The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-15 00:00:00

THE NA P I'.

913 Marlborough has at present on board two
100-pounder Armstrong guns, eight 40-pounders
and two 25-pounders. To-day (Monday) we under-
stand she will ship two 12-pounders and two 6-
pounders, which come from Woolwich.
Commander the Hon. Maurice Horatio Nelson,
who has been appointed to the command of the
Gannet, screw sloop, 11 guns, vice Lambert, pro-
moted, was lieutenant of her Majesty's ship Samp-
son, Captain Jones, 6 paddle sloop, in the Medi-
terranean and Black Sea, from August, 1852, to
the commencement of 1854; served in the naval
brigade before Sebastopol ; was lieutenant com-
mander of the Swinger, gun boat, in the Baltic,
from June, 1855, to the close of the Russian war,
and was afterwards second, and then first lieu-
tenant of the Conqueror, 101, Captain Yelverton,
until promoted comma der, April, 1858.
At Plymouth the first division of the steam re-
serve will consist of a line-of-battle ship, a frigate,
a corvette, sloop, despatch vessel, and six gunboats,
all to be equipped ready for the pendant when re-
quired. The other naval ports will possess zt simi-
lar reserve. The Orlando, 50, and Speedy, 4, are
the first division at Plymouth; the Princess Royal,
91, is preparing for it. The Petrel, 11, will pro-
bably be prepared.
The Ariel, 7, screw, Commander Alexander, ar-
rived at Mahe, Seychelle Islands, on the 19th of
May, in company with her Majesty's ship Wasp, to
whose assistance she was despatched from Simon's
Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 18th of April.
The Lyra, 9, screw, Commander It. B. Oldfield, was
lying at Mahe on the Ariel and Wasp's arrival,
having brought in 200 slaves captured in an Arab
dhow near Zanzibar. The Lyra had recently taken
17 dhows, averaging 70 tons each. She would pro-
bably sail for England about the middle of June.
The Ariel and Wasp sailed in company from Mahe
for the Mauritius on the 30th of May.
A considerable number of Bertram's patent welded
beams have been landed during the last few days at
Deptford and Woolwich Dockyards, for fitment as
deck, beams on board the various ships now building,
similar to those supplied to the Warrior, Black
Prince, Resistance, Defence, and other ships of the
same construction. It appears now to be the decided
opinion of most scientific men of iron shipbuilding
and engineering profession that most of the disasters
at sea and boiler explosions occur in consequence of
the inherent defectiveness of the rivetting system,
and the more so for ships, as the metal is more cut
away, to obtain the countersink for the rivet-head,
by which a smooth skin is obtained, thereby giving
speed to the vessel which could not be attained if the
heads projected outside. Another source of weakness
in the rivetting system is the attaching the water-
tight bulkheads to the side of the vessel, by a row
of rivet-holes, in a straight line, round the ship,
which perforation weakens the vessel in a similar
ratio to that of the separation on the postage stamp,
thereby showing the desirability of bringing out the
welding process, so that all sheet-iron structures,
whether of ships, steam boilers, &c., might be made
in one entire piece.

According Co the official return recently published

it appears that there are at present being built at the
various dockyards for her Majesty's service 56 ves-
sels of war, of from 60 to 1,250-horse power, and
carrying respectively from 1 to 89 guns each-viz.,
11 at Portsmouth-the Dryad, 51 guns ; the Har-
lequin, 17 ; the Royal Alfred, 50 ; the Helicon
and the Bramble, the Cherub, the Crown, the Min-
strel, the Netley, the Orwell, and the Protector
gunboats ; nine at Pembroke-the Guernsey, 4, the
Nassau, 4, the Newport, 5, the Perseus, 17, the
Shearwater, 11, the Tartarus, 4, the Triumph, 50,
the Tweed, 51, and the Zealous, 89 ; nine at
Chatham-the Achilles, 50, the Belvidera, 51, the
Bulwark, 89, the Ganymede, 22, the Menai, 22, the
Myrmidon, 4, the Rattlesnake, 21, the Reindeer,
17, and the Royal Oak, 50 ; nine at Deptford-the
Circassian, 17, the Columbine 11, the Endymion,
36, the Enterprise, 11, the Favourite, 22, the Jaseur,
5, the Portia, 5, the Rattler, I'7, and the Sappho,
17; eight at Woolwich-the Alligator, 22, the
Caledonia, 60, the Dartmouth, 36, the Hyperion,
26, the Pegasus, 4, the Repulse, 89, the Sylvia, 4,
and the Wolverine, 21 ; five at Devonport-the
Africa, 11, the Cynthia, 11, the Ister, 36, the Ocean,
50, and the Robust, 89; at Glasgow the Hector, 32;
at Yarrow, Newcastle-on-Tyne, the Defence, 18 ; at
Sheerness the North Star, 22, at Mill wall the Va-
liant, 32 ; and at Newhaven the Tyrian gunboat.
The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty; Commander M. R. Pechell,
additional, to the Majestic ; Commander G.Durbin,
additional, to the Russell ; Commander D. Herbert,
additional, to the Cornwallis; Lieuts. the Hon. H.
B. Hamilton, W. Clark, J. L. F. Paul, H. Berkeley,
T. Stackhouse, and B. L. Lefroy, additional, to the
Imperieuse, for disposal in China; Lieut. C. F.
Walker, to the Pembroke, for service in the Magnet
tender ; Lieuts. A. Young and R. Hoops to the Asia ;
Lieuts. E. Barkley and H. Rogers, to the Cumber-
land; Lieuts. J. C. Snell and C. J. Didham, to the
Indus; Lieut. H. J. Martin, to the Surprise; Lieut.
A. It. Tinklar, to the Excellent ; C. Caffin, mid-
shipman, to the Doris ; E. Payne, naval cadet, to
the Edgar ; W. T. Fry, promoted to the rank of en-
gineer ; A. Lawton, acting first-class assist.-engi-
neer in the Leopard, promoted; H. H. Symcock,
acting second-class assist.-engineer in the Asia, for
the Fire Queen ; A. Stewart, acting second-class
assist.-engineer to the Asia, for the Wallace ; W. R.
Abbott, acting second class assist.-engineer to the
Asia, for the Traveller; A. Beattie and J. Stirling,
acting second-class assist.-engineers to the Himalaya.