The Express.
London, England, 1862-11-01 00:00:00

NAVAL AND MILITARY.

WAR-OFFICE, PALL MALL, OCT. 31.
Own LAST znalir's GAZSITI.)
sth Regiment of Dragoon Guards—Edward Murphy, gent,
to be cornet, by purchase, vice George Black Lebeub
Roger., whose appointment, as stated in the Gazette of
21st October, 11162, has been cancelled.

ADMIRALTY, Ocr. 31. —APPOINTMENTS.—Rear-
.T. Kingcome, to be commander-in-chid on the
Pacific station.

Sub-Lieutenant J. R. Marsden, to the Nile.
Master R. I. C. Grant, to the Cumberland, for service
in the Pylades.
Assistant-Surgeon J. T. Moore, confirmed as assistant.
surgeou in the Brisk.
Engineer C. Boddington, confirmed u second-class...amid-
set-engineer in the St. George.

ROYAL NAVAL RESERVE.—The following ap-
pointinenta have been made:—To be lieutenant. Alfred
Cocksholt Clark ; to be honorary lieutenant, Nathaniel
Stewart.

THE AMERICAN MINISTER AND THE LIFEBOAT
BEB%loE—During the fearful gales that prevailed in the
Irish Channel on Sunday tight week, the American ship
Annie E. Hooper, of Baltimore, was driven on the Horse
Bank, on the Lancashire coast. Immediately the perilous
position of the ship was seen on Monday mornuig the Lytham
lifeboat, of the National Lifeboat Institution, was launched
and towed to windward by the Loch Lomond steamer.
After having been cut off by the steamer the lifeboat bad
to go through a tremerdously heavy sea of broken water
which filled her three times, but which was rapidly self-
ejected. With
last W ithlarertliePrpv,earrdcewiotiti, tmhuecphartdiof thus, crewi
off thirteen of the crew and a Liverpool pilot who was on
board. After taking off the fourteen men the rope by
which the lifeboat was held to the ship parted, but the
Southport lifeboat, which also belongs to the National In-
stitution, fortunately came up at the time and took off the
captain and the remaining three men. On the Hon. Chas.
Y. Adams, the American minister at this court, being in-
formed of the rescue of his countrymen, he communicated to
the National Lifeboat Institution his satisfaction with the
great service rendered to the crew of the ship Annie E.
Hooper, by the lifeboats of that valuable society. He added
that he would take care that an aocouut of the Nets of the
case should be brought under the notice of the United States
government.

THE RAPER EY CARRIAGE Acr. Last night
a numerous meeting of metropolitan cabdrivers of the Pad.
diugton and Edgware districts, was held at the local cabmen's
club-room, Bellatreet, Edgware-road ; Captain Fiahbourne,
R.N., in the chair, for the purpose of meeting the delegate,
chosen from the drivers in the various metropolitan districts.
A long discussion took place relative to the provisions of the
existing Hackney Carriage Act, and various important
alterations and additions in the into' at of the public, the
proprietors, and the drivers, were considered and adopted,
with the view of bringing the whole subject of the Fitzroy
Hackney Carriage Act before parliament in the ensuing
session.
THE LATE Acciumrr IN TooLKY-srs Err. —An
inquest was held yesterday, in the Vestry-hall of St. John's
Church. Fair-street, Horselydown, on the bodies of the two
men killed by the accident in Toolepstreet, reported a few
days ago. The jury, havikg viewed the ruins, returned to
their place of meeting, where Mr. Snooks, architect and
surveyor to Messrs. Soovell and Sons, and Mr. Henry Stock,
his partner, ware in attendance professionally, to watch the
case. A number of witnesses having been examined, the
jury returned a verdict of " Accidental Dcath" in each case, I
but they recommended that greater care should be used by
skilled workmen in future in striking the centres of similar
buildings, and that this operation should not be per-
formed, until it was known that the mortar used was fully
set. The foreman said the jury had come to that conclusion
owing to the many similar warehouses and wharfs that were
being erected in the neighbourhood of the accident at the
present time.
THE MAIN DRAINAGE TOR Bier L0ND0N....-
Yesterday the ooetrsetors commenced another important
section of the Middle Level sewer extending op Moires%
St. Luke's, to unite with the Orford-street section, along
which shafts are now also being sunk, and active excavating
operation are being carried out. The arrangements are of
a nature to impede as little as possible the West-mid WOG,
but the thoroughfare is Old-street is stopped sp.

og tuft.
which is ignited in front like the old shell by means
of the ordinary Boxer time-fuse, was found to be
more regular and effective in its action. The
complicated apparatus contained in the Armstrong
shell for obtaining ignition by percussion is
dispensed with, and consequently the projectile is
a much cheaper, and what is more important, a
more certain weapon. The mode in which the
new shrapnel acts is, that at the required moment,
ascertained precisely by knowing the distance of
the object, the shell bursts by the burning out of
the fuse, the charge of bullets is dispersed. The
end or front of the shell is blown off, and from 40
to 50 bullets and pieces of iron, all of a size large
enough to be highly destructive, are scattered m
every direction. When this shell is fired at long
ranges, as it would be on entering into action, the
iron case is not completely broken up, and the
larger portion acts as a solid shot, continuing in its
course, or, perhaps, smashing a gun-carriage, or
striking the gun so as to disable it. The Armstrong
shell is burst on striking the object into as many as
217 fragments, all small, and many of very small
size. d3o that if it were partially buried in striking
the ground much of its destructive power would be
thrown away. If the new shrapnel shell is re-
quired to be used at short range the case is easily
burst completely by increasing the bursting charge
of powder. A few of them on this (=salon burst
short of the mark, but on the whole the practice
wasconaidered to be verygood, and entirelyconfirm-
ing the anticipations of the inventor, Mr. Whitworth.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the ex-
periments was a comparison made between the two
different kinds of ordnance as to rapidity of fire.
It has always been held that the one great advan-
tage of the breech-loader was its superiority in
handiness and quick firing. The result of this trial
does not, however, confirm this opinion. The
artillerymen were ordered to fire twenty rounds from
each gun as rapidly as they could be served. The
Whitworth gun finished the twenty rounds first,
completing the task in thirteen minutes ; the
Armstrong followed 2+ minutes later. This supe-
riority was attributed to the simplicity of the
loading and serving the Whitworth gun, the drill
being, in fact, precisely the same as in working
one of the old smooth-bore guns, whereas the
Armstrong drill requires three or four extra move-
ments. All the guns were further tried by firing
from each 100 consecutive rounds. The Ann-
strongs were fired with lubricating wads, and
were also washed out and had their breech pieces
changed as often as they became heated so as to be
unsafe ; the Whitworth' all completed their 100
rounds without being washed out at all, and
without using any lubricating wads. It was re-
marked too that the loading was as easy at the
last round as at the first.

The trial exhibited a practical proof of the value
of brass muzzle loading guns. The French artil-
lery, it will be remembered, have always preferred
these guns, as they are found very rarely to get out
of order, either by injury in service or by the
action of the weather. When rifled, aa these guns
were, upon the Whitworth system, and made
without the complicated arrangement for loading
at the breech, it is evident that they are capable
of the moat efficient service of any field-gun yet
employed.