The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-23 00:00:00

THE NAPY.

Rear-Admiral Smart, commander in chief of the
Channel Squadron, on Monday exercised the ships
of the squadron lying in Plymouth Sound—namely,
Conqueror, 101, Centurion, 80, Aboukir, 90—in
making sail, shortening sail, and shifting topsails.
We have received from a Malta correspondent
the following letter, dated Valetta, May 18 ::—" In
consequence of the damaged state of the steamer
Malacca, having on board the Malta and Tripoli,
and about half of the Tripoli and Bengazi portions
of the Malta and Alexandria telegraph cable, some
delay will occur in commencing the operation of
laying this part of the line. The vessel is now in
her Majesty's dockyard under repair, and it is not
expected that she will be out of the hands of the
workmen for at least a week. The cable has been
tested since its arrival here, and with the exception
of a few knots, damaged by having been coiled
under water in the:dock, has been ascertained to be
in perfect working order. Mr.Wildman Whitehouse,
who was the chief electrician employed in laying
the Atlantic cable, has arrived here on the part of
Messrs. Glasse, Elliott, and Co."

Her Majesty's paddlewheel steamer Cyclops, 6,
320 horse power, Capt. W. S. S. Pullen, which was
paid off at Sheerness yesterday, has been in commis-
sion four years. She was commissioned at Sheer-
ness in May, 1857, by Lieutenant, now Commander,
J. Dayman, and almost immediately afterwards
proceeded, with a complement of only 75 men and
a few officers, to make the necessary surveys, and
to render assistance in laying the Atlantic telegraph
cable. On the completion of this service she re-
turned to Portsmouth and refitted, when Capt. Pul-
len succeeded Lieut. Dayman in the command, on
the 15th of Sept., 1857. After thoroughly refitting
and receiving her full complement of officers, sea-
men, and marines, numbering 200 men, the Cyclops
was ordered to proceed to the Red Sea, to make
the required surveys for laying the Red .Sea
Telegraph to India ; on which duty she has ever
since been employed. The entire length of coast
Cof the Red Sea from Aden and the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb to Suez, and thence along the
Nubian and Abyssinian coasts, has been most
minutely surveyed, and a rich store of facts in
physical geography and natural history recorded.
After completing the survey of the Red Sea,
which occupied several months, the Cyclops pro-
ceeded some distance along the coast of the Arabian.
Gulf to the Kooria-mooria Islands, and thence to
Muscat and Kurrachee—the route taken by the
Red Sea Telegraph. After leaving Kurrachee she
proceeded to Ceylon, and thence along the Malabar
coast to Pondicherry and Madras, to complete the
survey. The entire length of coast surveyed by the
Cyclops is nearly 2,000 miles. A number of valuable
specimens of natural history, consisting of subma-
rine insects, corals, plants, and other interesting
objects found at the bottom of the Red sea, some at
a depth of no less than 5,000 fathoms, have been
brought home for the British Museums. These spe-
cimens, contained in five cases, together weighing
about one ton, were carefully landed by Mr. D. Bar-
nard, the Customs' agent, to be forwarded to Lon-
don. In consequanoo of the nranons nature of4he
duties on which she was engaged, the Cyclops has
been obliged to be docked three times at Bombay
to effect repairs. She left Bombay for England on
the 22d December last. Out of the officers who ori-
ginally left England in the Cyclops only four return
with her, the remainder having either been inva-

lided and sent home or transferred to other vessels.
The officers who returned in the ship are Captain
Pullen, Lieut. LW. Armstrong, H. It. Harris, mas-
ter, and the Rev. C. B. Haslewood, chaplain. Only
about 120 of the crew who originally joined re-
mained in the ship on its being paid off. Notwith-
standing the severe nature of the duties on which
the officers and crew were engaged and the number
of miles (between 60,000 and 70,000) sailed and
steamed over, the crew have been generally healthy,
only four deaths having occurred on board during
the whole time the Cyclops has been in commission.
On the steamer being paid off Capt. Pullen called
the crew aft and addressed them, expressing his
general satisfaction with their conduct during the
four years they had been under his command,
and hoping to have as many of them as he
possibly could in any other ship to which he
might be appointed. The Lords of the Admi-
ralty have awarded medals and gratuities of
£l5 each for long service and exemplary con-
duct to Patrick Burn, master-at-arms ; George
Lundy, quartermaster; and Charles Tyler, leading
stoker.
The Adelaide screw transport, No. 18, G. E.Bird,
master, the arrival of which at Spithead from China
was announced in The Sun of yesterday, has been
much delayed during the latter portion of the
voyage by strong northerly and N.E. winds. This
vessel has brought home some interesting speci-
mens of natural history, presented by the Hon. G.
Grey, Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, to the
Royal Zoological Gardens, Regent's-park, and
brought to England in charge of Mr. Banister.
The Herald, 8, surveying-vessel, 500 tons, Capt.
H. M. Denham, arrived at Sheerness on the night
of Tuesday, from the Feejee Islands, having been in
commission since the 18th of February, 1852. She

has been engaged in surveying the coasts of Aus-
tralia, New Zealand, &c., the following officers
having served on board the whole time :—Capt. H.
M. Denham, Lieut. John Hutchinson, Master W.
F. Parsons, additional—J. I. Smith and Edward
Wilds ; Surgeon Frederick M. Rayner, and Pay-

master John Freshfield. The Herald was built in
1823, and was employed on the East India and
China stations from 1838 to 1842, during the first
China war, under the command of Capt. Jos. Nias,
and for upwards of five years as a surveying ship.
under Capt. Kellett, C.B. She was minutely in-
spected by Vice-Admiral J. W. Hope Johnstone
yesterday, after which she was towed by the African
steam-tug to Chatham, to dismantle and pay off
into ordinary.

The Rosario, 11, screw steam-sloop, 150-horse
power, and the Zebra, 17, screw steam-sloop, 200-
horse power, arrived at Sheerness from Woolwich.
yesterday.

The paddlewheel steamer Adder, Mr. Blakey
commanding, tender to the Wellesley, 72, is under-
going some repairs in Chatham Harbour ; her
rudder has been removed in order to be increased in
size.

Several of the largest and most powerful of the
machines to be employed in preparing the plates
and slabs of iron which will be used in the construc-
tion of the Achilles, 40, at Chatham, have been
erected in the new workshop erected by Messrs.
Grissell, under the direction of Mr. Baker, chief
engineer at this dockyard, and every effort is being
made to have the remainder of the machinery fixed