In the latter part of the seventeenth century the diving-bell was sometimes employed in great undertakings. When the English, in the year 1588, dispersed the Spanish fleet called the Invincible Armada, part of the ships went to the bottom near the Isle of Mull, on the western coast of Scotland; and some of these, according to the account of the Spanish prisoners, contained great riches. This information excited, from time to time, the avarice of speculators, and gave rise to several attempts to procure part of the lost treasure. In the year 1665, a person was so fortunate as to bring up some cannon, which, however, were not sufficient to defray the expenses. Of these attempts, and the kind of diving-bell used, an account has been given by a Scotsman named Sinclair[286]; but Paschius[287], Leupold[288] and others falsely ascribe the invention of this machine to that learned man. He himself does not lay claim to this honour; but says only, that he conversed with the artist and measured the machine. Some years after attempts of the like kind were renewed. William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, born in America in 1650, and who had been brought up as a ship-carpenter at Boston, formed a project for searching and unloading a rich Spanish ship sunk on the coast of Hispaniola, and represented his plan in such a plausible manner, that king Charles II. gave him a ship, and furnished him with every thing necessary for the undertaking. He set sail in the year 1683; but, being unsuccessful, returned again in great poverty, though with a firm conviction of the possibility of his scheme. He endeavoured, therefore, to procure another vessel from James II., who was then on the throne; but as he failed in this, he tried to find the means of executing his design by the support of private persons, and, according to the prevailing practice, opened for that purpose a subscription. At first he was laughed at; but at length the duke of Albemarle, son of the celebrated General Monk, took part in it, and advanced a considerable sum to enable him to make the necessary preparations for a new voyage. Phipps soon collected the remainder; and in 1687 set sail in a ship of two hundred tons burthen to try his fortune once more, having previously engaged to divide the profit according to the twenty shares of which the subscription consisted. At first, all his labour proved fruitless; but at last, when his patience was almost entirely exhausted, he was so lucky as to bring up, from the depth of six or seven fathoms, so much treasure, that he returned to England with the value of two hundred thousand pounds sterling. Of this sum he himself got about sixteen, others say twenty thousand, and the duke ninety thousand pounds. After he came back, some persons endeavoured to persuade the king to seize both the ship and the cargo, under a pretence that Phipps, when he solicited for his Majesty’s permission, had not given accurate information respecting the business. But the