The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-20 00:00:00

THE NAVE

in all parts of the ostablishment. After partaking of
luncheon with the Commodore they repaired to the
Royal Marine barracks, and were received by the
entire division, who afterwards marched past,
formed into columns of companies, reformed in line,
faced about, wheeled into divisions of companies,
saluted the colours, and retired to quarters. His
Grace expressed himself satisfied with their appear-
ance and movements, which he informed the Com-
mandant were " very fair," and then proceeded
to the ship gun-drill battery under the com-
mand of Captain Clavell, Royal Marines. On
their Lordships' entrance into the battery, which
strongly resembles the quarterdeck of a ship of the
line, they were received with a general salute from
the men, who consist entirely of young recruits,
and who have only undergone nine days' drill.
Notwithstanding their short experience, they went
through a suceession of great-gun drill with extra-
ordinary proficiency, manned the starboard and lar-
board sides with admirable expedition and a cool
obedience to orders which called forth their Lord-
ships' constant approbation. The heavy guns were
cast loose, lowered, pointed, and fired with the judg-
ment and experience of men long in the service, and
sponged and reloaded without confusion. Their
Lordships, on leaving the battery, desired Captain
Clavell to inform his drill instructors, the non-com-
missioned officers under his charge, that they had
remarked with much satisfaction the result of their
energy and attention, and the aptness of their men,
which conferred great credit on the establishment.
The inspection of the barracks, library, &c., occupy-
ing an hour, the board proceeded to the Royal Ar-
senal, where they visited the Armstrong gun fac.
tory, through the whole of which department they
were conducted by Mr. Anderson, the resident
superintendent, and left for London at 6 o'clock.
The screw steamship Donegal, 101, Capt. Broad-
head, was appointed to 'go up Hamoaz e from the
Sound yesterday (Wednesday) to have her defects
made good.
The screw steam gun vessel Espoir, 5, Comman-
der Douglas, was towed by the steamer Zephyr,
Bond, master, into Plymouth Sound on Tuesday,
and placed off the Devonport Dockyard to have
defects made good.
•

A letter from Malta under the date of the 14th
Sept. says.:—,, The Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's steamer Pera, with the heavy portion of the
China and Calcutta mails, arrived here on the 9th
inst. at 3 a.m., from Alexandria, and left the same
day, at 10 a.m., for Gibraltar and Southampton.
Among the passengers from Malta she took the
following officers from the garrison and fleet
Capt. Dumaresq., R.E. ; Commander Buckle, R.N.;
Commander Naves, RN. ; and Paymaster Sec-
combe, R.N. The Ceylon came into port on the
13th, at 6 a.m., with the heavy portion of the out-
ward Calcutta and China mails, and left at 8 p.m.
the same day for Alexandria. The Ellora, with
the heavy portion of the homeward Bombay mail,
and the mail for Malta, arrived at 9 p.m. on the
13th, and left on the following day at 8 a.m., for
Gibraltar and Southampton. She left Alexandria
at 5 p.m. on the 10th inst. Her Majesty's frigate
Liffey had been there for some days, and was then
leaving for Syria. M. Bedard, the French Com-
missioner, was to proceed to Beyrout in the French
brig Sentinelle, from Alexandria, after the arrival
of the Marseilles mail. The Viceroy is said to be
veryindignant at Lord Palmerston's notice of
Egyptian affairs, as reported in the papers. The
first instalment of the French loan was expected to
arrive at Alexandria on the 11th inst. The French
troops (700 in number), who arrived there some 12
days before the date of the letter we quote from
(10th inst.), were still in port, waiting for a trans-
port to convey them to China. The Peninsular and
Oriental Company's steamer Vectis had notarrived
at Alexandria when the Ellora left, nor had she
been met with on the passage. The Peninsular
and Oriental Company's- steamer Alhambra, char-
tered by the French Government for the convey-
ance of troops to Alexandria (en route to China),
arrived last night at 11 p.m., with the second de-
tachment, consisting of 171 officers and men. Her
Majesty's ship St. Jean d'Acre, Capt. T. P. Thomp-
son, came into port on the afternoon of the 10th
inst., after cruising for some days in the Malta
channel, and the Orion, to day, also from a cruise
off the island. The St. Jean d'Acre left port again
to day. Capt. Thompson proceeded kome iu the
Ellora this morning. The Caesar is under orders
for Syria, and is expected to sail in a day or two.
The receiving ship Hibernia, line-of-battle ships
James Watt and Orion, despatch-boat Caradoc,
and gun-boat Boxer are the only men-of-war
in port. The Messageries Imperial's steamer
Amerique arrived on the 11th instant from
Marseilles, with provisions for the French expe-
ditionary force in Syria. She left the same day
for Beyrout. The steamer Gange, of the same com-
pany, which broke down on her way from Malta
to Beyrout, with French troops on board, and put
into Navarin, made her appearance on the morning
of the 14th inst. (to-day), in tow of the steamer
Indus, also of the Messageries Imperiale Company.
The troops by her had arrived in Syria. The Gange,
in tow of the Indus, left this evening for Marseilles.
The following English screw steamers have arrived
here during the past week ; Brena, on the 9th inst.,
from Odessa and Constantinople, with grain, &c.,
for London ; Laconia, 10th inst., from Liverpool
and Gibraltar, with a general cargo, for Syria and
Constantinople; Scotia, 11th inst., from London,
with coals for Malta (to load fruit at Patras) ;
Smyrna, 12th inst., from Smyrna, with fruit, &c.,
for Loudon ; Araxes, 12th inst., from Liverpool and
Gibraltar, with a general cargo, for Alexandria;
Tiber, 13th inst., from Liverpool and Gibraltar,
with a general cargo, for Alexandria ; Colocotronis,
13th inst., from Newcastle and Plymouth, with
coals for Patras. All the above vessels left for their
respective destinations a few hours after their arri-
val. The Russian screw steamer Bong left on the
9th for Havre and London.
Another letter, dated Valetta, Sept. 15, 2 30 p.m.,
says :—" Since despatching my letter last night,

