The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-16 00:00:00

IHE NAYY.

VALETTA, Dec. 10.--The greatest excitement here
during the past few days owing to orders having
been received by telegraph bythe Naval Comm ander-
in-Chief to despatch, as speedily as possible, all the
disposable ships of war to Gibraltar, for the pur-
pose, it is rumoured, of having them ready, in case
of war with the North American States, to send off
into American waters. The despatch conveying
these orders reached Malta, it is said, in the almost
unprecedentedly short time of four hours. Two line-
of-battle ships, the Algiers, 89, Capt. Rice, and the
Queen, 80, Capt. Hillyar, and a gunboat, the Alac-
rity, 4, Commander J. K. E. Baird, have already
left, and two other liners, the Agamemnon, 91, Capt.
T. Hope, and the James Watt, 91, Captain E. Codd,
and another gunboat, the Foxhound, 4, Commander
the Hon. H. C. Hobart, will, I hear, leave for the
same destination as soon as they are ready for sea,
probably about Saturday next. The sloop Firebrand,
6, Commander Bruce, which arrived on the Bth from
Gibraltar, was ordered back again immediately, and
the Amphion, 36,
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Messina,Tw o fr igaantdest'he Liffey, 51, Capt.
G. Preedy, C. 8,, from Corfu, have been likewise
ordered off by telegraph for the Straits, and it is
reported that the naval forces now assembling there
in such haste will be still further augmented by
some of the ships from the coast of Syria. The Tri-
dent, 3, Commander B. G. Nicolas, arrived on the
Bth, in five days, from Gibraltar, but I have not
heard whether she is to be sent back again. The
Terrible, 21, Capt. F. H. H. Glasse, C. 8., has also
arrived here from Palermo, and nothing is yet said
about her departure. The Algiers before leaving
exchanged some 30 or 40 of her condemned guns for
serviceable ones, including the usual complement
of Armstrongs, with which nearly all the ships are
now provided. The Queen was at Syracuse and
was recalled by telegraph, arriving here on the
Bth, and leaving, as before stated, on the 9th.
While there, the Governor of Syracuse, attended
by his staff, went on board and was received by
Capt. Hillyar and his officers. On leaving the ship
he was saluted with 15 guns. The Neptune, 91,
Capt. Hornby, left Malta on the sth inst. for Syra-
cuse and Corfu. The User, 90, Capt. T. Mason,
arrived on the previous day from the Pincus, hav-
ing been relieved there by the Melpomene, 51, Capt.
Ewa~t; the Mars, 80, Capt. J. N. Strange; and the
Surprise, 4, have left Malta for the Piraeus. The
Mars was inspected previous to her departure by the
captain of the Fleet. On the 4th inst. a soldier of
the Royal Artillery, quartered in St. Elmo Barracks
fired his carbine at his Adjutant, Capt. Keate, who
ou hearing the report, exclaimed There's another
military murder.' It was not until some one in-
formed him he had been fired at that he was aware
of the danger of his life had been in. The ruffian,
having missed his aim, was seized in the act of re-
loading his carbine to make a second attempt. He
immediately confessed his crime. There appears,
however, to be some doubt as to the man's sanity.
Her Majesty's surveying vessel Medina, Capt. T.
A. Spratt, C. 8., came in on the 7th inst. from Alex-
andria for the 'winter, to repair. The Victor Em-
manuel, 91, has left Messina for Corfu. The
Megrera troopship is daily expected from that
island. Her Majesty's ships in port are :—The
Marlborough, 131 (flagship of the commander-in-
chief); Hibernia, receiving-ship (bearing the flag
of Rear-Admiral H. J. Codrington, C. 8.) ; Aga-
memnon, 91 ; James Watt, 91; Caesar, 90 ; Ter-
rible, 21; Medina, 4, surveying vessel ; Firefly,
ditto; Trident, 3; Foxhound, 4; and tug Hearty.
Foreign :—ltalian war steamer Monzambano."
Additional orders have been received from the
Admiralty directing the Argus, 6,981 tons, 300
horse power, paddlewheel steamer, to be brought
forward for commission with the utmost expedition.
In consequence of the numerous steamvessels now
being fitted for commission at Chatham Dockyard,
Admiralty orders have been received at that estab-

lishment directing that the fitting of the Jumna,
16, sailing ship, for a guardship on the coast of
Africa, is not to be prcceeded with for the present.
The screw steam frigate Emerald, 51, Capt. A.
Cumming, put back to Plymouth Sound on Satur-
day, as reported in The Sun; she has been as far
as the Bay of Biscay, and made but little progress
under both sail and steam, having encountered very
heavy gales from the south-west, in one of which
she carried away the yoke of her steering wheel.
She returned in consequence. Her boats have also
been slightly damaged. The Emerald left Ports-
mouth originally on particular service, and during
an absence of a month incurred such injuries on the
banks of Newfoundland that she was compelled to
put back. Her stern-post, knee, &c., were repaired
in dock, and she left the Sound again on Monday
last, the 9th inst., for the North American station.
A number of gunners and first class seamen, in-
eluding several non-commissioned and warrant offi-
cers, have left the Pembroke, 60, training ship, at
Harwich for headquarters, in consequence of instruc-
tions from the Admiralty. Three draughts have left,
the men being intended to join the ships recently
ordered for immediate commission.
The screw steam frigate Orlando, 51, was on
Saturday put out of Keyham basin, and placed at
moorings off the Devonport Dockyard for conve-
nience of fitting her for the pennant.
During Saturday and previous day an important

series of trials was made at the testing-housein Chat-
ham dockyard, for the purpose of submitting to
powerful tests a superior description of iron from
the ironworks belonging to Earl Dudley, at Dudley,
which it is proposed shall be used in the construc-
tion of the Achilles. Upwards of 60 specimens of
bar, plate, angle, and T iron have been forwarded
to Chatham dockyard, with the request that they
may be submitted to any tests thought desirable to
ascertain their quality. Accordingly two days were
occupied in testing, by means of the hydraulic en-
gines, the various specimens forwarded, Earl Dudley
being represented at the trials by Mr. Smith, his
principal manager, Mr. Schofield, and Mr. Azzani ;
Mr. Lang, master shipbuilder, and Mr. Cotsoll, mas-
ter smith, at Chatham, superintending the trials on
the part of the Admiralty. The average standard
required by the Admiralty is that the best iron shall
stand a test of 22 tons to the inch with the grain,
and 19 tons against it. The samples coming up to
that qualification are considered very good, a consi-
derable quantity of the iron recently sent in to Chat-
ham dockyard for the Achilles having attained no-
thing like that standard, and consequently been all
rejected. Oat of the 68 samples of iron sent in from
Earl Dudley's works, every kind, with only one ex-
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