The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-23 00:00:00

MILITARY AND NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Yesterday Sir J. Pakington, First Lord of the
Admiralty, and other members of the Board, ac-
companied by Admiral Sir B. Walker, K.C.8.,
and Cal. G. T. Greene, resumed their inspection of
Chatham Dockyard. In the course of their in-
specVon of the dockyard their lordships examined
the works connected w;th the larga steam basin
which' is being constructed on the site of one of the
old docks by Me srs. Rigby, and which L nearly
completed. This basin is one of the largest works
of the kind in the kingdom, and is of sufficient size
to receive the largest line-of-battle slips iu the
navy. They also inspected the old stone dock, which
is being lengthened, after which they proceeded to
examine the several vessels now on the stocks and
in various stages of progress. dr lordships then
went over the convict prison, St. Mary's, where
they were received by Major H. W. Sowart, the
deputy governor, and on returning to the dock-
yard inspected the boat and mast house, saw-mills,
metal-mills, smithery, and the other esta'lsh-
'flouts. They also inspected the ropery and store-
houses, and made a second inspection of the new
steam basin and metal mills. Befoxe quitting the
dockyard their lordships examined the drawings
and plans of the new docks, which were submitted
to them by Mr. Rivers. At twelve o'clock a f.c no-
ral muster of the whole of the workmen employed
in the dockyard took place, when their lot &ships
granted them a half day's holiday. The members
of the Board then inspected the dockyard school,
and afterwards the Wellesley, 72, Cape. G Gold.
smith, C. 8., the guardship of ordinal y, arid at tin cc
o'clock proceeded to the Marine barracks, where
the entire battalion of Royal Marin co_Lizlit Infantry,
under the command ef Cu). H. W. Parke, with
their band and colours, were drawn up to receive
their lordships, which was done with the usual
honours. After inspecting tho troops, their lord-
ships visited the barrack rooms, libraries, mess
rooms,
.and schools, and were then conducted to the
site selected for building additional barrack rooms,
and enlarging the present barracks, the expense
of which is c:culated at 70,0001., 55,000/. of which
has been already voted for that purpose. The day's
inspection concluded with a visit to Melville naval
hospital, which their lordships found to be a model
of c:elnlines, order, and regularity, the sick in-
mates being accommodated in large, a'ry, clean, and
well-ventilated wards. Their lordships returned
to the Osb,rne late in the oftPrn-o v.-how they
slept last night, arse/ will this morning proceed to
Sh:erin_ss dockyard for the purpose of making an
inspection of that establishment.
The Castor, 36, arrived at the Nora on Wednes-
day night, and as soon as she has been inspected
and had her powder taken out, will mcced up to
Chatham to be paid off.
The steamship Imperatriz, Capt. H. T. Cox, ar-
rived at Spithead on Wednesday night from China.
She left Hong Kong April 25, calling at Singapore,
Java, the Cape of Good Hope, and Madeira. Her
latest dates are as follows :—The Cape, June 12 ;
Madeira, July 14. She brings borne 27 cabin pas-
sengers, and 106 naval and military invalids, in
charge of Dr. MtLeod, R.N., of whom four diel on
the passage. The Imperatriz experienced unfavour-
able weather through the greater part of the voy-
age. The usual trade winds in the Indian Ocean
were not met with, while head winds prevailed from.
the Cape to upwards oft wo days' sail north of Ascen-
sion, when light winds were held to about 4 deg.
N.; thence to Madeira, strong N.E. trades, and
from that island till entering the Channel the wind
was unfavourable. The entire passage was cam-
pleted in 87 days 1 hour, including 11 days' stop-
pages; from the Cape in 39 days. The invalids on
board have improved wonderfully, and great credit
is due to Dr. M'Leod. A warm letter, express ye
of goodwill, was a.ddressed. to Capt. Cox by the
passengers on leaving the ship. The mail steamer
Norma had arrived at the Cape in 35 days. The
war between the Boors and Basutes was still going
on, and the Governor seemed disinclined to avail
himself of his leave of absence on that account.
The Imperatriz left Portsmouth last evening for the
Fast India Docks to discharge her cargo of tea, &c.
Lieut.-Col. Laird and the officers. (;.fl the Forfar
and Kincardine Militia Artillery presented a gold
' watch and chain, of the value of 32/ , on Wednes-
day, to Sergeant Townsend, belonging to the 3d
ba'talion Royal Artillery, Woolwich, to mark their
estimation of his invariably good conduct, and in
testimony of the valuable services ho had rendered
to them during the time ho had acted as drill in-
structor to the regiment, which he was about to leave
for Carrickfergus to drill the Antrim Artillery.
Her Majesty's screw steam-hips Archer, 202-
horse power, and Racer, 150-horse power, Captain
Sanderson and Commander the Hon. Thomas A.
Pakenham, left Woolwich yesterday for Ports-
mouth. The Racer (a now vessel) carries 17 glans,
and was built at the Royal Dockyard, Deptford.
Her machinery, fitted by Humphreys and Tennant,
exerted 613 horses according to the indicator. Her
draught of water was 12 feet 10 forward and 14 feet
1 inch aft. A speed of 9.313 knots was obtained
when the engines were making 95 revolutions per
minute, which was done without any symptems of
heating in the bearings. The performance was very
satisfactory. Both ships were, subsequently to the
trial, moored at Greenhitho, and are to
expeeted o
proceed to-day in continuation of their voyage
Portsmouth to join the rendezvous for the Uher-
hourg squadron. Mr. Clifford was on board the
Racer, and inancenvred the boats feted with his
patent lowering gear. The boats were lowered from
each vessel when at full speed, at half speed, and
at anchor, in a few seconds, with the usual facility
iu each operation.
The Renown, 91, Capt. Forbes, arrived at
head yesterday morning from Plymouth, under
sail in most gallant style, and joined the Cherbourg
squadron.
The Royal Albeit, Capt. the Hon. Francis Eger-
ton, flag of Vice-Admiral Lord Lyons, has com-
pleted some repairs to .her machinery, and yester-
day cruised about Spithead to test it.
The Donegal, 100, building in No. 5 slip, Devon-
port, will be launched in the ensuing month.
The Perseverance, 2, iron screw steam troop
ship, was commissioned yesterday by Commander
Edward. R. Power, and the craw of the Vulcan
were turned over to her.
The Royal Yacht Victoria aud Capt, the