A French brig was instructed to decoy the English. By manœuvring so as to tempt them towards a shoal lying off the island of Beguieres; but Nelson either knew the danger, or suspected some deceit, and the lure was unsuccessful. Captain Foley led the way in the _Goliath_, out-sailing the _Zealous_, which for some minutes disputed this post of honour with him. He had long conceived that, if the enemy were moored in line of battle in with the land, the best plan of attack would be to lead between them and the shore, because the French guns on that side were not likely to be manned, nor even ready for action. Intending, therefore, to fix himself on the inner bow of the _Guerrier_, he kept as near the edge of the bank as the depth of water would admit; but his anchor hung, and, having opened his fire, he drifted to the second ship, the _Conquérant_, before it was cleared, then anchored by the stern, inside of her, and in ten minutes shot away her masts. Hood, in the _Zealous_, perceiving this, took the station which the _Goliath_ intended to have occupied, and totally disabled the _Guerrier_ in twelve minutes. The third ship which doubled the enemy’s van was the _Orion_, Sir J. Saumarez; she passed to windward of the _Zealous_, and opened her larboard guns as long as they bore on the _Guerrier_; then passing inside the _Goliath_, sunk a frigate which annoyed her, hauled toward the French line, and, anchoring inside between the fifth and sixth ships from the _Guerrier_, took her station on the larboard bow of the _Franklin_ and the quarter of the _Peuple Souverain_, receiving and returning the fire of both. The sun was now nearly down. The _Audacious_, Captain Gould, pouring a heavy fire into the _Guerrier_ and the _Conquérant_, fixed herself on the larboard bow of the latter, and when that ship struck, passed on to the _Peuple Souverain_. The _Theseus_, Captain Miller, followed, brought down the _Guerrier’s_ remaining main and mizen masts, then anchored inside the _Spartiate_, the third in the French line.