All at Sea - The Battles of the Nile and Algeciras (Preparations & Planning for New Projects in 2025)

The Battle of the Nile - Ronny Moortgat

As we approach the climax of the Festive Season and with time away from the 'Ship Yard' as family centred celebrations rightly take centre-stage, that and having completed interpretations of the fleet/squadron battles of Cape Ortegal (Strachan’s Action) 1805, Cape Finisterre (Calder’s Action) 1805, Cape St Vincent 1797, Camperdown 1797 and Trafalgar 1805 over previous years, I thought I would take some time to illustrate my ideas for some other key battles of the period that I intend working on after the Xmas break and into 2025.

So the next major fleet action, and indeed a squadron action, just for good measure, build and presentation to feature here on JJ's Wargames, will be the Battle of the Nile or Aboukir Bay fought in 1798 together with a somewhat smaller version and action in 1801, The First Battle of Algeciras, with in both cases the French squadrons surrendering the option to manoeuvre in open battle, in favour of fighting at anchor with supporting land batteries close at hand. 

 

Gregory Fremont-Barnes wrote in his introduction to the Osprey Campaign book 'Nile 1798'

'The Battle of the Nile ranks as one of the most decisive engagements in naval history. The action not only stranded the young general Napoleon Bonaparte and his army in Egypt; it thrust Horatio Nelson forward as a brilliant naval tactician, with coming victories at Copenhagen and, above all, Trafalgar, confirming him as history's pre-eminent naval commander. Furthermore, it encouraged resistance to Revolutionary France, bringing into being a powerful coalition including Britain, Austria, Russia, Turkey, Naples and other powers.

The Battle of the Nile, 1st August 1798 -  signed Thomas Whitcombe 1798

Whitcombe's painting, one of several he made of the battle, shows the beginning of the action at 19.00, viewed from the north. On the extreme right, the French battery on the Island of Aboukir fires on the nearest British ships. To the left of this is the anchored French line with the red straked Guerrier at the head with the British Zealous engaging her on her larboard side. Astern of the Guerrier the Conquérant is engaged with the British Goliath. The next French ship in the line is the Spartiate, almost obscured by Nelson's flagship the Vanguard, identifiable by the blue flag at the mizzen and the three Union Jacks. Beyond is the British Theseus. The British Minotaur masks the French Aquilon, while to the left of her is the French Peuple Souverain engaging the British Orion, being raked by the Leander. Next left, the British Defence and Swiftsure engage the French flagship Franklin. Beyond and to the left the British Bellerophon engages the Orient. In the extreme left background the British Majestic engages the Tonnant and in the extreme left foreground the British Culloden is aground.

Finally victory at the Nile restored the Royal Navy's ascendancy in the Mediterranean - a grave strategic setback for the recent Franco-Spanish alliance, which had until then denied Britain her century-old strong naval presence east of Gibraltar.

The Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798; chart of Aboukir Bay and of the action, with key - Nicholas Pocock (RMG)
A detailed, annotated and scaled chart or plan of Aboukir Bay with the main action of the Battle of the Nile on the left, including the explosion of 'L'Orient', and the later disposition of the two fleets on the morning of 2 August shown on the right. Other ship positions in the aftermath are shown round the bay with a detailed key to ships guns (and crew numbers for the British) at the bottom. Pocock presumably drew this up to help his own understanding of the battle

The Battle of the Nile compounded the effect of Britain's previous successes - notably at Camperdown and St. Vincent, fought the year before - by setting the Royal Navy a standard for fighting prowess that continued well beyond the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.'

It is hard to overemphasise the results and magnitude of the Battle of the Nile, demonstrating in its outcome the most devastating naval defeat inflicted by the Royal Navy in this era, with thirteen of the seventeen French ships of the line and frigates that participated either captured or destroyed, seventy-seven percent lost improving on the victory of Camperdown with fifty-eight percent captured or destroyed. 

The Battle of the Nile was a Nelsonian battle of annihilation in which the object was the total destruction of the French squadron rather than simply its defeat, a style of naval warfare that preceded the style of land warfare that would be conducted by Napoleon Bonaparte, who interestingly was on the receiving end of this defeat, that would force an abrupt end to his schemes for an overland march on British India.

