The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester / from the Original MS., with Historical and Explanatory Notes and a Biographical Memoir

by Marquis of Edward Somerset Worcester

No. XIII.

How to make such false decks, as in a moment should kill and take prisoners as many as should board the ship, without blowing the real decks up, or destroying them from being reducible; and, in a quarter of an hour's time, should recover their former shape, and to be made fit for any employment without discovering the secret.

NOTE.

At about six inches from the fixed deck, and supported by cross beams, it will be necessary to raise an artificial one of thin planks, under which must be previously placed a number of small iron boxes, open at the top, and filled with powder, connected with each other by a train. The instant this is fired, the upper, or false deck, will blow up en masse, without affecting in the slightest degree the permanent deck beneath.