The article on "Torpedoes" in the December 1, 1871, issue of The Engineer had stimulated a number of would be inventors of the "torpedo" to write making their claim for posterity. However, that of W. Morshead was particularly interesting in that his torpedo illustrated in the 3rd. of March issue of The Engineer had been submitted to the Ordnance Select Committee as early as October 1860, and he had a priority claim for "… the steering of a self-propelled torpedo by insulated wires connecting it with a distant station and exploding it by the same means at the proper moment."