Siege of Cattaro

View of Cattaro (present day Kotor) from the castle of St. John

Date	14 October 1813 – 3 January 1814
Location	Cattaro, Illyrian Provinces, Adriatic Sea, (present-day Kotor, Montenegro)
Result	Anglo-Montenegrin victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

William Hoste

Petar I

Jean-Joseph Gauthier

Strength

800 Marines, soldiers & sailors
One 38 gun fifth rate
One 18 gun Brig
3 gunboats

600 men

Casualties and losses

20 casualties

All captured

The Siege of Cattaro was fought between a British Royal Naval detachment and Montenegrin forces under Captain William Hoste, John Harper and Petar I Petrović-Njegoš respectively and the French garrison under command of Jean-Joseph Gauthier of the mountain fortress of Cattaro (now Kotor, Montenegro). The siege lasted from 14 October 1813 to 3 January 1814 during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars when the French surrendered. The engagement was fought in the Adriatic Sea for possession of the important fortress of Cattaro.

As part of Venetian Albania, Cattaro had belonged to the Republic of Venice from 1420 to 1797, when it passed to the Habsburg Monarchy with the Treaty of Campo Formio. In 1805, it was assigned to the French Empire's client state, the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy by the Treaty of Pressburg, but occupied by Russian troops under Dmitry Senyavin until they left after the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. Three years later it was incorporated into the French Empire's Illyrian Provinces. Austria declared war on France in August 1813 and by the Autumn the Royal Navy enjoyed unopposed domination over the Adriatic sea. Working in conjunction with the Austrian armies now invading the Illyrian Provinces and Northern Italy, Rear Admiral Thomas Fremantle's ships were able to rapidly transport British and Austrian troops from one point to another, forcing the surrender of the strategic ports, Zara for example had been liberated in December.

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