&c." A report that Bonaparte had passed Corsica reached Nelson on October 24th.

The same day came despatches from Sir Sidney Smith, narrating a disastrous defeat sustained by the Turks on the shores of Aboukir Bay.
Smith's period of command in the Levant had been chiefly, and brilliantly, distinguished by the successful defence of Acre against Bonaparte.

The latter, threatened by simultaneous attacks by the Turks from Syria and from the sea, had determined to anticipate such a combination by going himself against the enemy on the land side, before the weather conditions made it possible to disembark any formidable body of men on the shores of Egypt.

Starting with this purpose in February, he had proceeded with slight resistance until the 18th of March, when his army appeared before Acre.

Smith was then lying in the roads with two ships-of-the-line.