The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-14 00:00:00

2IIE NAVI'.

Prince Alfred arrived at Corfu on the sth inst.
in the Euryalus, and has joined Admiral Mundy's
squadron at anchor in the bay.
The screw line-of-battle ship Donegal, 101, got
up steam at Portland on Tuesday morning, and loft
the harbour, steering to the eastward. The Royal
Albert, 131, is expected to leave Portland in a few
days for one of the dockyards, to effect repairs. The
other vessels in port arc—Algiers, 91 ; Aboukir, 91;
Trafalgar, 91 ; Mars, 80 ; Blenheim, 60 ; Mersey,
40 ; Diadem, 32 ; Fawn, 17 ; Partridge, 6 ; and the
Biter gunboat.
The launch took place at Portsmouth yesterday
of the Duncan, 101 guns ou two decks. This vessel
was laid down on the 27th of April, 1857, and has
been built from designs furnished from the office of
the Surveyor of the Navy, Admiral Sir B. W.
Walker, K.C.8., under the superintendence of Mr.
,Abethell, the master builder of Portsmouth yard,
and, like the Victoria three-decker launched from
the shed adjoining on the 12th ult., has been built
from her original designs as a steam line-of-battle
ship. The gates of the dockyard were thrown open
to the general public at noon, but all those in pos-
session of tickets for the gallery erected under the
bows of the ship, were admitted at 11 a.m., and all
the preferential places were soon filled up; suffi-
cient space, however, remained on the platforms
on either side of the vessel for some thou-
sands more than were really present. On the
platform from which the Ceremony of christening
the ship was performed were the Surveyor of the
Navy, Sir B. W. Walker, K.C.8., Admiral W.
Bowles, C. 8., Admiral- Sir T. Cochrane, Capt. the
Hon. J. Denman, Messrs. R. Harris, C. F. Hillyar,
G. Hancock, &c., with the officers of the Prussian
men-of-war in the harbour. Mrs. Farquhar, the
wife of the gallant flag captain of the Commander-
in-Chief, performed the ceremony of naming the
Duncan, and the shipwrights immediately com-
menced splitting away the blocks, the last of which
was no sooner released than the noble ship, without
any recourse being had to screw or hydraulic,
which had been placed in position for service, if
required, started on her way, and, amid the plaudits
of tho assembled crowd, glided nobly and grandly
without check of any kind into the water. Her port
bower, as soon as she was clear of the shed, stopped
her further progress astern, and the launch was
complete. Nothing could have been parried vat iu
a mere successful manner. The band of H.M.S.
Victory was in attendance and played a variety of
airs during the proceedings. The Royal screw
yacht Fairy arrived from Osborne, but, as no flag
was hoisted, it was not known whether her Majesty-
or any of the Royal family were on board.
The following are the principal dimensions,
horse-power, and armament of the ship :—Extreme
length, 288 ft, 4in. ; length between perpendicu-
lars, 252 ft. lin. ; extreme breadth, 58ft. lin.; depth
in hold, 25ft. Olin. ; burden, 3,727 tons ; height of
figure-head from keel, 52ft. Sin. ; height from taff-
rail, 56ft. 4in. The figure-head of the ship is a bust
figure of the celebrated Admiral Duncan, in the
uniform of his period, with the Camperdown medal
suspended on the breast. Messrs. Hellyer and
Sons, of Cosham and Southampton, are the artists.
The machinery of the ship consists of a pair of
horizontal trunk engines by Penn and Sons, of
400 horse-power each, nominal. The ship's arma-
ment will comprise, on the upper deck, one pivot
gun of 95 cwt., 10 feet long, and 24 32-pounders,
of 42 cwt. each, eight feet long ; main deck,
38 32. pounders, of 56 cwt. each, 9 feet 6 inches
long ; lower deck, 38 eight-inch guns, of 65
cwt. each, 9 feet long. The Duncan will receive
her machinery in the steam basin at Portsmouth,
and be completed as fast as possible for sea ser-
vice. A 51-gun frigate, to be named the Dryad,
will be laid (limn underneath the shed which has
been vacated by the Duncan. At the conclusion of
the launch the workmen in the yard were granted
the customary half-holiday.
The Himalaya screw troopship, Commander J.
Seccombe, at Portsmouth, was detained at that port
yesterday just as she was on the point of starting
for Halifax by Admiralty orders. It is reported
that Commander Seccombe has received his post
rank.

