The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-01 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The commodore superintendent and officials of
Woolwich dockyard yesterday received instructions
from the Admiralty Board to be in attendance at
Gravesend on Sunday afternoon next in order to
direct the arrangements for the embarkation at that
port, for the Continent, of the Prince and Princess
of Prussia (Princess Royal of England) and family,
who will take their departure in the royal yacht
Osborne.

The hired transport Ruth has commenced ship-
ping at Woolwich the remainder of the hutting
materials prepared for use in Bermuda, a former
cargo having been shipped in the Lady Milne.

Instructions have been received at Chatham
dockyard directing a mortar vessel to be fitted' up
and attached for training purposes to each of the
training ships for boys and lads at the various ports,
consisting of the Wellesley, 72, at Chatham ; the
Boscawen, 70, at Southampton ; the Implacable,
24, and the Impregnable, 78, at Devonport ; and
the St. Vincent, 26, at Portsmouth. The principal
use to which the mortar boat will be applied will be
that of teaching every lad on board the ships named
to swim, which art will in future form a portion of
the education of every boy entering the navy.
The iron-cased frigate Favorite, 10, 2,094 tons,
400-horse power, Capt. F. H. Shortt, was yesterday
completed by the shipwright department, and, in
accordance with orders previously issued, will be re-
moved out of the steam basin to-day and placed at
anchor near the west shore, near the Medway. She
is fully complete in the various departments, and
only awaits the reception of her guns and sea stores
to be ready for active service whenever required.
Some delay will, however, arise in consequence of
no definite determination having been arrived at as
to the character of the armament she will mount,
no orders having been received at the Ordnance
Department, Chatham, respecting the description
of guns to be supplied to her.
The Cornwallis, old 60-gun screw two-decker,
had a number of shipwrights and other workmen
employed up to a late hour last evening in cutting
away her fore foot and a portion of her keel, in order
that she might be in readiness for being floated out
of No. 3 dock at spring-tide to-day. She is intended
to be sunk near the jetty at the entrance to the
Sheerness steam basin to facilitate the docking and
midocking of ships, for which purpose she has been
razed, her upper deck taken off, and the whole of
her internal machinery and fittings removed.
Her Majesty's screw steam frigate Bristol, 35
guns, Capt. L. E. H. Somerset, flagship of Com-
modore Hornby, left Portland Roads, for the West
Coast of Africa, shortly after noon on Wednesday,
the 29th inst. She had' been detained since the
Sunday previous by:the heavy gales which have
been prevalent in the Channel since she left Spit-
head.

Garrison Serg.-Major Bailey, who has for some

time past been under arrest on the charge of de-
frauding the non-commissioned officers' mess, of
which he was president, of the sum of £63175. 3d.,
has been examined by a court of inquiry at the
Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich. He has been
acquitted of fraud, but has been relieved of the pre-
sidency of the mess, and ordered to refund the
amount in default forthwith.

The half-yearly examination of the gentlemen
cadets by the Council of Military Education will
commence to-day (December 1) at the Royal Mili-
tary Academy at Woolwich, and will extend over a
period of 12 days, after which arrangements
will be made to prepare the classes for the usual
duties preparatory to the visit of the Governor, the
Commander-in-Chief, for the distribution of the
pries, &c.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—The Rev. Henry Glasson, chaplain,
to the St. George ; Robt. H. C. Hebden, second
master, to the Victory ; Charles N. White, mas-
ter's-assist., to the Tainar ; and William Stainer,
master's-assist., to the Spiteful. Mr Baldin H. Wake
has been nominated a naval cadet.

The Wreck of tin Duncan Dunbar.

