The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-01 00:00:00

RETIRED PROMOTIONS.

Lieutenants Henry Crocker (1811), on the active list,
and Paul Griffith Panton (1812), on the reserved half-
pay list, have accepted the retired rank of commander
on the list of 1830, but without any increase of pay, in-
asmuch as they are within the number of the senior
lieutenants.
Captain Decimus Hastings, brother of the store-
keEper, it is said, will succeed Captain Lord Clarence
Paget, as secretary to the Master-General of the Ord-
nance. This appointment has been held successively by
a captain R.N., a major, a rear-admiral, and a captain
R.N.
An exchange of ships between Lieut. A. B. Hodgkin-
s= of the Desperate, 8, screw, Devouport, and P.
Johnston, of the Sidon, 22, steam-frigate, Portsmouth,
has been effected.

The depot-ship Saturn, at Pembroke, Captain Super-
intendent Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart., is to be paid off
and re-commissioned. A good sea-going screw-ship
would be more suitable for this port.
The steam-tender Lightning, at Woolwich, is to be
sent to Port Royal as a tender to the Imaum, depot-
ship, to supply the place of the Alban.
Frolic, 12, Commander Nolloth, is to relieve the Fan-
tome, 12, Commander Gennys, on the New Zealand and
Australian station, the Juno, 26, Captain S. Fremantle,
as we have before stated, relieving the Calliope, 26,
Captain Sir J. E. Home, Bart., C.B.

PORTSMOUTH, OCT. 31.

We presume heavy gales and seas have only been an-
ticipated as likely to visit this port on Wednesdays and
Saturdays, as the steamboat which we reported yester-
day as having been granted to attend the officers and
liberty men in the fleet at Spithead is only ordered to be
at their disposal on those days. The ridiculous nature
of such a concession was fully exposed to-day. A strong
sea, with a stiff adverse wind, has been running all the
morning. Numbers of sailors, many of them drunk,
have been on liberty (from yesterday) ashore, mostly
congregating at Point, to the annoyance of the inhabi-
tants and the stoppage of business near. There was no
steamer to take them to Spithead this morning, and their
own boats, we suppose, could not weather it, so they
remained ashore hours after they ought to have been
aboard their respective ships. There were also three or
four launches, full of dookyard artificers, struggling to
get out to work on the Duke of Wellington, Arrogant,
and. other ships .at Spithead. Those who ought to have
been on board at work by seven o'clock were struggling
with the adverse waves at twelve ; and we do not think
they will all get aboard. to their work before two. At
4.30 is their time for " knocking off" and coming ashore
again.. Now, calculate the time and labour and their
value lost to the Government in such a single morning a
work as this, and then calculate the consumption of coal
as the chief cost of employing the port tug or any of the
tenders to place these sailors and labourers on board
their respective ships to their time, and we think the
Crown side of the account will look rather ridiculous, and
afford good ground for grumbling by those who grudge
the amount voted for the navy estimates. And this
state of things will certainly continue " for the time to
come," as it has done from " time immemorial," unless
the debtor and creditor view 9f the case is taken at