This conductor was thus made an integral
portion of the ship, and guarded the vessel, at all
hours and under all circumstances, without the
necessity of any human supervision.

Of course the boldness of this scheme, but still
more (in our great Circumlocutional country)
its novelty, led to a storm of opposition, and a
pitiless cold drizzle of sneers. It was argued,
with grave assurance, and the contemptuousness
of assumed wisdom, that the copper would
invite and accelerate the lightning; that, from its
position, it would lead the fiery fluid chiefly to the
body of the hull; that the frequent slant of the
masts would often interfere with the line of
conduction, and produce varied and infinite damage.

To this, the clear-headed inventor calmly
replied, that what we term lightning is nothing
but the explosive form of action in some occult
power in nature, exhibited when it has to force
its way through resisting matter. If you give
this power a free pass through unresisting
matter, you transform the explosive, deadly,
and mysterious power, into a current of quiescent
fluid, and so avoid all harmful results; and,
finally, that in whatever position the masts
slanted, the line of least resistance, and one leading
into the sea, was equally provided for. Twenty
years experience have since proved that ships
thus fitted, though struck by lightning in all
latitudes and climates, have escaped unharmed.
Ships have been literally bathed in fire, blinding
and sulphurous, the crew have seen thunderbolts
strike the masts and the deck, but the
ship has escaped unhurt.

Before the use of this excellent invention of
Mr. Harris, shipwreck was not unfrequently
caused by lightning. In 1814, the Peacock
(eighteen guns) disappeared on the coast of
Georgia immediately after a severe thunderstorm;
and in June, 1798, the Resistance
(forty-four guns) was blown up by lightning in
the Straits of Bianca.

The following are some curious instances of
narrow escape from the dreadful violence of this
occult power, before the conductor was brought
into use. The Barfleur (seventy-four guns) was
struck, off Toulon, Oct. 21, 1813; the foremast
was damaged all the way down, and the lightning
even penetrated the gunner's store-room, and the
ante-toom of the powder magazine. In another
terrible instance, the Goliah (seventy-four guns)
was struck on August 29, 1802, in the West
Indies; her foremast was disabled, and her other
two masts shivered to atoms; she had two men
killed and thirteen wounded, and the explosion
went down to the door of the magazine, and even
split the bulkhead. In 1797, August 12, off Cape
Correntes, the Thunderer (seventy-four guns)
was struck, the mizenmast was splintered, some
powder-horns hanging below deck were blown
up, and the main-topsail was set on fire. July
23, 1802, off St. Domingo, the Topaze (thirty-
six guns) was struck; the mizenmast was
shivered and ruined, powder was blown up in
the captain's cabin, two men were killed, and
many wounded.

In the following cases, the injured vessel was
all but driven on shore. As, for instance, the
Russell (seventy-four guns); she was struck
Oct. 1, 1795, off Belleisle, two of her masts
were disabled, a first-lieutenant and two seamen
killed, and many injured; no sail could be set,
and the vessel narrowly escaped driving on the
enemy's coast. When the Squirrel (twenty-
eight guns), on February 23, 1805, was struck
off Cape Coast, she had a mainmast damaged,
two men badly hurt, a plank in her side stove,
and half her caulking lost; she made eight
inches of water an hour, and was with difficulty
saved. December 11, 1806, the Surinam
(eighteen guns) was struck off Belleisle; she suffered
under a complication of misfortunes, her mainmast
was split, fell, and stove in the decks, her
pumps were split, two of her crew were killed,
and four badly hurt. A heavy sea was raging,
and she was in great distress, had to burn blue
lights, and was all but driven on France.
Eventually she struggled back to Plymouth and
refitted.

In many instances, ships have been set on fire
by lightning, and have been with difficulty saved
by the scared crew. Sometimes, the mast takes
fire, at other times the sails; a vessel has been,
known to be struck twice within an hour. On
March 8, 1796, the Lowestoffe (thirty-six guns)
was struck in the Mediterranean, one mast was
shivered and another split, the ship was set on
fire in various parts of the spars and rigging,
three men were knocked off the masthead, two
men killed, and many beaten down between
decks. On June 24, 1804, the sheer-hulk at
Woolwich was set on fire, to the great alarm
of the whole yard. On January 22, 1807, the
Swiftsure (seventy-four guns) was struck off
Palermo, her foretop-mast was rent open and
set on fire, and so also was her topsail, to the
great jeopardy of the vessel.

The instances of loss of lives at sea, by
lightning, are very numerous, and before the
introduction of the improved conductor, they
were sometimes terrible indeed. In the case of
the Bellette, struck in the West Indies, May 24,
1825, her topmast was splintered, five men were
hurt, and no less than thirty-six sailors were
felled while hauling in the head-braces. When
the Cambrian was struck in the English Channel,
February 22, 1799, at the same time that the
Fisgard frigate was struck also off the Eddystone,
two men were killed in the former vessel,
and twenty men were struck down on deck;
and on September 8, 1799, the Thunderer was
struck, two of the masts were injured, one man
was lost overboard, several were badly hurt,
and all the watch in the maintop were paralysed
and obliged to be lowered down by ropes.
When the Captain (seventy-four guns) was
struck in the English Channel, August 27, 1809,
not only was the foremast splintered, but four
men were killed and twenty-four knocked down.
A more terrible calamity happened to the
Repulse (seventy-four guns), just refitted, and one
of Sir J. Hood's best ships in his Mediterranean
squadron, struck off the Catalonian coast April
13, 1810. She had to throw half her sails