The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-26 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

To resuming our notice of the conditions at present
,egulatine the arinsureete and equipments of our ieeere
fleet, we have to ucetiowlecige the value of sonic suggcs-
+ions contained in a letter addressed to the First Lord
of the Admiralty by Captain Robert Spencer Robinson,
of the Royal Navy, a copy of which he was obliging
enough to send us; but as it appeared to be intended
only for private and limited circutation, we did not con-
ceive that we should gratify the author by giving a more
extensive publication to his name than he seemed to
save designed fer himself, though we willingly aided in
he diro,eminatien of doctrines so entirely in concurrence
with our own sentiments previously expressed. To
those, however, who are incliued to pursue still further
the clue which we traced out the other day, we can well
commend the perusal ot this able and inteeligent
pampelet. Our remarks on that occasion tended to show
how it came to pass that for many obvious duties we had
no efficient or appropriate steamers, and, by consequence,
now several of our past eisasters might b.• explained, and
but too many, perhaps, prophesied. We now pass Irvin
our mishaps to our misearriages,—frem our accidents
to our blunders ; and shall endeavour to threw some
light on the circumstances which preclude even the single
:lass of steam ships we have adopted from answering
their own pre jector e designs, and which lead to such un-
remitting expenses and exposures. All our steam navy
should not be frigates; but all our frigates should at least
be good ones—should swim when they are launched, and
1.. ke the guns they are pierced for. We observed some
time ago that the compadson between the steamers
turned out from merchants' yards anti those launched
rom the Royal docks, so frequently drawn to the disad-
vantage of the latter, was thus far unfair,—that the
former were exempted from that condition which in-
duces the greatest difficulty—namely, the necessity of
carrying heavy guns. For, although certain companies
ere bound by contract to build vessels capable of mount-
eig powerful metal on emergencies, they have never yet
been tried, and we have reason to tear they would prove
quite incompetent to this contingent part of their
duties. Against this plea, however, we must set off
the fact that, Government vessels are almost equally
prone to consider_ their armament as nominal; tor we
believe we are cdrrect in stating, that three or four
only of the steam-frigates have ever be n found able
to receive the main-deck guns at which they are rated.
So that both classes are thus far even, except that the
Royal Mail packets do undoubtedly sail, though they
may not be able to fight ; whereas many of the war
'maulers, with almost as much uncertainty as to their
abilities in the latter line, are utterly devoid of any
compensatory excellence in the former. It is in the
engines, however, and in the mutual adaptation of these
machines and the hull, that we suspect the serious fault
to lie ; for tiro discovery of the right principles of ad-
justment on this point would probably bring with it the
tneane of imprevensent in all our other deficiencies. In
our paper of the 30th of November last we called atten-
ion to some of the circumstances whittle were said to
•Iffect the arrangements injuriously in this particular,
and we observe our conclu,ions confirnr-d by some of
the illustrations which Captain Robinson has adduced.
Fifteen years ago the Surveyor strirted, as eir. Hume re•
marked in the debate of the 29th ult., with nine
etearners which were done to his hand by way of mo-
dels, and which he was at liberty to use for his deduc
tions. Two of these were the Comet and the
Lightning—good vessels even to this day, but not good
enough to content the Surveyor. He took his departure
from the Comet, and produced a terrible caricature in
the Gulnare, which, after a second failure under the
anagrammatical apellation of the Gleaner, was finally
condemned, but the Comet lines were not reverted to.
His trauslation of the Medea was not quite so bad, since
it seems to have suggested the Devastation class, which,
if not an improvement on its original, is yet respectably
spoken of„ But it is to the all-pervading and radical
error of these experiments that we wish to direct
ia 1 attention; and this, as Captain Robinson has
stated, is our permacity in testing too many points at
,nee. We never start etrieris purl cis; we are, conse-
quently, never able Lir establish an improvement or de-
tect a fault, and remain just where we were at first.
In the first place, we never know beforehand for what
purposes we are building the vessel. Her work is nete,r
cut out for her before her drawings are made. She is
r,o be a steam-ship," to carry s, many guns ; and
there the instructions end. iu the xt place, whereas
the hull, the moving power, and the armament have
all a direct relation to each other, the proportions ot
which remain to be discovered, we are never content to
ascertain one point at a time, and the result is, that we
ascertain none. Captain Robinson agrees with ourselves
in approving the Vesuvius and Stromboli, which were
fitted with Napier's beam engines. The only fault ever
found with these engines was their weight, and it was
justifiable to try an experiment for removing it. The
Driver was ace rdingly fitted with Seaward's engines ;
but, untortunately, a simultaneous experiment was tried
upon her hull, so that it is now quite impossible to draw
any certain conclusion from her recentriterfturious ser.
