This sketch anticipates the viewpoint and composition of Pocock's oil painting of the start of the Battle of the Nile (BHC0513). The sketch was completed in 1808 for engraving in Clarke and McArthur's life of Nelson (1809). The drawing shows a later stage in the action than the painting, however, with the French flagship 'L'Orient' exploding in the centre of their anchored line. As this happened in darkness, after 10pm, any oil version of this drawing would have been a night scene, which is indicated here by the full moon lightly drawn in above Aboukir Fort in the left-centre distance. This is presumably one reason why Pocock decided that the oil version would show the start of the action, still in early evening daylight, for which a related sketch is PAD8743. Exhibited: this appears to be no. 82 ('The Blowing up of 'L'Orient'') in the NMM Pocock exhib. (1975) though the vertical dimension varies a little.