Seven gunboats had to be dragged for 5 kilometres (3 mi) across sand and mud before they could be relaunched on the Nile. The siege was complicated by the difficulties of bringing artillery to bear on the fort, a task which took eight days. The British marched on Rosetta on 8 April, accompanied by 1,000 Ottoman troops, and pushed on to besiege the fort with the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot under Lord Dalhousie.
Fort Julien was garrisoned by a total of around 300 men, comprising a unit of veterans or invalides supported by artillery and infantry from the 61st demi-brigade. When the British landed at Abukir Bay on 1 March 1801, Baron Charles De Hompesh was sent by General John Hely-Hutchinson to capture Rosetta. French gunboats operated along the river nearby, blocking access to the mouth of the Nile. Fort Julien was an important link in the French defensive line on the route to Cairo and barred access from the sea to the lower reaches of the river. It was during this reconstruction that the Rosetta Stone was found.
The fort, located on the left bank of the Nile near Rosetta (Rashid), was renamed Fort Julien after Thomas Prosper Jullien, one of Napoleon's aides-de-camp.
On 19 July 1799, only a few days before the Battle of Abukir, the French took possession of a dilapidated 15th century fortification built by the Mamluk Sultan Qait Bey, and embarked on a hasty rebuilding.
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