The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-07 00:00:00

IN PORT AND PITTING.

Captain Horatio Austin, C. 8.; the Arrogant, 46, Cap-
tainln Commission—The Blenheim, 60, steam
R. Fitzroy, fitting for sea; the Sparrow. 6, survey-
guardship,
ing vessel, Commander Fraser; and the Rolla, 6, exor-
cise brig for the naval apprentices. Steamers The
Stromboli, Corn. Lord Aurelius Beattelerk ; Reynard,
Comaaander P. Cracroft ; Plumper, Commander Nolloth;
Comet surveying vessel, Commander Otter; and Poly
phemus, Commander Crawford; the royal tender Fairy,
Mr. Welch, master in charge; the Firs Queen, Mr.
Allen master commanding; the Myrtle, Mr. Balliston,
acting-master, commanding; the Bee, instruction ves-
sel for the students at the Royal Naval College; and
the tug Echo, Mr. Harding, pilot and master; also the
Portsmouth and Fanny, sailing yachts, tenders of the
two Admirals.

At Spithead—The Superb, 80, Captain Purcell.
in the Steam-basin—The Ajax guardship, and the
Termagant, Dauntless, and Retribution, first-class fri-
gates; the royal yacht Victoria and Albert; the sloops
Pbcenix and Cormorant; and the Urgent and Sprightly
packets.

In the Ship-basin—The Collingvrood, 80; the Pem-
broke, 72; the Defence, 72, converted into a convict
depot; and the Sparrow ketch.
In Dock—The Princess Charlotte, 104; the Vindic-
tive, Grampus, and Leander 50-gun frigates; the Devas-
tation steam-sloop; and the iron gun-boat Bloodhound.
On the Stocks—The Royal Frederick, 110; the Prince
of Wales, 110; the Princess Royal, 90; the Argus and
Furious steam-sloops.
Wind, S.E. by E , fresh breezes and fine, with flying
clouds of fog seawards.
PLYMOUTH, s.—Her Majesty's ship St•

Vincent, 120, flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier,
Captain Dacres, has strained severely during her passage
from Gibraltar, and will require an extent Live survey on
arrival at Portsmouth, for which port she is preparing to
depart. 'lhe unfortunate man drowned is named John
Goodband, of Plymouth, A.B ; he fell from the maintop-
sail yard while reefing in a heavy gale nine days after
leaving the Rock.
Her Majesty's schooner Lark, 2, Lieutenant-Comman-
der Charles O. B. Hall, put back this morning with loss
of topmast, carried away yesterday morning in a heavy
gale from the south-west, the Dzard bearing north-east
ten miles distant. The Lark will probably be repaired
in the Sound, and proceed again as quickly as may be
witb her dispatches for the coast of Africa.
Her Majesty's steam-gun vessel Rifleman, Lieutenant.
Commander Stephen S. L. Crofton, came in yesterday
from Sheerness, to wait orders for her destination. She
expects to be sent to Sou h America.
Her Majesty's brig Peterel, 6, Lieutenant-Commander
Thomas Creser, was towed out of Hamoaze on Wednes-
day, by her Majesty's steam-tug (;onfiance, Mr. William
Martin, Master. Tha Peterel sailed same day for Fal-
mouth, and the Confiance proceeded to Pembroke with
jury gear for her Majesty's steam-sloop Buzzard.
THE DERELICT GALLIOT HERMANNA.—Her Ma-
jesty's revenue cutter Arrow, Lieutenant Linden, which
arrived on Tuesday evening from Dartmouth, spoke on
Tuesday afternoon, at half-past two o'clock, the Dove,
Brixham trawl-sloop, Captain John Purchase, and
another commanded by Mr. Richard Foreman, having
alongside the masts, spars, rigging and gear of the aban-
doned galliot Hermanna. The two sloops were at
anchor to the eastward of the Start, preparing to take
the wreck on board, as the easterly wind was too strong
to admit of their towing it to Brixham. They fell in
with the rigging at eight o'clock on Monday evening,
the 2d inst.
Wind W.S.W., smart breeze.

