The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-02 00:00:00

TRIAL OF THE VIPER.

The Viper screw steam despatch gun-boat, Lieutenant-
Commander M`Killop, when she left Woolwich in the
early part of last week for service with the fleet in the
Black Sea, remained for some time at Greenhithe, to
have her compasses adjusted, and to take in a large sup-
ply of live shells and powder from Purfleet. She sub-
sequently made a trial to ascertain her speed below the
Mouse Light. The engines worked well without any
hot bearings, and her average speed was found to be
about 12 knots an hour.

distance.
The scholars' bedsteads, although rather short, were
not otherwise objectionable to the men, who accommo-
dated themselves on them, being accustomed to shorten
their stature whilst sleeping in their hammocks. A
piano, found in one of the rooms, was soon taken pos-
session of by those who could play on it ; and, with the
assistance of a violin bought by subscription from a player
in the orchestra at the Opera, and a flute that one of the
men had brought away with him, a smart little band was
organised, to which they danced merrily of an evening,
whilst enjoying their pipes ; and thus whiling away the
time, like true Jack Tars, made the best of their inac-
tion.
As a remarkable proof of the power of excitement on
the physical strength of the sailor, it may be stated, that
often, after a hard day's work, the sound of the fiddle
will bring out some young votary at the shrine of Terp-
sichore, who will go through such rapid evolutions with
his feet as to astound the looker-on, persisting therein
for 20 minutes or half an hour, as if his very life depended
on them, and concluding without evincing any over-
fatigue after such violent exertion ; and others will then
get up and emulate, if not surpass, the first dancer. It
was fortunate that the men could have recourse to such
innocent and healthy diversion, as it checked any ten-
dency to brooding over their fate, and useless longing
after their homes,
We were critically situated, as we could not be in-
formed of the probable duration of our detention ; and were
thus left in a blank state of mind, easily conceived by
any one who has felt the emptiness of uncertain expecta-
tions. As no Russian prisoners of war bad at that time
been made by the English, we had no reason to hops
for release by exchange of prisoners.
The good effects of habits of order and discipline were
strikingly shown, and in a manner very creditable to
the men. As they were deprived of the surveillance of
their officers, who were in another building, at some
distance, and could not see them without a written
permission, they appointed, of their own accord, one
of the petty officers, who could speak French, as au,
a od
perintendent ; and he, in conjunction with the others,
established regulations for the cl
of the rooms, arranged the messeanliness es, abolished nd
ramoer
k-
ing in the bed-rooms, and prescribed the ex-
tinction of lights at ten o'clock at night. These ar-
rcaonmgfeouirta,natngd—swecbutd the goodwilltendedi of atly totheir personal
those to whose cars
they had been consigned—were submitted to the first
lieutenant for his approval, and any infringement of the
nas fromt they
rules was reported to him. Culprits might have been
u s io
treated according to the Russian scale of punishment ;
ythtehsooucgiehtty
o sufficient,f
their
iu e 8
silt
awteass
but the authorities kindly permitted the officers to im-
posefor a few days was sufficient to bring any of them to a
proper sense of their misconduct. The quarantine re
ARRIVALS, &c., AT MALTA. Wiens rendered solitary confinement impossible, as ri d such
th a t penaltiesexcl
MALTA, Sept. 26.—Our report under this head by to- guardian must always be in the dwiththe
day's same war
day's mail is void of interest, except the arrival of the guFdsd.
Courier, Brooking, Samuel, Riverdale, and Tanjore, 1 B
those the sentries stationed in front of the buildings
from England, for hal]. was always a great many of the people of the town
with naval and ordnance stores,
Malta and the East ; for which latter destination the
the gslitittaboofut till a late hour, to satisfy their curiosity by
the prisoners. Among these many kind.
Courier and Brooking have already proceeded. Her , heart:dwo
from P 1 • • men brought bouquets of flu wers,throwing them
Majesty's steam-transport Supply arrived )- into the rooms, to the great amusement of the men, and
mouth on the 24th, also with stores, and left for the • establishing a telegraphiccornmunication by signs and the
Black Sea on the 25th. Eight sailing vessels in the recondite language of flowers. AS an instance of the for-
ging, 150 bearance and nature of the Russian soldiers, I may
French transport service have also arrived, grin
relate that on one occasion, as the women pressed too near
horses, 16 mules, and 170 officers and non-commissioned the building, at the windows of which the men were
officers' and privates, for the French army, Most
of
these have already proceeded onwards, The Telemaque, standing, they
,i,rn
evdv etroe
retreat )r, i e redoff b
withiny
.the n
one
sentry, it.yh,,‘
mand i d theso
steamer, from 31arseilles, bound to Constantinople,but returned with a glass of wa'ter, which he poured
brings 170 rank and file, over the astonished functionary, much to the amusement
of the bystanders. One might have expected some dis-
The Egyptian steam-frigate Feid D. 1 '
se laat arrived turbance or remonstrance on the part of the soldiery, but
from Southampton yesterday, and leaves to -day for no notice' was taken of the affair, either bytbein or ii, the
Alexandria, having on board Lord
attributed
and Lady Haddo and
the Hon. G. Gordon, proceeding to Egypt to recruit Jack Tar's inherent delight in a joke than to any mall-
cious or improper feeling.
their health.
' As an instance of the satisfaction of the men felt at
The Nubia, from treated
m exandria, bas just arrived with the kindly manner in which they had been treated, I
the India mails, with the heavy portion of which she would mention the fact of their having, at the end of
proceeds to Southampton this afternoon. The Valletta a their 21 days' probation, subscribed, of their oven accord,
with to present a ring to one of the commissaries of quarars-
leaves immediately the Overland mails for Mar- tine—a fine, hale old man of eighty-four, who had spent
Bellies. She will have a clean bill of health, no new his life in that branch of the service.—A Personal Nat.•
cases of cholera having been reported here for several . restive of the First Lieu,tencsne of H.M.S. Tivr, by 4/fra4
dap, • Royer, Lieut, R.N.