My proof of concept work started back in 2021 when I built two models of L'Orient, one version at sail at one at anchor and so the addition of this third rate takes the project a step further with the ideas gleaned from these builds.
All at Sea - The Mighty French First-Rate L'Orient, Part One
All at Sea - The Mighty French First-Rate L'Orient, Part Two

As well as being the longest naval battle of the era, lasting some eighteen hours from first to last shot, the casualties in the French squadron, according to Nelson's report, in killed and wounded numbered some 5,225 men out of a total of 11,230 men in the fleet, some forty-six percent, whilst losses for the British amounted to 218 killed and 677 wounded or eleven percent of the 8,068 men in the British squadron.

My 'proof of concept build' to eventually produce a set of generic French and British 3rd-rates at anchor forming the core of the collection to recreate the Nile and First Algeciras. As well as finding a suitable sculpting putty, Magic Sculp from El Greco Miniatures, together with a sculpting tool - link below, to produce the furled sail look, for my French third-rates, I intend, as seen here, to remove the skid beams above the upper gundeck for the boats, for a more French look to Brueys' and Linois' squadrons .
https://www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk/collections/magic-sculp

The decision for a squadron or fleet to fight at anchor potentially offered significant advantages, particularly to the side less able to manoeuvre and fight, with a ship at anchor offering a more stable gun platform combined with the crew able to focus primarily on working their guns, acting as force multiplier against a force still occupied with sailing and coping with that motion likely affecting their gunnery.

Indeed when conducted with skill a battle fought at anchor could prove surprisingly effective at repelling a more formidable foe, as demonstrated by Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood in Frigate Bay, St Kitts on the 26th January 1782, when he fought at anchor, driving off a superior French fleet under the Comte de Grasse.

Repulse of the French in Frigate Bay, St Kitts, 26th January 1782 - Thomas Maynard

The French attacked the British islands of St Kitts and Nevis in January 1782 and Hood - who was attempting to relieve the island on which De Grasse had already landed 6000 French troops - defended the subsequent fleet assault by guiding his fleet within the anchorage of Basseterre, which the French admiral had just quit, and ordered his fleet in an L-formation at anchor, whilst De Grasse made three distinct attacks upon the British fleet but was repulsed.

Damage on both sides was heavy, though the French suffered higher casualties. However, Hood was unable to stop the French and could only observe the land action, which, after the successful French siege of Brimstone Hill fortress, saw St Kitts and Nevis surrendered on the 12th of February, with Hood obliged to leave on the 14th and join forces with the recently arrived Admiral George Rodney that would culminate with the eventual defeat of De Grasse's fleet at the Battle of the Saintes two months later.

Fought between the 1st to the 3rd of August 1798 the Battle of the Nile was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte, capturing Malta on route and narrowly evading Rear-Admiral Nelson's British squadron to land the French army at Alexandria before the escorting French squadron under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers anchored 20 miles along the coast in Aboukir Bay. 

The progress of both Nelson and Brueys squadrons across the Eastern Mediterranean in July and August 1798 - Osprey

Aboukir Bay like Frigate Bay was a naturally strong position with inshore shoals and an islet on its southwestern end on which the French established a small battery of guns, and the prevailing onshore wind made any approach under sail hazardous. The fleet was ordered at anchor with the gun battery guarding the head of their line, but at a distance of nearly two miles. The shoal extended only about a mile from the island, so that there was nearly a mile of clear water inshore of the van ship.

Brueys however failed to make the best of his position, neglecting to make the most obvious provision for fighting at anchor, with his ships anchored by the bow only and without springs on their warps, and in consequence not able to swing on their cable to bring their guns to bear as required and they had had to be anchored far enough from the shoals to allow room for the ships to swing, an error that British captains were quick to discover, taking full advantage of the room left for French ships to swing at anchor as being perfectly sufficient for a British ship-of-the-line to pass inshore of the French line.

Map taken from Osprey's 'Nile 1798' shows the French position in Aboukir Bay and the important four fathom line (24 foot depth) from which they had to anchor allowing enough room for their ships to swing at anchor without grounding.

A game like the Nile offers some interesting challenges to players and any game organiser, with such factors as having at anchor and at sail options for both forces as either side may opt to change from one to the other during a game and with the attacker, in this case the British, looking to position their ships carefully as they attempt to anchor in the most optimal position to begin the fight at close quarters.

