The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-25 00:00:00

21IE

An order was issued yesterday at Portsmouth,
signed by Admiral W. Bowles, C. 8., directing all
captains in command of her Majesty's ships in
Portsmouth harbour and at Spithead to assemble at
a general court-martial on board her Majesty's ship
Victory, in Portsmouth harbour, at 9 a.m. on the
26th inst., and such subsequent days as may be de-
termined upon, for the trial of a portion of the crew
of her Majesty's ship Princess Royal, on charges
arising out of the late disturbances on board that
ship.
The screw gunl vessel Mohawk, 4, Commander
P. J. C. M'Dougall, arrived at Plymouth on Wed-
nesday. • She was placed alongside the coal depot
in the Sound, and when coaled will sail for Gibral-
tar and Malta. _ _

The screw steamship Conflict, 8, Commander R.
W. Courtenay, was taken out of No. 1 dock, at De-
vonport, on Wednesday, and placed in the basin at
Keyham steamyard, where she will be docked.
The screw steam corvette Jason, 21, !was taken
into No. 1 dock, at Devonport, on Wednesday, to
be coppered.
The screw steamship Trafalgar, 90, Capt. E. G.
Fanshawe, will probably leave Plymouth to-day.
The Firebrand, 6, paddle, Commander J. Day-
man, sailed from Portsmouth yesterday for Gib-
raltar, with the steam dredging vessel intended for
service at Malta.

The Rhadamanthus, paddle, Master-Commander
Sturdee, arrived at Portsmouth ydterday from
Woolwich, with boilers and machinery, &c.
The Swinger and the Pincher gunboats, at Ports-
mouth, are ordered to be made ready for immediate
service.

The screw steamer Bacchante, 51, at Portsmouth,
is complete in her machinery, with the exception
of her propeller, and will shortly proceed on her
trial trip.
The screw steamer Himalaya, troopship, Com-
mander J. Seecombe, at Portsmouth, has had the
date of her departure for China—the 4th proximo
—cancelled. Her ultimate destination is at present,
uncertain. The crew haie been granted extended
leave of absence to the 3d proximo.
Private letters from Shanghai received by the
last mail state that the Cruiser was to resume her
station off the mouth of the Peiho river in January.

One letter says,—" The new landing place is no
great distance from the river's mouth ; we pulled
ashore the other day, when a Chinese boat met us,
in which were some mandarins in disguise; they
wished to know what we wanted, when we replied
that we had come to ask after the wounded prisoners,
our countrymen. They said they had no prisoners ;
the only prisoner they had they gave up to the
Amcrican Minister. Did we belong to those ships
they could see off there, as they caused them a ()Teat
deal of trouble? Did we want anything else?
we replied, we want some sugar.' Then, they
could not give us any ; they were not allowed to
do so; and the sooner we were off the better;' and,
finding that nothing could be made of them, we
followed their advice." The writer adds,—" During

the time we were holding conversation with the
Chinese in the boat, we could see others in the
Ilightlyer's pinnace pulling about the sunken Coro-
mandel, and appearing as though they were mak-
ing attempts to raise her from her position."
Tho experiments with hollow shells filled with
molten iron from a cupola furnace of new construe•
tion were resumed at Portsmouth yesterday. On
the former occasion, it will be in the remembrance
of our readers, the shells were filled on board the
Colossus, in e steam basin at Portsmouth, and
fired from a gun on board the Excellent gunnery
ship, a considerable time elapsing between the shell
being filled and its being fired at the object, render-
ing the result of the experiment futile for the pur-
pose intended. Since that time the Stork gunboat,
tender to the Excellent, has been fitted with one of
the cupola furnaces, and from this vessel the firing
took place yesterday. The results were of the most
satisfactory nature,proving the fearful powers of the
missile on its effecting a lodgment in any part of a
ship, as shortly after the firing commenced the Un-
daunted frigate, moored on the mud of Porchester
Lake (which was the object fired at), burst out into
a mass of flame from the fore channels right aft,
and burnt for some time furiously. The Stork then
gave her some shots near her water lino, and sank
her as well as the depth of water would allow. A
floating fire-engine was afterwards towed up by a
steam-tug from the dockyard to put out the re-
mainder of the fire. From the appearance of the
Undaunted when the tide had left her yesterday
afternoon, the fire must have obtained great hold
upon her before it was finally extinguished. It is
impossible to attach too much importance to this
undoubted proof of what a gunboat fitted like the
Stork can do against an enemy's line-of-battle ship.
A ship as large as the Duke of Wellington, 131
guns and 1,200 men, would have shared the fate of
the Undaunted. The inventor of the "furnace"
and "molten iron" poured into a hollow shot has
shown results which are destined to tell with ter-
rible effect wherever his deviee is brought into
requisition.
The late eommander of her Majesty's ship Tri-
dent, Mr. F. A. Close, has written to us to contra-
dict a paragraph in "Naval Intelligence" in The
Sun of Monday, which alleged "that the Trident
is officially reported by the dockyard authorities
to have been paid off in a far less orderly con-
dition than the Devastation, and was subject to
the censure of the examining officers of the yard."
Commander Close says that the statement in ques-
tion " is wholly unfounded, which assertion I make
with perfect ability of proving it from the highest
authority."