The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-17 00:00:00

IHE NAVY.

The swinging of the Warrior for the adjustment
of her compasses has been carried out at Spithead
daring yesterday and Monday, under the direction
of Mr. F. J. 0. Evans, superintendent of compasses
to the Ilydrographic Department. She will make
her official trial of speed at the measured mile in
Stokes Bay this morning, should the weather be
favourable for the purpose.
Sir John Pakington embarked on Tuesday after-
noon, on board the Fire Queen, steam vessel,
Master Frederick W. Paul, from Portsmouth Dock-
yard, and proceeded to Spithead for the purpose of
visiting the Warrior.
Since the removal of the Warrior from the new
dock at Portsmouth, the blocks and flooring of the
dock have been examined, to ascertain whether the
weight of the ship had injured any portion of the
work. The blocks on the floor of the new portion
of the dock were aft. Gin. in height and were pressed
down by the weight of the ship to an average of
3ft. 21in. Since her removal the blocks have sprung
back to their original height from the floor, and not
the slightest injury could be observed to the stone_
work along their entire extent. The fore body of
the Warrior, it will be remembered, projected
considerably into the adjoining dock, passing over
two inverts, the latter being three feet above the

dock floor. Between the stone of the invert and

the vessel's keel, or the apex of her bottom, as she
is said to have no keel, there was only a 7-inch
wooden block, which was pressed down by the
ship's weight to 41 inches. The square of granite
under this block was known to be injured before
the ship was removed, and on being examined it
was found to be cracked and split and in parts pul-
verised by the force of the immense weight it had
to assist in supporting. There was not the slightest
appearance of sinking of the work, a satisfactory

proof of the efficient manner in which the piling
which supports the floor of the dock has been sunk.
The further progress in the construction of the
stern of the Royal Alfred, 50, iron-plated frigate,
building at Portsmouth, has been for the present
suspended by order of the Controller of the Navy.
It is said that the Admiralty have under their con-
sideration the advisubility of following the example
of the French marine in ships of the converted
class by doing away with the screw well.
This would necessarily strengthen greatly the
ship's stern. By adopting at the same
time the substitution of headless rudders
fixed forward of the screw, for the rudder in its
present position, another great weakness would be
removed, and both screw and rudder would be placed
in positions below the Rater-line, where no enemy's
shot could reaeh them, however long or close the
engagement might be. We believe a plan embrac-
ing both these objects, carried out in a very simple
manner, has been, or is about to be, submitted to the
Admiralty. Without doubt rudder-heads and outer
sternposts are the weakest points in steamships of

war as constructed at present.
The Russian Imperial corvette Novik, bearing the
flag of Rear-Admiral Popoff, arrived at the Mother-
bank at noon yesterday from Cronstadt, on her way
to the Amoor and Pacific.

The Edgar, 89, screw, Capt. G. P. Mends, flagship

of Rear-Admiral J. E. Erskine, was undocked at
Portsmouth yesterday, and berthed alongside the
dockyard to complete her refit. The Trafalgar, 86,
screw, Capt. J. B. Dickson, was afterwards placed,
during the same tide, in the dock from which the
Edgar had been removed.
The Wellesley, 72, guardship at Chatham, is being
dismantled in order that her present masts may be
removed and those of the Diamond, 27, substituted.
The officers' cabins and her internal fittings are
also being removed, as she is to be converted into a
training ship for boys and lads joining the Royal
navy. About 250 boys are to be sent on board, a
portion of whom have already arrived, and, in ad- ,
dition to the warrant-officers now attached to the
ship, some of the gunners from the Excellent train-
ing ship at Portsmouth will be transferred to the
Wellesley to superintend the instruction of the lads.
Notwithstanding that several hundred tons of stores
have been removed from the Wellesley to lesson
her draught of water, she still grounds at the neap
tides, the depth of water in that part of the harbour

being insufficient to allow her to swing with the tide.
The Rifleman, steam-vessel, of 200-hone power,
having been completely rebuilt at Deptford, is
ordered to be got ready for commission, to be em-
ployed on the surveying service.
The Trafalgar, 86, screw, Captain John B. Dick-
son, has turned her crew over to the Bellerophon,

