The greatest French failure ever Lord Nelson's Battle of the Nile heroes rise again after 207 years
THE remains of sailors and soldiers who fought alongside Admiral Horatio Nelson in one of his most decisive naval victories over the French have been discovered off the north coast of Egypt.
The bodies were found on an island in Abu Qir bay, east of Alexandria, where Nelson inflicted a catastrophic defeat on Napoleon’s French fleet during the Battle of the Nile.
Paulo Gallo, an archaeologist, had been excavating the island for Greek and Roman artefacts when he discovered the remains of the 30 British sailors and soldiers, some dating to the 1798 battle and others to 1801, when Britain landed an expeditionary force in the area.
We mean that both literally and figuratively. While Napolean's overall plan of empire-building in Egypt was a colossal failure, it can be said to have started both the mania and serious scholarship that led to Egyptology as a singular discipline. The Description de l'Egypte, a 23-volume set on all things Egypt, continues to provide scholars with research topics. Many of the monuments and inscriptions it illustrated are now gone. See here for a nice presentation.
This discovery is a neat reminder of what Napolean's campaign wrought and also puts a human touch on that period in Egyptian/European history.