This print is the first of a pair by Robert Dodd depicting the Battle of Lissa, which was part of the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle for possession of the strategically important island of Lissa (also known as Vis), from which the British squadron had been disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic, took place on 13 March 1811. It was fought between a British frigate squadron and a substantially larger squadron of French and Venetian frigates and smaller ships. The French needed to control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian Provinces.

The print is inscribed: "To the Captains Hoste, Whitby, Gordon and Hornby, Their Officers, and Ships Companys, This View of their commencing an Action with the combined French and Italian Squadrons close to the Island of Lissa in the Gulf of Venice, 13th March 1811, is with greatest respect, and reveration of their intrepid conduct, humbly Inscribed, by their Obt. Servant, Robt. Dodd."

The names of the British and French ships taking part in the action are given with the number of guns and men aboard each. 'Amphion', Captain William Hoste's flagship, is shown in the centre of the picture.