The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-28 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

We understand that the greatest possible care is being
taken to construct the Isle of Wight shore batteries in
the most efficient manner, and that at the same time the
works are being rapidly pushed on by the contractor,
Mr. E. Smith.
PORTSMOUTH DEFENCES.—We have pretty good autho-
rity for stating that the present saluting platform battery
is to undergo a vast alteration ; at present it is useless
as a fort or battery. The works are to be thrown back
some 30 feet, and faced with earth-work; and to be
strengthened in such manner as to mount an additional
number of guns of the heaviest calibre. It is also re-
ported that a barracks, capable of holding 1,000 men, is
to be built on the Governor's-green, in the rear of the
lines.

APPOINTMENTS.
Chaplain—Rev. John Cawston to the Bellerophon, 78,
Mediterranean.
Surgeon—E. R. Kinnear to the Rodney, 92, Ports-
mouth.
Clerk—E. B. Walker to the Vulture, steam•frigate,
Devonport.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 27.
Rodney, 92, Captain Charles Graham, C. 8., hauled
out of the Angle Dock into the fitting basin. To-mor-
row she will go out of the basin alongside her hulk, and,
after completing her rattling-down and paying over her
rigging, will go to Spithead. She is to take in twelve
months' stores and four months' provisions.
Barracouta, 6, paddle-wheel steam-sloop, Commander
George Parker, arrived early this morning from Sheer-
nest
men with dii paid off from. the -Phaeton, :50. Having
sent them ashore she proceeded to the westward.
The chartered ship Marion embarked the left wing of
the 85th Regiment this morning, at half-past nine, from
the dockyard jetty (about 300 men), and a very pretty
business she made of it—a more lubberly affair could
scarcely have been conceived. She had the wind off
the land, or, as she lay, the wind abeam. There
was nothing for her to do but to let fall her topsail,
run up her jib, and have strained upon her bow-port
warp. She would then have gone out of the har-
bour with credit. Instead of which, no allowance was
made for the set of the tide (which was about half-
flood), and when the warp was cast off, she went nearly
stem-on to, the Blake, receiving hulk. When too late,
the anchor was let go, but not before a tremendous
crash was heard, and we expected to see her jibboom
and bowsprit go by the board. We are satisfied that
both must be sprung, and she ought not to be allowed
to go to sea without ascertaining the extent of mischief.
After she had drifted astern the soldiers were put to
work to weigh, and up came a " foul anchor ;" in their
fright to let go a necklace formed round the stock. No-
thing abashed, however, they made sail under fore and
main topsail, fore course, jib and spanker, the dolphin-
strike and bowsprit-rigging hanging about like a lot of
" clothes'-lines." Had this occurredlon board a man-of-
war, we should never have heard the last of it.
Fatigue parties have been busy shipping baggage on
board the Roman Emperor this day, and to-morrow, at
9 a.m., the head-quarters embark, and we bid farewell
to as fine and excellent a regiment as ever left the Bri-
tish shores.

PLYMOUTH, JAN. 27.
Commodore Wyvill in the Castor, 36, arrived in I ly-
mouth Sound this day, from the Cape of Good Hope,
having had a good passage home. She has no later
news, the Lady Jocelyn having anticipated her. As she
fitted out at Chatham she will proceed thither to be paid
off. The Castor is the celebrated and successful rival of
the Pique, 36, the former having been built by Sir R.
Seppings, and the latter by Sir W. Symonds. There is
no second Castor in the navy, for the Amphion was con-
verted into a screw-ship after being some 20 years on the
stocks ; nor have we a second Inconstant, 36, Admiral
Hayes's design, although she, too, proved superior in
every respect to the Pique ; but we have a batch of use-
less Piques, and one now actually under repair as a
mere sailing ship.