The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-18 00:00:00

THE NAVAL REVIEW.

The time-worn adage that " man proposes and
Providence disposes" received another exemplifica-
tion in what may almost be called the " intended"
naval review in honour of the Sultan yesterday.
There was a fleet of men• of-war such as has never
hitherto been brought together ; there were fleets
of yachts, fleets of pleasure boats, Royal and illus-
trious visitors in numbers. Nothing was wanted to
insure success but fair winds and clear skies. Had
the south-western coast been favoured with these
all would have been well, and the Sultan would
have seen a naval review on a scale of such magni-
tude as has never been attempted in England before.
Fine weather only was essential to success, and it
was exactly this essential that was wanting. To
say that the weather was bad would hardly do jus-
tice to its inclemency. Bad weather in July is
generally looked for at Spithead, and comes pretty
nearly as regularly as the month itself. The time
chosen on this occasion was above all full of evil
portents, for it was the time of the spring tides and
at the change of the moon. Nevertheless, even those
best versed in the uncertainties of an English cli-
mate were not prepared for the storms of wind
which swept over Spithead yesterday, and effectu-
ally put a stop to all the evolutions which compose
a naval review. The morning, indeed, broke fine
and clear, but with a wind violently high, and
the sky and the horizon marked with that
ominous grey, watery tint which always forebodes
a summer gale, and sometimes a severe one.
Everybody hoped against hope that it would at last
clear up, but the mist only thickened as the wind
freshened, with angry squalls of cold, biting rain.
The sea came rolling in heavily on the beach at
Southsea, where it broke in clouds of spray, and
the ships in the heavy swell outside were dipping to
their anchors in a way which showed it was impos-
sible for small boats to get off from or to come
alongside the huge craft in the distance. From the
moment these ominous appearances showed them-
selves all naval officers predicted that the review
would be impossible ; and, unfortunately, they were
true prophets. Some minor evolutions of the
gunboats were gone through, and the fleet itself
manned yards and saluted as the Sultan passed, and
saluted again as her Majesty came by, but this was
nearly all. The fleet never raised their anchors,
and the immense crowds of visitors who had flocked
in from almost all parts of the kingdom to see the
great naval review had not only the disappointment
of seeing no review at all, but of passing an uncom-
fortable
day on rough water in half a gale of wind.

As we have said this was the more to be regret-
ted, for yesterday it was for the first time intended
to have a real naval review and to put the fleet
through complicated manceuvres under steam and
sail. The fleet, too, was one worthy of the occa-
sion. Though less numerous and less imposing in
appearance than the fleets of three-deckers and fri-
gates which formed the naval displays of past years,
it was in strength and armament probably the
strongest fleet that has ever been brought together
since ironclads were first designed. It is literally
not saying too much that one of the long, low black
hulls which formed part of the starboard line yes-
terday would have been a heavy overmatch for all
the huge wooden line-of-battle ships, whose tiers of
guns seemed almost to look down upon the decks of
their invulnerable consorts beside them.

The whole fleet was moored in two magnificent
lines, the flag-ship of the port division being that
most superb of all English three-deckers the Vic-
toria, and that of thestarboard the huge five-masted
Minotaur, one of the great leviathans of our iron
fleet. At equal distances from these came the rest
of the fleet.

The total strength of the whole fleet of vessels of I
war (exclusive of armed troop ships, &c.), 49,
mounting 1,092 guns, and having au aggregate
horse-power of 22,500 horses and a burden of
102,000 tons. This in numbers exceeded the fleet
that left for the Baltic under Sir Charles Napier in
1851. Both these fleets, however, were nothing in
numbers to the tremendous armada which the
Queen with the Prince Consort reviewed at Spit-
head in 1856. Then there were no less than 300
craft afloat of various kinds and sizes, including 26
screw line of battle ships and 90 first-class frigates.
Then for the first time the rough uncouth precur-
sors of the ironclads were seen in the ironeased
mortar batteries—the Glatton, Trusty, and the like
—which had b3en specially built for service which
they never saw against the Russian batteries.
Great and imposing as this display was, however,
it really fell short as an exhibition of naval power
of the fleet of yesterday. Four or five vessels,
dwarfed by the lofty three-deckers around them,
were in themselves sufficient to sweep the ocean of
nearly all the wooden ships that ever floated. The
least noticed of these, but, perhaps, the most for-
midable—where all were formidable—was the
Royal Sovereign turret-ship, which scarcely pre-
sented a mark the size of a target above the water.
She lay full in front of our most beautiful screw-
liner, the Revenge, and, of course, the contrast only
heightened the beauty of the latter. So also with
the Minotaur, which faced the Victoria, where the
advantage in stately majesty of appearance and
seeming strength was all on the side of the wooden
vessel. Yet, in fact, it was only in appearance, for
the two iron ships we have mentioned could have
cleared the roadstead of all the wooden fleet from
Spithead to Cowes. Yet the wooden vessels had it
not all their own way on the side of beauty, for the
Bellerophon, the Warrior, and Black Prince were
there, and so, too, was the Achilles, all sitting on
the water as lightly as so many mail boats, and
with bows as fine as so many Cunarders. The
little fleet of gunboats formed a separate squadron,
moored higher up the roadstead, and therefore in
the smoother water which they so much needed in
such a swell.

