The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-06 00:00:00

IHE NAVY.

Yesterday afternoon, at three o'clock, being the
last hour at which, under the regulations of the
Smithfield Club, any specimens of agricultural im-
plements intended for exhibition at the ensuing
cattle show, could be permitted to be received, the
vicinity of the Baker-street Bazaar, at which the
show is about to be held for the last time, was com-
pletely blockaded by the carts, vans, &c., arriving
in rapid succession with machinery. Several of the
working and locomotive specimens also arrived, pro-
pelled by their own steam, and attracted a vast con-
course of spectators. The capacity of the galleries
and bazaar, capacious as it is, will be severely tested
this year in the implement department, as space has
been allotted for 967 stands, which is 100 more than
last year, or on any previous occasion. The cattle
and other stock, the reception of which is entrusted
under direction of the stewards and Mr. B. T. B.
Gibbs, the hon. secretary of the club, to Mr. Jem•
mett, jun., will commence arriving this day (Fri-
day), and by the rules of the club no specimen will
be admitted Ito the show-yard after 10 o'clock to-
morrow (Saturday) night. The Prince Consort and
the Prince of Wales are both expected to visit the
show this year, and as the Prince of Wales will for
the first time become himself a competitor, more
than ordinary interest will attach to this year's
exhibition. It is understood also that some of the
stupendous cattle from the Florentine exhibition
have already arrived in London and will form a 1
part of this year's show. The Club prizes have
this yea' been considerably augmented, and amount
in the aggregate to nearly £1,400, which no doubt
will account for the increased number of entries.
The arrangements are that the judges will examine
the stock and make the awards of the prizes during
the day on Monday, on the evening of which day
the private view for the press, the members of the
club, &c., will take place. The show will open to
the public on Tuesday morning and continue open
\i4
from 8 in the morning till 9 in the evening of that
and three following days, when it will finally close.

The following notice has been posted at the gates
of her Majesty's dockyard at Portsmouth :—" All
men who are now on leave from ships paid off, and
who have been absent one month, are required to
return to their respective ships immediately.—By
order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty,
W. H. BRUCE, Vice-Admiral, Commander-in-Chief.
Dated from her Majesty's ship Victory, Portsmouth,
Dee. 4, 1861."

The Warrior, 40, iron frigate, Capt. the lion. A.
A. Cochrane; C. 33,, is taking in 760 tons of coal
alongside Portsmouth dockyard; preparatory for
service on the North American coast, should she be
requires.

