404 THE CENTURY 



submarine vessel, whereby several persons may pass 

 together from place to place under water, accommo 

 dated with two ways to move it to and fro, and to 

 make it rise and sink in the water, &c. It is supposed 

 it may be much like that which Mersennus long since 

 published.&quot; 



The American engineer, Robert Fulton, turned his 

 attention to this subject, and published &quot;Torpedo War, 

 and Sub-marine Explosions,&quot; 4to. New York, 1810. 



I I. 



How to prevent and fafeguard 

 any Ship from fuch an attempt by 

 day or night. 



[How to prevent both.~] Some armour or alarum is 

 probably proposed, which should be either invulnerable, 

 or when struck indicate the presence of the enemy s 

 &quot; portable pocket engine,&quot; intended &quot; irrecoverably to 

 sink the ship ;&quot; not by merely perforating a single hole, 

 but by a powerful disruptive explosion, rending asunder 

 all the timbers. But the whole passage is so abundantly 

 obscure that all opinion on the matter goes for very 

 little. 



12. 



A way to make a Ship not pof- 

 fible to be funk though ihot 4 an 

 hundred times betwixt wind and 

 water by Cannon, and fhould 5 lose 

 a whole Plank, yet in half an hours 

 time ihould be made as fit to fail as 

 before. 



4 shot at. P. 3 she lose. P. 



