The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-09 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTH, Mancn 7.—The Sphynx was docked yes-
terday afternoon (tlie coppering of the Centaur having been
most expeditiously completed), but the water not having
been run off, the damage she has sustained cannot be all
ascertained. That the vessel is much strained is evident, in •
asmuch as the bed-plate and condenser of the engines are
both broken, the former in several places. The kelsun bolts
are also several of them started up by her thumping on the
rocks. The engines and boilers will have to be entirely re-
moved to repair the injuries sustained by the keel and bottom
planking. The lower part of the knee of the head was car-
ried away on the 14 ult. by the chain cable, when the vessel
went broadside on the shore.
(ANOTHER ACCOUNT.)
TILE RECOVERY OF' THE 51.HYNX STEAM SLOOP.—The
recovery of the Sphynx steam-sloop from the fate which
was generally predicted for her, has reflected so much credit
on captain Austin, C.ll, Commander Giffin, Lieutcnsnt
Thompson, of the Victory; Mr. Bellamy' assistant master
attendant of Portsmouth Dockyard ; Mr. Biddlecomb,
master ; and Mr. Mallard, second master of the St. Vincent,
and the officers and men belonging to the royal navy, and
Mr. Watts, assistant master shipwright, and the officers
and men of Portsmouth Dockyard, that although it involves
a repetition in some respects of what we have already pub-
lished, we shall be excused for giving the following correct
details of an operation which has excited so much attention.
As we have before stated, it is impossible to commend too
lighly the exertions of all engaged in the arduous :ask, and
the cheerful manner in which they endured all sorts of pri-
vations. It will be recollected that Commander Caffin, of the
Scourge steam- sloop (a most worthy officer), was at first
sent to assist in getting off the Sphynx. He at once saw the
necessity of mechanical help, and immediately applied to the
dockyard, when Rear-Admiral Parker ordered Mr. Watts to
go to her, taking 50 mechanics of different departments. In
an officer of Mr. Watts's attainments, scientific and prac-
tical, Commander Catlin had a most agreeable colleague, and
no time was lost in consulting on the best means to be
adopted. It occurred to Commander Caffin that they should
avail themselves of the paddle beams and framing to apply-
buoyant vessels of some kind underneath, and Mr. Watts
thought a raft of casks or of tanks might answer the purpose.
'rue difficulty, however, of lashing or uniting them together
sufficiently securely to withstand the immense force of the
rollers and breakers, so common off that part of the island,
was seen, and Commander Caffin then suggested the London
barge, decked over and applied as camels underneath the
paddle-boxes. On this the training was immediately planned,
and Mr. Watts's designs were received at Portsmouth-yard,
where it—together with the barges—was prepared. In the
first attempt with these barges they failed, in consequence in
part of one of them having received injury for want of suffi-
cient security. Unfortunately it forged a head, and the pump,
which projected up through the deck, came in contact with
one of the bearers of the framing, and ripped up a portion
of it, which caused it to fill. But even if this accident had
not happened, the change of weather would have defeated
them. They profited by this experience, and Commander
Caffin having left, Mr. Watts went to work to remedy and
improve on the first attempt; and Captain Austin having
arrived, determined on carrying out the plans agreed upon.
The barges were found not to possess sufficient buoyant
power, and consequently they were raised upon so as to bring
them up to about 140 tons. Mr. Watts found that the nose
