The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-14 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTH DOCKYARD.

The Right Hon. Sir John Pakington, accom-
panied by the other Lords Con_missioners of the pre-
sent Board of Admiralty, arrived at Portsmouth
last evening from London, on the Board's first an-
nual inspection of Portsmouth Dockyard and other
Admiralty establishments in and around the port.
Their Lordships dined on board the paddle yacht
Osborne, moored off the dockyard, and afterwards
slept on board the Osborne and Enchantress. This
morning Sir John Pakington and his colleagues,
after breakfasting on board the Osborne, will land
from their yachts at the King's stairs of the dock-
yard, where they will be received by the Port Ad-
miral and the Admiral-Superintendent, attended by
the several managing or mismanaging officials of the
yard, these latter gentlemen displaying all that ner-
vous yet profound homage to " the Board" which
they affect to think part of the duty of their several
positions, and which must be grateful to Boards of
Admiralty by reason of the antiquity of the custom.
This preliminary process gone through, the Board
will first proceed to the office of the Admiral-Supe-
rintendent and will there " transact" in a wonder-
fully short space of time a tremendous amount of
business, but business of no very specific character;
the superintendent of police, the various heads of
departments, the coxswains of the admirals, mes-
sengers, idlers, &c., mounting guard outside. The
business in the office of the Admiral-Superintendent
having been brought to a concluSion their Lordships
will again present themselves to the body of officials
who have been waiting outside, and a procession
will be immediately formed, Sir John Pakington, at-
tended by the admirals of the port and yard, lead-
ing the way, followed by the Controller of the Navy
and the members of the Board, the tail of the pro-
cession being formed of subordinate officials of the
yard, the superintendent of police, the coxswains,
the messengers, the idlers, &c. The course of the
procession will lie over roads paved with the " pig-
iron"now rendered famous by thepassage of arms be-
tween Mr. Seely and the Admiralty in the House of
Commons, and their lordships will have an opportu-
nity for making a personal inspection of the outer
apparent quality of the iron, and also of admiring
its present efficiency—whatever its true value as iron
may be—as a simple road pavement.
Having thus far launched the Board of Admiralty
into Portsmouth yard, we will leave their Lordships
there for the present in busy examination of the iron-
paved roads, while we glance briefly at what they
may otherwise find worthy their grave attention
during their hurried peregrinations at Portsmouth
both ashore and afloat, first, however, referring to
a rumour which has been current in the dockyard
for some days, that certain of the subordinate offi-
cials of the yard are anxious to wait upon Sir John
Pakington during the stay of the Board at Ports-
mouth and express their gratitude to him for the
very effective manner in which he " settled" Mr.
Seely in the late tilting match between those two
naval reformers on the floor of the House of Com-
mons. The said officials also inttnd to express to
Sir John that, in their opinion, the defeat of Mr.
Seely, and thereby the prolongation of the life of
the present dockyard " system" is entirely due to
the skilful adumbration of the returns which were
furnished to Sir John by the said officials, &c.
There certainly existed an extraordinary degree of
excitement in one department of the yard when the
Admiralty order was received calling for the returns
which were so admirably " adumbrated," and there
exists now a great visible exultation among the offi-
cials at the signal proof given by Sir John of his
earnestness as a naval reformer. With all this,
however, it is not probable that the Board will con-
sider it at all politic to encourage demonstrations of
such a nature, and we, therefore, fear the enthu-
siastic aspirations of the gentlemen referred to are
likely to be disappointed.
To return to what their Lordships will most pro-
bably see and do, or what will be available for the
purpose during their stay" at Portsmouth, there is
first for consideration the slipways and sheds.
But one of these is now occupied, No. 2, in
which is building the Danae, a screw
sloop of 1,268 tons, and 350-horse power. This
