"On the 19th of August 1877, some torpedo experiments illustrating the method and effect of torpedo warfare, were conducted by the officers of the Torpedo School on board the Vernon, in the presence of the Queen, the King and Queen of Denmark, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Beatrice, Princess Thyra, and others, in the Solent, immediately in front of Osborne. Admiral Sir Astley Cooper Key was in attendance upon her Majesty, and Admiral Fanshawe, commanding in chief, was also present on board his yacht, the Fire Queen. The Bloodhound, gunboat, the Vesuvius, torpedo vessel, the Lightning, torpedo boat, two new torpedo boats built by Messrs. Yarrow and Co. at Poplar, and a number of launches took part in the proceedings. Several runs were made with the Whitehead torpedo, discharged from the ejecting tubes of the larger vessels and from the launches, and several torpedo charges were fired from booms, the ends of which were submerged several feet beneath the surface, the result being to project fountain-like cupolas of water 50ft. or 60ft. into the air."