unknown, on shore off the mouth of the Rhone. Maitland burnt the ketch, which had been armed with six guns. By December, Cameleon was under the command of Commander James Dalrymple (acting). Maitland, however, had again returned to command her by the time of the British expedition to Egypt. On 1 March 1801, some 70 British warships under the command of Admiral Lord Keith, Cameleon among them, together with transports carrying 16,000 troops, anchored in Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria. The objective of the operation was the defeat of the French expeditionary force that had remained in Egypt after Napoleon's return to France. Bad weather delayed disembarkation by a week but, on 8 March, Captain Alexander Cochrane of gave the signal and deployed 320 boats, in double line abreast, to bring the troops ashore. French shore batteries opposed the landing, but the British were able to drive them back. During the landing Cameleon was anchored as near as possible with her broadside to the shore, and suffered one seaman wounded in the operation. By the next day, all of Sir Ralph Abercromby's British army was ashore. The British then defeated the French army at the Battle of Alexandria. The Siege of Alexandria followed, with the city falling on 2 September 1801. Because Cameleon served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March and 2 September 1801, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants. Cameleon was among the nine vessels (one of them the Turkish vessel Zephyr), that shared in the proceeds of the capture on 29 June of the St Antonio di Padua. In September Cameleons cutter and jolly boat commanded by Lieutenant Richard Spencer and master's mate Charles Royer brought off from the beach near Tarragona a Spanish felucca mounting two 6-pounder guns and two swivel guns. The felluca was one of three that had run ashore at the approach of the boats. The British threw overboard the guns on the other two feluccas when small arms fire from soldiers on the beach prevented the British from getting the vessels. On 15 May 1802, Keith promoted Lieutenant Thomas Staines to Commander and command of Cameleon in the Mediterranean. The appointment was confirmed on 24 July. During the short peace Cameleon maintained communications between Malta and Naples. Napoleonic Wars On 28 June