The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-31 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

The Warrior, which left Plymouth on the 21st
inst., arrived at Lisbon on the 29th,and transhipped
her supernumeraries. She encountered gales
throughout the passage, and has sprung her main
yard. The Edgar was to sail from Lisbon for the
West Indies on the 30th inst.

The following is an extract of a letter received
by our Portsmouth correspondent from an officer
attached to the Mexican Expedition, dated Jan, 1,
at sea, off Cape Antonio :—" The following
ships,
composing the Mexican Squadron, are now thus far
on their way to Vera Cruz :—Challenger, 22, screw,
bearing the flag of Commodore Dunlop; Sanspareil,
70, screw, Capt. G. Le G. Bowyear, with the head-
quarters of the Marine Battalion, 450 officers and
men, under the command of Col. Lowder; Mersey,
40, screw, Capt. Caldwell, C.B. ; and St. George,
90, screw, Capt. the Hon. F. Egerton, with the re-
mainder of the Marines on board, equally divided
between them; and the Barracouta and Spiteful,
paddle steamers. The Commodore joined us last
evening from Havannah, where the French and
Spanish forces are collecting. The French contin-
gent amounts to 2,500, including a battalion of
Zouaves from Algeria, and a battery of light rifled
guns. They, as well as the Spaniards, go com-
pletely equipped for the field—horses, mules, trans-
port—everything, in fact, that can render them
complete as a corps d'armee. The Spanish contin-
gent comprises 8,000 men of all arms. We expect
that the whole force will be assembled at Vera Cruz
in about 10 days."
The Calypso, IS, paid off at Chatham a few days
since, is to be fitted for a training ship for the Naval
Coast Volunteers and despatched to one of the large
ports.

The return called for by the Admiralty from the
officials at Chatham Dockyard, relative to the pro-
gress made in the armour-plated screw steamer
Royal Oak, 51 guns, 1,000 horse power, under
construction at that establishment, and the pro-
bable time by which slit will be completed, has
resulted in an order being despatched from
Admiral Robinson, the Controller of the
Navy, directing 100 additional hands to be
placed on board that vessel on Monday next, thus
swelling the number of shipwrights and other
workmen employed on the Royal Oak to 400 men,
the greatest anxiety being experienced to have her
completed and launched during the present sum-
mer. With the exception of a few tiers she is now
planked from stem to stern, and in a few days will
be ready to receive her armour-plates, which are
being forged at the Thames Iron Company's works,
Blackwell. To render her as compact as possible,
the whole of her ribs, timbers, and uprights are
bound together by means of enormous girders of
iron, which are carried obliquely across every tim-
ber in the ship. In this respect the Royal Oak is
constructed differently from the sister ship Cale-
donia, building at Woolwich, which has her iron
girders carried outside her timbers. In planking the
exterior the utmost care has been taken to have no-
thing but the soundest description of teak, the
slightest flaw in the timber insuring its immediate
rejection, it being of paramount importance that no
repairs should be required to be effected in her
planking for a considerable time to come, as the
slightest alteration would require the removal of her
armour-plates. The sides of the Royal Oak will
present a solid wall of 29 inches thickness of oak
and teak, her exterior and interior planking being
each 8 inches thick, and her timbers 13 inches. Her
armour-plates, which will completely encase her
from stem to stern, will be of the toughest iron pos-
sible, and of an uniform thickness of 4i inches. The
contract price for each plate is somewhere about
£l2O, and as nearly 500 plates will be required for
her, their prime cost alone will amount to about
£60,000. In addition to this, however, the plates
will have to be bent to the shape of the ship's side,
which will again add to the cost of each.
Private letters have been received by our Chat-
ham correspondent, from the West Indies, giving
some further details respecting the loss of her Ma.•
jesty's ship Conqueror, 101, 3,265 tons, 800 horse
power, Capt. E. S. Sotheby, C.B. The Conqueror
was wrecked on the morning of DEC. 30, on a rock
known as the Rum Crag, on her way to Bermuda,
from Port Royal, which she had left but a few days.
The pinnace of the Conqueror, with some of the offi-
cers and crew, arrived at Port Royal,Jamaica, on the
Bth inst.,when CommodoreDunlop,C.B.,immcdiately
despatched the Cygnet, 5, Commander A. T. Thrupp,
to render her assistance. The Cadmus, 21, Capt. H
S. Hillyar, C. 8., arrived at St. Thomas's on the 7th
inst., all well. The Rinaldo, 17, Commander W. N.
W. Hewett, having on board the Confederate com-
missioners, arrived at St. Tilhinas's on the 14th inst.
The United States sloop of war Iroquois, was also
at St. Thomas's on the same date.
-The Armstrong shot and shell for the iron frigate
Defence, 18, Capt. R. A. Powell, C. 8., were shipped
from the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, yesterday. The
quantity of both supplied her is very large, and
will include 100 cases of filled and 80 cases of loose
common 100 pounder shell, 80 cases filled and 110
empty of the 100-pounder segment shell, together
with a proportionate supply of shell for the smaller
Armstrongs. She also takes 160 boxes of solid 100.
pounder Armstrong shot and 100 boxes of smaller
Armstrong shot. The Defence finished drawing
her stores yesterday, and the next few days will see
the whole of the work remaining to be done on

board completed. Her officers and crew will turn
over from the Gloucester, 50, on board which they
have been accommodated, on Tuesday next, and it

is probable she will leave Chatham for Portsmouth
either on that or the following day.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :
Lieutenant Horace W. Rochfort, to the Euryalus.
Masters'-Assistants—Allen Wonham, to the Euryalus;
Francis Darbeshire to ditto.
Assistant-Surgeon—Richard C. M'Clements, to the
Hawke.
Engineers—J. A. Wilson to the Indus, for Lee; J. Ross
to the Indus, as supernumerary; W. Ash to the Hawke, for
Blazer ; T. Millar to the Blenheim, for Amelia ; G.
Batchelor (acting) to ditto, for Britomart.
First-Class Assistant-Engineers—J. Bates, to the Blen-
heim, for the Eatcourt; D. Hughes, to ditto, for the Clinker,
Ni. wceTouornd,etro; J. Cliff,
fifto,r the Charon;toditto,fort
J.
RaG. veßn,avrircoewS, utomntehre;
A
Hawke, for the Rose; J. T. Page, to ditto, for the Sandfly;
A. Watt, to ditto, for the Griper; A. Borthwick, to ditto,
for Highlander.
Second-class Assistant -Engineer A. Forrest, to the
Blenheim, for Julia.