vessel was designed by Mr. E. J. Reed, the Chief
Constructor of the Navy, and in examining her lines
from the midship section forward their_Lordekipa
will no doubt be surprised to find that she is a much
finer and handsomer vessel than many interested
detractors of Mr. Reed's reputation as a naval archi-
tect would fain have them and the public believe.
This vessel will carry four 61-ton 7-inch rifled
muzzle-loading guns, besides smaller guns for boat
service, and, as her Channel speed will certainly not
be under 14 knots, she will be a most formidable and
valuable, although unarmoured, cruiser. So much
has been said of the late Amazon, of which vessel the
Danae is an improved type, that it is necessary here
to say a few words with regard to both vessels. In
the first place it has been acknowledged over and
over again that when the Amazon was designed not
a syllable was said about any Alabama class. The
orders then given and received from the Admiralty
and by the builder were merely to design a new sloop
to supersede the Rinaldo class, to carry two 6-ton
guns and two 40-pounders, to carry the rig of merely
an enlarged gun-vessel, with anchors, cables, &c., of
a class much smaller than the Rinaldo, and to carry
a crew of only 40 men. Since the Amazon class
were designed their complement has been increased
to 135 men, and their bow and stern guns from 40-
pounders to 64-pounders. With these alterations
the Amazon realised as high a rate of speed as could
be expected from her-12.4 knots, and nearly two
knots in excess of the Rinaldo class at a like load-
draught. The bows of the Danae and Blanche,
the former at Portsmouth and the latter at Chat-
ham, are much finer and longer than the Amazon
possessed, and, in fact, are forward quite different
vessels. The Blanche at Chatham has been ordered
by the present Board during their recent visit to
that dockyard to be completed in the form then seen,
and we hope the same course will be fol-
lowed with the Danae at Portsmouth. It would
be for their Lordships' consideration
whether, re-
membering the disastrous results of the collision be-
tween the Amazon and Osprey, it would not be an
act of commendable prudence to give all wooden
vessels a water tight bulkhead at about,io or 15 feet
from the bows or stem. The remainder of the build-
ing slips are, as already stated, vacant, but as the
Naval Estimates contain provision for the building
of an iron unarmoured sloop at Portsmouth of the
Inconstant class now building at Pembroke it will
be for the consideration of their Lordships whether
the time has • not fully arrived for the commence-
ment of this vessel at Portsmouth, where the plant
is ordered, in iron, for building, and where the build-
ing of such a ship as would initiate the shipwrights
gradually in the working of iron, and employ them
far more profitably to the country than they are at
present in many instances. The Inconstant, now
building at Pembroke, was designed six months
.since specially by the Chief Constructor of the Navy
as,a counterpoise to the class of corvettes building
`ISY the Americans. The fact is satisfactory as prov-
ing that the late Board of Admiralty and the Con-
troller of the Navy were not unmindful of the pro-
tective powers required by the commerce of the
icnogu,ntwryill.
beT 3h3elf. ntconstant is to have no armour
longerplat-
than the Bellerophon, with
Eft. less beaus, and
will have engines of similar
power and type to thatship. The following are the
principal dimensions of this important class of vessel:
Length between perpendiculars
Breadth extreme m •.. 33?. feet.
Burden in tons ... 50 feet.
Draught of water forward" •• ''• •.• 3,978
Ditto aft "• •.• ... 22 feet.
Displacement ••• •.. ... 24 feet.
... 5,495 tons.
jten 121-ton guns.
four 61-ton guns.
Number of officers and men, 600; coal in bunkers
600 tons; rig, full ship, with large spread of canvas
•
She will be sheathed below the water line with
too thicknesses of teak and an outer sheathing of
copper, so that she may keep the seas as long as
any ordinary wooden ship without fouling. Her
estimated speed is 15 knots. Her designer and en-
gineer both estimate that, with a carrying capacity
for 600 tons of coal in her bunkers and the econo-
mical power of working given by her engines, she
will be able to maintain a moderate rate of speed
over a distance of nearly 10,000 miles.
Next in order for consideration in Portsmouth
yard and harbour come the vessels under repair of

