The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-22 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Her Majesty's yacht Fairy arrived in Portsmouth
harbour on SaturOay evening from Osborne with
the Duke and Duchess de Montpensier, the Princess
Isabella, and suite on board, on their return from a
visit to her Majesty. Their Royal Highnesses
landed at the dockyard, and immediately left by the
South Coast Railway for Worthing.
The Illustrious, 72, late guardship of sailing or-
dinary at Portsmouth, has been ordered to have her
masts taken out and to undergo other alterations,
for the purpose of being adapted for the instruction
of officers and men in the use of the Armstrong

gun.
The gunboats at Haslar, numbering about 30, are
to have Armstrong 40 and 100-pounders substituted
for their present armament of 32 and 68-pounders,
an order having been received at Portsmouth di-
recting this alteration to be carried out with all
despatch, so as to place at the immediate service of
the Government, wherever they may be required, a
cpowerfullaTssh este
a hired
rmaendrdet
transports
effectiveearnvsep oartt fleetsthi
s port.
Fanny of f
d
a thisn most useful
of vessel. They will form a portion of the first-
Tay were made
fast at the Royal Arsenal pier, Woolwich, on Sa-
turday, in readiness to ship 400 tons of guns and
general warDepartment
stores fo r t the
e Islan d
steamerL of
erd p
Malta.
The
Wara
ii m u r e ,
Wool-
wich on Saturday to embarkB
00s ahi laerdr e
lf
sr oemf
powder
at Purfieet for Devonport. The remainder of her
Mr. H. T. Moore, commander,
cargo consists
following
ofconsists n
guns,eeae &c., for Pembroke.
i l vessels have been chartered
bwytil:
w e laVr
ar
Department
materials—namely,t h
to loadte ma
fromr Woolwichfor
it
Davis,
f
theor the
Jeannette
Newfoundland;Mauritius
the Percy, for Hobart Town ; the
Adventure, for Sierra Leone ; the Gottenburg, for
Gibraltar ; and the Mermaid, for Auckland, New
Zealand.
a ritKiu
Her Majesty's iron paddlewheel steam vessel Ante-
lope, now ready for commission, went down the
river on Saturday from Woolwich, rigged and stored
for service, on a trial of her engines. The trial was
satisfactory.
The screw corvette PYlades, 21, 350 horse-power,
is ordered to be placed in the third division of the
steam reserve at Chatham, without any of her bulk-
heads or internal fittings being disturbed.
The Arethusa, 51, 500 horse-power, is ordered to
be removed from Chatham to Sheerness, as soon as
undocked, to be fitted and brought forward for

commission.
Her Majesty's 12 .gun
sloop Persian, Commander
Cecil W. Buckley, was paid off at Sheerness on Sa-
turday, after having been in commission nearly four
years, during which period she has been employed
principally in the eastern waters.
Her Majesty's screw liner Marlborough, 131,
Captain Stewart, C. 8., bound from Portsmouth for
the Mediterranean, bore up from the westward on
Thursday evening, and anchored at the back of
Pendennis Castle, Falmouth, where she remained on
south-west, and
Fwreiadtahye,r w, , it hi r
ttyh.e” wind from the
A statement appearing in The Sun of Friday
last of a conical 100 pounder shot, fired from Wool-
wich-marshes, having alighted in dangerous proxi-
mity
of to thethe
Roy
h ousaels
Arsenala t Barking,
, e desirous of rendering
in Essex, the autho-
ritiesan explanation of the occurrence. It took place in
the following manner :--A row of 14 Armstrong
and proceeding in rapid
guns was laid down according to the usual method,
to be tested in front of thepreoority. The day
proof butt, the firing
bth heaa n
ai tgd commencingtitrbed the slippery skid of No. 8 gun, giving
causing the charge
to
succession by the actionl
gof eletround wet, it is supposed
hse
showeryshock
afromonnd e thethe
d '
preceding seven then fired
it a slight elevation, and thus
take effect in the upper part of the butt, which,