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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Battle of the Nile
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(1 Aug. 1798) Naval engagement during the *French Revolutionary Wars, in which *Nelson surprised and destroyed the French fleet in *Aboukir Bay, near the western mouth of the Nile. He thus effectively stranded in Egypt a French army under the command of *Napoleon. One heroic detail of the battle was later celebrated in an English poem. The French flagship L'Orient caught fire but Jacques de Casabianca, the 10-year-old son of the wounded captain, refused to leave his father's side and died with him on board. Mrs *Hemans' poem Casabianca appeared in 1829, beginning: The boy stood on the burning deck Whence all but he had fled.
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