The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

, The choir and transepts were densely crowded
during the service, and an unusually large number
of persons remained daring the administration of the
Holy Communion.

Naval and Military Intelligence.
Her Majesty's screw steamship Gibral tar, 81, Capt.
Robert Coote, which arrived at Plymouth on Monday
morning, left Malta on the 6th Dec., and Gibraltar
on the 15th, on which day the armour-plated screw
steamship Ocean, 24, Capt. Chandos S. S. Stanhope,
from Plymouth, arrived in the bay. By the Gib-
raltar, 29 military invalids come from Malta, and
Lieut. Whalley, Royal Artillery, and 31 military
invalids from Gibraltar. Fair weather prevailed on
the passage. She spoke on Sunday, the 23d inst.,
at 11 a.m., lat. 48 42 N., long. 7 10 W., the Eng-
lish ship Omar Pasha ; at 1 pan., lat. 48 43 N., long.
7 15 W., the Dutch ship Hebe ; at 140, the English
bark Floating Cloud and the ship Antrim, and at
2 30 p.m. the Bremen bark Alida and the English
ship Canute. The Gibraltar was commissioned on
the Bth September, 1863., at Plymouth ; after dis-
charging her ammunition she will be taken into Ha-
tnoaze, where her crew will be paid off. It is pro-
bable that she will relieve the Canopus, 8, as re-
ceiving-ship at Devonport.
Her Majesty's ironclad ship Northumberland, 26,
6,621 tons, 1,350-horse power (nominal), went
down the river yesterday, in charge of Commander
J. Hodges, assistant master-attendant of Sheerness
dockyard, and accompanied by the Adder, the
Monkey, the Bustler, and the Locust steamers. She
was navigated by a party of 200 seamen and riggers
from the steam reserve at Chatham and Sheerness.
Her machinery was in charge of Mr. Collins, chief
engineer of the vessel, Mr. Anderson representing
Messrs. Penn and Son, the makers of the engines.
The Northumberland is to be prepared for sea at
Sheerness, but will probably shortly be removed to
Devonport.

In consequence of the very great wear and tear
caused to the granite tramways and roadways in
Chatham dockyard by the heavy armour plates and
other descriptions of iron for the vessels building
constantlyepassing over them, and the great expense
and delay in the work of the yard arising from their
frequent repairs, it has been found advisable to take
up the paying alongside the factory adjoining the
dock in whiCh the Hercules is building, and relay
the roadway with pigs of iron ballast, as being both
cheaper and more durable than any other material.
Notwithstanding the adverse remarks made by Mr.
C. Seely, M.P., as to the employment of iron ballast
for tramways, the experience of the last few years
has proved that it is incomparably cheaper than any
other material for roadways in a yard like Chat-
ham,.where the traffic is so large. With regard to
the statements that have been made as to the value
of the iron ballast, it is worthy of remark that the
Admiralty some short time since invited tenders for
the purchase of a quantity of that at Chatham dock-
yard, when the prices offered ranged from £1 18s.
6d. per ton, the lowest, to £2 45., the highest. As
to the relative cheapness and durability of pig iron
for. tramways, experience has shown that the iron
paving is superior to granite. In the case of one
portion of Chatham dockyard, adjoining the lead
mills, over which heavy loads are passing at all
hours, the iron tramways laid down eight years since
have not required a farthing outlay upon them since,
while the granite tramways in other parts of the
yard are a constant source of expense. From the
causes stated there is little doubt that iron will
shortly supersede the whole of the granite roadways
in Chatham dockyard.

Owing to the corps of Royal Artillery being now
considerably below its proper complement, an order
was yesterday received at head-quarters, Chatham,
directing recruiting to be opened in all the districts
for that branch of the service, the recruits obtained
being at once forwarded to the nearest depot
brigade.

