The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-16 00:00:00

THE NAPPY.

A letter from Malta, dated Valetta, Aug. 11, half,
past 2 p.m., says,:—" Her Majesty's screw troopship
3fegcera, Commander Henderson, arrived here from
Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Gibraltar at 2.15 p.m.

of the 9th inst., bringing out 126 supernumeraries
for the fleet, and small detachments of troops, con-
sisting of Lieut. Tresilian, 3d Buffs ; Lieut. Ward,
22d Regiment ; Ensign the Hon. C. North, Rifle
Brigade ; and 29 soldiers and soldiers' wives. The
Megmra left Portsmouth on the 26th ult., and
arrived that evening at Plymouth, where she took
in 1,000 bags of bread for Gibraltar. She left Ply-
mouth on the afternoon of the 28th, making a good
run under steam and canvass to Cape St. Vincent,
and arrived on the afternoon of the 2d of August at
Gibraltar, where she found at anchor her Majesty's
screw-sloop Greyhound, the paddlewheel-sloop
Scourge, and the gun-boat Quail, The Greyhound
left Gibraltar on the morning of the 4th for Malta,
but has not yet made her appearance. The

Megzera left Gibraltar on the same evening, and
arrived at Malta as above-mentioned, making the

passage from England, excluding stoppages, in
rather less than 10 days. She is to leave Malta on
Monday. the 13th inst., for Corfu, and will return
home with invalids. We have at present in port
her Majesty's line-of-battle ships Queen, Cressy,
and St. Jean d'Acre, which are making good their
defects, and they will leave in a day or two for a
cruise off the island; also the gun-boats Assurance
and Boxer, and the despatch boat Caradoc. The
Assurance is under orders to leave for Beyrout, and,
to proceed under steam, on Wednesday next, the
15th inst. The Boxer is in dock, under repair, as
is also the sailing tender Kertch, which is being
converted into a floating tank fer her Majesty's
ships at Gibraltar. Her Majesty's line•of-battle
ship James Watt is on her way from Candia to
Malta, having carried away the crank pin of her
engine, which will be put to rights there.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamers
Valetta and Ceylon left Malta on the Bth
instant, the former for Marseilles, and the latter
for Gibraltar and Southampton, with the China
and India mails. The Alhambra, of the same
company, arrived at 6 30 p.m. on the Bth instant
from N amines, with the outward overland portion
of the Bombay mail,,and left for Alexandria after
replenishing her coals. A small English screw
steamer called the Ossian arrived on the Bth inst.,
in ballast, from Leith to Patras, and left on the fol-
lowing day for her destination. The second arrival
of French troops for Syria took place on the 9th
inst., by the French path Borysthene from Mar-
seilles, which brought me 28 officers and 406 men.
She left the same evening for Alexandria and Bey-
rout. A large French steamer, the Amerique, has
just entered port from Marseilles with 1,100 men
and 24 horses of the French expeditionary force to
Syria. The troops are under the command of Gen.
de Beaufort, who, with his staff, immediately on
arrival, proceeded to the palace to pay his respects
to his Excellency the Governor. The Spanish war
steamer General Alava, Capt. de Lopes, arrived to-
day from Marseilles with the following passengers,
on her way to Alexandria :—Capt.-General Jose
M'Crohon and family, Lieut.-Col. A. Perras, Capt.
J. Blake, Commandant E. Arroynel, Brigadier E.
Salcedo, Mr. Armaque, Mr. T. Llesseras, and four
servants. Capt.-General M'Crohon, lately Spanish
Minister of Marine, is proceeding as Governor-
General of the Phillipine Islands to take up that
post. The French packet Indus arrived to-day
from Alexandria, and leaves this evening with a
mail for Marseilles. I understand that his Excel-
lency the Governor has applied to the Naval Com-
mander-in-Chief, through Admiral Codrington, to
have a re-examination, and, if possible, a periodical
survey, made of the dangerous shoal known as
' Graham's Shoal,' lying in the Malta Channel, and
greatly in the track of steamers and sailing vessels,
and which, from its changeable origin and charac-
ter, has been so long a source of anxiety to ship-
masters. The last survey given to the public was
made by Lord Frederick Kerr, in her Majesty's
ship Scourge, and published with a lithographic
diagram, showing its surface and soundings in April
1851. At that time it had only 16 feet water ; and,
according to Admiral Harvey's communication to
the Chief Secretary, under date the 13th of
April in that year, a considerable decrease of water
and increase of danger appeared from a comparison
with the previous survey."

Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir R. S. I)undas, K.C.8.,
First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, accompanied by
Rear-Admiral Sir B. W. Walker, Bart., K.C.8.,
Controller to the Navy, yesterday visited Woolwich
dockyard, and went on board the screw steamship
Anson, 91, intended to be launched on the 15th
proximo. Their lordships, accompanied by the
Commodore-Superintendent, the Hon. J. R. Drum-
mond, Commander Hawker, Mr. Thomas, Master
of the Fisgard, Messrs. Thornton and Turner, Master
and Assistant-Master Shipwrights, afterwards pro.
ceeded along the wharfs, inspecting the various
ships under construction, examined the progress of
the Pioneer steamer, in course of fitment, to join (in
command of Master-Commander May) Dr. Living-
stone's Zambisi expedition, and visited the whole
of the ships, with which the basins are at present
crowded.

The Hornet, 17, screw, Commander Elphinstone,
tried her speed at the measured mile in Stokes-bay
on Tuesday, and realised a mean speed of 81 knots.
This, although a low rate of speed for vessels of her
class, is considerably in excess of what she has
hitherto done.

The Princess Royal, 91, screw, and the Immor-
talite, 51, screw, in the steam basin at Portsmouth,
are both being hurried forward as much as possible
in their fitment for the first class in the steam

reserve.

The screw steam coast guardship Hogue, 60, hav-
ing had her bowsprit taken out, was put into No. 3
dock at Devonport on Tuesday. Her bottom is
very foul, and covered with mussels.
The screw steamship Brunswick, 80, was put out
of No. 3 dock at Key ham on Tuesday, and placed
in the basin.

The screw steamship Howe, 121, at Devonport,
having had her bottom coppered, will be put out
of No. 1 dock to-day.

The Admiral-Superintendent Rear-Admiral Sir
T. Pasley, tart., went into Plymouth Sound on
Tuesday in his yacht, and paid a visit to the officers
of the Russian frigate General Admiral, which
sailed at 5 p.m. for Syria.

The crew of the screw steam frigate Emerald, 51,
Capt. A. Cumming, will be paid wages to-day.
The topmasts of the training ship Royal Adelaide,
Capt. Hall, at Devonport, were fidded on Tuesday.
The screw steamship Desperate, 8, was placed
under the shears in Keyham basin on Tuesday to
receive some manchinery.

Orders have been received at Devonport to com-
mission the screw steam-sloop Curlew, 9, and the
Espoir, 5. The former is to have a crew of 100
men, and the latter 60.

The new gunboats Heron and Dotterel, from
Liverpool, arrived at Plymouth on Tuesday in tow
of the merchant tug Emperor.
The paddle-wheel steam-sloop Geyser, 6, Com-
mander G. M. Jackson,,got up steam on Tuesday
and proceeded to join the fleet with supernumeraries
The steam storeship Supply, having sanded several
cases of mosaic flooring and sculptured marbles exca-
Yated by the Rev. Nathan Davis, of the British
'Museum, froth the supposed ruins of ancient
Carthage, near the Bay of Tunis, was yesterday
hauled into basin at Woolwich to discharge the
remainder of her cargo, consisting of returned stores
from
Malta. The Rhadamanthus, the Dee, the
lintomart, and
into basin to the Wizard were likewise tr.ken
be repaired, reladen, and brought for-
ward for sea,
'Ann to be fitted with their various
requisites for service.
The crew of the Rhada-
manthus were paid. Eli months' wages, and granted
leave on shore.

The following young gmatlelcn have successfully
passed through a three days'
)1. we examina.
c'n et.t."
:.nort.smouth ; 13
tion at the Royal Naval ColeiextP,
F.
Cann
were entered for
pCrnaasnsa,n, W.
span ell, W. G.
Messrs.
Al.rmC.stPreotnegr,s,AA..TCu.
W. W.
Moore, A. M. T. Gibson, and D. V. Mathias.e A.
L.
The following aypointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty .I—Commander E. W. Shaw, to
the Curlew, commissioned; Commander John M.