The last time we left David Bushnell, he was a bit dejected after failing to blow up a single British ship with his Turtle in 1776. Bushnell resurfaced in 1778 in an even stranger story.
In January of 1778, Bushnell was traveling with Colonel Joseph Borden's troops around Philadelphia. Bushnell approached Borden with a bold idea. He said that he could outfit barrels, or kegs, of gunpowder with hair triggers. The barrels could then be lowered into the Delaware River and sent downstream toward the British fleet. Borden agreed to give David a shot.
On January 6th, a group of specially-outfitted kegs were placed in the water and slowly began to float toward the British fleet. Unfortunately, many of the ships had already been moved to avoid ice. Nevertheless, a few made it to their destination. One of the British ships sent out a barge to inspect one of the kegs. They inspected a bit too closely and the keg went off killing four men. The commotion whipped the British army and loyalists in Philadelphia to a frenzy. For the rest of the day, British sailors shot at anything that was moving in the water. Loyalists in the Philadelphia feared barrels throughout the city as rumors abounded of Continental soldiers hiding in barrels and then popping out with murderous rage. The event even inspired a Francis Hopkinson poem which the Americans especially loved for making reference to Sir William Howe and his affair with Elizabeth Loring, wife of a famed Boston Loyalist.
Sir William he, snug as a flea,
Lay all this time a snoring,
Nor dreamed of harm as he lay warm,
In bed with Mrs. Loring.
Full poem here
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