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The Action of 27 June 1798 was a minor naval engagement between British and French frigates in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The engagement formed part of a wider campaign, in which a major French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria at the start of the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. The French frigate ''Sensible'' had been detached from the convoy after the capture of Malta, under orders to carry wounded soldiers and looted treasure back to France while the main body continued to Egypt. The British frigate was one of a number of vessels detached from the main British Mediterranean Fleet in the Tagus River, sent to augment the fleet under Sir Horatio Nelson that was actively hunting the French convoy. Lookouts on ''Seahorse'' spotted ''Sensible'' at 16:00 on 26 June and Captain Edward Foote immediately gave chase, the French frigate fleeing southwards. For 12 hours the pursuit continued until Foote was able to catch and defeat his opponent, inflicting heavy casualties on the weaker and overladen French frigate. Among the prisoners captured was General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers who had been wounded in the storming of Malta, and among the treasure was an ornate seventeenth century cannon once owned by Louis XIV. The captured ''Sensible'' was initially fitted out as an active warship, but on arrival in Britain in 1799 the ship was downgraded to a transport. The action provided the British with the first conclusive evidence of the French intention to invade Egypt, but despite an extensive search for Nelson's fleet Foote was unable to relay the location of the French to his admiral before the Battle of the Nile on 1 August. ==Background== On 19 May 1798, a French fleet departed Toulon for a top secret destination. The force consisted of 22 warships and 120 transports, to be joined by additional forces from Genoa, Corsica and Civitavecchia as it passed south through the Ligurian Sea.〔James, p. 150〕 The fleet's target was Egypt, a territory nominally controlled by the Ottoman Empire that French General Napoleon Bonaparte considered an ideal springboard for operations against British India.〔Adkins, p. 7〕 Passing southwards without interference from the Royal Navy, which had been absent from the Mediterranean for over a year following the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain, Bonaparte's convoy passed Sicily on 7 June and two days later was at anchor off the harbour of Valletta on Malta. The island nation of Malta was under the command of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, a religious order that depended on France for much of its wealth and recruits. Bonaparte believed that capturing Malta was essential to controlling the Central Mediterranean, and when Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim refused the fleet entry to the harbour, Bonaparte responded with a large scale invasion. The knights put up no resistance, although fighting against native Maltese troops lasted for 24 hours until the central city of Mdina fell.〔Cole, p. 8〕 With this defeat the knights withdrew to their fortress at Valletta but were persuaded to surrender the following day with promises of pensions and estates in France.〔Cole, p. 10〕 With Malta secure, Bonaparte seized the Maltese army and navy, adding them to his own forces. He garrisoned Valletta and among the wealth he appropriated from the island was the entire property of the Roman Catholic Church in the island.〔Gardiner, p. 21〕 Much of this was auctioned off, while other treasures were to be transported to France, along with dispatches carried by the wounded General Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers and other soldiers wounded during the invasion. On 19 June Bonaparte divided his forces, leaving 4,000 men to hold the island while the remainder of the convoy embarked on the second leg of the journey to Egypt.〔Adkins, p. 13〕 One ship was detailed to return to France with the wounded, despatches and some of the treasure. For this purpose the 36-gun frigate ''Sensible'' under Captain G. F. J. Bourdé was selected, although much of the regular crew was removed and replaced with freed Maltese galley slaves.〔Clowes, p. 510〕 Although Bonaparte had not expected British interference in his operations against Egypt, the Royal Navy had responded to the reports of French mobilisation on the south coast by despatching a small squadron to the Ligurian Sea under Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson.〔Gardiner, p. 18〕 Arriving on 21 May, Nelson's squadron was struck by a severe storm and was forced to make hasty repairs off Sardinia. The storm had also dispersed the squadron's frigates, leaving Nelson with only three ships of the line. Although he was reinforced by another ten ships of the line and a fourth rate on 7 June, he still lacked any scouts and was thus severely hampered in his ability to search for information on French operations.〔Clowes, p. 354〕 The detached frigates had been scattered across the Western Mediterranean, and were unable to locate either the British or the French fleets. Reinforcements sent by Vice-Admiral Earl St Vincent at the Tagus River suffered from the same problem, the frigates spreading out widely in their search but failing to discover either of the main British or French forces, which were rapidly sailing southeastwards towards Alexandria.〔Keegan, p. 47〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 27 June 1798」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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