The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-07 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY. •
The Duke of Somerset, as First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, will hold levees on Thursday the 12th,
19th, and 26th inst., at half-past 2 o'clock, at the
Admiralty, Whitehall.
The crew of the screw steamship London, 86,
Capt. Henry Chads, were paid off on Thursday,
alongside the dockyard, Devonport, by Admiral
Superintendent T. C. M. Symonds. The comple-
ment of the London is 850, a large number are
bounty men, and many were at first what is termed
" green." Under skilful management they soon
obtained such a state of efficiency as to elicit the
approbation of Admiral Sir W. F. Martin, com-
manding in the Mediterranean. This good cha-
racter was confirmed on the 24th of January by
Port-Admiral Sir Houston Stewart when he in-
spected the ship in Plymouth Sound. On receiving
his report we believe the Lords of the Admiralty
expressed their approbation in writing. Since then
the men have had liberty on all usual occasions,
and have returned soberly to their ship. About 300
are continuous service men, who will join the har-
bour flagship at the end of six weeks. When the
London was returning home from the Mediterranean
she experienced very severe weather, and lost some
light spars. On arrival it was reported that she
had carried away two of her topmasts. This was
an error, as she brings back perfect the three top-
masts which were shipped when she was commis-
sioned in May, 1859.
The screw frigate Leander, 51, 2,760 tons, 400-
horse power, having completed fitting for the first
division of the Chatham steam reserve in the Med-
way, was taken to the Maplin Sands on Wednes-
day for the trial of her engines at the measured
mile. The Leander was under the superintendence
of Captain r. P. Thompson, commanding the steam
reserve, and there were also present on board Mr.
Rumble, inspector of machinery afloat ; Mr. Blax-
land, chief engineer ; and Mr. Martin, assistant-
master shipwright. The engines, since the altera-
tions, were found to work very satisfactorily, and
the trial was very successful. The Leander returned
to her moorings in tt.e evening.
Her Majesty's paddlewheel despatch vessel Cara-
doe, Lieut. and Commander Wilkinson , has returned
to Woolwich from an engineer's trial ofmachinery,
after repairs. The trial was prolonged beyond
the usual test, in order to ascertain the merits of
Mr. Humphrey's new superheating steam apparatus
fitted to the boilers. The maximum speed attained
by the engines of the Caradou wax only 1O knots
per hour ; becoming overheated, the apparatus
burnt away a portion of the woodwork before the
foremost funnel.
Rear-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget, C. 8., First
Secretary to the Admiralty, Rear-Admiral Erskine,
and Mr. Reed,"the new chief constructor to the navy,
went down the river on Tuesday in Mr. Penn's
steam yacht, on an official inspection of the model
vessels Enterprise and Favourite, under construction
in Deptford dockyard on Mr. Reed's approved prin-
ciple. They spent a considerable time in inspecting
the two ships, which are both progressing rapidly,
and returned in the yacht to London.

The store depot ship Egmont, Capt. Cranford, left
Spithead at an early hour yesterday morning in
tow of the paddle sloop Geyser, on the commence-
ment of her voyage to Rio de Janeiro, where she
will be stationed for the use of the English fleet
serving in the Brazilian waters. The Geyser's
towing service to the Egmont will be regulated by
the state of the weather, but she will most probably
see her clear of the Channel, after which she returns
to Devonport, and takes on board a number of
stokers for conveyance to her Majesty's ship Hogue
at Greenock, and will afterwards possibly convoy
the iron-cased frigate Hector round from that port
' to Spithead.
The screw steam gunvessel Osprey, 4, from Wool-
wich and Sheerness, en route for China, arrived
yesterday at Plymouth.
Capt. Hartmann, an officer of the Austrian Im-
perial Engineers, on a special mission from the Go-
vernment, on Thursday visited Woolwich dockyard
for the purpose of witnessing the performance of
Bray's patent traction engine (doing the heavy
duties of the yard in the place of teams of horses),
in order to negotiate the introduction of the appa-
ratus in a similar manner into the Austrian service.
The engine has been engaged for some weeks past
in driving the machinery attached to the hydraulic
press used for preparing and bending the 41-inch
armour plates for the sides of the Caledonia, and
also, while the repairs of the smitheries' steam-en-
gine, which has broken down, were in progress, in
driving the two engines at the same time. Captain
Hartmann expressed himself exceedingly gratified
with the varied performances of the engine. He was
accompanied to Woolwich by Mr. Louttitt, secre-
tary to the Traction Engine Company in London.
Lieut. Rogers has been appointed flag lieut. to
Admiral Superintendent Symonds, of the Devon-
port dockyard, in succession to Lieut. Colombe.
Capt. the Hon. S. T. Carnegie, C. 8., is appointed
Commodore Controller of the Coastguard, in the
place of Commodore Hastings B. Yelverton
who, by the death of Rear-Admiral of the . Redc C.
Wyvill, is promoted to be a Rearß-A
dmlo appointed a
Capt. George G. Wellesley, c
naval aide-de-camp to the Queen,'
vacant by the
promotion of Capt. Yelverton to slag rank.
The undernaxned gentlemen have been nominated
—A. F. Bernard, J. Browning,
to naval cadetships
D. Fitzgerald, P. Barton, and F. Martin.
The following appointments have been in4de at
the Admiralty:—Feb. 4.—Lieut. G. C. Sinclair,
to
the Edinburgh ; Sub-Lieut. T. V. Williams, to the
Racoon ; C. Caffin, midshipman, to the Revenge ;
James H. Lawrence, master, additional, to the
Asia for the Hannibal; W. H. Harris, master, ad-
ditional, to the Indus for the Canopus ; T. W. S.
Nearne, paymaster, to the President, vice Warbur-
ton ; J. M. Lowcay, paymaster, to the Castor, vice
Neame ; A. Clarke, in the Defeace, promoted to
engineer ; H. Woolley, engineer, to the Indus for
the Alert; G. M. J. Higginson, assist. paymaster,
additional, to the A,ia for the Hannibal ; R. W.
Parish, assist. paymaster, additional, to the Indus
for the Canopus; J. Murdock, acting second class
assist. engineer, to the Asia, as supernumerary ;
J.
Oxland, clerk, additional, to the Indus for the Cano-
pus ; and C. L. J. Underwood, clerk, additional,
to
the Asia for the Hannibal. Feb. s—Lieut. A. _
Blackett to the Buzzard; T. Warr, masterLaddi
tional, to the Indus for the Alert;e P. Grant,
Paymaster, to the Ajax; C. Icely, chief engineer, '