3-066-050 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The French in Tunis: bombardment of Sfax by the French gun-boats, 1881. 'The French troops and ships of war are completing the conquest of the Regency of Tunis; and the seaport town of Sfax, in the Gulf of Gabes, on the eastern coast, has been captured by bombardment and by assault...Several French gun-boats, with about sixteen hundred French troops on board, were sent to Sfax, and a bombardment was commenced on the 5th July, which was continued five or six days, throwing about seven hundred bombshells. Our illustration, from a sketch by an eye-witness, shows the gun-boats Pique and Chacal, at a distance of one mile and a quarter from the forts, bombarding the place...After the destruction of the Arab quarter,...the French contented themselves with sending several volleys of mitraille [machine-gun fire] into the Arabs, many of whom were killed'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.