The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-15 00:00:00

sail and steam, and anchored simultaneously, and found
here Sir A. Milne with his squadron. . The flee"
are to go to sea on Friday morning, but we do not knew
where for."

A friend of the late Captain Coles speaks of him
,35„
follows':—ln the Russian War, when our fleet Was at
loss how to carry their fire into shallow waters agnal'
the forts of the Sea of Azof, he, extemporised the farooss
Lady Nancy raft (which was built, I believe, in
night), bearing one big gun and an iron shield to protee,
the gunners ; and this was the germ of the monitor sn;i
revolving turret, which have since revolutionised rinv
architecture. When the original Monitor sank int,
stormy sea, he at once devised a breastwork which wasv.
rise out of the deck, and render the turret principle al3l);.'e
cable for ocean service. It is no secret, I believe that
much regretted that the Captain had not the height above
.
the water which he originally intended. He put esti.:
weight into the hurricane deck to secure it against fader
;
knowingarising from the vibration caused by firing the moil
guns below, that he, as a private inventor, co
hope for no mercy if ship broke down in any respe,%
But he could not account for more than 170 of the Tt:
tons which she was in excess of the calculated weio
Probably it was like apprehension which induced Alen,is—,o
Laird to insert an extra strength of construction, anu
make assurance doubly sure. His invention of triP%
masts has never been favoured by our Admiralty,
the French Navy contains 14 or 15 ships of war 031.1:
strutted with tripod masts. Another of the inventi?';
which he patented was a clever contrivance for coverlrl2;,
iron ships to prevent their bottoms fouling. It has be't,
tried with great success in harbour service, but has nose
; as I understand, been yet tested thoroughly at sea. 111 e be
are only a few instances of the mental activity of the
man. Coles was not always right. He had little scion
education. But he had in him that native genius Nril!co
can almost supply the want, and for which educa%
is no sufficient substitute. He carried to 14,
highest development a quality in which our Navy hasbea
'
always eminent, a readiness of devising expedients n
makeshifts for an emergency, and his perseveranceco
working out an idea was extraordinary. I can see 111 f
now, an invalid in bed, with a simple four-legged desk;
common deal of his own construction, planning the det
of a gun-carriage for the Captain's 25-ton guns, ilac
nothing short of this constant devotion to his W". 01
would have enabled him to succeed, as, in sPite re
all hindrances, he has done. Foreign Governments rce,t,
quick to recognise his merits, and the late Prince Conse'.t
with his customary perception of what was best and ra°,:d
useful in science and art, lent him his countenance 3
sympathetic aid. But from the Prince's lamented de 3,0
until the accession of Mr. Childers to office, he met Wild
his superiors at the Admiralty with nothing but slight,a of
discouragement "He has died in the moment the
victory, and is so far happy." But, when I consider, es
public loss—aye, and remembei those ten small cbilurise
of his, with whom he was so fond of playing seeming to
the youngest and merriest of them all,—

" Ah me, the blinding tears
" Rush to my eyes—l cannot see him more. of
It seems that Mr. Childers's son was only rece°
transferred from the Monarch to the Captain. of
A meeting of naval officers, on full and half-paY,',,e,
retired, was held on Tuesday at the Royal Naval Co
Portsmouth, for the purpose of takin the necessary*,
for the formation of a fund for the relief of the wia,n°
orphans, and relatives of the seamen,officersi• ma
r
stokers, &c., lost with her Majesty's late turret-shiP
tain. The meeting was numerously attended, and the e,oia•
was taken by Flag Captain George Hancock, in the wino
able absence of Port Admiral Sir James Hope. Cal? g,
Hancock, after referring to the object of the niee'verf
said the Captain was an experimental ship in which e the
naval officer was much interested, and relative t°
peculiar construction of which everyone, no doubt,..„ of
their opinions on one side or the other. But the OW
this country was the first line of defence of the 13rt ti!
Empire, and every officer and man serving in e
times held their lives on precarious tenure. In a tlwtbe
peace like the present, the loss of such a ship of
Captain and her officers and crew, with the excepria
the seventeen Saved, was most extraordinary. Pgsgeb
his past career he had no recollection of—indeed, 11°
aye
hutance had occurred—as a ship of the Captain's tona,oo
and manned by so large a crew, having
down in the very midst of a fleet, The eo,,at
stood alone and unparalleled in its horror. The 5, Di
tion of the widows, orphans, and relatives left felt
the officers and crew of the unfortunate ship must,
convinced, not only have obtained the strongest holdlod
the sympathies of the naval profession, but also up.on off'
of all classes of the community throughout the king`.,
Committees were then formed to receive subscriptions.

