The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-22 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

VALETTA, April 14.—Her Majesty's screw troop-
ship Himalaya, Capt. E. Lacy, arrived on the morn-
ing of the 12th inst., with the 84th Regiment from
Kingstown, and a few draughts from Portsmouth
and Dover, for this garrison and Canada. The
regiment, composed of 28 officers and 670 non-com-
missioned officers and men, under the command of
Col. Lightfoot, C. 8., were, with horses and bag-
gage, landed here in four hours. She bad a fine
passage out of under nine days, including a stay of
four hours at Gibraltar, where she disembarked
draughts. The 7th Royal Fusiliers will embark
on board this fine ship in about ten days for Ca-
nada, the delay being due to the ice in the River
St. Lawrence, rendering the navigation dangerous
before the 11th of May, or thereabouts. She will
touch at Gibraltar for coal, and will convey the Bi-
shop of Gibraltar to that place. It is intended that
she should arrive in England by the 31st of next
month. The Surprise, 4, Commander G. Tryon,
arrived on the 7th inst. from Patras and Corinth.
While proceeding to the latter place, to which port
she had been summoned by telegraph, she grounded,
on the night of the 3d of April, on the spit of Point
Rheum, at the northern side of the entrance of the
Gulf of Lepant. With the assistance of the Greek
gunboat Paralos, she was eventually got of without
damage. A court of inquiry, composed of Capt. F.
Campbell, her Majesty's ship Royal Oak, Captain
Chamberlain, Her Majesty's ship Resistance, and
Capt H. Goodenough, Her MP-jesty's ship Victoria,
was held on Monday to investigate the case, when
it was ascertained that no blame could be attributed
to anybody, as an unusually strong current was
setting out of the gulf at the time. Capt. Wode-
house, of the Meeanee, arrived by the Surprise,
leave. Her Majesty's ship Magicienne, 16, Capo n
t
.
W. Armytage, left Malta harbour on the 7th inst.
for Athens and Smyrna, having on board Gen. Fox
and Dr. Phillips. The Psyche, 2, despatch-vessel,
Lieut.-Commander Sterne, left on the 10th inst. for
Naples with their Serene Highnesses the Prince and
Princes Hohenlohe-Langenberg and suite, which
includes Dr. St. John Edwards, who has been re-
quested to continue his medical charge of the Prin-
cess during the voyage. After disembarking the
Prince and Princess the Psyche returned to Malta
to-day. Her Majesty's iron-cased ship Enterprise,
4, Lieut.-Commander Rowley, shifted her berth on
the 10th inst., and wa4 towed by the tug Hearty

