The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-03 00:00:00

THE NAVY•

A Board of Admiralty, consisting of the Duke of
;;omerset, First Lord; Mr. Whitbread, M.P., Capt.
Drummond, Lord Clarence Paget, Secretary to the
Board, and Capt. Moore, Secretary to the First
Lord ; Admiral Robinson, Controller of the Navy ;
Col. Greene, Director of Engineering and Architec-
tural Works ; and Sir Richard Mayne, Chief Com-
missioner of the Metropolitan Police, yesterday
made their annual visitation of Deptford victualling
and dockyards. They were received by Capt. Claude
H. M. Buckle, C. 8., superintendent of the yards ;
Mr. Jameson, storekeeper; Mr. Wilkinson, store-
receiver ; Mr. Bowley, superintendent of the trans-
port service ; and the heads of departments in the
Victoria victualling-yard. The Board arrived in a
body from London. They commenced their inspec-
tion at half-past 11 and continued it till nearly 3
o'clock. The Board visited in succession the ships
under construction and repair, and approved various
suggestions made by the Captain-Superintendent to
meet the exigencies of modern shipbuilding. The
manufacturing branches of the victualling depart-
ment naturally absorbed a great portion of the
Board's attention. They examined the new build-
ings erected since the outbreak of the Crimean war,
which constitute a huge manufactory, consisting of
extensive flour and oatmeal mills, biscuit bakeries,
chocolate mills, pepper and mustard mills, and a
medical laboratory. They also visited the rum stores
which have lately been supplied with 340 new vats,
one of which contains 30,000 gals. of spirits. They
next inspected the general stores on the wharf, the
cooperage, the new marine stores in process of con-
struction, the salt meet magazines, the extensive
slaughtering and curing stores, &c. When the in-
spection concluded, at 3 o'clock, they expressed
their unqualified approbation of the mode in which
the establishment is conducted.

The paddlewheel steamvessel Valorous, 16, Capt.
William C. Oldham, C. 8., which arrived from the
West Indies at Spithead on Wednesday, entered
Plymouth Sound yesterday morning. After she has
discharged her powder and the crew have been in-
spected, the Valorous will go up Hamoaze and be
stripped, and then placed in the third division of
the steam ordinary.
The Herald, 8, which has recently returned from
her surveying expedition in the Pacific, is ordered
to be fitted and prepared at Chatham for service in
Shore'oam-harbour, where she is to be stationed, by
direction of the Admiralty, to be used as a chapel,
lecture-room, &c., for the seamen frequenting that
port. The Rey. E. Clay has received the appoint-
ment of chaplain.

THE ARMY.

--

Yesterday Ensign Hume, 54th Regiment, with a
party of men belonging to the 9th Depot Battalion,
left Colchester camp and proceeded to Hythe for
the customary course of
~training in the School of
_Musketry.

Col. the Hon. A. Gordon, C. 8., commandant of
Colchester camp, has leave of absence until the end
of the present month, and the command of the
troops at that station has devolved upon Col. Dixon,
C. 8., of the 9th Depot Battalion. Col. Grey, 6th
Fusiliers, is expected to enter upon his duties as
commandant early in the ensuing month, when Col.
the Hon. A. Gordon will also enter upon hii new
appointment at the Curragh camp.
Col. Hadden, commanding the Royal Engineers
of the eastern district, having been appointed to the
command of the Royal Engineers in Ceylon, his
Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief has or-
dered Capt. Clarke, R.E., to assume the temporary
command of that department in the Eastern District
until a senior officer for the corps has been selected.
Since the removal of the headquarters from Har-
wich to Colchester, Capt. Clarke has been second in
command.

