at the start of 1794 hood's fleet was anchored off the îles d'hyères. hood gave orders for landings to be made on corsica in preparation for seizing the island from the french and making use of the bay of san fiorenzo as a fleet anchorage; corsica had been in open rebellion against france since july 1793, under the command of pasquale paoli. landings were made at san fiorenzo in early february, and despite effective resistance british land forces, working in conjunction with corsican irregulars, had seized the town's main defences by 18 february, forcing the french garrison to abandon the two frigates in the bay and retreat across the serra mountains to bastia.