('MAP. TX. 



FULTON'S TORPEDO. 



237 



When Fulton proposed the scheme of his famous tor- 

 pedo for blowing up ships at sea, by stealthily approach- 

 ing them under water, Earl Stanhope made so much noise 

 about it in the House of Lords, that a commission was 

 appointed to investigate its merits, of which Mr. Rennie 

 was a member. Little importance was attached to 

 Fulton's pretended " invention ;" nevertheless it was 

 determined to afford him an opportunity of exhibiting 

 the powers of his infernal machine, and an old Danish 

 brig riding in Walmer lioads was placed at his disposal. 

 He succeeded, after an unresisted attack of two days 

 during which he had also the assistance of Sir Home 

 P< >pham in blowing up the wretched carcass, and with 

 it his own pretensions as an inventor. 1 



Among other subjects on which we find Mr. Rennie 

 consulted by the Government authorities, were the im- 



thc military authorities of the day on 

 warlike matters. Thus, in 1809, he 

 was applied to for a gang of workmen 

 to proceed to Flushing, during the 

 im fortunate \Yalcheren expedition, to 

 assist in destroying the piers, flood- 

 gates, and basins of that port; after 

 effecting which they returned home. 

 The contractors were Messrs. Brough 

 and Macintosh. The sum expended 

 on artificers' and workmen's wages, 

 amounting to 29617. Os. Id., was dis- 

 bursed by Mr. Rennie, who obtained 

 the requisite vouchers from the Trea- 

 sury. 



1 Mr. Rennie had a very mean 

 opinion of Fulton, regarding him as a 

 quack who traded upon the inven- 

 tions of others. He considered that 

 little merit belonged to him in re- 

 gard to the invention of the steam- 

 boat. Thus, Jonathan Hulls, Miller 

 of Dalswinton, and Symington had 

 been at work upon the invention long 

 before Fulton ; Miller having actually 

 made a voyage to Sweden and back 

 with his steamboat as early as 1789, 

 eighteen years before Fulton made his 

 first successful experiment on the 

 Hudson. Fulton's alleged invention 



of cast iron bridges was not more ori- 

 ginal. Writing to Mr. Barrow of 

 the Admiralty, in 1817, Mr. Rennie 

 says : "I send you Mr. Fulton's book 

 on Canals, published in 1796, when 

 he was in England, and previous to 

 his application of the steam-engine to 

 the working of wheels in boats. On 

 the designs (as to bridges, &c.) 

 contained in that book, his fame, I 

 believe, principally rests ; although 

 he acknowledges that Earl Stanhope 

 had previously proposed similar 

 plans, and that Mr. Reynolds of 

 Coalbrookdale, in Shropshire, had 

 actually carried them into execution ; 

 so that all the merit he has if merit 

 it may be called is a proposal for 

 extending the principle previously ap- 

 plied in this country. The first iron 

 bridge was erected at Coalbrookdale 

 in 1779, and between that and the 

 publication of Fulton's book in 1796 

 many others were erected ; so that, 

 in this department, he has little to 

 boast of. I consider Fulton, with 

 whom I was personally acquainted, a 

 man of very slender abilities, though 

 possessing much self-confidence and 

 consummate impudence." 



