The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-06 00:00:00

THAMES.

INGENIOUS YOUNG THIEVES.—WiIIiam Donovan and
James Williams, each aged 15 years, were brought up on
remand before Mr. Paget, charged with stealing 3s. from
a till in the shop of a person named Dyson, No. 35, Three-
bolt-street, Limehouse.
On the 18th of last month, a very foggy day, the pri-
soners entered the prosecutor's shop in succession, at in-
tervals of about ten minutes, and each boy was supplied
with a halfpenny worth of stewed eels. Both changed a
shilling and received llkd. change, and the shillings were
deposited in the till. Soon afterwards a woman entered
the shop on business, and as a female who serves in the
shop was leaving the parlour she saw the two boys through
the fog pass the front of the shop. She went to the till
and missed 3s. from it. Two of them were those passed by
the lssoners.
Information was given to the police, and Robert Lamb,
a detective, was employed in the matter, and apprehended
the prisoners soon afterwards. He now proved that on
the 15th of November he saw the prisoners and another
proceeding from shop to shop in Limehouse, and among
others to two newsagents' shops, but they did not suc-
ceed in stealing anything. Lamb also saw them try the
doors of several private houses which they could not enter.
Lamb detained them while he made inquiries at the shops
they had visited, and afterwards released them. Lamb
had seen them on other occasions prowling about the
streets. The prisoners were summarily convicted some

time ago.
Mr Paget bad no moral doubt the prisoners, after pass
ing the two shillings at the eel shop on the 18th of No-
vember, took advantage of the fog and robbed the till, but
the evidence was not sufficient to justify a committal for
trial. He was however convinced they were rogues and
vagabonds going about to commit felonies, and he felt no
hesitation in convicting them as coming within the mean-
ing of the Vagrant Act, and sentencing them to three
months' imprisonment and hard labour.

NAVAL AND .311LI7ARY IN2ELLIGENCL,

When, a few weeks back, the First Lord of the
Admiralty inspected the dockyard extension at
Chatham, Melville Hospital, the Marine Barracks,
&c., he merely walked through the dockyard, re-
serving an inspection till another season. On
Saturday he visited the dockyard, and appears to
have made an inspection and inquiry more than
ordinarily minute, which led to surmises that more
changes are corning for Chatham Yard. The visi-
tors on Saturday were Mr. Childers, First Lord ;
Vice-Admiral Sir R. Spencer Robinson, Controller
of the Navy; Col. Andrew Clarke, Director of
Engineering and Architectural Works to the Ad-
miralty ; and Capt. F. P. Seymour, the private
secretary to the First Lord, who arrived from Lon-
don by rail. They arrived at the dockyard about
noon. They were received by Captain W. C.
Chamberlain, Captain-Superintendent, Col. Pas-
ley, R.E., Mr. P. Thornton, Master Shipwright
and Chief Engineer, and other officials. Mr. Chil-
ders first inspected the ships building, while the
men were absent at dinner. The Sultan, 12,
armour-plated broadside
,ship, building in No. 2
dock, was first examined. This vessel will be a
most formidable one, heavily plated, 338 ft. Gin.
long, 5,226 tons, commenced August 1, 1868. In
No. 3 dock, close by, is the other iron ship building

here—the Glatton, 2, armour-plated turret-ship;
she is 245 ft. long, 2,709 tons, commenced August
27, 1868. The armour will be very thick ; the
guns 25 tons each. Both these ships are making
raid progress, and much of the armour-plating is
attache 1. It is expected that they will both be
ready for floating out of dock early in the year.
Having inspected these vessels on the exterior,
the interior of each being in a rather chaotic
state, Mr. Childers went to No. 4 dock, iu
which the Cerberus, 4, armour-plated turret-ship, is
being completed and prepared for the voyage to
Australia. This ship was built at Jarrow- on-Tyne
for the Victoria Government, and was sent to Chat-
ham to be completed and made fit for the voyage.
As built she could not have crossed the ocean, her
deck being nearly level with the water ; so, strong
iron bulwarks, about ten feet high, and an upper
deck of iron have been made. When the Cerberus
arrives at Melbourne the bulwarks and upper deck
will be removed. Mr. Childers and his party went
on board this interesting vessel and carefully ex-
amined her. She will leave for Australia about
May next. The next proceeding was of peculiar
interest—an examination by the First Lord of two
wooden vessels, the building of which has been
stopped—the Bulwark and the Woodlark. The
Bulwark, 81, one of the old line-of-battle ships, was
begun so far back as 1859 ; it was got into frame,
and then work was stopped. Our " wooden walls"
were superseded by iron ones. For ten years the
skeleton of the Bulwark has remained on the slip,
a memento of au era departed. The Woodlark, 3,
double-screw On vessel, was proceeded with
up to a recent period ; then her hands were taken
off. Probably Mr. Childers examined these
wooden ships to decide what their fate is to be.
The model loft was next visited, to inspect the mo-
dels, &c., which have been prepared for the next
addition to our armour plated fleet at Chatham—
the Rupert, 3,159 tong, 700 horse power, an iron
clad ram. This ship will before long be commenced
at Chatham, occupying No. 2 dock, as soon as the
Sultan can be floated out. Having inspected the
smithery, Mr. Childers and the rest of the party
went to the Captain Superintendent's Office, the
Master Shipwright being in attendance. There was
a consultation of two hours and a half, and its
length naturally produced rumours,- or revived
them, that changes in Chatham Dockyard are in
contemplation in the New Year. After this con-
ference, and late in the afternoon, Mr. Childers
and the officials from London left by train foi town,
A Court of Inquiry assembled on Saturday at
the office of Rear-Admiral the Hon. James R.

Drummond, C. 8., Superintendent of Devonport
Dockyard, for the purpose of ascertaining the cir-
cumstances under which the iron troopship Tamar,
2, grounded in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in-
jured the framework of her rudder. Several offi-
cers and seamen were examined. Admiral Drum.
mond was assisted by Capts. Luard, Foley, and
Napier, who will resume the inquiry to-day.
The War Department screw steamer Earl de
Grey and Ripon, from Woolwich, arrived on Satur-
day at Devonport, and is now discharging stores at
the gun wharf.

The screw steamship Revenge, 73, bearing the
flag of Rear-Admiral Arthur Farquhar, left Ply-
mouth on Satur,lay for Darien to exchange crews
with the armour-plated screw steamship ZeAlous,
20, bearing the flag of Rcar-Admiral the Ilon. Geo.
F. Hastings, C. 8., commanding the squadron in
the Pacific.

His Royal "Ugliness the Prince of Wales and
suite honoured the Performance of "The Long Strike" on
Saturday eveuh.g at the Theatre-royal Adelphi.
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