigation, and suddenly, after having found eleven fathoms water, before the lead could be hove again, he was fast aground, nor could all his own exertions, joined to those of other two ships which came to his assistance, get him off in time to bear a part in the action. His ship, however, served as a beacon to the Alexander and Swiftsure, which would else; from the course they were holding, have gone considerably further on the reef, and must inevitably have been lost.

These ships entered the bay and took their stations, in the darkness, in a manner still spoken of