The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-18 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN.
The officers and men belonging to the fleet ijii.poitt
nary were mustered for the first time by Rear-K Cr4t-b. ??-1
Superintendent Fanshawe, C. 8., this morning ; „r,l_7:,y
afterwards were granted leave for the rest of thiaak:='.
The Blenheim, 60, screw guard-ship in ordinary, e.,,teXP,I,
tain Henderson, C. 8., resumed her moorings 442
ing to re-ship her stores from the IllustrimNa 441 k, 111
ceive her crew.
The Odin, 16, paddle steam-frigate, Captain
Scott, hauled out of dock to the fitting basin this a
noon, after having he copper cleaned. She left the
basin this evening.
The Sidon, 22, paddle-firigate, Captain Goldsmith,
had her steam up this afternoon to try her engines.
The Basilisk, 6, paddle steam-sloop, Commander the
Hon. F. Egerton, has completes' coaling, and is ordered
to Spithead.
•
The Prussian corvette Mercuri, sailed from the Mo-
therbank this morning for the westward.
The St. Vincent convict-ship sailed from Spithead this
morning, with transports for Gibraltar and Australia.
The Hendrick Hudson and Sir Robert Peel, American
line of packet ships, sailed from the Motherbank this
morning, for New York.

The gprightlj stem:-tender, Mr. G. Allen, acting-
master commanding, has been undocked to-day, after
repair, and taken to her moorings.

SHEERN, JAN. 17.
Her Majesty's frigate Phaeton, 50 guESSns, Captain
George Elliott, arrived at the Little Nore yesterday, at
3.45 p.m., from Portsmouth, and saluted the flag of
Vice-Admiral of the White the Hon. Josceline Percy,
Commander-in-Chief at the Nore, &c. The salute was
returned with seven guns by her Majesty's ship Water-
loo, 120, Captain the Hon. Montagu Stoplord. The
Phaeton will be inspected to-day by Vice-Admiral the
Hon. Josceline Percy, and immediately the tides permit
she will be taken into the fitting-basin to be paid off. It
is expected that several of her A.B.'s will volunteer for
her Majesty's screw steam line-of-battle ship Agamem-
non, of 91 guns and 500-horse power, Captain Sir Tho-
mas Maitland, as several of them have previously served
with some of the officers of the Agamemnon on foreign
stations in other ships. It is a wellknown fact that
men-of-war sailors always show, a desire to follow cer-
tain officers, entirely setting aside the rating of the ship.
At present very few A. B.'s have volunteered for the
Agamemnon ' • her present deficiency in her complement
is among her A. B.'s.
Her Majesty's paddle-wheel steam-sloop Barracouta,
Commander George Parker.—The coiirt of inquiry on
the clerk of this sloop was adjourned on Saturday last,
and they will assemble to-day for the purpose of proceed-
ing with the inquiry. _ . _

Her Majesty's screw steam-frigate Amphion, Captain
Charles G. E. Patey.—lt is reported that thi's frigate is
to have two more guns mounted, which will niake her a
36-gun frigate. If so, her complement of seaman will be
increased from 28 to 30 men, in addition to her present
complement. Her seamen gunners, from her Ma•jesty's
ship Excellent, are, with the exception of one or two,
the only A.B.'s rated on her books up to this time.'

WOOLWICH, JAN. 17:

Rear-Admiral the Hon. Sir FleetwoOd Broughton
Reynold Pellew, K.C.H., leaves England by the next
packet, to take command of the naval forces in the East
Indies.

It is reported in naval circles that Rear-Admiral
Corry wishes to give up the command of the Channel
Squadron, and, if his wishes are complied with, it is
likely he will be appointed to succeed Rear-Admiral
Edward Harvey, Admix:al-Superintendent at Malta. In
the event of these changes taking place, it is very pro-
bable Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, K.C.8., will be
appointed to command the Channel Squadron.
Commander Houston Stewart, who recently resigned

CO
the command of the Virago) 'paddle-wheel steam-sloop,
serving on the Pacific station, was induced to do so, it is
said, owing to ill health. He.is the son of Rear-Admiral
Houston Stewart, formerly one of the Lords of the Ad-
.

miralty, and is a most experienced and zealous officer.
During the time he has commanded the Virago, he has
had several dashing affairs with the pirates, and clever!)
captured the Chilians who had planned the destruction
of a vessel and crew. Commander Houston Stewart was
promoted to that rank in 1848, and has served as com-
mander of the Virago since the sth of August, 1851,
and, if he is promoted to the rank of post-captain on his
arrival in England, has deservedly earned a promotion
which his father might have conferred upon him previ-
ously to his vacating his office as one of the Lords of the
Admiralty.

