File:Arthur Knyvet Wilson 1898.jpg

Taken from The Navy & Army Illustrated, 1898.

Original caption: "Admiral Wilson is the Controller of the Navy, and has a seat at the Admiralty Board as Third Sea Lord. He is one of our most distinguished torpedo specialists, and an officer of the highest scientific attainments. He has been one of our leading torpedo experts for the past twenty years, in fact, ever since the adoption of the automobile torpedo in our Service. In the early eighties he commanded the torpedo depot-ship "Hecla," proceeding thence to command the "Vernon" torpedo school-ship at Portsmouth, the head quarters of our torpedo training service. From the "Vernon" he passed to the Admiralty as Assistant Director of Torpedoes. He is the inventor of the torpedo net-cutter now adopted in all Navies, and also of the double-barrelled torpedo-tube. As a young officer, Admiral Wilson saw his first war service in the Black Sea during the Russian War, and after that in the China War, 1858-59. He won his V.C. in the Soudan in 1884, with the Naval Brigade at the battle of El Teb, by one of the finest acts of gallantry on record. At the most critical moment of the action a gap was made in our square, and half-a-dozen Dervishes rushed at it to break in. Captain Wilson, who was near the spot, moved out alone to meet them. He broke his sword in cutting one man down, but would not retire a step, and held his ground, knocking the Dervishes down one after the other with his fists. By a miracle, or by the effect on the enemy of the surprising nature of his attack, the gallant officer escaped practically unharmed, and then the square, closing up, rescued him."