In 1892 it was believed that the weapon most likely to supersede any of the motive or stationary torpedoes hat had been used for coastal defence was the "aerial torpedo-thrower or pneumatic dynamite gun. The British Government of the time had purchased from the Victorian Government a pneumatic dynamite gun that had been manufactured for them by the West Point Foundry, at Cold Spring-on-Hudson in the United States. The most remarkable thing about the whole transaction was the complete absence of any "notoriety." So phenomenal was the pneumatic gun's accuracy at long ranges when tried at Shoeburyness in January and February 1891 that the heads of artillery, engineer, and other departments, were absolutely petrified by its success. The first useful description of this weapon had appeared in the New York Engineering Magazine for September 1891. The dynamite gun was no secret. It had been under construction at Cold Spring for two years, and patented by Mr. George H. Reynolds in New York, British patents, covering every detail of its construction, had been secured by Mr. Henry Eichbaum, in No. 6369, of 1889, and later specifications. It had transpired that an 8in. experimental gun had been fired in America, however it performance had been most erratic; also the 15in. guns of the cruiser Vesuvius, built for the Italian Government and mounted at Spezzia were not altogether regarded a being a success.