 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.
