3-086-462 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lord Charles Beresford's party at Portsmouth, 1898. 'Members of Parliament boarding the "Magnet", en route for Whale Island. Lord Charles Beresford's genius as a public naval instructor finds other opportunities than speeches in Parliament and newspaper articles. On Monday, June 20, he rode his hobby in a very practical form by giving a party at Portsmouth to some two hundred members of Parliament, Lords and Commons, who went down by special train from Victoria to visit the harbour and dockyard. Embarking on the Magnet, the visitors steamed to the torpedo school-ship Vernon to witness experiments. They returned to luncheon in the Mould Loft, and thereafter the party divided, some going to the Needles and back on the destroyer Hanger, while others went on steam-launches to see gunnery instruction at Whale Island. On board the torpedo-destroyer members practised with the quick-firing gun at 600 yards, Mr. Seton Karr and Colonel Saunderson proving the best marksmen. The speed of the boat was, however, a serious handicap to the amateur naval gunners.' From "Illustrated London News", 1898.