THE RIVER NESS.
The bed of the river has presented an extraordinary
scene during the week. A few weeks ago the Ness rolled
inimmense flood, sweeping over its banks, and flooding
the town. No one living had ever seen it in such ma-
jesty, but now we have come to the reverse of the pic-
ture. No one living ever before saw the channel of the
Ness so dry. The ferry-boat can hardly find water
enough to float it; and the little boys wade from bank to
bank, the stream hardly reaching their ankles. The
smallness of the current is occasioned in this way:—
When Loch Ness had subsided, after the floods, to its
usual level, a considerable body of water still found its
way into the channel of the river through the broken
bank of the Canal at Dochgarroch, and the loch was
thus gradually brought down until it fell several feet
below the lowest part of the weir, and the river was
fed by the breach alone. The piles having been driven,
and the earthwork partially deposited at that place,
the water that now runs down the channel of the river is
only that small portion which percolates through the
new gravel and amongst the stones beneath the weir.
On Monday the level of the loch was more than two feet
below the lowest part of the weir, and as we have had
fine dry weather for some time past, it will be some time
before the loch rises so as to pour its surplus into the
river in the usual way. The river, as it passes through
the town, is now little more than a succession of shallow
pools, in which the ducks delight themselves, connected
by a small thread of running water; and the long gravel
banks and stoney shallows, bleached white in the sun,
where the river swept along grand and deep, present an
extraordinary and not altogether pleasing sight. Early
last week, as the river rapidly fell, the ferry-boat was re-
moved to what was the " black stream," opposite Ness
House, where long stages have been erected on both
sides to form quays for the boat. But boys and girls
may be seen at all times crossing at the foot of Ness
Bank, and at the head of Douglas-row. Men and women
too, not unfrcquently cast their shoes and stockings and
take to the stream.

The lowness of the current has presented a favourable
opportunity for removing the ruins of the old bridge, and
Mr. Bain (the contractor for the gaol) has had a large
number of men employed removing the stones to the
side, where they can be of service at a future time.
Nothing, however, has yet been resolved upon as to
a new bridge ; and Mr. Bain has only an arrangement
with the town for the removal of the stones. Large
masses of the centre arches had adhered together, but
under the hammers of the labourers they are fast dis-
appearing. The old bridge having been built for the
most part of small stones, the destruction has beea com-
plete and many of the stones have been carried down a
very long way. From the position of the stones of the
small southern arch, Mr. Bain is of opinion that it first
gave way ; the whole force of the current having
been directed against its foundations next the street,
undermined it, and caused it to spring. This opinion
corroborates the account of the fall of the bridge
given by us at the time. The workmen have also been
busy during the week preparing the foundations for the
new breast wall of the roadway to be formed past
" Tolmie Castle," in place of the wall and road carried
off by the flood. Mr. Bain has obtained this contract,
and will soon carry it through. The Gas Company have
also taken advantage of the smallness of the river, and
their workmen are now busily engaged cutting a bed
across the channel at the foot of Nets Bank, for a line
of pipes, and the pipes are now stretched across, upon
trestles, and will soon be rendered water-tight and ready
fur laying down. These various operations all taking
place in the bed of the river, and with the ferry-boat
plying from side to side, the boys and girls wading and
paddling about, and the crowds of interested spectators,
of both sexes looking on at all hours of the day, give a
new, strange, bustling, and agreeable aspect to the scene.
The present generation have seen what none be'ore them
ever saw—the Nes., within a few months in its highest
and then in its smallest stream.

In the course of the operations for replacing the
breast-wall at the foot of Bridge-street, the workmen
have come upon a flight of stone steps, about six feet
broad, leading down to the bed of the river. On the
other side of the stream, exactly opposite these steps,
the fall of the bridge disclosed what had been an ancient
gateway, also leading to the river. It consists of two
narrow towers, with handsome projecting Gothic corbels,
leaving a passage of about six feet in width, defend, d by
a gate, the marks of which appear. The corbel on the
west side has been roughly cut away, apparently to ad-
mit the passage of some unusually large body. The
discovery of this gateway on one side of the stream, and
the stone stair on the other side, has set conjecture to
work. Some suppose that the communication across the
river was by boat, or by a bridge of boats, and others
conceive that there was a raised ford. The remains are
evidently older than the date of the wooden bridge,
which fell in 1664. They are not unlike the work of
the religious orders before the reformation. The low
state of the water has laid bare several of the piles of
the wooden bridge, and they are eight or tea yards
farther down the river. The stone bridge had been
erected on the site of the original ford or ferry, the
towers on the west side being used as an abutment for
the bridge; and the stairs on the east side being covered
up when the roadway was formed.—lnverness Courier.

