The Battle of the Nile (1798) represented a decisive victory for the British fleet against the Navy of the French Republic. The British Navy was under the command of Sir Horatio Nelson, at that time Rear-Admiral of the Blue. The battle is seen as a key moment in the French Revolutionary Wars, helping turn the tide in favour of the British, who were able to establish a dominant position in the Mediterranean, and thereby to halt Napoleon Bonaparte's naval operations, preventing him from capturing Egypt - which he considered the first step in threatening British India.

The Battle of Nile took place in Aboukir Bay (Abū Qīr Bay) located east of Alexandria near the mouth of the Nile. It was fought over three days at the beginning of August 1798 and the scene represented here is from about 9:30pm, at the end of an intense three-hour firefight. The French flagship L'Orient is seen on the left in flames, being rapidly abandoned before she blew up at about 10pm. On the right are British ships under the command of Nelson; the nearest of them is probably Nelson's flagship Vanguard, from which boats were sent across to rescue the crew of L'Orient. 

Joseph Cartwright specialised in marine painting. For some years he was Paymaster-General of the forces at Corfu. in 1828 he was appointed Marine Painter to the Duke of Clarence. This painting, which dates from 1801, only three years after the Battle of the Nile took place, is perhaps the earliest recorded on a picture by Joseph Cartwright. In 1827 he exhibited at the British Institution a larger picture of the burning of L'Orient, a pendant to a view of the battle of Trafalgar.