The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-03 00:00:00

NAVAL . INTELLIGENCE.

Powrsmotmr, APRIL 2.—The Birkenhead iron steam-
troop frigate, Master-Commander Salmond, sailed this morn-
ing for Woolwich, to embark troops for Halifax.
The flag ship Victory, Captain F. P. Blackwood; Britannia,
120, Captain Yates; Blenheim, 60, Captain Henderson, C.B ;
and the Vengeance, 84, Captain Lord Edward Russell, got up
their lower yards and topmasts and sent up topgallantmasts
this morning for the summer.
The Penelope, 22. steam-frigate, Captain Lyster, hauled
off to the stream to-day to adjust her compasses. She will
go to Spithead about the 9th inst.
By the death of Rear-Admiral of the Blue John Toup
Nicolas, C.B. K.H., Captain Sir John Hill, Superintendent
of Deptford Victualling-yard, attains his flag; Captain Sir
Richard Grant (1828) is placed upon the 14s. 6d. list; and
Captain the lion. H. Keppel, of the Meander, is placed upon
the 12s. 6d. list.

PLYMOUTH, APRIL 2.—Her Majesty's steam-vessel Rha-
damanthus arrived on Tuesday morning from Sheerness with
arms and ammunition for the Cape. She will take on board
here specie for the payment of the troops.
Her Majesty's brig Nautilus went down into the Sound
on Tuesday.
The main piece of the rudder of her Majesty's steam-
frigate Retribution having been sprung, the rudder is under-
going repair at the dockyard with all possible speed.
Rear-Admiral John Toup Nicolas, who died at Windsor-
terrace, Citadel-road, Plymouth, on Tuesday morning, the
Ist of April, at three o'clock, was the eldest of five sons
(four of whom held commissions in the navy). He w.s
born at Withen, near Helston, Cornwall, Feb. 22, 1788, and
was consequently in his 63d year. He entered the profession
in 1797, and was, in 1799, midshipman of the ship Edgar,
Captain Buller, until the peace. In 1803 he rejoined
Captain Buller in the Naiad, and in May, 1804, being
made lieutenant was appointed to the Malta. He removed to
the Queen in 1807, and subsequently joined the Canopus
until 1609, when Lord Collingwood gave him an acting
order to the Redwing, 18, from which he was subsequently
promoted by the Admiralty to the Pilot, 18, and sailed
in her from Spithead, April, 1810, with a large convoy of
merchant shipping, under Captain Dundas in the Euryalus.
Captain Nicolas, in the Pilot, did very great service to
his nation while on the east and west coasts of Calabria,
where he captured and destroyed alone upwards of 130 of
the enemy's vessels. On the 17th of June, 1815, the Pilot
attacked the French man-of-war Legt•re, mounting 28 guns,
and caused her to run. On this occasion Captain Nicolas
received post rank. On the 4th of June, 1815, the Prince
Regent conferred on him the companionship of the order of
the Bath, and on the 4th of October in the same year his
Majesty the King of the Two Sicilies conferred on him the
small cross of the royal and military order of St. Ferdinand
and Merit, and on the 26th of April, 1816, he was raised to
the rank of Knight Commander of the order of St. Fer-
dinand. In March and April, 1816, the Pilot accompanied
Lord Exmouth to Algiers and Tunis, when all the Neapoli-
tan and Sardinian slaves were liberated, and in July she was
paid off. Captain Nicolas, while actively employed in the
navy, was the inventor of several highly valuable appliances
for the service, and gave some useful information to the Ad-
miralty on the subject of the Mediterranean charts. In
carrying out the improvements and :embellishments of his
ship he appears to have been utterly regardless of his own
finances; the Pilot was fitted with brass guns and other
costly gear; and it is stated that 12,0001., gained by prizes,
and 15,003/., the value of a private estate, all went, in the
warmth of his zeal for his profession. In August, 1818,
Captain Nicolas married Frances Anna, eldest daughter of
Mr. Nicholas Were, of Landcox, near Wellington, by whom
he had several children. The last active appointment held
by Captain Nicolas was that of Captain-Superintendent of
the Royal William Victualling-yard, Plymouth. During
the holding of this office Captain Lord John Hay, a junior
officer, was appointed, over the head of Captain Nicolas,
Commodore- Superintendent of the Devonport Dockyard in
the same port. This circumstance seems to have galled the
vigorous spirit of the hero of the Pilot, and appears to have
weighed him down to the hour of his death, to which he
gradually declined for the last four days. In consequence
of his devotion to the service several of his younger chil-
dren are unprovided for; and it is hoped that the Admi-
ralty will do justice to the descendants of one of the most
active and zealous officers who ever graced the Navy List.