The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-27 00:00:00

THE NAP Y.

From a Malta correspondent we have received
the following letter, dated Valetta, May 21 :

" Her Majesty's gunboat Weser, Commander A. John-
stone, arrived on the 18th inst. from Plymouth and Algiers,
and the gunboat Mohawk, Commander E. H. Howard, came
in on the following day, from Corfu. Her Majesty's ships
in port are the Liffey, 51; the Hibernia, receiving ship ; the
St. Jean d'Acre, 101; the Racoon, 22; the Gannet, 11; the
Medina, 4, surveying ship; the Scourge, 6; the Weser, 6;
the Mohawk, 4 ; the Intrepid, 6 ; and the tug Hearty.

" By the Mohawk accounts have been received from Corfu
to the 17th inst. A letter of that date says :
" ' The General Commanding, Sir G. Buller, TLC 33., left
for the Southern Islands on the 15th for his tour of inspec-
tion. of the troops stationed there. The Lord High Com-
missioner has been indisposed lately, and has not yet made
his tour to the islands. The harbour at present is occupied
by the Caesar, Agamemnon, London, Orion, and the Victor
Emmanuel, liners, which last vessel steamed in yesterday
afternoon. We have also the gunboat Mohawk here, but
she leaves to-day with a mail for your island. Everything
is perfectly quiet.'
"By recent advices from Sicily I learn that several acts
of piracy have lately been committed on that coast by
armed speronaras. Two cases occurred the week before
last, one off Girgenti and the other in the vicinity of Tra-
pani, when every portable article of value was carried away,
even to the clothing off the sailors' backs. The mode of
attack is to board ships becalmed. One of the vessels
lately robbed in this manner belonged to Messrs. Ingham
1 and Co., of Marsala. At this season of the year large sums
of money are forwarded from Malta to the wine factories to
meet the vintage expenses, which fact seems to be well
known to these bandits ; one vessel, having a large number
of dollars on boar 1, had a very narrow escape. With the
vi.w of ringing' a stop to these lawless proceedings, instruc-
tions, I am informed, have been despatches from the naval
Commander-in-Chief to the commanding officer of her Ma-
jesty's gunboat Boxer, now lying at Marsala, to cruise
occasionally along the shore, and capture, if possible, the
piratical craft engaged in these nefarious practices."
By advices received from Trieste, dated the 20th
inst., we have received further reports of the voyage
of the Royal yachts, under the command of Capt.
Denman, from Madeira to Trieste, with the Empress
of Austria and suite. At 5 p.m. on the 13th, these
vessels entered the harbour at Malta. At 8 a.m. on
the 14th, the Osborne left Malta for Corfu, followed
three hours later by the Victoria and Albert. At
9.30 a.m. of Saturday, the 18th of May, they reached
Trieste. Twenty miles from Trieste the Royal yacht
was met by a small yacht having on board the Em-
peror of Austria, who at once repaired on board
and joined the Empress. A grand display was
made at Trieste by the Austrian authorities. The
Empress presented the sum of £l,OOO to the crews
of the Victoria and Albert and Osborne, for distri-
bution among them. Both yachts commenced coal-
ing on Monday last, the 20th inst., and were to sail
for England on the following morning. The perfor-
mance of the machinery of both vessels since leav-
ing England has been of a most satisfactory cha-
racter. They may be expected to arrive at Spit-
head in about 14 days from this date.
His Majesty Leopold 1., King of the Belgians,
and the Prince Consort, accompanied by his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, the Prince Louis of
Hesse, and the Count of Flanders, visited on Satur-
day the new lines of defence now in course of erec-
tion for the protection of the western side of Ports--
mouth harbour and dockyard.
Rear-Admiral J. E. Erskine's division of the
Channel fleet, now lying at Spithead, comprising
the Edgar, 91, screw, Capt. G. P. Mends (flag); the
Donegal, 101, screw, Capt. S. Osborn, C.B. ; the
Hero, 91, screw, Capt. A. P. Ryder ; the Flying
Fish, 6, screw, Commander W. H. Anderson ; and
the Diadem, 32, screw, Capt. J. H. Cockburn, have
received their orders for sea, and are expected to
sail from Spithead on the termination of the courts
martial now being held on board her Majesty's ship
Victory at Portsmouth.
The following named hired freightships are now
embarking guns, shot, and other army stores from
the military department of Woolwich Arsenal for
British naval stations abroad—namely, the Queen,

the Hero of the Nile, the steamship Gibraltar, the
Heather Bell, the Tartar, the Emulous, the Cissy,
the Salvia, the Priscilla, the Bengal, the Orient,
the British Tar, and the Alfred Villery.
The Challenger, 17, screw steam vessel, Capt. J.
J. Kennedy, C. 8., which was recently commissioned
at Sheerness for the West India, North America,
station, having received her full complement of
men and taken on board two 100 lb. Armstrong
guns, will, according to present instructions, leave
Sheerness for her destination, in the early part of
the week.

