The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-19 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 18.

The command of the Medea, 6, steam-sloop, was given
up, yesterday afternoon, by Commander Bailey, to the
Master of the vessel, until the newly-appointcd c)m-
mander joined. Before doing so, however, Commander
Bailey mustered the officers and ship's company on the
quarter-deck and addressed them in the following
speech :

"Men,—l have been informed that lam superseded
from the command of the Medea. This is owing to
occurrences with which you are all acquainted, arising
from a systematic and, it seems, untangible opposition
to all my efforts to set matters to rights. Notwith-
standing these difficulties I had succeeded in putting
things into a proper train when the ship arrived at
Halifax, but there, from an unexpected cause, against
which I could not contend, they were renewed. My
work was at once undone, and myself fairly thrown on
my back. lam confident that, were the heads of our
profession aware of the twentieth part of what every
man here knows of the true state of affairs, matters
would have terminated in a very different manner. It
has been stated that the dissensions on board the Medea
had made her ' the scandal of the navy.' I suspect the
author of that assertion was likewise one of the principal
authors and secret promoters of that scandal ; but of this
I am assured that none of it is to be attributed to her
ship's company, or, my conscience tells me, to her com-
mander. We have beheld extraordinary scenes, sub-
versive of discipline, enacted upon our decks, which,
from their very extravagance, are incredible to persons
who have not witnessed them. These I invariably
suppressed, for I believed that, if I did my duty and
upheld the service, the service would in turn uphold me,
and the more especially as my position was one of
unusual difficulty. I regret that insubordination has
triumphed, and that the originators of all our discom-
forts should, by falsehood and insidious attacks, have
endeavoured to affix the stigma of oppression and
persecution to my name—characteristics which I
feel are completely foreign to my disposition ;
and I really regret parting with a crew who have
never allowed themselves to be misled by the bad
example set before them, for I never met a ship's com-
pany so well conducted or who gave so little trouble as
that of the Medea. It is gratifying to reflect that it
has never been my duty to inflict a corporal punishment
in the ship, and that it has only twice been necessary
to disrate men. I now bid you farewell, hoping you
will persevere in the same good conduct, and that you
may get as worthy a commander as you deserve, and
officers who will do their duties properly and attend to
your comforts."

For his good report of them the crew thanked their
commander, and the petty officers solicited him on the
quarter-deck to memorialise the Admiralty to pay the
ship off before he left.
Commander Phillimore read his commission appoint-
ing him to the Medea, this morning.
The tubular life-raft, the invention of Mr. Parratt, of
the Treasury, was exhibited to-day, between 1 and 2
o'clock, off the King's-stairs in this dockyard, before
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, K.C.8., Com-
mander-in-Chief, and a very large party of distinguished
officers and civilians. Mr. Parratt produced the raft
uninflated and packed, when its extraordinary small
dimensions created general astonishment ; it was then
in a very short space of time inflated and extended, and
then launched from off the King's-stairs into the har-
bour, and 10 or 12 men were then placed on one part of
it to show by comparison how many it would safely
carry. Sir Thomas Cochrane was fully satisfied that
50 or 60 men could safely be placed on it, and was so
convinced, as were all the officers present, as to the ex-
treme buoyancy of the apparatus, that it was deemed
quite needless to practise further experiments. The
Commander-in-Chief expressed his great surprise at the
portability and lightness of the raft when he saw eight
men easily carry it away with one hand each. All the
officers present concurred in the opinion of the great
utility of the invention, If applied to troop, emigrant, or
passenger ships, Another invention of Mr. Parratt's, a
little expanding boat, was also exhibited, which was
highly approved, and deemed applicable as a large life-
buoy, to be carried by every man-of-war as a most reliable
means of saving life overboard. We consider these the

best attempts of the kind yet introduced with the phi-
lanthropic object of saving life endangered by casualties
at sea. Mr. Parratt will exhibit his invention at
Southampton on Monday.

WOOLWICH, Nov. 18.

APPOINTMENTS.

Master.—John Richards (1847), to command the Sa-
racen brig, commissioned this day, at Devonport.
Second Masters.—John W. Reed 1851), from the
Prince Regent, 90, to the Saracen ; Robert Smith
(1846), to the Prince Regent, vice Reed ; John Jones
(1853), to the Royal George, 120, screw steam-ship, at
Sheerness.

Surgeon.—William Macleod, M.D. (1853), to the
Buzzard paddle-wheel steam-sloop, on the West Indies
station.

Clerk in Charge.—George A. Eversfield (1846), from
the Excellent gunnery ship, at Portsmouth, to the Rifle-
man screw steam-sloop, at Woolwich.
Master's Assistant.—John Richards, to the Rifleman.
Naval Cadets.—R. B. Lambert, to the Arrogant, 47,
screw steam-frigate ; John M`N. Boyd, first entry.
Mr. John H. Hay, Chief Clerk at the Admiralty,
died at 4 o'clock p.m. yesterday after a short illness,
having been at the Admiralty in the performance of his
official duties on Tuesday morning last. The deceased
had been about 50 years at the Admiralty, and wls
greatly esteemed by the numerous Boards he had served
under, and by the highest ranks of officers who had to
communicate with him on naval matters. His impartial
conduct through life was much appreciated in all
quarters. The memory of the late Mr. Hay will be
long remembered and be deservedly respected by all who
knew him, and had the good sense to know that he who
fulfils faithfully and impartially the duties entrusted to
him is the best servant of the public.

PLYMOUTH, Nov. 18.
The splendid ship Prince AUred, 931 tons register,
Captain Smith, belonging to IViessrs. Pope, of this port,
and under charter to the Emigration Commissioners,
sailed from the Sound yesterday for Melbourne direct,
having on board 350 souls—equal, by the computation
of the Passengers Act, to 3091 adults, of whom 162 are
single females. The Prince Alfred was despatched
under the superintendence of Mr. Willcocks, the agent
to the commissioners.

The Blenheim, one of the fleet of Mr. Duncan Dunbar,
commanded by Captain Molison, is now in the Sound,
also under charter to the Emigration Commissioners,
and will be despatched for Melbourne next week. The
Kent, Sir Thomas Gresham, Rodney, and Sir Edward
Parry are to follow under similar charter.
The Scolia, 1,000 tons, Captain Strickland, is to em-
bark passengers at Plymouth next week for Sydney.
She takes a small number of respectable young women,
sent out under the auspices of the Hon. Sidney Herbert.
The Agamemnon, 91, Captain W. B. Mends, has
sent her broken cast-iron fan to the dockyard, and her
former fan, which is made of brass, has replaced the one
that was broken. She was paid wages this morning,
and will sail, probably, to-morrow for the Mediterra-
nean, to take the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund
Lyons, who has been appointed second in command on
that station.