The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-02 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

The bulk of the Baltic fleet will sail from Spithead
to-morrow, about 2 o'clock, consisting of the following

force :
Duke of Wellington l3l Captain Caldwell (flag).
Royal George
Nile
Majestic
Exmouth 9l Captain W. K. Hall (flag).
Caesar
James Watt 9l Captain G. Elliot.
Cressy
Colossus
Ajax 6O Captain Warden.
Blenheim 6O Captain W. H. Hall.
Edinburgh
Hogue
Magicionno
Dragon 6 Captain W. H. Stewart.
Vulture
Geyser
Bulldog 6 Commander Gordon.
Basilisk 6 Commander Jenner.
Driver
Gorgon 6 Commander Crawford.
To these may prol ably be added the Pembroke, 60 ;
Hastings, 60 ;. and sundry gun-boat tenders. The
Neptune- 120 Captain Hutton.
St. George sailing 120 Captain tyres, C.B.
Posse:ant. ships 8 t- - Captain- Masai°.
Calcutta 'B4 -Captain Stopford. -;-
Pylades 2l Captain DlEyncoui t.
Odin l6 Captain Willcox.
Cruiser
- Douglas.
6 Captain Clifford.
16 Commander Pullen.
9 Commander Luce.
remain behind to await further orders. The two last
mentioned were detached on Friday night to the chops
of the Channel to relieve wind-bound merchantmen. The
Odin would have sailed with the van of the fleet, but
some derangement having shown itself in her machinery,
she will be retained to repair itaand the Magicienne
will take her place. The Pylades, which arrived on
Friday, also remains at Spithead. On Saturday signal
was era le by the flag-ship " Prepare for sea." Officers
and men are thereupon recalled from leave to their re-
spective ships, awl all further leave stopped ; and a
general muster took place, owing to preparations for
payment of the crews this day. Gunnery drill (without
firing) has also begun, and the decks of the numerous
ships present the liveliest scenes of animation. Some
important gunnery experiments were made on Saturday
morning from her Majesty's ship Excellent, appertaining
to projected operationsin the Baltic, to attead which all
the captains of the fleet were invited.
.Rear-Admirals
Dunda', Seymour, and Baynes, the three commanders
of the B due fleet, have taken up their abode, when
ashore, at the George Hotel, and the port and suburbs
are rapidly fillipg with visitors, the relatives or friends
of the officers of ships. Ryde also benefits largely
by the influx of visitors. Among those who have ar-
rived within the last day or two are the Marquis of Ely,
Earl St. Germans, the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Eleho,
Lor 1 Romney, Lord de Blaquier, Sir William Medlicott,
Sir George Artnytage, the Hon. Robert Donato Col.
Sibthorp, M.P., Lord Amherst, &e. A great addition
to the population was made yesterday, owing to the
Brighton and South Coast Railway Company having
run an excursion train, which conveyed an enormous
number of passengers. Other trains will run to-day
and to-morrow, and the P rtsmouth and Ryde Steam-
packet Company give excursions in steam-vessels at
several periods during the day, steaming through and
round the fleet, offering a very good opportunity for
a glance at the noble armament in the roadstead.
Considerable dissatisfaction prevails in the fleet upon
two highly important features. A number of
" dressers " have been distributed through the force
to do duty with the medical staff. Ia a three
decker there are two of these newly-found accessories,
whose ages are respectively 16 and 18. The other item
is of an equally serious character. The Admiralty
have been lately introducing engines upon the high-
pressure principle into their new ships, but seemed to
have overlooked that they must also introduce high-
pressure engineers to work them, constquently they
have been ob'iged to hunt up railway engine-drivers to
go on board ship. These novel auxiliaries afloat have
rank below that of the third-class assistant-engineers of
the fleet, yet they are given pay 2/. per month more
than that of third-class chief engineers. This has
caused a disruption of the mess arrangements in one
'ibiftstnd is likely to lead to some serious rnanifeata-
tations of displeasure on board others. Wain signal
was made from the flag-ship Duke of Wellington that
" permission was given to volunteer," the whole of the
petty 'officers and crew of the Powerful went aft,
and said they were ready to serve their country to the
last, but were now attached to their captain and officers
and would willingly go with them anywhere; they re-
spectfully requested they might be turned over in 'a
body, with their officers, to any screw-ship, but that
they had no wish to leave the Powerful. Subsequently
about 80 men volunteered for the screw-blockships
Blenheim and Majestic, under the promise of 24 hours'
leave, and only seven or eight of these were men-of-
war's-men." (The men of the Powerful were the first in
the fleet who volunteered a day's pay to aid the Patriotic
Fund.) Sir Charles Wood, the First Lord, and a board
of Admiralty will arrive at Portsmouth to-day, and a
council of the admirals will be held, at which the final
orders will be issued to the fleet. The only vessels now
in hand at Portsmouth fitting out to join the Baltic fleet
are the Pembroke and Hastings, block-ships, the Retri-
bution and Sampson, paddle-frigates, and the gEalus,
powder and shell magazine. The Sampson was taken
into the steam-basin on Saturday and commenced upon.
The Hastings and Pembroke got up steam again on
Saturday to test their engines. Upwards of 100 tons
of shot for the fleet arrived from Woo:wich on Satur-
day and has been shipped. The Odin will go into har-
bour this morning to repair her defects. Yesterday the
fleet received orders to demand charts for the Baltic this
morning.

Centaur
Falcon .
AI icl