"The composition of these petards was of Lattin (i.e. Brass) filled with powder, laid upon certain pieces of timber, crosse which there was a spring, which touching any vessel would flie off and give fire to the petards, but only one took effect, which did no great hurt, only cast water into the ship, and that was all, the rest being taken by the King's boats." About 1771 David Bushnell, a native of Maine, built a curious little submarine not unlike a walnut in shape, if you imagine a walnut floating with the point downwards. It was propelled by a hand-turned screw and carried a case of powder provided with a clockwork apparatus for exploding it at the required moment. There was an ingenious arrangement for screwing this mine to the bottom of a ship, and by its means the navigator of Bushnell's submarine very nearly succeeded in blowing up H.M.S. _Eagle_ when lying in the Hudson River in charge of a convoy of transports bringing troops for the campaign against the revolted American colonists. Other attempts were made by the Americans to blow up our men-of-war in the course of the war, but without success. In the war with the United States (1812-14) the Americans again attacked our ships in a similar manner. The _Ramillies_ in particular seems to have been singled out for these attempts. She was attacked both by a submarine boat and by various explosive contrivances. The British retaliated by embarking in her 100 American prisoners and notifying their presence on board to the United States Government. They also bombarded the town of Stonington for being "conspicuous in preparing and harbouring torpedoes".