1811	Action off Lissa	351

planted the British colours at the very gates of the town. The seamen then secured the vessels in the harbour, which, besides the armed trabaccolo, were 10 in number, and all laden with wheat, oil, hemp, &c. ; and the marines and division on shore burnt two large magazines, filled with all sorts of naval and military stores destined for the garrison of Corfu. Having, by 3 p.m., executed the whole of this important service, Lieutenant Dickinson and his party got back to their ships with so comparatively slight a loss as four men wounded.

We last year left in the harbour of Ancona, a Franco-Venetian squadron, under the orders of the French Commodore Dubourdieu ; and who, it will be recollected, in his official letter published in the Moniteur, expressed regret that his squadron of five frigates and two 16-gun brigs, should have been " avoided " by a British squadron of " three frigates, one corvette, and two brigs." On the evening of the 11th of March M. Dubourdieu sailed from Ancona, with, besides his former ship, the Favorite, and three Venetian frigates Corona, Bellona, and Carolina. � the two French 40-gun frigates Danaé and Flore, the latter commanded by Captain Jean-Alexandre Péridier, but the name of the Danaé's we are unable to state. M. Dubourdieu had also with him the Venetian 16-gun brig-corvette Mercure, one 10-gun schooner, one 6-gun xebec, and two gun-boats, having on board from 400 to 500 troops, under Colonel Gifflenga of the Italian army, as a garrison for the island of Lissa, as soon as they should succeed in conquering it. Early on the morning of the 13th this Franco-Venetian squadron, of four 40-gun frigates, two of a smaller class, brig-corvette and other vessels, arrived off the north point of Lissa, and there fell in with a British squadron, of three frigates and a 22-gun ship, under the orders of Captain William Hoste, the very officer who had commanded the squadron, which M. Dubourdieu and his crews, as formerly mentioned, were so desirous to meet. Captain Hoste's three frigates were the Amphion, Cerberus, and Active, already so frequently named ; and he had also with him the 22-gun ship Volage, Captain Phipps Hornby.

At 30 (sic) a.m., when about a mile from the entrance of Port St.-George, the Active, the weathermost ship of her squadron, then close hauled on the larboard tack, with the wind a fine breeze from the north-north-west, discovered the Franco-Venetian squadron, lying to to-windward. After making the night-signal for an enemy, the Active bore up to join her consorts. At 4 a.m. the extremes of Lissa bore from the Amphion, who was then one mile off shore, from west by north to north by east. At daylight the force of M. Dubourdieu's squadron was made out, and the squadron of Captain Hoste carried all sail in chase. At 6 a.m. the Franco-Venetian squadron began bearing down to

* See p. 255 � See p. 253.

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