The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-09-10 00:00:00

to the absence of his Royal Highness the General CORl-
tw,nding-in-chitt, no selection of the regiments for this
ditty can be made fur a lew days. It is very evilent,
however, that three old and thorouiaily iffleient bat-
tslions of the 16th and 96th Regiments, all at present
at the Carragh, will be choaen. Possibly 011 e of the new
new regiments, now scarcely inferior to any in the ger-
s ice, will be told off for Csnada, os the 4th battalion of
the 60th Rifles aka when the first addition to our
exceedingly small force in the colony was made atone
two months wince. Whatever may be the effect in wine
quarters of the announcement we now make, we have
little doubt that the public generally will recognise this
step as an at of wise precaution on the part of those
responsible for the dignity and integrity of the empire.—
Army aid Nary Gazette.
The Stirling (labile, old third-rate, used as • convict
hulk at Portsiturith, after about two month.' work of
demolition, bas just been broken up. The timber, atone
of which appears as sound as ever, is sold in convenient
lots to outs,de purchasers. It way interest souse to
know that the cost of labour, ke.. of breaking up a ship
of her size amounts to between £2OO and 1:300.

Tue CHANSIL FLEET —The Channel Fleet which
had graced the waters of the Clyde for 8 days. took its
departure on Wednesday morning last. The visit of
these magnificent shim., which were viewed by the
public in large numbers-5,000 it is said in one day—
iia•• the greatest satisfaction to the people in the
West of Scotland. During their stay in the Clyde, an
incident occurred which afforded considerable amuse-
ment to the officers, and to tome wore than to the
gamut naval chief who becante the subject of • sous,.
what benevolent mistake. It happened that Rear-
Admiral Smart stood near the g.ineway of the line-of-
battle ship the Revenge, in conversation with the lady
of the Provost of Greenock, and while so speaking, he
exhibited alike his courtesy and his galleon by re-
maining uncovered, and with hie cap in hie hand. The
ship at the moment was crowded with delighted visitors,
some entering and some retiring, and arnongat the
latter, appeared a buxom elderly holy, said to be from
Paisley, whom countenance beamed with joy, pride,
and sratittele at the magnificent exhibition uf naval
power she had just witnessed, as well as at the civility
and attention which she had received from all on board
the ship. Passing the Re..r-Admiral, I.er heart opened
at once, and she could not martin the impulm of
poppiug Is. 6d, in silver into his cap—believing him
to be. from his modest bearing, it may be assumed,
not the commander of the Beet, but • boatswain, or
gunner, or something of the sort, dressed up in gold
braid for the occasion, and placed there, cap in band.
to receive anything which the generosity of her
Majesty's subjects might be pleased to offer, for his ou
Whoa and that of the ship couipany in general. The
Admiral immediately noticed the mists-ice, and bash-
fully banded beck the shilling, which the jolly lady
:I with a gesture which might mean that he
haveato43l4 beenflwiser bad he kept it to himself. But
die ponied on, andiron disappeared down the gangway,
mad then the gallant °Maar discovered that he had
still • sixpence In band of the lady's contribetion,
which he had not previously noticed. This could not
be returned, of coarse, upon which the Admiral good.
megrim* pet it into his pocket, declaring that he
would send the coin home, as representing the first
testimonial he had ever received in such a hearty and
off-hand manner. On the same day an old lady slipped
* sispence into the hand of • smirking middy. He
made no attempt to gi•• it back, hut said that he would
report the circumstance to Ilia sweetheart. as • proof of
the hi.di estimation in which lie was held by the fair
eel in the weet of Scotland.
MOSUL Or THC 110:4111DLIL—Tbe second reconstruct..
ties of the British navy is progressing as rapidly as
any rewsomble tax-payer can desire. Three larger iron-
clad yawls than have hitherto been built have just
been ordered by Governsoeut of private firms. The
Warrior mil the Black Prince are 380 feet in length;
the new ones will be 400 feet beg between the per.
pendiculms. The extreme breadth of the new ships
will be 59 feet SA ayaiist 51 feet in the Warrior. and
the tonnage will be 6.815 tons, as compared with 6,700.
