'Ah. Well, that was, as we must say, a demonstration only,' Fulton said cheerfully. 'As would meet expectations. A simple barrel on a rope over-stuffed with gunpowder and, um, suitably deployed. In our present contract we look to the palpable reality where men must strive unseen against others and will not stand unless their apparatus is without flaw. Agreed?'
Kydd nodded reluctantly. 'It seems reasonable, given that any future contract would be at hazard, were your engines found wanting on the field of battle, Toot.'
Later in the day a naval officer in plain clothes came aboard
Kydd gave a wry smile. This way there was no official notice being taken of the activities of a private contractor, but as the commander with operational responsibility Keith had a moral right to be in the know.
'I'm not certain I can tell you much,' he replied. 'The trials are at an early stage only, what's watertight, ballast required, that sort of thing.'
The officer turned grave. 'As I feared.' He shifted uncomfortably. 'You see, old chap, Keith is put under notice by the politicos to make a sally against the French using these infernals to satisfy the mob that Bonaparte is being dealt with severely—you do understand, I know.'
Kydd thought despairingly of Fulton's painstaking progress. 'And when is this assault planned t' be?'
'Well, yesterday would best suit but any time close after will serve.'
'I'm not the one t' say, but you're asking for the moon.'
'Am I? Then, dear fellow, if you have any influence over the chap, do impress on him the need for celerity and that sort of thing, won't you? I have the feeling that Keith will press on whatever state the contrivances are in. Did you know that our new first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Melville himself, bless him, fully intends to take part in the assault, so consequential is the action believed to be?'
'We'll do our best for you,' Kydd replied strongly.
'Stout fellow!' the officer said. 'You get along splendidly with Americans, I'm told. Best of luck.'
It put a new and graver complexion on the situation: was it a measure of desperation at the highest levels that the august head of the Navy—who was certainly not expected to tread a deck, let alone smell powder-smoke— should feel obliged to be a part of it?
Fulton took the news calmly but retreated to his casemate, demanding that a soldier's camp bed be placed next to his desk, and set to work. By morning he had sketches ready; his mechanics turned to and he requested that
At Martha's Cope it became clear that the character of the trials had now taken a more serious turn. The gunner was asked to provide material for live charges and, after a nod from Kydd, assembled the makings into an arms chest and brought it up.
The impedimenta was rowed ashore in the launch and prepared. 'Over there,' Fulton decided. It was a low, flat rock, lapped by waves; close by loomed the pinnacles of chalk that gave the tiny cove its name.
'Post your men,' Kydd told the sergeant of Royal Marines, and two sentries were sent marching stolidly under the vertical white cliffs in opposite directions to seal off the approaches.
In complete silence the first experiment was assembled. A simple contraption was erected, a metal hemisphere pointing cup down at the end of a hinged arm twelve feet long, braced by two legs.
'What's this, then, Toot?'
'It gives a measure of the vehemence of a blast. Observe here, where there is a scale at the hinge. With exactly the same charge a variation in the confining of the igniting powder will result in a different force.'
He laid down a metal plate and lowered the cup over it. 'See here, first powder quite unrestrained.' A cascade of black grains poured from the measuring funnel and settled in a pyramid.
'Mr. Duckitt, clear the range!'
Every man stepped back to a safe distance. 'Fire the charge!'
The gunner blew on his portfire and touched off the powder. It flared up high in a bright, firework-like glare, with a vigorous but impotent hiss. When they tramped back to the apparatus the gauge had not moved.
Without comment Fulton produced a coconut-sized sphere. 'Charge this, if you please,' he said to the gunner, and explained to Kydd, 'This is, then, the same amount, within a half-inch clay jacket.' Match was inserted and lit. The onlookers retired hastily.
It detonated with a satisfying flash and a clap of thunder that echoed back from the soaring cliff-face. After a moment pieces of the jacket were heard skittering about. Fulton plunged into the eddying smoke and inspected the result, noting down the reading. 'One inch clay,' he intoned, resetting the indicator.
This time the explosion had a vicious ring and the shattered clay whipped through the air overhead, falling into the shallows in myriad splashes. Fulton took the reading from the canted arm, then became thoughtful. 'I'd hoped the effect would scale, but it does not. This is not double the impetus.'
'Meaning?'
'To multiply this force and be sure to sink a well-found man-o'-war will take either a mort more powder or a jacket so heavy as to cause the torpedo to sink. I must think again.'
The next day a three-inch jacket was tested, which confirmed the problem: a larger charge in the same case had the puzzling result of a lower indication on the gauge than expected. 'I wonder if it's the greater bulk of the powder smothering the speed of burning?' Fulton mused.
'Beg pardon, sir,' Duckitt interjected, 'an' have ye considered corned powder a-tall?' 'What's that?'
'New, like. Sifted mill cakes, hardened 'n' rolled in graphite. Makes f'r rare consistent firing.'
