The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-24 00:00:00

Z- -.: . e .2- 1 . -

from the Azores, and on completing provisions.and aktreg
will take dispatches and letters to the Channel Fleet.
The Trident, steam packet, Lieutenant Commander Riggs',
again damaged her machinery, on her p to Devonport,
which being repaired, she sailed for the Mediterranean ae
on
Sunday.
The Kite, steam vessel, which has been some time offered
for sale, without finding a purchaser, was towed from Sheer-.
ness to Woolwich on Tuesday, to be fitted for commission as
a surveying vessel.
The Thetis, 36 gun frigate, on the design of the com&tteo
of the School of Naval Architecture, will be launched at
Devonport, on the 31st instant.
PORTSMOUTH, SUNDAY.-The Columbine, 12, Commanded'
Booth, sailed yesterday morning for the East India station.
The America, 50, Captain the Hon. John Gordon, is
ordered into dock to refit immediately. Her first lieutenant,
Mr. Agassiz, has been compelled to go to Hasler Hospital,
from debilitated health. Mr. Colin Lindsay is now first
lieutenant. The freight brought by this ship was got out
and all housed in the South-Western Railway Company's
carriages on Friday night, and conveyed to London by Mr.
Robertson, the freight agent, per special train, at half-past
three o'clock yesterday morning. The treasure was all in
the bullion-office of the Bank of England by six o'clock last
night, and tallied off, much to the credit of the agent, who
was complimented by the officers at the Bank on the Act of
his freight being so speedily delivered at that office. Xuch
credit is also due to the storekeeper of the Royal Clarence,-
yard, where the freight was landed from the America, and,
also to the South-Western Railway officers at Gosport and
Nine Elms, for the ready facilities they afforded in trans-
mitting the money.
The North Star, 25, Captain Sir J. E. Home, Bart., arrived
at Spithead on Friday night, from the East India station
and the Cape of Good Hope, from which latter place, how-
ever, she brings no news. She left Ascension on the 6th
of July, at which date the Actnon, 26, Captain Mansel;
the Prometheus steam-sloop, Commander Hay; the Hydra,
steam-sloop, Commander Young ; and the Tortoise, store
and guard ship, Commander Morrel, were at that island.
The Prometheus, bound for Sierra, with Sir G. Jackson.
Dysentery was raging considerably when the North Star left,
and the hospital was full of sick. The Hydra was bound to
the Gallinas. Mr. Pope, purser of the Actmon ; Mr. Horsitio
Webb, of the Prometheus; Mr. James Singer, and Mr. Wi-
liam Purchase, of the Driver; Mr. George Roberts, of the
Prometheus ; and Mr. William Cockshot, of the Hydra, came
home, on Admiralty leave, in the North Star, which is ordered
to Chatham to be paid off, all standing.
We learn by the North Star, that the Wasp, 16, Comman-
der Ussher, had made a brilliant capture of a slaver pirate,
prior to the :30th of June, off Congo. She was a remarkably
tine brig, of about 400 tons, mounting sixteen brew guns,
which he used with murderous effect against the Wasp's boats,
the gallant fellows in which, however, succeeded in taking
her, after two hours and a half hard fighting. The crew of
the pirate were taken to St. Helena, together with the vessel,
and there tried by a court martial, Captain Sir Everard
Home, of the North Star, presiding. After an investigation
of five days, the prisoners were found Not Guilty, and set at
large. The vessel was, however, condemned. In the action,
the Wasp lost two men, and had tour wounded, and the slaver
pirate bad seventeen men killed.
The Pilot, 16, Commander Wilson, arrived at Madras from
Trincomalee, on the sth ult.
The Daidalus, 20, Captain M'Quhae, sailed from Hong-
Kong for Borneo on the 23d of June.
The Athol troop ship, Master-Commander Pearn, sailed
yesterday afternoon for Dundee, with three companies of
the 74th Highlanders. From Dundee she proceeds to Leith,
with three companies of the 87th Regiment, after which she
returns to this port for some of the remaining companies of
the 74th.
The Gladiator steam-frigate, Captain Robb, is again nearly
ready for sea, and will embark on or about the Ist proximo,
the head-quarters and three companies of the 74th High-
landers, for Aberdeen ; whence she will take the head-quar-
ters and three companies of the 78th Regiment to Leith, tend
then return to this port.
The Belleisle, 22, Captain Kingcorne, arrived at Halifax:-
from Quebec on the 31st of July, with the 89th Regiment
and part of the 14th on board. She was to return to Quebec
On the 4th instant with the 60th Rifles, and would then
bring from Canada the remainder of the 14th; after which
she would carry the 77th from Halifax to Quebec, thence re-
turning to this port with invalids and stores.
The Wanderer, 12, Commander Somerville, was off Cape
Marvel, on the coast of Africa, on the 15th of June, on
which day one of her boats left the ship for the purpose of
fishing off the mouth of a river near the above place, but
which accidentally got on the bar," and was capsized,
by which four of the individuals in her at the time were
drowned,--the surgeon (Mr. Hopley), boatswain (Mr.
Smith), a seaman gunner (Jones), and a marine (Morley).
