The inhabitants of St. Kilda were considerably startled yesterday afternoon by the advent of an unwelcome stranger, in the shape of a large shell, which appears to have been unwittingly discharged from H.M.S. Wolverine. The missile first struck the fence of Mr. Stone’s premises, in Patterson Street, and thence passed through his workshop, within a very short distance of Mr. Stone, who was engaged there at the time, damaging in its transit the pipes of a new organ, which he is building. After passing over two houses it alighted on the cabstand, near the St. Kilda railway station, whence it scattered fragments of road metal on to the roof of Wimpole’s Hotel, a distance of about 100 yards, and finally spent itself against Mr. Dare’s house, making a hole in the eighteen inch wall, of about eight inches in diameter. As the shot passed over Fitzroy Street at an elevation of about five feet, it may be considered most providential that no persons were passing at the time, as had it happened, just after the arrival of the train the consequences might have been disastrous. Sir G Brown & Governor Weld may be considered to have had a narrow escape, as they passed the spot shortly before or after the occurrences. The shell, which weighs about 100 pounds, being 21 inches in height and 8 inches in diameter, was picked up by Mr. A.C Armstrong, who intends exhibiting it today in Bourke St.
Sir,—
This afternoon about 3pm, a solid conical shot (weighing, at a guess, a hundred weight) came whizzing into St. Kilda, and as I have taken some trouble to investigate the course and direction traversed by this projectile and the damage done, I here with give you the particulars, trusting that you will use your influence to prevent any chance of further visitors from the guns of Nelson. The shot first struck the sand not far from the water’s edge, then crashed through some palings, and taking an upward direction went clean through Mr. Stone’s organ workshop, and just missed the roof of a house close by; it afterwards again struck the earth on the flat, nearly killing a Chinaman; again bounding up, it next visited terra firma outside the door of the St. Kilda railway station, frightening a cab horse, who bolted. Glancing upwards once more, it crossed Fitzroy street, narrowly missing some lady friends of mine, who were covered with dust and stones raised by the ground being struck as before mentioned. Passing over Mr. Thomas Taylor’s palings, it finally struck Mr. Dare’s house of business in Grey Street, and being spent, rebounded on to the waste ground adjoining. The shot is now to be seen at the George Hotel, and a formidable thing it is. It is a little less than a miracle that no lives have been lost and that so little damage has been done, and the manner in which several houses and people in direct line have escaped through the eccentric ricochets could not fail to surprise greatly any one who investigates the matter. I think that the real wonder is, considering the continual firing shorewards at short distance, that there should so seldom, if ever, be an event of this kind to report.
It appears that the shell that paid such an unexpected visit to St.Kilda on Friday last, was fired from the Nelson, and obtained its direction in a very extraordinary manner. It was fired from a gun with a 24lb. charge of powder, at a target set up in the Bay, but it fell short, and, striking the water, ricocheted at a tangent and passed over to St. Kilda. The man who laid the gun was an experienced gunner, a recent arrival from England, and the eccentric flight of the projectile cannot be accounted for except by the supposition that the elevation of the piece must have been radically wrong.
Captain Mandeville, the officer commanding the naval forces, had under consideration yesterday the necessity of appointing a board to inquire into the circumstances under which a shell was fired from the Nelson during the drill of the Naval Reserve on Friday last. It appears that the shell was an unfilled one, and was fired from one of the bow guns towards the target which was fixed in the direction of Brighton. These guns are old 68 pounder smooth bores converted into rifled guns. It is considered a most extraordinary circumstance that the shell should have become so deflected to the left as to reach St. Kilda. Rifled guns, as a rule, always deflect to the right, and the shell apparently took the usual course after it first struck the sand on the beach. The subject was brought under the notice of the St. Kilda Council last evening by Councillor Wimpole, who was desirous of having an official letter sent to the Chief Secretary, pointing out the danger likely to arise, and the damage already done by the shell being thrown into the borough. The members of the council were, however, of the opinion that it was the duty of the party aggrieved, or his agent, to take the necessary steps to bring the matter under the notice of the Government. Accordingly, no official action was taken by the council.
An article written by J. S. Frazer that appeared in The Argus on 9 January 1932 appears to be the source of the myth that Cerberus bombarded St Kilda. This was rebutted on 23 January.
The Argus, 9 January 1932
"Dare's shop in Grey street abuts on this empty block, and if we look closely at the northern wall we may see the mark made by the cannon ball fired by the Cerberus while at target practice off Williamstown. The sighting must have been extraordinarily bad."
M.L. (St. Kilda) writes :— "In his interesting article on old St. Kilda, which appeared on January 9, Mr. J. S. Frazer is inaccurate in attributing the hole made in the wall of Dare's office in Grey street to unskilful target shooting by the Cerberus. The facts are that the mishap occurred on a Queen's Birthday. During a cartridge salute from the old Nelson a live cartridge was inadvertently fired. The shell went through an organ in process of construction in the late Mr. Stone's workshop. The cannon ball then landed in the middle of the "black swamp" — and ricochetted (sic) on to the wall."
As the Prince of Wales birthday had been celebrated on 9 November during the late 1800's this date then became the King's Birthday when Edward ascended to the throne in 1901. This would explain the comment above that the firing took place on the Queen's birthday. The writer must have assumed that the Queen's birthday & the King's birthday had been celebrated on the same date.