of the vessel, instead of being lifted ever the reef of rocks or
bank, was rather forced into it by the downward action of
the cables when hove upon. To obviate this he had a third
barge or camel prepared, with a framework at the extreme
end sufficiently high that when the cables, hawsers, &c.,
were carried over it, this downward action, instead of de-
pressing the vessel, should produce the conlrary effect. To
accomplish this he placed at the opposite end of the camel,
firmly secured to its deck, two strong pieces of timber, kept
sufficiently asunder for the stem of the vessel to pass between
them, so that they forked the stem. Attached to the stem,
immediately over this fork, was a strong cleat on each side.
By the depressing of the end on which the frame was placed
the end next the vessel was raised, and an upward pressure
on the cleats resulted therefrom. Beyond this a great por-
tion of the buoyant power of the camel came into operation.
The undulations of the sea also contributing to increase its
effect.
The Sphynx, cleared of everything except her engines,
drew upwards of ten feet of water ; and the reef over which
she was ultimately carried had not more than six feet on it
at the time. She had twice before been brought up to this
point, and could not be got over it; but on Wednesday last,
by the joint effects of the camels under the paddle-boxes—
the one against the stern, nicknamed the dromedary, and the
two tiers of casks (alias bulls under the bottom, and main
strength in heaving, she effected the passage. The outer
shoal or reef, on which there was only about six inches more
water than on the inner, brought her up again. The pur-
chases having been perhaps prematurely detached from the
vessel, not expecting that they would be further required,
they impeded the progress of the vessel over the intermediate
flat, and would perhaps have prevented her reaching the
outer reef in time to get over in that tide, so that the result
would have been the same in either case; thus she was not
got entirely over these reefs before ten o'clock on Thursday
morning.
The "recovered" Sphynx was taken into the Angle Dock
at Portsmouth, on Saturday afternoon, but as it was too late
to get the water out, it could not be seen what damage she
had sustained in her keel, stern-post, &c. As she made but
little water after she was floated off (about an inch per hour),
liser bottom cannot have been very materially injured.
To=day, a large gang of shipwrights will be turned on her,
and we have no doubt but in a short space of time she will
be again fit for commission. Her engine gear having been
nearly all disconnected and brought up to Portsmouth piece-
meal, will also require very considerable repair. The Echo
and Monkey steamers have returned to Brook to collect the
inat#rial, 'limbers, anchors, &c., which were of necessity left
behind.
w ith great pleasure wa mention the Admiralty Board
had, previous to the getting the Sphynx off the shore,
rewarded the riggers and artizans employed on her for
their extra exertions, and the damage done to their
clothes, by a payment of 61. 10s. each, and higher re-
wards to the leading men ; in addition to which all the
hands employed on her recovery were on Saturday assem-
bled at the Naval College, when a public letter of thanks
from the Admiralty was read to them acknowledging their
services.
The Centaur, steam-frigate, having been caulked and cop•
pered, was brought out of dock at Porstsemotoluanthd,.ansdhewiilsl take
on board another load of meal for
Moorman, is lying
at the mooring of the King's Stairs,
P u ortsmoth, awaiting
under command Davy,CoomfmthaendCeariegloooniram.
Rattler,
s toefa Mr.
I oop,
lof Lord Howden. Mr. &rant, paymaster,
the arrive
ap-
pointed secretary to Sir Thomas llerbert, goes out to South
America in her.
T} left Devoiaport for Portsmouth
on
morning.
steam-vessel, 1;

