PLATE I
Is a view of the brig Dorothea, as she was blown up on the 15th of Oct. 1805.
To convince Mr. Pitt and lord Melville that a vessel could be destroyed by the explosion of a Torpedo under her bottom, a strong built Danish brig, the Dorothea, burthen 200 tons, was anchored in Walmer road, near Deal, and within a mile of Walmer Castle, the then residence of Mr. Pitt. Two boats, each with eight men, commanded by lieutenant Robinson, were put under my direction. I prepared two empty Torpedoes in such a manner, that each was only from two to three pounds specifically heavier than salt water; and I so suspended them, that they hung fifteen feet under water. They were then tied one to each end of a small rope eighty feet long: thus arranged, and the brig drawing twelve feet of water, the 14th day of October was spent in practice. Each boat having a Torpedo in the stern, they started from the shore about a mile above the brig, and rowed down towards her; the uniting line of the Torpedoes being stretched to its full extent, the two boats were distant from each other seventy feet; thus they approached in such a manner, that one boat kept the larboard the other the starboard side of the brig in view. So soon as the connecting line of the Torpedoes passed the buoy of the brig, they were thrown into the water, and carried on by the tide, until the connecting line touched the brig's cable; the tide then drove them under her bottom. The experiment being repeated several times, taught the men how to act, and proved to my satisfaction that, when properly placed on the tide, the Torpedoes would invariably go under the bottom of the vessel. I then filled one of the Torpedoes with one hundred and eighty pounds of powder, and set its clockwork to eighteen minutes. Every thing being ready, the experiment was announced for the next day, the 15th, at five o'clock in the afternoon. Urgent business had called Mr. Pitt and lord Melville to London. Admiral Holloway, Sir Sidney Smith, Captain Owen, Captain Kingston, Colonel Congreve, and the major part of the officers of the fleet under command of Lord Keath were present; at forty minutes past four the boats rowed towards the brig, and the Torpedoes were thrown into the water; the tide carried them, as before described, under the bottom of the brig, where, at the expiration of eighteen minutes, the explosion appeared to raise her bodily about six feet; she separated in the middle, and the two ends went down; in twenty seconds, nothing was to be seen of her except floating fragments; the pumps and foremast were blown out of her; the fore-topsail-yard was thrown up to the cross-trees; the fore-chain plates with their bolts, were torn from her sides; the mizen-chain-plates and shrouds, being stronger than those of the foremast, or the shock being more forward than aft, the mizenmast was broke off in two places; these discoveries were made by means of the pieces which were found afloat.
The experiment was of the most satisfactory kind, for it proved a fact much debated and denied, that the explosion of a sufficient quantity of powder under the bottom of a vessel would destroy her.[A] There is now no doubt left on any intelligent mind as to this most important of all facts connected with the invention of Torpedoes; and the establishment of this fact alone, merits the expenditure of millions of dollars and years of experiment, were it yet necessary, to arrive at a system of practice which shall insure success to attacks, with such formidable engines. For America, I consider it a fortunate circumstance that this experiment was made in England, and witnessed by more than a hundred respectable and brave officers of the Royal navy; for, should Congress adopt Torpedoes as a part of our means of defence, lords Melville, Castlereagh, and Mulgrave, have a good knowledge of their combination and effect. Lord Grenville, Earls Gray and St. Vincent[B], have on their minds a strong impression of their probable consequences. Sir Home Popham, Sir Sidney Smith, and Colonel Congreve, the latter now celebrated for his ingenious invention of Pyrotecnic arrows or rockets, were my friends and companions in the experiments; they are excellent and brave men, and from my knowledge of those noblemen and gentlemen, and their sentiments on this subject, I can predict that they would feel much disposed to respect the rights, nor enter the waters of a nation who should use such engines with energy and effect.
[A] Twenty minutes before the Dorothea was blown up, Capt. Kingston asserted, that if a Torpedo were placed under his cabin while he was at dinner, he should feel no concern for the consequence. Occular demonstration is the best proof for all men.
[B] The morning of my first interview with Earl St. Vincent he was very communicative. I explained to him a Torpedo and the Dorothea experiment. He reflected for some time, and then said, Pitt was the greatest fool that ever existed, to encourage a mode of war which they who commanded the seas did not want, and which, if successful, would deprive them of it.
This fortunate experiment left not the least doubt on my mind that the one which I made in the harbour of New-York in August 1807, would be equally successful. The brig was anchored, the Torpedoes prepared and put into the water in the manner before described; the tide drove them under the brig near her keel, but in consequence of the locks turning downwards, the powder fell out of the pans and they both missed fire. This discovery of an error in the manner of fixing the locks to a Torpedo, has been corrected. On the second attempt, the Torpedo missed the brig; the explosion took place about one hundred yards from her, and threw up a column of water ten feet diameter sixty or seventy feet high. On the third attempt she was blown up: the effect and result much the same as that of the Dorothea before described. About two thousand persons were witnesses to this experiment. Thus, in the course of my essays, two brigs, each of two hundred tons, have been blown up. The practicability of destroying vessels by this means, has been fully proved. It is also proved, that the mechanism will ignite powder at any required depth under water within a given time. It now remains to point out means by which Torpedoes may be used to advantage with the least possible risque to the assailants.
