This action--the intentions of which were obvious--aroused the resentment of the Russian Emperor Paul. Nelson’s suspicion that the Russians wished to capture Malta for themselves, have already been alluded to. These intentions came to light now; for Paul, having got himself declared Grand Master of the Knights of St. John of Malta, seized some 300 British merchant ships in Russian ports, and said that he would not let them go till Malta (which was then besieged and about to fall to the British) was given up to him. The British Government ignored the Malta claim, and many of the British merchant ships equally ignored the Russian orders about remaining in harbour. Quite a number sailed away; the rest, however, were seized and burned, by Paul’s orders. To reinforce himself against very probable reprisals, Paul--presumably influenced by Napoleon--formed the “Armed Neutrality.” Russia and Sweden signed on December 16th, and on the 19th, Denmark and Prussia. Meanwhile, Malta, which had been blockaded and besieged by the British ever since the battle of the Nile, was in grievous straits. In February, 1800, the _Genereux_, seventy-four (one of the two ships of the line which escaped from the Nile), left Toulon, with some frigates, intent on relief. She was, however, intercepted and captured by Nelson. In March, the _Guillaume Tell_, the other survivor of the Nile, which had been lying at Malta, attempted on the night of the 30th to run the blockade to procure help. In doing so, she encountered the British frigate _Penelope_, which chased her, attacking her rigging. The firing brought up two ships of the line, _Foudroyant_ and _Lion_, but the Frenchman made such a defence that both these were disabled before she was reduced to submission, and it was to the _Penelope_ frigate that she ultimately struck. This particular fight is generally reckoned as the finest defence ever made by a French ship. Malta was eventually starved into surrender, and the final capitulation took place on the 5th September, 1800, after a siege of practically two years. The capture of Malta was perhaps one of the finest exhibitions of “Admiralty” in the whole war. No waste of life in assaults took place: the fortress was systematically starved into surrender by the judicious use of Sea Power to prevent any relief. In this year (1800), several ships were lost, the principal being the _Queen Charlotte_ (100), which was accidentally burned and blown up off Capraja, on the 17th of March. The majority of her crew perished with her. Eighteen other ships were wrecked, while two (a twenty gun and a fourteen) mutinied and joined the enemy. These were the only British ships that actually changed hands. Captures amounted to fourteen ships of from eighty to twenty-eight guns, and a large number of privateers and small craft.