The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1811-04-19

'o'i t"C sup tudu tuirty OF forty teet, De-
cause the sudden jirk on the line might
break it off at the torpedo men in a boat
at thirty feet distance from ship, are in
as great danger as when in with her bow,
and under her guns; thus, as the harpoon
can be hxed at fifteen feet, will not at
present insist on gre alter distance, though
am certain that practice will enable me
TO NIX the harpoons at the distance of forty
or more feet, If required; but do insist,
that organized men. who have courage to
st"rm breach or t. attack vessel by
6oardage, have courage to approach with
IN htteen feel OF a ship to f,e a harpoon.
or even, it necessary, to drive spike into
her bow; when the ship discharges her
bow guns, her bow must be covered with
smoke, after which all shot against the
boats viii be random, particularly, if the
attack be made i'll the nigh but to protect
the men, the torpedo buats may be decked
with thick oak plank, and rendered proof
against canister and musket shot The risk
OF the men would then be inconsiderable,
Tor while boat was near IN with the bow
OF the ship, her cannon could not be brought
to bear so as to fire round shot. 1t is, there
fore, fair conclusion. that. courage, added
TO art, ship caunot guard herself against
a torpedo attack, by means of her guns and
small arms only. She must, therefore,
have nets. booms, grapples, SSe. &c.
viii now do justice to the talents of
Commodore Rodgers. by stating that the
nets. booms, kentledge and grapneis which
he arranged round the Argus, made at first
sight formidable appearance against one
torfedo boat and eight bad oarsmen. 1
was taken unawares / had explained to
the officers Of the navy, my means of at
tack {; they did not inform me of their
measures of defence the nets were put
down TO the ground, otherwise, should have
sent the torpedOes under them. In this ST.
tuation, the means with which l was pro-
vided, being imperfect, Insignificant and
inadequate to the effect to be pr oduced, I
might be compared TO what Bartholomew
Schwartz, the inventor Of gun powder, would
have appeared, had he lived at the time of
Julius Cesar, and presented himself be-
fore the gates OF Rome with tout FOUNDER,
thereby endeavoring to convince the Ro-
man legions, thai by the means of such MAJ
chimes, we'll organized. ne could ba ter.
down the wall. and lake the city: few
catapultas casting arrows and stones upon
his men, would have caused them to re
treat shower of ram might destroy his
ill guarded powder, and the Roman ceniu
rions. who could not conceive the various
modes in which gun-po" de, has since been
used to destroy the then art of war, las
my opponents cann'l BOW see the combi.
nations by which ,orpedoes surpersede the
necessity OF ships OF ,war,) would very ua-
turally conclude that it was a useless IN
vention; while the manufacturers of cata-
puitas, bows, arrows ard shields, would
be the moss vehement against further expe-
riments
This, sir, may be conceived depression
but being on an interesting subject, have
stated this supposed first experiment with
DDuMd6r. a m
OF the first Cannon were made of leather
but IT such Cannon tailed, does it, therefore.
follow that gun powder was useless? Or
does 1t .Dlow, because was not prepared
to put torpedOes Through a net, the frs,
time 1t was presesiSd to me, that the de
feet was IN the tIcpedues ; You, sir. will
instantly perceive 1t was nos; bat arose
from the want of time and experience. /
had not one man instructed ia the use OF
the machines, nor had time to reject OH
this particular mode for defending vessel.
4 have now, however, had time; and feel
confident, that l have discovered a mean,
which will render nets to the ground,
booms, kentledgt, grapnels. oars with sword
blades through the port holes, and all such
kinds OF operations, totally useless.
II is as follows:
Should an enemy of any force enter one
ct our ports and put her nets TO the ground,
let government press from the wharyes
tour or more merchantmen loaded, or in
ballast, each OF them from three to four
hundred tons burthen; in the magazine
there should be thirty or forty torpedoes.
each containing two hundred pounds of DOW
der, and each adjusted to- the end Of a spar
or boom, from forty to sixty feet lcng, ia
Pering from the butt to the point, where
the torpedo, of comic form, and having OH
each side long blade or scytne. should be
hrmly hxed; let the butt end of the spar
be tied so as to act like swivel under the |
fore chains, one on he larboard, the other
on the starboard side, and the other end o. |
the spars, with the torpedo, be hoisted up |
to the sPritsail yard, and held there until |
near the scene of action. The expense of |
thus preparing a ship will be eight hun
dred OF thousand dollars, and each will |
be as dangerous to an enemy as a fire ship.
L he expense OF a fire ship is from eight to
ten thousand dollars, which sum could Ger
tainly be expended to greater advantage by
arranging torpedo ships as here proposed, |
and for the following reasons:
First, eight thousand dollars would paw
for arranging eight torpedo ships, which |
could be done ia few hours; each with |
two torPedoes projecting from the bow,
which eight ships, moving at one time to-
wards the enemy, would divide her fire on |
eight points, and render it less danger
cns to each, than in the case OF one fire
snip, which would draw on her the whole |
hire ct the vessel attacked.
Second, the expense of FIRE ship is so |
great, that an attack is seldom made with |