The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, L'ONDO'N, MONDA:Vi EVENING

navy estimates would be presented. With regard to j
the East India Loan Bill, he said there was an urgent
necessity for the East India Company being fur-
nished with additional powers to meet the exigencies
arising out of the present state of affairs in India.
Nevertheless it could not but be allowed that tLi.:
bill was of so important a character, and that it con
tained so many important provisions, that the final
stage of the bill should not be taken in the absence
of the responsible officers of the Crown. He therefore
moved that the further consideration of the bill should
be deferred until Friday, the 12th March.
Mr. WHITE said he should object to any money
being given to the new government until their opinions
were made known. He hoped their political measures
would be better than their political morals. (Laughter.)
'The motions for the adjonrnment till Friday week,
and the postponement of the East Indian Loan Bill
were agreed to.
THE LORD LIEUTENANCY OF IRELIND.

Mr. ROEBUCK gave notice that after Easter he
3 h ould renew his motion relative to the abolition of the
office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The house adjourned at a quarter before five.

IIAYAL AND MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

Yesterday an order arrived at Chatham garrison,
directing Major-General W. H. Eden to furnish the
following officers and men from the three battalions
of infantry under his command to embark at Graves-
end to-morrow on board the Peninsular and Orien-
tal Company's steamer Indiana for Calcutta, for
the purpose of reinforcing the respective regiments
serving in India :—Ensign E. T. Penniger and 13
men of the Bth (the King's) Regiment, 30 non-com-
missioned officers and men of the 19th Regiment ;
Ensign J. Aldridge and 14 rank and file of the 20th
Regiment ; 68 men of all ranks of the 23d Royal
Welsh Fusiliers ; seven men of the 24th Regiment,
13 of the 29th Regiment ; 26 non-commissioned offi-
cers and men of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regi-
ment ; Ensign G. Auchinleck, 52d Light Infantry,
together with 65 non-commissioned officers awl
men of that corps ; 41 men of all ranks of the 64th
Regiment ; Lieut. T. Carlisle and 42 men of the
75th Regiment ; 16 men of the 82d (Prince of
Wales's Volunteers) Regiment ; Ensign C. T.
Horan and 40 men of all ranks, of the 84th Regi-
ment ; and 38 men of the 90th Light Infantry ;
total, five officers and 413 non-commissioned offi-
cers and men. Staff-Assistant Surgeons Salter and
Hillman will embark in medical charge of the
troops during the voyage.
The following troops will embark at Gravesend
this day on board the Antelope steamer for Kurra-
chee, the whole of them baring been selected from
the East Indian depots at Chatham, viz :-7th
Royal Fusiliers, 61 men ; 52d Light Infantry, 16
men ; 61st Regiment, 29 men ; 70th Regiment, 10
men : 81st Regiment, 13 men ; 94th Regiment, 17
men ; and 98th Regiment, 30 non-commissioned
officers and men ; total, 176 men of all racks, with
the following officers :—Lieut. R. Swift, 81st Regi-
ment ; Ensign C. M. Prendergast, 52d Light In-
fantry ; Ensign M. Murphy, 61st Regiment ; and
Ensign P. H. Dobbs, 98th Regiment.
The steam transport Dee was on Saturday un-
docked at Woolwich on completion of repairs. She
is to be admitted into basin to-day to ship machi-
nery and steam gear for the western yards. An
improved method of superheating steam is to be
carried out by order of the Admiralty, which is to
be tested on the next voyage of the Dee.
The Victory, guard ship, Captain George Henry
Seymour, C. 8., flag of the commander-in-Chief, will
haul out of No. 3 dock, at Portsmouth, the third
week in March. The handsome old ship, now 93
years old, has been most substantially repaired,
doubled upon, reooppered, and richly decorated.
The painters have shown excellent taste in picking
out the carved work of her stern galleries and
quarter badgers. Her figure-head has been regilt,
and the shield relieved in artistic taste. She will
look handsomer than she did nearly a century ago,
and is good for the next 50 years. The watermeu
of Portsmouth will heartily rejoice to see her at her
old moorings opposite the Hard, as it was a source
of grert daily profit to them, in taking off visitors
to view the ship in which Nelson fought his last
battle, and died for his country.
Vice-Admiral the Hon. G. A. Crofton, on the re-
served list, died last week, by which event a pen-
sion of 1501. per annum reverted to the patronage
of the Admiralty. The gallant deceased entered the
nary in 1798. He was a midshipman in the Me-
dusa, and was present in the attack on the French
flotilla in Boulogne-roads under Nelson. As lieu-
tenant of the Cambrian he commanded the barge of
that ship at the capture of the French 10-gun
schooner-privateer Matilda in 1805. He also served
as lieutenant of the Mulgrave at the reduction of
the island of St. Croix and St. Thomas in 1807 ; he
was commander of the Faun at the capture of Mar-
tinique and Marie-Galante, 1800 ; and captain of
the Dictator, serving on shore against New Orleans
\
and Baltim_re, arid in several other operations on
the coast of America during th© war. We are in-
formed the lension vacant by his death has le,eu
eunterreu. CM Tit,l-.Pkal:1111.1 of the nine 'Nut. Wal-

pole, which promotes Rear-Admiral of the Red the
Hon. Sir R. S. Dundas, K.C.8., to be Vice-Ad-
miral of the Blue ; Rear-Admiral of the White, Sir
Stephen Lushfngton, K. a 8., to be Rear-Admiral
of the Red ; Rear-Admiral of the Blue, John
11.'Dougall (b) to be Rear-Admiral of the White ;
Capt. the Hon. P. P. Cary, to be Rear-Admiral on
the Reserved List ; and Capt. R. Craigie, Superin-
tendent of the Royal Naval Hospital at Stonehonia
and Victualling-yard at Plymouth, to be Rear-Ad-
miral of the Blue.