and are returning to Constantinople, left port for
the Bosphorus. The Swedish screw sloop Gefle,
8, Capt. A. Pettersen, arrived on the 12th inst. from
Alexandria, bound for Cadiz, and probably Tunis.
It was this vessel which towed to Malta a short time
ago the Venezuelan schooner Jupiter, having on
board a valuable cargo, which vessel she had picked
up at sea in a disabled state. The Cossack, 20,
Lieut. Borlase in charge, which arrived on Thursday
last from the Pirmus, brought here the crew, 18 in
number, of the English bark Jupiter, of Sunderland.
This vessel was run ashore, about the middle of last
month, in Kuma Bay, in the island of Negropont,
being in a sinking condition, and will be disposed of
as she lies. The crew were conveyed from Kama to
the Piraeus by her Majesty's ship Assurance, which
was sent there .by the senior officer at Athens for
that purpose. All 'Was quiet at Athens by the last
accounts. The ships of war at the Piraeus on the Ist
inst. were—English—the Gibraltar, 81, Capt. Coote,
senior officer ; the Meeanee, 60, the Assurance, 4,
and the Wanderer, 4. The foreign ships were—
French—La Sentinelle, screw brig, the Austrian
gunboat Dalmat, and the Greek frigate Hellas. In
Salamis Bay there were an Italian frigate and a cor-
vette, the Euridice and the Valaroso, lately at Malta,
and which had just arrived from Corfu. The tele-
graph steamer Fanny Lambert arrived on the 9th
inst. from Bengazi, and after shipping a quantity of
cable received from England by the Bellona, left
again on Wednesday night, the 12th inst., to resume
operations for the repair of the Alexandria section.
There is, I am assured, every prospect of success,
now that the weather promises to continue fine, and
it is hoped that in about a week telegraphic commu-
nication will be restored throughout the line. Her
Majesty's steam corvette Pelican left on the follow-
ing morning for Point Adrian to attend upon the
cable ship. A fresh supply of cable is shortly ex-
pected from England in the Corcyra steamers, to be
held as a stand-by, in case of future accidents. Her
Majesty's ship Phoebe, 35, Capt. T. H. Fortescue,
also left port yesterday for Naples. It is rumoured
that the second battalion 22nd Regiment will pro-
ceed to the Mauritius during the summer, and be
relieved in this garrison by the 29th Regiment
from England. The Ist battalion 22nd Regiment
shifted barracks last week to the Cottonera
lines, and its quarters are now occupied by
the 4th Regiment. Mr. Robert Nichol, R.N., lately
appointed to succeed Mr. Williamson as inspector
of machinery, arrived yesterday by the steamer from
Southampton. The family of Mr. Boyton, late pay-
master of the Psyche, have paid all the private and
mess debts incurred by that officer, and have placed
at the disposal of the Government a sum equal to
the amount of his defalcation. This, at all events,
will save his sureties from sufferingloss. Col.M'lver,
11th Regiment Liverpool Artillery Volunteers, and
family, with Dr. Ward, Mr. Morrison, and Mr.
Wood, left Malta on Monday for England via Mar-
seilles ; Major Brine, R.E., Major Thatcher and
family, and Lady Hotham left on Friday week also
for Marseilles and England. Mr. P. D. Hadow and
Mr. L. S. Dawson, R.N., left by the Nyanza for
Southampton. Capt. Barton left on Monday for
Sicily and Italy. Capt. and Mrs. Moore arrived the
same day from Sicily. On Tuesday last the Bishop
of Gibraltar held a confirmation at the Anglican
Church of St. Paul in Valetta ; 152 candidates were
confirmed, nearly all being seamen, marines, boys,
and officers of the ships of the squadron. The re-
giments of the garrison having been here a long
time, and having had many opportunities, there
were but few men left who had not availed them-
selves of them, which will account for the small
number of soldiers present. Her Majesty's ship
Phcebe will return from Naples in a fortnight. The
Victoria, 102 (bearing the flag of the Commander-
in-Chief), leaves to-morrow for a cruise.

The Duke of Cambridge, Field-Marshal Com-
manding-in-Chief, accompanied by Sir Richard
Airey, Quartermaster-General, Col. Jervis, Royal
Engineers, Col. Gambier, Royal Artillery, and Col.
Clifton, Aide-de-Camp, arrived in Weymouth on
Thursday evening at 5 20 from Plymouth. After
inspecting the works now in course of construction
on the Nothe, at the entrance to Weymouth har-
bour, his Royal Highness and suite repaired to the
Gloucester Hotel, the same house which was for-
merly occupied by King George 111. when residing
atWeymouth. Yesterday morning the party inspected
the works on the Verne and the Breakwater, Mr.
John Coode, the engineer, being in attendance upon
them, and after the inspection his Royal Highness
and suite returned to Weymouth, and proceeded by
the South-Western 12 20
p.m. train to Lymington,
thence by steamer to Hurst Castle, where the forts
in progress were inspected, after which they pro-
ceeded to Portsmouth. The Fire Queen steam
yacht left Portsmouth at an early hour in the morn-
ing for Hurst to embark his Royal Highness, after
having visited the defensive works, and at 6 p.m.
the Fire Queen again hove in sight from the ram-
parts of Portsmouth, steaming
up from the west-
ward, with the Royal standard at the main, denot-
ing the presence of the duke on board, which
received a royal salute from the guns of her Ma-
jesty's ships Victory and Liverpool (the latter ship
lying at Spithead), and from the saluting battery
of the garrison on the King's bastion of the town
fortifications. The course of the Fire Queen was
continued through Spithead to the eastward until
the marine forts intended to guard its eastern en-
trance from the Channel, and now rising above
high-water mark on the " Noman" and " Horse"
shoals, were reached. Of these the duke made a
short inspection, at the close of which the Fire
Queen steamed for the entrance of Portsmouth
harbour, where his Royal Highness landed, and was
received by Major-Gen. Lord W. Paulet, C. 8., Ad-
miral Sir M. Seymour, G.C.8., Col. Alison, C. 8.,
Assist.-Adjutant-General, Col. Shadwell, Assist.-
Quartermaster-General, and other members of the
Military and Naval Commanders-in-Chief at
Portsmouth. The duke proceeded after landing to
Government-house, where he remains the guest of
Major-Gen. Lord W. Paulet, C. 8., during his stay
at Portsmouth.

