he was carried below he was hit by grapeshot and killed outright. The fourth lieutenant, John Hadaway, was wounded and was taken below to the surgeon, while the fifth lieutenant, George Joliffe, was killed on the deck. After an hour fighting Orient alone, Bellerophons mizzenmast collapsed, followed shortly afterwards by the mainmast. Lieutenant Lander was among those killed in the fall of the mainmast, and command devolved to the third lieutenant, the uninjured Lieutenant Robert Cathcart. Several fires had broken out on both Bellerophon and Orient. According to Bellerophons logbook, at 9pm, when a further fire broke out on Orient, Cathcart was down below on duty, and the 13 year old Midshipman John Hindmarsh was briefly the senior officer on deck. He ordered the anchor cable cut and the spritsail was hoisted, but put too great a strain on the foremast, which collapsed. Now totally dismasted, Bellerophon began to drift away from the action, her crew fighting fires. As she moved out of the line she received some long range shots from the French Tonnant. As Bellerophon slowly drifted away, she was sighted by the 74-gun , approaching the centre. It was by now about 9 pm; in the darkness Swiftsures captain, Benjamin Hallowell, was unable to identify the dismasted ship and presumed that she was a damaged French ship attempting to escape. He debated firing into her, but decided to hold fire and press on to the French centre, where he eventually came to anchor astern of Orient, close to Bellerophons original position. Darby had by this time recovered sufficiently to resume command, and at his order the battered Bellerophon came to anchor at the east end of the bay, and her crew began making repairs. The battle raged throughout the night, and eventually ended in a decisive victory for the British. The next five days were spent repairing the ship and burying the dead. 49 men were killed and 148 wounded on Bellerophon. Eight more died of their wounds in the following week. Britain and West Indies service After carrying out temporary repairs in Abu Qir Bay, Bellerophon hoisted jury masts and, towing the captured Spartiate with HMS Majestic, sailed to Gibraltar for a refit. When this was completed she returned to Britain, arriving at Spithead on 2 April 1800, where she paid off and entered the dockyard for a more substantial refit in September. These works amounted