Armament ...

outfit in the reserves and in commission. Under
repair is the famous troop steamer Himalaya, and a
large number of hands are at work upon her, and
getting her well forward; the Scorpion, turret-ship,
with but few hands upon her ; the yacht-like iron
armoured frigate Warrior, very slowly progressing
after 21 months in reserve, and now requiring some
three or four months to place her in a condition equal
to when she was paid out of commission ; the
Ariadne and Tribune, wooden screw frigates wait-
ing," and a few minor vessels. The most impor-
tant of the vessels receiving further comment is the
Bellerophon. This noble frigate, still waiting for
her guns (0, is ordered to make a trial of her speed
over the measured mile in Stoke's Bay during the
present week to satisfy the feeling of a "party"
against her builder. The ship would be more cor-
rectly tried with her armament on board, and the
weights, therefore, in their proper positions, and
for this reason we hope the Lords of the Admiralty
will have the courage to defer the trial until she has
received her guns. The Bellerophon, it must be
admitted by all who really know the vessel
thoroughly, possesses in a singular degree the
vital elements wanting in many of the ironclads
engaged in the Austro-Italian naval engagement
off Lissa, in her handiness under steam, the per-
fect protection of her steering apparatus, and
in her ramming powers. The chief vessels under-
going their outfits as ironclads are the Minotaur,
iron armoured frigate, and the Royal Alfred, wooden
armoured frigate. The first is 6,621 tons and 1,360-
horse-power. Her armament (when the War De-
partment can supply the guns and carriages) will
consist of four 12i-ton 9in. and 18 6i-ton 7in.
muzzle-loading guns, behind armour plating, with
four 6i-ton 7in. on her upper deck. The Royal
Alfred will carry ten 12k-ton 9in. and four 6i-ton
7in. muzzle-loading guns, under the same conditions
as the Minotaur, on, her main deck, and four of the
6-ton 7in. guns on her upper deck. The Warrior's
armament will consist of four 9-ton Bin. and 28 of
the 6i-ton 7in. muzzle-loading rifled guns.
The ships in commission, excepting altogether
flagships, yachts, tenders, &c., consist of the Belle-
rophon, iron frigate, the Royal Sovereign, turret
ship, and that abominable burlesque of a man-of-
war, the unarmoured 60-horse power screw sloop,
the Cruiser. The only one of the three requiring
any " reserves" contain one very efficient ironclad
—the Valiant, 4,063 tons, and 800-horse power,
rigged, stored, and ready for commission, but wait-
ing her guns, the supply of which is in the hands
of the officers of Her Majesty's army, as with all
other ships in Her Majesty's navy, and Rill pro-
bably be round for the ship at some future time,
when a superior, kind of ordnance will then have
been found which will entirely supersede their use-
fulness. The remainder of the ships in these "re-
serves" may be briefly classified as follows :—The
Mersey and Glasgow, wooden unarmoured scree

frigates, and two or three smaller vessels in good
condition of hull and machinery, capable of
carrying heavy armaments of good speed, and
therefore to be counted as reliable ships for ser-
vice of a certain character. The Marlborough and
Prince of Wales, two new screw three-deckers,
available for conversion as turret-ships on an im-
proved Royal Sovereign plan. The Caesar, Colossus,
Edgar, Hannibal, Nelson, Neptune, Prince Regent,
Queen, Victor Emanuel, screw line-of-battle ships ;
the Arrogant, Bacchante, Diadem, Euryalus, Im-
mortalite, Melpomene, Shannon, and Termagant,
screw frigates ; and three or four paddle sloops, all
built of wood, unarmoured, and partially rotten in
their hulls. This fleet of vessels is only fit for dis-
posal in the speediest possible manner—by sale, by
breaking up, by appropriating as barrack or hospi-
tal ships, by giving away to the first comer, or re-
moving them from the Navy List by the readiest
means, so as to save the cost of " preserving" such
an obsolete lot. The Vulcan, iron troopship, is also
on the reserves, but she is capable of further service,
and the Erebus, iron armoured floating battery, would
make a very efficient gun-training ship and battery
in one of the many mud creeks on either banks of the
Thames. There remains a number of wooden screw

gunboats to notice, but none of these vessels carry
armour, their speed is below par, and, altogether, as
fighting vessels, against the gunboats of older na-
tions they may be set down as nil in the item of our

natiou.altlefeuces3, but with the cost of their main-
tenance as of a very serious character. We may ob-
serve here for the information of the Lords of the
British Board of Admiralty that Brazil at the pre-
sent moment possesses 32 iron-plated iron built gun-
boats, the smallest weight of armament on board
any one being four Whitworth rifled 150-pounder
guns, the greatest draught of water of any one 10ft.,
the average draught of the whole 8 feet, and
the minimum speed of the whole ten knots !
The majority of this formidable mosquito fleet
are constructed, on the ,6 box and water-line
belt plan"—as it is termed, perhaps somewhat
incorrectly—of our Chief Constructor, and the most
perfect specimens for carrying capacity, ventilation,
g power, and general fighting
speed, manceuvrin
qualifications are two twin-screw vessels built and
engined by Messrs. Dudgeon, of Millwall.
The Tamar, iron screw troopship, is lying along-
side the jetty ready for any further service, and the
Urgent, iron screw troopship, just returned to Eng-
land from a long run in the tropics, is lying in No.
7 dock for examination and repair. Some really
magnificent specimens of barnacles from off the
bottom of this ship await their lordships' inspection.
After the ships in the harbour and dockyard natu-
rally come the various workshops, the steam fac-
tory, with its splendid machinery, the foundries,
the smithery, the unrivalled engineering pattern
shop, &c., nothing of which, however, their Lord-
ships are supposed to understand, and which pro-
bably may receive little or no notice on the present
occasion.

