The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-14 00:00:00

Vice-Admiral of the Blue IVilliam Fanshawe
Martin hoisted his flag on Saturday on board the
Melpomene, 51, screw, at Spithead, the frigate ex-
changing the usual honorary salutes with the Vic-
tory in Portsmouth harbour, flagship of the Com-
mander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral H. W. Bruce. The
Melpomene sailed for Malta at 6 30 p.m., but put
into Plymouth Sound yesterday afternoon.
The iron-cased steam floating battery Trusty, 14,
200-horse power, has been towed from Chatham to
the Nore in order to be in readiness for the experi-
ments the Government have directed to made upon
her with the newly-invented long-range Whit-
worth gun, under the direction of Col. J. W. Mit-

chell, R.A., and the Ordnance Select Committee,
comprising Col. J. St. George, C. 8., president ;
Capt. Sir W. S. Wiseman, R.N.; Col. W. Robin-
son, R.E. ; Col. E. H. Greathead, D.C.L.,
; and Col. W. J. Smythe, R.A. The Whit-
worth gun is to be placed on board one of the gun-
boats belonging to the Cumberland, 70. On the
occasion of the last experiments on the Trusty with
the Armstrong gun the injuries inflicted on that
floating battery were of the severest character, the
wrought-iron plates, which are several inches in
thickness, being in many places completely riddled
by the shot, some of which passed completely
through the vessel, and all striking her with the
most telling effect.

The following is an extract of a letter dated from
her Majesty's screw troopship Simoom, Hongkong,
March 27:

_ "On the 3d of this month we steamed out of Sin-
gapore with three transports in tow (Walmer
Castle, Octavia, and Mars), -having on board the
99th Regiment. We towed them 1,250 miles, and
then cast them off, as we required calling at Ma-
nilla to procure coals, which we found much diffi-
culty in obtaining, but at length succeeded in get-
ting 300 tons. We sailed again for this place on
the 21st, and arrived here, a distance of 700 miles,
in 68 hours, and a few hours after anchoring had
the satisfaction of seeing our three transports,
whom we had cast off nine days previously off Ma-
nilla, come into port.
" The 99th go North immediately, and the ad-
miral has ordered us to tow one of the transports
up as far as Breaker Point, about 170 miles north,
and then return to Singapore and bring up more
transports. The steam frigate Assaye arrived on
the 25th with the transport Earl of Clare in tow,
having on board the left wing of the 31st Regi-
ment, from Bombay. The head-quarters are ex-
pected hourly. The Military Train are on board
the Princess Charlotte receiving ship. The Pearl,
20, screw, is preparing to go North. The squadron
of small gunboats have not yet arrived, but are ex•
pected hourly, and are all expected to move north-
wards about the middle of May. It is, however,
considered here that we shall have no war after all.
The admiral is a hard worker, and gets through
lots of pen and ink .work. The steam transport
Thunder, from the Thames, has made a wonderful
passage out here, having accomplished the dis-
tance in 75 days !"

