The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-30 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

WHOLESALE DESERTIONS FROM OUR MEN
OF WAR.—THE REASON WHY ?
As we anticipated, the harsh sentence of the late
court-martial at Devonport on the boatswain's mate
Stapleton, who, although a first-class petty officer, was,
in spite of the naval instructions, which should have
protected him, ignominiously disgraced, after 17 years'
good and faithful service to her Majesty, by the inflic-
tion of three dozen lashes on his bare back—we say that
the carrying into operation that part of the sentence
of Capts. Seymour (who was president, andlwho has just
received the good-service pension "), Nias, Lowe,
Chambers, and Ramsay, which condemned a first-class
petty officer to be flogged, has had an effect most dam-
aging to the best interests of the Royal navy and the
security of the country. We regret to hear that no less
than One Hundred good Seamen have deserted from the
men of war at the port at which Stapleton was tried
and flogged, and one or two of them from the very ship
to which the boatswain's mate belonged. Let the Ad-
miralty take warning in time. Good men never feel
any sympathy for thieves and habitual drunkards on
board ship ; they look upon the flogging of bad characters
as a protection to themselves; but they never forgive the
disgraceful infliction of corporal punishment upon a good
seaman—a man of " very good" character, and whose
crime may be termed an accidental one. They never
forget such incidents as took place on board a man-of-
war brig some time since, when the best man in the
ship was flogged at midnight, within half an hour after
he had committed the offence of answering his com-
mander somewhat impertinently upon provocation.
They feel that their skin is not safe from excoriation ;
that their families and connections on shore are not se-
cure from the disgrace of knowing that their relatives—
their fathers, husbands, brothers—no matter how good
a character they have acquired by 10 or 20 years' faith-
ful servitude, have been stripped, exposed, tied up like
dogs, and flogged like poor Uncle Tom, the black slave.
They are men, have feelings, tempers, faults, and follies
like their superior officers, but they are honest andre-
spectable. Yet for one mistake they are doomed like a
Russian serf to the knout. The intelligent British sea-
men of the present day will not submit to it, and all the
verbose twaddle in reports of committees on manning
the navy will not persuade them that they are bound
not only to forego the advantages of higher wages, but
to sacrifice their skins to keep up what martinets call
" the discipline of the service." England cannot afford
to lose one hundred of her best men-of-war's men in a
week at this time ; and depend upon it John Bull will
call the Admiralty to a severe account, if they go on en-
tering 10 men a day and losing 100. At this rate the
Royal fleet will be in about the same predicament as the
American ships at California some time since. /tera Id.
A MAIL FOE THE ARCTIC SHIPS. The Secretary
the Admiralty requests tAhoadfatinctierhnaelt,followm• of
may be inserted : g notification
" Letters fcr any of the‘ Admiralty,
seamen and
a3nod, 1853.
marines
serving in any of the ships now in the Arctic seas will
be forwarded by her Majesty's ship Phoenix, if sent to
the Admiralty on or before the 14th April."

We learn by the arrival of the Calcutta that her Ma-
jesty's store-ship Rattlesnake, Commander Trollope, for
Behring's Straits Arctic expedition,
had arrived at As-
cension en route, all well.
Most of the ships at the home-ports are to be paid
wages down to the 31st, the end of the financial year.
Excellent, gunnery-ship, Captain Chads, C. 8., has
orders from the Admiralty to enter 100 stout landsmen
'as supernumeraries. This ship, with her tender, the

i~rl Q

Edinburgh, M, screw, Captain Hewlett, at Plymouth,
is to be paid wages to-day.
Leander, 50, Captain King, arrived in Leith Roads
on Saturday last, to raise seamen for the fleet. She is
ordered to return to Plymouth Sound.

PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.
The first entertainment to Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas
Cochrane, K.C.8., since his accession to the Command-
in-Chief at this port, was given last evening by the officers
of the Royal Marine Artillery, at their mess-room, in
the Gun-wharf Brrracks. Lieutenant-Colonel Philips,
Commandant of the corps, presided ; and Capt. Dviyer,
Senior Captain, was vice-president. The guests com-
prised the Commander-in-Chief ; Rear-Admiral Fan-
shawe, C. 8., Superintendent of the Dockyard ; Major-
General Simpson, Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmonth,
and Staff; Captain Chads, C.B. of the Excellent ; Capt.
Henderson, C. 8., of the Blenheim ; Captain Superin-
tendent J. H. Johnstone, of Haslar Hospital ; Captain
Shepherd, of the Victory ' Captain Crispin,, of the Vic-
tOria and Albert ; Mr. Thomas Triphook, secretary to
the Port Admiral, and Flag-Lieutenants Alpin and
Yonge.

