sea, again as captain of the galleys. On 12 May he became Provveditore dell'armata, the second position after that of captain general of the Sea, and again worked against the Barbary pirates by attacking Senigallia, which they had occupied. The war of Candia At the beginning of the war of Candia (23 June 1645), Marcello was still at sea to prevent the arrival of reinforcements towards Chania, occupied by the Turks. These operations continued also in the following winter, however the Venetians needed a drastic and effective offensive intervention. Marcello was one of the most ardent supporters of a strategy of this type, but he did not find a strong following: in addition to the scarcity of resources, there was the problem of the lack of coordination between the commanders, to which was added the excessive prudence of the captain general Giovanni Cappello. In May 1647 he chased a group of Ottoman ships that had fled from Chios to Nafplio. Marcello's ships were bombed from the fort of Cisme, but he managed to reach the enemy and captured numerous boats loaded with supplies. In the spring of 1648 he served in the Ionian and Adriatic, defending the shipping routes; after which he rejoined the rest of the fleet, once again showing his propensity for aggressive strategy. The Venetian government, now closer to his ideas, turned to him to revive the troops (demoralized by the terrible sinking of one hundred and five ships, which had just occurred) and on 9 May 1648 he was appointed "extraordinary administrator in the army" (Provveditore estraordinario in armata). In the following period, Marcello was the advocate of numerous offensive enterprises (although none had decisive results) and repeatedly asked to remedy the shortcomings and limitations of the Venetian fleet. Meanwhile the operations, already extended from Dalmatia to the Aegean, gradually turned towards the Dardanelles. Between 1650 and 1655 he spent more time at home, being elected senator four times. On 10 June 1655 he returned to deal directly with the fleet: when Captain General Girolamo Foscarini died, he took his place, immediately clashing with the different orientations of some commanders of the general staff, but was always supported by the government and the esteem of his men. The enterprise of the Dardanelles and death At the beginning of March 1656, Marcello sailed from Candia with an ambitious plan: to destroy the enemy fleet as soon as