The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-26 00:00:00

711 E NAVY.

The official trial at the measured mile of the iron
frigate Black Prince, Capt. J. F. B. Wainwright,
was deferred at Portsmouth yesterday owing to the
force of the wind. It will take place to-day, should
the weather prove to be more favourable.

The Victoria and Albert, Royal paddle yacht,
Captain G. H. Seymour, C. 8., will sail from Ports-
mouth at 6 a.m. to-morrow morning for Gravesend,
in readiness to convey her Ma.ptity and Court to.
the Continent on the occasion of the forthcoming
Royal visit to Germany.
The Jasper, screw gunboat, cold to the Chinese
Government by the Board of -Admiralty, and re-
named the Amoy, was removed from the steam
basin at Portsmouth yesterday and placed on the
gridiron at the south end of the dockyard, to exa-
mine her copper, valves, &c.
The Sultan target ship, at Portsmouth, is now
having six sample armour plates bolted on her sides
for testing by the Stork gunboat. They consist of
four from the Mersey Steel and Iron Works, two
from the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Company, one
from the Monkbridge Works, and one from Messrs.
Hill and Smith. In February last a 4k-inch plate
from the Thames Iron Shipbuilding Compatiy was
tested on the sides of the Java target-ship and re-
ceived six solid 681 b. shot (the ordinary
cast shot)
within a space of six inches before any parts of the
metal could be-detached. The excellent quality of
this plate attracted considerable notice at the time.
Shortly afterwards, in the course of some similar
experiments on the sides of the same ship, Captain
Hewlett determined to test the plate's resisting
powers still further by firing a wrought-iron shot
at-it from the 95-cwt. gun at the same distance at
which the cast-iron shot had been fired-200 yards,
but with 231 b charge of powder, instead of 16,which
is the ordinary full service charge on all such occa-
sions. The result was that the shot embedded it-
self in the plate to the extent of one half its own
diameter, flattening its diameter on the plates
surface at the point of entry from eight to nine
inches, thus increasing its diameter here one inch.
A bolt is within two inches of the blow ; but there
is not the slightest appearance of a crack in the
metal, surface or otherwise,anywhere in the vicinity
of the shot, which now remains embedded in the
plate, as though it were stuck into a mass of putty.
Small fringes of plate are squeezed out round the
shot. This plate has now been taken off the side
of the Java, and this week will be returned to the
makers, on their application, by order of the Lords
of the Admiralty. As a specimen of ship's plate
armour and its power of resisting shot, this plate
is, perhaps, unequalled, and it should be at once
placed in the International Exhibition.
Her Majesty's screw steamer Cossack, 20, 1,296
tons, 250-horse power, Capt. R. Moorman, was put
out of commission and paid off at the Nore on Satur-
day, after being in commission, upwards of three
years, during which period she was employed on
active duties in nearly every part of the globe.
Owing to the length of time the Cossack was in
commission, only about 30 of the 200 men who joined
the ship at the time she was commissioned return
in her. About 70 medals were distributed to those
of the crew who were engaged in the recent opera-
tions in China With the exception of about 50 men
the whole are continuous service men, and these
have been granted six weeks' run ashore, at the ex-
piration of which they will rejoin one of the guard-
ships at either of the naval ports, in order to be sent
to any ships requiring men. During the time the
Cossack was in commission she sailed and steamed
upwards of 75,000 miles. She will be placed in the
second division of the steam reserve at Chatham.

The ships of war on the Australian station are!
the Fawn, 17, Capt. Cayter, on a cruise ; the Har-
rier, 17, Capt. Sir M. M'Gregor, at New Zealand ;
the Miranda, 14, Capt. Jenkins, on a cruise to the
Fiji Islands, and the Pelorus, 21, Commodore Sey-
mour, at Sydney.
The steam store-ship Supply, Master Commander
Balliston, yesterday went down to Woolwich from
Deptford, laden with victualling stores for the
Mediterranean, and, after shipping dockyard stores,
and adjusting compasses at Greenhithe, will take
her departure for Gibraltar and Malta.
The Netherlands steamer Cyclops, with a number
of officials from the Government departments of
Holland, as visitors to the Great Exhibition, took
her departure from Woolwich Arsenal yesterday
morning.

The Himalaya, screw troopship, Capt. E. Lacey,
with women and children on board, belonging to
regiments in Canada, sailed from Portsmouth at
9.15 a.m. yesterday morning, calling in at Queens-
town to take in the remainder of her complement.
She went out by the Needles passage before a fine
easterly breeze, and with every prospect of a
smooth, pleasant, and speedy passage across to
Queenstown.

Yesterday a party of 80 convicts arrived at the
Chatham convict establishment, from Pentonville,
for the purpose of being employed on the works
now in progress for the enlargement and extension
of Chatham Dockyard. The number of convicts
daily employed in the undertaking exceeds 1,000.
Yesterday the whole of the hands employed on
the Salamis, paddlewheel steamer, under construc-
tion at Chatham dockyard, were transferred to the
armour-plated frigate Royal Oak, which, with the
exception of the iron frigate Achilles, 50, now ab-
sorbs the whole of the available strength of the
dockyard, the most strenuous exertions being used
to have her complete and ready for launching by
the date ordered, the 10th prox.
The following circular has been received by the
shipping masters in the Tyne :
" General Register and Record-office of Seamen,
Adelaide-place, London-bridge, Aug. 19.
44 my dear Sir,-4 this day forward you a Shipping
Gazette containing the copy of a letter addressed to myself
by Captain Hough, commanding the steamship Hercules,
reporting praiseworthy conduct of his late crew,
the Naval
composed Reserve men, in withstand-
ing"oal
the offer made to them to desert his ship and
violate their agreement during his recent voyage to
New York. It is desirable the volunteers of that force
should know that all cases of good conduct and eharacter,
and particularly such praiseworthy behaviour as this, is
duly recorded on the Register of the Reserve, in order that
their application to be reinstated at the expiration of their
term of five years, may be favourably considered by reference
to their recorded character ; and in like manner all reported
misconduct, or offences, and particularly desertions and
breach of agreements, are entered, in order that those guilty
of these offences may, at such time, be rejected from the
force. The best means of impressing this information will
he—Firstly, on the delivery of his book, V. 2, to the
volunteer, and afterwards, whenever the agreement for a
voyage is under signature, the person explaining the condi-
tions should then take the opportunity of making this re-
gulation known to every reserve man who may form a
member of the crew. It is the zeal which the shipping
masters have displayed in establishing a measure calculated
to improve the condition of the Merchant Service that the
Naval Reserve has already acquired a standing reputation,
and this reputation can only be maintained by the continued
attention observed in expounding the regulations and ad-
monitions, until they are generally understood by the sea-
men of the United Kingdom.—T have, &c.,
" JAMES 13ovn,
pro Registrar-General of Seamen."