The Dreadnought hoax

FEB 07 1910

Horace de Vere Cole led a party including Virginia Stephen (later Woolf), her brother Adrian, Duncan Grant, Guy Ridley and Anthony Buxton aboard HMS Dreadnought disguised as Abyssinian royalty, in costumes and blackface supplied by the theatrical costumier Willy Clarkson. A forged telegram announced the arrival of 'Prince Makalen of Abbysinia and suite', and the Royal Navy received them with an honour guard and a tour of its newest battleship. No law had been broken; the men were given a symbolic thrashing by junior officers, and the press ridicule embarrassed the Navy.