 Alceste raided Ragusa , and at the Action of 29 November 1811 , Alceste led the British frigate squadron that outran and defeated a French military convoy carrying cannon . Alceste was stationed at the island of Lissa ( now Vis ) , together with the frigates Unité and Active , when word was received of a similar size French squadron heading north . The three British frigates immediately set sail , caught up with and engaged the French , capturing two of their frigates . The frigates contained more than 200 cannon , which were being transported to Trieste , a city in north @-@ east Italy on the border of the Balkan States . It has been suggested by British historian James Henderson that this action was a factor in Napoleon 's decision to change the direction of his planned eastward expansion in 1812 from the Balkans to Russia . 
