The Recovery of Tunis from the Spanish

Sultan Selim II ordered his vizier Sinan Pasha and his admiral Kilij Ali to head for Tunis to take it permanently and restore Ottoman authority there. ²

Two hundred and thirty-eight ships were fitted out, and oarsmen were brought. Hayder Pasha, the Ottoman governor in Tunis, who had withdrawn to Kairouan, was gathering fighters from among the people. ²

The fleet set sail on 23 Muharram 982 AH, corresponding to 14 May 1574 CE. It struck the Calabrian coast and Messina and seized a Christian ship, then crossed the open sea in five days. Hayder Pasha arrived, together with a force of Algerians under Ramadan Pasha, a force from Tripoli under Mustafa Pasha, and volunteers from Egypt. ²

According to the source, the fighting began in spring 981 AH. The Ottomans seized Halq al-Wadi after a tight siege. Tunis itself was besieged; the Spanish fled, together with the Hafsid king Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, to al-Bastyun, a fort the Spanish had fortified heavily. The Ottomans turned to besiege it and tightened the encirclement. ²

The sailing date (982 AH) precedes the start of fighting (981 AH) in the source's text; this needs an additional source.