The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-24 00:00:00

The Russian Squadron off Fortsmoutb.

The Imperial Russian squadron, under the On.
mand of Rear-Admiral Kern, recently returned t°
Europe from the North Pacific, and now anal°.ed
at the Motherbank, off Ryde, consisting of the Well
frigate Askold (flag), 17 guns, Capt. Polozoff ; the
screw corvette Variag, 17 guns, Capt. Lundh 811ci,
the screw despatch vessel Izoumroud, 5 guns, CAP'
Brilkin, are waiting orders from St. Petersburg,
which are shortly expected. The Izoumroud, i°
the meanwhile, will sail from the Motherl,ank to-
morrow for Havre, with Admiral Kern and a hull°.
ber of his officers on board, to enable them to Pal
a visit to the great Paris Exhibition. She will 100
Havre again to rejoin the Askold and Variag at the
Motherbank on the following Monday. The Izonhy •
roud is a somewhat remarkable ship, and, as repre:
seating the swiftest class of unarmoured ships in
the Russian navy, deserves more than the Passing,
notice given to her two consorts. In the 0115
of .1864 two Russian corvettes, the Pearl and the
Diamond, constructed on the same principles as the
Izoumroud—a great preponderance of length t 0
beam—put into the Thames, on their way from
Cronstadt to the North Pacific, and while 103. g
there were freely and somewhat unfavourably crib'cised. So strongly, indeed, were opinions expressed
that, from the disproportion of their length to heath
and the lowness of their hulls on the water, they
t
were utterly unsafe for long ocean voyages, 03,
they were suddenly recalled to Cronstadt, althone
it was understood at the time that their designer,
was no less a person than the Lord High Adraira'
of the Russian Navy, the Grand Duke Constantn
However this may have been the case, the Grad
Duke himself evidently did not share in the nil'
favourable opinions expressed upon the seagoing
qualities of the two ships recalled to Cronstadt from
the Thames, for within a very short time afterci
wards the Izoumroud was placed under the common
of her present captain, and despatched on a voing,o
round the world, in order thoroughly to test he:,
qualities, and the principle she represented. oa
voyage out was made by the Cape of Good Hope, ne
the return round Cape Horn ; and on all occasil
in weather varying in such a long course, as We'o
necessarily be the case, from a pleasant summer bree%
to a heavy wintry gale, and including a tremendel!
cyclone off Cape Horn, Capt. Brilkin and his office'
report the Izoumroud to have behaved admira_c:
and without loss of spars or sails, or the spring
of the slightest leak throughout any part of peii
hull. Her speed is also stated to be very great /O
weathers, under both sails and under steam. Ilex
average sea rate of speed under steam in moderate
weather is given as over 14 knots. Some little no'l
lowance must always be made for the enthusias°.
a naval officer when speaking of the ship in Wine;
he may at the time be serving, and the captain ec;
the Izoumroud and his officers may in this resPe
have shared to some extent in the amiable fattit
which is the common lot of their bidconfreres vr,
parts of the world, but the Izoumroud is undoul
a fast ship, a seaworthy ship, and well deservingii
from appearances, the admiration and praises of a
on board of her. She is 250 English feet in length
between perpendiculars, but only 29f ft. in breadth'
her midship breadth of hull (she is timber built).
carried down as low as possible in the water, with—
•the ends tapered off as fine na Ltivae of a rive
steamer,—the hull above the water-line being some-
what different in outline to the ideas followed in t',,
.
ingly bold sheer, -
English and French navies in having an exceed
especially forward, where her rise
of the bow lines assimilate greatly to those geher°lhilt
seen in an American merchant clipper. Her beig-t
between decks is above the average of our latetso
frigates, and ample space is given to officers,
crew, and to stores of all kinds. The lower deel, :sp
as is the rule in the Russian navy, possesseerift
mess tables for the crew, nor is any of the eontn°o
for them, nor the generally smart arrangenlel3
and appearances which are such marked character
i
istics of the crew's mess deck of an English shall!
anywhere existing. The men are, however, wayil
treated, even from an English point of view, in fl
other respects, and perhaps the Russian sea° re
does not care for the many little personal matted
on the mess deck of his ship that are so much, n°
it must be said, so justly prized by the English Sees,
man. The Russian seaman is well fed, so well, indeed
that he can leave portions of his food undraval flot
the purser's stores, and for this he is always Pni%i
the current rate of the port at which the ship 133,
be stopping at the time such payment becomes "°0
With regard to crime and punishments, the Ithssich
sailor's nature in the former appearsto crop 11P till to
the same as our own, the chief crime being statelo
be a fondness for too much rum. It is soraevf ,
extraordinary to find, however, Russian officers as,
serting that their men are treated with greater l0"-ot
tice in any consideration of a charge brought agnithe
them than are the seamen of our navy, and Yet 64
rules of government in the Russian navy are 1000
upon, or rather copied from, those existing ill th
English navy. As a proof of this, seamen in 190 e,
navies are divided into first and second classes/ goo
cording to their character. In the Russian services!
man can be reduced from the first to the see°for
class, and also submitted to corporal punishment o,
one crime—that is to say, a crime of ordinary ere,
ratter. In the English service men have been
duced from first to second class and punished for °Pa
crime. The difference in this administration
sio
punishment must lie not in the meaning of the In re
framed, but rather in the manner in which WY
the
interpreted. There is a third class of men in of
Russian navy who may be called of a third class,
cis
kind of ever-in-trouble fellows. There may be Sli•
d 10"
men in our own navy, but they have not that tho
tinct official classification which is given them in 0,
Russian navy. These few brief remarks on the °the
parative comforts and government of seamen in 1
Russian and British Royal navies may be stiPltbe
mented by observing that in the former, as 'new
latter, the men have perfect freedom from 01, ip
trol over any convictions of feelings they pos°-
4

matters of religion. A for
The machinery of the ship was manufactured a
them in the Cronstadt Royal Steam Factor,' r‘ttlia
Foundery from designs by Messrs. Tiumphrelne
Tennant, of London. They are of 3.50'°,,,er0
power, nominal, and are spoken of by the ongtbly
in charge and the officers of the ship WY I"ith
indeed. The rig of the ship is three masted, Bs,'olo
square yards on the fore and main masts.
~,erf
lower masts are short and snug, but col 410
square yards on the American principle•
ho
armament of the ship only now remains W
noticed. This at present only consists of .vot4
heavy 8-inch smooth bores, mounted on P the
amidships, and three smaller rifled guns 011„von
broadside and the bow rifled on the French CSA oft
Ray principle. These guns are to be replaoe.'o
the ship's arrival at Cronstadt by four heavy r,al 1)0
guns of late construction, two of which are
rifled Parrott's. ter
Possibly the lzoumroud will not have hereedg:o(A
it e
part at any time in the British Navy. " the
believe now in investing large sums of 100041—op
production of unarmoured wooden built ships' a re.
Izoumroud is, however, as already observed, bolt
markable vessel, and there are many points a
her well worthy of observation.

FLOGGING IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.--111e!jo
visions iu the now Mutiny Act for tho army 3Lui
act for tho mariuo service are the same as to
corl'
'titera,
punishment. It was generally supposed that the
are iu`
tion was only made as to the army, but the Pari49s
chided i 4 the other act,