Tli-e Agamemnon, 91, screw two-decker, Captain Sir
Thos. Maitland, C. 8., continues infected with sickness,
which we regret to state is on the increase. It seems a
most remarkable fact that a vessel infected with contagious
fever should have been brought into a thickly populated
harbour, and no other means adopted to abate the visitation
than merely turning the crew into a hulk and lashing that
hulk to the infected ship, or vice versa, and fumigating
her. This, we believe, is all that has been done. If other
steps have been taken, we have not heard of them, and-the
matter of the peculiar treatment of this sickly ship has
now become the talk of the port. Why has not a board of
medical officers been appointed to inquire into the
cause of the fever, with the view to its abatement ? We
believe upwards of 300 of the Agamemnon's crew are
still "down with the fever," even at this distant cjate
since her breeding the infection. Dr. Sir William Bur-
nett', K.C.8., K.C.H., F.R.S., Director-General of.the
Medical Department of the Navy, has arrived at the port
to-day to institute inquiry personally into this case, and
is extending the accommodation within the Naval. Ho-
spital at Hasler for patients afflicted with the class of
fever which is going through the Agamemnon's crew.
The extraordinary case this ship represents ought to be
made the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry.
Commodore Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, G.C.H.,
commanding her Majesty's yacht squadron, arrived. at
this port last night, and this morning hoisted her first-
class broad pendant on board the Royal George yacht
hulk, whence it was shifted at half-past 9 to the Blen-
heim, 60, in order to enable his Lordship to salute the
new Commander-in-Chief, which compliment having been
paid, the pendant was retransferred to the Royal George.
Later in the morning his Lordship hoisted his pendant
on board her Majesty's yacht Fairy, Master-Commander
Welch, and, with Captain Crispin on board, went out to
Stokes-bay to witness a trial of Griffith's screw propeller ;
after which she came into harbour, and was hauled on to
the graving slip to unship it.
The Commander-in-Chief boarded the Rifleman, 8,
screw schooner, Lieutenant Commander Dalton, whioh
arrived at Spithead at noon, after a most tedious voyage
from Rio Janeiro. At I,he chops of the Channel they
experienced the most bitter weather, with strong head
winds, and being light she was blown back again for
days. For the last six days she has distilled 120 gallons
of water by her own engines daily. She has only four
days' provisions and three tons of coals left in her. The
Commander-in-Chief put the crew through the great gun
and small arm exercise, with practice at a flag staff,
single and double shotted ; also, practice with fire
buckets. The whole performance was highly satisfac-
tory. particularly as the Admiral was so quick upon them.
We have pleasure in saying that they are a most' happy
ship's company, in good condition, and all well. She
will be paid off here, and in all probability will come
into harbour to-morrow. The Rifleman has been four
years and five months and a half in commission. She
sailed from Rio Janeiro on the Ist February, and brings
home invalids from the squadron, and a prisoner, sent
home for the disposal of the Admiralty, for attempting
to stab a marine on board the Crescent. Yellow fever
was very bad at the date of the Rifleman's leaving. She
was visited with it in December last, and lost some men.
The Admiral was at Monte Video ; the Bonetta, at
Buenos Ayres ; Vixen, steam-sloop, at Santa F 4, with
Captain Gore, consul-general at Buenos Ayres, on board,
he having received his passports from the provisional
government at that port ; the Express, at Bahia ; Tri-
dent, steam-vessel, was cruising ; Sharpshooter, screw-
schooner, was to sail for a cruise, and it was reported
she had fever on board. The Rifleman spoke, on the
27th, the Chevalier, from Liverpool to New Orleans, 27
days out, in lat. 16 deg. 44 min.; Susan, of Glasgow,
March 8, lat. 35 deg. 16 min.; her Majesty's ship Tyne,
off Eddystone, March 28; Leopard, off the Start, March
28, at six p.m.
The Banshee steam dispatch packet, Lieutenant-Com-
mander Hosken, was paid wages to-day, and the Excel-
lent will be paid to-morrow.

PLYMOUTH, MARCH 30.

The orders from the Admiralty received at noon to
dispatch the Avon steamer in search of the leaking emi-
grant ship Duncan Ritchie, at her departure, were coun-
termanded here, in consequence of the safe arrival of the
bark at St. Mary's, Scilly, on Sunday morning.
The steamship Cyclops arrived yesterday from Wool-
wich with machinery for the St. Jean d'Acre.

The officers and crew of the Sanspareil will be paid
wages to-day.

