The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-25 00:00:00

THE NATI%

The Chanru 11 squadron, after an anchorage of 15
days in St. Nargaret's Hope, Firth of Forth, left
its mooring's on Saturday afternoon, and under

canvass, IR ith auxiliary steam power, proceeded
down the. Firth and stood out to sea. The squa•
dron, in passing the narrow straits at Queensferry,
proceeds d in single line, the leading ships being the
Royal Albert, 121, fi'agship of Sir C. Fremantle,
the Mersey, 40-gui, frigate, the Edgar, 91, flagship
of Rear-Admiral, Erskine, and the Donegal, 101,
followed, by se',-en other ships of the line and the
Diadem frig*.ae. The greyhound corvette, 17, ac-
comranied the Royal Albert as a tender. On ,
pas-
sing I chke.th and getting into the outer bay of
n
'the Firth, the fleet formed in two lines, and stood
out south-west in the direction of St. Abb's Head ;

the Royal Albert, the Donegal, the Aboukir, the

Conqueror, and the Centurion, with the Greyhound
forming the south line, and the Edgar, the Trafal-
gar, the Algiers, the Mars, the Diadem, and the
Mersey, in the north line. A number of steamers
conveyed the fleet down the Firth. The public
enthusiasm excited by the visit of the Channel
squadron in the Forth can scarcely fail to give a
stimulus to the service in the south-east of Scot-
land, whew; for many years a fleet of war-ships had
not been seen ; and great disappointment is felt
;that the fleet has not been able to make the tour of
the north of Scotland and Ireland, as was antici-
pated. It was expected that the squadron would
reach Yarmouth-roads yesterday afternoon.
The launching of the fine screw corvette Orpheus,
21 guns, took place at Chatham on Saturday after-
moon with complete success. This is the third
vessel completed and launched from Chatham dock-
yard during a very short period. A large number
of persons were present on the oceasio-a. The
Orpheus, although inferior in point of size and ton-
nage to many of the noble line-of-battle and other
ships recently launched and now in progress at
Chatham, is nevertheless a fine specimen of the
modern class bf 21-gun screw corvettes, and her
symmetrical proportions and fine outline, viewed
as she lay 'on the stocks before the launch, excited
very genr ;ral admiration. As regards her archi-
tectural design and build, it may be stated that she
has brNin little more than two years in progress, her
keel having been commenced on the 12th of May,
18r' A. She has been constructed from the designs
0f... Admiral Sir Baldwin W. Walker, K..C.8., Sur-
veyor of the Navy, under the superintendence'of
Mr. 0. W. Lang, the master shipwright, and his
assistants. The following are her dimensions :
Length, extreme, 226 ft. bin. ; length between per-
pendiculars, 197 ft. 2yin. ; breadth, extreme, 40ft.
81n.; breadth for tonnage, 40ft. 4in. ; breadth,
moulded, 39ft. Bin. ; depth in hold, 24ft. tin. ; bur-
den, in tons, 1,705 55-94. She is to be furnished
with a very heavy armament, and :is pierced to
carry 21 guns, which will be thus disposed :
Twenty 8-inch guns on the maindeck, each of
60 cwt. and Bft. 10in, in length ; and one 68-poun-
der pivot gun, of 95 cwt. and 10ft. in length. Her
propelling power will consist of a pair of 400-horse
power (nominal) trunk engines, by Messrs. Hum-
phreys and Co. She is to be immediately fitted
with her machinery, and prepared for service. The
next vessel to be launched at Chatham dockyard
will be the Atlas, 91 guns; the launch will take
place on the 21st of July.
The Bulldog, 6, paddle, Capt. Sir F. L. M'Clin-
tock, sailed from Spithead yesterday at noon, pro-
ceeding to the Channel by the Needles passage.
The Blenheim, 60, screw, has been placed in No.
7 Dock at Portsmouth for examination of her
bottom, &'c.
Admiral E. Harvey, accompanied by his Staff,
with Captain Schoenberg, of the Steam Ordinary,
made a minute inspection of the vessels in the first-
clras steam reserve at Sheerness on Saturday, The
-vessels inspected were the Meanee, 80, screw, 400
lorse-power ; Challenger, 21, screw steam corvette,
400-horse-power , Charybdis, 21, screw steam cor-
vette, 400 horse-power ; and the Bullfrog, May-
flower, Carnation, and Fly gunboats. The gallant
admiral expressed his gratification at the efficiency
and cleanliness of the respective vessels, but espe-
cially of the Meanee.

The screw steam gunboat Violet, Lieut.-Com-
mander Eugene C. Batty (tender to the Coastgnard
ship Eagle, 50, at Milford Haven), arrived at Ply-
mouth on Friday evening. The Violet, en route,
was employed surveying the Scilly Islands for the
purpose of fortification, and had on board Captain
Edward Sothan, R.N., her Majesty's ship Blen-
heim Col. Prescott, Royal Artillery ; and Major
Potter, Royal Engineers. The Violet, after leav-
ing the islands, touched at Penzance and Fal-
mouth.

