Chapter V

The Engineer, as Inventor, in Submarine Warfare

While it is true that the genius of Fulton as an inventor was to a certain extent exhibited in his civil constructions, and in his numerous novel devices for the improvement of canals and their navigation, the engineer of to-day would regard them as rather simple and commonplace constructions, and as illustrating the ordinary solution of everyday problems, rather than as the product of remarkable inventive talent. Were there any question of his great skill and talent in this department, however, the study of his plans for the institution of a system of submarine navigation and warfare would thoroughly remove all doubt. In the early part of the century, perhaps before, he had given much thought to the means available for securing what he considered essential to the independence of nations, - the freedom of the seas. These studies finally resulted in the production of a very complete system, both of apparatus and methods, and in the attainment of some success - a very remarkable degree of success for those times - in their application in practice.

Fulton was in France in the year 1803, when he received a message from the British ministry, asking that he meet an agent of that government in Holland for the purpose of discussing the character and applications of his invention, the general nature of which was fully understood by Lord Stanhope, who had become interested in Fulton and had kept him in view, apparently hoping to secure from him some useful inventions for use in the British army and navy. The inventor proceeded to Holland as arranged; but the agent did not meet his appointment, and Fulton returned to Paris, where he was followed by his intending correspondent in the spring of the year 1804, by whom he was induced to visit London and confer with the new ministry. A commission was appointed in June of the same year, consisting of five distinguished engineers and military men, who examined the plans presented them with interest, but with true British conservatism reported against them as practicable." Fulton proceeded at once to demonstrate their entire practicability.

An expedition fitted out against the French fleet in the harbour of Boulogne failed in consequence, not of defects in the torpedoes, but through some inadvertence in their operation by the inexperienced men intrusted with their application. Fulton next conducted experiments illustrating their value and power, blowing up a heavy brig in Walmar roads, beyond Deal, October 15, 1805, under the walls of the castle of Mr. Pitt. Seventy pounds of powder were employed, and the result, as described by the inventor, was perfectly satisfactory: "Exactly in fifteen minutes from the time of drawing the peg and throwing the carcass into the water, the explosion took place. It lifted the brig almost bodily, and broke her completely in two. The ends sank immediatly, and nothing was seen but floating fragments." . . . "In fact, her annihilation was complete, and the effect was most extraordinary." The vessel "went to pieces like a shattered eggshell." Nothing came, of his efforts, however, in Great Britain.

The work which had thus attracted the attention of the British government had been in progress, however, for some years in France before Fulton was called to England, and he had already been equally disappointed by the French government. His motto had been, as he afterward expressed it, "The liberty of the seas will be the happiness of the earth;" and his desire was to break up all naval warfare. He was therefore indifferent where or how his enterprise should begin. Naval warfare once rendered impossible, the freedom of the seas was assured, and the liberty and prosperity of his native country to that extent made safe. His first experiments were made at least as early as 1797, when with the aid of Mr. Barlow in Paris he attempted to make a form of what to-day would be called the "automobile," or self-moving torpedo. His machine was intended to drive a cigar-shaped torpedo in a definite direction, and to a prescribed place, and there to fire the charge. The experiment was not a success, however; and it was long before he could accomplish anything at all satisfactory to himself. The Fulton "automobile" torpedo was the precursor and the prototype of the Lay and Howell, the Whitehead, and all the fleet of torpedoes of modern times.

In spite of every discouragement, the great engineer and inventor worked on, seeking ways, as he said, to deliver the world from British oppression by making the high seas free to all. The Directory, however, rejected his plans, and would have nothing to do with his experiments. A change occurred in the outlook the instant the First Consul took his place in the government. He was immediately interested in the plans of the American mechanic, and at once formed a commission, consisting of Volney, La Place, and Monge, all distinguished men, to investigate the schemes to be laid before them. Fulton built a submarine boat during the winter of 1800-1801, and in the following summer invited this commission to witness experiments with it, intending to make it of service in his system of torpedo-warfare.

This "diving-boat," as he called it, seems to have been remarkably successful, judging it by even our modern standards, and is worthy of description.

