The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-18 00:00:00

71IE NAVY.

A letter from Malta, dated Valetta, Dec. 12, says
—" 0 wing to the loss of the Peninsular and Orien-
tal Company's steamer Colombo, in the Indian
Ocean, there has been no homeward English mail
since the Ist inst. During this interval the fol-
lowing movements of men-of-war have occurred
in this port :—Her Majesty's screw line-of-battle
ship St. George, 72, Captain the Hon. F. Eger-
ton, having Prince Alfred on board, hove in sight
on the evening of the 7th inst., six days from Al-
giers. Being under sail, and the weather unfavour-
able, she did not enter port until the following
morning. Major Cowell and Prince Alfred, on
landing, went to the palace, where his Excellency
had caused apartments to be prepared for the recep-
tion of his Royal Highness. Lord H. Lennox and
Lord Elmley were passengers by the St. George.
There was a select dinner at the palace the day be-
fore yesterday in honour of the young Prince, who
appeared to be enjoying excellent health. The St.
George will leave in a day or two for Naples, to re-
lieve the Magicienne, 16, Capt. his Serene High-
ness the Prince of Leiningen, and send her to
Malta. Her Majesty's new paddlewheel despatch
vessel Psyche, Lieutenant-Commander Sterne,
arrived on the 7th inst., from Marseilles,
with the Countess of Elgin, who is on
her way to join her husband, the Viceroy of
India, at Calcutta. The Psyche experienced a rough
passage, and Lady Elgin consequently gladly ac-
cepted the invitation of Lady le Marchant to pass
a night at the palace, to recruit her strength before
proceeding on her voyage. Her ladyship is accom-
panied by one of her younger children and Capt.
Grant and Mr. Wood. Lady Elgin embarked on
the Bth inst. on board the Psyche, which immedi-
ately steamed off for Alexandria, and will perform
the remainder of the sea voyage from Suez in H.M.
ship Feroze, which is awaiting her at that port.
From Alexandria the Psyche will go to Constuuti-
nople, for the use of the British Embassy there.
The paddlewheel surveying steamer Firefly, Corn.
Mansell, which left Alexandria on the Ist inst., as
announced by telegraph, arrived here on the after-
noon of the 7th inst., to refit during the winter
months. This vessel has been employed in complet-
ing the surveys of the coasts of Syria and Egypt.
The Mars, 80, Capt. J. N. Strange, arrived yester-
day from the coast of Syria, having been relieved on

that station by the Malacca, 17, Capt. Napier. She
is on her way to England to be paid off, and will
leave to-morrow or next day. The Mars left Bey-
rout on the 29th ult., when all was quiet. She made
the passage chiefly under sail, using steam occasion-
ally. Off the west end of Candia she encountered
bad weather from the N.E. The Surprise, 4, Corn.
Whyte, was at Beyrout on the 29th, and the Wan-
derer, 4, Com. Seymour, on another part of the
coast. The paddlewheel sloop, Firebrand, 6, Com-
mander Piers, left Malta on the 6th inst. for Gibral-
tar, to be stationed there; and the Alacrity, 4, Com-
mander Baird, took her departure on the Bth for
Corfu, with a mail for that island. From Corfu she
will proceed to Patras, the Piraeus, Syra, and Suda
Bay, and then return to Malta. Among the passen-
gers arrived during the week are Major-General
and Mrs. Wood, Mr. Wood, aide-de-camp ; Prince
Alexander of Lieven, Major Armstrong, 15th Regi-
ment, and family ; Capt. Moore, Rifle Brigade, and
wife; the Hon. R. C. Legh, Auditor-General of
the Malta Government, and wife; and Lady
Hamilton Chichester. The following ships of war
are at present in Malta Harbour:—The Marlbo-
rough, 131 (bearing the flag of the Vice-Admiral
Commander-in-Chief Sir W. F. Martin, K.C.8.);
the Hibernia, receiving ship (bearing the flag of
Rear-Admiral Codrington, C. 8.) ; the Mars, 80 ;
the Trafalgar, 72 (leaving to-night or to-morrow
morning for Corfu) ; the St. George, 72 ; the Liffey,
39 (leaving to-morrow for the Piraeus) ; the Piacebe,
35; the Chanticleer, 17; the Firefly, surveying-
vessel; and the tenders Boxer and Growler."
The screw steam frigate Emerald, 60, Capt. A.
Cumming, was appointed to leave Plymouth yester-
day for Spithead, where she will receive anew screw
for trial. It is expected that the crew will be paid
off during the first week in January.
The Lords of the Admiralty have instructed the
authorities in the Devouport dockyard to send up
an estimate of the coat of fitting a poop on the screw
steam sloop Liverpool, 51.
The screw steam frigate Doris, 32, Capt. Sir F.

