Sir William Sidney Smith

Sir Sydney Smith, the British naval commander in the eastern Mediterranean, sponsored the convention, but in this he had exceeded his powers and was instructed by his superior officer, Admiral Lord Keith, to require the French to surrender as prisoners of war. Although the Ottoman…

… ships of the line under Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith. The British had captured a flotilla containing half of Napoleon’s siege guns, and the town’s fortifications were improved by Smith and Antoine Le Picard de Phélippeaux, a French émigré officer. Smith was a particular bête noire of Napoleon’s, having organized…