The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-14 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Her Majesty's screw troopship Urgent, Capt. S.
11. Henderson, was yesterday placed in No.ll dock
(the Minotaur dock) at Portsmouth, to have her
hull below the water line coated with anti-fouling
composition, &c. The docking of this ship afforded
an excellent opportunity for further testing the ca-
pabilities of the centrifugal pump which has been
erected at the head of the dock as its water supply
and discharge power, by MQssrs. Easton and Amos,
London. 'A notice of the trials to which this pump
has been subjected by the officials of Portsmouth
Book} and appeared in The Sun of Monday. The
successful results of those trials were fully confirmed
in pumping the water from No. 11 Dock, after the
admission of the Urgent yesterday morning, the dis-
charge of the water from the dock being in fact so
rapid that the pump was stopped on three occasions
to give the shipwrights and labourers sufficient time
to shore up the vessel securely in position on the
blocks. It is somewhat surprising that so simple
yet efficient a principle was not introduced into the
dock system of Portsmouth dockyard--a yard that
has always been notoriously deficient in dock ac-
commodation.

Rear-Admiral A. C. Key, C. 8., the Director-
General of Naval Ordnance, was engaged yesterday
at Portsmouth dockyard on matters connected with
the armament of the iron frigate Bellerophon.
Capt. A. W. A. Hood, late of the Pylades, has
entered upon his duties as Governor of the Royal
Naval College at Portsmouth and Captain of her
Majesty's gunnery ship Excellent.
We have to record the death of the senior officer
of the Royal Navy, Admiral of the Fleet Sir
William Parker, G.C.8., first and principal
naval aide-de-camp to the Queen, which
took place on Monday. The following statements
regarding the service of the deceased are taken from
O'Byrne's " Naval Biography :"-" He entered the
navy March 5, 1793, as captain's servant, on board
the Orion, 74, Capt. John T. Duckworth, in which
ship he served in the West Indies. On May 6 and
June 24, 1798, he was successively nominated Act-
ing-Lieut., on the Jamaica station, of the Magici-
enne frigate, and Queen, 98, flagship of Sir Hyde
Parker, by whom, from April 29, 1799, until the re-
ceipt of his first Admiralty commission, bearing
date Sept. 5 in the same year, he was intrusted with
the command of the Volage, 22, and of the Ama-
ranthe and Pelican sloops. Attaining the rank of
Commander Oct. 10, 1799, Capt. Parker, after in-
termediately commanding theAbergavenny, 54, was
appointed, Nov. 11 following, to the Stork, 18, in
which vessel, employed in the West Indies, North
Sea, and Channel, he made prize of La Legere,
French packet, of 14 guns and 50 men, laden with
a valuable cargo, and contributed, in company with
La Constance, 24, Capt. Z. Mudge, to the capture
of El Canfara, Spanish privateer of 22 guns and 110
men, and of her consort, a lugger mounting 10 guns.
On the occasion of his promotion to post rank, Oct.
9, 1801, Capt. Parker was appointed to L'Oiseau,
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andback
Previously to the latter event Capt. Parker had had
.
the fortune, July 16, 1803, to effect the capture of
Le Felix privateer of 16 guns and 96 men. He after-
wards, Sept. 12, 1805, took the Principe do la Paz
Spanish privateer, mounting 24 9-pounders and 4'
brass swivels, with a complement of 160 men ; and
on March 13, 1806, he signalised himself by
his meritorious and gallant behaviour through-
out a long running fight, which terminated
in the surrender to the London, 98, and
to the Amazon, whose loss extended to four men,
killed and five wounded, of the Marengo, 80, bear-
ing the flag of Rear-Admiral Linois, and 40-gun
frigate Belle Poule. On March 23, 1811, he cap-
tured Le Cupidon, French privateer, of 14 guns and
82 men. Quitting the Amazon in Feb. 1812, he was
next, Oct. 11, 1827, appointed to the Warspite, 76,
from which ship, stationed in the Mediterranean, he
was transferred, Dec. 29, 1828, to the Prince Re-
gent yacht. On May 1, 1831, Rear-Admiral Parker
(who had attained flag rank July 22, 1830, and has
been nominated a C. 8., June 4, 1815) was invested
with the chief command of the Lisbon station, which
he continued to hold-occasionally commanding an
experimental squadron--until July 11, 1834. On