The new works of defence at E istney, near Ports-
mouth, just commenced by Messrs. Smith, the con-
tractors, will consist of two 12-gun batteries, some
distance apart, connected by a curtain, with a wet
ditch in front, the old fort at Eastney being nearly
the centre of the position. At the outer angle of
each battery will be a cavalier bastion, mounting
one of the heaviest of the Armstrong guns, domi-
nating over the entire front and flanks of the works.
In the rear will be constructed a military road,
forming a junction with the highway, which runs
at present from Lumps Fort to Eastney-lane, and
will be carried on to the road on the western glacis
of Cumberland Fort. The new barracks for the
Royal Marine Artillery will be erected in the gorge
of the work. It being part of the plan to enclose
them with ditch and parapet from the eastern and
western batteries they will, as it were, form an in-
tegral part of the new defensive lines. The proxi-
mity of the new works to high watermark will neces-
sitate the continuation of the groins now in course of
construction in front of Lump Fort, along the re-
maining portion of sea-beach past Eastney to Fort
Camberland. With Eastney works completed, the
line of beach between the entrances to Portsmouth
and Langton harbours will be studded with fortifi-
cations which, with the shoal water of some parts,
will render it unapproachable from the sea.

The wrought iron Horsfall gun which was removed
a short time since from its position near Southsea
Castle, has been placed on bulks of timber above
high water mark, under the Old Fort at Eastney in
readiness for practice. It is intended to treble-shot
the gun, and charge it with 101 b. of powder each
time it is loaded.

Eight additional 12-pounder Armstrong fleldguns
hare been received at Portsmouth from Woolwich,
for
_p.ractice and drill service at Fort Cumberland.
The 12-pounder mounted Armstrong battery, un-
der the command of Lieut.-Col. Turner, stationed at
Hilsea, have Commenced their Course of target prac-
tice from Southsea.common, firing seawards. The
practice made has been superb.
The following officers have been awarded the good
service pensions at the disposalciffor of his Royal High-
ness the Commander-in- distinguished and
meritorious service performed bl
y them
in the army:
—Major-Gen. L. A. Hall, Royal
Engineers
; Capt.
S. Brannan, late Quartermaster, 60th Rifles; Capt.
S. Goddard, late Quartermaster, 14th Regiment •
and Capt. C. Grant, late Quartermaster, 23dRova;
Welsh Fusiliers. The three last mentioned officers
were engaged at Waterloo.
Some further trials were made at St.Mary'sCreek,
Chatham, yesterday and on the previous day, for
purpose of testing the floating powers of the pon-
toons recently invented by Capt. F. rowke , Royal
Engineers. The experiments, which were watched
with peat interest, were undertaken in the presence
of Col. Harness, C. 8., director of the Royal Engi-
neer Establishment, and other officers of the Royal
and Indian Engineers. They were carried out un-
der the direction of Major Lovell, C. 8., chief instruc-
tor of fieldworks at Chatham, the object being to
ascertain the maximum weight that could be sus-
tained by Gen. Pasley's, Gen. Blanshard's, and
Capt. Fowke's pontoons when tried separatety. The
pontoons known as Blanshard's, which are those
generally used throughout the service, are cylindri-
cally shaped, and can be made of either zinc or tin.
Although their floating powers are very considerable,
their unwieldy size and the difficulty experienced
in transporting them from one point to another—
which with an army in the field would of course
be immensely increased—will always prove a
serious drawback to their use, while, being air and
water-tight, a shot penetrating the metal would
render them almost, if not altogether, useless. One
n,, these pontoons during these experiments on
Thursday bore a weight of rather more than I
which was the utmost strain it was con-
side red safe
to place upon it. 1.711 e pontoons in-
vented by the late Gen.
Sir C. Po sky are made of
eliper, and F,
hap,,nl some-what like aboat, which
in
Ke •,r,:nee they very numb resemble. An improve-
nwnt lately been eff
ing the framing
of
e,cieeted in the mode of arrang-
„rtyorrtoon„ on which the
che,*:,es," n. or strain L°rn mg. the -pontoon-bridge,
arc placed. with the best • re3ults, the floating
powers being rendered some h
w at greater, while
there is now less fear of these .ktind sof pontoons
suddenly turning over than formerily th
eir want of
steadiness when in the water b.pint; one of the rea-
sons which led to the Pasley pontoons being re-
jected for general use in the s ervioe. The trials
made at Chatham, however, p Tove‘l that, apart
f _P alley
from the drawback mentioned, o 13011.