The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-25 00:00:00

211 E NAVY.

The screw steamship Hero, 91, Captain George
H. Seymour, was taken into the lock at Keyham
steamyard on Monday, and was appointed to be
placed in No. 1 dock yesterday to be cleaned and
overhauled.

The screw steamship Conqueror, 101, Captain
Sotheby, C. 8., was appointed to leave Hamoaze

yesterday to make a trial of her machinery outside

the Breakwater, and return to the Sound.

The screw steamer Rodney, 91, which was towed
from Chatham on Monday by the African and
Adder steamers, brought up at Folly Point, where

she now lies at anchor.

The paddlewheel steam sloop Virago, 6, Com-
mander M. B. Dunn, having coaled in Hamoaze, got
up steam on Monday, and proceeded into Plymouth

Sound.

The screw steam-vessel Arrow, 4, was transported
on Monday from Keyham to her moorings off
Devenport dockyard.
The paddlewheel steam-frigate Terrible, 21, Cap.
tain Glasse, C. 8., received coal on Monday in Ply-
mouth Sound.

The crews of the Surprise and the Atalanta at
Plymouth were appointed to be paid off yesterday.
The Torch, 5, screw steamer, having completed
fitting at Chatham, was yesterday put out of No. 1
dock.

Several important alterations have been ordered
by the Lords of the Admiralty to be effected at No.
1 dock at Chatham dockyard, in order to provide
accommodation for the largest line•of-battlo ships
required to be docked at that establishment. Among
the other improvements ordered to be effected, a

new entrance is to be built to the dock from the

river, and some important alterations carried out in

he interior, the whole of which will occupy several

months.
A serious accident, and one which might have
boen of a very fatal character, occurred last Satur-
day evening on board the screw steamship Royal
Albert, 121, Capt. H. I. Lacon, now in the basin at
Keyham steamyard, Plymouth. It having become

necessary to remove her four old boilers, great exer-
tions were used to attain that object, so as to get
the ship ready again for sea speedily. The Royal
Albert entered the lock on Tuesday, the
17th instant, and, after discharging coal,
was placed alongside the crane in the
basin. On Saturday morning the men commenced
getting out the boilers; three, weighing each
28 tons, were removed before 5 o'clock in the after-
noon, and the remaining one, equally ponderous,
was hoisted out of the hold the required height,
but just as preparations were being made to raise
the shears for the purpose of conveying the boiler
over the side, the fall of the chain broke, and the
cumbrous machine fell on the deck in the waist,
smashing to pieces the plank, one of the beams, and
several of the " carlings," but fortunately without
dropping further. Having been canted, as is the
custom when clear of the hatchway, it jammed it-
self against the fragments of the carlings and beams
in such a manner as to be completely suspended
over the hatchway through which it had been just
raised. At the moment 20 or more shipwrights
were employed directly below " spotting " over the
bed on which the boiler had rested, and had it gone
down the probability is that the greater number, if
not the whole of them, besides the enginemen and
a portion of the crew, would have been crushed to
death, the height being more than 50ft. Some
double balks of timber were promptly placed under
the boiler, to prevent the possibility of its falling
further, and, as the smiths were fortunately in the
yard, two of them, with Littleton, the man in charge
of the shop, went down at once, and repaired the
chain. The small purchase and the repaired pur-
chase were then applied together, and the boiler
was removed from its dangerous position. By this
time the decks were fully shored up under the balks,
and the boiler was then lowered on them, and left
there until Monday, when, a new eight-inch hemp
hawser having been substituted for the treacherous
chain, the fourth boiler was ultimately taken out
of the ship, Some five or six beams, besides car-
lings, will have to be replaced, and it will be nece-
sary to repair 20 feet of the deck. The defective
chain is about five-eighths of an inch thick ; the
broken link appears imperfect in the welding,
it is now in the possession of Mr. Trickett,
chief engineer of the yard. The link broke on
the drum of the steam-engine machinery, which
is in a shed 50 feet from the ship, communi-
cation being obtained through a trunk way
under the surface of the yard. The engine was
promptly stopped or thrown out of gear by one
of the men in charge. The new boilers are manu-
factured by Mr. Yale, foreman of the boiler depart-
ment at Keyham. It was expected that they would
be put in yesterday, and that the engines would be
ready to get up steam in about eight days.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Commander F. N. K. Wasey,
and Commander J. B. Ballard, to be Inspecting
Commanders of the Coastguard ; Lieut. Charles R.
Scott, to the Wellington ; Richard Munday, to be
Secretary to Rear-Admiral Sir William Codring-
ton ; George P. Martin, to be Secretary to Vice-
Admiral William F. Martin; Frederick Cleeve,
C 8., to be Secretary to Rear-Admiral Talbot ;
John Moysey, Second-class Assistant Engineer to
the Asia, for charge of the Rainbow ; Richard
Oliver, Third-class Assistant-Engineer, to the Cum-
berland, for service in the Cochin; John Watson,
Leopold N. Green, and Peter Murray, Acting
Third-class Assistant-Engineers, to the Arrogant,
as supernumeraries for disposal.

THE ARMY.

His Royal Highness the General Commanding-
in-Chief will hold a levee at one o'clock on Monday
next, the 30th inst.

The Duke of Cambridge has issued a general
order, directing that any soldier who, on the com-
pletion of his limited term of service, is desirous of
re-enlisting, is to be granted three months' leave 01
absence, for the purpose of visiting his friends be.
fore he re-engages himself.