The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-19 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Secretary of State for War has decided that
the mess allowance of all officers of the Royal Ar-
tillery stationed with their batteries at Shoobury-
Less is to be contributed to the mess establishment
of the School of Gunnery, and will only be ad-
aoitted in the accounts of that establishment. The
Secretary of State for War has desired it to be noti-
fied to the regiment that the appointments of or-
derly-room clerks to brigades are in futuro to be
regulated in the same manner, as regards pay, as in
regiments of the line, and that they are entitled
to the pay of sergeant from the date of their ap-
pointments being confirmed with an increase of 6J.
a day after three years' continuous service in that
capacity.
A company of the Royal Artillery, under the
command of Lieut. Denny, which had arrived in
England from the Mediterranean in her Majesty's
ship Marlborough, 121, Capt. Fellowes, arrived in
Sheerness oa Tuesday' last, and joined the Ist
D..pot Brigade stationed in the garrison.
Lieut.. Col. G‘Jorge Henry Vesey arrived at
Sheerness on 'Thursday and commenced his duties
as Lieut.-Col. commanding the Ist Depot Brigade
Royal Artillery, stationed at Sheerness, vice Col. R.
Talbot, who has beon removed to tho Cape of Good
Hope to take command of the batteries of Royal
Artillery on that station. Ho was entertained last
evenipg at dinner by the officers of the garrison.
A general parade of the Bth Depot Battalion took
place on Monday last at Pembroke Dock, to witness
the carrying out of a sentence awarded by a district
court martial on Private Ball, of the 15th Regi-
ment, for " disgraceful conduct." The sentence was
two years' imprisonment, to be marked with the
letters "B. C." (bad character), and to be dis-
charged from her Majesty's service in disgrace. The
prisoner had been 19 years in the service, but had
always borne a bad character.

Major. Gen. Warde, C. 8., R.A., commanding at
Woolwich, and the officers of the Royal Artillery,
yesterday gave a banquet to Gen. Todleben. Ho was
accompanied by his Aide-deeCamp. There were
also present Col. Novitsky, military secretary at the
Russian Embassy in London—Admiral Boutakeff,
lately commanding the Vladimir—Gen. Sir John
Burgoyne, Sir Harry Jones, Col. Gordon, Col. Chap-
man, Adjut.-Gen. Royal Engineers—Gen. Sand-
lam, Lieut.-Governor Royal Military Academy—
Commodore Danlop,C.B., &c.
The acre e 7 steam corvette Jason, 21, Capt. Edwd.
E. P. Von Donop, which arrived at Plymouth on
Thursday, left Bermuda on Oct. 17 and Halifax on
Oct. 29. She brings home from Halifax Capt. Hare
vey and the crew of the gunboat Steady and three
naval invalids. Early in November strong gales
from N.N.W. were encountered, during which she
lost her starboard clatter. Oa the 11th there was a
gale from the south-west, which veered round to
N.W. As the fever at Bermuda is rapidly abating
the Admiral is expected to leave Halifax for that
island Nov. 20. The Jason left at Halifax the Dun-
can, Galatea, Medea, Steady, Cygnet, and Virago.
They Cygnet had her steam up ready to proceed to
Bermuda. The Jason was put in commission Nov.
15, 1860, She exchanged colours Nov. 2, lat 45 12
N, long 51 2 W, with a Bremen steamer; and spoke
Nov. 8, in lat 45 11 N, long 25 37 W, the English
ship Talisman, homeward bound.
The iron screw steam sloop Sharpshooter, 6, Lieut.
Commander Henry A. Clavering, which had been
in dock at Davonport, where her bow rudder was
fixed to the stern, as it did not answer, left Plya
mouth on Wednesday evening for the south east
coast of America. She encountered heavy weather,
and on Thursday morning returned to the Sound,
having sprung a leak, which will probably involve
the necessity of her going again' into dock.
The officers and crew of her Majesty's steam gun
vessel Cygnet, 80-horse power, Commander Walter
S. de Kantzow, having completed their commission
on the West Indian station, arrived at Sheerness in
the Barracouta, 6, paddleewheel sloop, Commander
J. D'Arcy, and were paid off on Wednesday last by
Captain Charles Wise, Aide-de-C imp to the Queen,
nod Captain-Superintendent of the Dockyard,
Sheerness. The Cygnet has been re commissioned
at Bermuda by Commander Kant zw.
Tho Barracouta, 6, paddle .wheel sloop, 1,053 tons,
310-horse power, Commander J. D'Arcy, which ar-
rived at Sheerness a few days since to he paid off,
has been taken into the large basin in the dockyard,
and is returning stores. The BarAcouta was in-
spected by Capt J. Fulford, of the flagship Formid-
able, 26, and not by Vice-Admira Sir Chas. Talbot,
K..C.8., Commander-in. Chief, as reported in The
Sun of Saturday last. She will be paid out of com-
mission on Wednesday next, the 231 inst.

