Editing Battle of the Nile (section)

===Destruction of ''L'Orient''===
[[File:Mather Brown - Battle of the Nile.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The Battle of the Nile (Brown)|The Battle of the Nile: Destruction of 'L'Orient', 1 August 1798]]'', [[Mather Brown]], 1825, [[National Maritime Museum]]]]
At 21:00, the British observed a fire on the lower decks of the ''Orient'', the French flagship.<ref name="JK64">[[#Reference-Keegan|Keegan, p. 64]]</ref> Identifying the danger this posed to the ''Orient'', Captain Hallowell directed his gun crews to fire their guns directly into the blaze. Sustained British gun fire spread the flames throughout the ship's stern and prevented all efforts to extinguish them.<ref name="WLC366"/> Within minutes the fire had ascended the rigging and set the vast sails alight.<ref name="WJ170"/> The nearest British ships, ''Swiftsure'', ''Alexander'', and ''Orion'', all stopped firing, closed their gunports, and began edging away from the burning ship in anticipation of the detonation of the enormous ammunition supplies stored on board.<ref name="RG34"/> In addition, they took crews away from the guns to form fire parties and to soak the sails and decks in seawater to help contain any resulting fires.<ref name="PP129"/> Likewise the French ships ''Tonnant'', ''Heureux'', and {{ship|French ship|Mercure|1783|2}} all cut their anchor cables and drifted southwards away from the burning ship.<ref name="JK65">[[#Reference-Keegan|Keegan, p. 65]]</ref> At 22:00 the fire reached the [[Magazine (artillery)|magazines]], and the ''Orient'' was destroyed by a massive explosion. The concussion of the blast was powerful enough to rip open the seams of the nearest ships,<ref name="NM270"/> and flaming wreckage landed in a huge circle, much of it flying directly over the surrounding ships into the sea beyond.<ref name="WJ171">[[#Reference-James|James, p. 171]]</ref> Falling wreckage started fires on ''Swiftsure'', ''Alexander'', and ''Franklin'', although in each case teams of sailors with water buckets succeeded in extinguishing the flames,<ref name="WLC366"/> despite a secondary explosion on ''Franklin''.<ref name="NM271">[[#Reference-Mostert|Mostert, p. 271]]</ref>
[[File:Luny Thomas Battle Of The Nile August 1st 1798 At 10pm.jpg|thumb|''Battle of the Nile'', [[Thomas Luny]], 1834|alt=A confused naval battle. Two battered ships drift in the foreground while smoke and flames boil from a third. In the background smoke rises from a confused melee of battling ships.]]

It has never been firmly established how the fire on ''Orient'' broke out, but one common account is that jars of oil and paint had been left on the [[poop deck]], instead of being properly stowed after painting of the ship's hull had been completed shortly before the battle. Burning [[wadding]] from one of the British ships is believed to have floated onto the poop deck and ignited the paint. The fire rapidly spread through the admiral's cabin and into a ready magazine that stored [[Carcass (projectile)|carcass]] ammunition, which was designed to burn more fiercely in water than in air.<ref name="WJ176"/> Alternatively, Fleet Captain [[Honoré Ganteaume]] later reported the cause as an explosion on the quarterdeck, preceded by a series of minor fires on the main deck among the ship's boats.<ref name="RLA34">[[#Reference-Adkins|Adkins, p. 34]]</ref> Whatever its origin, the fire spread rapidly through the ship's rigging, unchecked by the fire pumps aboard, which had been smashed by British shot.<ref name="RLA35">[[#Reference-Adkins|Adkins, p. 35]]</ref> A second blaze then began at the bow, trapping hundreds of sailors in the ship's waist.<ref name="NM270">[[#Reference-Mostert|Mostert, p. 270]]</ref> Subsequent archaeological investigation found debris scattered over {{convert|500|m|yd}} of seabed and evidence that the ship was wracked by two explosions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/others/napoleon-bonapartes-fleet/|title=Napoleon Bonaparte's Fleet|author=Franck Goddio|access-date=10 March 2022}}</ref> Hundreds of men dived into the sea to escape the flames, but fewer than 100 survived the blast. British boats picked up approximately 70 survivors, including the wounded staff officer [[Léonard-Bernard Motard]]. A few others, including Ganteaume, managed to reach the shore on rafts.<ref name="WJ176"/> The remainder of the crew, numbering more than 1,000 men, were killed,<ref name="JK66"/> including Captain Casabianca and his son, Giocante.<ref name="NM269">[[#Reference-Mostert|Mostert, p. 269]]</ref>

For ten minutes after the explosion there was no firing; sailors from both sides were either too shocked by the blast or desperately extinguishing fires aboard their own ships to continue the fight.<ref name="WJ171"/> During the lull, Nelson gave orders that boats be sent to pull survivors from the water around the remains of ''Orient''. At 22:10, ''Franklin'' restarted the engagement by firing on ''Swiftsure''.<ref name="RG36">[[#Reference-Gardiner|Gardiner, p. 36]]</ref> Isolated and battered, Blanquet's ship was soon dismasted and the admiral, suffering a severe head wound, was forced to surrender by the combined firepower of ''Swiftsure'' and ''Defence''.<ref name="WLC367">[[#Reference-Clowes|Clowes, p. 367]]</ref> More than half of ''Franklin''{{`}}s crew had been killed or wounded.<ref name="NM271"/>

By midnight only ''Tonnant'' remained engaged, as Commodore [[Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars]] continued his fight with ''Majestic'' and fired on ''Swiftsure'' when the British ship moved within range. By 03:00, after more than three hours of close quarter combat, ''Majestic'' had lost its main and mizzen masts while ''Tonnant'' was a dismasted hulk.<ref name="WJ171" /> Although Captain Du Petit Thouars had lost both legs and an arm he remained in command, insisting on having the tricolour nailed to the mast to prevent it from being struck and giving orders from his position propped up on deck in a bucket of wheat.<ref name="WLC367" /> Under his guidance, the battered ''Tonnant'' gradually drifted southwards away from the action to join the southern division under Villeneuve, who failed to bring these ships into effective action.<ref name="WJ172">[[#Reference-James|James, p. 172]]</ref> Throughout the engagement the French rear had kept up an arbitrary fire on the battling ships ahead.  The only noticeable effect was the smashing of {{ship|French ship|Timoléon||2}}{{'}}s rudder by misdirected fire from the neighbouring {{ship|French ship|Généreux|1785|2}}.<ref name="IG60">[[#Reference-Germani|Germani, p. 60]]</ref>