DEATH OF COMMANDER HENRY WINGROVIC.—It is
our painful duty to record the death of Commander H.
Wingrove (1846), who expired at his brother's residence
in the City, on Friday evening last, after a service ashore
and afloat of upwards of 40 years. Commander Win-
grove entered the navy during the war, in July, 181.1,
and having served the usual period passed for a lieuten-
ant in 1819; but he did not receive promotion to that
rank till 1826, being thus employed 14 years as midship-
man and mate. He served in the West Indies, the
Coast Guard, the North Sea Channel and Irish station,
as lieutenant, and bein p• afloat at the brevet of 1846 was
made commander, and re-4pOinted to her Majesty's
steam-vessel Blazer, *inch he then was commanding as
a lieutenant on the relief service in Ireland, under the
orders of Vice-Admiral Sir H. Pigot. The services
rendered by the late Commander Wingrove during the
period of that awful visitation, the Irish famine, with its
accompanying sickness and suffering, will never be
effaced from the kind recollections of the good people
of the coasts of Cork and Kerry, and has ever been
with them the theme of grateful acknowledgments. In
the hour of trouble, when matters had arrived at starva-
tion point, sure and certain was the "Old Blazer" to be
descried in the offing, braving the broad Atlantic's
swelling wave with' its western wintry blast. Our co-
lumns at that time gave full details of these events ; and
we well remember that the "Blazer's " services were
conspicuous with the Alban, Rhadamanthus, Stromboli,
Zephyr, and many other of the 40 odd pendants cm the
coast of Ireland ; and we beliaie that had Commander
Wingrove completed the time required, of which he vas
some five or six weeks short, he would have been in-
cluded in that well-merited promotion sanctioned by th..,
government of the day. That excellent First Lord, the
late Lord Auckland, had, we believe, a high opinion of
Commander Wingrove's zeal ; and no doubt, had he
been spared, would have eventually promoted him.
Commander Wingrove was appointed to her Majesty's
steam-sloop Scourge, and served under Lord Dundonald
on the West India station, carrying out his orders with
his usual zeal, much to the satisfaction of his lordship,
and at the end of her service the Scourge was paid off
at Portsmouth in most high and creditable order We
could have wished to have recorded this officer's death
as a captain instead of that of a commander, but promo-
tion goes not in the navy by old gradation.
CAPTAIN CARPENTER'S SCREW. TRIAL.—On Saturday
last a trial was made of Captain Carpenter's little steam-
boat, constructed at Mr. Green's yard, Blackwall, on an
entirely new plan, with two keels and two rudders. She
is propelled by means of two oscillating engines entirely
separated one from the other, and two screw propellers
also quite distinct. She is directed by two rudders aft,
instead of one only as formerly. She is of sufficient size
to give a correct demonstration of principle, and it is
reported that the plan answers admirably. The buoy-
ancy, stability, and capacity of the boat are quite extra-
ordinary. The rolling and tremulous motion is mu ch
diminished compared with the single screw. The shit t
of the screw is said to be almost imperceptible, and the
speed for so small a power to be very good. The boat
leaves the Thames for the Mediterranean on Thursday
night.

THE DUKE'S PILLAR ON BLAORDOWN HILLS.—A
meeting was held, pursuant to requisition, at Taunton,
on the 13th inst., to raise funds for the reconstruction
and repair of the Wellington Pillar. The High Sheriff
took the chair. The resolutions were carried unani-
mously by a very large assemblage of the nobility and
gentry. The Lord-Lieutenant (Lord Portman) moved
the first resolution ; in seconding which Mr. B. Esco'tt
said there was no Somersetshireman man who followed .
the obsequies of the great Duke of Wellington who did
not feel very happy that from his soil was derived the
noblest lineage and the most renowned of titles. —Somer-
sctshire County Gazette.
COIN SHIPMENTS.—The shipments of coin last week
were as follows, viz.:-75,000/. by the Royal Alice, and
30,0001. by the Calloe, both for Sydney; 20,0001. by'
the Sapphire, for Geelong and Port Philip ; 20,0001. by
the Bruunette, and 20,0001. by the Potentate, both fo'r
Launceston ; and 21,7671. in specie and jewellery by the'
Teviot for the Brazils. The total shipments from the
letterir
kingdom for the week are thus raised to about 786,0001.,
MELBOURNE.—The and there is, consequently, a balance of imports over
exports to the extent of between 660,0001. and 670,000.
b—ouThrnee,fsollepotewimn
1852 :' —"The expenses here are so enormous that 300/.
a-year leaves me with hardly a penny for myself; board
following is
26,aa
washing ing cost me more than 11. 12s per week, and
Is 9s per,-dozen ; in fact everything is three
times as dear as at home, and no doubt, with the thou-
sands pouring in, will be as much again. I hardly know
what people here will do for bread in a few months, as
no corn has been sown nor the fields tilled to produce
extractb
and
anything, so that we here shall be dependant on America
if you at home do not supply us. Now, regarding persona
emigrating to these colonies, I from experience say tl.,0:0
the working man, the mechanic, and the tradesman a 1.,.
the only fit persons to venture here ; the gentleman with
out capital, the clerk, &c., are in as bad a position asretetes
pauper at home, and are not wanted ; and as P
g up situations
in either of the last named positions
will
this to place
of only 1001. a-year, if permanent, thgieyvin
re-
gret the day they made so fatal a step. I say
you on your guard against being led away,. this
is,b
others to act in the way I have mentioned.
no
the fields, but
no doubt there is, a great deal of gold
successful—though
still it is not every person iswhooters
work for months,
many make hundreds, and u bitterlys
nuoie
can
hardly imagine the*
and make not a penny. Y
difficulties a diggere has to
contend
the roads being almost bog
for 10 and 12 miles to-
etherhhnes
upto winterhi
sumfreock.
party who is travelling gets over his
g, so that t
knees in mud and 'water, and sometimes with in
and it actually requires a man to pull you out, the mint
is so tenacious. Then the company at night, shoukl
you not be able to reach an inn—sleeping in a blanket
or rug, and expecting every moment to be roused up and
robbed by the bush rangers. When you arrive at the
gold fields, almost 100 miles from here, you then set to
, work, and of course almost break your back, and com-
pletely skin your hands with using the spade or pick r
then, if you persevere—strength, constitution, and health
good—you may be successful ; but thousands come down
without any gold—in truth it is a complete lottery. I
have known persons in their first hole take 401 b. weight
of gold ; others work for two months, and, just as they?
' were thinking of leaving in despair, come upon hundreds.