The sunken ship remained, a constant impediment to other vessels wishing
to cast anchor near the spot, for nearly fifty years, when Colonel
Pasley, by means of gunpowder, completely demolished the wreck: the
loose pieces of timber floated to the surface; heavier pieces--the
ship's guns, cables, anchors, the fire-hearth, cooking utensils, and
many smaller articles were recovered by the divers. These men went down
in Indian-rubber dresses, which were air and water-tight; they were
furnished with helmets, in each side of which were glass windows, to
admit light, and supplied with air by means of pipes, communicating with
an air-pump above. By these means they could remain under water more
than an hour at a time. I do not think you are old enough to understand
the nature of Colonel Pasley's operations. Large hollow vessels, called
cylinders, were filled with gunpowder, and attached by the divers to the
wreck, these were connected by conducting wires with a battery on board
a lighter above, at a sufficient distance to be out of reach of danger
when the explosion took place. Colonel Pasley then gave the word to fire
the end of the rod; instantly a report was heard, and those who
witnessed the explosions, say that the effect was very beautiful. On
one occasion, the water rose in a splendid column above fifty feet high,
the spray sparkling like diamonds in the sun; then the large fragments
of the wreck came floating to the surface; soon after the mud from the
bottom, blackening the circle of water, and spreading to a great
distance around; and with it rose to the surface great numbers of fish,
who, poor things, had found a hiding-place in the wreck, but were
dislodged and killed by the terrible gunpowder.

[Illustration: LOSS OF THE MELVILLE CASTLE.]