The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-12 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The new Board of Admiralty mustered in full numbers
yesterday at Whitehall, and the Right Hon. the First
Lord, Sir J. Graham, with the Secretary, Mr. Bernal
Osborne, M.P., paid their first official visit to Somerset
House.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 11.
We have had nothing but a
.succession of gales. This
morning, at half-past eight, it blew a perfect hurricane
for about half an hour from the southward. The wind
then got up to W.N.W., and promised finer weather. At
two p.m., however, it backed again to S.W., and has
been blowity, and raining a deluge.
The squadron at Spithead have struck topgallant
masts, housed topmasts, got lower yards down, and pre-
pared for a stormy night.
A clipper-built ship, of remarkable length, was brought
up at Spithead about ten a.m. She is called the Chal-
lenge, Capt. Pitts, is nearly 260 feet in length, 46 feet
beam, and over 2,000 tons. She left the Downs on Sun-
day. The boisterous state of the weather drove her in
here. She is bound to Hong-Kong.
Mr. Alfred Balliston, the Acting-Master of her Ma-
jesty's steam-yacht Elfin, has been this day confirmed or
promoted to the rank of Master, and re-appointed to the
command of the Elfin.

The Sidon, 22, paddle steam-frigate, Captain Gold-
smith, got up steam this morning to go to Spithead, being
manned and ready for sea ; but immediately after she
cast off from her hulk some sad fatality overtook her,
and she was compelled to come to an anchor in the,
middle of the harbour. We believe some important por-
tion of her machinery became deranged, which she will
immediately repair.
The Furious, 16, paddle steam-frigate, Captain Lor-
ing, got up steam this morning and proceeded to Spit-
head, to await further orders. She saluted the Acting-
Commander-in-Chief, Rear-Admiral Fanshawe, C. 8.,
on going out.

The Rodney, 90, Captain Charles Graham, C. 8., is
ordered to come into this harbour.
The Simoom iron steam-frigate (screw), 18, Captain
Kingcome, has been detained the past few days for a
freight in specie from the Treasury for conveyance to
Malta for Government service. The money, to the
amount of 10,0001., arrived in special charge from the
Treasury last night, and has since been shipped on
board the Simoom, which will leave for Malta (calling at
Queenstown for troops) as soon
weather moderates.
Th
e Veneance, 84,
Captain Lord Henry Russell, is
ordered to°Devonport, to be "paid down," and refit,
and will sail as soon as the weather moderates. •
The Encounter, 14, screw, Captain O'Callaghan, is
ordered to prepare for sea. as the present stormy
During the awful weather which prevailed yesterday,
two seamen belonging to her Majesty's ship Rodney
were drowned alongside the Victory, at about four
o'clock in the afternoon. It
appears from what we can
glean from various sources, that the boat from the Rod-
ney was on shore, and, unable to return to Spithead in
consequence of the adverse gale blowing, the crew took
her to the flag-ship for shelter. The crew had left the
boat, with the exception of the two boat-keepers, who
were in the act of securing the boat when one of them
was unfortunately knocked off the swinging-boom ; the
other, in the honourable and praiseworthy endeavour to
the life- of his shipmate,
savejumped overboard after
him, but both perished.

SHEERNESS, JAN. 11.
The Agamemnon, 91, Captain Sir Thomas Maitland.
—An accident having happened to the hydraulic pump
which raises and lowers the propeller of this ship, it has
been found necessary to shift all her after guns and stores
from aft to forward, to bring her down in the water bythe
head, for the purpose, if possible, of ascertaining the ex-
tent of the accident. If this cannot be accomplished
she will be taken into dock here these springs to make
good the damage sustained.
- The Cyclops, 6.—ln consequence of a probability of
the Agamemnon requiring to b ' ocked this frigate was
not taken into the fitting basil esterday.
The Myrtle, William S. Bo Ver, got up steam yes-
terday at noon, and proceed to Chatham for Mr.
Thomas Crafter, the 'Queen's t there, and returned
ut
again. Mr Crafter is ordere to attend to pilot her
Majesty's 60-gun screw steam-shT Impdrieuse from the
Nore to Chatham.
The Hart, P. Green, arrived here on Sunday last from
Harwich, with 17 fine stout la,d4 volunteers for the ser-
vice, 16 of whom were rejected yesterday, in conse-
quence of their not having been engaged in boats or coast-
instructions.
One gfor 12 months, agreeable to Admiralty
One only passed muster.
The revenue cutter Scout, Isaac Saxby, commander,
arrived here yesterday from HarWich, and sails to-day
BnbitePred from (Har-
here, who will
withbe
oo tnhvee
yle6d ladsckr etjoe e
thet de
paotr
tt he
eflya ge-
wich).
Commissions have arrived here for Mr. Thomas Chat-
terton and Mr. Charles Lavender, assistant-engineers,
for the steam fleet ; both have taken up their commis-
sions, and are to be borne out on her Majesty's steam
screw guard-ship Horatio.
Rattlesnake, Commander /Lnry Trollope.—Mr.
Christopher B. B. Wilkinson, second master (June 12,
1849), and Mr. Philip R. Sharp,4nate (October 6, 1852),
have taken up their commissionst to this sloop.
Amphion, Captain Charles G. E. Patey.—Lieutentint
Charles S. Dunbar (April 1, . 847), has taken up his
commission, and Lieutenant larks H. Clutterbuck's
i commission has been sent down ere for this frigate.
t

IVOPLIVICH, JAN. 11.
The Imp4rieuse, 50, screw steam-frigate, Captain
Watson,. C. 8., had her steam up shortly after seven
o'clock this morning, and hating heaved her anchor
started on a further trial trip bOween the Nore and
Mouse Lights, in the deep water of that channel. She
soon left the Monkey and Africa steam-vessels far
behind, to the surprise of the crews of the numerous
craft on the river ; her low, telescopic funnel being
almost invisible over her high bulwarks, and they looked
with astonishment to see a vessel of the dimensions of
the Imp4riense moving with such speed, and having no
paddlewheels or outward appearance of the mode in

which she was propelled. She arrived at the Nore at
35 minutes past nine, and finished her trial, running the
distance of 15 knots and 200 yards from the Nore light
to the Mouse light and back, at 13 minutes past
eleven, showing a speed of 8.927 knots against the tide,
which ran very strong, and a speed of 12'•120 with the
tide, but against a double reef topsail breeze. The aver-
age of the run out and back to the Nore was conse-
quently 10'673 knots per hour, and the number of strokes
of the direct acting trunk engines, on John Penn and
Son's patent principle, as counted by a Machine in ope-
ration during the whole trial, was 67.7 per minute, and
an equal number of revolutions of the screw propeller,
16 feet 6 inches in diameter, and having a pitch of 16
feet. The draught of water of the Impdrieuse during
the trial was 16 feet forward and 13 feet 3 inches aft.
After the trial the Imperieuse was steered for the Med-
way, and, having taken on board a pilot sent out by the
Admiral from the port of Sheerness, she proceeded up
that river, and arrived under the sheer hulk at. Chatham
at five minutes past one o'olock p.m., where one of her
masts and bowsprit was suspended in mid air ready to
be put on boar". It is worthy of remark, as unexam-
pled in any previous trial of engines for the first time,
that there was not, from the moment the Impiirieuse
left Woolwich until she arrived at Chatham, an engi-
neer's stoppage for one 'second to adjust any of the
screws or other parts of the engines. Everything worked
so satisfactorily that the few adjustments required were
performed with the greatest ease while at full speed.
The only times the engines had to be eased was when the
numerous vessels in the river Could not get out of her way. -