The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-19 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The light draught trial of the iron frigate Valiant,
4,063 tons, and 800 horse-power of engines, was
made at Portsmouth yesterday, under the super-
, vision of the steam factory and dockyard:officials, the
ship being in command of Commander Brett, of her
Majesty's ship Asia, and Rear-Admiral Superinten-
dent G. Wellesley, C. 8., exercising a general super-
vision. Mr. Warrener, of the firm of Maudslay,
Sons, and Field, the makers of the ship's machinery,
was on board to control and be answerable for the
working. The Valiant, having no guns or crew on
board, and being incomplete in stores, drew but23ft
6in of water forward and 24ft 6in aft on leaving the
harbour for the trial ground in Stokes Bay. The
weather was very favourable for the trial of theship's
speed. There was a light wind and smooth sea.
Under these conditions the Valiant made six runs over
the measured mile, which brought out the following
results as to the speed of the ship :—First run, 13.284
knots ; second run, 11.863 ; third run, 13.844 ; fourth
run, 11.009 ; fifth run, 14.516 ; sixth run, 10.814 ;
the mean speed of the ship at full boiler power was
12.670 knots. At half-boiler power the ship attained
a mean speed of 9.6" knots. The pressure of steam
was 221 b, and the mean vacuum 23in. At fullboiler
power, to port, the ship made her. full circle in 6min
13secs ;to starboard in smin 6secs. At half-boiler
power, to starboard, the full circle was made in 6min
53secs ;to port in 6min 19secs. The engines of the
Valiant are constructed on Messrs. Maudslay's well
known horizontal screw pattern, and yesterday dis-
played all the power and efficiency in their working
which might be justly expected from a firm of such
reputation. The Valiant is a sister ship in every
respect in tonnage, form, and disposition of armour,
to the Hector, iron frigate, now commanded by
Capt. Preedy, C. 8., and attached to the Channel
squadron. No exact comparison can, however, yet
be drawn from the results of the trials of the two
ships, owing to the difference in their draught of
water when put over the " mile." The only true
comparison, indeed, which can be made between the
performance of ships over the measured mile is when
both are tried with the same weights on board—
that is, with guns, crew, rigging complete for sea,
six months' provisions and stores under hatches,
equal quantities (according to tonnage) of coal in
bunkers, and in all respects ready to proceed on
service on a foreign station. The Hector, on her
trial, drew 24ft. 14in. of water forward, and 25ft.
aft, as against the 23ft. 6in. forward and 24ft. 6in.
aft of the Valiant, and made a main speed of 11.843
knots as against the 12.670 of the latter ship yester-
day. The hull of the Valiant being a counterpart
of the Hector's, requires no lengthened description
here. Both vessels differ from all others in her Ma-
jesty's Navy in the disposition of their armour, inas-
much as they carry a band of armour plating round
the gun-deck at the bows and stern, aswell as amid-
ships, but have a portion of the hull at the water
line at both the bows and stern unprotected by
armour. Athwartships armour-plate bulkheads,
however, rise up from below to the level of the gun-
deck planking, where the water line armour breaks
off at each end. Both the Hector and Valiant are
vessels of but moderate speed, which, while execs-

sively ugly in their general appearance, have a look
about them of being anything but " lively" in a

sea way.

The Arethusa, 35, screw frigate, Capt. Reginald
J. J. G. Macdonald, arrived at Spithead yesterday,
from the eastward, and on anchoring saluted the

flag of the Naval Commander-in-Chief, Sir M. Sey-
mour, G.C.B. The Arethusa will sail from Spit-
head in company with the Octavia, Capt. Hillyar,
for Madeira, on a comparative trial of machinery,
picking up the Constance, 35, screw, Captain Bar-
nard, on the way down Channel.
The screw steam sloop Greyhound, 17, at Devon-
port, will shortly be commissioned for active service
by Capt. C. Sterling. She is of 880 tons burden,
and has engines of 200 horse power. Her chief
engineer is Mr. G. F. Boothe, borne on the books
of the Indus, guardship of reserve at llamoaze. The
Greyhound was placed yesterday in No. 3 dock in
Keyham steanayard, for the purpose of having her
bottom cleaned. She will have a complement of
175 officers and men, and will probably be set to
join the squadron on the west coast of Africa.
; • The screw steam corvette Satellite, 21, Captain
Crofton, recently returned from Montevideo, was
hauled yesterday from Devonport dockyard to the
sheer hulk in Ilamoaze to have her masts taken in,
after which she will return to the jetty. Tier crew
will probably be paid off on the 22d inst., when she
will be placed in the fourth division of the steam
reserve.

Capt. C. P. Coles, RN., has been presented by
the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Lord High
Admiral of the Imperial Navy, with a massive gold
snuffbox, set with diamonds, and bearing the initials
of the Grand Duke in diamonds on the centre of the
lid. Such an acknowledgment of the worth of the
turret principle, which has been so long and per-
sistently advocated by Capt. Coles, must be highly
gratifying to him now that the turret is already
fitted to about a dozen vessels of the Imperial Rus-
sian Navy in the Baltic, and has been tested under
all possible conditions of wind and weather.
The funeral of M. Michael Sysoieff, an officer of
the Russian Imperial Navy, took place yesterday at
Portsmouth, with military honours.
In The Sun of yesterday it was stated that " F.
B. Mathews" passed first out of i". 9 candidates for
clerk's assistant, " from Mr. [Eastman's school."
The name should have been F. B. J. Mathias. Mr.
Mathias was educated at the Royal Naval School,
New-cross, whence he went direct to pass his ex-
amination for clerk's assistant annually placed at
the disposal of the council by the Admiralty.