" Extensions of her Majesty's dockyards" is such
a high-sounding phrase that it always attracts at-
tention, and, therefore, we may be sure that much
valuable time will be spent, and possibly wasted, in
a very laudable endeavour to master by personal in-
spection the details of the scheme adopted for the
extension of Portsmouth yard. The extent of work
in the adopted plan is understood only to embrace
part of what was originally proposed, and it cer-
tainly appears to possess the usual fault of all Go-
vernment works of the kind—it is only calculated
to meet emergencies likely to arise in the present,
and most certainly not in the future. Its principal
features consist of two entrance locks, five docks, one
repairing basin, one rigging basin, and one fitting-out
basin. The two locks are designed for 438 ft. each
long between the inverts, 100 ft. wide at the coping,
88ft. wide at the broad altar, 40ft. Gin. wide on
the floor, and 47ft. Bin. deep. The outer deep dock
in line‘with the two locks will be 410 ft. long from
invert to the edge of the broad altar, 100 ft. wide at
the coping, and 47ft. Bin. deep. The invert en-
trances will be, at tidal basin, outer, 82ft. wide, and
46ft. Bin. deep. At repairing basin, inner, 80ft.
wide, and 38ft. Gin. deep. The docks will be 4141 t.
long between the inverts and the toe of steps at
head, 100 ft. wide at the coping, 901 t. at the broad
or working altar, 42ft. Gin. at the floor, and 42ft.
6in. in depth. The repairing basin will cover an
area of 22 acres, and will be 1,350 ft. long, 720 ft.
wide, and 40ft. in depth, from coping. The rigging
and fitting-out basins will be each of 14 acres. All
copings are to be 6ft. above high-water of ordinary
spring tides.
Of all this great work—no part of which, by the
way, will receive the Great Eastern—the Lords of
the Admiralty will only see a great waste of uneven
land on the north-east shore of the harbour and ad-
joining the dockyard, on which stand a number of
brickmaking machines and kilns (the excavations
giving capital clay for the purpose), a lofty wall
and massive gateway on the right, and on the left
the foreshore and waters or mud, according to tide-
time of the harbour, dotted with red, blue, and
yellow flags, with a thick wood of piling running
off from the shore into the water and in among the
flags. The waste ground is the site of four of the
intended new docks, for the construction of which
the machines and kilns are now busily employed in
making the bricks from the clay of the excavations.
The wall and gateway on the right is the prepared
I enclosure on the land side of the new dockyard, the
whole being executed apparently with solidity and
good taste. The wood piling which runs out into
the mud and water of the harbour from the fore-`

shore on the left is where a specimen wall has been
erected to enable a correct judgment to be formed
of its suitability. It is a composite wall, 40ft. in
height from the floor of the basins, with a baiter of
1 and 8, and in this form very much resembles the
form at the Admiralty Pier at Dover. It has a
granite coping stone succeeded by a Portland stone
facing down to high water neap tides. Below this
the facing is of brickwork, with brick through ties
of lft. 9in. thickness, having in the intervals as the
" heart" of the work beds of concrete sft. bin. and
bin. in thickness. The through ties of brick have
necessarily hoop iron bondings. The work is of
far too extensive a nature in all its parts of basins,
locks, docks, &c., to enter further upon here, and
we therefore reserve any more detailed notice of it
until a future occasion. The entire estimated cost
of the work is £1,500,000 of which £195,000, is re-
quired for this year. Lithographed plans and a
schedule of prices have been prepared by the Admi-
ralty for the guidance of contractors tendering for
the works, at a very great cost, the whole being
almost bewildering by the multiplicity of details.
The works are not to be executed for any specific
sum apparently; but according to a schedule of
prices.

There now remains but to notice the Royal
Clarendon Victualling Yard, the Royal Naval Hos-
pital at Haslar, the Royal Marine Light Infantry at
Forton, the Royal Marine Artillery at Fort Cum-
berland, with their new barracks at Eastney, all of
which their Lordships will visit and inspect,"
according to the usual official phraseology. Last,
but not least important, of the Board's duties at
Portsmouth will be their patronage and presence at
the ball to be given, as usual, at the King's Rooms,
Southsea, in aid of the funds of the Seamen's and
Marines' Orphan Schools and the Female Orphan
Home ; the official dinner to the chiefs of the ser-
vice at Portsmouth given by their Lordships on
board the Enchantress ; the dinner given by the
Port Admiral at the Admiralty-house in the dock-
yard, and the levee of the First Lord at the Royal
Naval College.

