The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-23 00:00:00

:PHI? NAVY.

Great efforts are being made at Chatham Dock-
yard to complete the line-of-battle screw steamer
Hood,-901-which -has been on the stocks several
years, having been originally designed for a sailing
ship, in order that she may be 'launched early in
the ensuing year, when another 91 gun screw
steamer will be immediately laid down on the same
slip. About one-half of the 'shipwrights are
employed on the Hood to complete her by the
required time. The Atlas, 91, is also progressing
at•Chatham, and it is expeeted to be completed by
the latter end of next yer;..l` .
Her Majesty's ship Biter (tender to the screw
steam guardship
Blenheim, at Portland), Lieut.-
Commander J. B. Groves, sai!ed from Woolwich
yesterday morning, after a thorough repair of
boilers and machinery. Rear-Admiral Shepherd, in
his inspection of the ship prior to her departure,
expressed to Lieut.-Commander Groves his extrc me
satisfaction at the admirable order and perfect dis-
cipline of the service on beard the Biter, and re-
marked that, when he had an opportunity, as on
the present occasion, of expressing his admiration
of the more than ordinary pains employed to carry
out the efficient rules of the service, it gave him
great pleasure to evince his satisfaction for the
laudable encouragement of every one concerned.
Her Majesty's troop ship Perseverance, COM,
mander E. R. Power, the arrival of which was an-
nounced in The Sun, went into Portsmouth yes-
terday afternoon. She brings home about 80 in-
valids, military and naval, some women, and a
great quantity of Government stores from Malta
and Gibraltar, which she left on the 10th inst. She
met with exceedingly heavy weather across the
Bay, and in coming up channel spoke the schooner
Eclipse from Xeva, which desired to be reported.
She has some trifling defects to make good.
Her Majesty's troop ship Urgent, Commander J.
W. D. M'Donald, arrived at Spithead yesterday •
morning, having left Gibraltar on the 17th inst.
She brings home a few military and naval invalids,
a great quantity of old stores, and also many
bundles of blankets sent out during the Russian
war, but which have never been used. She went
into Portsmouth harbour in the afternoon.
Her Majesty's ship Argus, Commander H. F. W.
Ingram, went out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday
morning for Channel service.

Her Majesty's troopship, Rhadamanthus, Master-
Commander F. R. Sturdee, sailed from Portsmouth
on Tuesday for Woolwich.
Her Majesty's troop ship Dee, Master Commander
T. C. Pullen, has received orders to proceed to the
coast of Ireland with bread, &c.
Her Majesty's Screw steamsloop Icarus yesterday
left Woolwich Dockyard at 10 25, under her own
steam, to test the engines of 150-horse power, sup-
plied by Messrs. G. Rennie and Sons. She was
abreast of Gravesend at 12 10, a distance of 20
miles, against a three-knot tide. Her speed was
found to be about 11 knots per hour. The trial was
considered highly satisfactory.
The Avon, steam tender, sailed from Devonport
on Sunday for Pembroke, to bring some boys to
this port.
The Conway, 26, at Devonport, is being rigged
in the basin preparatory to proceeding to Liver-
pool, where she is to be stationed as a training
ship for the mercantile marine.

The Curacoa, 31, screw, Capt. Thomas H. Mason,
will go into Portsmouth Harbour to-day, and be
placed in dock for examination.
The Royal William, 120, ordinary guard-ship,
Captain Woodford Williams, at Devonport, is to be
converted into a screw-ship, the Royal Adelaide,
104, taking her place as guard-ship.
TIIE NEW FLAG-SHIP FOR THE EAST INDIES.--
The whole of the joiners and plumbers of Devon-
port Dockyard are employed until six o'clock p.m.,
being two hours extra daily, in order to expedite
the fitting of the London, 90, screw, destined to
take the place of the Calcutta, as flag ship of the
new commander-in-chief on the East India "and
China station. It is expected the London will be
out of the hands of the dockyard about the end of
next. month.

