8 THE LATE MR. WILLIAM STURGEON ON 



fused, " and that " the conductors on the fore and main masts 

 were fused in several places." 



68. In the case of the Fisgard (41), the same report 

 states that " the end of the vane spindle on the main-mast 

 was fused, and the conductors aloft exhibited small spots of 

 fusion. The copper plates were started from the mast for a 

 few inches, about 13 feet above the deck." The report of 

 Captain Duntze, who commanded the Fisgard at the time, 

 is somewhat more minute, and states that the mast itself 

 was "slightly singed" and splintered about the place where 

 the conductor was started from it. (See 41, for further 

 particulars.) 



69. With respect to the effects below deck, Capt. Duntze 

 states that, " The electrical current having passed down the 

 main-mast, took the direction of the branches to the bolts 

 through the side, — one leading through the boatswain's cabin, 

 and the other through the midshipmen's berth. The branch 

 conductors in this ship, instead of leading directly to the 

 copper sheathing near the water's surface, as originally pro- 

 posed, had been led out above it, to two bands of copper 

 passing down externally over the ship's side; these bands 

 were also started at the ends in contact with the termination 

 of the through bolts ; the copper sheathing covering the other 

 extremity of the band was bulged outwards. It appears fur- 

 ther, by other reports, that at the point of contact with the 

 branches and iron knees within the ship, the metal was 

 blackened, as if a slight expansive action had occurred at 

 these points ; this is said to have been more apparent in the 

 boatswain's cabin, and may have arisen from an imperfect 

 contact with the iron knee and through bolts."* 



70. The statements in Captain Duntze's report are of an 

 exceedingly interesting character, because of their furnishing 

 the particulars of the several events which occurred during 



• Captain Duntze's Official Report. Harris's Remarkable Examples. 



