The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-07 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

THE COURT-MARTIAL AT STONEHOUSE.-ii court
assembled at the Royal Marine Barracks, Stonebouse,
on Saturday last, for the trial of First Lieutenant
Charles Thomas Forest Onslow, on a charge of in-
toxication while on duty. On the opening of the
court a question was raised on the informality of the
Admiralty warrant, in the latter part of which an
error in the Christian name of the prisoner was dis-
covered. The court was in consequence ordered to
be cleared, and on its being re-opened was adjourned
sine die.

APPOINTMENTS.

Chaplain—Rev. J. R. (1847), to the Rod-
ney, 92, Portsmouth.
Second Master—Wm. J. Reddell (1849), to the
Victory flag -ship, Portsmouth.
Boatswain—Robert Shearer, to the Hercules store-
ship, for Malta.
The Royal :yacht Victoria and Albert, Captain Lord
Adolphus Fitzclarence, with her tender, the Fairy, in
charge of Commander Crispin, arrived at Liverpool
on Saturday.
Confiance steam-tug, having undergone a thorough
repair, has been taken out of dock at Devonport, and
is now complete for service.
Dauntless screw steam-frigate, Captain Halsted,
and Sutlej, Indiaman, were still at anchor in St.
Helen's Roads yesterday; the weather was still un-
settled.
Desperate screw steam- frigate, arrived at Spithead
yesterday morning, from Devonport, en route for
Wool wich.
Modeste, 18, Commander Lord W. Compton, has
left Sheerness for Portsmouth, en route to the Me-
diterranean.
Pioneer steam-tender, Lieutenant-Commander
Sherrard Osborne, has arrived at Woolwich, in ad-
vance of Captain Austin's Arctic squadron.
Vulcan screw troopship, Master-Commander Penn,
on her way from Portsmouth, to Cork and the Cape,
put into Torbay on Sunday.
DEVONPORT, SUNDAY. The weather is still
squally. The St. George, ordinary guard-ship, struck
lower yards and topmasts on Friday. The Ocean,
freight-ship, is expected at this port, to take in pro-
visions from the Royal William Victualling-yard, for
the Cape of Good Hope.
WOOLWICH, OCT. 6.—The Monkey steam-vessel,
took the Lady Franklin, sailing vessel, recently com-
manded by Captain Penny, in tow this morning and
proceeded with her for Chatham.
Commander Henry Eden, Mr. Macdonald, master-
attendant
(who has just returned from leave of ab-
sence), Mr. Lang, master shipwright, Mr. Atherton,
chief engineer, Mr. John Penn, of marine engine
celebrity, and Mr. F. P. Smith, inventor of the screw
propeller, with a number of gentlemen, attended in
the chain-testing room in the dockyard to-day to
witness experiments with a new description of chains
submitted by a Monsieur Sisco, a native of France,
the Lords of the Admiralty having ordered that every
facility should be afforded of ascertaining their
quality and value compared with the chains now in
use in her Majesty's service. The new chains are
made of common hoop-iron of the breadth required,
and wound on a reel by machinery into an oval shape
and to the same breadth as the outer surface, which
is rounded off after the whole has been brazed in
passing through a furnace of molten metal. The
usual test of an iron chain for naval ser-
vice of two inches in diameter is 72 tons strain,
lbeusst manyr
alinksd y
ebtr e
tahke wo
tiht he r tphaer t
sa popfl itchaet
chainon of far
are
efouanind
ef twoqualifi inches
edtopashsrtahaedraeaqduirtewdooirndeehaels.
tMhic.kS,isivoiot'hs
h
stays in the centre of each of the two links, was
placed
of 2*
i then
inches
testing-frame,
st ni
n diameter,
g-fm e'attached
ah d
en to
the a
hydraulic testing-
chain
power being applied, one of the links was length-
ra
ened five-eights of an inch and the other one-
eigth of an inch, when it reached a strain of
110 tons, and the 2} inch testing-chain broke off in
two places when the strain reached 114 tons. The
hoop-iron chain had some openings in one of the
links, which had been imperfectly brazed, but it didinot
appear to have been made otherwise defective. One
link of the same dimensions, two inches thick and two
inches broad, was afterwards placed in the testing-
frame, and when a strain of 70 tons was applied it
had lengthened one-twelfth of an inch; with 80 tons,
one-eighth of an inch; with 100 tons, three- sixteenths;
with 110 tons, one-fourth of an inch ; with 115 tons,
five-sixteenths ; and when it resisted 120 tons strain
it was considered advisable not to continue the strain,
as it was so great as to loosen the stone frame on
which the machine rested, and liable to damage other
parts of the powerful iron-frame of the machine.
The strain applied on this occasion was one ton more
than had ever been previously applied, and the hoop
chain was only slightly opened on one side. When
inquiries were made as to the price at which the hoop
chains could be supplied, it was stated that they would
not cost more per cwt. than the common chains, al-
though their holding powers were so much greater in
proportion.
PORTSMOUTH, MONDAY.—The Right Hon. Sir
Francis Baring, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty,
arrived here to-day on a private visit to patronise a
local charity—the Beneficial Society—a long-conti-
nued annual custom bath with Sir Francis and his
colleague, Sir G. Staunton, M.P., the other Member
for this borough. Admiral Sir Thomas Briggs,
G.C.M.G., the Commander-in--Chief of this port,
visited Sir Francis at the George Hotel. Captain
Charles Eden, R,N., the First Lord's private secre-
tary, accompanied him in his visit.
The Odin steam-frigate, Commander Sir William
Wiseman, which lately bore the British Ambassador
to St. Petersburgh, returned to this port to-day, and
will resume her place in the advanced steam fleet.
The Rattler steam-sloop, Commander Arthur
Mellersh, arrived this morning from Woolwich to
embark the Lieutenant-Governor of this garrison,
Lady Fitzelarence, and daughter, for the island of
Madeira. The Rattler proceeds thence to the East
India and China station to take the place of the
Reynard screw sloop, lately lost on that station. On
her passage round to this port the Rattler encountered
foul weather, and in a gale off Beechey-head caraied
away the head berthing and part of her head-rails.
She has come into harbour to refit.

SHIP NEWS.
QUARANTINE NOTICE.
Gibraltar, Sept. 25.
_ _

All vessels arriving at this port from Lisbon, 'and the
line of coast between that port and Oporto, are to per-
form three days' quarantine of observation.
GRAVESEND, OCT. 6.—Wind S.W., fine.
Arrived—Leon, from. Harlingen; Citizen, fromßotter-
dam; Aeis, from Denis; Roscommon, from Rotterdam;
Sir E. Banks, from Havre; Soho, from Antwerp; John
gull, from Hataburgb ; Rhine, from Ostend.
Soiled—Joseph Somes, for Sydney; Magnet, for Rot-