The operations did not terminate without the occurrence of a melancholy accident. On the 21st of May, Corporal Henry Mitchell, who had been practised as a diver for a short time in the Medway, was sent down in a diving-helmet to fix a couple of eye-bolts to the side of the ‘William,’ preparatory to the first explosion. “After examining the wreck, he came up and gave a favourable account of his prospects,” and then “took his tools and descended again; but owing to a rope fixed round him having become entangled in the wreck, the signals usually made by pulling this rope could not be distinguished;” nor could he be drawn to the surface of the water. On Colonel Pasley reaching the wreck, and as soon as the necessary arrangements could be completed, sergeants John Ross and James Young with two privates, voluntarily descended a second time in the diving-bell, and after a few minutes' careful exertion, succeeded in finding their comrade; but he was quite dead, having been at the bottom upwards of twelve hours. The intrepid conduct of these non-commissioned officers was much applauded.[325] ----- Footnote 325: Ibid., iii. p. 40, 41. ----- The great explosions above referred to, had not, it was ascertained, touched the bow of the brig ‘William;’ and in August operations were resumed to destroy it. The entire service, except the duty of diving, devolved on the sappers. A leaden cylinder, to hold a charge of 315 lbs. of gunpowder, was made by some artificers of the corps at Chatham; but it failed on application, and tin oil bottles, containing small charges prepared by the sappers, were found to answer the purpose. These were taken to the wreck every morning by sergeant-major Jones and another non-commissioned officer, and being properly fixed by the divers and fired by the sergeant-major, the remaining fragments of the wreck were so broken and dispersed, as to render the anchorage perfectly safe for the shipping. Fifteen of such charges were fired against the ‘William,’ and two more, to make ‘assurance doubly sure,’ were also exploded among the scattered timbers of the ‘Glenmorgan.’ Sergeant-major Jones was the executive on this service under the direction of Colonel Pasley.[326]