The Corsican people had risen up against the French garrison of the island in 1793, and sought support from the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet under Lord Hood.

After initial delays in the autumn, Hood had supplied a small expeditionary force which had successfully driven the French out of the port of San Fiorenzo in February 1794.

The attack was delayed by an unedifying squabble between the British commanders over the best method to approach the siege; Hood, supported by Captain Horatio Nelson, was over-confident and assumed the town would fall by assault and bombardment in just ten days.

The French positions were however far stronger than Hood had assumed and in the end the siege lasted for six weeks, the garrison only forced to surrender when its food reserves ran out.

[9] In February he agreed with Paoli that in exchange for driving the French out of Corsica, the island would become a self-governing part of the British Empire, and sent a small force to attack San Fiorenzo.

[10] On 19 February, Navy Captain Horatio Nelson had landed a force of sailors to reconnoitre Bastia, returning with an optimistic report on its state of readiness.

[13] The British had sent Corsican irregulars to probe the French defences, but the commander, David Dundas withdrew them a few days later due to the freezing conditions in the mountains.

[14] The admiral felt that a demonstration of British naval strength might be sufficient to intimidate the French, and on 23 February took the Mediterranean Fleet on an extended cruise off Bastia, sailing around Cap Corse, reconnoitering the town and then returning to San Fiorenzo Bay on 5 March.

[15] During this operation, Nelson had taken a squadron close inshore to study the seaward defences and exchanged fire with the shore batteries for two hours without a single shot striking his force.

[11] Dundas was a cautious commander, who refused to send his force of 1,200 British soldiers from a patchwork of regiments and 2,000 untested Corsican irregulars against a French garrison he estimated to be more than 4,000 strong.

[24] While the army forces laid preparations for operations against the town, Hood stationed his fleet in a semi-circle just offshore, with HMS Fortitude under Captain William Young at the centre.

[16] The frigate HMS Imperieuse under Captain William Wolesley was detached to blockade the island of Capraia, also in French hands and the site of large storehouses of food and ammunition, to prevent the garrison interfering in the siege or sending supplies to the defenders.

[27] Hood also ordered the 24-gun sixth rate HMS Proselyte, a small ship captured from the French at the siege of Toulon and armed with 12-pounder cannon, to enter the harbour under Captain Walter Serocold and bombard the seaward defences.

[16] For fourteen days, Nelson's batteries kept up an ineffective fire on the town, Moore noting that the placement of the guns on the heights was too far to achieve an effective bombardment of the defensive positions.

[30] Bastia's food reserves ran dry on 21 May,[31] and Gentili finally sailed from the harbour on 22 May, sending envoys aboard Hood's flagship HMS Victory to sign the terms.

[36] The victory at Bastia did however provide Paoli with sufficient evidence to persuade his fellow Corsicans to accept his agreement with Hood that Corsica would become a self-governing part of the British Empire.

[37] The constitution offered wide male suffrage, biennial elections and strong executive powers firmly held by Paoli through Pozzo di Borgo as nominal president.