In the course of his experiments at Brest, Fulton found it to be perfectly practicable to descend to any depth, and to take any course that he might desire. He actually entered channels of twenty-five feet depth and explored their deepest soundings, and was only prevented from attempting greater depths by the fact that he had a boat which would not safely withstand the great external pressure there met. The depth was determined by the use of the barometer, measuring the external pressure, and he directed the course by means of the compass. He found the boat as obedient to the helm under water as above. The air-supply was renewed by drawing upon a reservoir in which was compressed two hundred times its volume of atmospheric air. Using this as a reserve, the inventor was able to remain under water nearly four hours and a half.

St. Aubin's account, as given by Colden, is as follows "The diving- boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men, and provision enough for twenty days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him to plunge one hundred feet under water, if necessary. He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours. When the boat is above water it has two sails, and looks just like a common boat; when she is to dive, the mast and sails are struck.

"In making his experiments, Mr. Fulton not only remained a whole hour under water, with three of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the horizon at any given distance. He proved that the compass points as correctly under the water as on the surface, and that while under water the boat made way at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived for the purpose.

"It is now twenty years," continues St. Aubin, "since all Europe was astonished at the first ascension of men in balloons; perhaps in a few years they will not be less surprised to see a flotilla of diving-boats, which on a given signal shall, to avoid the pursuit of an enemy, plunge under water, and rise again several leagues from the place where they descended.

"The invention of balloons has hitherto been no advantage, because no means have been found to direct their course. But if such means should be discovered, what would become of camps, cannons, fortresses, and the whole art of war?

"But if we have not succeeded in steering the balloon, and even were it impossible to attain that object, the case is different with the diving-boat, which can be conducted under water in the same manner as upon its surface. It has the advantage of sailing like the common boat, and also of diving when pursued. With these qualities it is fit for carrying secret orders, to succour a blockaded fort, and to examine the force and position of the enemy in their harbours. These are sure and evident benefits which the diving-boat at present promises. But who can see all the consequences of this discovery, or the improvements of which it is susceptible? Mr. Fulton has already added to his boat a machine, by means of which he blew up a large boat in the port of Brest; and if by future experiments the same effect could be produced in frigates or ships-of-the-line, what will become of maritime wars, and where will sailors be found to man ships-of war when it is a physical certainty that they may at every moment be blown into the air by means of diving-boats, against which no human foresight can guard them?" It was in relation to the plans of this boat that the keen-sighted Napoleon wrote his order for the organization of the commission empowered to examine and report upon Fulton's plans, and of which order the following is the text: -

"I have just read the project of Citizen Fulton, Engineer, which you have sent me much too late, since it is one that may change the face of the world. Be that as it may, I desire that you 'immediately' confide its examination to a commission of members chosen by you among the different classes of the institute.

"There it is that learned Europe would seek for judges to resolve the question under consideration. A great truth, a physical, palpable truth, is before my eyes. It will be for these gentlemen to try and seize it and see it. As soon as their report is made it will be sent to you, and you will forward it to me. Try and let the whole be determined within eight days, as I am impatient.

"From the imperial Camp at Boulogne, this 21st July, 1801."

Thus, although his talent as an inventor and his skill as a great mechanic and engineer were not displayed in any remarkable way in the construction of his steamboat, they were exhibited most remarkably in both earlier and later work, and were most wonderfully displayed in all the details of his methods of submarine warfare.

One of the greatest of all inventions was this "diving-boat," in which, like a veritable Captain Nemo, he prowled about beneath the waters of the harbour of Brest during all the summer of 1801, coming to the surface like the gigantic balaena to get breath, plunging beneath it again, rising or diving, moving forward or backward, turning and returning, and after a time coming above water where least expected, and sailing away like any of the commonplace craft with which the harbour was crowded. He spent, at times, several hours below the surface; and once, when a ship was placed at his disposal by Bonaparte, then First Consul, he attacked her from beneath, and blew her into the air with his torpedoes.

Fulton's diving-boat, the "Nautilus," and his powerful torpedoes, kept the British fleet in a state of perpetual apprehension; for it was well known that he was negotiating with the French government for the purchase of his inventions, and had promised Napoleon "to deliver France and the whole world from British oppression."

