Sfax bombards the city of
Sfax with his floating batteries, from a drawing by
Giuseppe Gatteri Having found his rafts useful, Emo now prepared more of them, three to carry two guns each and six with a single gun. On 26 February 1786, he left Malta with his whole fleet except the
Sirena, which had too many sick on board to be included, and on 12 March, after the usual delays caused by bad weather, he anchored off Sfax. The rafts were got ready, the boats of the
Eolo and
Vittoria were given their howitzers, and on the 18th the slow business of warping into position began. There was unexpectedly little water and it proved impossible for the bomb-vessels to get in as close as they had done in the previous year, but at last in the evening of 20 March it was possible to open fire. The results were unsatisfactory, but it was evident that high-angle fire with bombs was far more effective than direct fire with shot. Accordingly, Emo began a new raft to carry a large mortar, and at the same time converted two of his double rafts and one single for shell-fire. Then came a long pause, due primarily to the resumption of correspondence with the Bey through the master of the same British ship as before, and afterwards to a long spell of bad weather. It was not until 29 April that it was possible to resume operations, but next morning and again in the morning of 4 May two intensive bombardments took place. After that all the rafts except that of the large mortar were taken to pieces and with a final effort from this and the two bomb-vessels in the evening of the 6th, the fleet prepared to depart.
Bizerta It actually got under way on 8 May, but took several days to get clear of the Kerkennah Islands, and did not reach Malta until the 24th. As it did so, it met the
Sirena returning to harbour with her foremast gone. After waiting for some time for stores from Corfu and money from
Livorno, the fleet—still without the
Sirena—put to sea again on 4 July, this time steering for
Bizerta. As usual it made a slow passage and took twenty days for a distance, in a straight line, of less than 250 miles. On arrival eight rafts were prepared—two bombers, one double-howitzer and five with double guns—while there were two longboats with howitzers as before. The first bombardment in the early hours of 30 July was carried out by the bomb-vessels only, since the sea was too rough for the rafts. Emo described the result of the 46 bombs fired as "not very successful", but added that the 145 shots fired by the enemy were no more so, since only one achieved a hit—on the
Polonia—and that did no permanent damage. Next night the two longboats opened the attack in the dark and the bomb-vessels joined in at dawn; this time the results were more satisfactory, and though the shore guns proved to have a surprisingly long range, the attackers suffered very little. 1 August was a bad day and it was necessary to remove the mortars from the rafts, but it was possible to renew the bombardment on the 3rd and 4th, with the gun-rafts also in action on the 4th. 6 August saw another attack in the early morning and a final effort by moonlight on the following night. After that the rafts were dismantled, and on the 10th the fleet left, going first to Favignana near Trapani for water and reaching Malta on 22 August.
Sousse After only a short stay, Emo sailed again on 4 September with all his ships except the
Cavalier Angelo, which was away at Livorno, and the
Sirena, which was not yet ready for sea, though her new foremast had arrived from Venice on the 28th together with a quantity of ammunition and a large boat to carry another howitzer. Querini, who had been in the
Sirena as or vice-admiral, left for home via
Syracuse just as the fleet sailed. This time Sousse was to be attacked, and there the fleet arrived on 19 September, having met another storeship on the way and taken over another longboat from her. The rafts—six with guns and two with mortars—had been put together the day before and were now disposed with the bomb-vessels and the four shell-boats behind the intervals in the line of ships, to await a suitable moment for action. The
Sirena and
Cavalier Angelo had just rejoined, but had been detached again as cruisers, the former to the northward, the latter to the south and south-east. Nothing could be done for a week, but in the evening of 26 September the rafts and small craft were got into position and that night and again on the next three nights, firing went on for two or three hours. There was very little reply from the shore, but the
Distruzione had a good deal of trouble with her after mortar, which damaged its mounting on both of the last two nights. Two gun-rafts were now given mortars or howitzers and on 3 October the attack was resumed in bright moonlight, which enabled the shore guns to inflict some damage and cause a few casualties. After this the bomb-vessels were given a rest and the final bombardment on 5 October was carried out by the rafts and boats only. In the night of 7 October the fleet withdrew. The bomb-vessels went straight to Malta and got there on the 14th, while the
Sirena came in the same day and the
Cavalier Angelo on the 19th, but the main body remained at sea for some days and did not arrive until 26 October. It stayed in harbour until 7 December, when Emo sailed with the
Fama,
Eolo,
Concordia,
Vittoria and
Palma, but only to return on the 18th with the
Concordia leaking badly. Meanwhile the
Sirena and
Cavalier Angelo had again been cruising independently, and the latter had had to go to
Cephalonia and thence to Corfu for repairs.
Tommaso Condulmer, elected , arrived on 27 December from Livorno to take the place of Querini, and on the following day he took the
Sirena and
Palma for a cruise on the Tunisian coast, returning to Malta on 9 January 1787. On 27 January, Condulmer left for a second cruise with the
Sirena and
Palma. ==End of active operations==