Fulton notes that little more was said. It was agreed that the torpedo attack should take place at Boulogne as soon as the engines could be prepared, and, after agreeing to call again upon Mr. Pitt during the week, Fulton returned to London.
But the acceptance was for only one-half of his project. Torpedoes were to be used, set with clock-work for future explosion, and these weapons, leaded so they floated below the surface of the water, were to be towed by catamarans, or rafts, consisting of two long sidewise planks, so placed that a man sat between them on a submerged seat. He guided the raft toward the enemy’s ship, attached the torpedo to the anchor-cable, and then paddled away, under water if need required, leaving the clock-work agent of destruction to float broadside beneath the vessel, with the turn of the tide, for later explosion.
In the dusk of the evening of October 2d, 1804, several catamarans, led by the flag-ship Monarch with Admiral Keith in command, stole quietly into the harbor of Boulogne. Seamen, in black jerseys, waistcoats and trousers, with black caps pulled over their faces, managed to paddle each raft into position, attach the torpedoes and get away in safety. But the French ships swung about and avoided the bombs; only one wrought destruction upon a small vessel with a crew of twenty-one men. The other bombs drifted ashore and exploded without serious harm, and at early dawn the British sailed away, without losing a man, but with so slight accomplishment that it was termed a failure. Fulton was present, as were also Sir Home Popham and Viscount Melville. The inventor’s disappointment must have been great.
The attack was followed by a storm of protest in England. It was considered unlawful warfare,—the just idea of mercy construed as unfair such a form of siege. Others made fun of it, and a merry wag wrote a ballad for the newspaper, supposedly sung by the Secretary of War:
See here my casks and coffers,
With triggers pulled by clocks!
But to the Frenchman’s rigging
Who first will lash these blocks?
Catamarans are ready,
(Jack turns his quid and grins)