It is extremely rare to have a first-hand account by a prisoner of Napoleon, rarer still to have one from the 'lower decks', and the fact that Tillery was, infact, an American makes this manuscript possibly unique of its type. Littered with spelling and syntax errors, and not wholly reliable for his dating of events, Tillery, who must have somehow kept notes whilst a prisoner and written them up on ship's stationery after he was finally exchanged for French prisoners, provides an evocative account of his conditions and treatment at French hands and his meetings with Napoleon (who thought he might be instrumental in identifying a body), and of the long, arduous desert march to Cairo which he was forced to do with the French army.

Even though Nelson's brilliant victory at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 destroyed the fleet which had conveyed Napoleon's army to Egypt, the troops themselves were safely disembarked beforehand and, in March 1799, invaded Syria. On 18^th March the French laid siege to [St. Jean d']Acre on the same day that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith, R.N., captured seven French vessels laden with besieging equipment which was hurriedly put to the defence of the town. Despite repeated French assaults, the citadel held out until the night of 20^th May when Napoleon raised the siege and withdrew his army to Egypt. Throughout the siege, the defence had been greatly aided by Smith's flagship H.M.S. Tigre and another '74', H.M.S. Theseus, both of which were anchored in Acre Bay on either side of the town.

H.M.S. Tigre, 1,887 tons, was built at Brest in 1793 and captured off L'Orient by Admiral Bridport's fleet on 23^rd June 1795. Assimilated into the Royal Navy under her French name, she served throughout the Napoleonic Wars and was broken up in 1817.