It has been shown that the policy which led to an effort to hold this natural gateway after the retirement of the Americans from the city was strongly urged by Congress; nor must we forget, in criticising the military judgment of Washington, that an almost irresistible pressure was brought to bear upon him in this matter by the civil authorities as well as by the counsel of his own officers.

The security of the Hudson [says Irving], was at this time an object of great solicitude with Congress, and much reHance was placed on Putnam's obstructions at Fort Washington. Four galleys, mounted with heavy guns and swivels, were stationed

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at the chcvaitx-dc-fn'sc, and two new ships were at hand, which, filled with stones, were to be sunk where they would block up the channel. A sloop was also at anchor, having on board a machine, invented by a Mr. Bushnell, for submarine explosion, with which to blow up the men-of-war; a favourite scheme with General Putnam. The obstructions were so commanded by batteries on each shore that it was thought no hostile ship would be able to pass.

On the 9th of October, however, the Roebuck and Phoenix, each of forty-four guns, and the Tartar, of twenty guns, which had l^een lying for some time opposite Bloomingdale, got under way with their three tenders, at 8 o'clock in the morning, and came standing up the river with an easy southern breeze. At their approach, the galleys and the two ships intended to be sunk got under way with all haste, as did a schooner laden with rum, sugar, and other supplies for the American army, and the sloop with Bushnell's submarine machine. The Roebuck, PJiaiiix, and Tartar broke through the vaunted barriers as through a cobweb.