The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-18 00:00:00

TilE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET.

VALETTA, MARCH 11.
During the past week there has been a great
gathering of our ships of war in this port. Her
Majesty's ship Neptune, 90 guns, Capt. F. A. Camp-
bell, and the frigate Terrible, 21, Captain F. H. H.
Glasse, C. 8., arrived here on the 4th instant, the
former from the Piraeus, Zante, and Corfu, and the
latter from Messina. On the following day the
Hannibal, 91 (bearing the flag of Rear-
Admiral G. R. Mundy, C. 8.), Captain A.
Farquhar ; the James Watt, 91, Captain
E. Codd ; the Cressy, 80, Captain T. Harvey ; and
the gunboat Mohaw k,4, Commander E. H. Howard,
hove in sight from Naples, and came in during the
day. The Hannibal communicated with Messina,
and left there her Majesty's ship Victor Emmanuel,
91, Captain W. J. C. Clifford. Admiral Sir T.
Cochranet G.C.8., and Lady Cochrane were passen-
gers on board the Hannibal. These vessels, with
those then in port, formed a fleet of seven line-of-
battle ships, two frigates, two gunboats, and two
surveying-ships, besides the receiving-ship Hibernia
' and tug Hearty. The Mars 80, Capt. J. N. Strange,
has since taken her departure for Messina. On the
7th inst. Vice-Admiral Fanshawe Martin, the naval
Commander-in-Chief on this station, transferred his
flag from the Caesar to the Neptune. It is reported
that the Caesar and Algiers will leave for Corfu in
a day or two, and that Rear-Admiral Dacres, at
present holding the post of Captain of the Fleet,
will hoist his flag on the former vessel, and take
the command of a squadron to cruise in the Adri-
atic. The Algiers, it is said, is to change her cap-
tain. By the last accounts from Corfu there were
in that port the London, 90, Captain H. Chads ; the
Orion, 91, Captain J. B. E. Frere, the Agamemnon,
91, Captain T. Hope ; and the Queen, 86, Captain
C. F. Hillyar. It was rumoured that the Queen
had been ordered to proceed to Fiume.
Here it is said that Rear-Admiral Mundy will in
a week or two leave for the Coast of Syria, but that
the James Watt and the Cressy will remain at
Malta for the present.
The Medina surveying-ship, Captain T. A. B.
Spratt, C. 8., will take her departure in a day or
two to complete the survey for the intended sub-
mersion of an electric cable between Malta and
Alexandria. It is expected she will be absent about
a month, and may possibly proceed to Alexandria
before her return. The gunboat Mohawk, having
on board Messrs. Ford and Laws, telegraph engi-
neers, who have been sent out by Government to
make preparations for laying this cable, has just
left for Tripoli and Bengazi, for the purpose of
selecting a landing-place.
The Terrible, frigate, Captain F. H. H. Glasse,
C. 8., has been fitted for the reception of Lord
Elgin, our Ambassador and Plenipotentiary in
China, who is on his way home. She is to embark
his lordship at Alexandria, and to convey him to
Trieste, his lordship having, it said, selected tha
route.

Her Majesty's gunboat Lapwing, 4, Commander
M. F. O'Reilly, has beets some time looked for
from Candia, and is hourly expected.
There has been a good many cases of sickness on
board the Cressy. The complaint appears to be the
same as that which manifested itself some time ago
on board the St. Jean d'Acre, and of which a few
eases also occurred on board the Cressy about the
same time. There has also been a case of small-
pox on board this ship, and a fresh case of this
disease on board the Liffey. With these excep-
tions, I believe the sanitary condition of the crews
of the different ships is generally good.
The American steam corvette Susquehanna, Capt.
G. N. Hollins, which came in on the 28th ult. from
Alexandria and Tripoli, left on the 6th inst. for
Messina. During her stay the several watches
were allowed to go on shore, which is not usual
with American men of war visiting Malta. The
officer in command had no reason to regret his con-
fidence in the men, for they all returned to their
ship in
proper time and in an orderly manner.
Several soldiers belonging to the 3d Buffs and the
22d Regiment, in garrison, attempted to desert to
her, but were discovered, and are now in custody.
A fatal boat accident occurred on the night of
the 4th inst. Twelve seamen were going off from
the Custom-house mole to their ship, the Liffey.
As unfortunately is too often the case, some of
the men were the worse for liquor, and the boat
got capsized. The accident happened when they
had arrived near the American frigate, and great
credit is due to the officer on watch of this ship
for the promptness with which he manned a boat
and hastened to the assistance of the drowning
men. He succeeded in saving the lives of nine of
the sailors and the two Maltese boatmen. The
other three English seamen were drowned. Two
of the bodies, those of James Norman and John
Sullivan, were recovered on the following morning.
The body of the third man, Henry Erickson, has
not yet been found.
Her 'Majesty's ships at present in port are—The
Neptune,
90 (flag of Vice-Admiral Fanshawe Mar-
tin); the Hannibal, 91 (flag of Rear-Admiral G. R.
Mundy, C. 8.); the Hibernia (flag of Rear-Admiral
H. J. Codrington) ; the Algiers, 91; the Ctesar, 90;
the Cressy, 80; and the James Watt, 91 ; the fri-
gates Liffey, 51, and Terrible, 21; the surveying/

