On 10 July 1799 Briggs was appointed acting-commander of the sloop HMS "Salamine", and was officially confirmed in that rank on 30 June 1800, having taken part in the reduction of Genoa earlier. In March 1801 Captain Manley Dixon of at Port Mahon, sent Briggs to Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren's fleet with the news that Admiral Honoré Ganteaume had sailed from Toulon bound for Egypt. Warren intercepted the French fleet and pursued them back to Toulon. Briggs was then engaged in the expedition to Egypt under Lord Keith and Sir Ralph Abercromby, for which he was awarded the Turkish Gold Medal and the Order of the Crescent, and was promoted to post-captain on 24 July 1801. He commanded , flagship of Sir Richard Bickerton off Alexandria, then on the Mediterranean and Home stations from 1802.