The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-16 00:00:00

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

SHREWSBURY RACES—This DAT.
BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
GROBY STAKES.

Donnybrook
Hesper 2
Naiad
.._. 3

Five ran.
GOLD CUP.

Moulsey
Miss Williams

1
2

Fivo ran.

Naval and Military Intelligence.

By a War Department order transmitteil to Wool-
wich the heads of departments at the Royal Arsenal
are instructed to receive and despatch by the readiest
conveyance to her Majesty's troops in Jamaica a
large supply of medicines and hospital and surgical
stores, supplied by Messrs. Savory and Moore and
other contractors, ammunition, fuses, &c., with
a complete battery of Royal Artillery guns, ambu-
lances, waggons, &c. A large proportion of the stores
was yesterday transmitted to Southampton by Pick-
ford's vans, and will be forwarded thence by the
mail packet to sail to-morrow, the 17th.
Two officers, four sergeants, and 18 privates of the
4th depot battalion have proceeded from the camp
at Colchester to Landguard Fort, Harwich, for tar..
get practice, and two officers, one sergeant, and 30
privates of the Bth depot battalion have been with-
drawn from Landguard Fort.
The first division of the Depot Brigade RoyalAr-
finery, under the command of Lieut.-Col. C. Wad-
dell, consisting of five batteries, has commenced the
system of weekly marches into the country by the
officers and men. The order directing the marching
out authorises each march to extend over a period
varying from two to four. hours. On each occasion

a sketch of the country traversed is to be made by
one of the officers of the division, while the troops
will occasionally be exercised in throwing forward
advanced and recalling rear guards, with such other
movements connected with route marching as the
nature of the country will admit of.

Instructions have been received at the shipwright
department at Chatham dockyard from the Admi-

ralty as to the vessels to be completed, repaired, and
fitted, together with the programme of works gene-
rally to be undertaken at that establishment during
the remainder of the financial year. The chief of
these will be the commencement of the two new
vessels ordered to be built from Mr. E. J. Reed's
itnhgaarmn
oeunrtiprelalytenselovfkingrdeaotf
tihroinnkcnlaedsa,, toanbde
designs, viz., the Hercules and the Blanche, the
fceoramt eedr being an entirely new kind of ironclad, to be
coated wi
the latter an improved frigate (unarmoured) of the
Amazon class, and intended to carry a battery of a
few guns of the heaviest calibre. The drawings
and plans of both vessels are now in the hands of
the draughtsmen employed in the designing depart-
ment of the dockyard for the preparation of the
sectional drawings and moulds for each ship. Tho
Hercules will be constructed with a thickness of
iron running along her broadside of 111 inches,
of which her armour plates alone will be of the
enormous thickness of 9in., or exactly double
the thickness of the armour plates of the Warrior,
which is only protected for some 200 ft. amidships.
The recent experiments made at Shoeburyness on
the Hercules target, constructed with exactly the
same weight of iron and timber per square foot as
is intended to be employed in the vessel, proved in-
contestably that no gun hitherto invented will be
able to propel a shot through the sides. On the oc-
casion of the experiments alluded to three of the
Armstrong 12 ten 300-pounder shunt guns were
fired at a distance of only 200 yards, with. charges
varying from 451 b. to 601 b. of powder. Although
a steel shot of 300 lb. weight and 10} inches in dia-
meter struck the centre of the 9-inch armour plate
with a velocity of rather more than 1,500 ft. per se-
cond, yet the blow was barely sufficient to break

through the armour, and did not injure the backing.
Sir Wm. Armstrong, in a public letter, subsequently
confessed his doubts whether even the 600-pounder
gun would have succeeded in penetrating the target
unless even the enormous 601 b. charges were greatly
increased, whereas no rifled gun yet constructed has
ever been tried at Woolwich with charges exceeding
601 b. of powder. The Blanche is to be laid down
on the slip from which the Lord Warden is to be
launched, and is to be taken in hand as soon as the
work now in progress will admit. The Reindeer,
originally laid down as a 17-gun screw corvette,
but since altered so as to enable her to mount a few
heavy guns, is to be completed and made ready for
launching forthwith. The order also directs the fine
screw unarmoured wooden frigate Ariadne, 26, 800-
horse power (nominal), to be thoroughly repaired
at an estimated cost of £16,000, which will probably
reach £20,000 before she is completein her fitments,
furnished with new boilers, and ready for commis-
sion as the order directs. In addition to the other
vessels ordered to be refitted and repaired at Chatham,
the screw gun vessel Wanderer, 4, 200-horse power,
is to be brought forward for commission, together
with two other vessels, names not mentioned, which
are to be sent to Chatham to be refitted and re-
paired. The programme of work does not include
the ordinary repairs and refit to the harbour craft,
steamers, ships in ordinary, &c.
One of the heavy Woolwich guns, made on the
Duke of Somerset's principle, weighing 12k tons,
and intended to fire a 3001 b. shot, was yesterday
removed from the Royal Gun Factories in Wool-
wich Arsenal to the gun-shed crane, to be mounted
on one of the iron gun carriages made onLieut.-Col.
Shaw's method. In the course of a few days the
gun and carriage will be proved at the Woolwich
butt, and after undergoing a severe test they will be
shipped on board the four-gun iron-cased cupola
ship*Prince Albert, Capt. A. Wilmshurst, now in
basin at Woolwich, and ordered to be completed by
the 30th of December next. The whole of the battery
equipment, it appears, is ordered to be composed of
wrought iron, yet, notwithstanding the orders to
that effect, it is stated that a lingering regard for
their favourite hobby has induced the carriage
department authorities to supply the slides and plat-
forms of wood. These latter having been made before
the final orders were issued for the substitution of
iron have not since been recalled, butonanofficial
investigation shortly to take place, it is expected
that the anomaly will be pointed out and will be
remedied before the ship goes out on trial.
The screw steam frigate Topaze, 39, is being
rigged at Devonport for the first division of the
Steam Reserve.

The screw steam frigate Doris, 30, has been over-
hauled in Devonport, and prepared for active ser-
vice. It is expected that she will be put into com-
mission shortly.
The following appointments have been made in
the Royal Naval Reserve :—To be Sub-Lieut.—Ed-
win Davies ; to be Hon. Lieut.—Peter Campbell.