Lot Essay
The Bombardment of the fortifications before the city of Alexandria in 1882 was the most significant show of strength by the Royal Navy during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The rise of nationalism in Egypt, on the increase since Britain had acquired the controlling interest in the Suez Canal in 1875, came to a head early in 1882 as the country drifted into anarchy. France and Britain watched in alarm as the Egyptian army began to fortify Alexandria against foreign invasion and in May, 1882, despatched a powerful combined naval force to reassert their authority in the region. Admiral Sir Frederick Seymour, in overall command, issued an ultimatum demanding the surrender of the forts at which point the French Squadron was inexplicably ordered to withdraw. The Egyptians refused to abandon their forts and Seymour was forced, reluctantly, to carry out his threat to neutralise them. British ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, including the formidable new battleship H.M.S. Inflexible, took up their positions late in the afternoon of 10th July and opened fire at 7 o'clock the next morning. The bombardment continued throughout the day, in various phases as the ships moved across the bay, until firing ceased at 5.30p.m. By then, all forts had been silenced and some of them occupied by the marines who had been landed ashore. In the event, however, it proved a hollow victory and a full-scale British expeditionary force soon found itself committed to policing Egypt and protecting the Suez Canal in a period of unrest which lasted another thirteen years.