It was expected that the review would begin very
early, and no man-of-war boats were to leave with
visitors to the fleet later than 9.30 in the morning.
Long before that time, however, it was almost im-
possible, as the wind freshened, for any boat to leave
at all, and still more difficult to find people willing
to face what was not only the discomfort, but even
the positive risk, of going off in them. Even the
steam launches, which we have copied from the
French, but which in out service are made too heavy
and far less handy than they should be, came in
half full of water, and, once in, had to remain, for
there was no going out again in the face of such a
wind and sea. The spectators who were so fortu-
nate as to have eards for vessels in the Dockyard I
got off easily enough ; those who were dependent
on the shirs's boats were for the time disappointed,
but had -ample reason to congratulate themselves on
their mcape before the day was over. Soon after I
10 o'clock the wind freshened considerably, the
greTf drift of clouds on the horizon mounted up,
with alarming rapidity, and the first of the long
succession of squalls which continued with little
intermission throughout the day broke over the
harbour. The wind was so strong that at times
there was almost no facing it, while clouds of blind-
ing rain came down almost with the force of small
shot. Signals passed between the flagship and the
rest of the fleet, which were generally interpreted
as conveying the order that the ships were not to
weigh or even man the yards. Dressing the ship
was, of course, out of the question. No halyards
would have held a mass of wet bunting in such a
wind. So complete was the belief that there would
be nothing worth seeing, that the dense crowds
which had covered Southsea beach, and indeed all
parts of the shore, began to disperse. The plea-
sure boats and yachts came hurrying in, and the
roadsteads, devoid of any sign of animation beyond
the fleet itself, was left to the wind and the rain
and the dirty-looking cross seas which, ridged with
white spray, came tumbling rank over rank before
the gale. It was really a miserable beginning to
what afterwards proved a miserable day. Occa-
sionally little breaks would 'come in the scud, half
rain, half mist, and raised delusive hopes that the
day might even yet prove fine ; but it never did.
It
was cheerless and uncomfortable from first to
last.

The delay of the Viceroy's train
in arriving at
the jetty was rather diaracting to those who were
wa thement ng eceive his Ilighness, for at a critical
moment
guns of the flagship announced the
cog of the Sultan. And so the Board of Admiralty

divided itself, and the First Lord and Admiral Milne
and Mr. Romaine and others hastened to do their
duty to the Padishah, and Admiral Seymour, Mr.
Ducane, and another section of naval authorities
waitedto receive the Viceroy. After several base-
less " alertes" the engine and carriage made their
appearance in the Dockyard, and halted by a little
platform, covered with red cloth, at which his High-
ness and suite, attended by Major-General Sey-
mour and officers attached to his suite, descended.
The Mayor and Corporation immediately advanced
to his Highness and began their address. The guard
of honour of the 08th Regiment saluted, the band
played an air which was intended to be in honour
of the Viceroy, the small crowd of bystanders be-
longing to the various vessels at the jetties closed
round the Corporation, and one of those watery
scuds which came flitting over the crest of the Isle
of Wight, as vedettes from the great army of rain
and storm which no doubt was moving solemnly up
the Channel, rushed with dreeping wings over the
scene, and shortened the ceremony. No doubt the
Viceroy's reply was very gracious, but the Victory,
the Duke of Wellington, and the St. Vincent were
calling attention to the fact that the Sultan had
arrived and was on board the Osborne, and the
Turkish ensign, enveloped in friendly smoke, was
seen floating only too stiff and flat in the breeze on
board the Victory.

