The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-28 00:00:00

NAVAL INTEL LIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, JUNE 27.—The Commander-in-Chief,
Admiral Sir Charles Ogle, Bart., hoisted his flag in the
Ondine steam-vessel this morning, and proceeded, soon
after seven o'clock, on his visit to the Channel Islands.
The command of the port now devolves upon Rear-
Admiral Hyde Parker, C. 8., superintendent of the
dockyard.
The Howe, 120, Captain Sir James Stirling, was
placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles
Napier, K.C.8., and changed her ensign from white to
blue. She wants hands sadly.
It is reported that the Admiralty intend ordering the
construction of several line-of-battle ships of 80 guns,
with steam power of 700 horse.
Mr. J. Newey, master of the metal mills and foundry
in this dockyard, has been superannuated on 125/. per
annum. Ten of the working men in the same depart-
ment have also been superannuated, and the remainder
have been transferred with the establishment to the new
metal mills at Chatham, under the direction of Mr.
Jeremiah Owen, formerly of this dockyard.
A contract for 850 sacks of dressed biscuit meal was
taken at the Royal Clarence Victualling Establishment,
Gosport, on Thursday, at 565. 6d. and 58s. 6d. per sack
of 2801 b., being about ss. less than on the 13th ult.
The Orestes, 18, in dock here, is ordered to be fitted
as a depot, to be stationed at Cove.
The Committee of reference on ship building, sitting
in this dockyard, having submitted to the Admiralty plans
and drawings for the construction of a 90-gun ship,they
have been approved of by the Board, and orders were re-
ceived on Friday for a ship of that class, to be called the
Caner, to be built on the slip on which the Royal
Frederick, 110, is now building.
The Mediator, American line of packet ship, Captain
Stark, arrived at this port yesterday from New York in
16 days, bringing dates to the Bth inst. She landed
passengers and a file of papers and passed on for the
river.

The Larne, 18, Captain Brisbane, arrived at Spithead
this morning, at five o'clock, bringing news from
the coast of Africa, to the 18th of May. She left As-
cension on the sth, and the Banana Islands on the first-
named date.

The Commodore, Sir C. Hotham, K.C.8., in the
steam-frigate Penelope, 22, Captain Giffard, and the
Actaeon, 26, Captain Mansel, were at Ascension. Two
courts-martial had been held on board the latter ship, of
which her captain was President, to try Lieutenant
Alston, late of the Pantaloon, for unbecoming conduct,
and Mr. John Wilson, acting purser of the Favorite, for
drunkenness. Both officers were adjudged guilty and
dismissed from her Majesty's service.
The Courts were composed of Captain Mansel, Pre-
sident ; Captain Hutton of the Tortoise ; Captain
Brisbane, of the Larne ; Commander Newton, of the
Lily ; Commander Murray, of the Favourite ; Com-
mander Douglas, of the Pantaloon ; and Mr. George
Hickman, acting Paymaster and Purser of the Panta-
loon, acting Judge-Advocate ; neither of the prisoners
were defended.

The Aetteon'.was about to sail for St. Helena.
The following was the disposition of the squadron at
the last dates:—

At Ascension—The Penelope (Commodore), Actaeon,
and Tortoise.

At the Bights of Benin (northern division)—The
Favourite, 18, Commander Murray (spoken off Sierra
Leone, by the Larne) ; the Albatross, 12, Commander
Farquhar ; the Wanderer, 16, Commander Montresor ;
Rolla, 10, Commander Ellicombe ; the Contest, 12,
Commander M`Murdo ; the Syren, 16, Commander
Chaloner ; the Bittern, 16, Commander Hope ; the De-
vastation steam sloop, Commander Crouch ; th Hound,
10, Commander Wood ; and the Grappler iron steamer,
Lieutenant- Commander Lysaught.
Congo Division—The Heroine, 6, Commander Ed-
munds ; the Sealark, 10, Acting-Commander Whyte ;'
the Waterwitch, 8, Commander Birch ; the Ferret, 8,
Commander Sprigg ; the Rapid, 8, Acting-Commander
Hill ; the Flying Fish, 12, Commander Dyke ; and the
Styx steam sloop, Commander Chads.
At Benguela—The Kingfisher, 12, Commander Hor-
ton.

