The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-06 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Letters from the South American coast, received
by our Southampton correspondent, state that her
Majesty's ship Leopard, with Rear-Admiral Sir
Stephen Lushington, K.C.8., on board, sailed from
Montevideo on the evening of the 16th March for
Rio de Janeiro, where she remains until relieved.
The contract for building the two large batteries
which the Government has decided on having
erected at Folly Point and Bishop's Marsh, for the
protection of Chatham Dockyard seaward, has been
taken by the firm of Mr, G. Myers, builder, London,

who will commence the construction of the batte-
ries forthwith. The contracts for the formation of
the additional line of fortifications which will
encircle Chatham have not yet been taken.
The principal batteries of the sea defences at the
entrance to the river Medway are all to be armed
with the 100-pounder Armstrong guns as rapidly as
these can be supplied from the Government facto-
ries, which will be mounted in lieu of the 68-
pounder 95 cwt. guns with which the batteries at
the Nore are at present all armed. The new fortifi-
cations which the Government has ordered to be
erected at Garrison Point will shortly be commenced,
the building of which will be proceeded with day
and night, in order that the works may be com-
pleted as rapidly as possible.
The steam floating battery Thunderbolt, 16, 200
horse power, having coaled up and taken in the re-
mainder of her stores, left the Nore at 12.30 on
Saturday afternoon, and proceeded up the Thames
as far as the Lower Hope Reach, to take up her
position off Shornmeade, on the Kentish side of the
river. The armament of the two floating batteries
the .Etna and the Thunderbolt, now anchored in the
Thames at Coalhouse Point and Shornmeade, for the
protection of that river, is most powerful, each bat-
tery being provided with 16 68-pounders, etch of
95 cwt. Of this armament two of the guns fire
forward, and two aft, leaving six each for the star-
board and port broadsides. If required, however,
the whole battery of broadside guns, 12 in num-
ber, can be brought into action on either side of the
floating battery, each having been constructed with
that view. The broadside of the Thunderbolt, as
she lies off Shornmeade, will bear exactly with the
lower Hope Reach, and the two fore and aft guns,
as the case might be, will bear up Gravesend Reach.
The !Etna is moored about half a mile below the
Thunderbolt, on the right hand side of the river, at
Coalhouse Point, on the Essex shore, in a line With
West Tilbury Church. This battery's broadside of
12 guns will have a direct bearing up Gravesend
Reach, and her two fore and aft guns will sweep
Lower Hope Reach in conjunction with the 12
broadside guns of the Thunderbolt, so that every
vessel attempting to push up the Thames from the
Nore would come under the close and heavy cross
fire of both floating batteries.
Two of the large boilers for the screw steamer
Bombay, 81, at Chatham, each weighing 23 tons
12 cwt., were on Saturday taken out of the gunboat
in which they arrived at Chatham Dockyard from
the factory of Messrs. Humphreys, Tennant, and
Co., and placed on board the Mariner, 12, in
Chatham Harbour, by means of the powerful shears,
where they will remain until the Bombay is ready
to receive them on board. A force of 60 labourers
was despatched from the dockyard on Saturday to
work the heavy capstan used in lifting the boilers.
The cylinder for the Bombay, weighing 22 tons,
was shipped on board the Mariner the previous
day, and the condenser and some other of the heavy
portions of the machinery were landed at the dock-
yard. The Bombay, since her conversion from a
sailing ship to a screw steamer, is now one of the
finest two-deckers in the British navy. The work
of sheathing her will be commenced this
morning, and as this is the only work now
remaining to be accomplished, she will be ready
to be floated out of dock by the date ordered—
viz., the 23d inst. With the view of testing
the newly-invented sheathing known as Muntz's
patent metal, the Lords of the Admiralty have di-
rected the hull of the Bombay below the water-line
to be covered with it instead of copper, in order to
ascertain whether it possesses the advantage claimed
for it over copper sheathing, and should this prove
the case it will be adopted generally throughout
the service. The rudder of the Bombay is already
covered with the new metal, which has much the
appearance of brass, and is somewhat heavier than
copper ; the workmen also speak of it as being
tougher and more difficult to work than the copper
sheathing. Owing to the circumscribed space of
the fourth dock, in which the Bombay is lying some
difficulty will be experienced in shipping the rud-
der, which weighs no less than five tons, and this
can only be accomplished by removing the caisson
at the entrance of the dock,
The Sparroi,vhawk, 4, screw, Commander J. T.
Byng, was officially inspected at Spithead on Sa-
turday morning, and afterwards went into Ports-
mouth harbour, where she will be dismantled and
return stores, pay off her crew, and be put out of

the north-east end of the Shingles, a shoal near the
Needlos. It was expected she would be got off again
by last night's tide.

The Cyclops, 6, paddle, Capt. W. S. S. Pullen,
arrived at Spithead yesterday at 415 p.m. The
Cyclops has been employed chiefly in the Red Sea,
where, in the affair at Jeddah, the credit unani-
mously a warded to Capt. Pullen for his judgment
and firmness on that very trying occasion will be
fresh in the remembrance of our readers.

The War I )epartment steamvessel Lord Panmure,
T. Moore, M aster, from the Thames, with powder,
ammunition, &c., for the magazine on Bullpoint
and the guna ►harf at Devonport, arrived at Ply-
mouth on Friday.
The follow ing appointments were made on
Saturday at Vle Admiralty :—Edward C. Smith,
master, to the Rinaldo ; Richard E. Pym, master,
to the Challenger ; George Patterson,master, to the
Driver ; Willi. ttn Towns and John Jenkins, acting
third-class assistant-engineers, to the Asia, as
supernumeraries; Thomas Saott (D.), acting third-
class assistant- engineer, to the Fisgard, for service
in the Widgeon ; James B. E. Warrington, acting
third-class assistant-engineer, to the Cumberland,
for service in the Adder; James Stocks, acting
third-class assistant-engineer, to the Cumberland,
for service in the Wildfire ; and Archibald D.
Johnston, assistant-paymaster, to the Edgar.