The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-30 00:00:00

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IRE NAVY.

The f ollowing are the stations of ships of war in

China. ?-.:—

At Hong Kong—The British steamers Esk,
Urgemt, and Zenobia ; the gunboats Cockchafer,
Grasshopper, Hardy, Haughty, Sparrowhawk,
Starling, and Weazel; the French steamers Nievre
and itose ; the Spanish steamer Don Juan.

Miveao—The Portuguese corvette Don Joao.
A►t Canton River—The British steamer High-
flyur, 'And the gunboats Clown and Staunch ; the
Fr ench frigate Capricieuse, the steamer Marseau,
and. the gunboat Mitraille.

A.t Amoy—The British sloop Acorn and the
Fr ench steamer Saone.

At Foochow—The American frigate John Adams.
At Ningpo—The British gunboat Algerine.
At Shanghai—The British sloep Camilla ; the
-steamers Furious, Nimrod, and Roebuck ; the gun-
boat Firm ; the French steamer Forbin ; the Rus-
sian steamer Boyarine ; the American steamer
Hartford and the gunboat Saginaw.
At Chusan—The British steamer Adventure,
Centaur, Encounter, Fury, Imperieuse, Odin, Pearl,
Sampson, Scout, and Simoom ; the gunboats Bus-
tard and Woodcock ; the French steamers Alarme,
Duchayla, and Dordogne.
At the North—The British frigates Actaeon and
Cambrian ; the steamers Atalanta, Assaye, Beagle,
Cruiser, Cooper, Coromandel, Feroze, Hesper, In-
flexible, Magicienne, Pioneer, Ringdove, Snake,
Sphynx, Vulcan, and Waterman ; the gunboats
Banterer, Bouncer, Dove, Drake, Flamer, Forester,
Havoc, Insolent, Janus, Kestrel, Leven, Opossum,
Bullard, Blaney, Snap, and Watchful; the French
stenmers Andromaque, Calvados, Driade, Entre-
pr enante, Forte, Gironde, Garonne, Japan, Jura,
L'Europeene, L'Emperatrice, Eugenie, Loire,
3llarne, Pregent, Perseverante, Renommee, Rhone,
Rhin, Saigon, and Vengeance ; the gunboats Ava-
3anche, Alon Prah, and Dragonne ; the Russian
steamer Sveltano, and the gunboat Razboynik.

At Amoor River—The Russian steamers Ame-
rica, Bijarin, Griden, Japanese, Manjoor, Opritch-
nick, Plastron, Rinda, Streloet and Voyerada ; the
gunboats Djugnite, Niizelip, and Novich.
At Japan—The British steamer Berenice and the
Russian steamer Posadnik.

The Royal Commissioners who are engaged at
Chatham Dockyard in prosecuting their inquiries
into the control and management of that establish-
ment resumed their investigations yesterday morn-
ing. On the previous day the Commissioners were
occupied until an advanced hour in the afternoon
in the examination of Captain G. Goldsmith, C. 8.,
superintendent of the establishment, and Mr. 0. W.
Lang, the master shipwright, both of whom gave
important evidence respecting the internal economy
of the establishment and the works in progress.
The Royal Commissioners arrived at the dockyard
shortly after 10 o'clock yesterday morning, Captain
Goldsmith and several of the principal officials of
the establishment awaiting their arrival. The mem-
bers immediately proceeded to make a complete tour
of the dockyard, in order to personally inspect the
out-door arrangements, the stores, the establish-
ments, and the ships building and in dock. While
inspecting the works in progress for enlarging the
docks and increasing the accommodation for dock-
ing vessels of a larger class than those hitherto
received at Chatham, the Commissioners elicited
information on the system adopted for prosecuting
works of that magnitude. After completing their
examination of the works in hand, the Royal Com-
missioners visited the ships building and in dock,
each of which was examined, the vessels which
were more particularly scrutinised being the line-
of-battle screw two-deckers Bulwark, 91, and Royal
Oak, 91, as well as the new description of 51-gun
screw frigate the Undaunted, which is ordered to
be launched on the Ist January next, and the Bel-
videre, being built on an adjoining slip. A cursory
inspection WAS also made of the screw corvette Rat-
tlesnakes '2l, Reindeer, 17, and the Myrmidon, 4,
screw steamers, the last of which has only been
recently commenced. The line-of-battle steamer
Bombay, 80, as well as the screw frigate Arethusa,
41, in dock converting, were aim-) inspected. After
'concluding this portion of their examination, the
Commissioners inspected the vast stores of tim-
ber, mahogany, masts and spars, iron, copper,
and other materials laid up for the use of the
dockyard, and paid a brief visit to a few
of the establishments in which the various
works in connexion with shipbuilding are being
prosecuted. During their tour of inspection the
Commissioners were accompanied by most of the
heads of departments and the officials of the estab-
lishment, to whom they addressed frequent in-
quiries in connexion with the various objects in-
spected. The Commissioners afterwards returned
to the Capt.-Superintendent's office, to proceed with
the examination of the principal affairs of the dock-
yard:

