250

• HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

along from the Phasis and Trebizond, at length burst on the Bosphorus ofThrace, a streight of fifteen miles, in which the rude vessels of the Russiansmight have been stopped and destroyed by a more skilful adversary. In theirfirst enterprise under the princes of Kiow, they passed without opposition, andoccupied the port of Constantinople, in the absence of the emperor Michael,the son of Theophilus. Through a crowd of perils, he landed at the palacestairs, and immediately repaired to a church of the \ irgin Mary. By theadvice of the patriarch, her garment, a precious relic, was drawn from thesanctuary, and dipped in the sea, and a seasonable tempest, which determinedthe retreat of the Russians, was devoutly ascribed to a miracle. The silenceof the Greeks may inspire some doubt of the truth, or at least of the import-ance, of the second attempt, by Oleg, the guardian of the sons of Ruric. Astrong barrier of arms and fortifications defended the Bosphorus: they wereeluded by the usual expedient of drawing the boats over the Isthmus ; and thiseimple operation is described in the national chronicles, as if the Russian fleethad sailed over dry land with a brisk and favourable gale. The leader of thethird armament, Igor, the son of Ruric, had chosen a moment of weaknessand decay, when the naval powers of the empire were employed against theSaracens. But if courage be not wanting, the instruments of defence areseldom deficient. Fifteen broken and decayed gallies were boldly launchedagainst the enemy; but, instead of the single tube of Greek fire usually planted'on the prow, the sides and- stern of each vessel were abundantly supplied withthat liquid combustible *. The engineers were dextrous, the weather waspropitious : many thousand Russians, who chose rather to be drowned thanburnt, leaped into the sea, and those who escaped to the Thracian shore, wereinhumanly slaughtered by the peasants and soldiers : yet one third of thecanoes escaped into shallow water; and the next spring Igor was again pre-

* Modern chemistry has produced the discovery of a variety of liquids, which, though entirely harmlessin their single state, will, on the instant of being mixed together, be productive of the most furious con-flagration. Invention has even been stretched in the attempt and hope of rendering the knowlege ofthis important secret subservient to the purposes of naval war, and experiments, as it is reported, haveactually been, some years since, submitted to the consideration of the British government. But whetherfrom a generous intention of avoiding, in compassion to the foe, the introduction of such dreadfulauxiliaries into naval contests, or the fear that accident might cause the dreadful mischief to recoil onthe inventors, is not generally known. Certain it is, however, no use lias hitherto been made of thediscovery.

pared