The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-04 00:00:00

The Endymion, 22, 500-horse power, recently
launched at Deptford, has been removed into the
steam basin at Sheerness, where she is being
brought forward for commission.
The Edgar, screw line-of-battle-ship, Captain
Thomas Brandreth, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir
Sydney Colpoys Dacres, K.C.8., late Commander-
in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, steamed into Ports-
inouth harbour on Saturday from Spithead, and
berthed alongside the dockyard to dismantle and
return stores. She is ordered to be paid out of
commission on the 14th inst. Admiral Dacres left
Portsmouth for London on Saturday, after the ar-
rival of the ship in Portsmouth harbour. The Ad-
miral's flag was hauled down from the Edgar at
sunset.

The Spiteful, 6, paddle-sloop, Commander Flet-
cher, arrived at Spithead from the Thames yester-
day morning. She is ordered to the Brazil station,
but is expected to call at the West India Islands
en route.

The sailing frigate Calypso, 18, attached to the
reserve squadron in Chatham harbour, having been
surveyed by the officials connected with the ship-
wright department, and condemned as unfit for
further service, has been brought up to the dock-
yard, where the whole of her fittings have been re-
moved, and she has been stripped of her dockyard
stores. On Saturday she was taken in tow by the
Otter, paddle-wheel steamer, Mr. W. J. Blakey,
Queen's pilot, in charge, and removed round to the
Thames for the purpose of being docked at the
shipbreaking yard of Messrs. Castle and Beech,
Charlton, where she will be broken up. The
Calypso was built and launched at Chat-
ham Dockyard about twenty years ago. Since
then she has been actively employed, and
was one of the last of the sailing ships put out of
commission at Chatham. She is generally sound
and seaworthy, and the reason why the Admiralty
have decided on having her broken up is the un-
suitableness of the class of vessels to which she
belongs for the present requirements of the navy.
The Terpsichore, 18, having temporarily made
good the injuries which she sustained on the occa-
sion of the torpedo experiments in Chatham harbour,
will be floated out of No. 4 dock at Chatham to-
morrow, and afterwards removed to Charlton, where
she is to be broken up. Nearly the whole of the
smaller sailing vessels which for some years past
have been rotting at Chatham, and impeding the
navigation of the Medway, have disappeared, the
Admiralty having either disposed of them to private
firms or directed them to be broken up. There are
still several of the larger class of 50-gun sailing and
steam frigates and old line-of-battle ships attached
to the squadron in the Medway, lying in what is
known as " Rotten-row." They are perfectly use-
less, so far as any future service they can be put to
is concerned, and only await an order from the Ad-
miralty to be similarly disposed of.
The screw gun-vessel Star, 4, 200-horse power
(nominal). Mr. G. Patterson, master in charge,
attached to the first division of the Chatham Steam
Reserve, has been floated into No. 1 dock at Sheer-
ness, for the purpose of having her valves examined
and her hull cleaned before being placed in com-
mission. She is ready for the pennant, and has her
armament, shot, shell, &c., on board.
In accordance with Admiralty orders received at
Chatham, the whole of the boys and lads belonging
to the training ship Wellesley, 72, in Chatham har-
bour, will be transferred early in the ensuing months
to the line-of-battle sailing ship Ganges, 84, now at
Devonport4which vessel is to be at once brought
forward as a training ship for boys entering the navy,
for which her size and other advantages render her
well suited. Commander F. H. Stevens, now of the
Wellesley, 72, will take the command of the Ganges
on the Ist of January, from which date the new
arrangement will take effect. The loAr ell e s eoyr t
ni will
revert to her former use as guardship f the
dockyard at Chatham, and will be manned with
hands from the reserve and vessels in ordinary.
The Prussian corvette Venite, 22, Capt. Kuhn,
from Kiel, arrived at Plymouth on Saturday, en route
for Rio Janeiro. On entering the Sound one of
her crew was outside a port, preparing for the cus-
tomary salute, when he was knocked overboard by
the sounding lead and drowned.
The Spanish frigate Gerona, with the Duke and
Duchess de Montpensier, left Plymouth on Thurs-
day for Ferrol or Cadiz.

The Turkish frigate Sultan Mahmoud, Capt.
Hassan Bey, was removed on Friday from Hamoaze
into Plymouth Sound, and on Saturday was taken
outside the Breakwater, where her crew were exer-
cised at shot practice, under the inspection of the
gunnery officers of her Majesty's ship Cambridge.
A service pension is placed at the disposal of the
First Lord of the Admiralty by the death of Admiral
William James Mingaye, on the reserved half-pay.
Lieut. E. G. St. John, 2d battalion, 2d Queen's
Royals, has been ordered to embark for Bermuda,
to join the service companies of his regiment at that
station. Major F. 'Williams, Ist battalion 12th
Regiment, has received orders to join the depot com-
panies of that regiment at Chatham garrison.
Mr. Parkyn, Deputy-Superintendent of the Mili-
tary Store Department at Woolwich, has been ap-
pointed by the War Department staff officer at that
station of the newly-formed corps entitled the Mili-
tary Staff Corps, with instructions to receive and
examine all military pensioners or other recruitswho
may desire to be enrolled, so as to organise the corps
and commence in working order. The period of enlist-
ment is stated to be from five years and upwards.
Major-Gen. A. B. Stansham, Royal Marines, has