The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-18 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PLYMOUTH, JUNE 16.—His Danish Majesty's corvette
Flora, Captain Ellbrecht, will probably leave this port
to-morrow for a cruise in the North Sea, and proceed
thence to Copenhagen. Among the naval cadets on
board is his Serene Highness Prince William of Hesse
Phillipsthal, a fine young man about 17 years of age,
who left this port on the 7th inst. for Marlborough
House, to visit his august relative her Majesty the Queen
Dowager. The young Prince returned on the 14th, and
the next day, in company with Captain Ellbrecht and
the officers of the corvette, was entertained by Port
Admiral Sir John West, G.C.8., who invited a large and
fashionable party of naval and military officers to meet
his distinguished guests. The entertainment concluded
by a ball given in the evening by Lady West.
The Trinity stew:ft-yacht Vestal, Captain E. W. Jones,
came in on the 13th and left on the 15th inst., for an
extensive tour of inspection of lights to the eastward.
Sir Henry Pelley, deputy chairman ; Captains Ford,
Pixley, Shepherd, Mann, and Redman, elder brethren,
are on board, and during their stay visited the lighthouse
on the Breakwater and Eddystone.
lORTSMOUTH, THURSDAY.—The rumour which we
gave yesterday respecting the Scourge steam-sloop, and
which we could not then Mace to any authentic founda-
tion, has been confirmed to day; that vessel is being ra-
pidly dismantled, Captain Catlin, his officers and crew,
being ordered to be turned over to the Fury steam-sloop
at Sheerness. The cause of this order is defective ma-
chinery—the old complaint, although the Scourge is a
new vessel, and scarcely one year and seven months in
commission. Whether her 13• inch mortar is to blame
for this, or the work itself was inferior, we have been
unable to find out, but certain it is that the vessel is put
out of commission. It is high time some commission
was appointed to invustigate the causes of these repeated
failures of the Government steamers from alleged bad
workmanship in the machinery, vi hick is continually
offering some hindrance to her Majesty's service by
breaking down. We don't know whether the Scourge's
engines are constructed upon any established plan, or
whether they are experimental. With the pattern of
the Comet before their eyes we are surprised that failure
is so frequent. The engines of that excellent little craft
are in better working order now than they were when
they were fitted in 1822, although her boilers, like the
Victory, have not a piece of the original material with
which they were constructed in them. The machinery
of this little model will indeed have to be provided with
a new hull if she is kept six months longer in commis-
sion. We merely adduce this to show the value of the
proverb, " Let well alone."
The immense American steam-ship Washington, of
2,000 tons and 2,000 (1) horse power, passed Spithead
this morning, about nine o'clock, on her way to Bremen
from Southampton. I❑ point of size she looked like an
elongated three-decker with only one streak round her,
but about as ugly a specimen of steam-ship building as
ever went through this anchorage. She did not appear
to make much use of her 2,000• horse power either, but
seemed rather to roll along than steam through the
water. She excited considerable curiosity, although her
performances, as compared with the Britannia, had evi-
dently taken the edge off the feeling with which the
vessel would have been viewed had a different result
been obtained in her favour.
The Belleisle, 72, Captain Kingcome, sailed this after-
noon for Plymouth to refit.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert will visit this port
en route to Osborne on Saturday for a cursory inspection
of the improvements in progress on the estate. His
Royal Highness will return to town the same afternoon.
—Times.

-----
WRECK Or AN EMIGRANT VESSEL.--KIRKWALL,
111AY 25.—0 n the morning of the 24th instant, during
the prevalence of a very dense fog, the American ship
Herald, of Baltimore, Captain Pullen, came ashore at
Tankerness, not far from this place, and haying filled
with water, will in every probability be a wreck. The
Herald left Amsterdam on the 16th of this month, hav-
ing on board a general cargo, consisting of coffee, steel,
84c., and 112 emigrants, principally Prussians and Ger-
mans of the small farmer class, in families. These emi-
grants, with the crew, were all got ashore in safety, and
have fortunately for themselves saved their small stores
of provisions and luggage.—Ross Advertiser.
FACTORY ACT.—Froni the Ist of next month until
the Ist of May next, no person under the age of eighteen is
to be employed in a mill or factory more than eleven hours
per day, nor more than sixty-three hours per week. From
the Ist of May next, no person under the age of eighteen is
to be employed in a mill or factory for more than ten hours
per day, nor more than fifty-eight hours per week. Both
these restrictions are to extend to females above the age of
eighteen.