Dissatisfied with the passive and uncertain character of torpedoes as weapons of submarine warfare, Fulton, although far more successful in their use than any inventor of his own or even the succeeding generation, finally gave up all his experiments, and next turned his attention to the adaptation of heavy ordnance to use under water. Returning to the United States in December, 1806, after nearly twenty years' residence in Europe, and breaking off the fruitless negotiations with the Governments of France and England, in which he had sacrificed so much time during the previous five years, he presented his plans to the Government of the United States. He received much encouragement from President Jefferson, from President Madison, and from Smith, the Secretary of State and of the Navy under the two Presidents. According to Colden, in a paper which Mr. Fulton read to certain gentlemen who were appointed by the British ministry in the month of August, 1806, to confer with him, he says "At all events, whatever may be your award, I never will consent to let these inventions lie dormant, should my country at any time have need of them. Were you to grant me an annuity of 20,000 pounds a year, I would sacrifice all to the safety and independence of my country." Fulton concludes a letter to Lord Grenville in the following words "It never has been my intention to hide these inventions from the world on any consideration. On the contrary, it ever has been my intention to make them public as soon as may be consistent with strict justice to all with whom I am concerned. For myself, I have ever the interest of America, free commerce, the interest of mankind, the magnitude of the object in view, and the national reputation connected with it, superior to all calculations of a pecuniary nature."

While conducting the correspondence with Jefferson, Fulton wrote a letter describing his "method of firing guns under water." The inventor received a favourable reply from the ex-President; and this letter is one of those papers which will always possess historical interest, as having formed a part of the most interesting correspondence of those eventful times. The greatest naval engineer of the generation just passed away improved upon the rude methods and the comparatively feeble apparatus of Fulton; and beside that latest and most formidable of modern engines of war, - the "Destroyer" of Captain Ericsson, - the almost forgotten, the never well-known, devices of the artist-engineer may appear insignificant. Yet when the circumstances by which he was surrounded are remembered, the total lack of all our modern knowledge of the technics of the profession, the absence of all those conveniences that now seem essential to good construction, the absence of all our standard forms of machinery, the inexperience of the workmen who were necessarily intrusted with the carrying out of his plans, and the positively obstructive policy of many departments of government, as well as the opposition of rival claimants of public and private countenance and assistance, - when it is realized how much of talent and how much of enterprise, energy, and persistence were demanded in the accomplishment of such tasks as Robert Fulton so splendidly and successfully undertook, it will certainly be acknowledged that he deserves all the fame that has been accorded him, either as a great mechanic or an ingenious and successful inventor. The author possesses the autographic copy of the letter to President Jefferson, in 1813, written by Fulton, and left among his papers after his death. The following is the text, illustrated with pen and ink sketches, here reproduced in facsimile, precisely as roughly drawn in the hurry of composition or of copying by the inventor, and with all the faults retained.

NEW YORK, June 29, 1813.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, ESQ.

DEAR SIR, - As you take a lively interest in every discovery which may be of use to America, I will communicate one I have made, and on which I have finished some very satisfactory experiments, that promise important aid in enabling us to enforce a respect for our commerce, if not a perfect liberty of the seas. My researches on torpedoes led me to reflections on firing guns under water, and it is about a month since I commenced a suit of experiments.

FIRST EXPERIMENT:
A gun 2 feet long, 1 inch diameter, was loaded with a lead ball and one ounce of powder; I put a tin tube to the touch-hole, made it water-tight, and let it under water 3 feet. Before it I placed a yellow-pine plank, 4 inches thick, 18 inches from the muzzle. On firing, the ball went through the 18 inches of water and the plank. When the gun is loaded as usual, a tompkin or plug is put in the muzzle, to keep the water out of the barrel, as at A. In this experiment the gun being immersed, with the pressure of three feet of water on all its parts, that circumstance might be assigned as a reason for its not bursting. It then became necessary to try the effect with the muzzle in water and the breech in air.

