CHAP. V. ('ATTAIN TKItllY. 7:; 



flic hank considerably biirirer than before. Boswell ;it 

 length abandoned all further attempts to close it, after 

 suffering a heavy loss ; and the engineering skill of 

 England seemed likely to be completely baffled by this 

 hole in a river's bank. 



The competent man was, however, at length found in 

 Captain Perry, who had just returned from Russia, where, 

 having been able to find no suitable employment for his 

 abilities in his own country, he had for some time been 

 employed by the Czar Peter in carrying on extensive 

 engineering works. 



John Perry was born at Rodborough, in Gloucester- 

 shire, in 1669, and spent the early part of his life at sea. 

 In 1693 V?Q find him a lieutenant on board the royal 

 ship the M^ontague. The vessel having put into harbour 

 at Portsmouth to be refitted, Perry is said to have dis- 

 played considerable mechanical skill in contriving an 

 engine for throwing out a large quantity of water from 

 deep sluices (probably for purposes of dry docking) in 

 a very short space of time. The Montague having been 

 repaired, she put to sea, and was shortly after lost. As 

 the English navy had suffered greatly during the same 

 year, partly by mismanagepent, and partly by treachery, 

 the Government was in a' very bad temper, and Perry 

 was tried for alleged misconduct. The result was, that 

 he was sentenced to pay a fine of 1000., and to un- 

 dergo ten years' imprisonment in the Marshalsea. This 

 sentence must, however, have been subsequently miti- 

 gated, for we find him in 1695 publishing a "Regu- 

 lation for Seamen," with a view to the more effectual 

 manning of the English navy ; and in 1698 the Marquis 

 of Caennarthen and others recommended him to the 

 notice of the Czar Peter, then resident in England, by 

 whom he was invited to go out to Russia, to super- 

 intend the establishment of a royal fleet, and the execu- 

 tion of several gigantic works which he contemplated 

 for the purpose of opening up the resources of hi- 



