The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-23 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

His Royal Highness the Feld Marshal Command-
ing-in. Chief will hold a levee at 1 o'clock on the 4th
January.
It appears that the depot battalion in the camp at
Colchester occupy the following position in the re-
turns of the Inspector General of Musketry :-10th
Battalion, 55 in order of merit (as compared with 91
in 1862- 3) ; 9th Battalion, 102 in order of merit (as
compared with 102 in 1862-3) ; 4th depot battalion.
111 (as compared with 93 in 1862 3). The figure
of merit of the 10:h depot battalion this year is
4293; its strength, exclusive of recruits, was 566,
and it had 33 first class shots, and 13 second class,
while there were 88 in the first class in judging dis•
tancEs. The three best judges of distances among
the officers of the battalion were Capt. Evans, of the
38th, Major Radcliffe, of the 88th, and Capt. Rays•
mond, of the 44th. The figure of merit of the 9th
depot battalion is 39.95; its strength, exclusive of
recruits, was 572 ; it had 39 first class shots, and 13
second class shots, while there were 84 in the first
class in judging distances. The three best judges of
distances among the officers of the battalion were
Capt. Conran, of the 58th, Lieut. Bowers, of the 6th,
and Ensign Walmeley, of the 56th. The figure of
merit of the 4th depot battalion is 39.28 ; its strength,
exclusive of recruits, was 431 ; it had 29 first class
shots, and 9 second class shots, while there were 73
in the first class in judging distances. The three
best judges of distances among the officers were
Capt. Brandt, of the 103 d, Capt. Skinner, of the 82d,
and Capt. Milligan, of the 73d.

In accordance with the annual custom the non-
commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marine
Light Infantry now doing duty at head-quarters,
Chatham, who may be desirous of spending the
Christmas holidays with their friends, will be
granted several days' leave of absence for that pur-
pose. This privilege is only accorded to men of good
character, who have shown themselves worthy of
the indulgence. The men to whom leave of absence
is granted will leave headquarters to-day and to-
morrow.

The Duke of Somerset, K.G., First Lord of the
Admiralty, and Vice-Admiral tee Hon. Sir Fredes
rick Wm. Grey, K.C.8., the first Sea Lord, arrived
yesterday afternoon from Stover-house, by South
Devon Railway, at Plymouth, where they were re-
ceived by Port Admiral Sir Charles H. Fremantle,
K.C.8., and suite. fhe visit is supposed to be in
connection with the completion of the iron-cased
ship Caledonia for the reception of an Admiral's
flag, the alterations now in progress on board the
Prince Consort, and those on board other ships at
Devonport.
The Helicon, paddlewheel despatch screw gun
vessel, of 835 tons, and 250 horse power engines, is
ord,red to be launched horn No. 1 building slip at
Portsmouth on Tuesday, the 31st of Janus ry, 1865.
Tne Helicon was originally laid down on the slip-
way on which she is now approaching completiol.
from the same drawings from which the Psyche
and Enchantress were built, the former now doing
duty as a despatch vessel in the Mediterranean,
and the latter as yacht to the Lords of the Admi-
ralty. In their proportionate power of engines to
tonnbge, however, neither the Psyche nor the En-
chantress realised the rate of speed under steam
which had been expected of them, a great portion of
the power of their engines being apparently spent
in overcoming the resistance made to their rapid pro-
gress through the water by the wave raised in front
of their bows by their hollow lines forward and their
disposition to press their cntwaters downwards into
the sea when feeling the full power of their engines.
Mr Reed, the present chief contractor of the navy,
soon after his appointment, undertook to remedy
these serious defects in the lines of construction of
the Helicon, which had already been proved to have
such a pernicious influence upon the speed and sea-
worthiness of her two sister vessels, and certainly
he appears to have effected great and important
improvements in her construction. When he first
undertook the task the Helicon was getting well on
with her outer planking, and possessed the same
hollow lines forward as her predecessors. Mr Reed
had her taken down from for ward to abaft her mid-
ship section, and built her up afresh. according to
his own designs. In her previous form the Helicon
would have been fitted with the old fashioned style
of head-knee, figurehead, rail, and other overhang.
ing gear beyond the water-borne line of the vessel's
null. In the new form given her by Mr Reed she
is without these useless projections, while her stem
head falls inboard considerably, giving her stein the
swan breast shape ; the U form of her section amid-
ships is carried well forward by the improvement of
her looks below the water line, hollow bows are
superseded, and she gives promise of greatly in-
creased seaworthiness and speed over her sister ves-
sels. The Helicon is but a small vessel, but there

is every possibility of her future career increasing
Mr Reed's reputation as a naval archittct.
In con& quence of some leaks having been dis-
covered in the ironclad frigate Achilles, 20, 1,250
horse power, Capt. Vansittart, one of the officiais
from Chatham dockyard, under whose superintend-
ence she was built, is ordered to proceed to Ports-
mouth for the purpose of discovering and making
good the defsot.

