The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-20 00:00:00

711 E NAVY.

The Duke of Somerset has arrived at his official
'residence at the Admiralty, Whitehall, from Holy-
head, after the customary annual inspection of our
naval establishments in the western districts.

When the Lords of the Admiralty were at Ply-
mouth last week their attention was called to the
propriety of supplying seamen while in port with
soft bread instead of biscuit. From what has tran-
spired we believe that this desirable course will be
adopted. Certain alterations are in progress in the
bakery of the Royal William Victualling-yard, and
this establishment is to be supplied with two of
Stevens's dough-mixing machines.
The Black Prince, 40, screw iron frigate, Capt.
Wainwright, according to present orders, will go
Out of Portsmouth harbour to-morrow, try her speed
at the measured mile, at load draught on Monday
and Tuesday next, swing to ascertain the adjust-
ment of her compass on Wednesday, and proceed
to sea on the 30th inst.

T'ae Nimrod, screw despatch vessel, of 859 tons,
fit;ced with engines of 350-horse power by Mauds-
',ay, Sons, and Field, but with boiler power reduced
to 175-horse, and the Jasper screw gunboat, of 301
tons, and fitted with 80. horse power engines by
Mindslay and Co., have been sold to the Chinese
Government to form part of the squadron which is
to be commanded by Capt. Sherard Osborn, C.B.
The Ni'ihrod: Which requires considerable repairs
before.: she can be pronounced complete for long
service, has been sold for £27,000, and the Jasper,
Which has been completed as a first class reserve
vessel and therefore ready for commission, for
£ll,OOO Capt. Osborn was expected in Portsmouth
last evening to take possession of the two, vessels.
The Nimrod carries a spare screw on the patented
plan of Mr. W. Lynn, Assist.-Engineer, of Ports-
mouth dockyard.

The Shannon, 34, screw, Capt. Jones, awaits at
Spithead her final sailing orders from the Admi-
ralty. Her destination is the Mediterranean. The
departure of this ship on foreign service with her
screw trials but half completed is much to be re-
gretted, although such a course is perhaps unavoid-
able under present circumstances. Under the super-
vision of Admiral Martin the Shannon will doubt-
less soon become one of the smartest and best con-
ducted ship% companies in his fleet.
The Edgar, 86, screw, Capt. Hon. F. Foley, fit-
ting at Portsmouth for the flag of Rear-Admiral S.
C. Dracres, C. 8., as second in command of the Medi-
ter.anean fleet, is being supplied with tanks to
stow on the plan suggested by Mr. Moore, carpen-
ter of the Royal Navy, and Tidemaster of Ports-
mouth Harbour. By this plan a ventilating funnel
or passage is made along the ship's keelson; which
also affords a Means of washing out and cleansing
a ship's limbers. Free access is had to every tank
without disturbing the stowage, and the water flows
contnuously from the condenser to the tanks with -
orAt the aid of pumping. In addition, the ship will
stow more water on Mr. Moore's plan than it could
under the old principle. To more fully illustrate
this ',ye may mention that the Edgar with her
tanJ' stowed on the old principle would require
pumps when distilling, to la men constantly at the
P'ass the water from the condenser to the tanks,
'which labour with the tanks stowed on Mr. Moore's
plan is entirely done away with, The Shannon
frigate when commanded by the late Sir Wm. Peel,
carried her tanks three deep, and as her ground tier
and, many on her middle tier could not be got at
without hoisting them on deck, the water she took
out in them from England was in them when she
returned and was paid out of commission.
The Russell, 60, screw, commanded by Capt. W.
K. Hall, C. 8., the coastguard ship at Falmouth,
sailed from that port on Monday on a Channel
cruise, calling at Plymouth for partial change of
armament. Her tender, the Hind gunboat, remains.
Letters received from her Majesty's troopship
Adventure, Commander Lethbridge, announce her
arrival at St. John's, Nova Scotia, with the wives
and families of soldiers belonging to the regiments
recently sent out to Canada. She arrived on the
27th of July, 13 days from Queenstown. She had
experienced bad weather the whole way. The ship
sailed again for St. John's,New Brunswick,on the 2d
August, in the midst of a thick fog, which continued
the greater part of the voyage. On the following
day, at 7 p.m., the engines were stopped to endea-
vour to ascertain the ship's exact position ; she im-
mediately afterwards struck on a rock. Fortunately,
the engines had been just reversed, by order of the
pilot, to take soundings, and the rock was cleared
with the loss of a small portion of the ship's false
keel. The letter further states that not the slightest
blame could be attached to any one. The Adven-
ture returns to England with invalid soldiers from
various regiments from Quebec, to which port she
was to proceed on the 11th of the present month.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. P. R. Sharpe, Lieut.
Frederick Hammond, and Lieut. J. D. R. Hewitt
to the Rattlesnake; James E. Bowly, Henry J.
Robillard, Frederick R. Carr, and W. A. Ewbank,
midshipmen, to the Rattlesnake ; Edward C.
Moore has been nominated to a naval cadetship ; J.
W. Mc I. Hall, master, to the Fisgard, for transport
service at Deptford; George Griffiths, engineer
qualified for charge, to the Asia, for the Enchan-
tress ; John Craven, acting first-class assist.-engi-
neer, to the Shannon, vice Bacon.