me the voyage was undertaken. As to almost anyone in that
position minutes would seem hours, the calmness of sailor Lee's
nerves seems to be something beyond the ordinary.

When he finally abandoned the attempt on the _Eagle_ he started up
the bay. Off Governor's Island he narrowly escaped capture.

When I was abreast of the Fort on the Island three hundred or
four hundred men got upon the parapet to observe me; at length a
number came down to the shore, shoved off a twelve oar'd barge
with five or six sitters and pulled for me. I eyed them, and when
they had got within fifty or sixty yards of me I let loose the
magazine in hopes that if they should take me they would likewise
pick up the magazine and then we should all be blown up together.
But as kind providence would have it they took fright and
returned to the Island to my infinite joy.... The magazine after
getting a little past the Island went off with a tremendous
explosion, throwing up large bodies of water to an immense
height.

During the last quarter of the eighteenth and during the first half
of the nineteenth century France was the chief centre for the
activities of submarine inventors. However, very few of the many
plans put forward in this period were executed. The few exceptions
resulted in little else than trial boats which usually did not live
up to the expectations of their inventors or their financial backers
and were, therefore, discarded in quick order. In spite of this lack
of actual results this particular period was of considerable
importance to the later development of the submarine. Almost every
one of the many boats then projected or built contained some
innovation and in this way some of the many obstacles were gradually
overcome. Strictly speaking the net result of the experimental work
done during these seventy-five years by a score or more of men, most
of whom were French, though a few were English, was the creation of
a more sane and sound basis on which, before long, other men began
to build with greater success.

The one notable accomplishment of interest, especially to Americans,
was the submarine built in 1800-01 by Robert Fulton. Fulton, of
course, is far better known by his work in connection with the
discovery and development of steam navigation. Born in Pennsylvania
in 1765, he early showed marked mechanical genius. In 1787 he went
to England with the purpose of stu