The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-20 00:00:00

IRE NAVY.

Her Majesty's iron-cased sloop Enterprise, build-
ing under the direction and superintendence of Mr.
Reed, in Deptford Dockyard, is making rapid pro-
gresr,, rileplanking of the bottom is now corn-
pleite, and the false keel has been fitted and cop-
perad. The magazines and:other internal arrange-
ro.ents below are being proceeded with, the deck of
The battery platform and the deck above the battery
are being laid, and the timber portion of the ship
is rapid 4 approaching. completion. In the region
of the water line the ship has been made enor-
moaFily strong by the addition of a solid mass of
tthi.ek timber, which is intended to aid the armour-
Jelt to resist the action of shot, and is also to form
the foundation for the iron topsides, which are to
be built up opcin the timber hull. The " barpins"
for giving form to the iron works are now being
fitted, thy, whole of the iron required having been
received from Messrs. Bolcknow and Vaughan, the ,
contr actors. The contract for the armour plates of
bot;ti the Enterprise and the Favourite, in course
04 construction on Mr. Reed's principle on adjoin-
leg ships, has been granted to Messrs. Brown and
Co,, of the Atlas works, Sheffield, and they are to
be fitted in dock at Woolwich. They are of the same
thickness, for the most part, as those of the Cale-
donia, Royal Oak, and other iron•cased ships of
the largest class. Some of them are to be nearly 5
f.z!et in width and no less than 17 feet long. As she
now stands upon the slip the Enterprise very much
resembles the published drawings of the American
vessel 'Monitor, but instead of having a revolving
turret containing a single gun (which is all that a
81°0,p of her size could carry), she has a fixed tower
or battery, which is to be armed with four of the
largest naval guns in use in the British navy. The
officers appointed by the Ordnance Department
have been in attendance at .Deptford Dockyard for
the purpose of arranging the details of the arma-
ment, and have found that ample accommodation
has been afforded for four Armstrong 110 pounders
even when -mounted upon carriages and slides of the
largest kind. The form of the Enterprise is uni-
versal y admired, every naval officer who visits her
pre'aicting that she will possess excellent qualities
as a seagoing ship, and that she has better ventila-
tion and cabin accommodation than any ship of
war in the service. The Favourite is in frame with
the exception of a few stern timbers. Owing to the
frequent changes of master shipwrights in Deptford
Dockyard, the Admiralty have placed the entire re-
sponsibility of the construction of this ship, as well
as of the Enterprise, on Mr. Reed. In the fore part
and midship part of the Favourite, where the fram-
ing has been completed, nearly the whole frame has
been made solid by means of long fillings of the
same scantling as the timbers, bolted and coaked to
the frame. The shelf of the upper and lower deck
has also been worked, and the beams are ready for
crossing. As soon as this has been done, and the
sides of the ship have thus been bound together, the
external barpins and ribands will be removed a por-
tion at a time, and the diagonal planking will be
brought on, The application of this diagonal plank-
ing, and of the fillings, introduced by Mr. Reed's
system., will considerably strengthen the ships thus
cone.teneted, especially as the armour plating will
be continued up to the upper deck from stem to
Stern, in which case the necessity of erecting iron
light topsides will be avoided.
A. case having recently occurred of one of the 110
pounder Armstrong guns being found, on examina-
tion, to be deeply indented, nearly all round, at 60
inches, and the bore from 62 inches to 60 inches, ex-
panded .045 of an inch, which damage had evi-
dently been caused by the bursting of a shell in its
passage along the bore, it was determined, with
the sanction of the Duke of Cambridge,to make the
experiment of rendering the gun serviceable with-
out the aid of any kind of machinery. The altera-
tions were intrusted to the battery armourers of the
Rog al Artillery under instruction at Woolwich, and
the alterations have been effected with the most
Complete success. Major-Gen. Tulloh, C. 8., In-
Spector of Artillery, has reported that no difficulties
of consequence were experienced in carrying out
the experiment, which was effected by filing down
with tile ordinary tools, the operation taking about
60 h'ours to accomplish. The gun is now as service-
able as it was before the damages were sustained.
The Columbine, 4, screw steam gun vessel, 669
tons, 150 horse power, attached to the first division
of the Sheerness steam reserve, was taken from her
moorings in the harbour on trial at the measured
mile off Maplin Sands, on Tuesday last, in charge
of Capt. T. P. Thompson ; Mr. Urquhart, chief en-
gineer, and Mr. S. L. Townsend, foreman of engi-
neers in the dockyard, both of Sheerness, having the
superintendence of the machinery. The Columbine
made six runs at the measured mile, giving a result
of 9.614 knots per hour, with 102 revolutions of en-
gines per minute, vacuum 23, pressure of steam 20.
Duri-ag the trial there was scarcely any perceptible
.oration from the working of the machinery. This
part of the trial was considered most satisfactory, as
nearly one knot per hour more speed was got out of
the engines than has been obtained from any other
vessel of the same class. After the trial of speed, in
accordance with Admiralty orders, the steering qua-
lities of the vessel with the old rudder were tried,
and the results noted for comparison with a similar
trial to take piece with Lumley's patent steering
apparatus. The first trial was at full speed, helm
starboard at an angle of 23 deg, when the circle was
made in 4 min. 26 sec.,the diameter of the circle being
536 ft. The second trial was from dead stop, helm
starboard, at an angle of 35 deg; the circle was made
in 4 min 30 sec; diameter, 693 ft. In the third trial
at full speed, helm port at an angle of 18 deg., the
circle was made in 5 min 5 sec; diameter, 1,718 ft.
Fourth, from dead stop, helm port at an angle- of
27 deg; the circle made in 4 min 28 sec ; diameter,
693 ft. In the fifth, at full speed, helm starboard at
an angle of 11 deg, the circle was made in 7 min 48
see. In the sixth, at full speed, helm port at an
angle of 11 deg, the circle was made in 11 min 20
sec. In each case the helm was put to port or star-
board before the time was taken. The Columbine
will shortly be taken into dock to be fitted with.
Lumley's patent steering apparatus, when she will
again be taken to the measured mile on trial, and
the comparative merits of the two rudders tested.