The steam-vessel Brisk went out of harbour yesterday
to try her engines.
At half-past 11 o'clock last night (Tuesday), 15 miles
south-east of Start-point, wind fresh from - north east,
the mackrel boat Albion, of Shoreham, James Burten-
shaw, master, was drifting, head to wind, with her nets
over the side, when she saw a schooner running down
on the starboard tack, under studdingsails, no lights
showing. The hands belonging to the boat hoisted the
second light, ran forward in the bows, and shouted to
the schooner. She, however, struck the boat on the
larboard bow, fouled the lines, and carried away the
nets, then hove to, shook out her sails and went off
again before the wind, to the westward, the whole occu-
pying only a few minutes. One of the boat's crew,
John Norris, caught hold of the schooner's jibboom and
bobstay, and has not been seen or heard of since, Chas.
Parsons was struck on the chest by the schooner's mar-
tingale, and is seriously injured. James Burtenshaw,
the skipper, was slightly wounded in the face by the
bowsprit shrouds ; the others escaped unhurt. The
schooner was laden, and had a white streak, either
checkered or plain. One of her crew was heard, at the
time of the concussion, to order the helmsman to luff as
hard as possible.

SHEERNESS, MARCH 30.

The Sprightly, steam-tender to the Victory, at Ports-
mouth, Mr. George Allen, Acting-Master, arrived here
yesterday from Devonport and Portsmouth with super-
numeraries and volunteers for the ships in port here
and on transferring them to the Waterloo flag-ship, she
proceeded on for Woolwich, with supernumeraries and
volunteers for ships fitting there.
The Amphion, 34 guns, screw steam-frigate, Captain
Charles G. E. Patey, was put out of the fitting basin
yesterday, and remains moored at the compass swinging
buoy.

WOOLWICH, MARCH 30.

The following circular has just been promulgated for
the information of officers of the Royal Navy intending
to study steam, so requisite to those appointed to serve
in steam-vessels --

" Admiralty, March 16.
" With reference to their Lordships' circular No. 57,
dated Dec. 8, 1849, respecting the examination of officers
on subjects connected with the steam-engine, their Lord-
ships are pleased to order that such examinations shalgnot
be confined, as therein prescribed, to the Royal Naval Col-
lege at Portsmouth, but be extended to Woolwich also.
And officers studying at either port must undergo the said
examination ; but there is no occasion for remaining longer
at such port than may be considered necessary to qualify
for the examination ; and any officer, whether he has stu-
died or not at either of the above places, may be allowed
to come forward for examination on the second Wednesday
in the month of January, March, June, or September.
" The printed examination papers, which are to embrace
subjects of a practical nature, are to be prepared, as at pre..
sent, at the college at Portsmouth, and be sent to Woolwich,
in order that the examinations may be similar.
" The examinations at Woolwich are to take place in
the presence of the Superintendent of the DockYard,and to
to the
be conducted by the Chief Engineer and Inspector of ma-
chinery of the yard, who are to sign the certificates of
passing (as at Portsmouth), and forward the same
Secretary of the Admiralty, in order that the same may be
registered.
" The form of the certificate is annexed.
OSBORNE.
" By command of their Lordships,
"To all Commanders-in-Chief, Captaa"*R.
"CERTIFICATE
Fan:CamanATdilllO:
of her Majesty's ships and vessels."eers
" This is to certify that, in
MOUTH oR Woo :ffi. :81,,,, AT PORTS-
LWICH.
Order, No. 57, dated December relating to the
and having examination of officers B, 1849, .
pursuance of the Admiralty
in the following
on subjects connected with the
has been examined at
a competent knowledge
subjects :

&e.) with diagrams ;
b o 1 leirs.
,The
- "me and use of every part of the engine,
"2• Construction and principle of engine, boilers, &c.;
"3. Practical working of the engines and boilers ;
4:4. Expansion of steam and economy of fuel ;
5. Nature and use of indicator ;
(May be also examined in following additional subjects):
" 6. The elements of mechanics and hydrostatics ;

" 7. Laws of heat m
;
4t 8. The appli
cu of these branches of science to the
es_
steam-engine; is entitled to a certificate (Ist, 2d, or
3d;‘feoraPptainractield knowledge in the working of the steam-
engine-
Dated
,„
ir, at

185
Captain Superintendent.
Professor."

APPOINTMENTS.

Commander Edward K. Barnard (1852), recently ser-
ving in charge of the mails in a contract steam-vessel,
and who brought home the large nugget of gold, in the
Australian contract steam-vessel, as a present for her
Majesty, is appointed to command the Virago paddle-
wheel steam-sloop of 300-horse power, serving on the
Pacific station, in the room of Commander William
Houston Stewart, resigned, owing to ill health.
Commander F. P. Warren (1852), recently serving in.
charge of the mails in a contract steam-vessel, is ap-
pointed to command the Star, 8, sloop, commissioned
this day at Chatham.
The Fury, 6, paddle-wheel steam-sloop, Commander
Edward Tatham, employed on particular service, was at
Trieste on the 24th instant, in readiness to embark Lord
Stratford, the British Ambassador, for a passage to Con-
stantinople.