The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-23 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Warrior, iron frigate, Capt. the Hon. A, A,
Cochrane, C. 8., was yesterday paid out of commis.
sion at Portsmouth, under the superintendence of
Rear-Admiral S. C. Dsores, C. 8., the flag officer in
command of the Channel squadron. The arrange-
ments were most admirable, and the whole procees
of paying the ship's company occupied but one hour
and ten minutes. William Percival, chief captain
of the forecastle, received the medal awarded by the
Admiralty for good service with a gratuity of £l5.
Robert Bone, coxswain of the launch, received
the good service medal and a gratuity of £7,
and was awarded a pension of £24 per annum on
the completion of full sea time. John Tozer, guars
termaster, was also awarded a pension of £24 per
annum on his completion of full sea time. It is a
credit to the paymaster's department of the Warrior
that her pay-books were returned from the Admi-
ralty with only an error of 25., the accounts ex-
tending over the whole period of the ship's commis-
sion, and including the accounts of discharged men,
stoppages, &c. During the term of the ship's com-
mission, something like the average number of
accidents have occurred on board. One seamen fell
from the maintop and broke both his thighs ; an•
other was knocked down in coaling ship and broke
his leg and collar bone, and another fell from the
topgallant yard, All these men have been thrown,
by these accidents in the service of their country,
from vigorous manhood into crippled helplessness
for all their future life; but their country provides
no adequate remedy for such a change, and the poor
fellows have only a prospect of ending their days in
dependence upon the charities of their fellowmen,
a burden to themselves and to all around them.
With true generosity which, however, can only meet
present necessities, the crew of the Warrior yester-
day, on receiving their pay, deposited each a trifle
for their three unfortunate shipmates, and in this
way the sum of £5O 63. lid. was unostentatiously
subscribed. With regard to the condition of the
ship and her engines, so far as relates to their care
and charge by the ship's officers, the dockyard
officials report that no ship that has yet been handed
over to them by her officers on being put out of
commission has yet reached the perfection in cleanli-
ness and general condition of the Warrior in her
hull internally and in her engines. The progress of
the dockyard officials in their inspection of the ship
led them into some of the secluded cellular com-
partments below, which had never been previously
seen thoroughly since they were riveted in their
present form. This not only gave the officials an
opportunity of observing the ship's cleanliness in
these out-of-the-way nooks, as well as in the more
frequented parts below, but it also gave them an op-
portunity of fully inspecting the ship in her weakest
parts, and the result was entirely favourable.

The Victoria, wooden three.decker, 121 guns,
Capt. James J. Goodenough, made her official trial
of speed at the measured mile in Stokes Bay, near
Portsmouth, on Monday. Her draught of water was
24ft 7in forward, and 27ft 10in aft. With four runs
at the mile, with full boiler-power, she averaged a
speed of 12.271 knots, and with two runs at half-
boiler power she averaged a speed of 9 688 knots.
This rate of speed is no great accomplishment, con-
sidering that the ship is driven by engines of 1,000
horse-power nominal on the most approved and
modern patterns, from the eminent firm of Maudslay
and Field. The crew of the ship is on the Mends
lay-Griffiths principle, with a pitch of 20ft and a
diameter of 26ft Bin. The machinery and boilers
gave the greatest satisfaction. The Victoria was
inspected yesterday morning by Admiral Sir M. Sey-
mour, G,C.8., and is expected to sail from Spithead
at daylight this morning for the Mediterranean, to
enter upon her duties as fligship on that station.
The Geyser, 6, paddle, Commander Thrupp, sailed
from Portsmouth last evening for Plymouth and
Queenstown, with men from her Majesty's ships
Warrior and Himalaya. The crew of the latter ship
ate being granted one month's leave, in watches.
Two months will be required to complete the ship's
company's leave, and it may therefore be presumed,
three months to complete the ship's repair.

The large iron floating fire engine kept moored
in Chatham harbour, in readiness for use on the ocs
currence of fires either at the dockyard or in the
town, has been towed down to ore of the vacant
slips near the boathouse at the dockyard, for
the purpose of having the bottom cleaned and ex-
amined. On being hauled up on the slip the condi-
tion of the bottom of the vessel affortled another
proof of the worthlessness of all the so-called" anti-
fouling " compositions hitherto in use in the Royal
Navy for preserving the iron plating, and at the
same time preventing animal and vegetable accu-
mulations on the bottoms of iron vessels. Perhaps
in no other river or harbour in this country do the
bottoms of iron ships foul so rapidly as in Chatham
harbour, and consequently every precaution is taken
by the officials for the preservation of the hulls of
iron ships by means of the best anti-fouling mix-
tures which science hasyet discovered. Only a few
months ago the submarine portion of the plates of
the floating fire-engine was carefully paid over with
the most approved of the many mixtures hitherto
brought under the notice of the Admiralty—bat,
so far from the composition having the desired
effect, the bottom, when examined, was found com-
pletely covered with a field of grass and seaweed,
the latter from a few inches to upwards of a foot in
length, while there was an unusually large accu-
mulation of barnacles and other mollusca, the
greater portion of the composition being eaten
away, leaving the iron plates completely exposed.
A number of workmen have been busily employed
in scraping and cleaning the bottom preparatory
to a coating of the new mercurial anti-fouling com-
position, the invention of Mr Gisborne, being ap-
plied to the bottom, the Admiralty officials having
directed this new mixture to be used in consequence
of the highly favourable results which have followed
its adoption in all those iron vessels to the bottoms
of which it has been applied.

The screw corvette Cadmus, 21, 400-horse power,
fitting for the first division of the Chatham steam
reserve, hes been supplied with new tubes to her
boilers, and will be out of the hands of the en•
gineer department this week.
The screw; steam frigate Liverpool, 39, Captain
Rowley Lambert, arrived in Plymouth Sound yes-
terday morning. She left_Rio Grande on the 10th
of October, arrived at Havannah on the 24th, and
sailed therefrom on the 27th. She experienced a
succession of westerly gales during the passage
home; her head is carried away, and part of the
cutwater. She spoke on the 20th Nov. the ship
Agamemnon, 103 days from Calcutta for London.
The Liverpool left behind 150 men who volunteered
for general service on the station. She was relieved
by the screw steam frigate Phaeton 39, Capt. G. Le
G. Bowyear. Although this frigate was only placed
in commission in April last year, she is in a gene-
rally defective condition, and leaks from all her
seams; The caulking is in an unsatisfactory state.
She makes 34 inches of water in 24 hours, and no
part appears free from leakage. She was under
orders yesterday to discharge her powder and pro-
ceed into Hamoaze to be inspected and overhauled.
A special report is to be sent to the Lords of the
Admiralty. Oa the contents of that report will
depend whether she is to be repaired or put at once
out of commission.

The ships of war on the Australian station at the
date of the last advices were the Harrier, 17, Act•
ing Commander Swan, at Sydney (ordered home) ;
the Miranda, 14, Capt. Jenkins, at New Zealand ;
the Eclipse, 4, Commander Freemantle, at New
Zealand ; the Caragoa, 23, Commodore Sir W.
Wiseman; at Sydney ; the Esk, 21, Acting Captain