SECOND EXPERIMENT:
I procured a common wine pipe and inserted the gun, loaded as before, into one end, near the bottom; the muzzle in the wine pipe 6 inches, the breech out 18 inches. The pipe was then filled with water to the bunghole, having a head of water of 2 feet 3 inches above the gun, and a body of water three feet long, through which the bullet had to pass. I then placed the opposite end of the pipe against a yellow-pine post, in such manner that if the ball went through the water and pipe, it should enter the post. 1 fired. The ball passed through the three feet of water, the end of the pipe, and 7 inches into the post; the cask was blown to pieces, the gun not injured.

THIRD EXPERIMENT:
I obtained a cannon, - a 4-pounder, - for which I cast a lead ball that weighed 6 pounds 2 ounces; the charge 1.5 pounds of powder. I placed it under water 4 feet, fired at a target distant 12 feet. The ball passed through the 12 feet of water, and a yellow-pine log 15 inches thick; the gun not injured.

FOURTH EXPERIMENT:
I put an air box round the same cannon, except one foot of the muzzle, so that the muzzle might be in water, the breech in air, then let it under water 4 feet, and fired as before through 12 feet of water and 15 inches of yellow-pine; gun not injured.

FIFTH EXPERIMENT:
I ordered a frame to be made of two pine logs, each 13 inches square, 45 feet long, on one end of which I placed a columbiad carrying a ball 9 inches diameter, 100 pounds weight. On the other end I erected a target 6 feet square, 3 feet thick, of seasoned, sound oak, braced and bolted very strong, thus.

The columbiad, except two feet of the muzzle, was in an air box, the muzzle 24 feet 6 inches from the target, the charge of powder 10 pounds. When fired, the ball entered only 9 inches, - that is, its diameter, - into the oak; the columbiad not injured. This experiment proved the range of 24 feet 6 inches through the water to be too great.

SIXTH EXPERIMENT:
I took away the columbiad and box, and put a 24-pounder in its place, loaded with 9 pounds of powder, the muzzle 22 feet from the target. On firing, it entered the target only its diameter, - that is, about 6 inches. Without mathematical experience, the conclusion would have been that the 24-pounder, having a quantity of powder equal to near one half the weight of the ball, and the ball, 5.5 inches diameter, presenting little more than one third the resistance to the water and wood that was presented by the 9-inch ball, it should have entered further into the target. It did not; momentum was wanting.

SEVENTH EXPERIMENT:
I loaded the columbiad with 12 pounds of powder, and placed the muzzle 6 feet from the target, the muzzle of the gun 2 feet under water; the place where the ball struck the target 5 feet under water.

In this case, the ball went through the target 3 feet thick, and where is not known; the target was torn to pieces. In this experiment I fortunately proved beyond a doubt that columbiads can drive balls of one hundred pounds weight through six feet of water and the side of a first rate man-of-war.

On examining Doctor Hutton's experiments and theory of projectiles in air, and comparing the density of air with water, the theory is that the columbiad fired might have been 10 feet from the target; the ball would then have struck with a velocity of 650 feet a second, and have passed through 3 feet of oak. Had the columbiad been 16 feet long, and made of a strength to fire with 20 pounds of powder, the range might have been 15 feet through water. But I will take the medium distance of 10 feet, and then the first undeniable principle is, that one vessel can range alongside of another within 10, or 6, or even 5 feet, when giving the broadside of only two 9-inch balls through the side of the enemy, 8 feet below her water-line. The water would rush in with a velocity of 16 feet in a second, and sink her in 20 or 30 minutes; but from what I have seen in this sluggish kind of shot, I believe if they were put in about 5 feet from each other they would destroy timbers between the two points of shock, and open a space of many square feet, as thus. To put this discovery of submarine firing into practice against the enemy, I have invented a mode for placing my columbiads in ships, from 4 to 8 feet below the water-line, as in the following drawing.