The Osborne was prepared with great elegance
and luxury for the reception of his Majesty, nor
was the Helicon, on which the Viceroy of Egypt
embarked, at all wanting in taste and care for his
Highness's proper entertainment. As soon as the
Corporation could get off to the Osborne their
address was presented to the Sultan, who received
it with proper consideration ; but the same for-
bearance was not exhibited by many who were im-
patient of the delay inside the waters of the Dock-
yard. It was too much to ask of those who had got
up so early and who had come so far to comfort
themselves with historical parallels while the Mayor
and Corporation of Portsmouth were fulfilling their
functions, or to reflect on the wonderful changes
since the Crescent and the Star indicated the pre-
sence of the enemies of civilisation and Christianity.
The salute in honour of the Sultan was speedily fol-
lowed by that which welcomed his Lieutenant in
the land of Egypt, and when the Mayor and Cor-
poration had subsided from the deck of the Osborne
into their barge, and were rowed on shore, the pro-
cession of the Sultan and Viceroy was formed from
the harbour, and with the wind whistling through
the rigging, and a cold, leaden-coloured sea, flecked
with white seahorses surging against their bows,
the Osborne and Helicon stood out towards Spit-
head, followed by the Enchantress, flying the Ad-
miralty flag, the Tanjore, Ripon, Syria, and other
vessels which were entitled to take part in the
pageant, and by some non-official steamers. It
needed a good deal of the philosophy which teaches
that our cold, grey weather has a healthy influence
on our race to reconcile even a native of the isle to
the prospect before him. Near at hand were the
hulls of the Victory, Duke of Wellington, and St.
Vincent, with a white bordering of sailors above
the hammock nettings, and a scarlet belt of marines
on the quarter-decks ; the training ship with its
youthful, joyous crew, whose shrill voices rang
through the pealing artillery and the cheers of the
crowd on shore ; the granite walls with their dull-
pupilled embrasures, which hem the water; on the
left, masses of people clustering on every point, or
bordering like a black selvage of rock the fretful
line where tide and shingle strive together, all
away from the Saluting Battery round by Southsea
Castle to Fort Cumberland. As the yachts
emerged from the harbour, the long array of the
fleet stretching in double line between Sturbridge
and the main came in view. They were seen as
through a glass mottled with rain or sea mist,
darkly and dimly set in a cheerless sea, reflecting
the neutral tint of the hurrying clouds, which
seemed to come for ever from the sea, and to
have the Isle of Wight as a great fog bank resting
at their base. So rude and rough was the day that
veteran yachtsmen scarce cared to expose the fair
visitors on board their craft to the spray and to the
more substantial power of the sea which must be ex-
pected if they quitted the snug moorings in which
they were nestled off Rhyde and Cowes, like flocks
of ducks in some sheltered nook of a wind-swept
lake. There were few yachts to be seen at sea as
the Sultan and the Viceroy approached the fleet, and
by that time the shore was almost shrouded from
view by the scud which flew to leeward from the
island. No small boats would venture out; at
least—for these is nothing a Portsmouth or Gosport
boatman will not face in the way of a sea if he be
paid for it—there were no people desperate enough
to pay for the certainty of being wet and the great
chance of being drowned.
Before the Sultan left the harbour it was not be-
lieved possible that the men could man yards in
such weather, but the life lines had been rove, and
as the flags of the Osborne passed the embrasures of
Block-house Fort the men of all the ships of war
swarmed into the rigging, and kept together in
black clusters near the masts till the order was
given to lay out, when every yard in all the fleet
was fringed with its tall even rows of sailors, facing
gusts of wind and driving showers of rain with as
much steadiness and apparent indifference as if they
stood on deck. It must have been a trial for the
crews, however, for hardly hail each ship executed
this manoeuvre with a rapidity and precision that
were machine-like, when the scud hid almost every-
thing from view, and only the black hulls and tall
spars could be seen through the mist, and every
vessel looked as watery and unsubstantial as the
Flying Dutchman.

Up to the head of the fleet the Sultan's yacht

came slowly, ploughing heavily through the swell,
and with an amount of motion that might have
been harassing to the feelings of a far more nautical
body of visitors than the Turkish suite. Very few
were visible on deck, however, and certainly all
were wise in keeping as much under shelter as
possible. Closely following the Osborne
came the Viceroy's yacht Helicon, the Admiralty
yacht Enchantress, the Tanjore, set apart for
foreign Ministers and visitors of distinction, the
Syria with the members of the House of Lords, and
the Ripon, with the representatives of the House of
Commons.

