by John Marshall

“ The effective force of the allied armies now assembled in the neighbourhood of Rosetta, amounted to between 8000 and 9000 men. On the 27th, three companies of the Queen’s regiment were embarked on board the djerms, and conveyed to Etphiné, from whence the enemy’s advanced post was then distant about two miles [9] .
On the 5th May, the combined force marched along the banks of the Nile to the neigbourhood of Derout, where they encamped in two lines, supported by the flotilla. ”

“ Several black females and a young Frenchwoman were found in the castle. Encouraged by this success, the allies determined to press their operations against the enemy in the interior; and with this determination, Major-General Hutchinson arrived in person at Rosetta on the 26th, having left Major-General Coote in command of the army before Alexandria.
Captain Curry had previously taken possession of a djerm, lying alongside the wharf at Rosetta, and added her to the flotilla by the name of the Betsy. In this vessel, armed with a 24-pounder carronade, he proceeded up the Nile ”

“ These girls, called Almas, though described by M. Savary, in his romance concerning Egypt, as beautiful, elegant, and voluptuous, were found to be frightfully hideous, and ill dressed; their movements, instead of being graceful, were violent and disgusting; contortions of the body inspiring very different sensations from those they were intended to excite. ”

“ The debarkation of the British army on the coast of Egypt, having been effected under cover of the Fury, Tartarus, &c. &c. Captain Curry took a position for bombarding the castle of Aboukir, which at length surrendered on the 18th March 1801. In it were found 12 guns, abundance of ammunition, and a garrison of 190 men. ”

“ On the 26th April, Sir Sidney Smith, accompanied by Captains Morrison, Curry, and Hillyar, leaving their djerms at anchor abreast of Mencet el Mourcheé, proceeded with the armed flat boats and launches to Shimshara, and from the top of a mosque at that place discovered fourteen vessels, part of the enemy’s retreating flotilla, in the direction of Foua, a village then occupied by the republican troops. Returning to their djerms, they visited a sort of school, where girls are taught dancing, &c. to qualify them for the harems of their masters. ”

“ At 10 A.M. on the 9th May, Captain Curry, with four flats and three launches, commenced an attack on the enemy’s forts at Rahmanié, and continued in action with them till four P.M., when his division was relieved by the Turkish gun-boats. In this very creditable affair the British had 4 men, including Lieutenant Hobbes of the Delft, killed, and 7 wounded [11] . ”

“ On the 26th Aug. 1799, the Fury bombarded a military post near the Helder point, and on the following morning assisted in covering the debarkation of the army under Sir Ralph Abercromby on the coast of Holland [4] . After the surrender of the Dutch squadron lying in the Texel, she accompanied Vice-Admiral Mitchell’s flotilla to the Zuyder Zee; on which occasion, the whole of her shot, shells, iron-ballast, guns, and spare stores, were put into schuyts in order to. lighten her ”