The rest got safe ashore.
The Rhadamanthus steam-vessel, Master:Commander
Alen, arrived at Kingstown (Dublin), on Tuesday last,
with troops, comprising five companies of the 68th
Light Infantry, from Liverpool, and left on the following
day for Whitchaven, with six companies of the 13th Re-
giment.
The Dee steam-transport, Master-Commander Driver, em-
barked on Wednesday, at Liverpool, four companies of the
30th Regiment for 1V hitehaven.
The Sappho, 16, Commander Gambier, sailed from the
Mauritius, on the 13th of June, for the Cape of Good Hope.
The Encounter screw steam-slap, built on the design of
Mr. J: Fincham, the master shipwright of this dockyard,
is ordered to be launched at Pembroke on the sth proximo.
Jury rig will be forwarded from Devonport, whence she
will be navigated to the Thames, to receive her engines
of 360-horse power, manufactured by Penn and Son, of
Greenwich.
The Raven cutter, Lieutenant-Commander Stephen, ar-
rived yesterday from the eastward, with supernumeraries,
and returned to Sheerness this morning.
A new armament is ordered to be mounted on the batteries
and other fortifications of this port and its dependencies, com-
prising 330 guns, chiefly of heavy calibre.
The Brilliant, 22, Captain Watson, and the Dido, 18, Cap-
tain Maxwell, sailed from Cove on Wednesday last; the
former for the Cape of Good Hope, to join Rear-Admiral
Deere's squadron, and the latter for the River Plate, to join
Rear-Admiral Inglefield. Each takes supernumeraries, prin-
cipally boys, for the respective squadrons.
The Acheron steam-sloop, Lieutenant-Commander Aplin,
arrived last evening from the Mediterranean, where she has
been employed during the period of her commission in mail
service. Iler dates are Malta, August 3 ; Algiers, August 6;
Gibraltar and Tangiers, August 13; and Lisbon,!August 16.
She left the squadron of evolution at Lisbon, under the com-
mand of Vice• Admiral Sir W. Parker, who was on the eve
of returning to Malta, when the squadron would return to
Cork. The Acheron came into harbour this morning to re-
plenish coal, prior to going to the eastward to dismantle and
be paid off.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN AND
WST INDIA SQUADRON.
PORT ROYAL, JAMAICA, JULY 24.-In Harbour-Pickle,
3, Lieutenant-Commander Henry Bernard; and Imaum, 72.
with the broad pendant of Commander Pring.
At Vera Cruz-Endymion, 44, Captain George R. Lam-
bert ; Alarm, 26, Captain Charles C. Frankland ; Rose, 18,
Commander R. W. Pelly ; and Vesuvius, 6, steam sloop,
Commander O'Callaghan.
On Passage to Vera Cruz, to reinforce the above Squadron
-Electra, 18, Commander W. H. Maitland; and Daring, 12,
Commander Henry J. Matson.
At Bermuda-Thunder, 26, surveying vessel, Commander
Edward Barned; and Hermes, steam sloop, Lieutenant-Com-
mander W. Carr.
At Halifax-Vindictive, 50, Captain Michael Seymour,
with the flag. of Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Austen, K.C.8.,
Commander-in-Chief.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Bay of Fundy, and Newfound-
land-The Hyacinth, 18, Commander Francis Scott; the
Persian, 16, Commander Henry Coryton ; the Viper, 4, Lieu-
tenant Edward E. Gray; and the Columbia steam surveying
vessel, Lieutenant-Commander P. F. Shorthand.
At the Bahamas, on surveying duty-The Lark, 3, Lieu-
tenant G. B. Lawrence.
The Electra, 18, Commander W. H. Maitland, arrived from
Bermuda and England on the 7th inst. She arrived from
Bermuda on the Ist ult., sailed thence on the 14th, and looked
in at Antigua on the 30th, arriving here in seven days from
the latter island.
The Daring, 12, Commander Matson, arrived on the 19th
instant, in ten days, from the Havannah. Accounts brought
by her announce the important fact, that the inhabitants of
Upper California had pronounced themselves independent of
the republic of Mexico, and placed themselves under the
protection of the United States. The Daring had captured
a vessel off Cuba, fitted for the conveyance of slaves, which
she had conveyed to the Havannah to be condemned. The
decision of the Mixed Court of Commission was, however,
unfavourable to the legality of the capture, and the vessel,
we learn, was accordingly set free.
The Pickle schooner, Lieutenant Bernard, arrived from a
short cruize on the 7th inst., and remains in harbour. This
small craft is the only effective vessel we have at present to
protect the whole of our West India Islands. Surely this
ought not to be.
The Electra,
18,
bu
inst., for Vera Cruz, andt
atrehetylaoroikngin, la2t,
ileagzeedaonnd
tthh:B./(1):.t.
for the
west, large American frigate under all sail, steering
queto shore on their way thither.
west, was seen on the 15th instant, from the east end of
this island.
Major Wright, R.A., has resigned the office of Island
Engineer and Surveyor of Public Works, to which he was ap-
pointed last year on the decease of Captain St. John, R.A.