e
men to climb on board and to prepare their firearms and cutlasses. The
French, who attempted to get up the side, were driven back, when they
sheered off, but discharged their muskets at the English as they pulled
away, while the battery also opened fire. Wonderful as it may seem,
though forty-nine musket-balls were found sticking in the prize, not a
man was hurt; and both chasse-marees were carried off.

For some time the principal fighting was between the English cruisers in
the channel and the invasion flotilla, as Napoleon's gunboats were
called; and as their stings might annoy, though they could not inflict
serious injury, attempts were made to destroy them by fire-vessels or
catamarans--which was the name given to a species of nautical infernal
machine--though without much success. The catamaran consisted of a
coffer of about 21 feet long and 3 and a half broad, somewhat in shape
like a log of mahogany, wedge-shaped at each end. It was covered with
thick planking, and lined with lead, thoroughly caulked and tarred,
while over all was a coat of canvas, payed over with hot pitch. To give
an idea of its size, the vessel weighed about two tons. Inside was a
piece of clock-work, the mainspring of which, on withdrawing a peg
placed on the outside, would, after going six or ten minutes, draw the
trigger of a lock, and explode the vessel. Every other part was filled
with about 40 barrels of gunpowder and other inflammable matter. As
much ballast was placed in it as would keep the upper surface of the
deck even with the water's edge. It had no mast, and had to be towed
towards the scene of its operations. The tow-rope was at one end, and
to the other was fixed a rope with a grappling-iron at its extremity,
kept afloat by pieces of cork. This grappling-iron, it was intended,
should hook itself to the cable of the vessel it was to destroy, and
thus swing the catamaran alongside. It was, indeed, on a larger scale,
though with less destructive power, something like Harvey's torpedo of
the present day.

Lord Keith, who was with a squadron off Boulogne, first made use of four
of the machines, in the hopes of destroying some of a flotilla of 150
vessels moored in a double line outside the pier. Three exploded one
after another, doing very little harm; but a heavily armed launch, which
had chased one of the boats towing a catamaran, ran foul of it, when the
launch and every one on board was blown into the air.

Nu