and before the Vectis left with the mail for Mar-

seilles, the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
- steamer Elaine came into port with the outward
overland portion of .tho Calcutta and China mails,
and London dates to the 10th inst. She left, after
replenishing her coal, for Alexandria. Among the
passengers by her for Malta, were—Mr. Scamp,
Civil Engineer (who has been despatched here by
her Majesty's Government, with reference to the
extension of the harbour scheme) Major Colville,
R. 8., Capt. Millet, 23d Regiment, Ensign Hon. J.
Abercromby, R. 8., Lieutenant Glynn, R.B. The
French Messageries Imperiales Company's steamer
Simois, from Beyrout, and the English screw
steamer Agia Sofia, with Indian corn, &c., from
Smyrna, arrived last night or early this morn-
ing.

The Simois le° es at 4 p.m., with a mail

The Trusty, 14, iron-plated floating battery, is
still in dock at Chatham undergoing examination
by the officers connected with the dockyard. The
result of the survey up to the present time has been
to discover that her timbers are in an exceedingly
rotten state, and her bottom greatly damaged by
the ravages of the marine insect. It has also been
discovered that the interior has been very much
injured by the great shaking she underwent
from the concussion of the shot fired from the Arm-
strong guns during the recent experiments made
upon her. It is not yet decided what will be done
to her in the way of alterations and repairs until
she has been inspected by the Lords of the Admi-
ralty at their visit to the dockyard this day.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—R. R. Hopkins, S. H. Scroggs,
W. J. Mayne, G. A. F. C. Seebles, W. B. Inman,
and R. J. M. Macleod, assist.-clerks, to the Marl-
borough, as supernumeraries ; T. A. Miller and J. J.
Gormally, assist.-clerks, to the Impregnable.

