The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-10 00:00:00

PRICE..... ~..4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

'Rear-Admiral Dacres, C. 8., in the flagship Edgar,
71, Capt. Hornby, accompanied by the Warrior, 40,
Capt. the Hon. A. A. Cochrane; the Emerald, 35,
Capt. Cumming ; and Resistance, 16, Capt.
Chamberlain, left Plymouth Sound yesterday
morning, for Portsmouth.
PLYMOUTH, Friday Evening.—T'ne screw steam-
ship Una, Captain Batty, from Smyrna and Maita
for London, with a ful! general cargo and 20 pas-
sengers, put back to the Sound this evening. On
the 2d inst., 13 miles north of Lisbon, she passed the
screw steamer St. Elmo homeward bound, and at
half-past 2 this afternoon observed her Majesty's
ironclad ships 'Warrior and Devastation five miles
south-west of Start Point, and shortly after the flag-
ship Edgar and frigate Emerald 15 miles south of
the Breakwater, all under steam, bound to Spithead.
Wind, S.S.W.; blowing strong.
The Hector, 32, iron screw frigate, will be un-
docked from the 'Warrior Dock, at Portsmouth, this
morning. On Monday the Columbine screw gun
vessel, Commander Ward, refitting for service in
the Pacific, will be placed in the same dock for a
couple of tides for the purpose of cleansing her
copper, examining her valves, &c. After this the
dock will be held for the service of the Warrior and
Resistance iron frigates, and other ships of the
Channel squadron now hourly expected at Spit-
head from Devonport.
A 40 foot launch is being fitted at Portsmouth
yard with twin screws and independent engines on
the principle which has been during the past 12
months so prominently brought before the notice
of the Admiralty and the public by Alessrs.
Dudgeon, of Limehouse and Fenchurch-street.
The Imperial Russian screw corvette Soxall, 11
guns, Capt. A. Aslanbegoff, left Spithead at 4 p.m.
yesterday, under steam for Toulon.
Her Majesty's paddle sloop Hydra, Lieut. G.
Wilkinson (in temporary command), after the ad-
justment of compasses yesterday at Greenhithe,
sailed for Malta to relieve the Medina, for survey in
the Mediterranean.

The Speedwell, 5, gun vessel, Commander George
F. Cottam, yesterday bent sails alongside the re-
ceiving hulk Salsette, at Woolwich, and received
over her crew, under orders to go down the river
this morning, and test her machinery and rate of
speed at the measured mile. After this she will
return to the Arsenal Buoy, and ship her powder
and proceed to her destination—the West Coast of
Africa.

Her Majesty's paddle-wheel sloop Salamander,
6 guns, 818 tons, 220-horse power, master in charge
Vernon Jones, having undergone thorough and ex-
tensive repairs, and been fitted with new boilers in
Sheerness dockyard, was taken to the measured
mile off Maplin Sands, on Thursday last, for the
final trial of her engines previous to being commis-
sioned. In the absence (on leave) of Capt. W. K.
Hall, C. 8., commanding the Sheerness steam re-
serve,the vessel was in charge of Commander Arthur
Barrow, of the Cumberland; Mr. W. Rumble, in-
spector of machinery afloat, and Mr. G. Blaxland,
chief engineer of Sheerness dockyard, superintended
the working of the machinery. The performance
of the vessel was fully equal to the greatest expec-
tations regarding her, and was indeed all that could
be expected. She attained a true mean speed of
6.721 knots an hour, with 15.16 revolutions of en-
gines per minute; pressure of steam, 13; load on
safety valve, 13 ; vacuum, starboard, 26 ; port, 25! ;
draught of water, 15ft. 11in. forward, 15ft. lOrnin.
aft; diameter of wheel, 20ft ; immersing of floats,
2ft. 2in. The circle was turned at full boiler power
in sm. 305., helm starboard 33 degrees, diameter of
circle 460 ft.; the half circle was turned, with helm
starboard, 30 dcg,, in 2min. 20sec ; with helm port
30 deg.. in 2min. 22see. O wing to the rough state
of the sea (the force of wind being 7 to 8), no trials
were made at half boiler power. The Salamander
returned to her moorings in Sheerness harbour the
same evening, and is now awaiting the pennant.
She has been fitted with Allen's engine room tele-
graph, and also a tell-tale, to announce the direc-
tion of the engines, by Mcssrs. Ravenhill and Co.,
who supplied her engines. Her Armstrong guns
are all on board.
The Lizard, 3, paddlewheel tender to the Formi-
dable, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir G. It. Lambert,
K.C.8., Commander-in-Chief at Sheerness, arrived
at this port yesterday from the North, where she
has been engaged during the season in the protec-
tion of the Scotch fisheries. _

A notification has been received at Sheerness
dockyard from the Admiralty reminding the officials
at that establishment of the dates on which
the vessels now fitting at Chatham and Sheerness
for the steam reserve are to be completed,
and directing that every possible exertion is to be
used to have the vessels completed and fitted by the
time stated, the whole of them being required for
foreign service.
Admiralty instructions have been received by the
authorities of Sheerness dockyard, to the effect that
new regulations will shortly be issued regarding
the examination of candidates for engineer appren-
tices. The age of admission of boys to the factory
department is to be from 15 to 16 years, instead of
from 13 years nine months to 15 years, as at pre-
sent. No more candidate to be placed on the
within the new limita-
list who are not of an age
tions, and those whose names have been put down
must wait until they are of a proper age.
to employed in the saw-mills at
The mechanics emp
Chatham dockyard have commenced cutting out the
kelson for Mr. Reed's ne w armour-clad frigate the
Warden, whic'a is to be laid down under No.
Lord
7 shed, and will be taken in hand as soon as a suf-
ficient number of the workmen are released from
the iron frigate Achilles. For several weeks past
the drawings, plans, and moulds for the new vessel
have been in preparation at the dockyard, under
the immediate superintendence of one of the official
sent down for that purpose from the office of the
Chief Constructor. As these are now in an advanced
state and a considerable portion of the frame is
already cut out, no delay whatever will arise in the
commencement of that vessel as soon as the ship-
wrights can be removed from the other vessels on
which they are now employed. The Lord Warden,
like the Royal Oak, will be constructed almost en-
tirely of foreign oak, and already an immense quan-
tity of Italian and African timber is piled up on
each side of the slip on which she is to be built.
The construction of the Lord Warden will in-
augurate a new era in the building of armour-
plated frigates, and, as Mr. Reed expects his
vessel to be superior to every other ship of
the class yet completed, her progress will be
watched with the keenest interest. The most
important particular in which she will differ
from all other vessels of war will consist in her
being provided with an armament at her bow, as
well as at her broadsides—an important feature now