The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The. Racoon, 20, screw corvette, Capt. Count
Gleichen, which arrived at Spithead from Scotland
on Tuesday, has gone into Portsmouth harbour, and
will be placed in dock to repair damage to her keel,
caused by grounding daring her recent northern
cruise. Soon after anchoring at Spithead on Tues-
day the wood and felt covering of her boilers was
found to be burning, but after some trouble the fire
was extinguished. An inquiry will be held on board
relative to the cause of the accident. Such fires are
of frequent occurrence onboard her Majesty's ships,
bat the evil has been partially met by the Admi-
ralty giving a permissive sanction to the use of
Spence's patent cement as a covering for boilers and
steampipes, in lieu of the dangerous felt and wood
covering. To fully meet the question, however, atd
prevent the recurrence of any such fires, the Admi-
ralty should issue a compulsory order on the sub-
ject, and also alter their printed regulations relative
to the covering of new boilers, which specially
direct that all boilers and pipes shall be covered
with felt and wood. The Spence cement is elastic,
non-conducting and non-combustible, and has un-
dergone, with the most perfect success, a very
lengthened test of its efficiency on the boilers and
steampipes of the hydraulic enginenhouse of Ports-
mouth Dockyard, where a 601 b. pressure of steam
is used.

The Pigmy, paddle steamer, Master-Commander
Vine, sailed from Portsmouth ou Tuesday for Vent-
nor, Isle of Wight, with the members of the com-
mittee on board appointed by the War-office and
the Admiralty to inspect and report upon the sys-
tems of day and night signalling for military and
naval purposes which has been lately worked out
by Capt. Frank Bolton, 12th Regiment, and Com-
mander Colomb, Royal Navy.
The Victoria, screw three-decker, fitted as the
future flagship foe the Admiral commanding her
Majesty's fleets in the Mediterranean, yesterday
made her steam reserve trial of speed at the mea-
sured mile in Stokes Bay, near Portsmouth. Six
runs were made over the mile with full boiler power,
and gave the ship a mean speed of 11 800 knots.
Two runs with half boiler power gave her a mean
speed of 9.290 knots. The mean revolutions of the
engines were 58 at full power and 48 at half power.
With full power the half circle was made in 3 min.
20 sec., and completed to the full circle in 6 min. 43
sec. With half power the half circle was made in 4
min., and the full circle in 8 min. 20 sec. As the
Victoria's engines are 1,090,-borse power nominal,
and as the ship drew but 23ft 7in forward and 25ft
9in aft, the speed attained at full power cannot be
considered very great, nor is it probable the Victoria
will, 'when complete for sea with her crew and all
her stores on board, prove such a clipper in point of
speed as was at one time anticipated. Mr Warrener,
from the firm of Mandalay and Field, was on board
during the trial, representing the makers of the
engines. The machinery worked admirably, and is
without a doubt mach too valuable for service in an
obsolete wooden three-decker. In turning at Spit -
head at the conclusion of one of her courses at the
measured mile, the Victoria came in collision with
the Italian bark Camillo, lying at anchor at Spit
head, and bound from Newcastle to Palermo with a
cargo of coals. The Camillo lost her fore and main
topgallant masts and mizen topmast. She was sub-
sequently towed into Portsmouth harbour by a God
vernment steamtug, and her damage will be re-
paired by the dockyard authorities.
The seamen and marines for her Majesty's iron-
clad frigate Achilles, 20, 1,250-horse power, Capt.
E. W. Vansittart, preparing for sea at Chatham,
are berthed on board the receiving ship Gloucester,
50, in Chatham harbour, until the Achilles is ready
to receive them. The detachments of Royal Marine
Artillery have joined from headquarters Ports-

mouth, and those from the Light Infantry companies
have been selected from the Woolwich battalion.
The Achilles is expected to be ready to take her
departure from Chatham in about a fortnight, when
she will proceed direct to Portsmouth,
The screw corvette Cadmus, 21, 400 horse power,
will be out of the shipwrights' hands at Chatham
Dockyard in the course of next week, and will be

ready to be floated out of dock during the approach-
ing spring tides. During the last few days she has
shipped her armament, which consists of 16 of the
cast-iron smooth-bore 8 inch guns, one 110-pounder,
and four 40-pounder naval Armstrongs, together
with the usual quantity of 12-pounder and 9-pounder
Armstrongs for field and boat service. According
to present orders received from the Admiralty, the
Cadmus is to be prepared for the first class steam
reserve, in readiness for immediate commission.
A number of workmen are now employed at
Chatham Dockyard, under the direction of Mr
Rivers, the resident Admiralty civil engineer, in