APPOINTMENTS.
Lieutenant Robert Reid (1843), late first lieutenant of the
Sappho, to the Mariner, 16, at Devonport.
Acting-Master William Thomas Chapman, second master
of 1844. to the Volege, surveying -vessel for the Mediter-
ranean.
Surgeon William Folds (1830), to the Royal Sovereign.
Paymaster and Purser C. Little (1835), to the Yolage.
Chaplains—Rev. G. Bellamy (1840), to the Ocean, vice
Fielding; Rev. Charles L. Bell (1846), from the Avenger,
steam-frigate, to the Rodney, 92.
Second Master—James F. Tomlin, from assistant-master,
to the Vtlage.
ROYAL MARlNES.—Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Wearing,
Captain Phineas Priest, First Lieutenant John Manger, and
Second Lieutenant John Barlow Butcher, to the Plymouth
division.

The following ships are confidently spoken of as under con-
sideration for forming the chief members of an experimental
squadron for 114 7 :
Brit an ni a , 120 guns, 2,616 tons, built by rule in 1820,
stationed at Portsmouth.

Howe, 120 guns, 2,619 tons, built by rule in 1815, sta-
tioned at Sheerness.

St. Vincent, 120 guns, 2,612 tons, built by rule in 1815,
stationed at Portsmouth.

........
Queen, 110 guns,- 3,083 tons, built by Symonds in 1839,
stationed at Devonport.
I'owerful, 84 guns, 2,296 tons, built after the Canopus in
1826, stationed at Portsmouth.

Formidable, 84 guns, 2 ,289 tons, built after the Canopus in
1625, stationed at Sheerness.

By a letter from the Hibernia, 100, Captain Richards, flag
of Vice• Admiral Sir William Parker, dated off Lisbon,
February 19, we are furnished with the following statement
of a trial of smartness in executing the important manoeuvre
of sending down and sending up lower yards and topmasts
by the fleet then off Lisbon :

Sendingu down. Sending up
Hibernia, 100, Captain Richards (flag) IYs. mar.
Trafalgar, 120, Captain Nott 22
30
Canopus, 84, Captain Moresby .........
19
Superb, 80, Captain Corry 23 18
America, 50, Captain Sir S. Maitland 33 38*
Thetis, 36, Captain Codrington 42 28
Mutine, 12, Commander Tryon 2
Captain Frederick Wood (1842) died at 7 18
Southsea yester,
day morning, aged 48. He was made a Lieutenant in July,
18:21 ; Commander June, 1838 ; and Captain Septem-
ber, 1842.
Mr. Vincent Pappalardo is appointed Vice-Consul for the
Brazils for this port and district.
The Royal Humane Society of London yesterday *ent a
most handsomely-worded certificate, and the committee of
Lloyd's an unanimous vote of thanks, expressive of their
sense of the noble gallantry displayed by Lieutenant Clarke,
R.N., of the Hayling coast-guard station. in rescuing the
lives, at the risk of his own, of nine men belonging to the
brig Gipsey, wrecked on the \Voolsners, near Portsmouth,
during the late gales. Lieutenant Clarke was Admiralty
midshipman (supernumerary in the Leander frigate for a
passage to join his proper ship, the Pactolus) at the battle of
Algiers, where he was wounded in the left arm. lie has lost
five brothers in action in the naval service of his country.
The Undine steam-vessel, Master. Commander Allen, is
placed under the orders of Commander Crispin, of the Royal
Yachts, and will be employed chiefly as a dispatch-boat, and
relieve the Fairy frequently in the duty of conveying her
Majesty's papers, letters, &c., during the sojourn of the Court
at the Isle of Wight.
The Britannia, 120, has been hauled down from her moor-
ings, it is asserted, to be prepared for commission by Captain
Sir James Stirling. This ship has been four or five times in
commission, whereas neither of those fine 120's, the Nelson
or the Neptune (although the former has been lying in this
harbour ever since she was brought from Woolwich in 1814,
and the latter ever since she was launched at this port in
1832), have ever hoisted a pennant.
The St. Vincent, 120, Captain Milne, flag of Admiral Sir
C. Ogle, Bart., Commander-in-Chief at this port, is about to
have a thorough overhaul and refit. She will have entire
new rigging, which she will commence being fitted with to-
morrow morning. We expect to see her at Spithead by the
latter end of May.
The Favourite, 18, Commander Murray, was at Sierra
Leone on the 18th of January, all well ; and the Kinfisher,
12, Commander Horton, at St. Helena, on the 11th of
January.
The 'Rapid, 10, Commander Galwey, was cruising off
Benguela on the 2d of January, in company with the Espoir,
10, Commander Ihnd, h
wich latter under orders for
England, and was to proceed round the coast to commu-
nicate with the different officers in charge of the cruising
grounds. She is to come home in company with the Cygnet,
the latter in a leaky state. They may both (says our let-
ter) be expected at Spithead in April. The Kingfisher
gave a parting dinner to the officers, and three cheers when
' they took their departure. Commander Galwey, of the
Rapid, has come home invalided in a merchant vessel, which

4 And liQt Ilni:hicl At that time.