After the fall of Toulon in December 1793, Hood turned his main attention to Corsica and ordered a joint operation against the town, attacking from the sea and with amphibious landings.

[2] Paoli rapidly defeated his political rivals to become de facto ruler of the island once more, but resisted efforts by the National Convention to exercise control over Corsica and in 1793, as the Reign of Terror swept France, orders were issued for his arrest.

Having expelled the Republican leaders of the city the Royalists offered it to Hood, who entered the port, seized the French fleet and occupied the town in August.

[10] The letters were ignored, and Linzee's forces were too few and inadequately equipped to effectively blockade the rocky inlets of the Corsican coast from which smugglers routinely sailed to Italy.

The ships came under heavy fire not only from the tower and batteries, but also from additional artillery in the town of San Fiorenzo itself, including heated shot.

[11] In Southern France Hood's situation at Toulon became untenable when the French army, led in part by a young Corsican artillery officer named Napoleon Bonaparte, seized the heights overlooking the harbour and began to bombard the British fleet.

[17] In the panicked withdrawal that followed half of the French fleet was burned and 7,000 refugees were removed before Republican forces stormed the city and massacred much of the remaining population.

[20] Dundas, as senior Army officer in the Mediterranean, had assumed command of the land forces, but he and Hood hated one another, their enmity worsened by the chaotic scenes at the evacuation of Toulon.

[20] On 8 February Linzee ordered Juno and Fortitude under Captain William Young to bombard the Torra di Mortella from the sea while engineers under Lieutenant-Colonel John Moore hauled cannon up the steep hills that overlooked the fortification.

[24] Moore immediately began to move his artillery again, seeking a new position that would overlook a new fortification erected between Mortella and Fornali named the Convention Redoubt.

[20][25] Since Linzee's attack on San Fiorenzo in September 1793, the French had reinforced the defences of the town by enclosing an open battery and equipping it with 21 heavy cannon.

[26] From 12 February Moore's artillery teams, composed of sailors detached from the squadron, hauled four 18-pounder cannon, a large howitzer and a 10" mortar to a point 700 feet (210 m) above sea level.

An additional gun reached the summit on 17 February and another was emplaced on the shore to prevent the French frigates from bombarding British positions from the sea.

[27] The surviving French forces retreated from the Convention Redoubt and across a ravine to the defences around the Torra di Fornali, which had driven off Linzee's squadron in September 1793.

[20] Linzee's squadron meanwhile anchored in San Fiorenzo Bay and seized the wreck of Minerve, which was later successfully raised, repaired and joined the Royal Navy under the same name.

Dundas sent Corsican forces to probe the defences, and these troops skirmished with French outposts in the highlands, but he then withdrew them due to the freezing conditions.

[4] Captain Horatio Nelson had landed a force of sailors to reconnoitre the town on 19 February, returning an optimistic report on its state of readiness.

[4][30] Hood disagreed with the order, and attempted to undermine Dundas by appealing to his deputies Moore and Lieutenant Colonel William Villettes.

[32] This left only Calvi as the remaining French-held town in Corsica, which was besieged by a reinforced British and Corsican force in July and surrendered a month later after a massive bombardment.