[3] During the siege, an Anglo-Austrian force under command of George Cadogan in HMS Havannah blockaded and bombarded Zara (modern day Zadar) which was then held by a French garrison.

[1] The Treaty of Schönbrunn with the Austrian Empire in 1809 had solidified French influence in the Adriatic by formalising their control of the Illyrian Provinces on the Eastern shore.

Zadar was a regular fortification with 110 pieces of brass cannon, seven mortars and eleven mounted howitzers manned by a garrison of 2,000 troops, nearly half of them Croatian commanded by an experienced French general, Baron Roize.

[1] When the Anglo-Austrian troops arrived on 22 November they found that the fortress was well supplied and ready to stand a long siege, so Cadogan determined to blockade and to eventually attack the place.

[7] Cadogan intended to use the ships' guns to establish batteries on the shore with British seaman and Royal Marines to make up the force to arm them.

They were to combine with the land blockading Austrian force which numbered 1,500 men (many of them were Croats) under Baron Franjo Ksaver Tomašić who had contributed two howitzers.

The Emperor of Austria, Francis II however, awarded Lieutenant William Hamley the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold for his services at Zadar.