The Dutch man-of-war screwsteam frigate Adolph
lisrtog von Nassau, 50 guns, 450-horse power, Capt.
0. A. Himberg, having had the damage sustained
by collision with a Danish merchant ship while on
her passage from the Tezel to Bavaria made good
by the artisans at her Msjesty's dockyard, Sheerness,
has bzen removed to moorings in the harbour, and
will sail for her destination this day.
The experiments for teeing the relative merits
of the two ships' fire engines and bilgeapumps, the
commencement of which was reported in The Sun
of yesterday, were resumed and brought to a close
yesterday on board the Hecate, at Woolwich. The
D iwn ton pump has been considerably improved by
Messrs Stone and Co., of Deptford, the mann-
facturera, during the past few years, and, as in
all former contests, it obtained a remarkable
and easy victory over its opponent, the Wilson's
pump. The
~800 gallon tank was yesterday
emptied by the Downton pump, with 488 revolu-
tions, in 8 min. 41 sec., while the Wilson pump
occupied 12min. 303ec., and made 512 revolutions;
the former, notwithstanding its being much smaller
than the latter, accomplished the work in ebiut 30
per cent. less time. This was pronounced by Messrs
Morton and Wilson to be so decisive that they de-
clined to compete further. Each of the pumps was
worked by a body of eight men, in relays of four at
a time, and during the action of filling the tank the
superiority of the old pump was &early visible by
the comparative eaee with which it was driven. In
the item of colt it was stated taat the new machine
was douOle the price of the Downton, and was des-
titute of many of its advantages, such as its capabi-
lity of drawing water from the bilge and passing it
down the sea suction, and discharging it under, ins
stead of above the water line, thereby avoiding the
foul smell and the wetting of the decks, &c.
Captain Blakely's 61 inch experimental cast iron
gun, rifled on the French principle, with three deep
grooves, and which was intended to be fired to de-
struction, broke up at the 6th round on Tnnrsday
afternoon, on its trial at the Woolwich butt. It
was fired with an increasing charge, commencing
with two rounds of 61b 93z of powder, two rounds
of 101b,:and two rounds of 13'lb, the projectiles
used at each round weighing 651 b, and having zinc
studs, as similarly used in the French service.
Msj Freeth superintended the experiments, and
Mr Campbell, director of the Blakely Ordnance
Company, attended in their behalf. The experiment
was resorted to for the purpose of demonstrating
the fallibility of cast iron for the purpose of manu-
facturing heavy ordnance in comparison with ham-
mered cast steel, with which the whole of the
Blakely guns aro at present made, and for which
the company have recently concluded a contract
with the Russian Government for £060,000.
The officers of theßoyal Marine division at Wool-
wich gave a farewell dinner on Thursday evening to
theirllate commandant, Colonel Hopkins, C,13
Qaeen, who now retires On
Aide-de-Caw to the
promotion. The toast of the evening was pro-
posed by the President, Colonel J. Oates Travers,
C. 8., Commandant in succession, acting in the
place of Colonel Gallway Byng Payne, who is
absent on a continental tour. The toast was re-
sponded to in a manner which clearly denoted the
high feeling of regard which existed among the
officers for their late Commandant.

The following appointments and promotions
have been made at the Admiralty :—Lieut. John
M'N. Boyd to the Meeanee—James Harry of the
Industry, John C. Covey, of the Fox, and Edward
B. D'Arcy, promoted to be masters—Charles Fitz-
gerald P. Turner, nominated to a naval cadetship—
Cecil B. Palmer, midshipman, to the Edgar—
George S. Godhard, aesistopaymaster, additional,

to the Victoria—William F. A. Greet,seeend muter,
io the Bescawen—Richard Golden, acting second
master, to the Dee—Alfred R. Scott, m cr's ass
sistant, to the Aurora—Charles K. Young,
master's assistant, to the Enterprise—W. A. M.
Vivyan, assistant engineer, to the us—and W.
I'. Coop, assistant-engineer, to the Cumberland.

TEE WAR IN JAPAN.
AD:nit:ILLY, Nov. 16.

Despatches, of which the following are copies, have this
day lnen received frotn Vice-Admiral Sir A. Kuper, K.C.8.,
the Commander-in-Chief of her Majesty's ships and vessels
on the China station :

OPERATIONS IN THE STRAITS OF SIMONO SEKI.
Euryalta, Straits of Simono Seki, Sept. 15.

Sir—l aecraiuted the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty, briefly, in my letter of the 10th instant, No. 342, with
the successful result of the operations of the allied squad-
rons in the S raits of Simon° Seki : and I have now the
honour of reporting in detail, for their lordships' informa-
tion, the progress of events subicquently to the 29th ult,,
the day of our departure from Yokohama.
2. The Perseus having joined my flag in the entrance to
the Boungo Channel, with a largo collier in tow from
Shanghae, and the Coquette arriving at the rendemious on
the 4th from Nagasaki, the forco by which the operations
were conducted consisted of the undermentioned ships,