Not till the Sultan's yacht was
flagships did the salute begin,close up on the
flagships
therewas
so
mt e e_
an
thing stately and magnificent in the style in which
the huge vessels fired gun for gun almost simul-
taneously with each other, till the Channel was
wreathed in clouds of white curling smoke which,
mounting higher and higher as the wind took it
and hulls in its
landward, shrouded alike spars
thick mass—thicker even than the mists which had
preceded it. This portion of the display while it
most effective part of
could be seen was pretty, and really constituted the
yesterday's proceedings.
No matter how thick the smoke, the angry flashes
from the guns could always be seen cleaving the
Blass of vapour around them. The effect of this
combined with the terrific thunder of the explosions
and the occasional glimpses caught as the fierce
wind parted the smoke and allowed portions of
masts and yards covered with men to be seen for a
moment, was really grand, and almost the only
spectacle during the day that could be well seen or
was well worth seeing. As a matter of course the
firing only brought the rain more heavily than be-
fore, and when the smoke did clear at last the
aspect of the whole roadstead was cheerless and
wintry-looking in the extreme.
The Sultan and the Viceroy had the great advan-
tage of seeing the fleet from end to end thrice before
the day was over. The first salute was fired so judi-
ciously that the smoke had well nigh cleared off to
leeward before the yachts entered the magnificent
highway formed by the two lines of ships. Round-.
ing the leading ship of the port division, the Vic-
toria, with the flag of Admiral Pasley, and passing
between her and the Minotaur, the flagship of
Rear-Admiral Warden, the Sultan and the Viceroy
steamed down the broadpath, with ironclads
on
one side and wooden ships on the other, towards
Osborne, whence there came now and then
distant thuds which gave rise to the hope that
Ifer Majesty would brave the weather and em -
bark on board the Royal yacht ; and that there was
any doubt on the subject is the best proof that could
be given of the very unfavourable nature of the day.

As the little squadron with the Turkish and Egyp-
tian ensigns flying and the Admiralty yachts in at-
tendance
passed between the lines, the crews out on
the yards—even on the topgallant yards, in spite of
squalls which made the great line-of-battle ships
heel over visibly—cheered with that deep yet ring-
ing resonance which pierces even through the thun-
ders of the cannon. One felt, in looking to the
right and then to the left, as one would do who saw
a race of beings beautiful, graceful, and glorious,
yielding to the brute force of a new generation of
ugly yet tremendous monsters. Impossible to deny
the massive strength and rock-like force of these
beaked monsters ; impossible to refuse the praise
due to the combination of strength and speed ex-
hibited in such models as the Warrior, Achilles, or
Valiant. But turn to such a floating grandeur as
the Victoria, or such a combination of gracefulness
and power as even the Duncan, and we must admit
that it needs much love of the sea for the sea's sake
to make our people flock on board the "fleet of the
future." As to the turret-ships,even the satisfaction
of looking like men-of-war at all, and manning
yards accordingly, was denied to them, for they had
no yards to be manned ; but they exhibited formid-
able rows of sailors and marine artilleymen on their
bulwarks, who looked like men sinking with all the
honours at the end of a fight on board ships which
had lost everything that could be shot away. As the
yachts approached Osborne, the Royal yacht could
be discerned through a fresh squall which wiped out
a gleam of sunshine, but it was seen that the Royal
standard was flying, and soon afterwards it was an-
nounced by some keen-sighted person that the
Queen was, indeed, on board—an announcement
which created the liveliest gratification. There was
a short delay off Osborne, during which the rain fell
with considerable spirit, and the wind falsified the
prognostications that the rain would beat it
down. Soon the standard of the Turk and the
Royal standard of England flew together from the
main of the Victoria and Albert, and proclaimed
that the Sultan was in the presence of the Sovereign
under whose sway there are almost as many fol-
lowers of the Prophet as under his own rule. The
first signal made had put an end to all hope of naval
manceuvres, and obliterated the most eagerly-
looked for portion of the day's programme. It was
" annul weighing." It was 140 when the Queen's
Yacht moved slowly a head, preceded by the
Trinity yacht as pilot and followed by the Osborne,
Helicon, Enchantress, and other vessels at the dis-
posal of visitors. A rumour ran from ship to ship
that, by the desire of her Majesty, no salute should
be fired, and that the yards should not be manned
as she steamed between the lines of the fleet. But
whether this was a false alarm or a momentary lull
in the weather caused a change in the Royal pur-
rase; the
eq. certain
leading
ii
Et,
gi s
vtehs
saetl the
of
the Victoria
Port a n
Dd
i
vAlbertision
,drew
pro-
ceeding between the Daphne and Waterwitch, the
crews of all the men-of-war were thrown aloft into
the shrouds, and first a gun from the Dane—the
Poder Skram—followed by another from the Italian
corvette, seemed to unloose the muzzles of the Bri-
tish fleet, and from ship to ship the fire ran, now
rising in a thundering crash through the abating
storm, or dying away in a hoarse, rough murmur in
the midst of au angry squall. The effect of the
sthirieoiurdtsawpeatsinsgcarracoelkya an
in-
feriorgreat masses
to thates of
men
produced in the
by
we had seen them when they manned the yards.
l
The Yoder Skram, ignorant of our signals, sent her
men aloft and laying out upon the yards. But the
British sailors, as if determined to show that they
had not in these days of ironclads lost their daring,
though deprived by her Majesty's gracious consider-
tion of the opportunity of exhibiting themselves at
the end of the royal yard-arias, insisted on decorat-
ing the trucks, and to the admiration of the specta-
tors as they passed now the Black Prince, now the
Warrior, men were seen aloft waving their caps or
flying pieces of bunting, and leading the cheers
which were almost lost in the storm. Nor
were the wooden ships behindhand in similar
displays of animated mastheads, and the Vic-
toria offered three specimens of daring humanity
which excited wonder as to the means by which
they were enabled to exhibit such strong physical
loyalty without any apparent means of securing
themselves from the effects of the very evident mo-
tion of her massive hull. The smoke of the salute
had cleared. away before the Royal yacht had well
entered the path marked out by the lines of the
fleet, and by the time her Majesty had cleared the
Minotaur and the Victoria there was a profound
silence from one extremity of the armada to the
other. The Queen's yacht slowly rounded the
Serapis, and then stood in towards the island, and
in a little while the signal flew from the Admiral
-" Prepare to engage the enemy." Scarcely bad
the answering pennant been cleared before all along
the line a fire, which gave the most vivid
impres-
sion of the tremendous force of our new armaments,
was opened, and continued for nearly 20 minutes.
With the background of a dense dark cloud, which
seemed to stretch like a wall from the Isle of Wight
to the mainland, and against which the hulls and
rigging of the ships were sharply defined, there was
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Van-
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air heavy with its weight and grandeur, there
came uponby t
hoen
very
almoster
y aspectthe
of
influencebattle and people
, which is
rpro-
ducedget
for a time rain and spray and drizzling mist in con-
templating the scene before them. As the men were
" at quarters" firing at discretion, and as fast as
they could, it so happened that now and then there
was such an outbreak that men peered through the
smoke half apprehensive that some ship had blown
up bodily. Then, again, came a long rattling roll,
as though of some giant musketry in line, broken
by a salvo, or melting into a slow, dropping
fire, and again from all the line, as if gathering
itself up to deliver an exterminating broadside,
there came a rush of fire and smoke which made
even the iron sides of the cuirassed vessels tremble
at the sounds themselves had made. During this
time the Victoria and Albert was at anchor, while
the rest of the little squadron, much vexed by
adventurous yachts, forged ahead and backed
astern to keep their places.
It was near 3 o'clock when the Queen's Yacht
anchored, and the cannonade seemed to have pro-
duced a desire to carry out as far as possible the rest
of the programme. The Royal yacht accordingly
signalled, "Is it possible for the gunboats to attack
the forts'?" The answer was " Yes," and the at-
tack was ordered by the signal " Weigh, and attack
forts," and this was done at once, with a noisy good
will which left nothing to be desired on the part of
those who had come down to hear a cannonade.