My guns are to be cast with two rims round the muzzle, thus. The space a, b, to be woulded with hemp, and covered with thick leather; the gun then forms a piston like that of a steam-engine or the piston of a forcing-pump. The gun so prepared, there is a brass cylinder, with a strong head, cast, and bored, and bolted in the side of the vessel. When, as in Figure 8, the gun is run into this cylinder, it fits it exactly as the piston does a pump; then if the caliber of the gun be 9 inches diameter, there must be a hole through the bottom of the cylinder of Ii inches, as at C, to let the bullet pass, which hole is covered with a strong sliding valve, the axis of which comes inside of the vessel, as at D; when the gun is run into the cylinder and ready to be fired, the valve opens. On firing, the gun recoils, shuts the valve, and stops out the water. Thus my guns can be loaded and fired under the water-line with near the same ease they are now worked above the water-line. My present idea is to have four columbiads on each side of a vessel, and two in her bow, so that, whether she runs bow or side on to the enemy, the bullets must pass through her, as in Figure 9. You will observe, in these sketches, that not using guns above the water-line, I have no port-holes, and the sides above the water may be 7 or 8 feet thick, of pine logs, which renders them not only bullet-proof; but the vessel so buoyant that she cannot be sunk in this manner. My men who work the guns are out of danger under the waterline, and those who steer or work the sails are guarded by walls of wood, as A, B, Figure 6. For harbour defence, and perhaps finally for service, I have combined a steam-engine with this kind of vessel, to bring her up to the enemy in a calm, or light breezes. In harbours I would not use masts or rigging; there would be nothing to shoot away, nor to hold by in case of attempts at boardage; and in such case, as my deck would not be wanted for fighting or any other purpose, while in action I could make it inclined to twenty-five degrees, and slush it so that boarders could not keep their feet, but must slide into the water, they not having a pin or rope to hold by. The steam-engine would give a vessel of this description the means of playing around the enemy, to take choice of position on her bow or quarter, and with little or no risk sink everything that came into our waters.


For sea service we must depend more on numbers, of which the calculations are in favour of my plan, - A seventy-four will cost $600,000, and then the seventy-four of an enemy is equal to her in power. The enemy also have such fleets as will enable them to bring two to one; therefore the chances are against us. For $600,000 I can build seven vessels. Were they to attack a seventy-four, she could not dismast the whole of them; some one must get within the range of eight or ten feet of her, where one fire from any one of them would certainly destroy her. This changes the chances seven to one in our favour, and against the enemy, for the same capital expended.

This represents the seven vessels bearing down on an enemy. Here it is obvious that she cannot bring her guns to bear on more than one or two of them; if she lies to to fight, they must surround her; but if she sails better than any of them, and runs away, our object is gained, for then she can be driven off the ocean into port. As columbiads of 9-inch caliber are tremendous engines for close quarters, I could have two on pivots and circular carriages within my wooden walls, as thus, which being loaded with semi-shot and chains twenty feet long, would at two hundred yards distance, while bearing down, cut her rigging, and disable her before coming to close action. We are now engaged in a war for principles important to our independence and interest as an active and great commercial nation, and if we fail, generations to come must contend for it until they succeed. At all events, millions must be expended, which, if as successful as our present hope, will fall far short of the liberty of the seas. In expectation to discover in the concealed magazines of science some certain mode for destroying military navies, and thereby establishing a perfect liberty of the seas, I have Iaboured at intervals with much ardour for thirteen years. I now submit to your reflections whether I have found it. My present impression, and Commodore Decatur's, is that I have. This is also the opinion of many friends. For you will consider, that if those vessels can destroy such as now exist, they cannot be used against each other without both parties going to the bottom; and such war cannot be made, - as duels would never be fought if both parties were obliged to sit on a cask of powder, and ignite it with a quick match.

Two millions of dollars would build twenty such vessels; sixty men to each would be sufficient. Total, twelve hundred men. Such a fleet would clear our coast; and the probability is it would be the most powerful fleet in the world. One, however, should be built by Government, to establish principles on the public mind which are already proved in private. On the whole of this subject, after you have maturely reflected, it will give me great pleasure to have your opinions; and if it coincides with mine, your influence at Washington may be necessary to carry it into effect. I sincerely hope this new art may give many pleasing hours to your evening of life. As this wish is from the heart, it is better than the usual unmmeaning compliments with which letters are concluded.