The Orestes, 21 guns, steam corvette, 400 horse
power, has been placed in the hands of the riggers
at Sheerness dockyard, orders having been received
for her to be rigged without delay, and placed in
the first division of the steam reserve at Sheerness.
The hired troopship A; and Woolwich
Arsenal dNeao.helrBpiansstehne.
g
transport service, arrived alongside'
ers a n
d Majesty's
e portion
oor nti
oSna tosuferrhdeeawr cargo from China.
steam storeship 'Wye,
Her y
Master Commander Roberts, newly fitted out for
service, went down to Woolwich on Saturday from
Deptford, laden with victualling stores for Rin
and Ascension, and after coaling she will be
sail without delay for
andejrudsetesdtinatatGiorne.enhithe, and

T 21, screw, Capt. Heath, steamed
into Portsmouth
lig
PortismhoflrluYtehHarbour yesterday from Spithead,
and has unbent sails and sent down light spars, in
process of dismantling to pay off.
The Adventure screw troopship, lately paid off
at Portsmouth by Commander E. Lacey, on her re-
turn from service in China, left Portsmouth on
Saturday, in tow of the Lucifer steamer, for Wool-
wich, where she is ordered to be repaired and re-
ceive her machinery.
The Duncan,es es
m herlol , cre
'iv, Mr. Barr chief engi-
neer,
experimental trials at
resumes
screws
Portsmouth this morning with a three bladed pro-
peller, with its leading edges taken off. The
Euryalus, 51, screw, at the same port, will make
her official trial of speed to-morrow.
The line-of-battle ship Bombay, 81, after having
been several months in dock at Chatham under-
going the process of conversion from a sailing
ship to a screw steamer, was undocked on Saturday
afternoon and placed alongside the sheer-hulk to
receive her engines and machinery. While the
Bombay was in dock she was cut asunder amid-
ships and lengthened 33ft. 9in., and was also
lengthened aft by an addition of 12ft. She has
been completed in the strongest possible manner,
and is now the finest 81 gun line-of-battle screw
steamer in the British navy. The Bombay is to be
immediately fitted with a pair of 400-horse power
engines, by Messrs. Humphreys, Tennant and Co.,
a portion of her machinery having been fixed on
board during the time she was in dock. Below the
water-line she is covered with Muntz's patent
metal. It is understood that the Bombay will be
the last of the line-of-battle sailing ships which will
be converted to screw steamers, the Admiralty
having determined on having in future only a few
of the modern 50 gun sailing frigates of the Nan-
kin class so treated.
Her Majesty's line-of-battle screw steamer Cressy,
81, Capt. T. Harvey, was paid off at Sheerness on
Saturday, after having been in commission three
years. She is to be placed in the third-class steam
reserve at Chatham.
The Chatham yacht, tender to the Wellesley, 72,
at Chatham, was taken off the gridiron at Chatham
dockyard on Saturday, having had defects in her
copper made good. She has been supplied with an
entirely new mast, as well as spars and rigging.
This remarkable vessel is about 200 years old, and
is believed to have been built at Chatham during
the Protectorate.. The dockyard records show that
she underwent a thorough repair and alteration
about 120 years ago, at which time she was consi-
dered an old vessel. She is still in excellent condi-
tion and fit for the service on which
were
she
made on Satur-
day
is e mp I oy e d
The following appointmen
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. John D. A. Irvine
t o the Cygnet; Lieut. A. R. Gordon to the Marl-
borough ; Richard P.
O
Edgar ; James Inirie Trhtoomn,asn aGv.alsacandtdeer,s,toJohn
Hag, Charles Hill, John D. Wood, Samuel

Broad, Robert Jago, William Vincent ; William
Green, Richard Green, John R. Eckroyd, and
John Keith, acting second- class assist.-engineers, to
the Princess Royal as additional for disposal ; K.
L. Sutherland, paymaster additional to the Colossus;
F. Mundy, paymaster additional to the Cornwallis;
A. Speed, paymaster additional to the Hawke ; J.
D. Gilpin, paymaster additional to the Russell ; R.
E. Malone, paymaster to the Dauntless ; and E.
Waymouth, assistant-paymaster to the Blenheim.