The following day Wanklyn dropped a raiding party inland near Palermo. The party failed to find a target and returned after a few skirmishes with Italian patrols. On the way in, "Upholder" scraped the sea bed and Wanklyn moved the submarine a mile out. While there he was spotted and experienced fire from the shore. The party returned without loss, having failed in their mission to find a target, and the submarine quickly departed. The risk of being attacked by Italian motor torpedo boats was very high. "Urge" had better success, when she landed a party that blew up a supply bridge near Taormina. Another unsuccessful patrol followed—their 13th—and they returned on 1 September 1941. During the sortie he engaged the three huge liner-transports "Neptunia", "Oceania" and "Marco Polo". He fired all of his torpedoes and all missed and once again "Upholder" was subjected to counter-attacks. Just 17 days later, Wanklyn would engage two of these vessels again.