SPECIFICATION:

I, Robert Fulton, give the following specification of my invention for injuring or destroying ships and vessels of war, by igniting gunpowder below a line horizontal to the surface of the water, or so that the explosion which causes injury to the vessel attacked shall be under water. Therefore, instead of having the cannon and port-holes of a ship or vessel of war as usual, above the surface of the water, I place my cannon so low in the vessel that their port-holes will be below the surface of the water any number of inches or feet which may be required, from six inches to four, six, ten, or more feet; and thus, the cannon being fired with its muzzle under water, the bullets will pass through the water instead of through air, and through the sides of the enemy, from one to ten or more feet below the water-line, which, letting in the water in quantity according to the size of the holes and their depth under the surface, will sink the vessel attacked.

DRAWING THE FIRST

represents the mechanism by which a cannon may be loaded inside of a ship, its muzzle be presented to hole in the side of the ship below the water-line, then be fired, its ball pass out through water, the cannon recoil into the ship, and the porthole shut without letting in any inconvenient quantity of water. The gun may again be loaded and fired as before.

For this purpose a ring or flange is cast round the cannon, near its muzzle, which may be filled in with hemp like the packing of the piston of a steam-engine, or with leather, like the piston of a pump; a strong cylinder of brass or iron, or the most fit metal for the water in which it is to be used, is to be neat and smoothly bored, like the air-pump or cylinder of a steam-engine, and of a size exact to receive the muzzle of the cannon, with its before-mentioned packing; hence, when the muzzle is pushed into the cylinder, it will be air and water tight, like the piston of a forcing-pump. The cylinder may b~ one, two, or more feet long, as the use may require; on its outer end a strong head and flange cast, which flange receives screw-bolts, to fasten it tight in the side of the vessel. In the centre of the said head there is a hole two inches in diameter greater than the caliber of the cannon to be used for the cylinder. The cannon being run home until its muzzle touches the head of the cylinder, as in the drawing, the cover to the hole is to be turned to one side, and the cannon fired, the ball and charge passing through the hole. On the recoil of the cannon, the sliding piece which covers the hole will descend and stop out the water. On this plan the cannon may be mounted on a carriage with wheels or not, as future experience may prove best, and always recoil, and be worked in a line direct to the cylinder which is to receive the muzzle. In my experience so far, when the cannon is loaded as usual, I put a kind of tompkin or stopper in the muzzle, with canvas and white lead to keep the water out of the gun. Thus I have found the gun to fire perfectly well without any risk or accident. Although this mode may be good in practice, I do not positively know that the water might not be admitted into the gun, up to a water-tight wad. The first plan will do; the latter may be proved in future practice. Cannon may be thus arranged under the water-line in such vessels of war as are usually built; but as the whole battery comes below water, and may be several feet below, the vessel above the water-line may be made five, six, or more feet thick, of pine logs or other wood, of hay or cotton or old rope or cabbage-tree, or any kind of material which will be bullet-proof. Thus all the men will be out of danger, as in the drawing. Cannon may be placed in the bow of a vessel, near the keel as in drawing, or suspended over the bow or sides as in drawings, and be fired with water-proof locks, constructed for common or fulminating powder. Various other modes of practice may be devised; hut the whole merit of this invention consists in having discovered and proved that cannon can be fired to greater advantage for the destruction or annoyance of an enemy, when so placed that the muzzle shall be under water, and the ball pass through water for the whole or greater part of the space it has to go till it strikes the enemy. The practice then will be with strong bullet-proof vessels to run alongside of an enemy within thirty, twenty, or ten feet, give her a broadside of one, two, three, four, or more heavy pieces from thirty-two to one-hundred pounders, from four to twelve or fifteen feet below the waterline, and retire. Of this whole system of firing cannon, carronades, columbiads, or ordnance of any kind under water, so as thus to attack an enemy to advantage, I claim to be the original inventor; and claiming it as my right, I have deemed it sufficient to give one mechanical and practicable combination, - being improvements previous to further experiments. But any attempt to fire any kind of ordnance under water in attacks on vessels of war, or maritime combat, will be considered a violation of my right and purvey of my invention.

(Signed) ROBERT FULTON.