Railway and other Companies.

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER.

The following circular has been issued to the share
and debenture holders of this company, signed by
Lord Sondes, the chairman, and Lord Harris, deputy
chairman :—" We deeply regret to be under the ne-
cessity of explaining to you that in consequence of
the state of the money-market, and their yet unde-
veloped revenue, the company were unable to obtain
new loans to replace the debentures (about £400,000)
falling due last month, or even to pay the half-year's
interest which then became payable on the whole of
the company's debentures. Under such circumstances
we thought it right to communicate with some of the
principal creditors of the company, and also to ap-
ply to Parliament for powers which would enable
the various classes of shareholders, in conjunction
with the debenture holders, to raise money and deal
with the difficulties of the company in such a man-
ner as they might deem best. Some of the creditors
meanwhile applied to the Court of Chancery to ap-
point a receiver and manager of the undertaking,
upon the plea that it was necessary in order to secure
the due application of the funds of the company, and
the Court complied with their request, constituting
the general manager, Mr. Forbes, and the secretary,
Mr. Johnson, the officers of the Court, and em-
powering them to receive the income of the com-
pany, and, after payment of working expenses, to

hold the residue at the order of the Court. Other
creditors pressed upon the Board the propriety of
assigning to them all the rolling stock, plant, and
moveable chattels of the company for the general
benefit of the debenture holders and other creditors
of the company, paripassu, in order to prevent their
appropriation by any special creditors, and was ac-
cordingly done. The Board were unsuccessful in their
efforts to procure special Parliamentary powers to
the debenture and share holders in consequence of
the lateness of the session, and the intervootion of
Parliament cannot now be obtained till next year.
Meanwhile the company have to appeal to the for-
bearance not only of the debenture holders, but of
the claimants on the company, including about
£700,000 due in respect of land, which comprises a
very large quantity of surplus land of great value.
The general half-yearly meeting of the company
will be held at the Westminster Palace Hotel on
Friday, the 31st inst., at 1 o'clock iu the afternoon,
when the directors would request the attendance not
only of the shareholders, but of the debenture
holders, desiring to lay before them the fullest in-
formation in their power ; and at that meeting the
directors will suggest that the shareholders and de-
benture holders should appoint a committee of in-
quiry, who will be able fully to investigate the
affairs of the company, and to give their opinion
upon the course to be hereafter pursued. It is the
unanimous desire of the Board to invite the fullest
investigation, and when such committee is prepared
to make their report the directors will place their
appointments in the hands of the shareholders, so as
to enable them to reconstruct the Board in such a
manner as they may think proper, being ready,
nevertheless, to give any assistance the shareholders
may desire under the difficulties in which the com-
pany is placed. Although the Board think it right
thus to invite investigation, and to place every
power in the hands of the shareholders and deben-
ture holders, they wish to add the expression of
their confidence that by the united action of all par-
ties, and the exercise of reasonable forbearance, the
difficulties of the company's affairs may be met and
overcome, and that the progress of the company in
the solidity and expansion of its traffic will not be
interfered with, but, by a due arrangement of all

interests, the embarrassments may be removed, and
the company placed upon a satisfactory and per-
manent basis."

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST.
The South London line of this company was
opened for public traffic yesterday. Through trains
ran to and from the company's station at London-
bridge to Loughborough-park, calling at the fol-
lowing intermediate stations—viz., Rotherhithe,
Old Kent-road, Peckham, Peckham Rye, and Den-
mark-hill. The length of the line is 5 miles 40
chains. The Peckham and Denmark-hill stations
are on the Crystal Palace line of the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover hallway, but the Brighton Com-
pany's trains run through, the South London line
being on one side, and the London, Chatham, and
Dover line on the other side of those stations. The
time occupied in travelling the whole distance was
20 minutes, while the fares are the same as those
charged by the omnibuses. There are 51 trains for
first, second, and third-class passengers from Lon-
don-bridge to Loughborough-park, and the same
number of trains from Loughborough-park to Lon-
don-bridge daily, while on Sundays there are to be
38 trains from London-bridge to Loughborough-
park, and the same number from Loughborough-
park to London-bridge. Arrangements are being
made for the ultimate working of the South London
Railway trains to and from the Victoria station.