The Prometheus steam-sloop, Commander Hay; the
Kingfisher and Ranger were daily expected at As-
cension.

The Pantaloon, 10, Commander Douglas, had sailed
on the 3d of May for Bermuda, to join the squadron on
the West India station.

The Island of Ascension was very healthy, water was
not scarce, and there were 500 turtle in the pounds when
the Larne left.

The French were very sickly at the Prince's Islands.
Mr. M'Crae, surgeon of the Actieon, at the request of
the Freneh squadron, went on shore, with permission of
Captain Mansel, and administered to the sick, and also
supplied them with medicines, they only having an
assistant-surgeon of their own to attend upon them.
The slave trade was very brisk, nor is it considered
possible to repress it until that traffic is treated as piracy.
The high priest of the Bonny had been taken prisoner
by the Waterwitch for the murder of three British sub-
jects belonging to a palm oil trader in that river, and at
the date of our advices was on board the Tortoise store
and guard ship at Ascension, awaiting orders from the
Admiralty as to his disposal.
Treaties have been effected by Ca_ptain Murray of the
Favourite, in the river Nunez and Rio Grande, for the
suppression of the slave trade.
Lieutenant Vesey, and Mr. Spain, master of the He-
roine; Lieutenant Strangways, of the Favourite,- Captain
ILM., of the Actaeon, on promotion • Dr. Gil-
bert King, inspector of hospitals and fleets, and the late
acting purser of the Favourite, dismissed by court-mar-
tial, have come home in the Larne.
Mr. Eversfield, clerk of the Promotheus, is appointed
acting paymaster and purser of the Favourite, vice
Wilson.
Lieutenant L. W. Peyton had joined the Favourite
from the Penelope.
Lieutenant Whyte, senior lieutenant of the Sealark,
had been confirmed in the command of that brig by the
Commodore, for the very efficient manner in which she
was found on inspection, after Commander Gooch had
invalided.

Lieutenant rowel, formerly in command of the King-
fisher, has remained out on the coast and joined the Styx
as senior lieutenant.

The Lame has been employed upon the coast upwards
of three years, and has been very healthy, having only
lost one surgeon and one man from fever, and invalided
two lieutenants and a few seamen.

Commodore Sir Charles Hotham had inspected all his
divisions, and on visiting the southern subdivision, under
Captain Brisbane's command, was pleased to express to
that gallant officer in the most gratifying terms his
highest approbation of the state of the Larne and the
other vessels under his command generally.
The Philomel, 6, Commander W. C. Wood, has not
arrived on the station.

The Lily, 16, Commander Newton, arrived at Spithead
on Saturday afternoon from the above station, bringing
dispatches for the Admiralty from the Commodore and
numerous invalids. She has been ordered home some

time since (upwards of twelve months), in order that
sundry courts-martial may be held on her officers. The
first trial on the roster is Lieutenant Branch, second

lieutenant, whom we are informed has already been
under arrest seventeen months. The day she left
Sierra Leone the Hound sent in a slave felucca taken

in the Bights, fitted for the traffic, but with no slaves
on board.

The Grappler also took a prize the same time as the
Devastation (an account of which we gave on Saturday)
—a fine schooner fitted for slaves, but with none on
board—which was also sent into Sierra Leone for adju-
dication.

We have letters from the squadron under Rear-Ad-
miral Dacres, Commander-in-Chief on the Cape station,
to the 18th of April inclusive. One of them, dated the
10th, expresses fears of the renewal of the Kafir insur-
rection, and says:—
" The Pottinger arrived yesterday, and also two
Spanish steam•vessels. They bring no news.
" The Rattlesnake, 26, surveying vessel, Captain
Owen Stanley, having refitted, sailed yesterday for the
Mauritius and Sydney.
" The Nimrod, 20, Commander Dacres, sailed this
day for Table Bay, to embark the new Lieutenant-
Governor, and then she proceeds to Algoa Bay. she
is doing the duty of the late Thunderbolt. A steamer
to replace her is very much wanted."
The Rosamond steam-sloop, Commander
arrived in Simon's Bay on the 12th u Foote,
England.
Ricketts, Bart., The Helena, 16, Captain Sir C.
Mozambique on the 17th
ar-
rived at Simon's Bay from the Mozambi
of April, en route to England. of .April, from