On 28 May 1741, to celebrate the taking of Porto Bello by Admiral Edward Vernon, he performed at the Apple Tree Inn, formerly opposite Coldbath Fields Prison, London, in the presence of the admiral and numerous spectators. Here, standing on a wooden stage, he raised several inches from the ground three hogsheads of water weighing , using for the purpose a strong rope and tackle passing over his shoulders. This performance is represented in an etching published by W. H. Toms in July 1741, from a drawing by C. Leigh. One night he is said to have carried a watchman in his box from Chiswell Street till he finally dropped his sleeping burden over the wall of Bunhill Fields burying-ground. Once, in the Hackney Road, he held back a horse and cart in spite of the driver's efforts to proceed. Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers records, among other feats of Topham's witnessed by him, the bending of a large iron poker nearly to a right angle by striking it upon his bare left arm.