St Jean D'Acre Bonaparte, being deprived of his sea-transport amd threatened by a Turkish force assembling in Syria, marched thither, and, after seizing Jaffa laid siege to St. Jean d'Acre. But the Pacha himself a resolute man, was reinforced by Sir W Sidney Smith, who arrived oppurtunely with the Tigre and the Theseus and took command. He met and defeated a flotilla carrying artillery and ammunition for the French, capturing seven out of nine vessels, and mounting the guns on the walls manned them against Napoleon. The siege lasted for sixty-five days - March 17 to May 21, 1799 - and was characterized by desparate fighting on both sides. In the end Bonaparte was compelled to retreat and returned to Egypt.