sinking the necessary foundations for the tramways
along the wharves at the dockyard, where it is pro-
posed to place the portable steam cranes to be used
in loading and unloading the various vessels arriving
at and departing from the establishment. The steam
cranes to be employed in this work are similar to
those which have been for some time in use alongside
the docks in which the ironclads Achilles, Royal
04k, and Bellerophon have been under construction.
The second squadron of the 31 Battalion of the
Military Train arrived at Liverpool yesterday, from
Quebec, in the steamer Jura. The detachment con-
sisted of 4 officers, 2 staff sergeants, 123 non-com-
missioned officers and men, 25 women, and 36 chil-
dren. They remained on board the Jura during the
night, and will leave for Woolwich this morning.
On Tuesday a preliminary inspection took place
of the troops of the 16th Lancers stationed at Col-
chester, preparatory to the annual visit of the In.
specter General of Cavalry, which is expected to
place at the latter end of the present week.
Prince Humbert of Italy yesterday went down
to Woolwich and witnessed the manoeuvres of a
brigade field•day. The proceedings commenced at
11 a.m., and were conducted by Major-Gen. Warde,
C. 8., Commandant. The Prince was attended by
Lieut.• Col. Du Plat, Equerry to the Household, and
was accompanied by the Marquis d'Azeglio, the
Italian ambassador, and two attachés—viz., the
Dacca di Somma and Capt. Cagni ; Gen. Revel,
aide-de-camp to the King; the Marquis Balbi and
Count Maffei, officers of the Etat Major. The
troops were paraded at 10.16 on Woolwieh•common
is two lines, as follows—The first line, consisting
of three batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery, in
command of Col. the Hon. E. T. Gage, Col. Price,
C. 8., and Major Paget, and stationed at full inter-
vals; the Ist battalion sth Fusiliers, in command
of Major Lyons; Royal Marine Light Infantry, in
the centre in two brigades, commanded by Captain
Bunce and Lieut.-Col. Marriott, in quarter distance
columns. The second line consisted of two bat-
teries 2d Division Depot, commanded by Colonel
Smyth, C. 8,, and Col. Middleton, C. 8., and one 40
pounder battery, and all appeared in admirable
condition. The infantry were commanded in chief
by Col. Master, C. 8., sth Fusiliers. Precisely at the
appointed hour, namely, 11 o'clock, a couple of her
Majesty's carriages, drawn by four gray horses
each, entered the garrison, containing the Prince
and suite, which was announced by firing a royal
salute, in command of Capt. Gilmore. His royal
highness was received on the Royal Artillery pa-
rade by the General and Staff, and having mounted
he was escorted to the review ground, where the
whole of the troops presented arms, and the
amalgamated bands of music played the national
air. The Prince, who is only twenty years of
age, was dressed in the uniform of a General of the
Staff. He appeared much interested in the various
field movements, and made frequent remarks to
Gen. Warde, expressing hie admiration of the high
state of discipline which appeared to regulate the
proceedings, especially when the batteries, after
trotting past, changed face and returned at full
gallop without interrupting the regularity and pre.
cision of their lines. During the sham fight the
infantry retired to the rear, and the brunt of the
battle was sustained principally by the field batte•
ries, in which they expended 30 rounds of blank
ammunition per gun, the 40-pounders 15, and the
infantry 15 rounds per man. The Military Train
were in attendance with their ambulance waggons;
but, notwithstanding the slippery condition of the
ground after the heavy rainfall during the past few
days, their services were not called into requisition,
as no accident of any importance occurred through-
out the morning. At 12 o'tlock the whole of the
troops advanced in front, and, having performed a
general salute, they broke off and retired to quar-
ters. The Prince, accompanied by his suite and the
garrison authorities, then proceeded to a hasty in-
spection of the Royal Military Academy, and after.
wards honoured the General and officers of the
Royal Artillery mess at luncheon. General Shaheen
Pasha, Ali Bey, Selina Effendi, and three other
Egyptian officers of distinction, on a short visit to
this country, and who were present, accompanied
by Mr. Larking, wore also invited by Gen. Warde
to join the mess table. They were met on parade
by a guard of honour of 100 men, in command of
Capt. Law, 13th Brigade Royal Artillery, and the
Royal Artillery band, who played a selection of
operatic airs during the repast. At 2 o'clock the
entire party proceeded to the Arsenal, where his
Royal Highness was received by the heads of depart.
ments then og duty—namely, Cept. Fraser, R A.,
Assistant Superintendent of the Laboratory ; Capt.
Magendie,Ca ptain Instructor ; Lt.-Col. S haw, Royal
Carriage Department; Captain Gordon, Military
Stores; and Lieut.-Col. Campbell, Royal Gun Fac-
tories, in full uniform, according to instructions
received from the War Department to that effect.
The inspection of the Royal Arsenal occupied nearly
three hours, after which the Prince and suite re-
turned to London.

