The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-24 00:00:00

2.ITE NAVY.

We learn by electric telegraph that the Channel
fleet, consisting of the Royal Albert, Edgar, Done-
gal, Algiers, Trafalgar, Queen, Mersey, Melpomene,
and Diadem, left Portland at noon yesterday, under
sail, for Lisbon.
The screw steamship Brunswick, 80, Captain E.
Ommanney, got up steam in Plymouth Sound on
Tuesday, and proceeded to Devonport Dockyard
to be dismantled. Her sails were unbent, top-
gallant masts struck, and running gear unrove the
same day.
The screw steamship Sanspanil, 70, Capt. Wil-
mot, C. 8., got up steam in Hamoaze on Wednesday,
and, proceeding round the Breakwater, anchored
in the Sound. On passing the Impregnable, she
salUted the flag of Port-Admiral Sir Barrington
Reynolds. Admiral-Superintendent Sir Thomas
Pasley, Admiral Kingcome, and other officers,
were on board.
The crew of the screw steamship Centurion, 80,
Capt. Rodgers, C. 8., at Plymouth, were paid wages
on Tuesday.
The gunboats Lark and Shamrock were put out
of No. 2 dock, at Keyham steamyard on Wednes-
day, and the surveying steamer Porcupine, 3, and
the gunboat Redwing were taken in.
The Ariadne, screw 26-gun frigate, Capt. E. W.
Vansittart, got under weigh yesterday at Spit head,
and proceeded t 3 the trial ground in Stokes Bay,
in charge of Capt. George F. Gordon, commandingP
the steam reserve at Portsmouth, to test her speed
with her altered pr -Teller, at the measured mile,
under the supervision of Mr. J. Dinnen, Admiralty
Inspector of Machinery Afloat, and Inspectors
Murdoch and Miller, of her Majesty's dockyard.
Six runs were made at the measured mile, and
gave a mean speed in knots per hour of 13.078,
the maximum being 15.254, the greatest. speed at-
tained in a single run at the measured mile by any
of her Majesty's ships, with the exception of the
Royal yacht. Mean revolutions of engines, 611 ;
pressure of .stgam in guage, 21 horses ;. vacuum,- -
23A- ; temperature in engine-room, 64; on deck, 48;
force of wind at the commencement of trial, 2, in-

creasing to 21 as trial proceed -4 ; direction, E,S.E.;
diameter of screw, 20 feet; itch, 25 feet. De-
scription of screw.—Maudslay's application of the
common screw with the blade, attached to the boss
on their principle of adjusting the pitch at a range
of from 25 to 30 feet, the sides of the blades
being nearly parallel, and on this trial with the
leading corner of each blade cut off, in order to
arrive at a comparative result with the trial of
January 12, when the screw was tested in its ori-
ginal form. On that occasion the trial gave the
ship a speed in knots of nearly 121—nearly a knot
less than on the present occasion. The vibration of
the ship during the present trial was very trifling,
less than has been yet experienced in any ship of
the same power, and the trial as a whole may be
considered most satisfactory. The machinery
worked admirably throughout. The Atiadue is one
of the "monster" class of frigates, as they have
been termed, and is, as we before stated, one-twelfth
less tonnage than the Mersey, and one-fifth less
power of engines. Her armament is of the same
description, carrying 24 10 inch guns of 84 cwt.
each on her main deck, and two solid shot 95 cwt.
8-inch pivot guns on her upper deck, with plenty
of room on the latter for eight of Armstrong's
heaviest guns in addition. On her main deck, from
the under pat t of her upper deck beams to the deck,
she measures 6 feet 7 inches, and averages 16 feet
6 inches in the clear between the sides of each port,
affordinr, ample room for her men at quarters.
Under full power of steam she carries a much less
body of water under her bows than the Mersey
does, is bolder in her form of bow, and cleaner in
her after body than that ship, doing her work with
much greater apparent ease. Her tuck is, however,
said by many competent judges to be still too full
for the free admission of the water to her screw,
but this, with ships carrying to powerful an arma-
ment as our Merseys and Ariadnes, cannot perhaps
be wholly 'waled.
The paddlewheel steam storeship Rhadamanthus,
11. R. Sturdee master, from Woolwich and Ports-
mouth, with supernumeraries and machinery,
arrived at Plymouth on Tuesday, and was placed
in Keyham basin. When her freight is discharged
she will proceed to Pembroke with riggers sea-
men, and spars to bring the Howe to Plymouth.
The Dee, paddle storeship, Master-Cammander
Pullen, arrived at Portsmouth yesterday from
Woolwich, with boilers and machinery.
The Bacchante, 51, screw, has been removed from
the steam basin at Portsmouth, and berthed along-
side the Victorious hulk, in the harbour. She will
make her contractor's trial of her machinery, &c.,
on Monday next.
The Bullfinch, screw gunboat, Lieut.-Commander
James, at Portsmouth, was yesterday engaged on
trial of a private screw propeller, at the measured
mile in Stokes Bay.
The Argus, screw Coastguard vessel, sailed from
Portsmouth yesterday, for the westward.
Lieut. Algernon C. F. Hencage, RN., has been
appointed Flag .Lieut. to Rear-Admiral the Hon.
Sir Henry Keppel, K.C.8., Commander in-Uhlef
on the Cape of Good Hope station.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Jobn Kellock, master to
the Hogue ; and Robert Madge, first-class assistant
engineer to the Fisgard, for charge of the machinery
of the Griffin.

The chartered East India troop ship Theresa,
705 tons, Commander Kennedy, arrived at Grave-
send yesterday from Calcutta, with about 300 troops
on board from the various regiments in India whose
terms of service have expired.
Between the 15th and 20th instant 95 men have
volunterred into the line from the Royal Dublin
Militia, quartered in the Citadel, Plymouth, under
the command of Lieut.-Col. Musters.