The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-01 00:00:00

2'til!, V

The Duke of Somerset, a 4 First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, will hold levees on the llth, 18 b, and 25th
inst. at the Admiralty, Whitehall. Officers wishing
to attend them are requested to insert their names,
personally or through their agents, in a book kept
for the purpose in the hall, stating their rank and
seniority in the service

Her Majesty's paddle yacht Victoria and Albert,
Capt. Hon. Joseph Denman, went out of Portsmouth
harbour on Saturday, for a trial trip, to test her
machinery and the working of her wheels with
their new floats of American oak. six inches less in
breadth than her old set, and which were destroyed
on the yacht's last voyage to Madeira. She
steamed round a e Isle of Wight, being a distance
of upwards of 70 miles, which she accomplished in
three hours and a half; we believe this extraordinary
speed to be unprecedented. Everything worked in a
most satisfactory manner, the yacht making 16
knots by the patent log, with 23 revolutions, and
an abundance of steam. At the end of the cruise
the yacht returned into harbour and resumed her
harbour moorings. It is expected that the Victoria
and Albert, with the Osborne in company, will
leave England for 'Madeira about the 14th inst. to
convey the-Empress of Austria. and suite thence to
Antwerp on the way to Vienna.

The Cossack, 20, screw, Capt. R. Moorman, has
been removed from alongside the Sultan hulk in
Portsmouth harbour and placed at the buoy off the
King's Stairs, where she will be swung for the ad
justment of her compasses, prior to proceeding to
Spit head.
The Prince Regent, 90, converting from a sailing
to a screw liner in No 2 crock at Portsmouth, is
ready for shoring up and receiving ►her false keel
copper. She has shipped the after part of her screw
shaft and coupling.
The Icarus, 11, screw, Commander N. Salmon,
V C., has been placed in dock at Portsmouth for
examination and repairs below her 'eater line. The
Leveret gunboat was previously unilocked from the
same dock.

It is stated that the iron plates n'ow being placed
on the sides of the French iron-ca sed frigates are
previously galvanised by a patent 'process, the prin-
cipal feature of w hich is, that the plates are placed
in a cold bath, in lieu of a hot one.. Some beauti-
ful specimens of round and square iron are now in
the office of Mr. Andrew Murray. chief engineer of
Portsmouth dockyard, and which are apparently of
unprecedented quality of strength and toughness of
fibre. They have been forged from. condemned ships'
galvanised wire rigging, which has hitherto been
treated as useless lumber in our d ockyards.
Her Majesty's steam store shifp Rhadamanthus,
engaged in the transport of the engines and
machinery intended for the screw steamship of war
Black Prince, under construction at Glasgow, went
into basin at Woolwich on SatuTclay to embark the
enormous crank shaft forged at Messrs. Penn's, and
removed from the factory by Bei ty's steam traction
engine.

The paddlewheel steamvessel Medusa was docked
at Woolwich on Saturday to 1)13 brought forward
for service.

The paddlewheel steam-sloop Devastation having
been stripped of ber bulwarks and paddleboxes,
decks, &c., and baying undergone an entire rem-
vation at Woolwich, is likewis e in a forward state
for commission.

The following appointments were made on Satur-
day at the Admiralty :—Charles C. Drury, naval
cadet, to the Jason; John H. Mooney, paymaster,
to the Victory, as supernu nera ry ; Charles J. Card,
paymaster, to the Marlborough ; and Edward Crewe
Knevitt, paymaster, to the Cy( ;lops.