DuCKYARD APPRENTICES.---An Admiralty cir-
cular, relating to the entry of apprentices, has been
republished. One-half the alloted number to be
entered are to be selected according to the highest
number -on the schoolmasters' list, the other half to
be selected from among the sons of workmen ac-
cording to length of service, but in no case is a boy
to be entered who cannot read, write, and do the
first four rules of arithmetic.

The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—B. Woolley has been pro-
moted to Master; J. E. B. Bruce and H. Pearson,
Midshipmen, to the Liffey; A. T. C. Warrington
and 11. D. Evans, Midshipmen, to the Curacoa ; S.
W. Moore, Paymaster, to be Seeretitry to Commo-
dore the Hon. J. R. Drummond ; E. A. William-
son, Paymaster, to the Excellent ; J. C. Little, Pay-
master, to the St. Vincent ; and H. P. Houghton,
Clerk, to the Pylades.
The undermentioned naval cadets were yesterday
appointed as follows :—S. C. Holland, A. It. Cooper,
E. C. Abbs, and P. Tudor, to the Victor Emmanuel;
H. D. Macaulay and W. Neilson, to the Racoon ;
H. Rose, H. S. Hutchings, A. R. Mallock, and A.
H. Lloyd, to the Renown ; M. M‘Neile, F. H.
Keyser, A. K. Bickford, and J. H. P. Owen, to
the Liffey ; R. H. Eyre, It, C. Pole, R. W. Hope,
and H. L. Ryder, to the Orion ; C. A. W. M. John-
son, J. C. Higginson, G. M. Loch, and W. Dutley,
to the Royal Albert ; H. A. Mandeville, S. L. Os-
borne, It. H. Paul, and 0. H. Rainier, to the Marl-
borough ; G. P. Somerset, to the Conqueror, and
A. W. Whish, to the Chesapeake.

REAR-ADMIRAL SIR ALEXANDER, MILNE,
K.C.B.
The Gazette of Tuesday night contained a notifi-
cation to the effect that her Majesty had been gra-
ciously pleased to confer upon Rear-Admiral Milne
the honour of knighthood of the civil division of the
Order of the Bath. We believe we only echo the
sentiments of the whole naval service, civil service,
and mercantile community, when we state that this
much-coveted honour has never been conferred upon
a subject of her Majesty who has worked harder for
it, and has more deservedly earned the distinction.
Unlike his celebtated father, the late Admiral Sir
David Milne, G.C.8., one of the most famous of the
old war heroes, Admiral Milne has not had "the
opportunity of winning a decoration in actual ser-
vice against the enemy, for in the recent hostilities
with Russia his services were deemed of more im-
portance to the country as a member of the Board
of Admiralty than under a pendant either in
the Black Sea or in the Baltic. But the fact
of his having continued a lord of the Admiralty
under the successive presidencies of Lord Auckland,
Sir F. Baring, the Duke of Northumberland, Sir
James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, and Sir J. Pak-
ington, performing his duty with that zealous
devotion to his own department in particular, and
to the interests of the navy generally, and bringing
his vast experience of the whole details of his pro-
fession to bear in carrying out the great improve-
ments that have been of late years effected in the
navy, pre-eminently point him out as an officer
entitled to receive a most gracious acknowledgment
from the Crown for the services he hac rendered to
the country.
Sir Alexander Milne is better known in the com-
mercial world, perhaps, than any other member
of the Board of Admiralty, from his having been
the superintendent lord of the store, victualling,
and transport departments at various times, in-
cluding the momentous period of the Russian war,
and from the valuable evidence he has on several
occasions been called upon to offer to select com-
mittees of the House of Commons ; and we believe
no official man is more respected in the mercantile
community for his extensive intelligence, regular
business habits, and straightforward dealing with
men of business. The honour now conferred upon.
Admiral Milne must be the more gratii'ing to
him, inasmuch as it has been bestowed on the
nomination of a chief of the Board of Admiralty
with whom he has served the shortest
.period,
whilst, at the same time, the nomination is moat
ustic
creditable to Sir J. Pakington's sense ofj
towards those associated with him in. the adminis.e tration of the affairs of the navy.