for England, via Marseilles. The Belgian screw
steamer Gustaf Pastor, from Constantinople, and
her Majesty's steam troopship Himalaya, from
Corfu, have just entered port. Her Majesty's line-
of-battle ship St. Jean d'Acre is still in sight, sail-
ing off the island."
A Board of Admiralty, consisting of the Duke of
Somerset, Vice-Admiral the Hon. Sir R. S. Dundas,
K.C.8., Rear-Admiral the Hon. F. T. Pelham, C. 8.,
Rear-Admiral the Right Hon. Lord Clarence
Paget, C. 8., M.P., Mr. Whitbread, M.P., Rear-
Admiral Sir Baldwin. W. Walker, K.C.8., Con-
troller of the Navy ; Col. G. T. Green, Director
of Engineering and Agricultural Works, and Capt.
J. Moore, C. 8., private secretary to the First Lord,
yesterday paid an official visit to the departments
of Woolwich dockyard. They were received on
their entrance within the gates in their official
capacity, by an Admiralty salute from the guns of
the flagship Fisgard ; a guard of honour, formed by
a company of Royal Marine Light Infantry, with
the regimental band, under Col. Stransham, Com-
mandant. The Commodore Superintendent, Hon.
J. R. Drummond, and his staff of officials, were like-
wise in attendance, consisting of Commander H. E.
S. Hawker, R.N. ; Mr. Thomas and Mr. Hall,
Masters of the Fisgard ; Mr. Philip Thornton, acting
master shipwright, and commandant of the dock-
yard brigade of Artillery; Mr. Piers and Mr. Heni'y
Johnstone, storekeeper and assistant storekeeper of
the yard ; together with the commanding officers of
the ships in eommission. Their Lordships arrived
at a quarter before 12 o'clock, and left at 3 o'clock,
during which time every person unconnected with
the department was rigidly excluded. Their Lord-
ships, after transacting business with the commodore
at his office, proceeded to inspect the smithery, in
which great improvements are in progress to pre.
vent the smoke, ofwhinh the workmen and the
vicinity have made constant complaints. They
then proceeded to the saw mills, visited the Repulse,
of 91 guns under construction on No. 5 slip, and
the Wolverine, of 21 guns, on slip NO. 6, the latter
ship being in a very advanced state. The boat
house was next inpected, and the wharfs, &c.
Arriving opposite the testing-house, their
Lordships went on board the steamboat Lucy,
belonging to the East and West India Dock Com-
pany, on board of which vessel one of Robert's
powerful patent twin pumps is fitted for the service
of the fire brigade of the docks. Their Lordships
stood on the paddle-box and witnessed the working
of the pump, which was expressly put into opera-
"(ln by the patentee, throwing a volume of five tons
of water per minute a distance of 200 yards. The
engine is similar to, and of the same construction
as, the ship's pump fitted on board H.M.S. Indus-
try. Their Lordships then returned by the sea wall,
examining the Devastation and Driver paddlewheel
steam vessels, repairing in docks Nos. 2 and 3, pass-
ing by slip No. 4, from which the Anson, 91 guns,
was successfully launched on Saturday, and exa-
mining the frame of the Caledonia, of 91 guns, about
to be built on the same slip. The new, giln vessel,
of 6 (mpg, and the British frigate, of 51 guns, on
slips Nos. 1 and 2, were next examined, after which
they proceeded on board the new gun vessel Land-
rail, Commander Martin, now fitting out in
e basinnera
l
for the Coast of Africa, and inspected the g
arrangements for the ventilation and comfort of the
crew. After visiting the Spiteful, also fitting for sea,
and the new gun vessels just received from the con-
tractors, the Board proceeded to inspect the factory,
the several works on hand being explained by Mr.
Atherton, chief engineer. The inspection of the
dockyard gave great satisfaction to the Board, who
were pleased to express their great pleasure at
Vie order and regularity which appeared to prevail

THE REIN, LONDON, TRU gDA EVE Nt SEPT

aeration of the great and unexpected increase in the wages
they IVere:,eorapelled to pay to the shipwrights and other
Workmen employed on the Government vessels ; but the
evidence shows that some of•the builders still lost large sums
of money by their contracts.

21. Your Committee directed their attention to the cause
of the rapid decay which took place in some of the vessels.
On that subject there is a great diversity of opinion among
the witnesses. The Government master shipwrights who
were examined and some private builders consider that it
was unadvisable to haul them up on the slips at Hasler;
while Sir Baldwin Walker, Admiral Richards, Sir Maurice
Berkeley, and Mr, Watts hold a different opinion; at the
same time your committee have conclusive evidence from
the latter witnesses that these gunboats could not have been
taken for repair into the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth
without occupying space required for ships of a more im-
portant character, and that the slips at Haslar present the
advantage of facilities for repairing defects and economising
the room in Porfsmouth harbour.

22. It certainly has not been proved to your committee
that there is any great difference in the result of the treat-
ment in respect to the vessels hauled up and those kept
ad ;,at, with the exception of that portion in which elm tim-
ber was used; and your committee aro of opinion that it
would be most desirable, whenever practicable, to keep up a
ventilation through every part of the vessel, whether hauled
up or afloat, especially when constructed under such unfa-
vourable circumstances as existed in respect to the defective
gun and mortar boats which have been under our conside-
ration.

23. Your committee are also of opinion that when the
whole of the defects in the guu and mortar boats shall have
been repaired they ought to be carefully watched, to prevent
any extensive recurrence of dry rot, and that it may be
fairly expected that these vessels will be a valuable addition
to the naval force of this country. In conclusion, your
committee would observe that, from the experience which
late events have afforded, it seems important that the esta-
blishment of timber in her Majesty's dockyards should be
increased, and a large supply kept in store to meet sudden
and unforeseen emergencies; and would also recommend
that in the wording of all future contracts it should be dis-
tinctly specified that the timber, deals, and plank to be used
in the building of vessels for her Majesty's service should
be entirely free from sap or other defects.
August 13, 1860.