tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">[B]

Though having secured the approval of Mr. Pitt, and a few other members of the Government, he was quite unable to induce the English to accept his schemes in toto, and at once employ them in the Naval service.

Twice Fulton attempted to destroy French men-of-war, lying in the harbour of Boulogne, by means of his drifting torpedoes, but each time he failed, owing as he then explained, and which afterwards proved to be the case, to the simple mistake of having made his machines specifically heavier than water, thus preventing the current from carrying them under a vessel's bottom.

Destruction of the "Dorothea."—Though in each of the above-mentioned attempts Fulton succeeded in exploding his machines, and though on the 15th October, 1805, in the presence of a numerous company of Naval and other scientific men, he completely demolished a stout brig, the Dorothea, off Walmer Castle, by means of his drifting torpedoes, similar to those employed by him at Boulogne, but considerably improved, still the English Government refused to have anything further to do with him or his schemes.

England, at that time, being mistress of the seas, it was clearly her interest to make the world believe that Fulton's schemes were impracticable and absurd.

Earl St. Vincent, in a conversation with Fulton, told him in very strong language, "that Pitt was a fool for encouraging a mode of warfare, which, if successful, would wrest the trident from those who then claimed to bear it, as the sceptre of supremacy on the ocean."[C]

Wearied with incessant applications and neglect, and with failures, not with his inventions, but in inducing governments to accept them, he left England in 1806, and returned to his native country.

Application to Congress for Help.—Arrived there, he lost no time in solicitating aid from Congress to enable him to carry out experiments with his torpedoes and submarine boats, practice alone in his opinion being necessary to develop the extraordinary powers of his invention, as an auxiliary to harbour defence.

By incessant applications to his government, and by circulating his torpedo book[D] among the members, in which he had given detailed accounts of all his previous experiments in France and England, and elaborate plans for rendering American harbours, etc., invulnerable to British attack, a Commission was appointed to inquire into and practically test the value of these schemes.

They were as follows:—

Practical Experiments.—Various and exhaustive experiments were carried out in the presence of the Commissioners, tending generally to impress them with a favourable view of Fulton's many projects.

As a final test, the sloop Argus was ordered, under the superintendence of Commodore Rodgers, to whom Fulton had previously explained his mode of attack, to be prepared to repel all attempts made against her by Fulton, with his torpedoes.

Defence of the "Argus."—Though repeated attempts were made, none were successful, owing to the energetic, though somewhat exaggerated manner in which the defence of the sloop had been carried out. She was surrounded by numerous spars lashed together, nets down to the ground, grappling irons, heavy pieces of metal suspended from the yard arms ready to be dropped into any boat that came beneath them, scythes fitted to long spars for the purpose of mowing off the heads of any who might be rash enough to get within range of them.

As Robert Fulton very justly remarked, "a system, then only in its infancy, which compelled a hostile vessel to guard herself by such extraordinary means could not fail of becoming a most important mode of warfare."

Three of the Commissioners reported as favourably as could be expected, considering its infancy, on the practical value of Fulton's scheme of torpedo warfare.

Congress refuse aid.—But on the strength of Commodore Rodgers's report, which was as unfair and prejudiced, as the others were fair and unprejudiced, Congress refused Fulton any further aid, or to countenance any further experiments that he might still feel inclined to prosecute.

Though undeterred by this fresh instance of neglect, and still having a firm belief in the efficacy of his various torpedo projects, yet other important matters connected with the improvement of the steam engine occupied his whole time and prevented him from making any further experiments with his submarine inventions.

Mode of Firing, 1829.—Up to 1829, that is to say for nearly sixty years after the invention of torpedoes, mechanical means only were employed to effect the ignition of the torpedo charges, such as levers, clockwork, and triggers pulled by hand; with such crude means of exploding them, it is not extraordinary to find, that all