Dreadnought hoax
The Dreadnought Hoaxers in Abyssinian regalia
Virginia Woolf is the bearded figure on the far left
The Dreadnought Hoax was a practical joke pulled by William Horace de Vere Cole in 1910. Cole tricked Royal Navy to show their flagship, the warship H.M.S. Dreadnought to a supposed delegation of Abyssinian royals.
The hoax involved Cole and five friends - future author Virginia Woolf, her brother Adrian Green, Guy Ridley, Anthony Buxton and artist Duncan Grant - who dressed up in blackface and turbans to make them look oriental. Their only main fault that the "royals" could not eat anything or their make-up would be ruined. Adrian Green took a role of an "interpreter". The operation cost Cole £4000.
In February 10 1910 the trick begun. Cole had an accomplice to send a telegram to the HMS Dreadnought that was then moored in Weymouth. The message said that the ship must be prepared for the visit of a group of princes from Abyssinia and was signed by Foreign Under-secretary Sir Charles Hardinge.
Cole with his entourage went to London's Paddington Station where Cole claimed that he was "Herbert Cholmondesly" of the Foreign Office and demanded a special train to Weymouth. Stationmaster arranged a VIP coach.
In Weymouth, the navy welcomed the princes with an honor guard. Unfortunately, nobody had found an Abyssinian flag, so the navy proceeded to use that of Zanzibar and to play Zanzibar's national anthem. Their visitors did not appear to notice.
Group inspected the fleet. They gave cards printed in Swahili and talked with each other with a broken Latin. To show their appreciations, they yelled "bunga bunga". They asked for prayer mats and bestowed fake military honors to some of the officers. One officer familiar to both Cole and Woolf failed to recognize either one.
When they were departing with a train, Anthony Buxton sneezed and blew off his false whiskers but managed to stick them back before anyone noticed. Cole had not had enough and told to a train conductor that he could serve royals lunch only with white gloves.
In London, they revealed the ruse by sending a letter and a group photo to The Daily Mirror. Royal Navy briefly became an object of ridicule and demanded that Cole be arrested. However, Cole and his compatriots had not broken any law. Navy sent two officers to cane Cole as a punishment - but Cole counteracted that they should be caned because they had been fooled at the first place.