A new battery of 20-pounder Armstrong guns,
with appurtenances complete, is now in readiness in
Woolwich Arsenal, to be forwarded to Shorncliffe
for field practice with the 9th Brigade, Royal Artil-
lery, stationed there.

Capt. and Brevet-Major Pasley,R.E., who acts as
agent in this country for the Colonial Government
of Melbourne, has purchased of the War D epartment
a complete battery of. six 40-pounder guns, which
are now ready for shipment in Woolwich Arsenal,
for the Colonial War Department at Victoria.

The Armstrong and
engagedlVhiarth
Woolwich inlCommitteethe
efinal
guns —a 70-pounder
twriearleoyfeostneerdoafythe
competitive
muzzle-loading shunt gun, which has already fired
1,600 rounds at Shoeburyness. Notwithstanding a
serious rent in the inner tube, from the effects of the
firingvt charges t Shoeburyness,
the gunhas borne 200 rounds,
of powder and a 701 b. shot,
ila
and appears likely to endure the 800 rounds ,the
service trial—to which the gun is ordered to be sub-
ofi.
oi h .
sub-
jected in the cells at Woolwich.

Official information has been received at Wool-
wich announcing the arrival of the hired transport
Shannon off the Lizard on the 19th inst. from India,
with the A and B batteries of Col. Huyshe's C
Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery. The Shannon,
1,292 tons burden, sailed from Calcutta on the 14th
of January, having ample provisions on board for
120 clays. Her troops consist of Capt. and Brevet-

The ships of war on the Australian station afthe
date of the last advices were the Harrier, 17, Act-
ing-Commander Swan, at New Zealand; the
Miranda, 14, Capt. Jenkins, at New Zealand ; the
Eclipse, 4, Commander Freemantle, at New Zea-
land ; the Curacoa, 23, Commodore Sir W. Wise-
man, at New Zealand ; the Esk, 21, Capt. Lucie,
at New Zealand ; the Falcon, 17, Commander
Parkin, at New Zealand ; Salamander, 4, Com-
mander the Hon. J. Carnegie, on a cruise to the
northward ; and the Brisk, 16, Capt. Hope, at New
Zealand.

The ironclad ship of war Lord Clyde has been
taken out of the dry dock at Pembroke Dockyard,
where she had her iron masts put in, and now lies
at the bier, llobb's Point, under the sheers, receiv-
ing her machinery, smoke-stack, shaft, &c. The
Lord Clyde is expected to prove one of the finest
ironclads in the navy.

The repairs to the boilers and machinery of the
Challenger, 22, 400-horse power, attached to the
Chatham steam reserve, are being hastened forward
with all despatch, as she is required for immediate
commission.

During the past few weeks several hundred ship-
wrights, mechanics, and other workmen have been
employed in working on board the iron-cased frigate
Bellerophon, 14, 1,000-horse power, building at
Chatham Dockyard, until a late hour each evening,
in order to complete the arrangements for the launch
' of that vessel, which is intended to take place on
Wednesday next. The rapidity with which the
Bellerophon has been constructed is altogether with-
out a parallel, it being exactly 12 months since the '
first piece of iron for the keel of the frigate was
lowered into the dock in which she now lies. The
contrast is the more marked when the length of time
the Achilles, Minotaur, Agincourt, and others of our
iron-plated frigates were under construction is taken
into consideration. Little more than four months
have elapsed since the first armour-plate was bolted
to the side of the Bellerophon, and yesterday after-
noon fully one-thixti of the anuour which will onr.n gt,
the sides of the vessel from stem to stern had been
fixed in its place. Unlike most of our iron-plated
ships, the Bellerophon will be launched with a con-
siderable portion of her armour-plating attached to
her, and a comparatively brief period will therefore
suffice to complete her in all respects for sea.