The details of this great sea fight belong to the history of the English hero.[26] The battle was obstinate--it lasted more than twenty hours, including the whole night.

A solitary pause occurred at midnight, when the French admiral's ship _L'Orient_, a superb vessel of 120 guns, took fire, and blew up in the heart of the conflicting squadrons, with an explosion that for a moment silenced rage in awe.

The admiral himself perished.
Next morning two shattered ships, out of all the French fleet, with difficulty made their escape to the open sea.

The rest of all that magnificent array had been utterly destroyed, or remained in the hands of the English.
Such was the battle of Aboukir, in which Nelson achieved, with a force much inferior to the French, what he himself called, "not a victory, but a conquest." Three thousand French seamen reached the shore: a greater number died.

Had the English admiral possessed frigates, he must have forced his way into the harbour of Alexandria, and seized the whole stores and transports of the army.