Cerberus. — Copy of a letter sent to Rear Admiral Sir Peter Parker, August 15, 1777.
Wednesday night being at anchor to the westward of New-London in Black Point Bay, the schooner I had taken, at anchor close by me a-stern, about eleven o'clock at night we discovered a line towing a-stern that came from the bows; we immediately conjectured that it was somebody that had veered himself away by it, and began to haul in; we then found the schooner had got hold of it, (who had taken it for a fishing line) gathered in near fifteen fathom, which was buoyed up by little bits of sticks at stated distances until he came to the end, at which was fastened a machine, which was too heavy for one man to haul up, being upwards of 100 weight; the other people of the boat turning out, assisted him, got it in upon deck, and were unfortunately examining it too curiously, when it went off like the sound of a gun, blew the boat into pieces, and set her in a flame, killed the three men that were in the stern; the fourth, who was standing forward, was blown into the water; I hoisted out the boat, and picked him up much hurt: as soon as he could recollect himself, he gave me the following description, as near as he could remember: — It was two vessels, shaped like a boat, about twenty inches long, and a foot broad, secured to each other, at the distance of four feet, by two iron bars, one at each end, and an iron tube or gun barrel in the centre, which was loose, (as he had himself turned it round with his hand); they swam one over the other, the upper one keel upwards, the lower swam properly, but was sounder water as just to keep the upper one a few inches above the surface: to the after iron bar hung a flat board, to which was fixed a wheel about six inches diameter, and communicated itself to one on the upper side of the boat, of a lesser diameter; opposite to these was another wheel, on the flat of the under one or loaded vessel, which had likewise communication with the wheels of the upper boat; it was covered with lead, and the keel heavy loaded, in order to keep it down in the water.
The fatal curiosity of the seamen (who unfortunately had been bred in working in iron) set this wheel agoing, which it did with great ease backwards and forwards, and during their looking at it, which was about five minutes from the time of its being first put in motion, it burst; Upon examining round the ship after this accident, we found the other part of the line on the larboard side buoyed up in the same manner, which I ordered to be cut away immediately, for fear of hauling up another machine, which I concluded was fast at the end, and might burst when near the ship.
The mode these villains must have taken to have swifted the ship, must have been to have rowed off in the stream a considerable distance a-head of the ship, leaving one of their infernals in shore, and floating the other at the distance of the line, which, from the quantity that we have got on board (near 70 fathom) and what the man tells me they saved in the schooner, which was upwards of 150 fathom more, must have been near 300 fathom; they at the length of this line put the other in the water, and left it for the tide to float down, which in this place runs very strong.
As the ingenuity of these people is singular in their secret modes of mischief, and as I presume this is their first essay, I have thought it indispensibly my duty to return and give you the earliest information of the circumstances, to prevent the like fatal accident happening to any of the advanced ships that may possibly be swifted in the same manner, and to forbid all seamen from attempting hauling the line, or bringing the vessel near the ship, as it is filled with that kind of combustible that burns though in the water. l am, Sir, &c.
P.S. Having made a model as near as I could, from the description of the man who was saved, and sending for him to enquire if the model represented the machine he saw, he informed me the large wheel on the flat of the upper board was made of wood, with iron spokes, sharp at the end, and projected about an inch without the gunwale of the boat, in order to strike into the side in hauling up, and by that means set the wheels in motion, which in five minutes after it had been moved by the people, burst; it is therefore very fortunate I ordered the other to be cut away; for had it touched under the hollow of the counter, in hauling up, so as to set the wheels in motion, there is no knowing what damage it might have done, either to the ship or people.2