The examination by the Civil Service Commis.
sioners of the candidates from Pembrzke Dock tor
admission as apprentices at Caatham has just been
completed. Only eigat candidates presented them-
selves, which is the smallest number on record, and
all were successful.

The following appointments have teen made at

the Admiralty :—tient. C. Jenkins, to the Asia;
Lieut. William St. Ives, to the Cumberland—Lieut.
Henry Berkeley, to the Blenheim—Cornelius Fox,
master, to the Indus, for the Zealous—Robert W.
Foster, midshipman, to the Black Prince—and
Alexander M GrEeme, midshipman, to the Aurora
—Commander W, Joiliffe to the Devastation, vice
Commander Pike, invalided—Sub-Lieut. Oswald
P. Tudor, Sub.. Lieut. Cecil M. Turner, Sub-Lieut.
Robert C. Jolliffe, Sub-Lieut. David M. Smith,
Sub-Lieut. Charles A. Tucker, and Sub-Lient.
Frederick N. C. Hall, to the Euryalus —Sub-Lieut.
W. G. Lecoq to the Victoria—Sub-Lieut. Charles
F. Cox to the Datence—Sub-Lieut. James B. Haye
to the Research—Henry C. Tremayne and W. H.
Wyllys, masters' assistants, to the Cadmus—T.
Pilwell, master's assistant, to the Dee—John E.
Petley and Cecil B. Franks, masters' assistants, to
the Highflyer—E. Armstrong, J. S. Ramsay, J.
Maclaurin, and Henry A. T. Cummins, assist. clerks
(additional), to the Fisgard—F. C. Good, assist.
clerk, to the IrrEsistible—G. F. 'Darter, assist. clerk,
to the Frederick William—Arthur A. Pearson,
assist. clerk, to the Pembroke—and W. H. Why.
ham, assist. clerk, to the Excellent.
The undermentioned gentlemen have been nomi.
nated to naval cadetships :—James Gairdner, Robt.
M. Johnstone, Alfred A. Ashington, William T.
Bourke, Cadrington Fraser Crawahay, and Percy
Hockin.

GOVERNMENT EMIGRATION.—The Go7ernment
emigrant ship Adamant, 815 tons, Capt. Lodwick,
belonging to Messrs Lachlan, Macleod, and Co., London,
which sailed from Plymouth on the 16th July last, arrived
at Adelaide, South Australia, on the 19th October, with 368
emigrants, comprising 82 married people, 121 single men, 99
single women, 29 boys and 26 girls between one and twelve
years of age, and 11 infante, under the care of Mr W.
Gordon Gun, surgeon-superintendent, assisted by Mies
Mary Hooper, matron, and Mr John Cruett, schoolmaster.
Two births took place on the voyage. No deaths took
place. The Emigration Commissioners chartered yester-
day the Trebolgan, 1,171 tons, Mr George Borlack, master,
belonging to Mr George H. Wakefield, Liverpool, to convey
emigrants to Sydney, New South Wales, at £l2 18s 9d per
statute aeult. The ship is to sail from Birkenhead about
the 17th of February.

LOST AMONG THE HILLS —A correspondent
writing from tergarff, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, sends us
the following particulars of the remarkable prPservatiou
from death of a woman afrer three days' and three nights'
wandering among the snow Isabella Burton or Camp-
bell, a vagrant, 73 years of age, a native of Manchester,
left the farmhouse of Inchmore about 2 o'clock on Wednes_
day afternoon, the 14th instant, to proceed to Laggnould,
three miles distant. It appears that she had sat down by the
way and fallen asleep, and it being dark when she awoke
she lost her track and wandered among the hills (on which
was a considerable depth of snow) for 72 hours, when she
was found lying at the side of the river Don, half a mile
from its source, greatly exhausted. She was carried back
to Inchmore by the persons who had turned out in search
of her, and every attention was paid to her, She is rapidly
recoTering."—Scoesm