vices. Had either the hull or the engines, only been
changed, we might gain some architectural or mechani-
cal deduction from her creditable circumnavigation of
the globe ; but, as it is, one experiment vitiates the
other ; and whether the engines or the hull exhibit the
improvement it is hopele-ss to conjecture. Again, the
Devastation was tried with another new engine—
Maudslay's double cylinder t but at the same time her
horse•power was increased by 120 over that of her
class, so that whether any improvement or inferiority
arose from her double cylinders or her double
power no human shipwright could say. Once
more, when the Cyclops disappointed us, we were
not content even with two experiments in her suc-
cessors, but we actually tried three, for the improved
specimens of this class were lengthened by ten feet in
andhnt
el tre se
senrcigs
equipped
pFe
pu:
dawd
Fawcett,
10 0 additional horse power,
werefiw.oe,
from then
e msand
do newone kfrinocleis
Bolton
letonngineensi,
Watt. After this, it will not create surprise that
architecture ou
axioms.st e of navalx No
eus
than
hendifferentnsortss
fe
engines
very
ne few
s ym
ten
now in use in the steam navy,
and
these of as ma
different powers, in vessels of as many different d. n)
sions. Well may Captain Robinsovi consider comparisoni men
and deduction as difficult I We will conclude with one
more remark. It is obvious that all our late observations
were applicable to paddle wheel steamers only, and
would be mainly negatived by the general introduction
of the screw, which would both diminish the chance or
damage and leave the broadside entire. We have seen
too by the trial of the Amphion last week, and by the
orders which we reported in our naval intelligence fir
the construction of an 80-gun screw ship, that the Ad
miralty are attentive to this point ; and yet of such a
character are our experimental combinations that, up
tt-
this moment, the exact relation of the power of the
screw to that of the paddle remains unascertained !
Times.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
Cu ATTIAIsi, May 24.—The Birkenhead steam-frigate.
Commander A K. Ingram, arrived on Friday evening,
the 21st inst., for the purpose of coaling. She lett at
half past three o'clock the following afternoon, hevint:
taken 200 tons of coal on boar 1, and proceeded to Sheer
ness. In passing Gillingham-reach she capsized a boat
in which were five engineer officers. Fortunately, the
officers were expert swimmers, and they were picked up
by two watermen who saw the accident.
The Semarang, 26 gur s, sailed from Sheerness on the
afternoon of the 2211 inst., for Gibraltar.
The Terrible steam frigate, Captain Ramsey, arrived
at Sheerness on Sunday evening, the 23.1 inst., at sevei,
o'clock, from Greenhithe, which place she left at halt
past four P.M , with only half her steam up.
The Ilttwe, 120 guns, Captain Sir James Stirling,
proceeds to the Nure this evening, the 24th inst., atitt
will be inspected by the Port Admiral to morrow; she
will then proceed to Portsmouth, towed by the Terrible,
Birkenhead, and African steam-vessels. The Howe has
only 300 blue jackets on board, made up from Ports
mouth, the ordinary at Chatham, and the Ocean. She
has also several seamen riggers from Chatham and Sheer-
ness Dockyards; and for the purpose of getting this
ship ready in time, the men have been working on her
from five o'clock in the morning until ten at night eves
since she has been in commission. It is reported Lb.,
the Howe will remain at Portsmouth for three Month,
to refit, us her present, rigging is but temporary. As
soon as she is completes', she will proceed to the Straits,
to relieve the Hibernia. 104, Vice-Admiral Sir W. Par-
ker, G.C.8., Captain Richards.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.
LONDON, MAY 25.—Wind .S.W., moderate breeze,
and fioe Nrather.
DEAL, MAY 24.—Wind S.W., moderate.—Arrd.
Anj: r Gerrats, J.,va, for Amsterdam; Corinth, IVes:
Indies, for di to; Dvcima, Smit, Batavia, for ditto. Ski
Calypso, Ell-Ingham, Jamaica; City of Derry, Quebec;
Arrd. from the river, Susan, Crisp, Cape of Go at H„pe;
Concord, Batavia; Emerald, Antigua; Marlborough,
Jamaica; John Brown, P.,rto Rico; Sunbe t am, Cubs.
LIvERPo,,L, MAY 24 —Wind S.W., moderae.—Arrd
Eu, Widiams, Callao; Isabella, Tilley, Pernambuco;
Victoria, Lindy, Honduras; John Marshall, Murphy,
Philadelphia; J.ls, ph Meiss, Wood, New York. Sid.
Algona, Boston; Albert Edward, Shangha, ; Aur,ira,
Madras; Enterprise. 11.4ifax; Sophia, St. John's, New
Brunswick; New Yo'k packet, Quebec. Off port,
Brilliant, Mauritius; Star brig, and Columbia.
WHITER AVEN, MAY 23.—Wind S. -- Ski. Brazil
packet. Antigua.
‘V AT ERFORD, MAY 23 —Wind S.S.E. to W.S.W.—
Skl. ll,rnet, St. John's, Newfoundland.
LIMERICK, MAY 23. Wind W. Arrd. Robert,
Demean, New' York.
BRIST. ,L, MAY 24.—Wind S.W. Arrd. Caledonia,
Ilavannah.
Sou THAMPTON, MAY 24. Arrd. Iberia steamer,
Gibraltar.
BIDEF,,ET!, MAY 22.—Sid. John, Quebec.
PLymouTß, MAY 24.—Wind S W.—Arrd. Montezuma,
Thompson, New Orleans ; her Majesty's steamer He-
cate, Sierra Leone.

We learn that Miss Burdett Coutts has presented
the munificent donation of 1004 and Dr. Connop
Thlrl-
wall, Lord Bishop of St. David's, 201,, to the Queen's
College at Birmingham, in furtherance of the plan now
in active operation—viz., to relieve the student intended
for the medical profession from the danger of those vex-
ation-, if not degrading services, to which the apprentice
has been too frequently found subjected, and to train
him, under a collegiate system, to combine with profes-
sional knowledge the feelings, habits, and manners of
the Chri,tian, the scholar, and the gentleman.
BIRAINGIIA.III METAL MARSET.—ThiS market suf-
fere considerably from the continued depression of the
money market, and business in ail metals has been very
limited. Copper is dull, and tin squally so; the general
impression, is, that thin article will be much lower ere
Speiter barely maintains its price. Tin plates
are firm, but thu demand is exceedingly fiats-Birming-
ham