The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-03 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

We are happy to learn that the reported loss of
Her Majesty's ship Plover, Commander the Hon.
Armar Corry, on the coast of Mexico, is without
foundation. It appears from a letter by the last
mail that she touched in attempting to cross the bar
of Alvarado, and that before she could be got off a
heavy gale (a "norther" as it is there called, which
after a quarter of an hour is at its height) came on,
and washed her up on the beach, where she re-
mained for twelve days, when, with the assistance
of other vessels of the combined squadron, she was
hove off, having sustained but little injury. In
order to effect this it was necessary to take out her
engines, guns, masts, &.3,, which was a service of
some danger, as the boats employed on it were re-
peatedly upset by the heavy surf which surrounded
her. When the mail left the Plover was with the
squadron at Vera Cruz.

The Arethusa, 51 guns, left Sheerness harbour on
Tuesday last for the trial of her engines at the mea-
sured mile off Maplin Sands. As reported in The
Sun of the 24th ult., the Arethusa is the second
completed of three vessels of 50')-horse power nomi-
nal, the machinery of which has been specially con-
structed with a view to their being economically
worked. The Arethusa is fitted by Messrs. John
Penn and Son with a pair of expansive trunk
engines with two:cylinders 864 inches in diameter,
which are surrounded by steam jackets, the length
of stroke being 42 inches, with surface condensers
containing nearly six miles of 1-inch tubing. The
boilers, four in number, are tubular, with four fur-
naces to each, and are fitted with super-heating ap-
paratus. They occupy one-eighth less space than the
regular boilers for similar power. The ship's steam
and water gauges are Bourdon's patent. There is
no attempt made to raise the temperature by pass-
ing the feed water through a water space; the
water is merely pumped into a tank and thence run
into the boiler. The performance of the machinery
throughout the trial was most satisfactory, and the
consumption of coal about half the usual cpantity.
The vessel was in charge of Captain T. P. Thomson,
chief of the Steam Reserve of Sheerness; Mr. W.
Price, inspector of machinery afloat, and Mr. S.
Townsend, foreman of Sheerness dockyard, attend-
ing to watch the results. The engines were under
the superintendence of Mr. T. Holliday ; Mr. John
Penn, and Mr. Matthews, of the firm of J. Penn
and Son, were also in attendance. The following
are the results of the six runs at the mile with full
power :—The first run, 4min 18sec ; speed, 13953
knots ; pressure of steam, 25; revolution of engines,
66, The second run, smin 23 see ; speed, 11.146
knots ; pressure, 25 ; 66. The third run, 4min
27see ; speed,l3.4Bo knots ; pressure, 25 ; 70. The
fourth run, smin ; speed, 12.000 knots ; pressure,
25 ; 71. The fifth run, 4min, 25sec ; speed, 13-585
knots ; pressure, 25 ; 71. The sixth run, 4min
36see ; speed, 13.043 knots ; pressure, 25; 72. Va-
cuum, 28k. The averages at half-boiler power
were as follows :----Speod, 10.851 knots ; pressure
of steam, 201 b ; revolution of engines, 60 ; vacuum,
28 ; depth of water forward, 17ft ; do. aft, 21ft.
Griffith's screw, pitch, 20 to 26ft ; present pitch,
23ft.

The Revenge, Captain Fellowes, arrived at Spit-1
head at 8 a.m. yesterday from Plymouth with the
96th Regiment on board. The troops were landed
from the ship by Government steamer, and for-
warded by train to Shorncliffe.
The screw steamship Hydaspes, Captain George
Henry Foster, 2,245 tons register, with a general
cargo of indigo, &c., from Calcutta December 9,
Madras December 21, and Ascension February 24,
was off Plymouth on Wednesday, bound for London.
She has brought home 82 invalids, principally from
the 75th and 76th Regiments and Royal Artillery,
under command of Captain Pym, 75th Regiment,
and 23 'passengers, three of whom (Mr. Brown,
King's Dragoon Guards; Mr. Mears, 36th Madras
Native Infantry ; and Mr. Campbell, Royal Artil-
lery) landed here. She spoke March 12 the bark
Pacific, 35 days from Belfast, for Havannah.
The following vessels have been chartered by the
Government for the conveyance of troops and mili-
tary stores to India and the colonies :—The Here-
fordshire, 1,354 tons, and the Caduceus, 1,106 tons,
for Bombay; the Helvellyn, 1,017 tons, for Kurra-
chee ; the Louisa, 903 tons, and the John o' Gaunt,
859 tons for Bengal ; the Clive, 566 tons, for Ma-
dras; the Maida, 519 tons. for St. Helena ; the
Crystal Palace, 440 tons, for the Cape of Good
Hope ; and the Wave Queer, 250 tons, for Ascen-
sion. Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners
have taken up the following vessels for the convey-
ance of emigrants to the colonies named :—The Ac-
crington, 1,931 tons, for Melbourne ; the Theresa,
705 tons, for Moreton Bay; and the Hotspur, 1,670
tons, for Sydney.
The remaining portion of the large projecting
n't or prow of the Achilles, 50, iron vessel,
iron Ste.— tham, was successfully fixed in its
building at Una.— -49/1 is of great strength,
place yesterday. The bk,_ was forged at the
weighing upwards of 20 tons, anu '- to pro-
Thames Ironworks, Blackwall. it is malty,