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Lot 29

"the Enemys Fleet...at Anchor in the West Branch of the River Nile"
Battle of the Nile

18 October 2005, 14:00 BST

Oxford

Sold for £2,400 inc. premium

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"the Enemys Fleet...at Anchor in the West Branch of the River Nile"
Battle of the Nile

Autograph account of the Battle of the Nile by John Hill, the First Lieutenant of HMS Minotaur, docketed by him "1st of August 1798/ Copy of Lt John Hills Log first Lt of H.M. Ship Minotaur in the Battle of Nile" and headed "Remarks &c onboard the Minotaur August 1st 1798", opening: "Moderate Breezes & Clear Weather/ The Alexander & Swiftsure was sent a Head of the Fleet the preceeding Evening to look into Alexandria at 2 PM. Saw a Large Fleet of Ships in Alexandria Harbour...", giving a detailed account of the battle and its aftermath ("...Beat to Quarter and Clear'd Ship for Action at 50 Min.ts past 4 the Signal to Engage the Van & Centre of the Enemy's Fleet, at 40 Minutes past 5 the Sig.l to form in Line of Battle a head or astern with regard to Succession by the time we were about 7 or 8 Miles from the Enemys Fleet who were at Anchor in the West Branch of the River Nile/ observ'd them to be moor'd in a Line of Battle, and their Broadsides Hove towards us. at 45 minutes past 5 the Admir.l made the Sig.l to alter the Course to Starboard in Succession Bore down on the Enemys Fleet, 1/2 p.t 6 the Sig.l to make Sail after lying by, at 40 minutes p.t 6 the Van & Centre of the Enemy Fleet began to fire on us...at 55 Minutes past 10 the French Admiral ship Blew up about 1/4 of a mile from us. Ships from the Rear still in Action. At Day Break found the Enemys Van & Centre entirely disabled and most all totally dismasted, the Wreck of the (L Orient) a Little above water with a number of People hanging to it which were taken up by the Boats of the Fleet, observ'd the Bellerophon about 3 miles out at Sea totally dismasted but had got up Jury masts during the Night..."); the account ending: "All of our Fleet was Seventy Four Gun Ships", 3 pages on one bifolium, on rough-textured paper with a bunch of grapes watermark, some minor dust-staining and light foxing, c. 1 August 1798

Footnotes

A first-hand account of the Battle of the Nile, written by the First Lieutenant of the 'Minotaur', Captain Thomas Louis's ship of 74 guns which, as this account shows, fought in the thick of the battle, alongside Nelson's flagship the Vanguard. A near identical transcript of his log made by Hill was included in our Nelson & The Royal Navy sale held on 5 July this year (lot 43, sold for £6500): the present document and others of Hill's papers have come to light only since then (see lot 27). In making his two transcripts, Hill allowed himself some substantive alterations, in addition to variations of phrasing; and comparison of the two versions could be instructive. For example where the previous transcript reads "we were about 9 Miles from the Enemys Fleet/ observ'd them to be moor'd in very good line of Battle", ours reads "we were about 7 or 8 Miles from the Enemys Fleet who were at Anchor in the West Branch of the River Nile/ observ'd them to be moor'd in a Line of Battle". Generally speaking, ours has the greater narrative flow and so possibly postdates the transcript sold in July. This transcript was published by E.R. Freemantle in the United Service Magazine, where he observes that "the principal interest in the log lies in the accuracy with which the times of the various events preceding and during the action are recorded", a proof of which is included in the lot.

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