Fulton had been in America but a few weeks when he collected his papers and drawings and went to Washington, to urge upon the Government his plan for torpedo and submarine warfare. He secured a small appropriation, returned to New York, set up his apparatus on Governor's Island, and prepared to explain it to the representatives of the army and navy, and such others as were interested in the subject. He carried out a series of experimental demonstrations of the value of his inventions, in the course of which he blew up a vessel provided by the Government for the purpose, in the harbour of New York, and completely annihilated it, or, as Fulton himself said, "decomposed" it. Descriptions of his inventions and of his experiments were, a little later, published by Fulton, in his "Torpedo War," a book addressed to the president of the United States and Members of Congress. The result was that Congress passed an act permitting the extension of these experiments, and for some years after this date (1810), in fact up to the time of his death, Fulton was engaged intermittently in the prosecution of his studies, and in experiments in this direction. A commission was appointed to witness and report on his work, and Government continued its interest in the subject to the end.

Reigart says that Chancellor Livingston, after a long examination of each particular subject which the experiments had suggested, expressed himself as follows:

"Upon the whole, I view this application of powder as one of the most important military discoveries which some centuries have produced. It appears to me to be capable of effecting the absolute security of your ports against naval aggression, provided that, in conjunction with it, the usual means necessary to occupy the attention of the enemy are not neglected."

The reports were forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy by Mr. Fulton, with a letter from himself. His buoyant mind was never to be depressed. He gives his own views of the experiments, and writes with increased confidence in his ultimate success. He expresses himself satisfied with the report of the committee, and thinks their opinions were as favourable to the infant art as, under the circumstances, could have been expected. It is due to Mr. Fulton to give some extracts from this letter. He says : - "It is proved and admitted, first, that the waterproof locks will ignite gunpowder under water; secondly, it is proved that seventy pounds of powder, exploded under the bottom of a vessel of two hundred tons, will blow her up; hence it is admitted, that if a sufficient quantity of powder - and which I believe need not be more than two hundred pounds - be ignited under the bottom of a first-rate man-of-war, it would instantly destroy her; thirdly, it is proved and admitted by all parties concerned in the experiments, that a gun can be fired under water, and that a cable of any size can be cut by that means, at any required depth. With these immediately important principles proved and admitted, the question naturally occurs, whether there be, within the genius or inventive faculties of man, the means of placing a torpedo under a ship in defiance of her powers of resistance. He who says that there is not, and that consequently torpedoes never can be rendered useful, must of course believe that he has penetrated to the limits of man's inventive powers, and that he has contemplated all the combinations and arrangements which present or future ingenuity can devise to place a torpedo under a ship. I will do justice to the talents of Commodore Rodgers. The nets, booms, kentledge, and grapnels which he arranged around the 'Argus' made a formidable appearance against one torpedo boat and eight bad oarsmen. I was taken unawares. I had explained to the officers of the navy my means of attack; they did not inform me of their means of defence. The nets were put down to the ground; otherwise I should have sent the torpedoes under them. In this situation, the means I was provided with being imperfect, insignificant, and inadequate to the effect to be produced, I might be compared to what the inventor of gunpowder would have appeared, had he lived in the time of Julius Caesar, and presented himself before the gates of Rome with a four-pounder, and had endeavoured to convince the Roman people that by means of such machines he could batter down their walls. They would have told him that a few catapultas, casting arrows and stones upon his men, would cause them to retreat; that a shower of rain would destroy his ill-guarded powder; and the Roman centurions, who would have been unable to conceive the various modes in which gunpowder has since been used to destroy the then art of war, would very naturally conclude that it was an useless invention; while the manufacturers of catapultas, bows, arrows, and shields, would be the most vehement against further experiments. I had not one man instructed in the use of the machines, nor had I time to reflect on this mode of defending a vessel. I have now, however, had time; and I feel confident that I have discovered a means which will render nets to the ground, booms, kentledge, grapnel, oars with sword-blades, through the port-holes, and all such kinds of operations, totally useless."

The day after this most striking experiment, Mr. Fulton addressed a letter to the governor, and the mayor, and members of the corporation of New York, from which the following are extracts:

"Yesterday my desire to satisfy public curiosity at the stated minute was as great as my never-ceasing anxiety to see our harbours and coast placed beyond the power of foreign insults, and I lament exceedingly that numbers were disappointed by the explosion not taking on the first attack, but it has given me much additional confidence in my engines.

