The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-07 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Yesterday Prince Oscar, Crown Prince of Sweden,
attended by his suite, paid a visit to Chatham for

the purpose of inspecting the dockyard and other
naval establishments. His Royal Highness, who
was accompanied by Capt. the Hon. J. R. Drum-
mond, C. 8., one of the Lords of the Admiralty,
arrived at the dockyard shortly before 11 o'clock.
He was received there by Capt. Fanshawe, super-
intendent, and the principal officials, who conducted
him over the establishment. The objects which
attracted the greatest interest were the iron steamers
now building, one of which, the armour-plated fri-
gate Royal Oak, is so far advanced that she will be
shortly launched. His Royal Highness was first
shown the Achilles, 50, every part of which he
examined, and with the extraordinary size of which
he appeared much struck. Nearly the whole of
the frames—answering to the timbers of a wooden
ship—are in their places, and two of the bulkheads
fixed. After spending some time in examining the
works connected with the Achilles, the Prince in-
spected the Bulwark, 91 ; the Belvidera, 51 ; the
Menai, 22 ; and the Reindeer, 17, all eventually to
be transformed into iron-plated steamers. He then
visited the works connected with the Royal Oak
and the various factories. He left the dockyard
shortly before 1 o'clock and returned to town.
An intimation has been received at Chatham gar-
rison from the Horse Guards, announcing that it is
not intended to despatch the usual annual reinforcs-
mciats to India this season to fill up the vacancies
in the various cavalry and infantry regiments serv-
ing in the three Presidencies, caused by troops be-
ing invalided or sent home to be discharged. There
are at present four infantry and two cavalry regi-
ments either on their passage home or under orders
to return to England, and not the slightest diffi-
culty is felt in obtaining some hundreds of volun-
teers from each of the regiments returning from
India for the regiments left behind, the many ad-
vantages of superior pay, &c„ inducing the greater
number of the private soldiers to prefer serving in
India to any other part of the world. Each volun-
teer receives the sum of one guinea, whereas the cost
of despatching each soldier to India may be put, at
the very lowest, at £3O. It is expected, therefore,
that the Government will encourage as much 48
possible the system of volunteering.

The first of the large plate-bending machines for
preparing and bending the armour plates for the
iron steamer Achilles, 50, by means of hydraulic
pressure, has been erected at Chatham dockyard,
in the factory adjoining the dock in which the iron
frigate is building. The plates are to be bent
cold. So great is the force required to effect this
that the hydraulic engines can be worked up to a
pressure of 2,000 tons to the square inch. The
new furnace for heating the armour-plates has also
been erected, and the first plate was made hot, a
few days since, in the presence of the principal offi-
cials of the dockyard, with highly satisfactory re-
sults. Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co. are also
erecting one of their large machines, adjoining No.
7 slip, to be used in preparing the plates for the
Royal Oak, 51, armour-plated screw steamer. A
second machine is to be erected, in order that no
time may be lost in preparing the plates and affix-
ing them to the sides of the vessel, it being now
ready for that operation.
The Victor Emmanuel, 86, screw, Capt. W. J. C.
Clifford, C. 8., was paid out of commission at Ports-
mouth yesterday, under the supervision of Captain
H. Broadhead, commanding H.M.S. Asia and the
Reserve of the port. At the close of paying off,
Capt. Broadhead complimented Captain Clifford on
the appearance of the ship's crew as they had come
forward to the pay-table. The following men were
recommended for the silver medal and gratuity
given by the Admiralty for good conduct and long
services Wilson, chief quartermaster ; Thos.
Johnson, sergeant, Royal Marines ; William Birch,
boatswain's mate ; John Dawe, quartermaster; T.
Burton, captain of hold; John Harris, chief boat-
swain's mate ; Thos. Wilts, boatswain's mate ; and
Henry Kemp, seaman gunner.
The plan suggested by Mr. Cunningham, the in-
ventor of the patent topsail, for protecting the screws
of our ships of war from fouling by the wreck of
spars and rigging shot away and falling alongside
in action, or from hawsers towing overboard in the
vicinity of the screw, was yesterday tested in
Weovil Lake, off the Royal Clarence victualling
yard, in the presence of several naval officers. The
results were most satisfactory, and the invention
has been reported upon to the Lords of the Admi-
ralty. _ _

