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

MILITIA.

The men of the West E-sex 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-batiery Giatton, 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. Our captain and officers, as well as ourselves,
were rather disappointed at not finding a French float-
ing battery there. Somot,of our officers went on shore,
and saw the master-shipwright of Brest dockyard, who
told them the Tonnant had 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 51 knots. The master-shipwrighee
reply was, 'Of course not ; the Tonnant 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 redden,. 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 grit 'ode of our gun davits, hooked it
into the sternpost 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 have 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 goo,i at tlat time , and
we yawed about five or six peiuts each way, the Heri,tio
towing. It was very evident to all that we should soon
he 'on our own hook,' although, you must know, we
had two 13. inch hawsers and a2O inch cable. Our 'fir t
enoughWc ill
lieutenant remained on deck until 10 p m.,
and at 2 s
we turned out to the cry of 'All hands deck;onmmaveydi .th•
a ra
sawt ee- l-lyle:
cables have all parted !' The ship was in ahe
ed.take a frigate 10
and our steam was ordered to be got ue. i
kaienpltylisaturoknecgi.
; but the devil a
bit. We rolled in the trough a the
knots an hour, we should have steer thought, with a
ftahier bfirreeesz be: icnegrt
was up, the ship going whichever sea till oar steam.
Horatio, strange to say, via way she liked, and the
very short time. When ou ' , nowhere to be seen in a
r s
to get along pretty fairl team was up we managed
friend the Horatio bore Y.At daylight our welcome
navigating in a battery down. I can tell you that after
our officers as well as ourselves
know how to
sea boat the oldpll appreciate a fine steam frigate, which as a
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. A
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 bands on board the Gigaton
a safe arrival somewhere, pray that the new rudder may
succeed."

ROYAL SURREY 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, as,
in addition to the grand annual demonstration
London Temperance League, to be held on Pepl_2,dg_n
two grand Illumination Galas are announced,af
to rival the glories of Versailles. Palin!F!
lane Theatre, has the direction, end from Li.,7,74.4:4,
exertions, the
wince mat rotate may -1;* pygiF4o,7