Capt. Edward Codd is to have the good-service
pension placed at the disposal of the First Lord of
the Admiralty by the promotion of Capt. Frederick
H. H. Glasse, C. 8., to flag rank.
James C. Spence, engineer student of the Ports-
mouth Dockyard Steam Factory, has been appointed
by the Lords of the Admiralty a student at the
Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine
Engineering at South Kensington.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty : —Capt. J. F. B. Wain wright to
the Terror, vice Capt. Glasse, promoted to be Rear-
Admiral—Capt. Lord Fredk. H. Kerr to the Black
Prince, vice Capt. Wainwright— Charles Edward
Pyne, nominated to a naval cadetship—John Stanley,
in the Pandora, promoted to acting engineer—Geo.
Thomson and Robert H. Cooper, in the Cumberland,
promoted to first-class assist.-engiceers—'William
C. Graham, second-class assist.-engineer, to the
Brisk—Fred. J. Baron, acting second-class assist.-
engineer, to the Cumberland—Reginald J. Meek,
clerk, to the Euryalus—Alfred Smith, clerk, to the
Cambridge—Reginald C. Hodder, assist.-clerk, to
the SA., Vincent—Henry R. Lloyd, assist.-clerk, to
the Achilles—Samuel J. Davis, assist...clerk, to the
Formidable—Henry Dawson, assist.-clerk, to the
Hrwke—and Henry H. Rickard, assist.•clerk, to the
Donegal.

PitoTo-SCULPTURE;The sitter to the photo-
sculptor is placed exactly in the centre of a circular ,
chamber surmounted by a glass dome, posed upon a cir- ,
cular platform marked round its circumference with 24
equal divisions. Around the wall of the chamber are
ranged 24 pho ographio cameras, each pointing to the
sitter, and each corresponding to one of the numbers of the
divisions on the circular platform. These cameras, duly
furnished with photographic plates, are all uncovered at
the same instant, and 24 pictures of the sitter are taken,
representing his contour as seen from each of the positions
occupied by the cameras. The plates being removed from
the cameras, and developed and fixed in the usual manner,
the photographic department of the process is finished, and
the sitter's attendance is no more requirid.—Once a Week.
COUNTERFEIT SOVEREIGNS.—A few counterfeit
sovereigns of a rather dangerous character have
within the last week been detected at the Bank counters.
They are made of gold, but of an inferior quality, being 2
carats 1/ grains worse than standard gold, of which the
genuine sovereigns are made; that is to say, instead of
having 9,167 parts of pure gold in 10,000 they have only
8,138 parts,which makes them only worth about 17s. The
coins are new, but seem to have been purposely soiled to
give them the appearance of having been worn in circula-
tion. They have more of the greenish-yellow colour of
pure gold than the genuine sovereigns, with the exception
of the old George and Dragon pieces. All of them are struck
from one pair of dies. One of these dies, the reverse, is
cracked in two places, and the coins have been touched up
by a hand-tool after striking in the press; and the effect of
the crack, which runs diagonally upwards through the
Scottish quarter of the shield, and through the E of the
" Regina," is in this way, from some of them, partly re-
moved, although sufficient remains for the purpose of de-
tection. In the Irish quarter the harp is almost erased by
this after-manipulation, and the consequent smoothness
and want of definition strike the eye at once. The quality
of the engraving is coarse, and does not appear to be the
work of a person accustomed to engrave coin dies. The
lettering particularly is roughly executed by an unpractised
hand ; yet, after all, the imitation is sufficiently close to
deceive on a casual inspection. The sound, which is dull
and wants the sharp clink of the true sovereign, is ono of
the best means of detection to those accustomed to the ring
of the genuine metal. It is not apprehended that there
are many in circulation, and, indeed, the whole facts point
to operations on a limited scale.
LONG SENTENCE.—Gardiner, the New South
Wales bushranger, has been sentenced, under three several
convictions, and as the sentences are to take effect in sue-
Ma= be is condemned to penal servitude for 32 years.