Note 47 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
The Chinese considered this a practical form of warfare even in comparatively recent times. In The Voyage of H.M.S. Nemesis (1841) an account is given of the preparations made against the British fleet. At Canton it was stated that "several hundred divers were said to be in training who were to go down and bore holes in our ships at night; or even, as the Chinese privately reported, to carry down with them some combustible material which would burn under water and destroy our vessels".