Captain Sir Edward Belcher, of the Assistance, Cap-
tain Kellett, of the Resolute, and Captain M'Clure, of
the Investigator discovery ships, were all at the Admi-
ralty during the greater part of the day on Saturday in
communication with their Lordships relative to their
recent voyages and travels in the Arctic regions. The
Phceniz, screw steam-sloop, in which they were brought
home, is hourly expected at Woolwich.

The fallowing young gentlemen, who passed into the
navy from Mr. Eastman's preparatory naval establish-
ment at Southsea at the last monthly examination at the
Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, have been appointed
naval cadets to the undermentioned ships :—Mr. W.
Otter and Mr. A. Jephson, to the Queen, 116, in the
Black Sea ; Mr. A. Jekyll, to the Cossack, at Chatham ;
Mr. F. B. Renshaw, to the Powerful, 84, at Spithead ;
Mr. G. J. B. Elphinstone, to the Monarch, 84, in the
Baltic ; and Mr. C. Giffard, to the Sphinx, on her way
to the Black Sea.

The postmaster of Portsmouth, Mr. John Sheppard,
published outside the office shutters yesterday a copy of
the official despatch from the Minister of War, an-
nouncing the successes of the allied forces on the ap-
proach to Sebastopol, which created no small gratifica-
tion throughout the port.

Major General Sir Frederick Smith, R.E , has pro-
ceeded to Boulogne, to inquire into and report upon the
French system of hutting their troops, preparatory, it is
believed, to its introduction into the British military

service.

A new corps or mounted staff for similar service to
the ambulance corps is now in progress of formation in
London, for the purpose of proceeding to and serving at
the seat of war in the East, and will embark at Wool-
wich for their destination when the necessary arrange-
ments are completed.

A number of military prisoners have been pardoned
during the past month who were confined at Fort Cla-
rence, Chatham, the Governor, Captain Manners, having
recommended thorn to the Secretary at War for their
good conduct while in prison.