The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-07 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

The three-decker sailing ship Trafalgar, 120,
having been cut down to a 91 gun screw steamer at
Chatham, is now completed, and will be undocked
during the next spring tides, when the Rodney, 90,
will be taken into the same dock.

An Admiralty order arrived at Sheerness on
Saturday afternoon for the new screw steamship
Hero, of 91 guns and of 600-horse power nominal,
to be commissioned this day.
Au Admiralty order has arrived at Sheerness
that artificers of all classes and labourers are to be
increased, and an entry is now open for them.
The Ruby gunboat, Lieut. Commander Moore,
has had her damages and defects made good, and has
proceeded out on a trial trip of her machinery.
The paddlewheel steam frigate Leopard, 18, Capt.
James -P. B. Wainwright, arrived at Portsmouth
from Devonport yesterday. She will tow round to
Chatham the Rodney, 90, to be docked there and
converted into a screw steamship.
Her Majesty's paddlewheel steam yacht Victoria
and Albert, having completed her renovation, &c.,
was taken out of dock on Saturday, at Portsmouth,
and placed at her harbour moorings.
The Mersey, 40, screw steam frigate, in the steam
basin at Portsmouth, was commissioned on Satur-
day by Mr. C. Polkinghorne, the master, for Capt.
H. Caldwell.

The Agamemnon, 91, screw steamship, in the
steam basin at Portsmouth, and the Melpomene,
50, new screw steam frigate, are both to be fitted
with all despatch, and placed in the first-class
steam reserve at that port.
Letters have been received at Plymouth, from the
screw steamship Caesar, 90, Capt. Chas. Frederick,
dated Greytown, February 2. They state that
there had been very little communication with the
shore for some time previous; heavy squalls, with
torrents of rain, had been experienced. The next
station will probably be Chagres (Aspinwall), but
there was no indication of an early movement.
Letters for the Caesar continue to be addressed to
the central station, St. Thomas.

The screw steamship St. Jean d'Acre, 101, Capt.
T. P. Thompson, had her compasses adjusted in
Plymouth Sound on Saturday, preparatory to sail-
ing for Spithead and Portland.

The screw steam sloop Gannet, 11, Commander
Edward Lambert, will shortly leave Plymouth
Sound for the Mediterranean station.
The paddlewheel steam sloop Virago, 6, Com-
mander Dunn, was placed alongside the coal depot
in Hamoaze, on Thursday. She is now ready again
for active service.
The screw steamship Nile, Capt. Arthur P. E.
Wilmot, was taken into the basin at Keyham, Ply-
mouth, on Thursday, to make good defects.
The screw steamship Doris, 32, will probably be
put in commission to-day (Monday), by Captain
Heathcote, at Plymouth. The paymaster took up
his appointment on Saturday.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Lieut, G. H. Parkin, Lieut.
C. E. H. Brett, Lieut. the Hon. A. L. Corry, and
Lieut. H. M. Carre, to the Mersey ; Lieut. J. W. S.
Oakes, Lieut. R. W. D. Abercromby, and Lieut.
John Liddell, to the Doris ; Lieut. B. W. Bax, to
the Orion ; Lieut. C. W. Andrews, to the Nile ;
Lieut. J. Berkeley, Lieut. J. M. Bushell, Lieut. H.
D. Fox, and Lieut. H. S. Mandeville, to the James
Watt ; Lieut. G. C. B, Wathen, Lieut. C.D. Robin-
son, and Lieut. J. B. Butler, as additional, to the
Chesapeake ; Charles Graham, master, additional,
to the Exmouth, for the Topaze ; Thos. J. Whiller,
master., to the Hero ; and G, A. Waters, master, to
the James Watt.

THE ARMY.

The ceremony of degrading a non-commissioned
officer by order of a sentence of Court-martial took
place at Chatham on Saturday afternoon last in the
presence of the whole of the officers and men of the
depots attached to the Ist battalion of infantry sta.
tioned at that garrison. The prisoner, an orderly
sergeant, named Clarke, belonging to the depot of
the 32d Light Infantry, had been tried by Court.
martial for breaking out of barracks after the hour
for, closiog the gates at night, and remaining absent
from his duty all night until the following day,
when he returned and gave himself up. For this
offence the prisoner, who has been a number of
years a non-commissioned officer, was sentenced to
be degraded to the rank and pay of a private sol-
dier, in the presence of the whole of his battalion.
The troops having been drawn up within the, for-
tifications, under the command of Col. H. Jervis,
the prisoner was marched into the centre, when the
finding And agntence of the Court were read to the
battalion by the Adjutant, Captain L. Sidebottom,
immediately after which the prisoner's chevrons
were severed from his arms by the Sergeant-major,
and the prisoner marched to the rear of the batta-
lion.

