Nelson’s Pursuit of Napoleon’s Egypt Expedition.
“[...] By 10 o’clock her ordeal began to abate as fire from Swiftsure and Alexander raked the French flagship from bow and stern. They did terrible slaughter. Brueys, badly wounded, insisted on remaining on deck until struck by a shot that killed him. Belowdecks the spaces were full of wounded, including Captain Casabianca’s young son. They were also cluttered by flammable stores. Lieutenant Webley, of Zealous, noted when l’Orient took fire. Swiftsure’s captain ordered his crew to fire into the seat of the blaze to stop the French crew fighting the flames. Soon it became obvious that l’Orient‘s magazine would be set off, and both her British and French neighbors cut their anchor cables to reach what was hoped to be a safe distance. Alexander drifted off, as did Tonnant, Heureux, and Mercure, either to anchor against or to ground in shallow water. Swiftsure, close ahead of l’Orient, was judged by her captain to be safer where she was; he calculated that the coming explosion would pass over his ship”.
