DESTRUCTION OF TURKISH GUNBOAT "SUNA" (_Frontispiece_). I. FULTON'S TORPEDOES. II. FRAME TORPEDOES, BUOYANT MECHANICAL MINES. III. SINGER'S AND MCEVOY'S MECHANICAL MINES. IV. EXTEMPORE MECHANICAL MINE, MECHANICAL PRIMERS. V. MECHANICAL FUZES. VI. FORM OF CASE OF SUBMARINE MINES. VII. ELECTRIC FUZES. VIII. ELECTRIC CABLES, EXTEMPORE CABLE JOINTS. IX. PERMANENT JOINTS FOR ELECTRIC CABLES. X. JUNCTION BOXES, MECHANICAL TURK'S HEAD. XI. MOORINGS FOR SUBMARINE MINES. XII. STEAM LAUNCH FOR MOORING SUBMARINE MINES. XIII. MATHIESON'S CIRCUIT CLOSER. XIV. AUSTRIAN CIRCUIT CLOSER, MERCURY CIRCUIT CLOSER. XV. MCEVOY'S MAGNETO ELECTRO CIRCUIT CLOSER. XVI. RUSSIAN SUBMARINE MINE, FIRING BY OBSERVATION. XVII. APPARATUS FOR FIRING BY OBSERVATION. XVIII. SYSTEMS OF DEFENCE BY SUBMARINE MINES. XIX. FIRING BATTERIES, TESTING BATTERIES. XX. FIRING KEYS, SHUTTER APPARATUS. XXI. SHUTTER APPARATUS. XXII. GALVANOMETERS FOR TESTING. XXIII. SIEMENS' UNIVERSAL GALVANOMETER. XXIIIA. DITTO DITTO. XXIV. DITTO DITTO. XXIVA. DITTO DITTO. XXV. SHUNT, COMMUTATOR, RHEOSTAT. XXVI. WHEATSTONE'S BRIDGE. XXVII. TEST TABLE, DIFFERENTIAL GALVANOMETER. XXVIII. METHODS OF TESTING--ARMSTRONG--AUSTRIAN. XXIX. DRIFTING TORPEDOES. XXX. HARVEY'S TOWING TORPEDO. XXXI. DITTO DITTO. XXXII. SYSTEMS OF ATTACK WITH HARVEY'S SEA TORPEDO. XXXIII. DITTO DITTO. XXXIV. DITTO DITTO. XXXV. GERMAN AND FRENCH TOWING TORPEDOES. XXXVI. WHITEHEAD'S FISH TORPEDOES. XXXVII. THORNYCROFT'S BOAT APPARATUS FOR FISH TORPEDOES. XXXVIII. LAY'S LOCOMOTIVE TORPEDO. XXXIX. DITTO DITTO. XL. DITTO DITTO. XLI. DITTO DITTO. XLII. DITTO DITTO. XLIII. DITTO DITTO. XLIV. MCEVOY'S DUPLEX SPAR TORPEDOES. XLV. THE "ALARM" TORPEDO SHIP. XLVI. THE "DESTROYER" TORPEDO SHIP. XLVII. THORNYCROFT'S TORPEDO BOATS. XLVIII. DITTO DITTO. XLIX. YARROW'S TORPEDO BOATS. L. DITTO DITTO. LI. RUSSIAN TORPEDO BOAT, HERRESHOFF'S TORPEDO BOAT. LII. SUBMARINE MINE EXPLOSION. LIII. DITTO DITTO. LIV. MCEVOY'S SINGLE MAIN SYSTEM. [Illustration] Torpedoes and Torpedo Warfare. CHAPTER I. THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TORPEDO.--REMARKS ON THE EXISTING STATE OF TORPEDO WARFARE. THE earliest record we have of the employment of an infernal machine at all resembling the torpedo of the present day, was in 1585 at the siege of Antwerp. Here by means of certain small vessels, drifted down the stream, in each of which was placed a magazine of gunpowder, to be fired either by a trigger, or a combination of levers and clockwork, an Italian engineer, Lambelli, succeeded in demolishing a bridge that the enemy had formed over the Scheldt.