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
George Sayer (Royal Navy officer) George Sayer (Royal Navy officer) Rear-Admiral George Sayer CB (1773 - 29 April 1831) was a Royal Navy officer who twice became Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies Station. Sayer joined the Royal Navy at an early age and first saw action in HMS "Phoenix" in the campaign against Tipu Sultan on the Malabar Coast. Promoted to lieutenant in July 1793, he was serving in HMS Carysfort during the Frigate action of 29 May 1794 when the Carysfort recaptured the French ship "Castor". His first command was the sloop HMS "Lacedemonian" in 1796. He later commanded HMS "Albacore", HMS "Xenophon", and