The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-22 00:00:00

GLASGOW.

Simoona, iron steam frigate (screws), 12 guns, Mr. R. Napier,
half built.
Launched at Glasgow during the past year, three iron
gun steam vessels.

GREENOCK.
Pegasus iron steam frigate (screw), 10 guns, Scott and
Sinclair, half built.

Megfera, iron steam frigate (screw), 10 guns, Messrs. Fair-

bairn, half built. _
Launched at Millwall, one iron steam sloop.

LLMEIIOUSE.
Garland, steam packet, 2 guns, Mr. Fletcher, one-eighth built.

COWES.

Contest, brig, 12 guns, Mr. White, ready for launching..
Grand total of all classes building and ordered to be built on
the Ist of January, 1846, 87; launched since the lot of
January, 2 ; launched 'during 1845, 22.
The above list is not official, yet we think the statements
therein contained will be found to be generally. correct.
Much credit is due to the prresent Board of Admiralty for
breaking up that exclusive system which had for some years
empowered one man to crowd the navy with vessels of one
particular formation. Clever and acknowledged scientific
men and naval officers of much experience in all classes of
vessels have built, and as will be seen from the above list,
are now building, various vessels of war, and opportunities
have been given, and will be given, fbr testing their several
qualities for the purpose of adopting the most approved mo-
dels for the use of the Royal Navy. Com Mender Gardner
Fishbourne, who has recently published an admirable series
of pamphlets on naval construction, has, it is stated, been
psoltivoertesttanh:
Lan
g,
jun., plearyminigssidonowfnroma
ctohrevierttLe.ordmihr.i
jun., assistant-master shipwright at Chatham Dockyard, has
also been just granted permission from their Lordships to lay
aarfriagtraatne
goef the Vernon downstoctkms a,
abysuota-pgun
thep reason is that theenosthonimpscolrasae vesselsts.Ch are
am
Pem-
broke, and at Portsmouth, the three principal building
tuo
in the
pl d
yards are being repaired and enlarged, and new ones are also
being formed, so that when these are completed, a greater
number of vessels can be laid down than at any former
period.

STATISTICAL SOCIETY.—At the ordinary meeting
held on Tuesday evening, which was very numerously at-
tended, Dr. Guy, physician to King's College Hospital, read
a paper on the duration of life amongst the gentry, com-
pared with that of the aristocracy, including that of the
peerage and baronetage. The deductions wore made from a
large number of statistical details, and the most favourable
expectation was shown to run in the different orders of
females, professional men, gentry and aristocracy. It varies
with their ranks, being lowest in the highest, and highest in
the lowest ranks, and runs in the following order :—One,
kings ; two, male members of thy, royal house ; three, fe-
male ditto ; four, peers and succeseors to the title ; five,
members of the families of the peerage and baronetage ; six,
the gentry and their families ; seven, professional men,
chiefly clergymen ; and eight, females of the upper classes.
If the clergy, who formed the large mass of the class deno-
minated " professions," had been taken separately, they
would present a still more favourable exception ; for, on com-
paring them with the remainder, it appeared that, while at
the period from thirty to forty the former lose five per cent.
by death, the latter lose no less than thirteen per cent., an
exception which tends greatly to lower the expectation of
life for the entire class. The expectation for professional
men, as compared with that of females, is higher at thirty
and thirty-five years than after eighty-five, but in the inter-
mediate CLEMENT
it is in favour of females.
ST. DANES SAVINGS' BANK.--The an-
nual statement ofthe money transactions of this bank for the
past year shows a falling off in the amount of capital, as corn-
pared with that of the previous year, of 5,4651. Os. 2d. At
the latter end of 1830, the first year of the establishment of
this bank, the amount of capital was 2,400/. 4s. 6d. ; and the
whencapital
it par
mo
goreunsstiedveltyo lin2clre,BalsB7l7tiap.
9d .to
ftehre
thlaettleaar eyndeaorfitlBw4a4s,
116,3531. 7s. 7d. The amount received of depositors for the
year ending 1845 was 40,592/. Os.9d. ; and the amount paid
49•088/. 7s. 9d.

