In this context I may note two great disasters, the one at the beginning and the other at the end of this period, which served to illustrate the "price of Admiralty" and the perils of speed when combined with enormous size and structure of a type in which design has outrun strength. The first was the loss of the _Victoria_ in the manoeuvres off Tripoli in 1893, owing to an error in judgment on the part of a great admiral--Sir George Tryon. The second was the loss of the _Titanic_ in April, 1912. _Punch_ in both instances confined himself to the expression of sympathy and condolence, without endeavouring to draw morals or recalling, _à propos_ of the _Titanic_, his curious prophecy, given in an earlier volume, of the likelihood of just such a disaster resulting from the cult of speed at all costs and in all weathers. The perils of the sea naturally suggest the means of endeavouring to avoid them. After a long interval the Channel Tunnel scheme was revived in 1906, and in his cartoon in January, 1907, _Punch_ indicates that it was calculated "a double debt to pay." Neptune is shown objecting to have his power undermined, but Britannia retorts: "I want to see more of my friends over there, and I never look my best when I've been seasick." So again, in August, 1913, under the heading "The Entente Tube," when the steward on a night Channel boat observes, "If they bring in this 'ere tunnel, my job's gone," _Punch_ replies, "That's the only sound objection I've heard yet." [Illustration: THE ENTENTE TUBE STEWARD (on night Channel boat): "If they bring in this 'ere tunnel, my job's gone." MR. PUNCH: "That's the only sound objection I've heard yet."] [Illustration: MR. PUNCH'S INVASION STORY (Foreign Artillery Officer, after dropping shell from Dirigible with the idea of destroying London): "Tut! Tut! I've missed it!"] [Sidenote: _Punch's Prophecies_] _Punch's_ forecasts and prophecies are mentioned under various headings, but two may be specially noted here. In 1909 a foreign officer (obviously a German) is depicted by Mr. George Morrow in the car of an airship "after dropping a shell with the idea of destroying London." "Tut! tut!" he observes, "I've missed it." The second picture, in October, 1910, is of "The New Arm and how to use it," and illustrates the conversion of a number of soldiers, by the device of opening umbrellas of a peculiar pattern, into what the approaching air-scout takes to be a field dotted with gigantic flowers. But, as I showed in an earlier volume, _Punch_ described the principle of _camouflage_ in full detail about half a century before it was carried into practice. CHANGING LONDON [Sidenote: _Cabs v. Taxis_] [Illustration: THE PASSING OF THE GROWLER MR. PUNCH (supported by shades of two of his most famous henchmen, John Leech and Charles Keene): "Good-bye, old friend. You've been very useful to me, but your day is done."]