1839.] Memorandum of Experiments, $c. 861 



The cylinder already described was admirably fitted up, under 

 Captain Fitzgerald's directions, in the arsenal of Fort William ; before 

 being filled with powder, the exploding tube was screwed into its side, 

 twenty-four barrels of powder were then poured in through an aper- 

 ture left at the top of the cylinder, which was afterwards closed with 

 wood and soldered up with sheet lead. 



The cylinder thus prepared was slung on a cradle to the bows of 

 the " Vulcan" anchor vessel, which proceeded down the river and took up 

 her berth at Fultah, immediately over the wreck. 



At the slack of the tide, on the 14th December, the preparations for 

 lowering the cylinder being completed, the ends of the ladder-conductor 

 were securely twisted to the wires projecting from the explosion-tube, a 

 piece of wood interposed, and the whole guarded by a joint of bamboo 

 and a wedge. As the cylinder was lowered, my assistant, Mr. Siddons, 

 cautiously permitted the ladder conductors to follow, and when the 

 cylinder was in its berth, the conductors were cut short, so as that their 

 free ends should reach the bow of an old fishing boat, previously moored 

 fore and aft over the wreck. To the bow of this boat the wires 

 were secured by twisting them round screws inserted for the purpose ; the 

 length of conductors immersed in the water was thirty-four feet. 



The battery and watch apparatus were placed on the boat — the watch 

 set to twelve minutes— and, lastly, the battery wires twisted to the con- 

 ductors at the bow. The party at the mine consisted of Capts. Fitzgerald 

 and Debude, and Lieut. Smith of the Engineers, my assistant Mr. Sid- 

 dons, and myself. When all was ready, one of the wires in the battery, 

 purposely left out of its mercury cell to prevent accident, was placed 

 in its position, and our party pulled away vigorously from the 

 dangerous vicinity. At the thirteenth minute a slight concussion 

 was felt in our boat, a sound like that of a very distant and heavy gun 

 at sea was heard, and a huge hemispherical mass of discoloured water 

 was thrown up to the height of about 30 feet. From the centre of this 

 mass there then rose slowly and majestically a pillar of water, in- 

 termingled with foam and fragments of wreck, and preserving a cylin- 

 drical form till it reached an elevation of at least 150 feet. The 

 column then subsided slowly, a wreath of foam and sparkling jets of 

 water following its descent, and rendering the spectacle one of indescri- 

 bable beauty. 