For the game organiser this means creating enough models to facilitate this aspect of a game fought at anchor as well as designing the structure to make it interesting for a side fighting at anchor, effectively waiting for the other side to choose where and when they start the battle, which could be quite a boring game for one side if not thought through, or to opt, as some have, to have the at anchor side controlled by the umpire with individual ships of the attacking force (British) commanded by the players.

Guides such as Rod Langton's Painting and Rigging Guide are useful resources for projects like this with Rod illustrating several of the paint schemes carried by ships at the Battle of the Nile.
http://www.rodlangton.com/napoleonic/booklet.htm

As the project to build the collection progresses, I'll go through the the game management options I am considering and the rules choices for each, likely using Kiss Me, Hardy and Far Distant Ships.

My game planning map for the Battle of the Nile in 1:700 adapted from Adkins, 'The Trafalgar Compendium' 

Then of course there is the arrangement and size of table space required to accommodate 1:700 models to capture the look of this battle with the map above showing my thinking based on adapting the scaled maps from Mark Adkins all encompassing tome, 'The Trafalgar Compendium' that covers all of Nelson's battles leading up to and obviously including Trafalgar.

Finally the look of the respective squadrons will be an important aspect which I will cover here on the blog as things progress together with the references I have used with for example a rather generic 'chequerboard' scheme third rate showcased here for use in other scenarios or where a precise paint scheme is unknown to looking to include a more precise colour scheme as often documented for the Nile ships, both French and British, to the new Warlord stern galleries and figureheads on character ships that will be seen in the battle, whilst also including some of the excellent 3D printed options from Turner Miniatures for extra character to the respective fleets. 

Battle of the Nile Colour Schemes

The colour schemes of all of the ships at the Battle of the Nile were recorded by a Colonel Fawkes of the 4th West Yorks Regiment of Militia who was present. It records:

The British,

Alexander, Audacious, Bellerophon, Defence, Orion and Mutine as 'Plain Yellow' Sides -i.e. a single broad band.

Goliath, Leander, Majestic, Theseus, Swiftsure, Vanguard had 'yellow sides with a black strake between the upper and lower rows of gunports.

In addition, Theseus had her hammock cloths painted yellow with black 'ports' to make her look like a 3-decker !

Culloden had yellow sides with two narrow black strakes between the upper and lower rows of gunports.

Zealous - red sides with a small yellow stripe.

Minotaur - red sides with a black strake between the upper and lower rows of gunports.

The Battle of the Nile, 1st August 1798 - Nicholas Pocock

The French,

Guerriere, Conquerant, Orient and Peuple Souverain had dark yellow sides.

Heureux and Mercure very dark yellow sides.

Timoleon and Genereux very dark red sides.

Aquilon had red sides with a black strake between the upper and lower gunports (like Minotaur).

Franklin had 'plain yellow' sides.

Tonnant broad light yellow sides, with small black strakes on a line between the muzzles of the guns and two between the upper and lower decks.

Guillaume Tell light yellow sides with a black strake between the upper and yellow sides,

The frigates 'all yellow'.

The notes were discovered in a marine artist's sketchbook in 1914 and published in the Mariner's Mirror the same year. 

Another action that ties in quite nicely with producing British and French ships at anchor, together with some shore batteries and in this case some Spanish gunboats is the The First Battle of Algeciras fought on the 6th July 1801.

The Battle of Algeciras 1801 - Antoine Roux

The French squadron, under Contre-Amiral Charles Linois, had stopped at Algeciras en route to the major Spanish naval base at Cadiz, where they were to form a combined French and Spanish fleet for operations against Britain and its allies in the French Revolutionary Wars. 

The First Battle of Algeciras, 6th July 1801.

The British, under Rear-Admiral Sir James Saumarez, sought to eliminate the French squadron before it could reach Cadiz and form a force powerful enough to overwhelm Saumarez and launch attacks against British forces in the Mediterranean Sea.

Battle of Algeciras, July 1801. Augusto Ferrer Dalmau.

Sailing directly from his blockade station off Cadiz, Saumarez's squadron consisted of six ships of the line, twice the number under Linois's command, and discovering the French at anchor in Algeciras on the morning of 6th of July, he launched an immediate attack on the anchorage through the complicated shoals of Algeciras Bay. 

