I communicated to his majesty a project I had formed
of seizing the enemy's whole fleet; which, as our scouts assured
us, lay at anchor in the harbour, ready to sail with the first fair
wind. I consulted the most experienced seamen upon the depth of
the channel, which they had often plumbed; who told me, that in the
middle, at high-water, it was seventy glumgluffs deep, which is
about six feet of European measure; and the rest of it fifty
glumgluffs at most. I walked towards the north-east coast, over
against Blefuscu, where, lying down behind a hillock, I took out my
small perspective glass, and viewed the enemy's fleet at anchor,
consisting of about fifty men of war, and a great number of
transports: I then came back to my house, and gave orders (for
which I had a warrant) for a great quantity of the strongest cable
and bars of iron. The cable was about as thick as packthread and
the bars of the length and size of a knitting-needle. I trebled
the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I twisted
three of the iron bars together, bending the extremities into a
hook.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84