The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-02 00:00:00

72rE NAVY.

Letters dated Jan. 21 have been received at Ply-
mouth from an fficer of the screw steam corvette
Charybdis, 21, Capt. the Hon. G. D. Keane. She
had le .t Yokahama and arrived at Jeddo, in Japan,
where she lay four miles from the shore. The
officers were allowed to land only for the pur-
pose of going to the residence of the British Minis-
ter, and then it was necessary for them to be armed
with sword and pistol. They were not permitted to
go into the city without a special invitation by the
Minister. An armed escort accompanied them wl•en
they did go, and they were not allowed to enter any
of the shops. Thirty Marines from the corvette
were protecting the Minister's house. The Imperial
Government continued faithful, but the numerous
armed retainers of the nobles were constantly threat.
ening aggression. Fourteen Marines kept guard at
the house of the British Resident at Yokahama.
The British seamen were healthy.
The Rolla, training brig for naval apprentices at
Portsmouth, Lieut.-Commanding C. G. Nelson, is
ordered by the Admiralty to leave Portsmouth to-
morrow and anchor off Osborne, for the purpose of
receiving his Royal Highness Prince Alfred on board
each day during his stay at Osborne, to acquire
practice, under the supervision of Lieut. Nelson,
in carrying out the various duties of the ship. The

Prince was under Lieutenant Nelson's tuition on
board the Rolla for a period of six months before
joining the Euryalus frigate. Lieut. Nelson was
gunnery lieutenant on board the Imperieuse frigates
carrying the broad pendant of Commodore Watson,
in the Baltic, and has now commanded the Rolla for
five years and seven months.

Rear-Admiral Lewis Tobias Jones, K.C.8., yes-
terday hoisted his flag on board the St. Vincent at
Portsmouth pro forma, as Commander-in-Chief at
Cork, receiving the usual honorary salute from the
guns of the ship_
The Victory, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir H. W.
Bruce, Naval Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth,
struck her winter poles yesterday and sent up top-
masts and topgallant masts for the summer.
The Java target ship was towed down Porchester
Creek yesterday to have a sample armour plate
from Rigby and Beardmore's Works, Glasgow,
affixed to her side for the purpose of being tested.
The Java has now some sample plates attached
to her sides, which have been lately tested, and
found to be very ill-suited to resist shot.
The Royal Alfred, converting at Portsmouth from
a 90 gun line-of-battle ship to a 50 gun iron plated
frigate, has a large number of hands employed on
her, and has the major part of her outer planking
on her sides. She is an object of much curiosity
from the peculiar conformation of her bow and
stern, her stem falling inboard from the water line,
and being without the ordinary headrails, figure
head, &c. Her stern at present has an unusually
ugly appearance, the junction of the two sides ter-
minating above the sternpost in an apex, which,
were it not for the rudder and screw aperture below,
might be taken, not unreasonably, to be the running
down beak of the ship. The Royal Alfred is now in
just such a state that she could be finished as a six-
cupola ship for Sir W. Armstrong's 300 pounders.
She would he, beyond all comparison, far more effec
tive as such than she evercan be as a 50 gun frigate.
Considerable surprise has been expressed in naval
circles at Portsmouth at the statement of Lord C.
Paget, in reply to Mr. Osborne, in the House of
Commons on Monday evening, that a ship was now
being built on Capt. Coles's cupola plan. It is well
known that all that has been done is the prepara-
tion of drawings. Private builders have been invited
to tender for her construction, but beyond this
nothing whatever has been done. It is believed even
that the firms who intend tendering have not yet
sent their communications in to 'the Admiralty.
The Diadem, 32, sctew, Capt. Scott, steamed from
Spithead into Portsmouth harbour yesterday, to
dismantle and pay out of commission.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Captain Francis Scott,
C. 8., of the Orlando, to the Diadem,vice Randolph ;
Captain George G. Randolph, of the Diadem, to
the Orlando, vice Scott; Alfred. Whitehouse, pay-
master to the Colossus, for shore service; W. P.
Carrigan, paymaster, to the Colossus ; Francis D.
B. Smith, clerk, to the Madagascar; William Trew,
assistant-clerk to the Revenge; and Charles Nicolli,
assistant-clerk, to the Victory.