HMS Victoria HMS Victoria, flagship of the Mediterranean fleet, was in retrospect an unlucky ship. In January 1892 she was at Platea in Greece carrying out exercises firing torpedoes, when she ran aground on Snipe Point. Tryon was not on board, as the fleet ships went individually for torpedo practice. This involved firing torpedoes while travelling at speed, but was made more difficult by the need to conduct the practices in shallow waters so the torpedoes could be recovered. Captain Bourke had sent men to mark the point where the waters shallowed to ten fathoms, but they had misjudged the buoy's proper position. Victoria ran aground at nine knots, leaving the fore end of the ship seven feet higher out of the water than normal, while the stern still had 66 feet of water beneath it. The ship was secured with anchors and unsuccessful attempts were made by the nearby torpedo-depot ship to tow her free. Tryon arrived from Malta on board the Surprise, having given orders for the dockyard tug Sampson, Phaeton, Edinburgh, Dreadnought, Scout and Humber to come to assist. Victoria was refloated six days after grounding, towed by Dreadnought and Edinburgh, with the tug lashed to her side and her own engines running astern. 1200 tons had been removed from the ship to lighten her. Victoria returned to Malta for repairs to torn plates along her bottom. Victoria was repaired in time for the fleet summer cruise in May. The first division sailed from Malta on 31 May for Nauplia, where they were joined by the second division commanded by rear-admiral Markham. The entire fleet then exercised in the Aegean Sea. In June Tryon visited the Sultan of Turkey in Constantinople. Warships were not permitted in the Dardanelles, so the party went on the admiral's steam yacht, Surprise. Captains Bourke from Victoria, Noel from Nile and Wilson from Sans Pareil accompanied Tryon, who received the Medjidie of the first class from the Sultan. They rejoined the fleet at Vourlah Bay on 25 June. In July the fleet divided, with the second division going to the Levant while Tryon and the first division went to Sicily, where the volcano Mount Etna was erupting. The tour continued around Italian and Spanish ports with a fortnight at Gibraltar, before returning to Malta on 29 September. On 10 October once again they set out to Nauplia to meet the second division.