The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-27 00:00:00

THE NA Tl'.

Thd birthday of his Royal Highness the Prince
Consort was observed in the usual manner at the
port and garrison of Chatham yesterday. The
Wellesley, 72, Capt. G. Goldsmith, C. 8., guard-
ship of ordinary, " dressed" at sunrise, and the
other vessels of war in harbour were decorated with
their colours. At 12 o'clock a Royal salute was
fired from the Cornwallis battery by a party of
Royal Marine gunners under the orders of the
master gunner of the garrison.
At Portsmouth the men-of-war in harbour and
at Spithead, and the Russian squadron at the
Motherbank, were dressed out in colours and the
Royal standard hoisted at all the public establish-
ments. At noon Royal salutes were fired from the
different men of war, the Russian squadron at the
Motherbank, and from the saluting battery of the
garrison on the King's bastion.
The Duke of Somerset and the Lords of the Ad-
miralty, accompanied by Lord C. Paget, returned
to town last evening from an official visit of inspec-
tion to Chatham and Sheerness.
The Hon. Council for India have chartered the
following additional vessels for conveying cavalry
and infantry reinforcements to India :—The Mer-
chantman and the King Philip, for Calcutta, to sail
from Cork ; the Akbar, for Bombay, to sail from
Portsmouth ; Earl Balcarras, for Kurrachee, to em-
bark reinforcements at Portsmouth aid Cork; the
Brunelle, for Bombay, to sail from Cork ; and the
Hougomont, for Madras, to sail from Gravesend.
The whole of the above vessels are to embark their
troops between Sept. 10th and 17th.
Our Malta correspondent reports tho appearance
off that Island on Aug. 22, preceded on the 18th by
the Caradoc, from Palermo, of the squadron under
Vice-Admiral Fanshawe, consisting of five steam-
ships of the line and a gunboat. The other squa-
dron, under Rear-Admiral Mundy, was passed by
the Wanderer, which arrived at Malta from Con-
stantinople and Rhodes on Aug. 18th, about 130
miles to the eastward of Malta, where the Assur-
ance, detached from this squadron, arrived on the
21st. The Euryalus arrived at Malta from Palermo
on Aug. 13th. The Urgent left Malta for Corfu on
the 18th, and is expected to return to Malta on the
24th, when she will leave for Portsmouth'with un-
serviceable powder, stores, and invalids.
The Channel squadron, in two divisions, consist-
ing of 12 ships in all, were passed cruising off the
Lizard on Wednesday, the 24th inst.
The gunboat Redwing left Plymouth Sound on
Wednesday, for shot practice.
The screw steam corvette Scylla, 20, Capt. A.
Lambert, under steam from Deal, arrived at Ply-
mouth on Ic;;ldnesday ; she is in want of hands, and
has some slight defects to make good.
The steam-sloop Hecla was taken up Hamoaze
from the lower moorings on Wednesday.
The screw steam-ship St. George, 91, at Devon-
port, is all ataut.
The lighter Tortoise, J. Head, master, having
been repaired at Devonport, was undocked on Wed-
nesday.
The crews of the gunboats Grappler and For-
ward were paid advance of wages at Plymouth on
Wednesday. Their guns have been removed to
the Sidon, preparatory to sailing for Vancouver's
Island.
The Turkish screw line-of-battle ship Shadia, 90,
at Devonport, had steam up on Thursday to try her
machinery, but owing to some slight disarrange-
ment the trial was postponed.
The Mohawk, 4, screw despatch vessel, arrived
at Spithead yesterday from the China station.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Archibald Elliott, surg., to the
Impregnable ; Thos. Kipling, acting assist.-surg.,
to the Arrogant; E. C. D. Phillips, master assist.,
to the Sidon ; and Richard Drury, clerk, to the
Terrible.