Explore "Passages from the Life of a Philosopher" by Charles Babbage on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Shooting Seabirds -- Walking on the Water -- A Screw being loose -- The Author nearly drowned -- Adventure in the Thames Tunnel -- Descent in a Diving-bell -- Plan for Submarine Navigation.
The grounds surrounding my father's house, near Teignmouth, extended to the sea. The cliffs, though lofty, admitted at one point of a descent to the beach, of which I very frequently availed myself for the purpose of bathing. One Christmas when I was about sixteen I determined to see if I could manage a gun. I accordingly took my father's fowling-piece, and climbing with it down to the beach, I began to look about for the large seabirds which I thought I might have a chance of hitting.