"On taking the torpedoes out of the water, where they had been for two hours, I found the locks and powder perfectly dry. I immediately discovered the cause of the failure, which I corrected by placing a piece of quick-match in the charge which the lock contained. Thus arranged, the fire was communicated to the seventy pounds of powder in the body of the torpedoes, an explosion took place, and the brig was decomposed.

"You have now seen the effect of the explosion of powder under the bottom of a vessel; and this, I believe, is the best and most simple mode of using it with the greatest effect in marine wars; for a right application of one torpedo will annihilate a ship, nor leave a man to relate the dreadful catastrophe. Thus, should a ship-of-the-line, containing five hundred men, contend with ten good row-boats, each with a torpedo and ten men, she would risk total annihilation, while the boats under the cover of the night, a'id quick movements, would risk only a few men out of a hundred.

"When two ships of equal force engage, it may be doubtful which will gain the victory. Frequently one hundred men are killed on each side, as many wounded, and the ships much injured; but even the vanquished vessels will admit of being repaired, and thus the number of ships-of-war is not diminished, but continue to increase and tyrannize over the rights of neutrals and peaceable nations.

"Having now clearly demonstrated the great effect of explosion under water, it is easy to conceive that by organization and practice the application of the torpedoes will, like every other art, progress in perfection. Little difficulties and errors will occur in the commencement, as has been the case in all new inventions; but where there is little expense, so little risk, and so much to be gained, it is worthy of consideration whether this system should not have a fair trial. Gunpowder, within the last three hundred years, has totally changed the art of war, and all my reflections have led me to believe that this application of it will in a few years put a stop to maritime wars, give that liberty of the seas which has been long and anxiously desired by every good man, and secure to America that liberty of commerce, tranquillity, and independence, which will enable her citizens to apply their mental and corporeal faculties to useful and humane pursuits, to the improvement of our country, and the happiness of the whole people."

Colden describes one of these schemes as almost the last work in which the active and ingenious mind of Mr. Fulton was engaged. This was a project for the modification of his submarine boat. "He had contrived a vessel which was to have a capacity, by means of an air-chamber like that which was in his 'Nautilus,' to be kept at a greater or less depth in the water, but so that her deck should not be submerged. That chamber communicated with the water, and was shaped like a diving-bell; but it could at pleasure, by an air- pump, be exhausted of air, and then it would, of course, fill with water; or any requisite quantity of air could be forced into it, so as to expel the water from it entirely. The sides of the vessel were to be of the ordinary thickness, but her deck was to be stout and plated with iron, so as to render it ball-proof, which would not require so much strength as might be at first imagined, because, as no shot could strike it from a vessel but at a very great angle, the ball would ricochet on a slight resistance from a hard substance. She was to be of a size capable of sheltering a hundred men under her deck, and was to be moved by a wheel placed in another air- chamber near the stern, so that when the vessel was to be propelled only a part of the under paddles should be in water; at least, the upper half of the wheel, or more, moving in air. The wheel was to be turned by a crank attached to a shaft, that should penetrate the stern to the air-chamber through a stuffing-box, and run along the middle of the boat until it approaches her bows. Through this shaft rungs were to be passed, of which the crew were to take hold as they were seated upon each side of it on benches. By merely pushing the shaft backward and forward the water-wheel would be turned, and the boat be propelled with a velocity equal to the force of a hundred men. By means of the air- chamber, she was to be kept, when not in hostile action, upon the surface, as common boats are; but when in reach of an enemy she was to sink, so that nothing but her deck would be exposed to his view or to his fire. Her motion when in this situation would be perfectly silent, and therefore he called this contrivance a mute. His design was that she should approach an enemy, which he supposed she might do in fogs or in the night, without being heard or discovered, and do execution by means of his torpedoes or submarine guns. He presented a model of this vessel to the Government, by which it was approved; and under the authority of the Executive he commenced building one in this port; but before the hull was entirely finished, his country had to lament his death, and the mechanics he had employed were incapable of proceeding without him."

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