The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-23 00:00:00

711 E NAT /l' .

On Wednesday, as second in command in China,
Rear .Admiral T. Jones hoisted his flag, blue at the
mizen, on board the screw steam frigate Imperieuse,
51, Capt. Maguire, now in Keyham-yard, Plymouth.
The flag was duly saluted by the Impregnable, and
the salute acknowledged by the gunnery ship Cam-

bridge, Capt. Jerningham.
Vice-Admiral Sir Barrington Reynolds, K.C.8.,
Commander-in-Chief at Plymouth, having been
granted leave of absence, struck his flag on board
the Impregnable, in Hamoaze, on Wednesday night.
His duties will in the meantime devolve on Sir C.
Fremantle, Admiral of the Channel Fleet, now in
Plymouth Sound.
Commander E. D. Aplin is appointed to the pad-
dle-wheel steam-sloop Centaur, 6, at Plymouth.
The gunboats Cockchafer and Weazel at Plymouth
are to be commissioned immediately, with crews of

40 men each.
The revenue screw steam vessel Argus, Conimo
dore John S. W. Grindy, which put into Plymoutl
on Sunday, sailed again on Wednesday.
The large screw frigate Ariadne, 32, with engines
of 800-horse power (nominal), is being rapidly made
ready for sea in the fitting dock at Chatham.
The line-of-battle screw steamer Irresistible, 80,
which is to be launched at Chatham dockyard on
the 29th October, has a large body of shipwrights
employed about her in making the necessary pre-
parations for the launch.
The line-of-battle sailing ship Rodney, 90, and the
sailing frigate Severn, 50, in dock at Chatham,
being converted into screw steamers, are progress-
ing very fast, several hundred shipwrights being
employed on board, in order that both those vessels
may be completed with the utmost despatch.
The British Navy is just about to lose one of the
old frigatemwhich played a conspicuous part dur-
ing the American war—the St. Lawrence, for-
merly celled the Shannon, which, under the com-
mand of Capt. P. Broke, attacked and made the
capture of the famous Chesapeake, on the Ist of
June, 1813, having arrived in Chatham yesterday,
in tow of the African and Adder, for the purpose of
being broken up. The St. Lawrence had been sta-
tioned at Sheerness for some time, where she has
been employed in harbour service, but the Admi-
ralty have now ordered her to be taken to pieces.
She will be taken into the dock at Chatham, now
occupied by the Tartar, 46, also being broken up,
when a large body of hired shipwrights will com-
mence her destruction.
Yesterday orders were received at Chatham by
Col. E. Rea, commandant of the battalion of Royal
Marines, directing detachments of non-commissioned
officers and men to be selected from that division,
and:held in readiness to embark in the Reynard, 4,
and Snake, 4, two of the screw steam vessels
which have just been commissioned for operations
in China. It is expected that several of the
steam gunboats which are now lying on the
covered slip at Chatham Dockyard, will shortly
be commissioned for service in China, it being the
intention of the Government to despatch a fleet of
50 gunboats to the Chinese waters, besides a squa-
dron of frigates and other vessels. In consequence
of the great care which has been taken of the gun •
boats at Chatham, they are now in as good condi-
tion as when they were hauled up on the slipway
at the conclusion of the Russian war, and can all
be brought for ward for service in a very short time.
Especial care has been taken to insure the machi-
nery against being spoiled or injured.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—D. J. May, Master, to the Ring-
dove ; J. H. Lawrence, Master to the Centaur ;
J. D. Switzer, Master to the Reynard ; D. J. May,
Second Master, promoted to Master •, W. L. Dodds,
Second Master to the Hardy ; E. Colburne, Second
Master to the Havock ; T. Steel, Second Master to
the Cockchafer ; C. W. Harris, Paymaster to the
Sphinx; F. C. Flenley, Paymaster to the Centaur;
J. B. Rawlings, Assistant Paymaster in charge to
the Beagle ; C. A. Shapcote, Assistant Paymaster
in charge to the Snake; J. K. Cowley, Assistant
Paymaster in charge to the Ringdove ; W. Flood,
Clerk to the Pembroke ; and R. Olivey, Assistant
Clerk to the St. Vincent. In the list of appoint-
ments made at the Admiralty on Wednesday, for
" Lieut. A. G. Boyle," read A. G. Bogle to com-
mand the Hardy, commissioned.

; vervment, and was supplied with its en-
ii
accessories—namely, the tender, capable of
;13 taming a supply of water and coals for a day's
w rk, waggons, &c., together with a gun carriage.
I' e new engine is on the principle of Boydell's
p tent, as employed in Woolwich Arsenal, and is
fi ted with various alterations and additions, in-
✓ nted And patented by the manufacturer, such as
a improved method of attaching the endless rail-
w yto the wheels of the instrument by which the
✓ il is lifted passing through the wheel instead of
a
ii
the side, so that the endless railway is balanced
NI bile being carried round on the wheel, by which
i sans the friction and wear and tear are said to bV
c nsiderably diminished. The patent wheels are
aso of a new construction, being composed of
vrought iron welded together, and are pronounced
fir superior to the wooden ones first introduced,
and which in eastern climates are liable to be
speedily destroyed by red ants and other vermin.
The rails and wearing parts are of steel, and the
unwieldy appearance which the endless railway
formerly gave to the engine, and which was the
terror of horses and other animals on the road, is,
under the present invention, ingeniously concealed
by compact and light-looking covers. A second
engine of a similar description is ordered to be con-
structed for India, at the request of the War Depart •
merit.