The gunboats, under the command of Capt. Hood,
of the Excellent, began moving about like so many
mosquitoes, and at once proceeded in two divisions
to attack the Portsmouth defences, and to repre-
seat as far as could be done by such small fry an
attempt to force the harbour. They were formed
in two lines thus :

STARBOARD DIVISION.
1. The Stork, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 236
2. Tho Fancy, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 235 tons.
3. The Pigeon, 2 guns, GO horse power, 268 tons.
4. The Redwing, 2 guns, GO horse power, 236 tons.
5. The Clinker, 2 guns, GO horse power, 233 tons.
6. Tho Bullfrog, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 236 tons.
7. The Fervent, 2 guns, GO horse power, 233 tons.
8. The Orwell, 2 guns, GO horse power, 268 tons.

PORT DIVISION.
9. Tho Lee, 5 guns, 80 horse power, 431 tons.
10. The Magnet, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 238 tons.
11. The Pheasant, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 235 tons.
12. The Ifyrena, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 236 tons.
13. The Surly, 2 guns, 60 horso power, 236 tons.
I!. The Sandfly, 2 guns, 60 horse power, 236 tons.

15. The Highlander, 1 gun, GO horse power, 233 tons.
16. The Speedy, 2 guns, GO horse powor, 273 tons.

Long before these pigmy assailants had made a
hostile movement, Forts Monckton, Block House,
King's Bastion, Portsmouth, Southsea Castle, the
Lumps fort, and Eastney had made everything
ready to give them a warm reception. All the guns
in all the batteries were cast loose, and small de-
tachments of infantry were distributed in most of
them. In all previous naval reviews where this
attack and defence has been represented it has