Yesterday an official inquiry, instituted by direc-

tiou of the Board of Trade, was commenced at the
Greenwich Police-court, before Mr. Trail, the
magistrate, and Captain Baker and Captain Hun-
ter, as nautical assessors, into the circumstances at-
tending the wreck of the Duncan Dunbar, passen-
ger ship, on the 7th of October last, on the reef
known as Les Roccas, on the east coast of Brazil,
while on a voyage from London to Sydney, New
South Wales. Mr. C. J. Cottingham, barrister,
attended for Captain Swanson ; Mr. Peter Gellatly,
of the firm of Gellatly and Sop, for the owners of
the ship ; and Mr. Worsley, bairister, for the second
officer of the ship. Mr. O'Dowd attended to con-
duct the inquiry on behalf of the Board of Trade,
and detailed the circumstances of the shipwreck,
already reported in the newspapers. He observed
that had a beacon been upon the island it was im-
possible but that it must have been observed on the
evening of the wreck, and if the placing of such a
beacon on the island situated in such a high road
from Europe to the Antipodes, whether by the
Brazilian Government or not, was the only result of
the present inquiry, the inquiry would have proved
most useful. He then called John Cooke, the first
officer, who said that he holds a certificate of com-
petency as first mate, dated July 6, 1865, previous

:o which he had held a certificate as second mate

four years. He had served one year as third and
two years as second officer on board the Dun-
can Dunbar. Having given evidence of the vessel
leaving London on her last voyage, he said that
at noon, on the 7th of October, the ship's posi-
tion was lat. 256 S.; and 33 10 W. The wind at
five o'clock on that day was S.E. by S., and the
ship, which was steering a S.W. course, was going
about seven knots an hour. About six o'clock the
ship fell off a point, but came up again almost
instantaneously, and she was kept on the same
course. At this time, also, a seaman was sent up to
the foretopsail-yard, looking out for breakers ahead
and Les Roccas, although, according to his (wit-
ness's) working of the dead-reckoning of the ship,
he believed they had passed 17 miles to the eastward
of Les Roccas. About dusk the second officer was
sent aloft. At 8 o'clock his (witness's) watch com-
menced, and the captain then ordered him, after
stationing the seamen, to go aloft and relieve the
second officer on the main deck, and he told him
thorn was " curious water ahead," and he was going
to tell the captain. Witness then went aloft, and
when on the lower topsail yard he called out
" Breakers ahead." The ship, which almost imme-
diately struck, had gone of three or four points pre-
viously, and afterwards came head to wind. In
answer to questions the witness said no cast of the
lead was taken on the evening of the wreck. Ac-
cording to the chart produced the ship struck on the
north-west portion of the reef, and to the northward
of the spot where a beacon was marked as formerly
being placed. He had made four voyages to Sydney,
and had sighted Pernambuco, but had never before
been so far westward as Les Roccas. There was an
allowance made of two knots an hour for westwardly
currents and lee way. He remembered making the
alterations in the logbook, pointed out at the time
the original entries were made, and which was entered
in mistake. His opinion was that had the second
officer sung out when he first saw danger, and the
helm of the ship been put up or down, the vessel
might have cleared the reef. After some evidence
as to the course adopted with the view of saving the
ship after the wreck, the inquiry was adjourned.

BREAKFAST BEVERAGE.—Homoeopathic practitioners, and
the medical profession generally, recommend cocoa as being
the most healthful of all beverages. When the doctrine of
homoeopathy was first introduced into this country, there
were to be obtained no preparations of cocoa either attrac-
tive to the taste or acceptat le to the stomach ; the nut was
either supplied in the crude state, or so unskilfully mann-
iactured .as to obtain little notice. J. Epps, of London,
homceopathic chemist, was induced in the year 1839 to turn
his attention to this subje t, and at length succeeded, with
the assistance of elaborate machinery, in being the first to
produce an article pure in its composition, avid so refined by
the pethet trituration it receives in the process it passei
through, as to be most acceptable to the delicate stomach.
For general use Epps' cocoa is distinguished as an invigo-
rating, grateful breakfast beverage, with a delicious aroma
Dr. Hassan in his work, "Food and its Adulterations,"
says—" Cocoa contains a great variety of important nutritive
principles; every ingredient necessary to the growth and
sustenance of the body." Again, "As a nutritive, cocoa
stands very much higher than either coffee or tea." Direc-
tions : —Two teaspoon tuls of the powder in a breakfast cup,
filled up with boiling water or milk. Secured in tin-lined
1-Ib., i-lb , and 11b. labelled packets, and sold at is. Gd. per
lb. by grocers, confectioners, and chemists.