The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-08 00:00:00

MILITIA.

The men of the West Essex Militia who have been on
furlough to assist in the harvest field are returning with
the greatest regularity; up to the present, it is stated,
there has not been a defaulter.

The (87th) South Cork Militia, quartered in Cork
garrison, have given 35 volunteers for the line.

THE FLOATING BATTERIES.

The following extract is from a letter written
home by one of the crew of the screw steam float-
ing-battery Glatton, Captain A. Cumming. It is
dated Vigo, August 31 :--
"After leaving Falmouth in tow of the Horatio, Capt.
the Hon. A. A. Cochrane, C. 8., on the 22d of August,
we touched at Brest, the weather looking anything but
pleasant. Oor captain and officers, as well as ourselves,
were rather disappointed at not finding a French float-
ing battery there. Some of our officers went on shore,
and saw the master-shipwright of Brest dockyard, who
told them the Tounant bad sailed. They observed to
him that it was very strange we could not steer our
batteries, not even when we were towed, when our speed
(under tow) exceeded 5 knots. The master-shipwright's
reply was, Of course not ; the Tennant was quite un-
manageable at first ; but then we fixed two rudders, one
on each quarter, and after that she steered perfectly
well.' Upon this all our officers expressed a wish that we
had the same appliance, and immediately after we left
Brest we commenced inventing rudders. The after
lee-
board was first lashed up and down the after boat's davit
to act as a quarter rudder, but this did not answer very
well. Then we got one of our gun davits, hooked it
into the sternport like a swinging boom to a ship's side,
and this, with some management in fitting it, had a won-
derful effect; in fact, God knows what we should bar. done
without it. We had fine weather across the Bay till the
evening of the 29th inst., when the sea got up a little. Our
patent rudder was not the slightest good at that time and
must know,o ur
firstee
towingwe
evident
n t pointsto all eachtha
that
w way,e sthhoeuiHoratiod
soon
inychou cable.m s t
hadbe
twoo 1
n our owninch
h ahwosoekr,s'
aalthoughlieutenant remained on deck until 10 p.m., and at 2 a.re,
we turned out to the ' cry of 'All hands on deck; the
cables have all parted ! The ship was in a heavy swell,
11:tgh tlit
and our steam was ordered to be got up immediately,
,e
devil
vt i aa
fair breeze, certainly strong enough to take a frigate 10
knots an hour,
the fires being kweep ts
should have
v e We
tee e
rael all t;
bit. We rolled in the trough of the sea till our steam
was UP, the ship going whichever way she liked, and the
Horatio, strange to say, was nowhere to be seen in a
very short time. When our steam was up we managed
to get along pretty fairly. At daylight our welcome
friend the Horatio bore down. I can tell you that after
navigating in a battery our officers as well as ourselves
know how to appreciate a fine steam-frigate, which as a
sea boat the old Horatio has proved herself. We are to
sail to-morrow for wherever we can fetch ; our officers
say Cadiz or Gibraltar. We have heard nothing at
Vigo of the Meteor or any of the French batteries. We
are going to make a new rudder, for it is terrible to be
left adrift and not to be able to steer. Our officers are
nearly worn out ; there is no rest for any of them, .
leak was discovered after leaving Brest; it is near the
shaft, and the water runs in at the rate of about a
bucket a minute, but that is nothing to those who sail
in batteries. If you wish all hands on board the Glatton
a safe arrival somewhere, pray that the new rudder may
succeed."

ROYAL SIIIIII/a ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The ensuing
week promises to be one of surpassing attractions at this
favourite place of summer resort, and if we have a con-
tinuance of the late glorious weather the proprietor
must reap a rich reward for his spirited exertions, ss,
in addition to the grand annual demonstration of the
London Temperance League, to be held on Monday,
two grand Illumination Galas are announced, which are
to rival the glories of Versailles. Palmer, of DrulY•
lane Theatre, has the direction, and from him known al'
B,:tcipeet.
parionee cut tee -.ay be aradeztli