"The angling for this dangerous kind of prey was thus managed: two boats took between them a long rope, which was sunk by heavy weights to a depth of ten or twelve feet, and held suspended at that depth by empty casks as floats; the boats then separated as far as the rope would allow, and rowed onwards at right angles to the length of the rope; it was a species of trawl fishing in which the agitation of the floats showed that a prey had been caught, which prey was then hauled up carefully."[55] Mines were also fished up off Kertch and other Black Sea ports, showing that the Russians had gone in extensively for submarine defence, and only failed in causing us serious loss on account of the primitive character of the mines and the precautions which we took against them. On our part we had some idea of using a so-called submarine invented by Mr. Scott Russell, a noted engineer; but it seems to have been merely an elongated diving-bell which could not carry out a satisfactory trial. Two attempts were made by Boatswain John Shepherd, R.N., to blow up Russian ships in the harbour of Sebastopol, but apparently without success. He went in alone in a punt, taking with him some kind of an explosive apparatus, and for his "bold and gallantly executed" exploits he received the Victoria Cross.
A, Wires to catch side of ship. B, Lead weight. C, Jars of Gunpowder. D, Case with side broken away to show jars. E, Raft.
A, Can buoy containing powder. B, Box containing lighted match and punk below. C, Lid or slide between match and punk. D, String for pulling out slide, to allow match to ignite punk.
At the end of the 'fifties we were engaged in war with China for a considerable period, and the wily Celestials tried all sorts of dodges to blow up our ships by means of floating mines, or "infernal machines" as they were still called. They were ingenious apparatus, some of them. The following extracts from a letter written by an officer on board the Encounter, off Canton, give a good idea of the means employed. Three attempts were made to blow her up.
Chinese Floating Mine
One of two, tied together, with which an attempt was made to blow up H.M.S. Encounter.
"The first was a sampan", he writes, "towed by a canoe on 24th December, 1856, and captured close under the bow by our second gig rowing guard. The fuse was lighted in the bamboo tubes at the side. The second attempt was on the morning of 5th January, 1857, about 2.30. Two rafts, moored together, with about 20 fathom of line buoyed up, with hooks to catch cables or anything else, and, on the wires touching the ship's side, to break by the little lead weight the lighted fuse on the top of the bamboo, which communicated with the powder. These were lighted and all ready, but fortunately observed by our guard-boat and towed clear of ship. Being only a raft it was just awash, and in each caisson at least 17 cwt. of gunpowder in open tubs and jars. The raft itself was made of 6-inch plank well bound together, and caulked. The third attempt was on the morning of the 7th January, 1857, at 4.30. A pair of vessels in the shape of a can-buoy with a flag on the top, about 8 inches long; the fuse, with a tin box containing punk[56] over the fuse, then a cover with lighted match on top; this had a string to it, which, when pulled, drew out the centre partition and communicated the fire to the punk, to allow the fellows who swam off with them towards the ship to make their escape; but they got frightened at some stir with the boats, and by accident one went off with a fearful explosion on the starboard bow, about 60 yards, and the other, being deserted, floated down on our booms. One of the men was caught and brought on board here, and had his brains blown out at the port gangway. The buoy-shaped vessel was capable of holding about 10 cwt. of gunpowder." The Encounter was afterwards attacked by two floating mines coupled together by a length of rope, each containing half a ton of powder. They were towed by a Chinaman in a small boat, who was shot by the look-outs and the mines destroyed. The Niger, however, had a small junk exploded alongside her which had, on the top of the powder in her hold, a cargo of the most evil-smelling filth that could be found even in a Chinese city. No damage was done to her hull, but she was absolutely smothered with this poisonous muck, and for years afterwards the crew of the Niger was subject to the annoyance of being reminded of this malodorous incident, for whenever a man belonging to another ship met a Niger, he made a point of holding his nose!