The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-08 00:00:00

4. L,

ming, having comp eted the fitting of her four-
bladed screw in the large double dock at Portsmouth,
was undocked yesterday morning, and steamed out
of harbour to Spithead, where she anchored to be
ready for her experimental trial, which is appointed
to take place to-day.

The Enchantress, Admiralty new paddle yacht,
Master• Corn. Petley, is completing the painting of
her hull and spars in the old fitting basin at Ports-
mouth. The general outline of her hull and the

tautness of her three masts with their appropriate
rig will give the vessel when fully completed a very
handsome appearance.

The Megm;a, screw iron troopship, Coro. Madden,
has been taken intodock at Portsmouth to carry out
some slight repairs connected with her machinery
below the water-line. This vessel has been but a
very short time out of dock ; but her bottom, which
has been coated on opposite sides with rival com-
positions, exhibits considerable corrosion where she
has run over her chain when at anchor, or where the
compositions have been disturbed from other causes.
There is also a considerable amount of barnacle
deposit on one side.

The Powerful, target-ship, has been brought
down Portsmouth harbour, and it is probable will
be used again for testing armour-plates previous
to being superseded by the Thunderer, sailing line-
of-battle ship, a vessel laid down on the lines of the
French ship Canopus, at Woolwich in 1831. Among
the lot of plates received for the next trial are three
bearing the mark X y.z. Two of these are 41
inchesfeet6 inchesinthick niensewainddtha.bout
They are made up of
sfeet in length, and
3
seven layers of bars laid longitudinally, six thick-
nesses in each layer, and have apparently been
heated just sufficiently to bind the whole together
under the hammer, and afterwards finished off be-
tween the rolls. Care has apparently been taken
not to heat them beyond a certain point, if a correct
j Idgment may be formed upon the matter from the
general imperfectness of the welding. The third
plate is 51 inches in thickness, and has apparentl3
been made from blooms under the hammer, and
probably also finished by the rolls. Messrs. *Wal-
ton and Sons, of London, have also sent some blooms
of iron down to the dockyard to make an armour-
plate from for experimental purposes. This iron is
said to be so good that the plate manufactured from
it will excel in quality the celebrated French plates
recently tried at Portsmouth, and the hest of all the
E iglish plates ever tried there, while its cost to the
Givernment will be considerably under the price
now being paid to private contractors. The source
whence the iron has been procured is not known
for a certainty, but report credits it as having been
obtained from some hitherto almost unknown spot
on the borders of one of the German forests. A
piece of the iron has been worked up under the
hammer in the smithery of the dockyard with un-
usually good results.

On the second trial of the Royal Italian despatch
vessel Esploratore, built by Messrs. Wigram, and
fitted with engines of 350-horse power by Messrs.
John Penn and Son, which took place on Wednes-
day,t
It
the speed was greater than on the former
occasion. was
17.26 knots, a gain of rather more
With less than half the
than a quarter of a knot, or 20 statute miles per
hoar. The
horesne engines to seven times their
m
pi noews
horse-power.
worked
power of the Holyhead boats the Esploratore at-
tained a greater speed.
The following appointments have been made
at the Admiralty :—Capt. P. H. Mason to the Tra-
falgar, vice the Hon. T. Baillie, superseded at his
own request ; Commander John C. Soady, to the
Warrior; Richard B. Croft, midshipman, to the
Warrior; A. B. Boxer, nominated to a naval cadet-
ship; John Ward (a), surgeon, to the Active; Ed-
ward J. Bennett, paymaster, to the Active; and
Wm. Clay, clerk, to the Wellesley,

searchingarin
THE ARMY.
Yesterday Major-Gen. A.wßh.oBhtaradnsbheaemn
'ocicauspPieecel
inspection of
es Light Infantry,
spent
hop
forre naGcet
hvesneaa.rtmaholeaf
mday Royalsconsiderable
p divisionastion t. Marines,taimm e i
ii t
,ne gun-shed bat-
tery in the inspection of the non commissioned offi-
cers and man at gun drill with the heavy naval
110-pounder and 40-pounder Armstrongs, and the
68-pounder smooth bore guns. At its conclusion
he expressed himself well satisfied at the efficient
manner in which the drill had been gone through.
A
inspection of the Chatham
division
were
Ble official
of the
officers and men of the
battalion
assembled in the barrack-square,
htthee
were addressed by the Major .Gen., who
where
er
t close
theey of b;
expressed his thorough satisfaction at the result of
his official inspection.
The officers of the Chatham division of Royal
Maim Light Infantry gave a grand soiree Ind