The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-27 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief will
hold a levee at one o'clock on Saturday, the 3d of
February.
Mr. Martin's peculiarly shaped patent sell-cant-
ing anchors, which were proved under thehydraulic
machinery at Woolwich at 50 per cent. over the
Admiralty test, for service on board her Majesty's
ironclad ships Vixen and Viper, were yesterday
submitted to a most severe fire-proof. The arms
were removed from the shanks, placed in separate
fires, and heated to a low red heat. Each section
was then sprinkled with water, and examined with
the most scrupulous care in order to discover any
signs of weakness, flaw, or defect iu the metal,
which consists of scrap iron of a select quality. The
parts of the shanks and arms which had undergone
the greatest amount of strain were scraped and filed
over and minutely examined by Mr. Saxby, master
smith, and his assistants, but no flaw nor imper-
fection could be detected. The anchors were there-
upon pronounced fit for service. Mr. Martin, the
inventor, and various officers of the yard were in
attendance.

Commander Towsey, of the flagship Fisgard, at
Woolwich, in pursuance of an Admiralty order,
went down to ;Greenhithe, in the steam tender
Bustler, and inspected the movements of the Peru-
vian steam armour-clad ram Indipendencia, built
and recently launched at the Thames Iron and Steel
Works at Blackwall. Capt. Towsey found the ship
swinging at the moorings off Greenhithe-pier, and
the officers and men actively engaged in shipping
war materials and stores of every description, and
a large number of seamen of various nations crowd-
ing the pier in readiness to join her. The Bustler
then proceeded to Gravesend, where Capt. Towsey
communicated with the Custom-house officials, in-
formingthem he had no authority to stop the depar-
ture of the ship, and returned to Woolwich, re-
porting the result of his visit to Commodore
Dunlop, for the information of the Board of
Admiralty. The Indipendencia is stated to be
a most formidable looking-vessel, equipped with
a raking battery of guns, and a prow
similar to that of her Majesty's ship Pallas, on Mr.
Reed's principle. Her engines are of 600-horse
power, supplied by Messrs. Penn and Sons.
The steam dredging machine belonging to Chat-
ham dockyard, which was lent for some time by the
Admiralty to the corporation of the city of Roches-
ter for the purpose of removing some shoals in the
Medway, near Rochester-bridge, has been brought
down the river, and is now at work opposite the
dockyard, where it has been employed for several
days past in removing a sand bank and deepening
the river to enable the ironclad frigate Bellerophon
to take up moorings alongside the dockyard on that
vessel being undocked on the 31st inst. A numerous
party of painters are employed on the frigate. All
her masts and steel yards are in place, and the rig-
gers are employed in completing setting up her rig-
ging. According to orders received at Chatham she
will proceed, as soon as possible after being undocked,
to Portsmouth, where she will be completed for sea.
The iron cased corvette Pallas, 6, 600 horse power,
Capt. M. Connolly, having unshipped her four
bladed screw, has been removed out of dock at Sheer-
ness into the steam basin, where she is completing
her alterations and additions. She is to be furnished
with a double-bladed Griffith propeller, with which
some additional trials of her speed will be made, but
some weeks will probably elapse before she is ready
for this duty.
The screw corvette Charybdis, 21, 400 horse
power, attached to the Chatham Steam Reserve in
the Medway, has been removed into the steam basin,
where she has undergone a survey at the hands of
the officials preparatory to being taken in hand for
some extensive repairs to both hull and machinery.
The Mullet, 5, 80 horse power, screw gun vessel,
attached to the Chatham Steam Reserve, has nearly
completed her repairs preparatory to being brought
forward for commission. She has been newly cop-
pered, and her boilers unshipped and repaired.
The Fox, screw storeship, Staff-Commander Mo-
riarty, arrived at Portsmouth yesterduy morning
from Plymouth, with new boilers and machinery for
the troop ship Himalaya.
The following appointments"and promotions were
made yesterday at the Admiralty :—Tom. B. Read,
master, to the Doris ; Andrew MacFarlane, chief
engineer, to the Topaze, commissioned ; Luke C.
Masterson, paymaster, to the Doris ; Edward A. M.
Chaffers, assist. paymaster, to the Doris ; William
P. Taylor, assist. paymaster, to the Victory ; Wm.
li.. Weatherley, assist. paymaster, to the Victoria ;
%\rm. Herd, engineer, to the Topaze, commissioned ;
Thos. Scott, first-class assist. engineer, to the
Topaze, commissioned ; John Critchley, in the Cum-
berland, promoted to first-class assist. engineer ;
Robert Henry Lavers. second-class assist. engineer,
to the Topaze, commissioned ; Henry Scoinf en Ball,
acting second-class assist. engineer, to the Topaze,
commissioned ; William N. Thomas, clerk, to the
Doris ; and Wm. Elliot, assist. clerk, to the Doris.