The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-22 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

Commander Robert Coote (1847) has been ap-
pointed to the command of the Vo►cano steam-vessel,
on the coast of Africa, vice Rivers, who, strange to
say, invalided immediately after reaching the coast.
Commander Coote entered the navy in 1833, passed
his examination in 1840, served three years and a half
as a mate before he was promoted from the royal
yacht, and as a lieutenant served in the Cyclops and
Vulture steam-frigates.

Commander Thomas AbPl Brumtnage Spratt
(1849), to commission the Spitfire steam-vessel, at
Malta, and to command that vessel in continuing the
surveys in the Mediterranean which have hitherto
been conducted by Captain Graves.
By this appointment the expense of surveying in
the Mediterranean will be very much reduced, inas-
much as the service will now be performed by a com-
mander's staff, with a limited crew. Commander
Spratt is the son of one of the most gallant officers in
the navy—Retired Commander James Spratt (who
ought to have been an admiral). The son entered
the navy in 1827, passed his examination in 1835,
and having served in the surveying service of the Me-
diterranean in the Beacon and Mastiff, under Captain
Graves, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in
1841. O'Byrne, in his Naval Biography, has the fol-
lowing notice of this officer :—" On the 27th October,
1837, he plunged overboard from the Beacon, and
at great risk saved the life of a marine, Samuel
Turner, who, while scraping the side of the
ship, had acciden'ally fallen into the sea. In a public
letter to the Commander-in-Chief, Captain Graves,
after detailing this occurrence, says, His (Mr.
Spratt's) conduct with me during a servitude of up-
wards of five years, having been invariably most ex-
emplary, and his being also most indefatigable and
attentive, as well as a valuable assistant in the par-
ticular service in which we are employed will, I
trust, lead you to consider the case worthy of the
consideration of my Lords Commissioners of the Ad-
miralty.' On the occasion of Mr. Spratt's advance-
ment to the rank of lieutenant, Captain W. A. B.
Hamilton, then private secretary to Lord Hadding-
ton, observes, in a note addressed to his father, Com-
mander Spratt, His Lordship directs me to make
known to you the great satisfaction it has afforded
him to recommend to the Board for this promotion a
young officer so highly spoken of as your son has
been, both by Captain Beaufort, hydrographer of the
Admiralty, and Captain Graves." Your eldest son,'
writes the present Sir William Parker, in 1846,
now five years a lieutenant in the survey ing-
service, stands decidedly high in that branch of his
profession.' From March 1, 1847, until April, 1848,
Mr. Spratt served in the Volage, 22, surveying-
vessel, again in the Mediterranean. In 1838, the
lieutenant communicated to the Geographical society
some Remarks on the Supposed Situation of Minoa
and Ni-ma;' and in 1846 he published a volume of
'Travels in Ancient Lycia.' ".
Lieutenant Gabriel Johnston (1841), late First
Lieutenant of the Volage with Captain Graves in sur-
veying the Mediterranean, has been appointed to the
Spitfire, as also Lieutenant A. L. Mansell (1841).
Master—John Stokes (1846), to the Spitfire.
Second Master—E. W. Brooker (1849), to the
Spit fire.
Clerk in Charge—Robert T. Baynes (1846), to the
Spitfire.
Assistant-Engineers—William Buchan, E. R.
Dutton, J. W. Husbands, Thomas F. Simmons, and
William Cockshot, to the Caradoc steam-packet,
Woolwich.