The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-02 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Instructions have been received at Chatham
directing the whole of the 12i-ton 300-pounder
smoothbore Armstrong, with which the ironclad
frigate Bellerophon, 1,000 horse-power, is to be
worked by means of the machinery invented by Mr.
Reed, the Chief Constructor of the navy. It has
been already fitted, for experimental purposes, to
one of the guns on board the Bellerophon, on which
the invention has been submitted to a variety of
tests with the most satisfactory results. The ma-
chinery by which each of the guns and its fittings,
together w eighing 27 tons, are manceuvred is ex-
ceedingly simple, and by its means two seamen can
train the gun in less than a minute. Not the least
important and valuable feature in the invention is
that the mechanical arrangements by which the gun
is worked are placed below the gun battery. They
are thus removed from injury by a hostile shot. It
had been intended to have the Bellerophon com-
pleted in readiness for undocking by the end of the
present month ; but an order received from Chat-
ham directs the date for her completion in readiness
for being floated out of dock to be altered to the
31st of January. There is still a large amount of
work to be completed on board. The riggers have
set up a portion of the wire-standing rigging, and
are now preparing the running gear.

The Orestes screw corvette arrived at Ports-
mouth yesterday, in tow of the paddle-steamer
Medusa. She is ordered to be brought forward for
commission.

The Edgar, screw line of battle ship, Capt. T.
Brandreth, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Sidney C.
Dacres, arrived at Spithead yesterday morning from
the coast of Ireland. It is expected that she will go
into Portsmouth harbour this morning to dismantle
and pay out of commission.

One of the iron mortar boats in the Portsmouth
reserve has been lying afloat in that harbour for
some months, coated below her water line with pre-
servative and anti-fouling compositions, the prepa-
rations of various persons who have come forward
to assist the Admiralty in.devising a safe method of
preserving and keeping clean the bottoms of iron
ships. This mortar boat has now been brought
down to Portsmouth harbour,,and placed in dock,
where the different compositions have been surveyed
by the officials of the yard and reported upon.
Some of them appear to have stood very well, as
they generally do where no abrasion has taken place,
but the anti-fouling pigments, with one exception,
have utterly faded in preventing the growth of ma-
rine matter. The one instance alluded to is a pre-
paration of mercury. There is one preservative
composition, however, that from its novelty and
the well-known name and reputation of the officer
who has suggested its use deserves more than the
passing notice we have given to the others. This is
nothing more than a coating of Portland cement,
the use of which, and the mode of its application,
were suggested to the Admiralty by Captain Coles,
R.N. The patch of cement has been on the mor-
tar boat's bottom upwards of 12 months, and has
been subjected to considerable rough usage, yet it
retains its hold on the iron, except round the edges
of the frame, as firmly as ever, and remains as hard
as granite. Whether a coating of cement 4.1 f an
inch in thickness over a vessel's bottom could be
applied without producing a damaging effect upon
her speed, by increasing the displacement, is a dis-
tinct question, which must be judged by itself, our
present purpose being to explain how Capt. Coles
proposes to preserve the bottoms of our iron ships
by turning them into stone. Thin iron plates, the
thickness of an ordinary sheet of copper, are taken,
and a series of cuts punched in them, each cut form-
ing three sides of a parallelogram about half an inch
in length and two inches apart. These plates are
next screwed on the ship's bottom by common iron
screws tapped in three-eighths of an inch, the cuts
in the plates being then bent outwards by a chisel
to an angle of about 45 degrees. Covered with these
plates the bottom of the shiphas reached its "hedge-
hog" back form, and to enter on its final stone state
the Roman cement has merely to be applied over all
in the manner followed in buildings on shore. It is
not attempted by Capt. Coles to prevent fouling on
the outer surface of the cement; that he leaves to
the care of the chymists. What he professes to do
is to preserve the iron of the ship's bottom from
oxidation, and make the cement coating serve as
an intermediary between the ship's bottom and any
sheet-copper or anti-fouling mixtures that might be
applied to keep the ship under the water-line free
from marine adhesions of any kind that can affect
the speed of the ship. The advantages that may be
quoted in favour of the cement are-1, rapidity of
application when a ship's bottom has once been pre-
pared ; 2, the possibility of replastering when a
ship's bottom has once been cemented over any por-
tion damaged, by striking on the ground, or by
shot,aiter being without displacing any other portion ; 3,
the
hroapidity with which the cements sets
gggedaypied ; 4, the fact that the cement can
be
ionutprfeetaeret o
protecting
g scraped, or otherwise cleaned with-
its beinc, rubbed off ; 5, its efficacy
thaectiaorl, armour-plates
a von Nopoedrefnectshiinps
from galvanic .
sulator between the iron plating of the ship and
the copper or Muntz metal on her bottom ; and
6, increased strength to the bottom of the ship and
protection to it under certain conditions against the
action of torpedoes. Against the advantages may
be placed the disadvantages of increased displace..
ment and weight of hull, and the possible effect this
would produce upon the ship's speed.
A contractor's trial of the engines of the screw
steam sloop Amazon, 4, took place outside Ply..
mouth Breakwater on Thursday, when the weather
was extremely calm, there being only a light breeze
from the north occasionally. The Amazon is from
lines by Mr. E. R. Reed, Chief Constructor ofb
the
Navy. She is a wooden ship, of 1,081 tons,
uilt
at Pembroke, with a wooden prow, iron deck
beams, and iron masts. Her length is 187 ft., her
breadth 32ft., and her present. draught 13ft. 631 n.
forward ; and 16ft. siin. aft. The sloop is intended
for a first-class despatch gun vessel ; she is full-
rigged, but is not yet supplied with armament or
stores. The fuel on board was about 200 tons. Her
engines, of 300-horse power nominal, are direct
actinghorizontal, with surface condensers, super-
heaters, &c., by Messrs. Ravenhill, Hodgson, and
Co., and are of the same descriptions as those by
that firm on board the Lord Clyde, 24, of which a