WC3intock, just returned from the Mediter.

ranean station, went on Tuesday from Plymouth
Sound to the dockyard at Devonport, where she
will be dismantled. Port Admiral Sir Houston
Stewart, K.C.8., has received instructions from the
Lords of the Admiralty to inspect the ship and her
crew in person before they are paid off and she is
placed in the reserve.
The further progress in bending and preparing the
armour plates for the Royal Sovereign at Ports-
mouth is put a stop to for a few days, owing to a
portion of the travelling tubular crane having given
out. The accident is, fortunately, but trifling, and
might have happened under any management; but
it shows what may follow if the present course is
persisted in. The shipwright department is doing
good service in the construction of our iron-cased
ships, but if proficiency in driving and clinching
an iron rivet is thought by the Admiralty to be a
sufficient qualification for taking charge of and
working machines of unusual power, and to them,
of novel design, in preference to men having a
professional knowledge of the structure and ma-
nipulation of metals, the ultimate cost of our
ships' armour-plates will be dear indeed. As an
annexe to the steam factory department, the full
powers of the machinery would have been brought
into use. Under present arrangements matters will
loon be brought to a dead lock, our ships will be
kept waiting for their plates, and a heavy bill for
damages will probably have to be presented. There
is plenty to do for both the iron and wood men of
Portsmouth yard, and if the Admiralty confine each
branch to their own proper duties, the public purse
will considerably benefit by such an order, and the

Royal Sovereign and Alfred be much earlier afloat

than they can be under present arrangements.
Workmen are employed upon the Sharpshooter,
iron screw gunvessel, in dock at Portsmouth, re-
pairing her damaged plates. This vessel has been
selected for fitment with Captain Warren's patented
bow rudder, but unless the Admiralty allow greater
progress to be made in the repairs of the vessel's hull
and machinery than is being made at present, the
trial of Capt. Warren's rudder must necessarily be
postponed to a very late date.
The Neptune, 86, screw, Capt. Hornby, was paid
out of commission yesterday, at Portsmouth, under
the superintendence of Capt. H. Broadhead, com-
manding the Reserve at the port. The appearance
of the crew is creditable to the ship. The silver
medals and gratuities awarded by the Admiralty for
long service and good conduct will, on Capt. Horn-
-137 nretammendation, be given to Thos. Raymond,
Bailie
a".er, and Richard Lock, blacksmith. The
Neptune willbe placed in the third class Steam
Reserve. The ships in this class at Portsmouth are
now SO tiumereo
nsoa, and the required repairs to their
machinery are
heavy, that it would take the
steam factory department working with its present
resources, nearly 10
fit Yearsae to make them good and
render the ships
plioab
a.
One of those inexle orders which are said
be a part of the Admiralty
to
received at Portsmouth, dielliillystein," has been
of the
Department
energies of the Master ShiPvira that the chief
shall be devoted to the repair!,
screw corvette, and the Curegoa, 24, screw EHk, 21,
even, it necessary, to the neglect of ethe r frigate,
work.
If ais order is carried into effect, the
com-
pletion of the Royal Sovereign shield ship end
Boyai Alfred plated frigate will be delayed to
rottenoall
ow
of heavy repairs being carried out to a half
This is the more serious as
frigate and corvette.
the shield ship is an experimental ship—a complete
innovation upon our hitherto acknowledged notions
of marine architecture, and, until she has made her
trial sea trip no souv2d decision can be formed as to
the most suitable description of hull for our future
iron ships. Reference has
of
been several n
timece ssity es made
in these columns to the imperative
getting this ship afloat as quickly aspossible, in
order that the public and the profession may under-
stand what are the real advantages to be gained by
the adoption, or partial adoption, of Capt. Coles b
shield principle. Departmental authorities at the

Admiralty, however, are generally understood to
have a peculiar knack in issuing orders which are
_ _

opposed in their spirit to public opinion Fnd com-

mon sense. If that is the case in the present in-
stance the sooner such order is overridden by another
of an opposite character the better it will be for
the public service.