SIEGE OPERATIONS AT
CHATHAM.
CHATHAM, JAN. 20.--This day, Tuesday, the 20th
inst , was witnessed an experiment of considerable inte-
rest in the field works of the Royal Engineers, near to
the Casemate Barracks, Brompton, under the direction
of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Frederick Smith, K.H. R.E.,
and in the presence of the Inspector-General of 'Forti-
fications, Sir John Fox Burgoyne, K.C.8., who came
purposely to witness the evolutions. There were also
present Sir Thomas Wiltshire, Bart., Commandant of
the Garrison; Colonel Weare, K.H., of the Provisional
Battalion ; Major of Brigade, Capt. O'Brien, and a
numerous assemblage of the officers of the garrison.
The first military movement was that of breaching a
stockade of a most substantial construction, consisting
of a number of pieces of solid timber, united together
with ribbons of oak plank, top and bottom, firmly nailed
with ten inch spikes. It was thirty feet in length,
each piece of timber being a foot square, and about
twelve feet long, and firmly rammed into the earth about
three feet. This stockade had two rows of loop-holes
for musketry firing, one so as to enab!e soldiers to fire
standing on the ground, and the other near to the bottom
to fire as if the men were standing in a trench. The
%%hole had been so arranged as to represent the same
sort of obstruction as our troops encountered recently in
New Zealand, when so many lives of British soldiers
were sacrificed, in attacking with only their muskets
and bayonets ; indeed every pains had been taken to
make this stockade as substantial as it could possibly be
put together. The first trial of making a breach was an
experiment of 301bs. of powder placed in a bag opposite
to the top ribbon of the stockade, by slinging it at the
end of two pieces of slight timber in the shape of a tri-
angle placed against the structure, and on its being fired
it was found to have no other effect than that of re-
moving out of their places at the spot a few pieces of
the timber about four inches out of their line towards
the top. A second charge of 301bs. of powder in a bag
was then laid on the ground in the centre of the
stockade, closely clamped with four damp sand bags,
and on being fired it made a breach of a space of
two feet nine inches, driving one of the piles out
of the earth, and breaking another asunder like a twig.
To effect a total destruction of this strong-build stockade
two charges of powder well tamped with sand bags were
placed in bags, one consisting of a bag containing 701bs.
of powder and another of 501b5., in equal distances close
against the building, and on their being fired, they had
such an effect that it raked the piles of timber out of
the earth, and drove some of them to a distance of 150
feet from the spot, scattering the timber to a very con-
siderable distance. The report was tremendous, and it
produced a most magnificent sight. A pass having been
made, a number of Sappers and Miners, to about 200,
passed through, representing the taking of the place.
The object of destroying the stockade was to ascertain
the minimum quantity of powder necessary for that
f
epurpose,videut and
that
a r ebma r
rt
ehle
or
fe s
gu lutnopf o thosewde
r experiments,eontai ituing is
901bs.
will destroy any stockade, however firmly put together,
provided the action of the powder is confined by being
surrounded by three or four bags of earth about the size
of a bushel each.

The next scene of attraction was that of the mining
operations. The first was the firing of a countermine,
containing a charge of 150Ibs. of powder, lodged in a
chamber of a gallery several feet under ground, and on
being fired it produced an explosion with a loud report,
causing a strikingly perceptible effect in the earth, felt
by persons standing on the glacis on the opposite side of
the trench, and throwing the earth up a considerable
distance, and forming a crater of nearly twenty feet in
circumference, and about three feet deep. This was
followed in a few moments by another explosion of a
charge of 1701b5., thereby causing an explosion of a most
magnificent description. The earth and fragments were
blown up into the air, forming a crater of 33 feet by 16
feet, and a depth of 6 feet. The earth seemed to tremble
for some distance. To witness this mode of warfare, the
troops of the line and the Royal Marines were present,
besides a vast number of civilians. The weather was
particularly fine.
At the conclusion a few experiments were tried with
globes of compression at the end of holes bored in the
earth by means of a boring apparatus, with small charges
of gunpowder placed at the end, and well rammed up
with earth. These experiments were tried to ascertain
the size chambers that small charges of powder would
make in solid earth being applicable to defensive mines.
The whole of the arrangements commenced at two o'clock
P.M., and closed at four o'clock P.M.