FRIGHTFUL ALPINE ACCIDENT. .0e
The Journal de Geneve gives the account of a terrl.D,
accident upon Mont Blanc :—" Three travellers, allni
man and two Americans, with three guides and ife
porters, left Chamounix on Monday morning to Oro:
that day and sleep at the Grands-Mulets. The wes #0
was fine, but the next morning there was so vi°le,ll;ir
storm that the inhabitants of Chamounix naturallY-,of
posed that the travellers would have given up the iue;td
an ascent of Mont Blanc, and would not have cini:re
the Grands-Mulets. There was, therefore, no
specting them in the valley. News came, it is true, 11',01
evening, that from the Croix de Flegere and from
they had been seen starting for Mont Blanc in sPi"'„,e'
the tempest, and that they had arrived upon the p_oirck
dary's Hump, an hour's march distant from the 51-1-0)
That they had been seen suddenly to collect together, the
to hold fast one to another, and then to disappear ,e 1;
snow wreaths raised by the wind. In spite of this, e>
';el
people persisted in believing that they must have shelf 0
themselves against the wind in some nook or creviceshe
the ice, and therefore there was no occasion to fear Orr of
result. However, when the next day the propriet°
the Pavillon de la Pierre-Pointue arrived, expreasingol,
astonishment at finding that no one had re-deseeti,tib
people began to have serious apprehensions regardilijii
fate of the travellers. The day was too far advanueevi
render it possible, to make any immediate sore',
on the following morning thirty-two young,rdoc
of the valley went off in search of them. u;,jle
tunately, the shocking weather which Prep. jerr3
prevented them from passing the Pavilion of :00'
Pointue, situated at two hours' journey from Chara:beit'l
They were 'obliged to retrace their steps withouted
able to do anything. On the following day a new at•tttie
was made by 12 courageous young men, but ag°i/0 the
rain and the wind would not permit them to s°
mountain."
A later despatch says that the names of the o.
travellers were Mr. Cohendal (from Scotland), and
Bean and' Mr. J. Kendal, Americans.

LITERATURE.

CHARLES LEVER'S NEW SERIAL STCPS:'OI
The Cornhill for September opens brilliantly
commencement of a new serial story from a master 01.1
It is entitled " Harry Richmond," and is umnistal‘ecii,
from the inexhaustible author of so many r°jelr
fictions from " Harry Lorrequer " to " Harry
mond." The opening chapter is startlingly effnfo'4
The characters of the old grandfather roused out ;clo'f
slumbers, and of the tall, comely, questionable 01'17',
routing up the whole household long after nightf%tio°'
e
powerfully contrasted. At the close of their coute''oeo
O little Harry Richmond, the future hero of the ,;001
,
a child, is spirited away by the father from the t-,6,40
father. With the second chapter, however, entitled ,of
Adventure on my own Account," the charm of the
tive really commences. Here the writer is at his
bbd
In the very manner of him,there is nothing hackneYe;
fun and frolic of that manner arise out of the intiOd tY
lations suddenly established between little Harry tl)
good-humoured stalwart ne'er-do-well, who 111'9 01.
spirited him away at nightfall from his grandfather'
rolff
notion set on foot in his regard is that he has in bled Pei;
the " Blood Rile," as one of the more unsophistien,
sonages introduced intimates under her breath--"W pief
" her friends all said 'No !' like the run of A titi
A,
down a fiddlestring." Chapter 111. takes us, "boil
child-hero of the tale; down to an old fa.rif. e
Dipwell Farm byname, which " in rain or in suns'Oor,,:
a constant resemblance to a wall-flower." Here
rg
receives one day a letter from his father, far °:ig,f'
London, the letter-carrier on the occasion being °
Consequent upon this, writes the boy, "
I ea
sleep, and woke imagining the bird bursting out of
Here, too, at this old farm-house, coloured lihel3ed
flower, he makes the acquaintance of a little curb'
Sa
girl often his playfellow and bedfellow, one INl3bielv fof .1 I
winter, " who would have danced on a Sun el°l o'7'4
fairing, and eaten gingerbread nuts during he foilPio
story." Leaving Dipwell Farm, Harry, in s
chapter, has a taste of grandeur. It meets hiTie°
e
return to London, in the very entrance hall of 1; 05'
home, where the child notices the " enchantment 43,fr0 lfl
fountain playing, thin as whipcord, among fe.--011:
rock basin." Another touch of the child's fancy try
trite
rent in his mention of one of the characters',3,oeor
reasoning with another, the former putting the
ner .e e
that " it seemed to have perched on his foreitn e,
te
exposition." The airy, bright imagining, in all ling
us good hope of the sequel of the new story pro 900°:0
be one of the blithest productions of its strittl°o,o
genius. With the utterly uninteresting ilitejoe 303
accompanying the letterpress before us, h°W Cbsry
long to see once more the radiant descriptions ° e, toe!
Lever, realised, as they used, once-upon-a-tirji4-00,,d
realised by the etching needle of Ifablot
Our whole interest in the Cornhill this niontl::
in. this first instalment of " Harry Richmund:'
st h°l(dej
DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the large 00,0e41'
of whisky in the world. Their Old Irish WhiskY is r oct • ,tio?
by the medical profession in preference to French br not.
plied in casks and cases for home use or exportation. slOteitie
on application to Messrs DUNVILLE Co., IttrtDS'
Merles, pelfast or at thei London Oftces, 4. 1369-c"-
ibrand,