The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-15 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

WOOLWICH, AUG. 15.—A..sistant-surgeon William
H. Clarke (1846), to the Centaur steam-frigate at
Portsruouth, for service on the south-east coast of
America station; Juba L. Trousdel), M.D. (1847),
from the Victory flag-ship at Portsmouth, wroore he
was borne additional for service at a naval hospital,
to the Shearwater steam-vessel, commissioned at
Woolwich.

Boatswain W. J. Richards is confirmed to the
Tweed sloop, 10, on the south• east coast of America
station.

The Myrmidon steam-vessel, Lieutenant Com-
mander Jolliffe, went down the river on Tuesday on
an experimental trial of her engines, and they were
found to work remarkably well, a speed of 9i knots
per hour having been obtained under the disadvan-
tages of indifferent coals, which would only raise the
steam to 51b. per square inch, when the usual work-
ing power ought to haw been from 71b. to 81b per
inch. The Myrmidon will leave Woolwich to-morrow
for Greenhithe, where she will take her powder on
board, and start on Saturday morning for Plymouth,
where she will be paid advance and proceed to the
coast of Africa, for service on that station. . _

Commander Charles Hillyar (1848), appointed to
the Penelope steam frigate on the west coast of Af-
rica, takes a passage in the Myrmidon to join the
Penelope.
The Sbearwater, steam•vessel, commissioned here
the 11th inst. by Lieut. ‘Villiam Horton, is intended
for service in the Mediterranean station.

The Highflyer screw steam-sloop, built at Black-
wall, by Mr. Mare, was launched yesterday, and im-
mediately towed by the Monkey steam-vessel, in
charge of Mr. Bean, acting master attendant at Wool-
wich dockyard, to the East India Docks, where her
Engines will be put on board by their makers, Messrs.
Maudslay, Son, and Field.
Tne eogines of the Valorous steam-stoop are to be
put on board by their makers, Messrs. Miller, Raven-
hill, and Co.
An investigation took place on Saturday and
Monday last, before Commodore Superintendent
Henry Eden, relative to the breaking down of the
*machinery of the Sidon, 22, paddle-wheel steam-
fiagae, of 560 horse-power, on her passage from
P,aasniouth to Cork on the 28th of June last.
DEVONPORT, Atm. 13.—Cummodore Lord John
Hay is still much the stone as he has been for the past
few days; his medical attendants have recommended
a change of air, and his Lordship, acting on their re-
commendation, has this day removed to Upper Stoke.
Virago steam-ship, Commander H. W. Stewart,
was taken into No. 5 dock this morning; her bottom
has been cleaned, mid she will be taken out to morrow
morning.
Sprightly tender arrived to-day from Portsmouth.
D. vonport Rowing Regatta commenced at noon
this day ; the weather is fine, and a vtry large con-
course of people are in attendance; the rowing is first-
' rate.
Avon, steam•tetader to the Impregnable flag-ship,
at Devonporr, having had her defects made good, was
put out of dock on Wednesday evening.
Messrs. Brief zeke and Easthope, of the Store-
keeper-General's-office, and Messrs. Jetnmett and
Bosley, jun., of the Storekeeper's department, Devon-
port Dockyard, have been appointed on the survey of
stores in that estabdshment, consequent on the death
of W. Jenkins, Eq., late storekeeper. Messrs. Car-
rington and Richards, storekeeper's clerks,' have also
been appointed to assist in the additional duties.

EXPERIMENT Wlll-I ANEW LIFE-BOAT.
Air. Wilson (chairman), Capt. Paxton, Capt. Stsuma-
z,R.N., Capt. P. rrott, members of a committee of the
iNa tonal Shipwreck Institution ; Mr. Lang, master
shipwright; Mr. Chatfield and Mr. Peake, assistants to
the master shipwright; Mr. Greener, gurimaker, Bir-
mingham, one of the cumpetitors for the Duke of
lifeNorth-
uusb..-rland's bout prize of 100 guineas; and a number
of naval officers and gentlemen assembled on Tuesday
afternoon at the basin at the west end of Woolwich
Dockyard to witness the buoyancy and facilities for
rowing of a lite boat constructed under the super-
intendence of Mr. Peake. The boat is constructed
entirely of w,ed, and is 30 feet long by 8 feet 9 inches
wide, and her draught of water 1 foot 5 inches. Trie
outtom is de ply padded with cork in,ide; and a hand
of the same material, covered with prepared canvas, is
carried round the outside of her wales, and both ends of
roe vessel are alike in construction, that she may be
teerad either way by an oar. On each end several air-
tight cases have been fixed, and, with the cork, give her
a buoyancy equivalent to two tons, that number being
Also the tonnage of the boat. A coxswain, or steers-
man, and ten rowers having gone on board, they pro-
ceeded round the basin several times, to show her capa-
bilities for rowing; and they then all sat on one side to
show her stability in the water, and their whole weight
did not bring bar down on one side to nearly the edge of
the water. Eight plugs, about four inches each in dia-
meter, were then taken out of her bottom; but the ad-
mittance of the water made no perceptible difference in
the immersion, and she was again rowed round the baa
sin with tqusl facility as on the previous cccasion.
Double the number, in all twenty-two men, went on
'ward, which gave her an additional draught of water of
sbout live or six inches; but as she is built to be high
out of the water, nearly similar in appearance to the
uurth of Scotland fi.hiug busts, she might be crowded
with as many persons as she could hold, and still prove
a good at a boat. It was iteeoded to have her filled
with water, but that experiment was deferred to a fu-
ture day, alien the carriage making fur her at the Ro) al
Arsenal will be ready, bud the facilities for moving her
un shore a:id other experiments
.will be made. Lieut.-
Colonel Colquhouii, of the carriage department at %he
Royal Arsenal, was al ~co prele nt on Tuesday. His
Grace the Duke of Northumberland, the President of
the National Srtipa reek Institution; is 'Ling every ex-
ertion to nave It boats of tee must approved construe
tion made, to be placed on the various localities where
they mAy be must required, and bas, with a view to their
efficiency, approvid ot rules for their management.

NARROW ESCAPE ON A ItAILWAY.—On Tuesday a
young lad, named Patrick Bryant, about fifteen years of age,
em 103 ed as an errand• bey at Bridge street, Cheap%ide, was
sent with a note, by the Blackwell Junction Railway, to a
Mr. Turner. et Bow, and when the train stopped at that
station he was so eager to execute his commission, that
jumping out before tie motion of the carriage had ceased, the
impetus dashed his head against the iron pump provided for
the supply of the engine, cutting the flesh from the brow to
the clown of his head. Mr. Newell, a gentleman connected
with the Coal-whipper R-gistration Office, immediately
bound the lad's head up with a kerchief; and succeeded in
staying the lixtuorrhage, which soon remier,d him insensible.
The station-master sent for a medical man who stitched up
the wound, and the lad was ultimately Conveyed to the
London Hospital.
AN ALDERMANIC JOKE.—We have already sent
twenty pounds anonymously to the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, to try and quiet our conscience tor having perpetrated
the following: During the late Paris fetes, somebody
a,ked, in the hearing of au Alderman, what was the cruse
of the residence of the Prefect being called the Hotel de
Ville? " Clear enough !" was the Aldarnanic reply; " it's
called the Hotel do Veal became to beautifully carved All
over."—Punch.