The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-15 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

The Duke of Somerset, as First Lord of the Ad-
miralty, held a levee yesterday at the Admiralty.
The Princess Royal, 91, screw steamer, Capt. C.
Fellowes,went out of Portsmouth harbour yesterday
morning to Spithead, where she will take in her
powder and shell prior to proceeding to Devonport.
On clearing the harbour channel she saluted the
flag of the commander-iu-chief with 15 guns, the Vic-
tory replying with seven. The ship is far from being
so well manned as she might have been. Numbers
of good men have been deterred from joining her by
the large number of indifferent hands who have
been sent to her from other ports. During the ship's
passage to Spithead the starboard quarter boat,
fitted with Clifford's patent lowering gear, was
lowered while the ship was under steam for the
purpose of testing its performance, which was very
satisfactory.
The Marlborough, 131, screw, Captain W. H.
Stewart, C. 8., at Portsmouth, is ordered to be fitted
with fore and mizen wire rigging. Her main lower
rigging was fitted with wire when she received her
original outfit prior to leaving England for the
Mediterranean. The orderly manner of the crew
of this ship and their seamanlike appearance as they
move about the dockyard, each party in charge of
an officer, returning stores, has excited a good deal
of favourable comment.

Bills are posted in the vicinity of the dockyard
gates at Portsmouth, inviting petty officers and
able seamen to enter for service on board the Great
Eastern steamship, offering £4 per month to the
former and £3 ss. per month to the latter, and
stating where an officer can be fonnd in daily atten-
dance to ship men. The notification significantly
concludes with—" men-of•war's men preferred."
The Elfin, Royal paddle yacht, has been taken
into the steam basin of Portsmouth dockyard to
receive new boilers, and also very extensive repairs
to her machinery.
The first step towards employing the convicts at
Chatham in remunerative manual labour, accord-
ing to the plan submitted some time since to the
Home Secretary, has just been taken by the
authorities charged with the administration of the
convict department of the public service, who have
decided on having several hundreds of the pri-
soners now working on St. Mary's Island, adjoin-
ing Chatham Dockyard, taught the art of brick-
making on the island, where a clay, suitable
for the manufacture of bricks, has been dis-
covered. The services of a person competent to in-
struct the men in this branch of industry have been
obtained, and it is intended that the bricks thus
made shall be used on the works in connexion
with the enlargement of Chatham dockyard. A
number of the convicts are also to be employed in
the erection of a public landing-place and jetty at
Gillingham, under the superintendence of Mr.
Macdonald, C.E., in lieu of the present pier, which
will be taken in by the Admiralty in the proposed
enlargement of the Chatham dockyard. A day or
two since Lord Chief Justice Erie paid a visit to
the convict prison, St. Mary's, over which he was
conducted by Capt. Powell, his lordship making
particular inquiries respecting the causes which
led to the late mutinies, and the nature of the
discipline maintained in the establishment.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—William Todmer, second-class
assist.-engineer to the Hero ; William Smith,
second-class assist.-engineer to the Indus, for charge
of the Goldfinch ; and James H. Ferguson and
John H. Bradshaw, acting third-class assist.-
engineers, to the Indus,!as supernumeraries ; Chas.
Lawrence, Edward Comley, Robert Phillips, and
John Plowright, acting third-class assist.-engineers
to the Asia, as supernumeraries ; Frederick 0.
Powell, midshipman to the Conqueror; W. B.
Goldsmith, second master to the Rollo ; W. H.
Willing, second master to the Cockatrice ; Jesse
Dixson, second master to the Dasher ; and Peter
M. Roe, assist.-surgeon to the Ajax.