guns respectively), 2 frigates (24 guns each), a bark (18 guns), 2 schooners, a flute, and some other ships provided by Hospitaller Malta. The ships fired on Porto Farina for two days. De Brove's fleet also attacked Bizerte and Monastir before the Treaty of Bardo ended hostilities on August 25. Similarly, when Venice took exception to Tunisian-based piracy in the early 1780s, its leaders ordered a series of bombardments that included an attack by Admiral Emo's fleet on Porto Farina on September 6, 1784. This seems, however, to have been the last time a foreign fleet bothered the port; by 1806, it was only a winter port for the bey's warships and it was necessary to take special measures each voyage to get them over the harbor's rising sandbar. The beylik's arsenal was finally removed in 1818, but fear that a similar fate might befall its navy as had Algeria's caused the bey to hire dredgers and workers to improve conditions.; he was again able to bring his fleet into the harbor by December. When a severe storm destroyed the beylik's fleet at anchor off La Goulette on February 7 & 8, 1821, however, such efforts were discontinued and the sandbar off Porto Farina was allowed to continue to grow. Modern town In 1834 a large private arsenal belonging to a Maltese pirate exploded and destroyed part of the town. Ahmed Bey, the last Bey of Constantine, decided to clamp down on piracy and attempted to turn the port over to legitimate trade. In 1837, he began efforts to restore the town's arsenal. Although that never proved feasible, the bey established a palace in the city and an attendant garrison. Command was given to a favorite of the bey's, the general Salah Cheboul. The forts were renovated, and the port cleaned and maintained. From 1840, a community of Maltese, Italians, and French settled in the locality. By 1853, however, the beylik's new frigates could no longer access the harbor and the garrison was reduced. In the early years of Tunisia's French occupation, the Bizerte Port Company () made an attempt to again dredge access to Porto Farina's harbor but a storm from the northeast closed the channel almost immediately after its opening and further attempts were abandoned. The formerly prosperous town's public buildings had already fallen into disrepair and were thoroughly scavenged by locals for other purposes. The prison, which