VALETTA, Nov. 30.—Since despatching my last
letter I have to report the departure of her Ma-
jesty's screw frigate Amphion, 36, Capt. T. F.
Birch, for Syracuse and Messina. The Hannibal, 91,
Capt. A. Farquhar, has also left, having taken her
departure on the 25th inst, for England to be
paid off. The Racoon, 22, Capt. W. C. Chamber-
lain, arrived on the 24th inst. from the Piraeus,
and left on the 28th for England. The screw
corvette Scourge, 6, Commander the Hon. W. J.
Ward, arrived on Monday from Gibraltar, and left
on the following Thursday for Candia, to embark
sculptures, which she is to convey to England. The
James Watt, 91, Capt. E. Codd, has been relieved
at Syracuse, by the Queen, 86, Capt. C. F. Hillyar,
from Malta. The Victor Emmanuel, 91, Capt. W.
J. Clifford, is expected here from Messina,
the Amphion, 36, having been despatched to re-
lieve her. The Caesar, 91, ordered home, is also
expected from Athens. The Mars, 80, Capt. J. N.
Strange, is to leave on the sth proximo for Smyrna
and Athens. Her Majesty's troopship Megiera,
Commander H. S. Henderson, came in on the 28th
ult. from Portsmouth, Cork and Gibraltar. She left
the same day for Corfu. The following are her
Majesty's ships in port :—The Marlborough, 131
(bearing the flag of the Commander-in-Chief) ; the
Hibernia, receiving ship (bearing the flag of Rear-
Admiral 11. J. Codrington, C. 8.) ; the Agamemnon,
91 ; the Algiers, 91 ; the James Watt, 91; the
Neptune, 90 ; the Mars, 80; the Foxhound, 4 ; the
Surprise, 4; the Alacrity, 4; the Boxer, 3; the
Fir:fly, 2, surveying vessel; and the Hearty, tug.
The Admiralty have accepted the tender of
Messrs John Brown and Co., of the Atlas Steel and
Ironworks, Sheffield, for the manufacture of the
armour plates for the Alfred, 51, screw, iron-cased
frigate, building at Portsmouth.
The Orpheus, 21, screw, Commodore Burnett,
C. 8., sailed last evening from Spithead to Plymouth
Sound, whence she will convoy the Melbourne,
screw transport, laden, with troops, arms, and stores
to the St. Lawrence or Halifax. This duty per-
formed, so far as existing orders go, the Orpheus
will then proceed on to the South Australian sta-
tion, for which she has been fitted as flagship.
The water has been pumped out of the double
dock at Portsmouth in which the Black Prince was
placed on Monday last. The ship's bottom is with-
out the four bilge plates, or keels, with which the
Warrior is fitted ; but the angle irons are in their
places in readiness to receive them. The ship's bot-
tom generally requires a good caulking, several of
the butts of the plates giving strong evidence of
weeping. The rudder of the Black Prince, like that
of the Warrior, is much too small for its work, as
compared with the ship's displacement, and with the
proportions of each in our screw line-of-battle ships.
Greatly increased activity is observable in Ports-
mouth dockyard within the past few days, conse-
quent upon oar present relations with the North
American States. The steam basin had been pumped
out for the purpose of increasing its depth four feet,
when a sudden order from the Admiralty on Wed-
nesday evening caused the authorities again to ad-
mit the water, so suddenly that the masons em-
ployed upon the inverts of the two docks named
had barely time to save themselves and their tools.
The frigates Euryalus, Sutlej, and Glasgow were
yesterday placed in the basin to hurry them for-
ward in their outfit—the two latter especially, the
first -named being merely waiting now for the pen-
nant" of her commission being hoisted. Nearly op-
posite to the IV arrior crowds of men have been be-
sieging the office of the master builder since Monday
orders having been received from the Admiralty to
enter about 700 mechanics and labourers, part for
service on board the Black Prince, and part for the
general service of the yard. It is made a mat-
ter of complaint among those carpenters' mates who
have been lately discharged from active service
afloat, that the authorities of the yard cannot enter
them in the dockyard, where their services are so
much needed, as shipwrights, but that they can only
enter as common labourers. This should be seen to.
We are strong in ships ; but the class of vessels
which would be of the greatest service to us in the
event of a rupture with the United States are the
corvettes and sloops, the greater part of which re-
quire heavy repairs at the hands of the shipwright
before they can be pronounced fit for sea. It has
always been allowed that ships rigged by the Steam
Reserve at Portsmouth have been rigged in a very
superior manner. This work has been done under
the superintendence of the master of the Steam
Reserve and the master rigger of the dockyard.
With the ships now rigged, however, this excellent
system may be looked upon as destroyed. By the
late order discharging all pensioners from active
service afloat, the Asia's pensioners were discharged
from her books, and those were the very men whom
the master rigger and the master of the Reserve
had to depend upon in the execution of all the chief
work in the ship's rig during her outfit for the first
class reserves. If these men's places cannot be sup-
plied in the breeching and rigging stores of the
dockyard, they should certainly be allowed to enter
there, if not on board one of her Majesty's ships in
commission. The Shannon and Euryalus's comple-
ment of Armstrong guns is completed, each ship
having now on board one 100-pounder and six 40-
pounders, with their necessary fittings. The Edgar,
89, Capt. Mends, lying at Spithead, has one 100-
pounder, four 40-pounders, and one 25-pounder.
The Hero, 89, Capt. Ryder, lying also at Spithead,
has one 100-pounder and four 40-pounders. The
Chanticleer at present carries only one 40-pounder
in the 17 guns of her complement. The Vigilant,
6, screw, carries one 100-pounder and one 49-
pounder. The Trafalgar, 66, Capt. Dickson, has
one 100-pounder and four 40-pounders, and the
Pandora, 5, has two 25-pounders. The Stromboli,
6, paddle, has one 100-pounder. All the vessels
named which are not in commission are ordered
for immediate commission, and their armament
could be altered from muzzle-loaders to Armstrongs
to any extent required, the issue of the 100-pounder
Armstrongs having been resumed now for some
little time from the Ordnance stores.
In our report of the trial of the Orpheus at the
measured mile it was stated that her full power
mean speed was 10-155 knots. It should have been
11-155.
The issue of the 100-pounder Armstrong guns,
which for some short time past has undergone a
temporary suspension, is to be recommenced. Ad-
miralty orders were yesterday received at Chatham
to amend the armament of the screw steamers now
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cwt. guns; one 12-pounder Armstrong for a 12-
pounder howitzer ; and one 12-pounder 10ewt.