Although the centime measurement is not very much
greater, the weight of the ahips *ill be increased by
something like 700 tons, owing to the greater portion
of the shipe' aides, which will be covered with armour
Plates, and an increase in the thickness of the plates.
Instead of the ti inch iron plates, the new ones will be
protected by plates of 5i inches thick, and these may
yet be still further increased to 6i inches. This is •
Nut, however, whirl, is still in doubt, for although
iron armour plate. have been talked about for the last
four or flee years. the Governmeet have not yet merle
any experiments of such a nature as to be of any value
In determining what is the exact measure of their
resistance. In the contracts, therefore, the matter is
left open fur further consideration and final decision.
Unlike the Warrior. these Intent designed ships will
carry armour-plates from stein to stern, and if only of
inches of thickness, the total weight of the iron
plates will not be less than 2,000 tons, or greater than
the entire weight of the old sailing Victory. By way
of conceding eomething to the principle of the angular
sides, advocated by many persons, the sides of the new
ships will have an iodine of shoat 1 foot in 8. instead
of 1 in 13, as in the Black Prince—the object being to
bring the weight of the ship more towards the centre,
diminish she tendeum to rolling, and also to increase
the shame of shot Ilyiug off. The stowage for anal will
he equal to that of twelve day's full steaming, in the
place of nine days in the Warrior elem, and the speed
regulated for is 14; knot's. A plan which was 'imposed
to be adopted when the Warrior was first comuieuced—
viz.. that a/ providing them a "spur," or bow as mg-
Rested by Admiral Sertorim, to be used for running
down the ships of the enemy, bat which was eche*.
uneutly ehandosed—will he applied to the ships shoat
to he commenced. They will not only be vessels of
enormous Somme and power, and heavy armament—
each carrying sixty tons—but they will be provided in.,
wlditim with • breast or break, which edeances'about '
20 feet beyond Use tatural hem. 'and which, being
placed below water line, will, in the event of funning
into an hostile ship. make • fearful shams, which it
wonld he hopeless to attempt to fill from the inMde,
supposing that a ship so struck was able to keep •11.144
at all after the collision. There are two steam "rams."
the Resistance and the Defence, which are provided
with these destructive beaks, hut they are of much
smaller tonnage than the Warrior, and have consider-
ably less spied. A blow delivered by • vessel of the
enormous tonnage of these new ships, running full
steam at more than fourteen knots, can be nothing leas
than instant destruction to any ship with which it may
come into contact. The "beak" el these ships, as at
Frmut designed, in very similar to that of the old
Ronian galleys, and resembles closely in its outline the
breast of a swan. It will be made of enorinaue strength,
and the front pert will have an edge of three or four
Inches. being, in fact, an euorinons curved knife-Waite
of twenty feet in length, propelled with a loser of
1.250 barren, and urged forward with the momentum of
little short of 10,000 tons weight, cleaving the water at
the rate of 14 knots an hour. Placed within and across
the bow of the ship is • allielal fanned of armour plates.
in which there will be portholes for two of .krtustrong's
heavieet gum. The bowsprit will he of iron, sod so
fitted as to be shipped when about to run dews as
ODOM).
Loss or Darcra.—lntelligenee was received
on 'Thursday sllolllillg of the loss of bar Majesty's sloop
Drieer, Commander Horatio Nelson. We are happy,
however, in hieing able to state that the whole of her
ollorr• and crew were eared, and it is expeoted that the
pas and other public stores will be recovered. The
Driver wasonlycommiwioned at Woolwich in the month
of May last, and finally smiled from England in the eerie
part of June. The Driver was • fine roomy vessel of
bar class. She mounted 6 guns, was 1,066 tons borthen,
bad • nominal steam power of 280 home, and bail •
atemploweet of one hundred mad seventy officers and
men. The Driver was lot, upon one of the numerous
keys whisk surround the Bahama LA lode, and which
have ever proved so destructive to shipping.