The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-30 00:00:00

7.TIE NAVY.

The Wasp, 13, screw Commander C. Stirling,
arrived at Spith.ead at a late hour on Thursday even-
ing from the Cape of Good Hope station. The ship
has brought to England from the ships on the sta-
tion Mr. May,
master, from the Pioneer ; Mr. Cart-
wright, paymaster, from the Ariel ; invalided, Mr.
Hartley, engineer, from the Brisk ; discharged by
sentence of court-martial, 38 semen ani marines
and eight seamen under sentence of court.martial.
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become disabled from the " bed" of the engine hav-
ing been forced up from its position on the Wasp
getting on shore off the Congo Islands. She is
ordered into Portsmouth harbour, where her officers
and crew will be turned over to another vessel.
Private advices from Paris and Toulon assert that
the armour plates of the iron-plated frigate La Gloirer
have become loosened upon her sides from the ship's
working when at sea, and that she consequently
leaks to such an extent when under steam that she
is in reality unseaworthy. The quality of her armour
plates is also suspected to be of a very inferior cha-
racter to those manufactured in this country. This
last supposition, it is said, has arisen from the fact
of two armour plates having been supplied to the
Spanish Government by the firm which manufac-
tured those for La Gloire as specimen plates for
testing, and which were said to be even superior to
those supplied to the French Government. The
Spanish Government tested the plates after the
fashion adopted in this country, at 200 yards pith
Bin. guns, and the result was that the plates broke.
in pieces each time they were struck by a shot.
An official trial has taken place at Portsmouth
dockyard of an improved diving apparatus, manu-
factured by Mr. S. Barnett, engineer, of Heston.
It is simply an improvement on the ordinary diving
helmet. A new mode is adopted of fastening the
front glass on the helmet, which the diver can
fasten and unfasten at his pleasure, instead of wait-
ing to have it unscrewed by the attendants on
reaching the surface of the water, as at present.
Another improvement consists of a gauge dial at-
tached to a treble barrel air engine, by which the
exact pressure of air sent to the diver below can
be regulated by the men working the engine, ac-
cording to the depth at which the diver may be
working. The trial was pronounced, both by officials
and the Government diver, to be eminently satisSte.
tory.
One hundred and twenty-five able seamen yester-
day left the flagship Fisgard, at Woolwich, for
Portsmouth, under orders received by Admirally
telegram on the previous evening. Anticipating the
object of their hurried departure, they gave vent to
their expectations in shouts of delight, and started
in the highest glee. A large number of men from
the Chesapeake and the Cambrian are expected to
join the Fisgard in a day or two, the whole of whom
are ordered to be forwarded to Portsmouth without
delay also.
The pendant has been hoisted on board the screw
steam corvette Satellite, 21, Capt. 0. Johnson, at
Devonport. She has been supplied with five Arm-
strong guns—one of 100 lb. and four of 401 b.—and
is to have a complement of 270 officers and men..
The following result of experiments was yester-
day received at Woolwich. On Wednesday last the
Ordnance Select Committee attended at Shoebuxy-
nem to continue their tests with 100-pounder Arm-
strong shells filled with molten iron. It has been
erroneously affirmed that the Armstrong shell could
not be used for this purpose, on the ground that the
heat of the liquid iron would fuse the lead covering
which surrounds the shell. The experiments, how-
ever, have shown that the shells can be used for
molten metal with as much advantage as the com-
mon spherical shells of smooth bored ordnance. The.
Armstrong shell when employed for this purpose is
fined with a n on-conducting material, which effec-
ually confines the heat, and prevents it from in
he slightest degree injuring the outer covering dux-.

ing the interval required for loading.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—George Griffiths, engineer,
to the Indus as supernumerary; F. Lewis, engineer
to the Greyhound, vice Griffiths ; James Leathlean,
engineer to the Indus, for the Sparrow, vice
Lewis ; G. Batchelor, acting engineer to the
Cumberland, additional, for the Eritomart ; J. T.
Page, first-class assist-engineer, to the Cumber-
land, additional, for the Sandfly ; G. F. Williams,
first-class assist.-engineer, to the Asia, as supernu-
merary, on the Centurion having been paid off; and
George Munro, paymaster, to the Greyhound.