Mr. Blake was not a little staggered at this dare-devil proposal, but agreed to advance money for the construction of a model. This having proved satisfactory Mr. Blake advanced a further sum for the building of a practicable vessel. This, it would appear, had a false bottom, “standing on feet like a butcher’s block, which contained the ballast; and by the person in the vessel unscrewing some pins, he was to rise to the surface leaving the false bottom behind.” The boat was at length built and in the presence of Mr. Blake a trial descent was made. The day fixed for the test which was to decide the bet arrived, but Mr. Blake reduced the depth of water from one hundred yards to one hundred feet, and the time from twenty-four to twelve hours. “The vessel was towed to the place agreed upon; Mr. Day provided himself with whatever he thought necessary, went into the vessel, let the water into her, and with great composure retired to the room constructed for him and shut up the valve. The ship went gradually down to twenty-two fathom water at 2 o’clock on Tuesday, June 28 (1774), in the afternoon, being to return at 2 o’clock the next morning. He had three buoys as messengers which he could send to the surface at option to announce his situation below; but none appearing Mr. Blake, who was near at hand in a barge, began to entertain some suspicions. He kept a strict look-out, and at the time appointed, neither the buoys nor the vessel coming up, he applied to the _Orpheus_ frigate, which lay just off the barge, for assistance. The captain with the most ready benevolence supplied them with everything in his power to seek for the ship. Mr. Blake in this alarming situation was not content with the help of the _Orpheus_ only; he made immediate application to Lord Sandwich (who happened to be at Plymouth) for further relief. His Lordship with great humanity ordered a number of hands from the dock-yard, who went with the utmost alacrity and tried every effort to regain the ship, but unhappily without effect.” According to Admiral Hichborn (U.S.N.) J. Day has the unique distinction of being the only known victim of the dangers of submarine navigation. This distinction, says the Admiral, depends upon the supposition that reports of submarine accidents were much more reliable two hundred and forty years ago than they have been for the last forty years, during which period there have been _authentic_ newspaper reports of the loss of eighty-two lives in attempting submarine navigation in the United States. “Fifty of these lives were not lost at all, and the other thirty-two, though lost in a boat designed to operate as a submarine, were all lost when, and apparently because, she was not so operating.” This refers to the _David_, which in the American Civil War destroyed four crews of eight men each. Mr. Charles Babbage in his article on the Diving Bell in the “Encyclopædia Metropolitana,” describes Day’s under-water boat. He writes:—