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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8138, 21 June 1906, Page 3

Tlie Friendly Societies in Stratford will "ioU a unitdd memorial service on S'lad iv inoniin? at the Holy Trinity Church, in nic;nory of the late liight Kifii. li. J, Sf.Mon. Tt has long been the desire of those svhi work with torpedo boats to discharge ii "live" torpedo, instead of the dummies l.hat are employed in praeliee (remarks tho " Sydney Daily Telegraph"). It was, however, decided at the close of tho Easter training camp of the Victorian naval forces to firo what is known as a " mark 3" weapon, which has long since been obsoleto, and would be quite useless for active service It was imperative in the interests of safety that some object should be aimed at which would limit the run of the torpedo, and a rock near Point Frank was chosen for the purpose. On the command to " fire" being given the lever was pulled and

the torpedo plunged from the side of the Lonsdale. Usually after the splash the coarse of the projectile can bo traced until the energy is expended, but m this instance the keenest of watchers failed to mark its reappearance. A few seconds elapsed, then a dull boom was heard, and the water all round the boat became like a boiling cauldron. Hardly had the onlookers recovered from their surprise when the torpedo came to the surface in a vertical position, not horizontally, as they should float after discharge in practice. Au investigation showed that it had "dived" almost straight down. Fortunutely it had struck a sandy bottom under about 16ft. of water, and only the priming charge oxploded. If it had happened to strike a hard rocky bottom and so cause the torpedo itself to explode, the Lonsdale might have gone on an aerial cruise.