MANNING THE NAVY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Having read the various letters elicited b)
that from me which you were pleased to publish on
the 16th inst., I would make a few observations, to
which I trust you will give a place in your columns.
In the composition of the supposititious crew of
1,000 men I by no means intended to fix an exact
proportion, but merely to exemplify a principle,
the details of which must depend upon numerous
conditions, varying with the class of ships and their
armaments, and occasionally with the special ser-
vices upon which they are employed.
The fact that " many merchant ships are lost for
want of a proper number of hands," adduced by
" A Naval Officer," is but too true, but supplies no
argument in the case. The fact is notorious, but
does not apply to first-class merchant ships, which,
although manned by far fewer seamen in proportion
to their tonnage than those assumed in my supposi-
titious crew, are navigated long voyages as safely as
even men-of-war with their full complement of
men, according to the present establishment.
It cannot for a moment be contested that the
trained seamen gunners, from whom the " captains
of guns" referred to by Captain Masse are selected,
are as good as " marine" gunners, and from their
being likewise seamen are preferable as gunners on
board ship,being able to do duty in theirdouble capa-
city; for the same reason seamen would be preferable
in the engineer department on board steamships, if
they could be procured, instead of men selected
solely for their mechanical skill ; but at the same
time it cannot be questioned that " marine artillery-
men" arc superior as gunners to ordinary seamen,
and without invidiousness it may be stated, from
the mere fact of their being specially trained to the
guns, that they are as a body the best gunners on
board ships of war.
Totally disagreeing from " A Naval Officer" as to
the possibility of a ballot entailing forced service,
which, in a free country like England, would, it is
to be feared, lead to open resistance and all the evils
of the press-gang, it appears to me that the ques-
tion of manning the navy—the gravity of which
cannot be exaggerated—must be solved by other
means.
The extension of the mercantile marine of this
country is so great, in consequence of the rapid
growth of its trade, that the supply of able seamen
in ordinary times scarcely keeps pace with the de-
mand, and is certainly not equal to it in cases of ex-
traordinary emergency. Sir C. Napier's evidence as
to the manning of the Baltic fleet is conclusive on
this point. If, therefore, superior inducements in
increased pay, &c., be held out to sailors to enter
the navy, the mercantile marine will be compelled
to keep pace and compete with the navy by corre-
sponding inducements. In such a competition it is
probable that the natural disposition of the sailor,
-which leads him to seek frequent change, and to
object to the strict discipline inseparable from ser-
vice on board a ship of war, will make him prefer
the merchant service, and the question would again
be reduced to its present condition, and a na-; y
with continuous service seamen would be a deside-
ratum then as now.
Improvements in guns will necessitate the em-
ployment of highly skilled hands for working them,
and upon the same principle that the introduction
of steam required that the portion of a ship's com-
pany specially devoted to the service of the engines
should be recruited from another than the seafar-
ing class, so will it become necessary to recruit
naval gunners from a more numerous class of the
population who can be obtained and trained in
adequate numbers for the particular skilled service
which is required of them.
As regards boat expeditions and other occasional
services, the Marines are at present much used in
their performance, and no doubt if they were more
numerous might assist more largely in them, so
that ships need never be endangered by the tempo-
rary absence of too large a portion of their seamen
en distant expeditions.
Recent improvements in gunnery, such as Sir
W. Armstrong's gun, require that immediate steps
should be-taken to obtain a full supply of compe-
tent gunners, otherwise they remain comparatively
valueless.
The sooner the necessity of the case is met the
better, or it may happen, as with the improved
rifles in the late war in the Crimea, that the advan-
tage of the improvements will be only very partially
reaped, by reason of the ignorance of those who have
to use them. Unhappy must that side always be in
a fight, whatever the arms, which is not skilled in
the use of those arms. It is too great a risk, in face
of the rapid progress of invention, to leave dv_fi-
ciencies ill skill to be supplied by mere animal

courage.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Sept. 21. J. L. A. SIMMONS.

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE TIMES.

Sir,—With reference to Mr. Cave's letter on your
second leading article of the 10th inst., I beg to bear
te3timony to its truth, and solicit your insertion of
the following :
During the past yeor 14 lads from this ship have
joined the army, and six have entered the navy.
All are doing well.
There are at. present on board many fine " strap-
ping" boys of 16 and upwards, some of whom hare
been at sea. Many have been convicted of only
trivial offences, such as desertion from whips, va-
grancy, sleeping in outhouses, &c., but all ha.. e
undergone a careful course of moral training and
discipline for an average of two years, by which
their antecedents, however bad, are thoroughly
eradicated.
They have also been instructed in the various
duties of a sailor, and are considered by most of the
shipowners of this port to bc. worth the wages of an
ordinary seaman. (Two have to-day joined the
ship Alexander as ordinary seamen.)
But, alas ! in addition to their other faults, they
have broken the " eleventh" commandment, and,
unlike their more fortunate though not more honest
brethren, have been contaminated by the Reform-
atory, and are considered unfit to be openly re-
ceived into her Majesty's naval service.—l am, sir,
your obedient servant,
WILLIAM FENWICK, Commander R.N.
School Frigate Aull
kbaCra,ll3t
ri o
kn
enc the d
,Askebpat r.
21.

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of the barque Commonwealth, of New York, to load a cargo
of coals for Genoa. While in that rive' the Tyneside mon
presented him with a sword, field-glass, &c., and the gene-
ral has comveyed information to his north-countryfriends
that he has used both glass and eword to some service dur.-
r-
ing the recent campaign in Italy. The Commonwealth
in the Tyne again, but she has changed her name and
owner also. She is now called the Leguria of Genoa, and
is sadly changed. - She was a smart, clean, and handsome
looking craft when in charge of Garibaldi, who, in appear-
ance, as he walked the streets of Shields, was every inch a
sailor. She Juts now a sad, slovenly, neglected-like appear-
ance, and is altogether different to the Commonwealth of
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