The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-08 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIG

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MALTA, SEPT. 29.—Her Majesty's
port on Saturday last for Athens. ."' yletk;till-":'
ported, go on to Smyrna, there to relie* thoW.fiv'PA-
in want of repair. --,J, •
Her Majesty's ship Fantome, which r:4l-nls-1
to Beyrout, with stores for the Inconstan,
proceed without loss of time to Corfu,qo-'itajavel 1-I`l*
Tyne, ordered home.
Her Majesty's steam-frigate Terrible arrived here Is
night from Gibraltar. She is ordered to receive 3,0;
bags of biscuit for the fleet under Sir W. Parker's cm
mand. By last advises brought by the Terrible, the A
miral was at Tetuan, and, in consequence of the inarria
contemplated by the Duke de Montpensier with, t,
Princess Luisa, anticipated that some circurnstate
would occur to 'render his stay at Gibraltar for zot,
weeks imperative.
The Trident steamer will he ready for sea in a wed
time.
All the packets due have arrived. The Iberia, nit
the Indian mails, is just in; the Flamer, to Marseille
goes this evening- and the Achilles (Peninsular a:
Oriental Company), vid Gibraltar, will get her steam
to-morrow.
We subjoin a list of the distribution of the fleet to tl,
present hour, as far us is known:—
DISTRIBUTION OF TILE MEDITERRANEAN SQUADRON.
In Malta Harbour—The Ceylon, 12,, receiving ship.
bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir L. Curtis, Bart.,
second in command, and superintendent of Malta Dock-
yard ; the Terrible, Captain W. Ramsey • the Locust
steamer, Lieutenant-Commander Power ; the Heels war
steamer, Commander C. Starmer ; and the Wee Pet
steam-tug.
On Surveying Duty—The Bonetta, Commander T. S.
Brock, and the Research cutter, Lieutenant Spratt.
At Sea-1 he Hibernia 120, Captain Peter Richards,
C. 8., bearing the flag of 'Vice-Admiral Sir W. Parker,
Bart., G.C.8., the Commander-in-Chief.
At Gibraltar—The Pheenix steam-vessel, Commander
Dennis.
At Corfu—The Meteor, Lieutenant-Commander Bert-
ler, and the Tyne, 28, Captain W. W. Glatoock.
At the Piraeus of Athens—The Jackal! steamer, Lieu-
tenant-Commander W. M. J. G. Pasco.
At Beyrout—The Inconstant, 36, Captain C. H. Fre-
mantle.
At Smyrna—The Siren, 16, Commander P. E. Edgell.
At Constantinople—The Bloodhound steamer, Lieu-
tenant R. Phillips.
En route to Beyrout from Malta—The Fantome, 16,
Commander Le Hardy.
En route to Smyrna, from Malta—The Harlequin,
Commander Curry.
En route from Malta to Al,2,iers, Gibraltar, Tangiers,
and England—The Avenger, Captain W. J. Williams.
En route from Malta to Gibraltar—The Virago, war-
steamer, Commander J. Lunn.
En route from Malta to Athens—The Amazon, 19,
Captain J. J. Stopford.
MAIL STEAM-PACKETS.
At Malta—The Flamer, Lieutenant Lavie ; the Tri-
dent, Lieutenant C. E. Rigge; and the Volcano, Lieute-
nant Crang.
En route from Malta to Marseilles—The Spitfire,
Lieutenant J. A. Macdonald.
PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL STEAM NAVIGATION COM-
PANY'S FLOTILLA.

At Southampton—The Tagus, Ariel, Duke of Corn-
wall, axd Montrose.
En route to Southampton and Gibraltar from Malta—
The Oriental.
En route from Southampton and Gibraltar to Malta—
The Pottinger.
En route to Constantinople and ports of the Blabk Sea
from Malta—The Erin.
At Malta—The Achilles and Iberia.
FOREIGN SHIPS OF WAR AND PACKETS IN PORT.