Yesterday afternoon the launch of the steam
frigate Rapid, of 11 guns, took place from No. 2
slip of Deptford Dockyard, in the presence of Capt.
Buckle, G.C.8., Commodore-Superintendent of the
yard, Mr. Fincham, master shipwright, and a nume-
rous assembly of visitors. The ceremony of chris-
tening the vessel was performed by Miss S. Gordon,
youngest daughter of Admiral Sir James Gordon,
G.C.8., Governor of Greenwich Hospital. The
following are the vessel's dimensions :—Length, 181
ft. ; ditto moulded, 161 ft. ; depth, 15 ft. 10 in. ;
breadth, 30 ft. 4 in. ; burden in tons, 668 79.94.
She will be fitted with engines of 150 horse power,
and her armament, which is to be furnished from
Woolwich Arsenal, will consist of 11 guns of 32
cwt., and 6 ft. long.
The Frederick William, 86, screw, in the first-
class steam reserve at Portsmouth, yesterday
stelmed out of Portsmouth harbour, in charge of
Capt. G. T. Gordon, commanding the steam reserve
at the port, to test her speed at the measured mile
on the completion of the contract for the machinery
by Messrs. Maudsley, Field, and Co. The ship
having no masts shipped nor stores on board, drew
but a light draught of water, 17 ft. 6 in. forward,
and 23 ft. 6 in. aft, and can, tkerefore, be, as all
such trials are, merely a comparative one with for •
nier trials under similar circumstances. On leaving
the harbour the wind was fresh from E.S.E., but
this gave smooth water for the ship on her trial
11°)Ind, and consequently could not tell against the
shiP's qualifications. With regard to the latter point
it is but just to state that she was laid down origi-
nally 48• Railing three-decker, on the 7th January,
1842, front designs by
Sir W. Symonds, the then
Surveyor of the Navy. By orders from the Admi-
ralty she had afterwards her upper deck removed
and her stern adapted, as far as possibly could be,
for the screw
propeller.
f She is only one foot longer
than the Glasgow screw frigate, now building in
Portsmouth yard, the latter
being 250 feet between
perpendiculars, and the Freden •
ek William 251 feet.
Her bow retains the form originally designed by
Sir W. Symonds for a sailing three_decker, and con-
sequently she raises a heavy Bea forward when under
full steam. The
appearance of the Frederiitchk
sWhiipls-
liam on deck is very short, compared with
like the Duncan, or our improved frigates ; but the
result of the trial gave a greater rate of ,peed,
even in.her light trim, than had been anticipated.
Six runs were made at the measured mile, with and
against the tide, which gave a mean speed of 11.782
knots, with a mean of 72 revolutions. The per-
formance of the machinery was very satisfactory
throughout the trial. Messrs. Murdoch and Miller
superintended the trial on behalf of the Admiralty,
and Mr. Shirreff on behalf of the contractors. In
running down the second mile one of the men at the
wheel got his arm jammed between the spokes and
the standard, and broke the large bone of his arm,
midway between the wrist and elbow. The assist.-
snrg. of the Asia, who is always on board on trial
ships, at once bound the man's arm up, and on re- i
turning to the harbour accompanied him to the
Royal Naval Hospital at Hasler.
The Coquette, 6, screw, was undocked at Ports-
mouth yesterday, and placed in the steam basin to
receive her machinery, &e. The Tribune, screw
frigate was afterwards placed in the dock from
which the Coquette had been removed.
The Mersey, 40, screw, Capt. H. Caldwell, C. 8.,