'On Tuesday last some interesting torpedo experiments were conducted at Chatham on the occasion of the visit of the Duke of Cambridge to that place. The experiments were begun by the explosion of two small charges of gun-cotton on shore… But the chief experiment was with a very different torpedo [mine] in point of size; it was charged with no less than 432 lb. of gun-cotton… This powerful instrument was moored about 200 yards away from the vessel; it was surrounded by seven other torpedoes, the object of the experiment being to ascertain whether the explosion of so large a torpedo would lead to the explosion of the others… The effect was grand. Vast volumes of water were cast high into the air, and the vessel was shaken, but not one of the other torpedoes was exploded or injured.'