The story of the L'Orient

[Comte de Brueys]

L’Orient – First Rate ship of the line

The destruction of the mighty French flagship L’Orient at the battle of the Nile quickly became the defining image of war at sea in the age of Nelson. Many artists painted the scene, perhaps the most dramatic moment in an age of high drama. The 120 gun three decker, the largest ship afloat at the time, had been built as the Dauphin Royale, renamed Sans Culotte by the Jacobins, and once again to reflect Bonaparte’s ambition to follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. Under Admiral Francios Brueys she led the French invasions of Malta and Egypt, only to be caught at anchor, at the heart of a powerful French fleet, in Aboukir Bay by Nelson and his ‘band of brothers’ late on the afternoon of 1 August 1798. During the battle L’Orient’s guns shattered and dismasted the Bellerophon, but then her luck ran out. Arriving after dark Alexander Ball and Ben Hallowell manoeuvred their ships onto the French flagships’ bow and quarter, where few guns would bear. When the oil-based paint caught fire L’Orient was doomed. The detonation turned night into day, and deafened everyone: the fighting stopped for several minutes. After the battle Hallowell used part of L’Orient’s main mast to make a coffin, which he presented it to Nelson, as a reminder of his mortality. Nelson would be buried in it eight years later. Through his anxiety to annihilate the enemy Nelson transformed the art of war at sea, while the explosion of L’Orient provided the sublime, apocalyptic embodiment of his genius.

Data:

209.5 x 53.3 x 26.6ft (65.2 x 16.3 x 8.1m)
5095 tons [BM]
Hull wood
Armament 120 guns
Crew Complement 1079
Built Toulon, France, 1791



Picture shows the exploding & burning Orient.