HMS Polyphemus (1881) HMS Polyphemus (1881) The third HMS "Polyphemus" was a Royal Navy torpedo ram, serving from 1881 until 1903. A shallow-draft, fast, low-profile vessel, she was designed to penetrate enemy harbours at speed and sink anchored ships. Designed by Nathaniel Barnaby primarily as a protected torpedo boat, the ram was provided very much as secondary armament. It has been suggested that H. G. Wells’ fictional HMS "Thunder Child" from his novel "The War of the Worlds" may have been based on this ship, in part because he described "Thunder Child" as an ironclad torpedo ram, and "Polyphemus" was the only ship
Sci-Fi on the Rock that around 1500 people visited the festival this year. Because this year marked the organization's fifth year, the festival staff introduced its first annual film festival, which commenced on the festival's opening night. Eleven films were submitted and screened, ten of which were from local film-makers, and one (X-Meeting) from Halifax, Nova Scotia. The winner of this film festival was a horror/comedy short called "Date With The Dead". Sci-Fi on the Rock VI occurred on April 20 to 22, 2012. Due to the growth of attendees at Sci-Fi on the Rock events, the layout of the festival underwent and overhaul