In 1806, the French envoy Sebastiani had been dispatched to Constantinople with orders to bring about the Ottoman Empire's re-entry into the Napoleonic Wars.

In addition, four Russian ships-of-the-line under Admiral Dmitry Senyavin were sent to support the British, but did not join them until after the exit from Dardanelles was made.

In anticipation of a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, Britain had sent Sir Thomas Louis from Cadiz on 2 November 1806 into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Ottomans had declared war on Russia on 30 December 1806, and Britain sent Duckworth in Royal George 100 guns from Cadiz on 15 January 1807 into the Mediterranean Sea.

The presence of British and Russian vessels at the mouth of the Dardanelles caused Sebastiani and his French engineering officers to begin the improvement of the Ottoman shore batteries.

However, the absence of significant numbers of Ottoman troops owing to the end of Ramadan meant the batteries were ineffective and the fleet quickly reached the Sea of Marmara.

After Royal George passed, anchoring some 3 miles further up, Pompée, Thunderer, Standard, Endymion and Active attacked the Ottoman ships and a new fortification being built nearby.

One of the batteries deployed by the Ottomans against the British fleet was armed with a medieval 18.6 ton cast bronze piece with 63 cm diameter stones used for projectiles, known as the Dardanelles Gun.

[1] Long after France and Russia had made peace and Senyavin had defeated the Ottoman fleet at Dardanelles on 10–11 May 1807, the Ottomans would remain at war with Russia, draining a significant portion of the Russian army, which also became involved in operations against Sweden in the Finnish War, and later in the resumption of hostilities against France in 1812.