954 
very considerable; though slight, 
when compared with that of the 
enemy, which, at a very moderate 
calculation, must have amounted to 
four thousand men ; for no less than 
one thousand one hundred and sixty 
were counted by the provost mar- 
shall, left dead upon the field of 
battle, exclusive of those within the 
French yedettes, which, of course, 
he could not reckon, and of which 
there were certainly many. Gene- 
rals Lanusse, Roize, and Beaudot 
were killed, and generals Desten, 
Sylly, Eppler, and several other of- 
ficers of rank, wounded. In the 
pocket-book of general Roize were 
found some interesting’ papers, 
We took in this engagement two 
hundred and fifty prisoners, two 
pieces of cannon, and one standard. 
On our side, the commander in 
chief was mortally wounded ; major 
general Moore, brigadier-general 
Hope, adjutant-general to the army, 
and brigadiers-general Oakes and 
Lawson were likewise wounded*, 
The gun-boats on the right, un- 
der the command of captain Mait- 
land, of the royal navy, were of the 
most essential service, and did very 
great execution among the French 
troops posted behind the sand hills. 
At one time, during the engage- 
ment, we were in the greatest dis. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1803. 
tress imaginable, for want of ammu- 
nition ; several guns were left with 
scarcely one round, and many regi- 
ments were in a similar situation.— 
This circumstance was owing to the 
want of means of conveyance. Had 
it not been for this temporary defi- 
ciency, the loss of the enemy would - 
have been much more considerable. 
As general Menou built his chief 
hopes of success upon the sudden 
overthrow of our right wing, and 
the consequent consternation of the 
army, he had preferred making his 
approach while favoured by the 
night, that he might arrive close to 
our position unperceived, and thus 
avoid the destructive fire of our en- 
trenchments, and of the gun-boats. 
In faét, the attack was as sudden as 
it was unexpeéted ; and had general 
Lanusse waited a little longer for 
the effeét produced by the false 
alarm on our left, the consequence 
might have been very serious, as the 
Minorca regiment, and the rest of 
general Stuart’s brigade, afterward 
of such very essential service on the 
right, were aétually on their march 
to the threatened quarter. 
The five hundred Turks remained 
in the rear during the whole aétion. 
When the danger was over, they pa- 
raded on a small hill in our front, 
with their numerous flags flying.— 
About 
* The effective force of the British army, in the field on this memorable day, 
was under twelve thousand men ; that of the French, from the most exact compu- 
tations that could be made, cannot have been less than twelve or thirteen thousand 
able and experienced soldiers, exclusive of artillery. 
Our effective strength on the 7th of March, as appears by the official returns at 
the end of the Appendix, was 14697 rank and file. 
Subtracting from the number .. 
666 our loss on the 8th of March. z 
1129 ditto 13th ditto. 
13 on the 18th ditto, 
520 strength of the marines left before Aboukir 
castle. 
About 600 sick or convalescents. 
2938 
/ 
Reduces our force actually in the field, on the 21st of March, to 11759. 