receiving hulk, where they Will remain during the

time this ship is under repairs. She was taken into
No. 10 dock at Portsmouth this morning for the
purpose of being caulked and to make good defects.
About 600 water tanks which had been accumu-

lated at Chatham dockyard have been ordered to
be sent to the depot at Deptford. The tanks are
principally worn out, but some of them are capable
of being rendered again fit for service by repairs,
and they have been sent on shore at different times
from the vessels in this division. The number of
them has been somewhat reduced by several of the
transport vessels recently loading with them to con-
vey them to the establishment to which they had
been ordered to be sent, but in consequence of their

great bulk eaeh vessel can take but a small number,
and there are now probably about 360 remaining.
To-day, the Widgeon, paddle-wheel steam-vessel,
has arrived for the purpose of taking a number of
them on board, and she will commence loading at
the Anchor-wharf to-morrow.
The new Greek frigate Amalia, Capt. Palascas,
which was built in the Thames, and called at Ply-
mouth to undergo some slight repairs in her ma-
chinery, left the Sound finally on Tuesday for Athens.
Another trial trip of the engines and machinery
of the screw steam corvette Orestes, 21, Capt. Alan
Gardener, was made at Plymouth on Tuesday. The
experiment having proved unsatisfactory, she will
not leave for the Cape of Good Hope until further
alterations are made. The gunboat Handy, Lieut.
John H. Glover, which has been detained to go
under escort of the Orestes, sailed from Plymouth
on Tuesday for her destination—Sierra Leone.
VALETTA, Oct. 12.—The screw line-of-battle ship
Hannibal, 89 guns, Capt. Farquhar (bearing the flag
of Rear-Admiral George Rodney Mundy, C. 8.),
arrived on the 7th inst. from Beyrout, which place

she left on the 30th ult. The Rear-Admiral having
been
granted two months' leave of absence by the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for the re-
covery, of his health, will proceed immediately to
England.
Capt. Mason, of the Caesar, remains at
Beyrout, as
tsenioorwofficer on that station. The Eng-
lish vessels
er
shnseurletexpeeting orders to quit the
coast of
Syriahaneously with the French
and Russian
squadrons. Her Majesty's screw
steam troopship Himalaya, Captain J. Sec-
combo, reached this islandon the Bth instant.
After disembarking. Ler troops,C., for this garri-
son she left for Corfu on the 91.1:inst., taking with
her the following passengers:-
Me
Wardell, E. Woolcombe, Stirling, is.
W.H.
56 sailors: It i 9 Carey,
I.
Newton, J. Sudden, and
that Admiral Mundy on her retuirBn ernbatk
reported
in her for England, returning to theMediterra
via Trieste, at the expiration of his term of leavn:ait
Mediterranean
is also said that the Hannibal, on completing her
refit here, proceed to Corfu, where Admiral
Mundy Fill meet her, and again hoist his flag on
board of this ship, and take command of a squadron
to be stationed there, on the withdrawal of the
ships now on the coist of Syria. Her Majesty's
gunboats Mohawk, 4, Commander E. H. Heyward,
and Assurance, 4, Commander C. M. Aynsley,
have both left for England, to be paid off. The
former took her departure on the 6th, and
the latter on the 9th instant. The screw line-of-
battle ship Orion, 91, Capt. W. C. De Vere, also
left for England on the Bth inst , to be paid off;
and the paddlewheel steam frigate Terrible, 21,
Capt, F. H. H. Glasse, C. 13., left on the same day
with 'provisions and a mail for the fleet at Naples
der_ine,,t,ol.l:_mare
and e
and despatches for the Comman-
K.c.Br'.l2;e Vice-Admirall Sir W. F. Martin,
the /ran only English ships of war in port are
G. R. muiZ,Zicreeg the flag of Rear-Admiral
bearing the gigot IZre Hibernia, receiving ship,
4*.Admiral H. J. Codrin g ton,
C.B. ; the Wanderer,
h
Hearty, tug. General Sir James
Supply, 2; and the
es Outram, K.C.8.,
who is on a tour
t for the benaefi of his health, left

