Although at the second torpedo attack made on the Resistance, the
following day, the offensive power that was brought to bear was quite
exceptional, the victory remained with the ship. The charge exploded was
an exceptionally heavy one. It consisted of 220 lb. of gun cotton. It
was consequently more destructive than any which is ever likely to be
launched against an armorclad much better prepared to resist it than the
obsolete and time-worn Resistance. An idea, however, had got abroad that
the Russians either have or intend to have a locomotive torpedo capable
of carrying the same weight of explosive in its head, and the object of
the experiment was to ascertain what would be the effect of the
detonation of such an enormous charge upon the submerged portions of a
ship of war.

But, while this was no doubt the primary purpose in view, the experiment
also served the secondary purpose of determining the result of the
explosion upon the net defenses of a ship. Mr. Bullivant's booms and
runners, which were found to be scarcely anything the worse from the
ordeal of the previous day, were again used. The damaged net was taken
away and one of the old service grummet nets slung in its place, the
cylinders containing the gun cotton being attached to the jackstay
immediately in front of the battered sides, and 30 feet from the hulk,
and sunk to a distance of 20 feet below the water line, which would
bring it about opposite the bend of the bilge. By 3 p.m. everything was
ready for the explosion of the charge--everybody had cleared out of the
ship while the surrounding small craft drew off to a distance of 300
feet. The charge was electrically fired from a pinnace. The burst was
terrific and the reverberation was heard and the shock distinctly felt
in the dockyard. But the remarkable thing was that the hulk did not
appear to jump in the least, though there was not more than six feet of