100 Griswold on Submarine Explosion. 
minent hazard of being discovered. He immediately made 
another descent, with a view of making one more trial, but 
the fast approach of day, which would expose him to the 
enemy’s boats, and render his escape difficult, if not impos- 
sible, deterred him; and he concluded that the best gene- 
ralship would be to commence an immediate retreat. 
He now had before him a distance of more than four 
miles to traverse, but the tide was favourable. At Gover- 
nor’s-Island great danger awaited him, for his compass 
having got out of order, “he was under the necessity of look- 
ing out “from the top of the machine very frequently to 
ascertain his course, and at best made a very irregular zig- 
zag track. 
The soldiers at Governor’s-Island espied the machine, 
and curiosity drew several hundreds upon the parapet to 
watch its motions. At last a party came down to the beach, 
shoved off a barge, and rowed towards it. At that moment 
sergeant Lee thought he saw his certain destruction, and as 
a last act of defence, let go the magazine, expecting that 
they would seize that likewise, and thus all would be blown 
to atoms together. 
Providence however otherwise directed it: the enemy, 
after approaching within fifty or sixty yards of the machine, 
and seemg the magazine detached, began to suspect a 
yankee trick, took alarm and returned to the island. 
Approaching the city, he soon made a signal, the boats 
came to him and brought him safe and sound to the shore. 
The magazine in the mean time had drifted past Gover- 
nor’s-Island into the East river, where it exploded with 
tremendous violence, throwing large columns of water and 
pieces of wood that composed it high into the air. Gen. 
Putnam, with many other officers, stood on the shore spec- 
tators of this explosion. 
In a few days the American army evacuated New-York, 
and the machine was taken up the North river. Another 
attempt was afterwards made by Lee upoma frigate that 
lay opposite Bloomingdale: his object now was to fasten 
the magazine to the stern of the ship, close at the water’s 
edge. But while attempting this, the watch discovered 
him, raised an alarm, and compelled him to abandon his 
enterprise. He then endeavoured to get under the frigate’s 
bottom, but in this he failed, having “descended too deep. 
This terminated his experiments. 