The lighter Hamoaze, Webber, master, is load-
ing at Plymouth for Pembroke ; the Sinbad, Thos.
Moore, master, sailed on Saturday for Chatham
and Deptford.
The paddlewheel steanusloop Hecate, 6, from
Spithead, arrived at Plymouth on Friday en route
to Vancouver's Island.

Lieut. C. G. T. Knowles is appointed to the
paddlewheel frigate Terrible, 21, Capt. Glass, C. 8.,
at Plymouth.

The screw steamship Orion, 91, Capt. Frere, in
Keyham steamyard, has received her repaired
shafting and will be soon ready to vacate No. 3
dock.

The sailing corvette Havannah, 19, has been
towed from the higher moorings in llamoaze, and
was moored on Saturday to the jetty i❑ the Devon-
port•Dockyard, where she will discharge her har-
bour gear and stores, and be sent to Cardiff as a
school-training ship for boys.
The crew of the screw steam gun-vessel Wrangler,
4, at Devonport, were paid wages on Thursday.
The paddlewheel steam tender Avon, 3, G.
Day, second master commanding, returned to Ply-
mouth on Saturday night, from Falmouth. She
brought two boys from the Russell, for the Im-
pregnable. Her coal bankers were replenished on
Saturday. _ .

The paddlewheel steam-sloop Geyser, G, at Ply-
mouth, was put in commission on Saturday morn-
ing by Commander Jackson.

The lighter Tortoise, IL Ifoskings, master, from
Plymouth, arrived at Liverpool on the 21st inst.;
she was appointed to sail for I)evonport on Satur-
day.

The Dockyard lighter Devon, J. Jennings, mas-
ter, from Plymouth, arrived at Pembroke on the
19thinst.

The guardsbip in ordinary Royal Adelaide, 104,
at Devonport, is to be superseded by the frigate
Stag, 44. The Royal Adelaide will be fitted for a
training ship.

The paddlewheel steam tender Advice, M. Ray-
mond, second master commanding, having had de-
fects made good, took on board supernumeraries
and some passengers, and left Plymouth on Satur-
day for queenstown.

Steam was got up on Saturday on board the screw
steam troopship Himalaya," Capt. Seeconibe, in
keyhatu basin, Ply muath.

Thu new gun vessel Penguin, 4, was hauled off
from the Davonpart dockyard and taken to her
moorings on Saturday.

The chartered troopship Grainger, 1,400 tons,
Gutnmer, which arrived at Gravesend on
,Saturday from the Cape of Good Hope with several
hundred troops and military invalids on board, dis-
embarked her troops the same day at Customhouse
quay, when the non-commissioned officers and men
were immediately forwarded to Chatham garrison.
The competitive examination of candidates for
admission as apprentices in Chatham and Sheer-
ness dockyards was commenced on Friday at
Chatham dockyard by the Civil Service Commis-
sioners. The number of candidates who presented
themselves was 42, including 23 from Chatham
dockyard, and 19 from Sheerness.
_ _

The Megsera, screw troopship, Commander Hen-
derson, arrived at Spithead yesterday afternoon
from Corfu, Malta, and Gibraltar, her dates from
the two latter ports being respectively 7th
and
18th inst. She has brought home 400 military and
naval invalids, and a number of private passengers,
among the latter of whom are Lord P. Ker, lately.
eonainanding her Majesty's ship Marlborough ;
Lieut.-Col. Hamilton, 25th Regiment. The Megzora
experienced fine weather during the paSsage home
until crossing the Bay, when she fell in wits thiek

weather, which continued up Channel. The inva-
lids will disembark alongside the dockyard to-day.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Geo. Green, chief engineer,
to the Geyser; Wm. Saunders, Ist class assist. •en-
gineer, to the Colossus, for service i i the Biter;
John Singer, 2d class assist.-engineer to the Wel-
lington, as supernumerary ; Jas. T. Page, 2d class
assist.-engineer, to the Orion; Immer Fielden, 3d
class assist.-engineer, to the Geyser ; Wm. H.
Nicholson, 3d class assist.-engineer, to the Welling-
ton, for charge of the machinery of the Sheldrake ;
John Symons, acting 3d class assist.-engineer, to
the Geyser; G. R. Bissaker, 3d class assist.-engi-
neer, to the Hawke ; Wm. H. Sedgwick, 3d class
assist.-engineer, to the Ajax; Robert Humphreys,
assist.-surgeon, to the Fisgard ; J. M. Wortley,
assist.-paymaster, to the Dauntless ; R. K. Heaven,
secretary's clerk, to the Victory ; W. Crump, clerk,
to the Greyhound; A. H. Carlyon, assist.-clerk, to
the Terrible ; and A. Smith, assist.-clerk, to the
Colossus.