a Harvey torpedo. One night there was to have been an eclipse of the moon. Now there is a superstition among orientals regarding an eclipse, which caused the look-out to be somewhat relaxed, and the guard-boats to be withdrawn, and nearer the man-of-war than they should have been – in fact, I fear they had gone quite alongside, thinking more of the mysterious eclipse than of their active enemy.
As the eclipse only lasted for about a couple of hours, the steamer carrying the torpedo-boat must have been near in the offing, and should have been seen; although I found, on inquiry, that the system of no lights and no smoke was carried out in the strictest sense by the Russian torpedo-carrying vessel. However this may be, half an hour after the moon was eclipsed the attack was made by a boat carrying a Harvey torpedo. This boat succeeded in getting so near that she was able to make the circuit necessary for firing her torpedo, and, though attacked by the guard-boats, fired it within ten feet of the Turkish ship. A great explosion and much smoke was the result. The lookers-on on shore telegraphed to Sebastopol that they saw the vessel sink. However, so far from that being the case, I found, on visiting her two or three days afterwards, that, except for a slight mark on her side close to the water's edge, no damage was done. On the vessel's return to Constantinople she was put into dock, when it was found that she had been very sightly damaged; in fact it was not necessary to change any of her outside plates. I think that the manœuvres necessary to make the Harvey torpedo efficacious render it a weapon on which little or no reliance can be placed, unless all
the hands on board the attacked ship are asleep. I would rather trust to the Pole than to the Harvey torpedo, though I do not think that either of them counts for much when a sharp look-out is kept. In my opinion the most useful torpedo is a fixed one, fired either by contact or by electric batteries at a distance, especially when they are used in defence of the approaches to forts, the entrances of harbours, of estuaries, &c. According to general opinion, the perfected Whitehead or Swartzkoff torpedo is the only weapon for active service at sea. Let us examine how they can best be utilised. My opinion is that for attack they are of very doubtful efficacy. I remember on one occasion I followed in a very fast frigate (my flag-ship) the Emperor of Russia's yacht Livadia too near to the fire of the forts of Sebastopol. I say too near, because I drew on my ship such a fire, that, had I not "cleared pretty quickly out of that," I should not have been here to-day to tell the story. Since the war, a Russian naval officer, whose name was Captain Makaroff, A.D.O. to H.M. the Emperor of Russia, told me that he had under his command seven torpedo-boats, with which he volunteered to go out – in the daytime it must be remembered – and attack me. We discussed at some length the probable result, and I think that even he admitted that he could have done nothing. Here is my view and argument. I said to him, "When I saw you and your torpedo-boats coming out, I should have run away. Now I could go thirteen or fourteen knots. You could steam about nineteen. Thus your speed following me would have been about five knots – no great speed at which to approach a vessel