very detailed account appeared in The Sun of the
14th of November last. Six runs at the measured
mile under full boiler power produced a mean speed
of 12.053 knots, and two runs at half-boiler power
of 10.319 knots. The load on the safety-valve was
271 b. ; pressure of steam on boilers, 251 b. ; vacuum
in condensers—full power forward, 25i ; aft, 251;
half-power forward, 27 ; aft, 27 ; mean pressure on
cylinders, 26.751 b. ; weather barometer, 30 deg. 10
sec. The propeller was four-bladed, diameter
15ft., pitch 12ft. 6in. The boilers produced
abundance of steam, and the engines worked
most satisfactorily. When put in commission
the Amazon will have a complement of 100 officers
and men, and her armaments will consist of four
guns—viz., two pivot and two broadside. The
latter will weigh each 6 tons, and will carry 1501 b.
shot. The pivots, 64-pounders, will project. The
pivot gun in the bow will be water-borne by the
wooded prow.

The deaths of the following officers have been
officially reportedto the War Department since Nov.
1 :—Major-Gen. J. Eyre, Royal Artillery. Capts.
—W. B. Davenport, 62d Regiment ; J. F. Pilking-
ton, 82d Regiment ; It. Lichfield, Royal Artillery ;
J. Blake, 28th Regiment ; A. Troyer, 4th Ceylon
Regiment ; and W. H. Groves. Lieuts.—T. Lyster,
Royal Engineers ; M. Guard, 2d Batt. 11th Regi-
ment ; H. G. Heath, Ist Batt. 18th Royal Irish ;
H. Batty, 70th Regiment (killed in action, New
Zealand); A. P. Maurice, 91st Highlanders ; and
A. Maclauchlan, 104th Bengal Fusiliers. Ensigns—
A. James, 2d Batt. 25th King's Own Borderers ;
and R. Dundas, Ist Batt. Rifle Brigade; Surgeon-
Major G. Williamson, M.D., 64th Regiment. Surgs.
W. Hanbury, Staff ; H. Fraser, 60th Rifles ; and A.
Cunningham, 86th. Regiment. Assist.-Surgs. J.
Michael, Royal Artillery ; A. Macintyre, M.D., 2d
Batt. 11th Regiment ; and M. Finnucane, and J.
G. S. Mathison, Staff.
In the naval intelligence which appeared in The
Sun of Thursday allusion was made to a newly-in-
vented compressor, the production of Mr. Price,
employed in checking the fall of an anchor-cable.
We are informed that, although the apparatus was
introduced to the Admiralty by Mr. Price, the in-
vention is due to Mr. Alderman, of 2, Savage-gar-
dens, Crutchedfriars.

The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Sub-Lieut. Wm. R. Clutter-
buck, to the Malacca ; G. Fordham, Ist class assist.
engineer, to the Tamar ; T. Conroy, acting-assist.
surgeon, additional, to the Victory ; C. B. Green-
field, acting-assist. surgeon, additional, to the
Royal Adelaide ; and Allen C. Dennys, second
master, to the Oberon.

THE VOLUNTEERS.

THE 19TH MIDDLESEX.

