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-London has included directors John Landis, Marc Caro and Vincenzo Natali as judges. In 2011, the jury included directors Gareth Edwards and Edgar Wright, and features a development deal as its star prize. Since 2009, the film festival has dedicated part of its programme to the highlighting of different, and often under appreciated countries and their contribution to the genre. This has taken the form of screenings of current and classic films, shorts, talks and discussions. The Sci-Fi-London Film Festival is one of the few locations in the United Kingdom to consistently screen All-Nighters – movie marathons, which run throughout the