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

ArPOINTMENTS.

WOOLWICH', AUG. 15.—Assistant-surgeon William
H. Clarke (1846), to the Centaur steam-frigate at
Portsmouth, for service on the south-east coast of
America station; John L. Trousdell, M.D. (1847),
from the Victory flag-ship at Portsmouth, where he
was borne additional for service at a naval hospital,
to the Shear water 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 have 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, tor 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 Shearwater, steam•vessel, commissioned here
:he 11th inst. by Lieut. William Horton, is intended
For service in the Mediterranean station.

The Highflyer screw steam-sloop, built at Black-
wall, by Mr. blare, 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.
The engines of the Valorous steam-sloop 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-
frigate, of 560 horse-power, on ber passage from
Portsmouth to Cork on the 28th of June last.
DEVONPORT, AUG. 13.—Commodore Lord John
Hay is still much the same as he bas 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 steamship, Commander H. AV. Stewart,
was take❑ into No. 5 dock this morning; her bottom
has been cleaned, and she will be taken out to-morrow
morning.

Sprightly tender arrived to-day from Portsmouth.
Devonport Rowing Regatta commenced at noon
this day ; the weather is fine, and a very large con-
course of people are in attendance; the rowing is first-
rate.

Avon, steam-tender to the Impregnable flag-ship,
at Devonport, having had her defects made good, was
put out of dock on Wednesday evening.
Messrs. Brietzcke and Easthope, of the Store-
keeper-Generars-uftice, and Messrs. Jemmett and
Besley, jun., of the Storekeeper's department, Devon-
port Dockyard, have been appointed on the survey of
stores in that establishment, consequent on the death
of W. Jenkins, Esq., late storekeeper. Messrs. Car-
rington and Richards, storekeeper's clerks, have also
been appointed to assist in the additional duties.

EXPERIMENT WITH 21 NE W LIFE-BOAT.
Mr. Wilson (Chairman), Capt. Paxton, Capt. Sauma-
re z, RN., Capt. Parrott, members of a committee of the
National Shipwreck Institution ; Mr. Lang, master
shipwright; Mr. Chatfield and Mr. Peeks, assistants to
the master shipwright; Mr. Greener, gunmaker, Bir-
mingham, one of the competitors for the Duke of North-
umberland's life-boat 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 lise•boat constructed under the super-
intendence of Mr. Peuke. The boat is constructed
entirely of wood, and is 30 feet long by 8 feet 9 inches
wide, and her draught of water 1 foot 5 inches. The
bottom is deeply padded with cork inside; and a band
of the same material, covered with prepared canvas, is
carried round the outside of her wales, and both ends of
the vessel are alike in construction, that she may be
steered 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 burin several times, to show her capa-
bilities for rowing; and they then all sat on one side to
show her stability iii the water, and their whole weight
did not bring her down on one side to nearly the edge of
the water. Eight plugs, about four inches each in dia-
meter, were then taker, 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 ha-
sin wish equal facility as on the previous occasion.
Double the number, in all twenty-two men, went on
board, which gave her an additional draught of water of
about five or six inches; but as she is built to be high
out of the water, nearly similar in appearance to the
north of Scotland fishing boats, she might be crowded
with as many persons as she could hold, and still prove
a good sea boat. It was intended to have her filled
with water, but that experiment was deferred to a
fu-
ture day, when the carriage making for her at the Royal
Arsenal will bo ready, and the facilities for moving her
on shore and other experiments wilt be made. Lieut.-
Colonel Colquhoun, of the carriage depertment at the
Royal Arsenal, was also present on Tuesday. Ills
Grace the Duke of Northumberland, the President of

the Nationals Shipwreck Institution, is using every ex_
ertiun to have lite• boats of the most approved construe
tion made, to be placed on the various localities where
they may be most required, and has, with a view to their
efficiency, approved or rules for their manazement.

NARROW ESCAPE ON A RAILWAY.—On Tuesday a
young lad, named Patrick Bryant, about fifteen years of age,
employed as an errarid• bey at Bridge. street, Cheapside, was
sent with a note, by the Blackwall Junction Railway, to a
Mr. Turner. at Bow, and when the train stopped at that
station he was so eager to execute his commission, that
jumping out before the 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 crown of his head. Mr. _Newell, a gentleman connected
with the Coal-whipper Registration Oflice, immediately
bound the lad's head up with a kerchief, and succeeded in
staying the blemorrhage, which soon render, 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 for having perpetrated
the following : —During the late Paris fkes, somebody
asked, in the hearing of an Alderman, what was the cause
of the residence of the .Prefect being called the Hotel de
Ville? " Clear enough !" was the Aliermanic reply; " it's
called the Hotel de Veal because it's so beautifully carved all
over,"—,Punch.