Tue Scylla, 21, screw corvette, Capt. R. Lambert,
arrived at Spithead yesterday, from the Mediter-
ranean. She experienced rough weather during
the passage home.
The Emerald, screw frigate, Capt. A. Cumming, ,
arrived at Spithead yesterday from Plymouth Sound,
She will be docked and ctherwise prepared for en-
tering upon the experimental series of screw trials
which were left unfinished by the Shannon, screw ,
frigate, Capt. 0. Jones.
As a gang of convicts, under the supervision of a
warder named Deane, were employed yesterday in
theteuojrk store at Portsmouth dockyard, one of the
the as named Fraser, made a ferocious attack on ,
oftke:"rduear, felling him to the ground with the
severely
141;:l a Jacob's ladder, and kicking him
secured and removed
on the ground. He was speedily
moved to the convict prison adjoining ,
the dockyard. D
for medical treatmeeante was removed to the hospital
Sir
lieu, y es Richar
a d Mayne,accompanied by Mr. Malle-
yd
completedf his annual inspection of
the metropolitan police
Ports-
mouth, in the dockyard,ll.0Y""
doing
duty at 1
Clarence-yard, Has-
lar Hospital, and Gunboat-yard, the. Gunwharf, and •
Priddy's hard magazines.
l asrction—which
is the first Sir Richard has made since the super-
the
handsm en
of the
at
vision of the whole of the public establishments
Portsmouth has been placed in
11 etropolitan police—was very minute, and at thites
conclusion Sir Richard expression his entire satis-
faction at the condition of the force, and said that
great credit was due to its two chief officers—Mr.
Superintendent Guy and Chief Inspector King.
The Portsmouth dockyard police was first organised
under Mr. Superintendent Mott, a most energetic
officer, now in command of the N division of metro-
politan police.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Lieut. J. R. D. Cooper to th.e.
Edinburgh ; Lieut. A. J. Day to the Colossus; A
J. A. Parks, muster, to the Pembroke, for the Coast-
guardN ; G. A. Waters, master, to the Russell; N.
Arquimbau, master, to the Asia, for the Frede-
rick William ; E. C. T. Youel, master in cor wand,
to the Industry ; Sub-Lieut. A. G. B. Riall, to

the Shearwater ; W. Yarde, assist.-surg., to the
Industry; I. P. Courtenay, assist.-surg., to the I
Excellent; R. E. Malone, paymaster, the Colos-
sus; J. Downe, engineer, to the Irldus, for
the Triton ;J. Irving, acting engine-r, to the
Indus, for the Partridge ; H. G. Bur . acting se-
cond-class assist.-engineer, to the Cumberland, as
supernumerary; W. Harvey, acting second-class
assist.-engineer, to the Indus, as supernumerary;
C. C. Edwards, assist-paymaster, to the Hawke ;
Henry P. Collinson, master's assistant, to the
Emerald; Frederick W. Jenard, master's assistant,
to the Marlborough ; David E. Doveton, assist.-
clerk, to the Victory, for the secretary's office ;
Leonard W. Sewell and Archibald 0. Hill, mid-
shipmen, to the Sutlej ; James Blackburn and John
L. Crawley, midshipmen, to the Pylades ; William
H. Maund and Edward A. Holbech, midshipmen,
to the Nile; and Adolphus H. Barnard, midship-
man, to the Pheabe.