this island on the 7th inst. on board the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's steamship Ellora, for
Alexandria, it being the intention of ,he gallant
general to try the mild climate of Cairo during the
ensuing winter, thence to proceed on a visit to
Constantinople and other Easte- cities. The
newly-appointed Swedish and No_ wegian Consul,
Mr. Ole Munk Rheder, arrived here a few days
ago from Sweden, by the French steamer, via Italy.
No successor has yet been appointed to the late
Chevalier Ross, Netherlands Consul, whose death
took place some weeks since. The screw steamer
Berwick, Capt. Cowle, belonging to Messrs. Glasse,
Elliott, and Co., which left Malta on the 3d inst.,
returned to this island yesterday at 1 p.m., after
having made an ineffectual attempt to repair the
Malta and Corfu Telegraph. The fault, or broken
end of the cable, was picked up at the spot indicated
by the testing five nautical miles from the shore in
the Bay of San Gordi, Corfu, in 175 fathoms water.
On sounding, however, a short distance beyond the
fault no bottom was obtained at 425 fathoms. It
was therefore found impossible to continue the
operations for the repair of the cable with any
probability of success. It has been decided to re-
cover as much cable as possible from the Malta
end, and the work will be commenced on Monday
next. On its completion the old cables between
Malta and Marseilles and Cagliari will also be
picked up. Tha gutta percha core of the cable
was found to be in an excellent state of preserva-
tion, but the outer wires, where the cables lay in
black mud, were very much corroded and worn
away by oxidation.

The directors of the London and Dover Railway
Company despatched their last new vessel, the
Maid of Kent, a few days ago down the river to
the Nore, for the especial purpose of testing the
most effectual method of unlashing, lowering, and
disengaging boats in cases of emergency. The
decision was in favour of the plan by which the
unlashing and adapting the boat for the free use
of the oars are the acts of a single man, simply
disengaging both ends of the boat when near
the water. The officers of the company in
their report of the trials having expressed
their satisfaction of the Admiralty recommendation
as well as that of the Government Emigration Com-
missioners, in favour of this method of lowering
boats, have signified their intention of introducing

the same throughout their line.
A set of Ward's ocean telegraph lamps for night
signals was yesterday despatched from Woolwich
for service on board her Majesty's Coastguardship
Hogue at Greenock, in order to initiate the crews
in the new system of transmitting messages from
ship to ship at sea.
In removing the new fortifications at the
entrance to the Medway some delay has been
experienced in consequence of the great diffi.
culty in clearing away the foundations of the old
works. The batteries now in course of demolition
are believed to have been erected nearly two cen-
turies ago, and are of enormous strength, the brick-
work in some instances measuring as much as
15 feet in thickness. Notwithstanding these ob-
stacles, however, the new foundations are making
rapid progress, the Government being desirous of
having this portion of the ifortifications completed
before the frosts set in. As soon as the concrete
foundations have boen completed and the substruc-
ture finished the front wall of the largest battery

will be commenced. The exterior wall is to be 12
feet in thickness. This battery will not only pos-
sess complete magazine accommodation for powder
and every conceivable kind of projectile, but suffi-
cient barrack spaee for at least 1,000 men. It will
mount the heaviest description of Armstrong guns,
which will not only command the centre line of the
rather difficult channel which all kinds of craft are
compelled to keep in entering the Medway, but will
act by a series of cross firEs, with the guns mounted

on the batteries now in course of construction on

the opposite or western shore of the estuary, which
is here rather more than one mile in width. The
casemated fort on the extreme left of the fortifica-
tions:will mount 40 100-pounder Armstrong guns,
supplied with every description of projectile, includ-
ing solid, case, and grape shot, as well as common
diaphragm and Martin's lipid iron shells. When the
whole of the fortifications, both on the sea and land

side, now decided upon have been completed the

naval and military establishments at Chatham, as
as well as those at Sheerness, will be circumvented
by a chain of forts and batteries of great magni-
tude, extending for a number of miles, and mount-
ing an armament as formidable as it will be destruc-
tive.

The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty ; Lieut. the Hon. C. D. R. H. Tracy,
to the Excellent ; Lieut. Noel S. F. Digby, to the
Warrior ; Wm. Mayes, master, to the Mars; Samuel
R. Brumage, John M'Pherson, and Wm. Bremner,
second-class assistant engineers, to the Doris, con-
firmed.