The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-02 00:00:00

Naval and Military intelligence.

The Lords of the Admiralty continued their visit at
Port,m mth yesterday. They proceeded to the Royal
Naval Hospital at Ha,slar at 10.30. and were received
by Captain Superintendent J. R. Dacres, C. 8., and the
naval and melical staff. Their inspection of the hospi-
tal and the gun-boat berthing strips occupied them until
❑oon, when they left the Royal Marine Light Infantry
head quarters at Forton, where they were received by
Colonel Commandant Graham, C. 8., and the divisional
staff. After an hour spent in the inspection at this
corps, the Board left and proceeded to the Royal Clarence
Victualling-yard, Gosport, also under the superinten-
dence of Captain Dacres. This establishment engaged
an hour of the official tour, after which they visited the
R )yal Marine Artillery head-quarters at the Gun-wharf
Barracks, Portsmouth, whence they embarked or board
their yacht OsborLo.

Yesterday morning the court of inquiry, composed of
officers of the Ro3al Engineers, re-assembled at Bromp.
ton Barracks, Chatham, undsr the presidency of Major
C. D. R.ibertson, R.E., for the purpose of instituting
some further inquiries into the circumstances connected
with the premature explosion of the mine, which occurred
during the late siege operations on Chatham Lines, be.
fore his Royal Higness the Duke of Cambridge. The
curt sat a considerable time, but the nature of the pro.
ceediugs have not transpired.
Colonel Tulloh, superintendent of the carriage square
in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, who has been on sick
have for the last two months, has announced his inten.
tion of returning to his department this week. On
Saturday last 260 artisans and labourers, whole services
ale not now required, were dismissed. A small portion
of them were re-engaged in the storekeeper's depart-
meat.

The following appointments were made yesterday at
,be Admiralty _ _

Captain Charles Barker, to the Retribution ; Lieut.
Thomas J. Young, to the Inflexible ; J. S. Murray,
midshipman, to the Recruit.

DEATH OF REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN ROSS.
We regret to announce the death of Rear-Admiral Sir
John Ross, K.C.B, which mournful event occurred on
Saturday morning last,at 43, Gillingham-street, Pimlico.
We extract the following account of the services of this
gallant Arctic voyager from O'Byrne'e "Naval Bio-
graphy"
Sir Jehn Rev, born June 24, 1777, at Balsarroch,
county Wigton, is fourth son of the Rev. Andrew Ross
(of the family of Ro.ee of Balnagown), minister of Inch,
and proprietor of Babarroch, by Elizabeth, second
daughter of Robert Corsane, Esq.. cf Micklenox, in
Dumfriesshire, and sister of Robert Corsane, a captain
in the Foot Gila de, the last of a family whose repre-
sentatives had for 18 successive generations been provosts
of Dumfries by the Fame Christian and surname, Robert
Corsane.' Sir John is brother of the late Major General
Andrew Ross and of Robert Ross, Esq, secretary at
the Cape of Good Hope and at Surinam,, who died in
1837 ; cousin of Major-General Sir Hew Dalrymple
Ross, K.C.8., deputy a,ljutant-general of R tyal Artil-
lery, and of Major General Sir Adolphus John Dal-
rymple, Bert., and a distant relative of Major-General
Ross, who was killed at Baltimore. His great grand-
father was aide-do-camp to Field-Marshal the Earl of
Stair, and fought as a captain in the Black Horse at the
battle of Cnlloden, in 1745.
"This officer entered the navy Nov. 11, 1786, as first-
class volunteer on board the Pearl, 32, Captain Hen.
Seymour Finch, with whom he served in the Mediter-
ranean until December, 1789. He was next, from
Nev. 7, 1790, until Sept. 10, 1791, employed in the
Channel in the Impregnable, 93, Captain Sir Thomas
Byard ; and in September, 1799, after he had been for
several years in the merchant service, he became mid-
shipman of the Weazel, sloop, Captain William D'Urban,
part of the force engaged in the expedition to Holland.
On his re' urn from a voyage to the Mediterranean he
was received, in the course of 1802, on board the
Cycle, $B, Captain Charles Cunningham, and Dili-
gence, sloop, Captain Alexander Robert Kerr; in both
which vessels he acted for a time as lieutenant. He wad
subsequently employed, on the home and Baltic stations,
as midshipman, in the Z'atand, 64, Kite, sleop, and
Grampus and Diomede, 50's, all flag ships of Sr James
Saumarez-as acting lieutenant in the Hydra, 38, Capt.
George Mundy-as acting lieutenant nod commander in
the Liberty, 14-as master's rea‘e, under Sir J. Saumas
res, in the Diomede, Cerberus, and Diomede again-is
acting lieutenant and commander in the Carteret, cutter
-as acting lieutenant in the Sylehe, 18, Capt. Wm.
Goate-a second time, as before in the Carteret-as
lieutenant (commission dated March 13, 1815), in the
Penelope, 36, Capt. William Robert Broughton ; Sari.
nam, 18, Capt. John Lake ; and Prince of Wales, 98,
Hibernia, 120, Diomede, 50, and Victory, 100, all flag
ships of Sir James Saumarea-as acting commander
(order dated July 28, 1809), in the Ariel, 18, in which
vessel he remained upwards of two months-and again
as lieutenant, in the Victory. While attached to the
Surinam, Mr. Ross was severely wounded in the head
and body at the cutting, out of a Spanish vessel from
beneath the batteries of Bilboa. For this he was granted
in 1803 a pension of 911. 53., increased in 1815 to 1501.
per annum. Towards the close of 1808 he was sent
from the Victory to act as captain of the Swedish fleet
on board the Swedish admiral's ship. Attaining the
rank of commander Feb. 1, 1812, be was in that capa-
city employed, March 31, 1812, in the Briseie, 10, in
which sloop, stationed in the Baltic, North Sea, and
Downs, he captured, Oat. 9; following'. Le Petit Pettiest,
French privateer, of 4 guns, 4 swivels, 23 men, and
drove on shore three vessels of a similar description-
June 7, 1814, to the Actssin, 16, employed in the North
Sea, the White Sea, and on the coast of Ireland-Aug.
22, 1815, to the Driver, 18, attached to the force in the
North Sea and on the coast of Scotland-and Jan. 14„
1818, to the Isabella, hired sloop. In the latter vessel
he proceeded, in company with the Alexander brig, com-
manded by the present Sir William Edward Parry,
fer the purpose of exploring Baffin Bay, and inquir-
ing into the probability of a north-west passage.
Shortly after his return to England he was ad-
vanced, Dec. 7, IEIB, to post rank. The results
of .his investigations are detailed by Captain Ross
in his " Voyage of Discovery," publishe 1 in 1810, in
two volumes Svcs., with map and plates. He was afters
wards, from May, 1829, until Oct., 1833, employed in
the Victory, steamer, on a fresh expedition to the Arctic
regions, equipped at the expense of the present Sir Felix
Booth, Bait. He received the honour of knighthood,
together with the Companionship of the Bath, Dec: 24,
1834, Oa March 8, 1839, he was appointed consul at
Stockholm, where he remained several years.
"During the war Sir J. Ross, in three different act-
' tions, was 13 times wounded. In consideration of his
sufferings he was presented by the Patrioec Society with
a sword valued at 1001., and for services performed by
him in the Baltic he was nominated a knight commander
of the Swedish order of the Sword, and presented by
the Kin 5f Sweden with a sword worth 2001. lie is
also a knight of the second class of St. Anne of Russia
(in diamonds) ; of the second class of the Legion of
Honour ; of the second class of Red Eagle of Prussia ;
and of the second class of Leopold of Belgium. In com-
pliment to his services in the Arctic Seas Sir John has
received gold medals from the Geographical Society of
London, the Geographical Institute of Paris, and the
Royal Societies of Sweden, Austria, and Denmark ; the
freedom of the cities of Lenion, Liverpeol, Bristol,
&c. ; and six gold snuff-boxes from Russia, Hol-
land, Denmark, Austria, Londor, and Baden. He is
the auihor, amonz other works, of Letters to Young
Sea Officers,' Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral
Lerd de Sautnarez,' and a Treatise on Navigation by
Steam.' He married, fire, in 1816, Christian, daughter
of T. Adair, Esq, W.S., Edinburgh, and that lady
dying in 1822 ; secondly, Oct. 21, 1824, Mary, only
daughter of retired Cotnmander T. Jones, R.N. By
his fir-t marriage he has issue one son, a magistrate at
Cawnpore."
By the death of Sir John a good-service pension lies
at the disposal of the First Lord of the Admiralty. _