Commander R. J. 0t way to be Capt. ; Lieut. the
Hon. W. de Blaquiere, Lieut. J. 114. Jackson, and
Lieut. R. G. Tufnell to be Commatders.

SHIPS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

One of the most extraordinary instances of the
dangers which threaten ships from this terrible ele-
ment, and one also which affords certain proof of
the completeness with which the recent discoveries
of practical science enable us to ward off its destruc-
tive effects, occurred recently to H.M.S. Shannon,
50, in her voyage out from this country to China.
This fine frigate, under the command of Captain,
now Sir Wm. Peel, was ordered out in the spring
of last year to join the force in China. It appears
from the ship's log, which has only just reached the
Adihiralty, that during the voyage out, and when
about 90 miles to the south-west of Java, the ves-
sel became completely enveloped in one of those
terrific thunderstorms so prevalent in those lati•
tudes, and which in former years have frequently
caused so much destruction to our ships in travers-
ing the Indian Ocean. The log describes the
approach of the storm at 4.50 p.m. in the shape of
streams of the most vivid lightning, with deafen-
ing thunder, rain and hail, the ship bAeg driven
before the storm, with remarkably high seas, which
threatened to poop her. At 5 p.m. what appeared
to be an immense ball of fire covered the main-top-
gallant mast, whence it seemed to run up the royal
pole and explode into the air with a most terrific
concussion, covering all the surrounding space with
bright sparks of electrical light, which seemed to
be driven rapidly to leeward by the wind. At 5.15
the ship was struck a second time on the mainmast
by an apparently immense mass of lightning, and
the foretopsail was lowered before the violent gust
of wind with which this second shock was attended.
At 5.30 another very heavy discharge of lightning
fell on the mainmast, and from this till 6 p.m. the
ship was completely enveloped in sharp forked
lightning, accompanied with incessant peals of thun
der, At 8.10 they sheeted home the maintopsail,
and at 9.30 set the foresail ; a confused sea with
long heavy rollers from the W.N. W., followed this
terrible display of atmospheric electricity. On the
next day the ship's course was altered, and the masts
and rigging carefully overhauled, but no injury was
found to have been sustained to either, nor do any
of the men either below or aloft appear to have
been hurt in the least. The permanent system of
fixed lightning conductors, invented by Sir Snowe
Harris and now universallyemployed in her Maj es ty's
ships, most effectually protected both ship and
crew. In looking back upon the journals of the
Royal Navy, we find an almost similar instance of
a frigate being struck three times by lightning
under the head of "Remarks on board his Ma-
jesty's frigate Lowestoft's, March 8, 1796, Minorca
distant 5 deg. W., 134 miles." In this case we find
that the Lowestoft.° also got involved in a thunder-
storm, and at 12.25 p.m. a heavy flash of lightning
struck the ship, knocking three men out of the tops,
one of whom was struck dead on the spot. Within
five minutes afterwards the ship was again struck
by a heavy flash, which shivered maiutopmast to
splinters, and iu a minute or two more a still more
heavy discharge fell upon her. This third shock
.
shivered the foretopmast pieces—the mainmast
to the deck, set fire to the ship in many parts of
the masts and rigging, carried away the foretopsail-
yard,eci sents ever
struckwh o b
aodll
me
ords
ta n dead, and
imprudently
al
rot)between?utaothers,
ed°lfhe
decks, tops.
k n knocking knocked
aloft,
eo
-hoe d
sailors,alg
ei
us:
dmoewdoisicnl discharge
whom it paralyzed or burnt severely. About half
an hour after this they were obliged
to cutaway
the mainmast, and, crippled and disabled in the
other
topaicitsinoofrctlai.eil rlivghgaintga, ncioakoterethste
ibses
best of
presented
their
by this accident compared with that whichhap-
pened
gratifying t o the
to
record Shannon
thethe
oflpractical
It is always
science
eucihn terrific f
succouringoforces
of
thenfaeteubrle.e powers of man
amid

time to learitoy
longer. They will embark from
• -
prince ia ver; it'outrelll4:enut
last Wednesday, are delayed in town for some few days
The Siameae Ambaagadors, who were to leave England
al blood, will remain in
provided
avrjrin%.lt.iiori of the first ambassador from Siam, hi:midi
by governin'c3eLnutthaaudn3Pptl°anceidnat theirsllp
England for some
lguseot
0 r y literature.a n t ._
c 0
it
rTt biec,
tiy umn

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