The transactions of the British at Vis (Lissa) were such as to make
the people of Illyria very discontented with Napoleon, not so much on
account of his mischance at sea, as of the disagreeable effects
thereof upon themselves. The British blockade had ruined the local
merchant service, while the consequent state of a province which had
necessarily to be revictualled by sea was compared with the
flourishing fortunes of Vis. Before the British definitely occupied
that island with its glorious harbour--21/2 kilometres in length by 1
kilometre in breadth--they had to secure themselves by two naval
engagements. In October 1810 the French-Italian attack was nearly
successful, and in the following March came the great fight when
Dubourdieu pitted himself against Commodore Hoste. Not counting a few
smaller ships, the French had four frigates, each armed with 44 guns,
and two corvettes of 32 guns. The British had the _Amphion_ and the
_Cerberus_, each armed with 60 guns, the _Active_ with 44 and the
_Volage_ with 22. The Italians having slow ships, arrived late, but
fought very well. What lost Dubourdieu his chances was the separation
of his squadron, which allowed the British to engage them one after
another. Dubourdieu on the _Favorite_, his captain and two lieutenants
were killed; the captain of the _Flore_ lost an arm; the captain of
the _Bellona_ had both legs amputated, and died on the next day;
Pasqualijo, captain of the _Corona_, wished to surrender his sword to
Hoste, but as he had fought so nobly Hoste refused to take it.
Pasqualijo was removed to Malta, and after a few months set at
liberty. On the British side the losses were also severe. Most of the
crew of the _Amphion_ were either killed or wounded, Hoste being among
the latter. Of 254 on board the _Cerberus_ only 26 were untouched. It
is said that the French and Italians had about 200 killed and 500
wounded. Dubourdieu's fault was merely an excess of intrepidity; the
French have called a cruiser after him. Their opinion at the time,
according to their historians,[38] was that the British were superior
in officers and men and ships--constant cruising on the Adriatic had
brought them near perfection. Among the incidents recorded is that of
one of the _Amphion's_ cadets who was doing police work at the fort;
in despair at being out of the battle he swam to his ship. A fusillade
from the _Favorite_ put some shot in his leg. On reaching the
_Amphion_ he was bandaged and went to his post. His name was Farell or
Farewell.... After this the British made themselves at home upon that
mountainous, rich isle of palm-trees and vineyards that were praised
of old by Agatharchides. Sir G. D. Robertson, the Governor, had two
companies of the 35th Regiment, besides Swiss, Corsican and Calabrian
contingents. There was great prosperity. Sometimes a hundred corsairs
would be in the harbour, waiting for a favourable wind. On their
return they would have splendid cargoes, and the goods which cost so
little were sold at absurd prices. Rent was high, there were not shops
enough for the tailors, carpenters, goldsmiths, pastry-cooks who
landed there, chiefly from Italy; the people therefore pulled old
boats on to the shore and lived in them. There one could buy the best
Turkish tobacco, and cigars were advertised as "the finest cigars for
gentlemen and ladies." Italian and Dalmatian smugglers flocked to Vis
in search of goods, and even French officers could sometimes not
resist wearing the cool garments from the East Indies. In two years
the population increased from four to eleven thousand.
Illyria's enemies on land were also aided by the British. In 1813,
when the Austrians, under General Tomassich, penetrated into the
Illyrian provinces, the Croat inhabitants threw in their lot with
them. They and the British surrounded Zadar, which fell after a siege
of six weeks. At Dubrovnik--whose merchantmen she had mostly captured
or sunk--England assisted the population, nobles and commoners, in a
revolt against the French. One object of the citizens was to restore
the Republic, but in a democratic form.