We have already mentioned the attempts made by the British at La Rochelle with floating mines and devices of that kind, and, coming to the time of William III, we find "Honest Benbow" employing an explosion-ship, evidently modelled on those of Gianibelli, against the town of St. Malo. It did a lot of damage and unroofed a great number of houses, but effected nothing of any military value. One Meesters, a Dutchman, was the leading spirit in this kind of warfare. Whether he was any connection of Van Drebbel and Dr. Kuffler I cannot say, but he induced the Government to use his explosion-ships, or "machines" as they were termed, probably with the view of emulating these two nautical Guy Fawkeses who had succeeded in getting good incomes and considerable sums of money out of the British Government for their ideas and inventions, although, as far as can be ascertained, none of them had proved of the slightest value or efficiency. Explosion-ships or machines became for a time recognized units in the British navy, and were employed against Dunkirk, Dieppe, and various French ports without much effect. "At the former, the machine-ships, as they are called, did nothing but blow up themselves, and the credit of their inventor, as some say; but he being come hither, complains he was not seconded with ships as he ought to have been."[53] Very possibly he was not, for this class of warfare did not meet with much appreciation in the Royal Navy. On the other hand, the naval commanders complained that Mr. Meesters "had not his machine-ships in readiness when they had a fair opportunity of wind and weather to attack the forts at Dunkirk, and that he had trifled all the time and put the Government to great expense only to enrich himself, when the whole matter was impracticable". It is not surprising, therefore, that we hear no more of explosion-ships for a very long time.[54] The attempts made against the British ships by the Americans, and those we ourselves carried out with indifferent success against the French Invasion flotillas, have been already referred to. Though this form of attack was not again employed by the navy for many years, the following description in Müller's _Elements of the Science of War_ (1811) shows that something like a floating mine was used in armies for the destruction of bridges. It consisted of a chest fitted with a rudder and filled with powder, and fired by means of two gun-locks, which were set in action by a stick protruding from the water and attached to their triggers. [Illustration: Submarine Mine laid by the Russians in the Crimean War Made of staves about 3 in. thick, and containing an inner case filled with flue gunpowder.]