The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-16 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Her Majesty's steam sloop Virago, 6, Commander
Dunn, returned to Falmouth on Monday afternoon
from Pembroke, to embark the remainder of the
Rants Artillery for that place, having been absent
on her last trip but 48 hours.
Lieut. W. H. Cuming has been appointed to the
screw steamship Trafalgar, 91.
Rear-Admiral Sir C. Fremantle, K.C.8., made
arrangements to leave Plymouth Sound yesterday
aftrrnoon for Portland, in the screw steamship
Royal Albert, 121, Capt. E. B. Rice.
Twenty seamen for the navy arrive2o d at Plymouth
on Tuesday morning by rail, and by
from Liverpool.
The training brig Nautilus, 6, Lieut. W. B.
Grant, left Plymouth on Tuesday for Dartmouth.
The naval transport Diligence, E. Crook master,
with old stores from Pembroke, arrived at Ply-

mouth on Tuesday.
The repairs of the screw steam troopship.Hima
lays, Commander J. Seccombe, are progressing ex-
peditiously in No. 1 dock, Keyham, Plymouth, and
it is expected that she will be ready to leave the
yard by the end of the week. About nine months
since she received a coat of Peacock and Buchan's
composition, which seems to have contributed in a
great degree to the rapidity of her movements. On
the voyage to and from the Cape of Good Hope 58
days only were occupied at sea. Since the applica-
tion of the composition the Himalaya has traversed
26,000 miles, and the authorities at Keyham are
well satisfied with the result. Usually with
such an amount of service a coat is given every
six months. In the present case, notwithstand-
ing the lengthened interval, the plates and rivet
heads continue in excellent preservation, and the
bottom presents a very smooth appearance, being
merely covered with a dark thin slimy sub-
stance. It is, however, remarkable that grass has
art
grown on the " pressure" p of the screw,
portion of the rudder, and those parts of the on a
bow
and water line -where the composition seems to have
been rubbed off, and that encouragement has been
thus given to vegetation by the exposure of the under
coating of red lead. To prevent a repetition of this
evil, red lead will not be used now, but two coats
of the composition will be applied, the under one
direct against the bottom. The Himalaya is re-
ceiving 1,000 tons of coal in dock.
The Urgent screw steam troopship, Com. Hire,
will be placed in dock for overhaul and repair at
Portsmouth to-morrow. Her crew will be paid
down and granted 10 days' leave of absence.
The Neptune, 91, screw steamship, Capt. Sir W.
Hoste, completed shipping her tanks in the steam
basin at Portsmouth yesterday.
The Pearl, 21, Captain E. S. Sotheby, C.B. and
A.D.C. will be paid off at Portsmouth this day.
The Royal steam yacht Victoria and Albert was
placed in No. 7 dock at Portsmouth yesterday to
ascertain the amount of damage she may have re-
ceived on the occasion of getting on shore at the
mouth of the Scheldt.
The Vulcan screw steam troopship was yesterday
warped alongside the north quay of the steam
basin, to receive her tanks, &c.
The Melpomene, 51, screw steam frigate, Capt.
Ewart, and the Pioneer, 6, screw steam despatch
vessel, both at Spithead, are under orders to pro-
ceed to the Mersey, to enter seamen. The former
vessel in " clearing hawse " on Tuesday carried
away one of her hawse pipes, which may possibly
delay her a short time at Spithead.
The Locust, paddlewheel steamer, Com. Field,
arrived at Portsmouth yesterday morning from the
eastward with supernumeraries, and sailed again
in the afternoon.
An order has been received in Portsmouth Dock-
yard that any of the Marine pensioners at present
serving under the steam reserve as labourers who
may wish for their discharge can at once obtain it
by making application on board her Majesty's ship
Asia, the ordinary gnardship of steam reserve. A
large number of these men have been non-commis-
sioned officers of Marines, and at the time they
were called upon to serve were either in a small
way of business or in some situation. A number
of others have been musicians, and at the time they
were called upon were adding a little to their pen-
sion in teaching music. Both classes were evi-
dently quite unfit for dockyard labourers, and the
present order is hailed by them as a great boon.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty.:—Capt. Richard Moorman
to the Cossack, commissioned ; Lieut. George Todd
to the Agamemnon ; Lieut. Thomas Stackhouse to
the Hogue ' • Lieut. Bernard I. Cooper to the Ex-
cellent ; and Lieut. William Menzies to the Scout.