Nelson thanks Berry for his letter and expresses his pleasure at the narrative of the Battle of the Nile, Berry has written. Nelson states the conduct to be pursued about the ships he ordered burnt is mean and unjust. He mentions Ball, Gould and Foley are off Malta; Troubridge, Hood, Louis and Hallowell in the Bay of Naples; Smith, Miller and Dixon, in Egypt. Nelson not impressed with the conduct of Smith.

Administrative / biographical background
Sir Edward Berry wrote a Narrative of the Battle of the Nile and published with a plan immediately after the event entitled 'An Authentic Narrative of the proceedings of His Majesty's Squadron under the Command of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson, from its sailing from Gibraltar to the conclusion of the glorious Battle of the Nile, drawn up from the Minutes of an Officer of Rank in the Squadron.'