The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-05 00:00:00

Naval and '.tlilitary Intelligence.

THE NAVY.
Yesterday morning the first of the third iron keel
plates for the iron frigate Bellerophon, building at
Chatham, was successfully bent in the factory ad-

joining the dock in which the new vessel is to be
constructed. The operation of bending the plates

was carried out under the direction of Mr. Moore,
the acting master shipwright, under whose super-
tendence the moulds for every part of the Bellero-
phon are now being prepared. On the occasion of
Mr. Reed's visit to Chatham dockyard he went

through the factory and inspected the new machi-
nery and other appliances recently erected for pre.
paring the Beherophon's iron plates, with which he
expressed himself well satisfied. The hydraulic
press employed for the first time yesterday is similar
to that used for bending the whole of the plates for
_ . .

the iron frigate Achilles, and was constructed in the
dockyard. The iron plates operated upon yesterday
were found to be of the best quality, and were se-

lected from a large supply recently received at

Chatham from Consitt ironworks.
Mr. 0. W. Lang, the late master-shipwright at
Chatham, h:la been presented by the Lords of the
Admiralty with a gratuity of £5O for having suc-
cessfully launched the iron frigate Achilles, 35, 1,079
tons, 1,250 horse power, at that dockyard, Mr. Lang
having superintended the construction of that ves-
sel, which is the first iron ship built at any of the
Royal dockyards.
Commodore Hugh Dunlop, C. 8,, Superinten-
dent of Woolwich dockyard, accompanied by Staff-
Commander Luke, commanding the Steam Re-

serve, and the newly-appointed Naval Secretary
of the yard, Mr. Ponsonby, yesterday inspected
her Majesty's ship Mutine, Captain Graham, to be
paid out of commission this morning. After going
through some portion of the storehouses in the yard
he proceeded to an inspection of Mr. Reed's experi-
mental ship Pallas, rapidly advancing in her frame
works, the whole of which are put together on the
floor of the building shed, and are canted up to
their places, in order to insure a greater amount of
strength and durability after the principle on which
the Roy al Albert and Agamemnon were constructed.
The screw gunvessel Ranger, in basin at Wool-
wich, is fast advancing towards the completion of
her fitment for the coast of Africa, and will be ready
for a commander's commission about the end of the
present month.
The Vivid, steam tender to the Fisgard flagship
at Woolwich, is under orders to go down the river
this morning, to renew and continue the testing of
Rear-Admiral Bullock's new 1-g.

A large quantity of shot, segment and common
shells, trenching tools, &a., are in course of prepa-
ration at Woolwich for New Zealand and India,
and war stores of various descriptions are awaiting
tannage for Gibraltar, Malta, Madras, the Cape of
Good Hope, Hongkong, Trincomalee, Melbourne,
the Colonial Government of Victoria, St. Vincent,
Halifax, Nova Scotia ; St. John's, New Brunswick ;
and many other stations on the Mediterranean, the
Pacific, and Atlantic coasts,
The screw steam sloop Cordelia, 11, made another
trial trip of her engines and machinery outside Ply-
mouth breakwater on Saturday, and returned in
the evening to Hamoaze.
The lighter Hamoaze, J. Hatton master, left
Plymouth o❑ Saturday with stores for the training
ship Britannia, 8, Capt. R. A. Powell, C. 8., at
Dartmouth.
The lighter Devon, T. Jennings, master, left Ply-
mouth on Saturday with stores for Pembroke dock-
yard.
The screw steamship Prince Consort, 35, in Ha-
mcaize, is waiting the reception of the pennant, for
which she is completely prepared.
Her Majesty's paddle• wheel steam-sloop Hecate,
6, Capt, Henry Richards, from the Pacific station,
arrived in Plymouth Sound on Sunday night. She
left Esquimault, Vancouver's Island, Dec. 22, 1862 ;
San Francisco, Jan. 15, 1863 ; the West Coast of
Mexico, Feb. 19 ; the Sandwich Islands, April 21 ;
Sydney, New South Wales, July 27 ; Batavia, Sept.
30 ; the Cape of Good Hope, Nov. 21; Ascension,
Dec. 7 ; and Madeira, DEC. 27. She brings neither
passengers, specie, nor stores. Capt. Richards, the
newly-appointed hydrcgrapher, and most of the
officers belonging to this ship have been absent from
England nearly seven years, having left in 1857 in
the Plumper, which was commissioned expressly to
determine the boundary line between the United
States and British North America. The Hecate spoke
Oct. 1, in the straits of Sunda, the Ncrthileet, from
Canton for London ; Oct. 11, let. 52 S., long. 87 10
E., the ship Candia, from England, with troops, for
Calcutta; Nov. 8, let. 35 S., long. 22 E., the ship
Seville, 56 days from Calcutta, with coolies, for
Demerara, and the English ship Defiance, outward
bound. The Hecate arrived at Madeira Dec. 25, and
left on the 27th. The Conqueror, with a battalion
of Marines, touched at the island on the 26th, and
sailed the same day for Japan. The sloop left at
Madeira the Edgar, Warrior, Defence, Bleck Prince,
and Wasp. The Hecate was appointed to leave Ply-
mouth yesterday evening for the eastward, and will
probably be paid off at Woolwich.
The War Department screw steamship Lord Pan-
mure, T. Moore master, from Woolwich, arrived
yesterday at Plymouth, and proceeded at once to the
gun-wharf to discharge.
The paddlewheel steam frigate Gladiator, fitted
for the first division of the steam reserve in Hamoaze,
was removed yesterday from the basin in Keyhama
yard, and placed at her moorings in the stream.