Although the initial attack caused severe damage to the French ships, light winds and shallow water led to the British ship HMS Hannibal 74-guns, grounding under heavy fire while the French vessels were driven on shore to prevent their capture. 

The battle of Algeciras - Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio

With his intentions frustrated, Saumarez ordered his squadron to withdraw, five of his ships limping out of the bay while the battered Hannibal remained trapped. Isolated and unable to manoeuvre, Captain Solomon Ferris on Hannibal endured the enemy fire for another half an hour before surrendering his ship.

Thus Saumarez wasn't able to pull of the genius of a Nelson at the Nile, despite the audacity and ferocity of his attack, but Algeciras makes for an interesting mini-campaign game if it is combined with the Second Battle of Algeciras fought on the night of the 12th of July, during which Saumarez was able to display his usual audacity combined with his inspiring leadership to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Preparations for the second instalment of the Battle of Algeciras Bay by Capt. Jahleel Brenton

Retiring for repairs, both sides called up reinforcements, the French receiving support first, from the Spanish fleet based at Cadiz, which sent six ships of the line to escort the French squadron to safety.

Arriving at Algeciras on the 9th of July, the combined squadron was ready to sail again on the 12th, departing Algeciras to the westwards during the evening, and the British squadron under Saumarez, having effected its own hasty repairs, set off in pursuit. 

I built two of the French squadron that fought at Algeciras as part of my Trafalgar collection, back in 2020 and now with the stern gallery and figure head made available by Warlord as a separate purchase I now intend to build both Formidable and Indomptable as 'at anchor' versions.
All at Sea - French Third-rates of Renown, Formidable

Finding that his ships were falling behind, Saumarez instructed his captains to separate and attack the combined squadron as best they were able to, and the fastest ship was HMS Superb 74-guns under Captain Richard Goodwin Keats, which sailed through the Spanish rearguard as a moonless night fell. 

HMS Superb sails silently away from the Spanish fleet, while the Hermenegildo and Real Carlos explode in the background after mistakenly firing on one other during her stealthy attack. Drawing by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio.

Superb fired on the rearmost ships, setting the 112-gun Real Carlos on fire and capturing the Saint Antoine and with the Franco-Spanish ships unable to determine friend from foe in the darkness, Real Carlos inadvertently engaged the Spanish ship San Hermenegildo, spreading the fire to its compatriot, that saw both ships subsequently explode with enormous loss of life. 

All at Sea - French Third-rates of Renown, Indomptable

A second stage of the battle then developed, as HMS Venerable 74-guns took the lead of the British line, attacking the rearmost French ship Formidable 80-guns, under Captain Amable Troude, and in a furious and protracted engagement, Venerable suffered heavy damage and was driven ashore, allowing the remainder of the French force to return to Cadiz without further fighting.

The Second Battle of Algeciras, 12-13th July 1801. Formidable 80-guns under Captain Amable Troude in action with HMS Caesar, Spencer, Venerable and the frigate Thames off Cadiz , 13th July 1801 - Pierre-Julien Gilbert

After the battle, Venerable was towed back to Gibraltar for repairs, while the rest of the British squadron resumed the blockade of the French and Spanish ships in Cadiz, returning the situation to that before the battle. 

The Inshore Blockading Squadron at Cadiz - Thomas Buttersworth

This British victory, coming so soon after Saumarez's defeat in Algeciras harbour, did much to restore parity in the region and the heavy casualties inflicted on the Spanish contributed to a weakening of the Franco-Spanish alliance and the signing of Treaty of Amiens, which brought the war to a temporary halt early the following year. In France, despite the heavy Spanish losses, the battle was celebrated as a victory, with Troude widely praised and promoted for the defence of his ship.

The vista of presenting a fleet battle game with one of the forces at anchor and the other one coming to anchor to commence battle will be an exciting project to present, offering a different look to the game, presenting challenges to the players quite different from an open sea engagement, and the inclusion of shore batteries and small boats operating close to the larger ships bringing in other interesting supporting units to contend with, and I am looking forward to the work ahead and presenting progress here on JJ's alongside my other work to develop the small squadron/single-ship collection and the 'Revenge' War of 1812 models.

Lots to look forward to and as always more anon.

JJ