ships Medina, 4, and Firefly, 4; the gunboat Quail,
2; and the tug Hearty. We have also in port the
Dutch corvette Cyclops, Capt T. R. Toewallir,
which arrived yesterday from Alexandria on her
way to Port Mahon.

P.S.—Her Majesty's frigate Terrible has just le
port for Alexandria.

2'llE ARMY.

The following circular memorandum, addressed
to the army at home, and signed by the Hon. Sir
James Yorke Scarlett, K.C.8., Adjutant-General
of the Forces, together with the annexed General
Regimental Order of the Royal Artillery, signed
(by command of his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cambridge), by Colonel Charles Bingham, Deputy-
Adjutant-General, Royal Artillery, were on Satur-
day published at Woolwich, from the Horse
Guards :
" The following extracts from the regulations for
the management of recruit barracks, which have
been circulated to the inspecting field officers of
recruiting districts, are promulgated for the infor-
mation and guidance of officers commanding regi-
ments and depots. viz. :—An uniform charge of ld.
is to be made against each recruit, without reference
to the time he may remain in barracks, to cover
the cost of general barrack damages. Where, how-
ever, wilful damage has been committed which can
be traced to an individual, it is to be made a charge
against him, if approved by the inspecting field
officer, subsequently to his joining his regiment.
On the arrival of recruits at their depot the Deputy-
Adjutant will inquire of each recruit, in the pre-
sence of the conducting-sergeant, whether he has
received the full amount of his pay—viz., ls.—
since he left the last district, exclusive of his bed
and board, en route."

According to orders yesterday issued at Bromp-
ton Barracks, the 15th Company of Royal Engi-
neers, under the command of Capt. J. P. Maquay
and Lieut. J. J. Robertson, will leave head-quarters
this morning, and proceed to the Curragh Camp,
where it relieves the 31st Company, under the com-
mand of Capt. A. B. Fyers. The 31st Company is
expected to arrive at Chatham garrison to-morrow,
in order to be raised to its full complement of 100
non-commissioned officers and men prior to embark-
ing for service in the Mediterranean, relieving one
of the companies of Royal Engineers now doing
duty at Malta. The 4th Company, under the com-
'mand of Capt. H. W. H. D. Dumaresq, has been
placed under orders to proceed to Dover to relieve the
30th Company, which has also received orders to em-
bark for the Mediterranean, bat no day has been
named for the 4th Company to leave Chatham.
The two Companies of Royal Engineers which
return to England from the Mediterranean are the

stand 9th, their term of foreign service having
expired. The 2d, 4th, 15th, and 32d companies of
Royal Engineers have been inspected at head-quar-
ters by Major-Gen. Eyre, commanding the district,
when each company was found to be in a highly
efficient state. In accordance with orders received
from the :Deputy-Adjt.-Gen. of the Royal Engi-
neers, the 35th and 36th Companies, together with
the 37th and 38th Companies, about being raised,
are to be formed into four depot companies. The
35th Company is now at Chatham, and the 36th
Company has been ordered to join head-quarters
from Portsmouth, where it will be relieved by the
18th Company, in order to be attached to the depot.
The detachment of the Bth Battalion of the
Royal Artillery which has for sonme•time been sta-
tioned at Horfield Barracks, Bristol, embarked on
board the Gipsy steamer for Waterford on Wed-

nesday last. On the followday day a brigade of
' the Royal Artillery arrived at Horfield to take the
place of the Bth Battalion.
Col. R. K. Dawson, C. 8., Royal Engineers, head
of the Survey Department of the Tithe and Com-

mons Enclosure Commission, is, we regret to learn,
lying dangerously ill at his residence at Blackheath.

He is suffering from congestion of the lungs,