During the past three weeks Capt. Bolton, of the
12th Regiment, has been engaged at Portsmouth in
carrying out a series of experiments with his sys,-
tem of telegraphy by a lime light with an apparatus
of his own invention, and has had under his instruc-
tion daring that time several non-commissioned
officers and men of the Royal Engineers, Royal Ar-

tillery, and line regiments stationed in the garrison.
Establishing his head-quarters in the tower of the..
Baltic-wharf, at Portsmouth, Capt. Boltonselectea
for his experimental out stations Fort Widley on
Portsdown-hill, Southsea Castle, and the new fort
now being constructed on the top of Bembridge-
down, st the east end of the Isle of Wight, the dis-
tance between Forts Widley and Bembridge being
13 miles. Oa Monday evening Maj.-Gen. Lord Wm.
Paulet, C. 8., commanding the garrison and south-
west district, accompanied by Col. E. Somerset, C. 8,,
Deputy-Quartermr.-Gen. Col. Thackwell, Diputy-
Assist.-Adjt.-Gen.; Capt. Milligan, Aide-de-Camp;
and a number of other officers, military and naval,
attended at the tower of the Baltic-wharf to
witness a series of experimental signals carried out
by the men, under Capt. Bolton's supervision, illus-
trating his system of night telegraphy as applied to
military purposes. At 6 p.m. signalling commenced
between Portsmouth and the several outstations,
messages being flashed from station to station in
words, code, numbers, and secret cipher, as would
be done in time of actual warfare or in the event of
an invasion, with astonishing rapidity and correct-
ness, notwithstanding that the night was some-
what hazy, an 3 that a considerable smoke cloud
hung over Portsmouth, midway between the two
extreme signalling points, Forts Bembridge and
Widley. The extraordinarj size, distinctness, and
brilliancy of the light, as seen from these two points,
were very remarkable. The messages were trans.
mitted at the rate of 11 words per minute, but with
men who had been under a longer period of train-
ing, and who therefore were more perfectly
acquainted with the system, 18 words per minute
have been signalled. From the certainty and ease
with which the messages were signalled, and the
general success of the experiments, it was evident
to all present that Capt. Bolton's system of night
telegraphy was vastly superior to any other known
form for military purposes, and is likely to be of
the utmost value and importance in any future war-
fare in which this country may be engaged. The
size and weight of any telegraphic apparatus are no
mean consideration when using it in the field. This
great difficulty is, however, so fully met by Capt.
Bolton's apparatus that the soldier operator carries
it in his knapsack on his back. With the light in
front he becomes a moving telegraph—a constant
attendant upon the commanding officer and his staff.
It is thus free from the danger of interruption by
an enemy attending the use of other systems of
telegraphy in the field. It is also equally adapted
for signalling by sea as by land, and, in the event
of hostilities with a powerful maritime Power, the
means of certain and rapid communication it would
afford between the headlands of our coast line and
our fleets in the Channel would be invaluable. The
Admiralty are fully aware of the importance any
certain means of night communication with our
ships in the Channel would have in the event of a
maritime war, and a series of experiments are
ordered to be made with Captain Bolton's light for
their lordship's information on this point. To carry
out these experiments, a naval officer has been asso
ciated with Capt. Bolton by direction of the Admi
ralty.

In consequence of the death of Mr. T. E. Owen,
Mayor of Portsmouth, the office of Surveyor to the
War Department for the South-West District has
become vacant. It is understood that the appoint-
ment will be conferred on Mr. C. W. E. Pineo, C.E.