The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-18 00:00:00

THE NAV Y

The division of the Channel fleet which anchored
in St. Helen's roads, from Portland, on Thursday
evening, weighed anchor yesterday morning, the
Donegal and Hcro proceeding under canvass to
Spithead, where they achored, joining Rear-
Admiral Erskine's division lying at that anchor-
age. The three remaining ships—the Conqueror,
Aboukir, and Centurion, stood out to sea, also
under canvass, bound for Plymouth Sound.
By letters received at Woolwich from her Ma-
jesty's iron paddlewheel steamvessel Weser, Com-
mander Johnson, at Vigo, it appears that the Weser
having fallen short of fuel under a dead calm in
crossing the Bay of Biscay, it had become necessary
to adopt the expedient of burning up her supple-
mentary floats, mess stools, tubs, and all the spare
timber on board, by which means she was enabled
to gain the port in safety. The letters add that she
will merely coal at Vigo, and then proceed to Lis-
bon and Malta.

The Khersonese, which arrived at Spithead on
Thursday evening from China, sailed from Hong-
kong on the 7th of February, Singapore the 17th,
and Anjeer the 21st, Cape of Good Hope, April 3,
and gt. Vincent's, April 28.. /ler passenger-list com-
prises Lieut. W. F. Johnson, R.N., A.D.C. to Major-
General Sir James Hope Grant, G.C.B.
The officers of the Acorn, a vessel condemned in
China, were yesterday transferred from the vessel
to her Majesty's ship Victoria. She has on board
nearly 1,000 tons of artillery stores, with which
she is ordered to proceed round to Woolwich, at
hich port the detachments of the 99th and 44th
Regiments will disembark from her. She sailed
from Spithead at 4 p.m.
The Herald sailing frigate, Capt. Henry Mangles
Denham, F.R.S., the arrival of which at Spithead
was briefly announced in The Sun yesterday, has
returned to England after nine years' surveying
service in the South-Western Pacific. She sailed
from England under Capt. Denham's command in
1852 for the purpose of exploring and surveying the
ocean between our Australian colonies and South
America. The principal estuaries of Western Aus-
tralia, New South Wales, Queensland, and Tasma-
nia having been surveyed, as also the prominent
islands of the New Hebrides and Fegean groups,
the Herald proceeded to Java to carry out investi-
gations with reference to electric cable communi-
cation between Australia and Singapore via Baly
Strait. The results of this expedition are important,
because by the use of the deep sea lead soundings
have been made on an extensive scale. The posi-
tions of Trestan D'Acunha and St. Paul Islands
have: been settled, and various clear passages
for steamers have been marked out, free of cur-
rent, between Sidney and Torres Straits. The
passage from the Australian ports to Singapor•
or Point de Galle has been shortened, and the
charts have been cleared of many supposed islands
and reefs, while the position of others have been
determined. One part of the duty of the Herald
was to ascertain the fate of Mr. B. Boyd, who
was entrapped from his yacht Wanderer at the
Solomon Islands in 1851, and to punish his mur-
derers. A record of the Herald's proceedings
during her ten years' commission has been for-
warded to the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty. Her natural history collections have been
forwarded to England periodically and deposited
in the national museums. What she has now on
board is merely her last gleanings. Captain
Denham has recently received the Good Service
Pension from the First Lord of the Admiralty in
acknowledgment of his very eminent services dur-
ing a long professional career. He has also re-
ceived the thanks of the Legislature of Queens-
land, through the Admiralty, for the services he
has rendered to that colony by his surveying
duties while commanding the Herald. The vessel
fs ordered to proceed round from Spithead to
Chatham to pay off.
The War Department transport Henryrarrived
at the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, yesterday, with
two of the 100-pounder Armstrong guns, with car-
riages and apparatus complete, from the factory at
Woolwich, being the first deliveries of the 100-
pounder Armstrongs received at Chatham. As soon
as the guns were landed they were placed under
cover, the utmost care being taken by the officials
to prevent any persons not connected with the Go-
vernment from inspecting them. The 100-pounder
guns are intended to be placed on board the screw
corvette Challenger, 22, 400-horse power, Capt. J.
J. Kennedy, C. 8., the two 95 cwt. 68-pounders six-
inch guns having been removed from that vessel,
and landed at Chatham.

The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—James Legate, acting third
class assist.-engineer, to the Fisgard, for the Monkey;
Joseph Bamford, acting third class assist.-engineer,
to the Asia, for the Euryalus ; Edward B. D'Arcy,
acting second master, to the Victory, as supernu-
merary; Dr. P. Mansfield, assist.-surg., to the Wel-
lesley ; Edward F. Miles, assist.-surg., to the
Donegal ; Edwin Jago, paymaster, to the Cumber-
land, in lieu of a clerk ; Alexander G: Young, assist.-
paymaster, to the Imaum ; Edward Tisdall, assist.-
paymaster, to the Nile for disposal ; W. K. Horne,
assist.-paymaster in charge, to the Steady ; Henry
M. Bernard, assist.-paymaster, to the Cygnet ;
liralter B. Spence, J. E. Cooke, and Conrad L. W.
La Grange, assist.-clerks, to the Nile, for disposal.