The Vigilant, 4, screw steam sloop, Commander
W. Armytage, arrived at Spithead yesterday
morning from Malta and Gibraltar. Her dates
arel—From Malta, Nov. 27, and Gibraltar, Dec. 6.
She brings home the second master of the Supply
screw storeship, under arrest, and five supernume-
raries, and goes into Portsmouth harbour this
morning;

A somewhat ancient piece of ordnance has just
been accidentally discovered in the river Medway,
near Chatham Dockyard, a short distance from
Upnor Castle. The cannon was found embedded in
the mud at Gillingham-reach, by a dredger named
Robinson, when it was with somo difficulty raised
to the surface and removed to the Gun-wharf, for
the purpose of being examined, in order to dis-
cover any marks upon it indicating its age. The
gun is of iron, and its weight 21ewt. 2qrs. Gib.
When discovered It had three shots in it, believed
to be 12-pounders. The discovery of such a large
cannon in the situation where it was found has
given rise to much speculation, an opinion being ex-
pressed, which is somewhat favoured by its appear-
ance and shape, that the gun formerly belonged to
one of the men-of-war burnt in the Medway at
Chatham in the reign of Charles 11., when the
Dutch fleet, under De Ituyter, sailed up the river
as far as Upnor Castle, opposite the dockyard, and
burnt the Royal Oak, the Loyal London, the Charles
V., the Great James, and several other English
vessels of war then lying in the Medway. The
gun has been carefully cleaned and scraped in
order to ascertain the date on it, but the only marks
which have yet been discovered are the Admiralty
broad arrow and some figures showing its original
weight.
The following naval cadets passed their exami-
nations at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth,
yesterday :—Over 14 years of age—Ht nnah, *Moy-
sey, Dugdale, Milman, Cole, Grenfell, *Dicken,
Hyman, Ducat, Carey, *Eyres, Browne, Ballantine,
Booth, *Mandeville, King, Riddle, Gissing, Linde-
man, Watson, *Clark, *Gatacher, Codrington, Ban-
croft, *Steavenson, Bolton, Patton, and *Lang.
Under 14 years of age—Luckraft, Walker, Hough,
*English, Wilmot, Shafto, Gilbert, Beresford,
*Tyler, *Greenway, Campbell, Aylen, Forbes,
*Rankine', *Wood, *Burt, *Brereton, Harrison,
Hallett, Ward, * Wallace, and Francis. Those with
* affixed to their names have passed from North
Grove-house, Southsea. Forty-one candidates en-
tered for examination over 14 years of age, and 29
under.

Commander D. M. L. Mackenzie, Commander J.
Seccombe, and Commander his Serene Highness
Prince Victor Hohenlohc Langenberg, were yester-
day promoted to be Captains.
Lieut. M. Lowther, Lieut. G. 11. Parkin, and
Lieut. P. Brock were yesterday promoted to be
Commanders.

The following appointments were made yestcr
day at the Admiralty :—Capt. J. Seccombe to the
Himalaya ; Commander W. Jones, to the Scourge;
vice Prince Victor Hohenlohe Langenberp,,

Commander C. L. Waddilove to the Edgar; Coin-
mander S. T. Douglas to be Inspecting Commander
of the Coastguard, vice Jones, appointed to thelEd-
gar ; D. Maclagan, acting assistant-surgeon, to the
Icarus; Wm. Noble, assistant-paymaster, to the
Wellealy; and J. S. Scriven, clerk, to the Victory.