130	LESINA, CURZOLA, LISSA
liberties of Europe, England, in order to erect a barrier against his scheme of Continental blockade, sent a naval force into the Adriatic under the command of William (afterwards Sir William) Hoste, and proposed to erect Lissa into a kind of Malta in the Adriatic, to hold the door to Eastern Europe. The English occupation lasted from 1808 to 1815. They held Lissa and, as we shall presently see, Curzola as well, and to their credit the memory of this period is still cherished by the inhabitants. Lissa was strongly fortified. The remains of these forts, with their British names, “King George ', “Wellington”, “Robertson”, “ Bentinck ” and “ Hoste ”, can still be seen. They were built in 1812, that is after the famous battle of the preceding year, and were dismantled when the British evacuated the island in 1815. The French and their Venetian allies determined to challenge British supremacy in those waters, and to attack the British base at Lissa. The Franco - Venetian squadron, under Dubordieu, consisted of four frigates, two corvettes, one brig, a schooner, and a Sambek. The British squadron consisted of the Amphion, flagship, Volage, Cerberus; Belle -pou It was in the neighbourhood, but apparently took no part in the action. Dubordieu left Ancona on