Her Majesty's gunboat Carnation, of 60-horse
Tower, Lieut G. Taylor in command, tender to the
guardship of steam ordinary at Sheerness, steamed
up to Woolwich Arsenal on Saturday to exchange
her armament, and also the experimentalWhitworth
gun about to be submitted to competition off the
coast of S hoeburyn ess. An appropriate gun-carriage,
ordered to be constructed in the carriage depart-
ment of the Arsenal to facilitate the experiments,
will be ready for mounting to-morrow.
The Bombay, 84, line-of-battle two-decker, hag
arrived at Chatham from Devonport, in tow of the
African and Adder steamers, to be decked and con-
verted to a screw steamer. The Bombay is a sub-
stantially built East India teak ship, and was con-
structed at Bombay for the Government some years
since. She will go into dock next spring tides.
The screw gun-vessel Cormorant, 4, 200 horse
power, first built by contract at the establishment
of Messrs. Wigram and Co., Blackwall, has been
taken into No. 4 dock at Chatham, in order to be
thoroughly surveyed. In consequence of the disclo-
sures which have recently taken place with respect
to the condition of the contract-built gun and mor-
tar vessels, instructions have been given for the sur-
vey to be of the most searching character, in order
that any faulty materials or inferior workman-
ship may be detected. The survey will be made
under the immediate sul)erintendence of Mr.
Lang, the master shipwright at Chatham, and his
assistants, an agent of the contractors being also
present. The Cormorant has been built to replace
the sere w .J.. 1.14.. AA 4.4 \LI,/
in the attack on the Peiho forts, in China.
The Algiers, 91, screw, Capt. G. D. O'Callaghan,
steamed out of Portsmouth harbour on Saturday,
and anchored in her old position with the port
division of the Channel fleet at Spithead,
The Argus, screw, coastguard steamer, arrived at
Portsmouth on Saturday from the westward, with
a Commodore's broad pendant at the main. Several
of the members of the Board of Admiralty landed
from her and proceeded by rail to London.
The Ranger, 5, screw steam schooner, is expected
to call at Spithead on her way down Channel from
the eastward.
The indicated horse-power of the Victoria, 121,
screw three-decker, when under steam on the 6th
inst., at the measured mile in Stoke's Bay, amounted
to 4,290 horse.
The screw steamship Royal Albert, 121, flag of
Sir C. H. Fremantle, K.C.8., in the basin at Key-
ham, is receiving her coal.
The topmast rigging has been carried over the
masthead of the screw steamship Desperate, 8, at
Devonport. The lower masts of the screw steam
gun-vessel Espoir, 8, are clothed; and the screw
steam gun-vessel Penguin, 5, is ceppered.
The gunboat Biter, tender to the Blenheim, 60, at
Portland, has been thoroughly repaired at Devon-
port. Steam will probably be got up on board her
to-day (Monday).
Steam will be got up to-day on board the paddle-
wheel steam surveying-vessel Bann, Master James
Wells,sat Devonport, to try her machinery.
The paddlewheel steam vessel Pluto, Lieut. and
Commander C. H.-Simpson, from the West Coast of
Africa, was on Saturday paid off at Woolwich.
The steam store transport Dee, Master T. Pullen
commanding, was on Saturday taken into the fitting
basin at Woolwich to undergo some necessary re-
pairs, and the crews, having been paid, were granted
alternate leave of absence.
The shipwrights at Chatham dockyard are ex-
pected to complete the breaking up of two of the
defective mortar vessels, numbered 30 and 32, by
to-morrow, the work being accomplished with com-
paratively little difficulty, owing to the exceedingly
slight way in which the framing and other parts
have been put together, and the very inseeure state
of the bolts and fastenings, particularly in the lower
parts of the vessels. It is worthy of remark that
neither of the mortar vessels which are now in
course of being destroyed ever saw an hour's ser-
vice, and this is undoubtedly a subject for congra-
tulation ; for the most experienced shipbuilders
who have inspected them state unhesitatingly that
had they been called upon to sustain the shock and
rebound of their heavy mortars, they would have
gone to the bottom before they had fired a dozen
shells.

The Russian corvette Medved anchored at the
Motherbank during the night of Saturday, and yes-
terday morning saluted the garrison and the flag of
the Commander-in-Chief, which compliments were
returned to the Russian flag by her Majesty's ship
Victory and the saluting battery on the King's
Bastion. The Medved is from the Mediterranean
and bound to Cronstadt.
It is stated that the tremendous recoil from the
Armstrong gun experienced during recent trials on
board the Redwing gunboat renders it imperatively
necessary that some other form of carriage should
be substituted for the one at present in use, should
the smaller class of gunboats be armed with these
weapons. The greased wad that was introduced for
the purpose of cleansing the gun when fired is said
to have remedied the matter to a certain extent, but
the fouling of the gun is still very great.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Robert Beith, surgeon, to the
Majestic ; Win. H. Bell, acting assistant-surgeon,
to the Victory, for Hasler Hospital ; Neil Brodie,
second-class assistant-engineer, to the Cumberland,
for charge of the machinery of the Mayflower;
Thomas Smith, third-class assistant-engineer, to the
Cumberland, as supernumerary ; George H. Beaton,
first-class assistant-engineer, to the Fisgard, for ser- ,