The sailing transport Mary Ann, Capt. Ashby,
arrived at Spithead on Saturdayfrom Auckland,New
Zealand, with the head-quarters of the 58th (Rat-
landshire) Regiment of Foot on board. The Mary
Ann sailed from Auckland on the 20th of Novem-
ber, 1858, and arrived at Rio Janeiro on the 3d of
January, 1859, sailed thence on the 6th of January,
arrived at Fayal on the 20th of February, and
sailed again on the 24th. The following are the offi-
cers and troops on board :—Major C. W. Thomp-
son, in military command ; Captains H. Reynolds,
L. J. Thompson, and G. H. Wynyard ; Lieuten-
ants M. Tighe, J. H. Crosse, A. HI. Russell, W. R.
Russell, J. H. R. Harrison, G. Mariner, O. W.
Hill, and J. A. Tighe; Ensigns H. J. Wynyard
and A. W. M'Crae ; Adjutant Bolton • Surgeon
Thompson ; Assistant-Sargeons Snell andß. Tydd ;
Quartermaster Slattery, Mrs. Slattery, and four
children ; Mrs. Bolton and one child; Miss Tighe ;
29 sergeants and 173 rank and file, 15 women and
21 children; one sergeant and five privates (in-
valids), 65th Regiment ; one corporal, Royal Artil-
lery ; one sergeant, Royal Engineers, wife, and two
children. The following passengers also came
home in the ship :—Lieut. Hermes, 65th Regi-
ment ; Mr. and Mrs. Lake, Mr. and Mrs. Marsack,
two children, and servant ; and Mr. J. S. Hickson.
The 58th Regiment commenced embarking for New
South Wales by detachments, acting as convict
guards in 1843. The head-quarters, under Major
Bridge, sailed for Sydney in May, 1844, and, after
being stationed a few months at Parramatta, were
ordered to proceed at a moment's notice to New
Zealand early in 1845, in consequence of certain of
the tribes in the northern district having risen in
arms against the British authority, destroying the
European settlement Korveorika, and obliging the
inhabitants to fly for safety to Auckland, the capital.
After various engagements, with heavy loss in pro-
portion to the numbers engaged (amounting in
killed and wounded to one-fourth, of the re
in gi
ent), it underwent considerable hardships fron;
the unprepared state in which the
troops
were compelled to take the field. The ins -
rection, was finally suppressed bythe assault a d
capture of Kawiti's Pah, or stockade, on the 11
of January, 1846, when the regiment was co -
inanded by Col. Wynyard, and. for which services
he received the Companionship of the .B th aThe
regiment returned to New South WalesinalgaB4i6n, at
the close of the insurrection, and was
1847, ordered to New Zealand where it remained
until its embarkation for England. That its ser-
vicesappreciate by the colony was
were fully
amply manifested both on the occasion of Colonel
Wynyard's departure and on the embarkation of
the regiment for England. The 58th will land at
Portsmouth this day and proceed to-morrow by rail
via Liverpool for Ireland (Camp, Curragh of Kil-
dare.)

A DERELICT VESSEL.—A letter from Galway,
dated Wednesday, says :—" A vessel, name unknown. , has
been picked up by two trawlers of this port, belonging to
Mr. Peter Sweney. The vessel seems to have been
homeward bound from America, supposed from St.
John's, New Brunswick. She is laden with white deal. She
is a total wreck, having lost her mainmast ; she is bound in
seven places by chains, apparently done by the crew, who
must have stood by her until she became a wreck ; her stern
is completely taken away, and therefore no trace has been
dot of her name or where she belongs to. She is altogether
invisible, with the exception of her bulwarks and mast, all
the hull and deck being submerged in water. The trawler
men who took her say she was knocking about outside of the
Black Head when they fell in with her, when they made
several attempts to board but were unsuccessful. At length
they got a rope fastened to her bows, and hauled her into
the bay, having a fair wind. They were then joined by a
second trawl, the property of the same owner, who at once
got out a hawser and gave every assistance to the first boat.
The steamship. Vesper was got under weigh on the fact
being made known to the Steam Superintendent, Captain
Thomson, who proceeded to assist in the towing of her
down the bay. They
were aeec,,,Paied by a number of
men belonging to the Antelope steamer, now in our dock,
who were taken to lend a hand ;' but
thone theirme approachad
to the vessel they were warned off
elz
found the vessel, and who brandish hatchets, boathooks,
and handspikes in a most determined manner, not beffig
aware that the Vesper did not go to take the vessel, but
merely to give her a tow into shallow water."

- The Lords of the Admiraltyhiving given direc-
tions for 400 additional artisans to be immellialtely
entered at Chatham dockyard, notices were on Sa-
turday posted at the Dockyard gates that the fol-
lowing workmen would be entered this day, viz.:-
270 shipwrights, 45 smiths, 24 joiners, 18 caulkers,
17 millwrights and enginemen, 11 sawyers, and 9
painters and plumbers. The whole of the workmen
employed in the dockyard will commence working
at task work this day, and will be employed early
and late, in order to complete those vessels which
are to be launched during the present year, the first
of which will be the line-of-battle screw steamer
Hood, 91.