The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-08 00:00:00

711 E NAVY.

An Admiralty circular has been received at Chat-
ham, in which the Lords of the Admiralty call the
attention of the commanding officers of her Majesty's
ships to the accidents which have recently occurred
from the practice of driving out shells from the
Armstrong guns. Their lordships direct that in
tuture no attempts are to be made to remove a shell
from an Armstrong gun in this way. In the event
of a gun being loaded with shell at the cessation of
practice it should be fired off, or if it be advisable
not to fire, the shell should be allowed to remain in
the gun, after extracting the cartridge, until a con-
venient opportunity occurs for removing it.
The screw corvette Cossack, 20, 250-horse power,
attached to the Chatham steam reserve, has been
removed into the steam basin, where she is under-
going a thorough repair of machinery. Her boilers
have been found so defective that they will require
to be replaced by new ones.
A letter received at Plymouth from an officer
belonging to the paddlewheel steam sloop Spiteful,
6, Commander W. C. F. Wilson, dated Halifax,
Sept. 24, states that she had just arrived there from
the West Indies with yellow fever on board. Six
deaths had occurred in six days. As the ship ap-
proached a colder latitude the disease gradually dis-
appeared. The Spiteful was expected to remain
some time at Halifax.
The Sultan, old line-of-battle ship and recently
used as an armour-plate target ship, has been
stripped of her broken armour and towed out of
Portsmouth harbour to a position on the shoals
south-east of the Warner, for ricochet firing with
Armstrong shells and experiments with Petman's
and other fuses. _ _

Her Majesty's paddle yacht Victoria and Albert,
Capt. G. H. Soymour, C. 8., is held in readiness at
Portsmouth to proceed to Antwerp to convey her
Majesty to England at the conclusion of the Royal
visit to Germany. The yacht has not yet received
her final orders, but she is expected to sail from
Portsmouth on Friday or Saturday next.
Capt. the Hon. J. R. Drummond, C. 8., has re-
sumed his official duties at the Admiralty, after
spending the customary vacation of two months in
Scotland.

Rear-Admiral Lord Clarence Paget, CM., M.P.,
returns to the Admiralty to-day from his seat in
Wales, to resume his duties as First Secretary of
the Admiralty.
An Admiral's good service pension is placed at
the disposal of the First Lord of the Admiralty by
the death of Admiral Sir James W. D. Dundas,
G.C.8., who was appointed to the pension in April
this year.

BY the promotion of Capt. Wm. Hehry Anderson
Moorhead, C. 8., to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the
Blue, consequent on the demise of Admiral Sir
James W. D. Dundas, a captain's good service pen-
sion becomes vacant.
In order to test the relative value of certain com-
positions for preserving the bottoms of iron ships,
the Lords of the Admiralty have given directions to
use the bottom of the iron steam tank vessel Minx,
at Plymouth, for that purpose. A portion, 40 feet
broad, extending from the bends to the keel is to be
divided into four sections of 10 feet each, on which
will be applied the compositions of Mr. Hayes, the
Queen's chemist, Portsmouth ; Mr, Finnemore, che-
mist, Plymouth ; Mr. Elsworth ; and Mr. Edwards,
Assistant Master-Builder of Devonport dockyard.
The Minx is employed in supplying water to the
Channel fleet. At the end of three months her
condition is to form the subject of a special report
by some competent Government authority.
An experiment was by order of the Lords of the
Admiralty tried on Monday in Keyham basin, De-
vonport, on board the gunboat Jackdaw. Pipes of
above a foot in diameter have been fitted to the
vessel, one en each side, having communication be-
low the water-line amidships and at the bows. The
ship was lashed about the waist to a buoy, and the
valves connected with the pipes having been opened
the force of the steam of the ship's engines was
brought on each pipe alternately, so as to drive the
water out at the bow and cause the ship's head to
turn in the contrary direction, which is the object
of the invention. The experiment was conducted
under the superintendence of the officers of the
Steam Reserve, and is said to have been successful.
The first step on the part of the authorities
towards the extension of the dock and basin ac-
commodation of Portsmouth dockyard has at length
been taken in the setting out of a large space of the
mud adjoining the north end of the yard, and in
the boring now being carried on in several parts
of the ground set out to ascertain the nature of the
soil underneath. The estimates which have been
called for by the Admiralty are for only about one-
fourth of the plans which will be ultimately carried
out. They include two basins, having an area of
upwards of 40 acres, together with several docks of
the largest description, capable, in fact, of taking
in ships of larger tonnage than the Northumberland
and Minotaur now building, which, when launched,
will be the largest ship in the British navy. The
channel which unites the harbours of Langston and
Portsmouth to Chichester—is to be widened to 500
feet, which will give admission from Langston to
Portsmouth harbour of an immense additional
volume of water, and add to the scour of its ebb
tide. The channel that has heretofore existed
between the two harbours was only about 120 feet,
but through this the tide flowed into Portsmouth
harbour from Langston two hours after .the ebb
tide had run from the former's entrance between
the Blockhouse and Point spits. This is one of the
most important measures ever taken in connection
with Portsmouth harbour, and, perhaps, if some such
means were adopted as were recommended by Sir
John Rennie many years ago, the erection of lock-
gates at Langston harbour entrance, to close at
the end of the flood, the whole of the ebb of
both harbours might be made available for Ports-
mouth alone when required, and dredging the bed
of the harbour or its entrance-channel might be en-
tirely put aside from all future consideration. This
increase of width in front of the Hilsea lines will
also considerably modify the original plans for the
outworks in advance of the main line, the huge horn-
works with which it was intended to cover the
turnpike and railway roads through these works
will now be dispensed with, and each road covered
by a tete-de-pont, greatly lessening the cost. An
inner moat of good width and depth, with appliances
for retaining the water at all times of tide, will run
between the wide channel way and the line of works.
In The Sun of Monday, the 29th ult., it was re-
ported
that but for the instantaneous removal of a
quantity of coal from the North Smithery store, in
the Devoepen aock yard ,a conflagration might have
occurred.
Originally, the two compartments con-
tained 600 tuna, of which about 60 tons were then
removed. Since that time a constant watch has
been kept, and 6. daily
record kept of the condition
of the fuel. In the northern compartment the ther-
mometer has ranged trnral24tolso; in the southern
from 120 up to 215. on Thursday, the 2d, when
the thermometer was plate in the iron testing-
pipe, which is embedded
holtizontally in the coal, the
glass bulb and the solder of its tin case were melted,
and the operator's hands were scalded. On another
occasion when the iron pipe was
removed, charred
coal was found adhering to it outside. The contents
of both compartments were under removal last
week, but on Sunday the indications of combustion
were so unmistakable that a gang of men
was put
to work, and on Monday 40 labourers were appointed
to keep c Arts running until the store is cleared. The
atmosphere at Plymouth during the past Week has
been very heavy, and the sun has occasionally v.
been
very powerful. The thermometer on Monday et 5
p.m, stood at 64 deg. The Devonport coal store is
in its present condition very ill suited for its duty.
The rear is against the face of the natural rock,
which is always damp; the upper part is used as a
carpenter's shop ; it covers the entire area, and thus
prevents ventilation, and there is but one entrance,
so that, unless emptied occasionally, some of the coal
may remain for a very long time in the rear. When
probably be
the store is remodelled, the coal will
stored above the level of that part of the yard, so as
to fall down iron shutes into the smithery carts.
be supplied.
Ventilators with cowl heads will also
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Lieut. Albert L. Nugent, to
the Virago ; John R. Ryan, master, to the
Leopard; the Rev. R. Measham, chaplain, to the