The carpenter of the Shannon, 36, screw, in dock
at Portsmouth, in walking forward yesterday on
the main deck discovered a fire smouldering be-
tween the fixed fowl• coop and the inner planking
of the ship's bows. It had partially destroyed a
corner of the fowl-coop, but had not burnt into flame.
A few buckets of water set matters to rights. Had
the fire not been discovered so early as it luckily
was the results must have been much more serious.
A handful of oakum was found, also partially burnt,
thrust between the fowl-coop and the ship's side.
It is supposed that some of the men on board had
been smoking, in defiance of the dockyard regula-
tions, and that on being disturbed one of them had
hurriedly thrust a pipe in the spot where the fire
was discovered. The existence of the oakum is
accounted for by caulkers being employed on board,
The Zebra, 17, screw, Commander A. H. Hoskins,
sailed from Spithead yesterday, at 2 p.m., for
Devonport, en route to the West Coast of Africa.
In the Royal Naval Reserve John W. Gill, Henry
White, Thomas Baker, and James Clarke have been
appointed Lieuts. ; James W. Callow and William
Alfred Itidly Styles, Sub•Lieuts. ; and Staveley
Taylor Honorary Lieut.
The following appointments were made on Mon-
epy at Admiralty :—Capt. Stephen Smith Lowther
Crofton to the Satellite, vice Capt. Johnson,
invalided ; Dover Farrant, Master additional to
the Marlborough; John Hill, acting-engineer,
from the Asia to the Fisgard, as supernumerary ;
W. C. Archbold, of the Defence, confirmed as second
class assist-engineer ; and J. B. E. -Warrington, of
tht Mullet, confirmed as second-class assist: engineer.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Capt. the Hon. S. T. Carnegie,
C. 8., to the Colossus, in the room of Capt. Patey,
deceased ; Commander G. A. Brine, to the Russell,
additional, for the Coastguard ; Sub-Lieut. S. J. C.
Smail, to the Euryalus, additional, for disposal ; and
Mr. R. J. Hughes, midshipman, to the Zebra.

71IE ARMY.

A.

A circular, signed by Col. G. C. Langley, Deputy
Adjutant-General Royal Marines, has been issued
from the Admiralty, by order of their Lordships, in
which is embodied the report of Commodore Dunlop,
C. 8., Commander-in-Chief on the West India station,
on the exemplary conduct of the officers, non-com-
missioned officers, and privates of the Royal Marines
landed in Mexico. Their lordships desire that the
report may be promulgated to each of the divisions,
with the expression of their great satisfaction at this
testimony to the efficiency and discipline of the bat-
talion, together with their approbation of the zealous
exertions of Lieut.-Col. Lawder and the officers
under his command, in equipping the battalion for
active service in Mexico. Commodore Dunlop espe-
cially mentions the following officers who particu-
larly distinguished themselves by their energy,
zeal, and military knowledge in the different depart.
ments in which they were employed—viz, Major
Digby,V.B., Royal Marine Artillery, field officer
on the Staff ; Lieut. Heaslop, Royal Marine Artil-
lery, commanding battery of Armstrong guns ;
Capt. Elliott, Brigade Major; Lieut. Hamilton,
Adj t. ; Lieut. Broughton, Quartermaster; and Lieut.
Smith, Military Irani. lie also specially notices
the great zeal displayed in the execution of a very
arduous duty by Dr. Elliot and Assist-Surge Adams
and Henderson. Nothing, he says, could exceed
the care and attention shown by those officers to
the'sick during the try
ing period of their service at
Vera Cruz.

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