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT SEA.
Her Majesty's Government having undertaken to pro-
mote and take part in an extended system of meteoro-
logical observations at sea, and having caused the requi-
site instruments, forms of register, and instructions, to
he provided and placed at the principal seaports of the
United Kingdom for the use of the mercantile marine—
the Lords Oomunissioners of the Admiralty direct that all
captains'and commanding officers of her Majesty's ships
will co-operate in this undertaking whenever, and as far
as, their respective opportunities and means will admit.
Standard barometers, tested thermometers, and regis-
ters, with the necessary instructions, will be supplied from
her Majesty's dockyards, in the usual manner, on de-
mand. The observations are to be carefully made ; and
recorded in the mode pointed out in the instructions;
and the registers when filled up are to be transmitted to
the Admiralty through the same channels as the ship's
log-books.
Stationary ships, or ships fitting out or refitting in a
home port where a regular series of meteorological obser-
vaCons is established, will not be required to make the
above observations while remaining at such port.
The order does not affct Art. 1, sec. ix., chap. v. of
the Admiralty printed Instructions, which still remain
in force.

The Assistance, iron screw troop ship (officered and
manned by the civil department), will be paid off, and
the ship will be under the pendant, and very properly
too, for it does seem somewhat bard that while her
Majesty's ships are commanded by merchant officers who
are in receipt of 8001. per annum, a commander R.N.
is obliged to be content with SOOl., and find an expen.
sive mess. Such a system is productive of heart-burn.
ings and jealousies, and frauzht with mu,chief.
We
have every respect for the merchant commander, but
the regular service should not be neglected, and many
an active and deserving commander is at this moment
ashore, on a miserable pittance, although desirous of
active employment.

THB EMBELLISHMENTS OF TOE BOIS Dll BOULOONE are
going on with unceasing activity. The deer, which ATO
running about intehreal attraction.plrkforu formed
T
dfortnho lakeseirrec areeptio also
ttiOtemonit)jeed by e
c tsof genwans, ducks of every kind, and a variety of
other aquatic birds. At the different entrances to the
3,is, houses are being built in the most picturesque
'lle of architecture for the keepers. The amphitheatre,
s 3 tribune for the race-ground, is also in course of con-
ztruction. The famous mill of Longcbamps is being re-
paired. It now stands on an island which is reached by
a bridge of rocks. The water is in the upper lake, and
the gardeners are laying down the turf on the summit
o fthe rock, and forming the paths which are to lead. to
the grottoes and waterfalls, and the masons are putting
cement in the basin below the cascade in order that the
water may not be lost, but may feed the river and the
lakes of the Hippodrome before it returns to the Seine.
All these works will lie completed by the end of next
month.— Gdignmi.