French steamer Leonidas.
PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.--A court-martial is or-
dered to take place on board the Victory, on Saturday,
to try First Lieutenant Story, of the Retribution steam-
frigate, Captain Lushington, for his alleged participation
in the death of a man named Redpath, captain of the
hold of the same ship, which arose from the following
circumstances:—

On the 13th of August the man in question was re-
ported to the First Lieutenant at half•past ten in the
morning, for being drunk (at sea) and wetting his ham-
mock the previous night.
After having heard the evidence in support of the
" report," the First Lieutenant ordered him into the coal
bunker until eight P.M., with orders that he should be
allowed to walk the deck from one until two, which he
did, thereby reducing the punishment to eight and a half
hours, and that he should be reported to the officer of
the watch every hour as being safe, which order was also
complied with until seven P.M., when the deceased was
reported well, and spoke to the non-commissioned officer.
After that time it appears he left the place where he
was ordered to remain, and crawled further aft, where
it was more convenient to lie down, but where the coals
were more heated; the consequence was, the carbonic
acid gas proceeding from the heated coal produced drow-
siness and death.

The public may run away with the idea that a coal-
hole on board ship is somewhat similar in its nature and
size to a coal•hole ashore. Such, however, is not the
case •, the bunker in which the deceased was confined,
on the port side of the ship, being at the time of his
confinement thirteen feet wide, twenty-four feet long,
and eight feet deep from the top of the coals to the open
grating in the d(ck.

The—First Lieutenant of the Retribution has incurred
his present serious responsibility in the endeavour to
save the rating of the deceased, and to prevent his being
flogged, which punishment must have been inflicted had
he reported the deceased to the captain before he was
put in the coal-bunker. At the court of inquiry on
board, which sat to investigate the case, it was proved
that confinement in the coal-bunker is a common pu-
nishment on board steamers, even on board the Royal
yacht.
Lieutenant Story is a most humane and considerate
officer, an enemy to the lash, and a friend to the men
under his command. This is the character he has
hitherto borne, and we have no doubt it will be well
proved at the ensuing court-martial.
The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Sir Charles Ogle,
Bart., returned from leave of absence this morning at
eleven, and his flag was rehoisted on board the Excel-
lent, having been struck the night before last at sunset.
Sir Charles has been absent solely on business con-
nected with the Royal Naval School, of which institu-
tion he is president. We mention this, because there
has been an assertion circulated that he had been in at-
tendance on the Admiralty on matters connected with
the Retribution, which is utterly false.
The Maria Soames transport, Lieutenant W. Boys,
agent, sailed to-day for Deptford.
The Belvidera, 38, was taken into the basin to-day.
She is to be docked as soon as the Fairy comes out.
The Penelope steam-frigate was removed to-day along-
side the sheer jetty, to make room for.
The Avenger steam-frigate, Captain W. J. Williams,
which has been brought alongside for the convenience of
repairing her engines.
The Blenheim transport, Lieutenant Edward Ward,
agent, arrived to-day at the Motherbank from Hudson's
Bay. She left Hudson's Bay on the 11th of September,
in company with the Crocodile troop-ship, which ship
she parted company with on the 29th ult., in a gale in
latitude 54.40, 35 lon. Both these vessels took out
stores, &c., for Hudson's Bay, and have now returned
for orders.

The Comet steam-vessel, Lieutenant• Commander
Johnston, arrived at Sligo, from Westport, on the 2d
instant, and delivered the last moiety of her freight,
5,0001., for the relief of the prevailing distress. A pri-
vate letter says, " The country around here is very de-
solate, and the nearest town six miles off. The people
are sadly poor, having neither pigs, ducks, nor geese, nor
anything to sell, except a few eggs. They are all cry-
ing with hunger, and even a little bit of our biscuit was
no small Godsend for them. We experienced a heavy
passage to Sligo, off which place there are some heavy
rollers, over the bar; but, as usual, we went through
everything, and having hoisted signal for a pilot, got
safely in, notwithstanding these long Atlantic seas,
which, with the prevailing winds, have vexed this coast
very heavily. Off Black Rock, near Achill Head, the
surf was frightful. What must it be in a very heavy
gale? This rock is more than 100 feet high, and the
surf ascends above half way up, such is the headlong
course of these heavy seas. At Sligo, the people (some
200), the other day, robbed a few meal carts, but I am
told paid the money. The meal, they said, they must
have. All are in great distress—a, little quiet now, from a
hope that the Government are doing something to alle
viate their awful distress. It would not take much to
fan them into a blaze, although passive now. It is food
they want, not money. No molestation has been given
to us—all civil—but there is no knowing at what time
they contemplate a descent. Some stores were robbed
but a few daya ago. We leave this, I expect, on Mon-
day, direct for England, and shall complete coals here,
at Sligo, with that view."