GOING A-HEAD.--In the town. of Ashburton there
are two public clocks, which differ in time generally
some twenty or thirty minutes. The old adage, " Two
of a trade never agree," is shown in the practice of the
two rival horologists who superintend these clocks—the
church clock being kept by Mr. John Horton, who
keeps his time according to the old coach pace of former
days, and the old shambles clock by Mr. James Conney-
bear, who is determined, spite of the non-commencement
of the Ashburton Railway, that the people of that ancient
borough shall at least have railway time.— Western
Times.
Loss or THE STEAM-SHIP Fonrir.—An investi-
gation into the circumstances attending the loss of the
steam-ship Forth, on the „Alacrane s reef, was held at
Southampton on Saturday. The tribunal was composed
of the following gentlemen, who constituted an inquiry
committee of the company;—Captain Shepherd, of the
East India Company, an Elder Brother of Trinity-house,
Chairman; Captain Mangles, a managing director, Vice-
Chairman; Captain Nelson, an Elder Brother of Trinity-
house; Captain Barton, R.N. the company's superinten-
dent at Southampton; Captain E. N. Chappell, R.N.,
secretary of the company; Captain Wish, R.N., auditor
of the company; likewise the commanders of three of the
company's ships in port, Lieutenant P. Hast, of
the Avon (the senior officer and commodore of the com-
pany's fleet); Captain William Allan, of the Dee; and
Captain W. Vincent, of the Severn. The whole tenour
of the evidence (to which a patient and careful hearing of
four hours was given by the committee) demonstrated
that the loss of this fine steamer arose from—l, an error
in the reckoning; which, however, ought to have been
counteracted by different observations and attention to
the sounding lead; 2, a violation of the company's regu-
lations in regard to frequent soundings, as before alluded
to; and, 3, by the taking from his post of one of the look-
out men. As the most explicit instructions on these
heads are laid down in the company's volume of regula-
tions published for the information and guidance of their
officers, the resolution arrived at, after deliberation, was,
that a laxity of discipline in relation to the duties of the
navigation of the ship caused her position to be wrongly
computed, and her total destruction consequently fol-
lowed. The decision arrived at by the Committee was
—that it would be their painful duty to recommend to
the Court of Directors the dismissal of Captain Sturdee
and the chief officer from the company's service; that
the second officer should be reduced to the grade of third
officer for one voyage, and that the third officer should
be reduced to the grade of fourth officer for one year.

CROSSCANNONBY CUURCLI.—A stained-glasschancel
window has this week been put in Crosscannonby
Church, by the liberality of the parishioners. It con-
sists of three lancets; on the centre one, the Crucifixion,
and St. John and the Virgin at the foot of the cross; on
the left lancet, St. Peter; and on the right, the saint to
whom the church is dedicated. The ground of the
centre lancet is blue; the side ones ruby. The remainder
of the window is filled with flowered quatre-foils, en-
closed in circles. It was executed by Messrs. Scott, of
Carlisle, and is ono of the richest they have made. The
colours are crimson, ruby, Line, green, orange, yellow,
and purple.—Carlisle Journal.
HULL BANKRUPTCY COURT, WEDNESDAY.—Before
Mr. Commissioner Ayrton.—Re John Stringer, of Hull,
draper, adjourned final examination from the 31st of
January. At this examination the bankrupt produced a
list of his creditors, as ordered by the Court, but not
having given them in before the time fixed, there bad
been no time to ascertain whether they were correct.
His Honour, under these circumstances, adjourned the
examination sine die, but extended his protection
.for a
month.—Re Thomas Carlitt, of Hull, grocer, owbeatscead of
assignees and proof of debts. The la
journed for the bankrupt to annul the fiat will
t.
be no business on Wednesday next--Hull
1 Packet.
SOMETHING "NEW..Tbe North Star, steamer,
brought,a novel importation last week—an extensive
apply
and other early vegetables, from
sof new potatoes,the London market, for Mr. Burns, fruiterer, Church-
street. The importation seemed to be fully appreciated,
and the potatoes, though costly, were 60011 bought up.—
"newness Ow*.