The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-20 00:00:00

THE I'VAT'Y.

Sir John Pakington and the Lords of the Admiralty com-
menced their official duties at Plymouth on Wednesday
morning by leaving the Diadem in Hamoaze at half-peat 10
o'clock for the gunnery snip Cambridge, Capt. Jerning-
ham. After witnessing target practice they visited the
Earl of Wilton's yacht Zara, lying in Stonehouse-pool, and
then landed in the basin, at the Royal William Victualling-
yard. The First Lord was accompanied by Admiral Martin,
Admiral Milne, and Lord Lovaine, and by Mr. Secretary
Corry, Sir Baldwin Walker, and Colonel Greene. The
Board was received by Captain Superintendent Lyster, the
master attendant, Mr. Wheeler; storekeeper, Mr. Triscol ;
and secretary, Mr. Rogers; Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas PAS..
ley, superintendent of the Devonport Dockyard, was also in
attendance. The mill, bakery, cooperage, stores, meat sheds,
&c., were closely inspected, and wo;kpeople mustered.
Their lordships walked to the winter villa of the Earl of
Mount- Edgecumbe, which is adjacent, and thence proceeded
to the Royal Marine Barracks, where they partook of len-
cheon with Col. Dwyer and the officers in the handsome new
mess-room recently opened./All the works in progress for the
extension of the men's quarters were visited. The battalion
was formed in line in the barrack square, and the men
marched by in review order. Their lordships expressed much
satisfaction at the steady and soldierlike appearance of the di-
vision, and, having inspected the Royal Naval Hospital, re-
turned to Mount Wise. The Beard do not intend to inspect
the Breakwater on the present occasion. The First Lord has
presented £lO to the Devonport Sailors' Home, which he
visited on Tuesday evening. After the levee in the dockyard
yesterday morning it was the intention of their lordships to
leave Plymouth for Cork, Holyhead, and Pembroke.
The steamship Scourge, 6, had steam up at Plymouth on
Wednesday, being under orders to proceed to sea. The Rho-
damanthus was alongside the sheer hulk on Thursday, ship-
ping jury gear for the Windsor Castle, at Pembroke. The
Himalaya was undocked at Keyham on Wednesday, and is
now moored in the basin.
'the Trafalgar, 120, line-of-battle sailing ship, was yester-
day towed up from Folly-point into harbour at Chatham,
for the purpose of being taken into dock and cut down to a
91-gun screw two-decker.
An order from the Admiralty was yesterday rec-iv:d at
Chatham I) sekyard, directing that on and after the 28th
inst. the employment of the workmen by task and job is to
cease, and that the extra-exertion money now paid to the
shipwrights is to be discontinued. All persons employed
in the dockyard who now hold acting appointments are to
fall back on their former employment.
A most formidable-looking brass siege cue, weighing
eight tons, or nearly double the size of one of our large 68-
pounders, was yesterday unshipped at the Royal Arsenal-
wharf, Woolwich, by the Lord Raglan military store-trans-
port, from Devonport, where it was landed by her Majesty's
40-gun ship Sybille, Commodore the Hon. C. G. J. B. El-
liott, from China. The length and other dimensions are
proportionate to its immense weight of metal, which appears
to be of excellent quality. The calibre, or diameter of bore,
which is 121, inch, as well as the casting and entire work-
manship, display a marked contrast to the efficiency f the
art in Europe. The gun is spiked, and is about to be con-
veyed to Windsor, where it is to be kept as a trophy cap-
tured in the Celestial Empire.
The renovation and embellishment of the funeral car of
the Emperor Bonaparte, in progress at Woolwich, are now
nearly completed, the final coat of paint and varnish being
about to be applied. Colonel Tulloli, superintendent of the
department in which the work is being carried out, and who
is at present on leave of absence, has ordered that a strict
observance of every detail laid d iwn in the plans and
description which he has been enabled to obtain from the
pensioners who were present at the interment (one of whom
assisted in arranging the bier) be observed in its reconstruc-
tion, so as to produce a fac simile of its original form and
condition, the aggregate cost of which amounts to about
£3OO. It is supplied with a canopy of the finest black cloth,
richly ornamented with festoons, bordered with silk fringe
about four inches deep, overtopped with six superb sable
plumes, which cost £6O. The trappings will require two or
three days more to be completed. It is expected that the
two veteran pensioners who have furnished the information
will accompany the Artillery officer charged with its pre-
sentation to Paris.
Lieutenant Suther, two sergeants, one corporal, and 19
privates from the Royal Albert yesterday arrived at head-
quarters, Woolwich, to be paid off.