The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-03 00:00:00

THE IV 'IVY.

Vice-Admiral William Jas. Hope Johnstone yes-
terday hoisted his flag, white at the fore, on board
H.M.S. Formidable at Sheerness, and saluted the
flag of Admiral Edward Harvey, blue at the main,
with 17 guns, which was returned by the Cumber-
land, 70 guns, Capt. Schomberg, with 13 guns.

The Channel Fleet anchored in the Downs yes-
terday evening, on its way from Yarmouth Roads
to Spithead, to take part in the naval review which
is to take place prior to the departure of H.R.H.
the Prince of Wales for Canada. _

The Heron, one of the new class screw gun
schooners, arrived at Portsmouth on Saturday from
Messrs. Wigram's building yard at Northam.
The Firebrand, 6, paddle, Commander J. M.
Bruce, arrived at Portsmouth yesterday from Port-
land, and sailed in the afternoon for the eastward.
The Victoria, 121, screw, landed her propeller
for some slight alteration at Portsmouth yard on
Saturday, and reshipped it again yesterday.
Her Majesty's ship Griffin, 5, despateh gunvessel,
chief engineer Mr. Madge, got up steam yesterday
at her moorings at Sheerness, under the superin-
tendence of Mr. Napier, of Glasgow, previous
to her trial trip, when her machinery will be
given up to the authorities. Her engines were found
to work admirably. The Griffin is a very fine vessel,
built by Pitcher, of Northfleet, and is said to be one
of the finest of the class 3et turned out of hand.
Mr. W. Anstey, of Sheerness yard, had the inspec-
tion of her building. The engines are by Messrs.
Napier, of Glasgow.
Since our last notice of the condition of the gun-
boats in Haslar yard, an order has been received at
the master builders' office in Portsmouth dockyard
from the Lords of the Admiralty, to open six more
of the coppery' boats for examination as a means of
affording additional evidence for the use of the
Gunboat Commission now holding its sittings.
These six vessels are now sufficiently exposed to
enable us to offer a few remarks on their state,
which will be interesting to the public in general,
and may possibly be of use to the members of the
commission themselves. As has been before stated,
the sheds at Haslar, underneath which the boats
are stowed, consist of a range of zinc-covered roofs,
partitioned by brick-work ribs, each partitioned
apace being arrauged to contain 10 boats. The
names of the six vessels now under examination
are the Skylark and Charger, built by Messrs.
Pitcher, of Northfleet ; the Fervent, built by Messrs
Green, of Blackwall ; the Whiting, by Messrs.
Wigram, of Black wall ; and the Raven and Red-
breast, by Messrs. Laird, of Birkenhead. The two
latter may be the quickest disposed of, as it will be
sufficient to say that they are all that could be ex-
pected ; let them havebeenbuilt where or by whom
they would. They, however, afford a proof, and a
most conclusive one, that if a vessel is constructed
with proper materials, Haslar sheds will not cause
its decay. The remaining four are of about equal
value. The Skylark has been found to have had

" dumps" or short bolts freely used in her construc-
tion, and her butts are also stated to have been fas-
tened, :or pretended to be fastened, by the same
means, instead of the through bolt. She has
scarcely a timber which does not display sap freely.
The Charger, by the same builder, has her tim-
bers in as bad a state from sap as they can well
be—they can scarcely be worse. Her fastenings are
good. Her planking has been badly worked on to
her timbers, so much so that the fingers may be
freely passed between her bilge streak and timbers.
The Fervent has her timbers showing sap and rot
fore and aft. Her stem, stemson, and apron must
all be removed and replaced with new. Her plank-
ing is badly worked on to her timbers, and she is
in as bad a state as she well can be. Her fasten-
ings are stated to have been found good. The
Whiting is sap and rot fore and aft ; not a sound
timber in her ; no complaint, however, as to her
fastenings. The watercourses in nearly all the
vessels have, as a rule, been found to have been so
entirely neglected in their construction as to stop
nearly all communication between the pumps and
the water in the ship. The caulking too has been
found to have been of the most superficial descrip-
tion. The copper on the vessels' bottoms has con-
siderably preserved the elm planking underneath,
but this has tended to no saving to the country,
except in similar eases to the Redbreast and Raven,
as the amount of sappy timbers in the vessels has
necessitated the removal of any plank that might
be sound on its inside as well as on its outside. No
better evidence could be afforded to the commission
than the six boats we have named above.
Capt. Charles Wise, Aide-de-Camp to the Queen,
has taken up his appointment as captain of the
ordinary (her Majesty's ship Monarch) and super-
intendent of the dockyard at Sheerness, vice Capt.
R. Burgess Watson, C. 8., resigned.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Richard Ratcliffe, apsist.-
Burg., to the Melpomene ; J. W. Maddock, pay-
master, to the Neptune ; and N. G. Simmonds
assist.-paymaster, to the Imanm.