In accordance with an order received at Chatham
No. 6 battery of theist division depot brigade Royal
Artillery will proceed from head-quarters to Wool-
wich on the Ist of January, from and after which
date the invalid depot of the corps will be removed
to that station. -Under this arrangement the inva-
lids and time-expired men of the 'Royal Artillery
will be forwarded, on their arrival from abroad,

direct to Woolwich, instead of Chatham, as has
hitherto been the practice, and thus prevent the ne-
cessity for keeping two separate establishments.
_ _

Major the lion. C. W. St. Clair, 57th Regiment,
has been appointed President of the garrison sani-

tory committee at Colchester, in the room of Major
Jones, Bth depot battalion.

Melancholy Occurrence at Sea.

About three months ago a .barque named the
Ruby, 551 tons register, commanded by Captain
Merrill, arrived in Cork harbour leaky, and with
other damoge. She had a cargo of iron from St.
Petersburg, for Boston. On her arrival the cargo
was discharged into the stores of Messrs. Brown
and Craig's docks, Passage West, with the object of
having the vessel repaired. An estimate of the cost
of the repairs, the ship's carpenter having refused to
work under 7s. 6d. a day, was furnished to the
owners, and they finding that the repairs could be
done cheaper in Liverpool, had the vessel towed into
one of the docks there. The Ruby was repaired,
and towed back to this harbour on Nov. 1. The
cargo was re-shipped, and the vessel left the harbour
on Nov. 16 forher destination. From the time of her
departure the most unfavourable weather was expe-
rienced, particularly about the Ist of the present
month.. On the 6th, 7th, and Bth, a terrific
gale blew from the southward, accompanied
by exceedingly turbulent seas, the decks of
the ship being repeatedly swept, which ren-
dered it very dangerous to remain there-.
On the Bth inst., at noon, the ship was 1,500 miles
to the westward of this coast, and the captain, his
first and second mate, were standing near the wheel
on the starboard side of the deck house, when a
tremendous sea struck the ship, sweeping away the
deckhouse, together with the captain, his first mate,
whose name was Thompson, and the man at the
wheel. The second mate had a most providential
escape, he being dashed against the bulwarks, just
at a part where the deck-house did not project.
Both his legs were broken, and he was badly in-
jured about the body. The weather was very thick
at the time, and nothing was seen of those washed
overboard after it occurred. The crew state that
from the violence with which the unfortunate men
were dashed against the bulwarks they must have
been instantly killed, and that at the time of the
occurrence no boat could live in the sea. The deck-
house contained all the ship's papers, chronometer,
binnacle compasses, and signal flags; in fact every-
thing for navigating the ship was in it, and all was
carried away. The mate was so badly injured that
he was utterly unable to take charge of the ship, but
acting on occasional suggestions from him, the
boatswain succeeded in bringing back the ship as
far as Cape Clear. Here, on Wednesday, they
sighted a vessel, and, having no other means of
signalling her, they hoisted a table-cloth on the
mainmast. The vessel, which proved to be a Rus-
sian barque named the Petrie, from Falmouth, came
to, and the captain being informed of the circum-
stances, at the request of the man in charge, put
his chief mate, John Hermann, Youghal, on board
the Ruby, to take her to a port. ,The vessel ar-
rived in the harbour yesterday (Friday) in charge

Norman or Saxon if one had succeeded in defeating
the other. Bat the spirit of the nation and of the
Church had been too strong for either of those par-
ties, and he trusted that it would continue thus
strong, in order that all might claim the blessed pri-
vilege of social intercourse and Christian commu-
nion. " If," said the dean, "any have tried with
untiring energy to drive us out, the true Christian
retaliation will be with untiring forbearance to try to
keep them in, even although we might be inclined
most strongly to condemn their practices. Thus
would peace be secured without any compromise or
fusion of outward ceremonies, but upon the great-
ness of God's love and the greatness of man's duty."
The dean concluded a sermon which was listened to
with deep attention by earnestly deprecating divi-
sions between ritualists and anti-ritualists, ra-
tionalists and anti-rationalists, counselling rather
an appeal to Him who had been emphatically termed
" the Prince of Peace."