The party left at 2 o’clock p.m. of the 25th (having made a reconnaissance two days before) and ascended the Middle River in the "Mattabesett’s" dingey with two torpedoes, each containing 100 pounds of powder and their appendages, which they transported on a stretcher across the island swamp. Charles Baldwin, coal heaver, and John W. Lloyd, coxswain, then swam the Roanoke River with a line and hauled the torpedoes over to the Plymouth shore above the town. They were then connected by a bridle, floated down with the current, and guided by Charles Baldwin, who designed to place them across the bows of the ram, one on either side, and Alexander Crawford, who was stationed on the opposite side of the river in the swamp, was to explode them upon a given signal.