The distribution of prizes to the successful coma
petitors in the recant shooting of the corps took
place last evening at Westminster-hall, in the pre-
sence of a large number of spectators. Colonel
Erskine, inspector general of volunteers, attended
on the occasion. •

Lieut.-Colonel HUGHES, M.P., commandant, in
opening the proceedings, said that this was the fifth
occasion on which the corps had met in Westminster
Hall for the purpose which had called them together
on that evening. It was always customary on these
occasions to give a brief history of the corps during
the past year, and he was happy to say at once that
the history he should have to give them that night
was a prosperous and satisfactory one. (Hear, hear.)
To come first to the commonest test—namely, the
test of numbers. The 19th Middlesex mustered in
1864 649 members, and this year their enrolled
strength was 641, so that during the year it would
be seen they had lost eight of their number. On the
other hand, of course, a regiment might have very
large numbers and yet might not be a very efficient
corps. Now, in the matter of efficiency they had
made a small gain, but such, he thought, as more
than compensated the loss they had sustained in
numbers. The efficients were in the year 1864 489,
and in this year they were 491. He was happy to
say that the musters of the corps on all occasions
when they had been called out—on the occasion of
their inspection and the great review at Brighton—
had been extremely satisfactory. (Hear, hear.) At
the time of inspection the enrolled strength of the
corps Alas 622, and they had on parade on that oc-
casion the large number of 461. lie attributed
that in a great measure to the plan they adopted
this year of having their inspection very early in
the year, and that was done partly under a certain
sort of vanity. The 19th Middlesex was the first
regiment ever inspected by their late inspector
general, Colonel M‘Murdo, and they had deter-
mined, if possible, to be the first metropolitan
regiment that should be inspected by their present
inspector general, Colonel Erskine, in which un-
dertaking they had succeeded. (Hear, hear.) At
Brighton they mustered 447, which, considering the
numbers of the corps, was again an extremely satis-
factory muster. (Hear, hear.) This year there
had been three battalion prizes given for attendance
at drill, and the members of each company had had
an opportunity of attending 62 drills of the regi-
ment and of their company. All these three
prizes had been won by members of No. 2 Com-
pany, all of whom had attended every one of the
62 drills. (Applause.) As regarded shooting,
the returns this year, he was sorry to say,
showed a considerable falling off in the numbers
who had been able to pass through the various
classes, for whereas in 1864, when they had their
own range at Thornton Heath, they passed 205
members through all their classes ; in this year they
had only managed to pass 148 men. That was a
falling off which they must all deeply regret, and
the cause of it was that their present shooting range
was at such a very great distance (Epsom) from
London that the men found it very difficult to get
time to go down in order that they might shoot
through their classes. Notwithstanding, there was
about a third of the regiment who had managed to
shoot through their classes, and when they con-
sidered that these men performed on an average a
journey of 150 miles in order to do so, he must say
that the return of the average shooting of the corps
was still one of which they might reasonably feel
proud. Their success in shooting during the year
had not been quite so great as last year ; but still on
the whole it had been creditable. With respect to
their finances, he was again sorry to say that they
were not in so satisfactory a condition as they could
wish. At the same time he did not mean to say
that they were not perfectly able to bear.the
debt they had upon their shoulders. They were
about £lOO behindhand, and that deficiency was due
to the expense to which they had thisyear, been put
with regard to a rifle range. It should be remem-
bered that that corps received no help from out-
side, but if any lady or gentleman desired to become
an honorary member the present was a good oppor-
tunity for doing so—(a laugh)--and he would
answer that they should find themselves in good
company. Although they had only four honorary
members, yet one of these was a Cabinet Minister,
Earl De Grey ; another was a very distinguished
general, Sir De Lacy Evans ; and a third was
a most distinguished judge, Vice-Chancellor
Kindersley ; and the fourth was their late
commander, Colonel Bathurst. (Cheers.) They
had this year spent a good deal of money in
getting into their present head-quarters, but
be believed they were thoroughly worth what money
had been expended upon them. The members of
the corps had now a club where they might meet
which
socially together, and they had also a gymnasium,
affording
an opportunity for physical education,
wa
as
corpsone
c ooufldthhaevem. os(tHeeassre,nhteaiar.)
lanTdhueseful
things hon.
member having expressed his conviction that the
19th Middlesex was in established
permanence, and
that its prosperity no longer depended upon any
one, two, or three persons, said that the tone of the
corps was all that he could wish it to be, and ten-
dered, in conclusion, his thanks to the officers for
the thoroughly brotherly spirit in which they had
worked together—a spirit which could not fail to
permeate the whole corps. (Hear, hear.)
Mrs. Hughes then distributed the prizes, of which
there were upwards of 100, representing an aggre-
gate value of something more than £2OO.
At the conclusion of the ceremony of distribution,
Colonel ERSKINE briefly addressed the volunteers.
He remarked that it must be a great pleasure to all