The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-27 00:00:00

TILE NAVY.

Yesterday being the birthday of his Royal High-
ness the Prince Consort salutes were fired at all the
dockyards and naval stations.
Her Majesty's iron paddlewheel steam vessel
Antelope, Lieut.-Commander C. 0. D. Allingham,
sailed from her moorings at Greenhithe on Sunda;,
having been provided with her powder that morn-
ing by a special Admiralty order, in order to expe-
dite her departure, in consequence of the increasing
traffic in slaves on the West Coast of Africa, her
destination. She arrived at Spithead yesterday

morning.
The War Department steamer Lord Panmure, H.
T. Moore, commander, has sailed from Woolwich
for Bull's Point and Devonport, with a cargo of
Armstrong guns and projectiles. She took in tow
the Thames barge, laden with armaments for Dunge-
ness.

The following ships have been chartered by the
Board of Admiralty for the service of the War De-
partment, and have commenced shipping stores from
Woolwich, as follows :—The Mermaid, for Auck-
land; the Great Britain, for Quebec; the St. Croix,
for Honduras ; the Dorothy, for Simon's Town ; the
Finella, for Colombo ; the Gulielma, for Halifax ;
the Willie and the Tartar, for Malta; the Spirit of
the Wind, for Bahamas ; the Contest, for Bermuda ;
the Violet, for Hong Kong ; and the steamer Cadiz,
for Gibraltar,
No. 10 dock at Portsmouth harbour, after seven
years' continuous labour, has at length been com-
pleted. By its junction with No. 7 steam basin dock
the new dock forms an entrance from the harbour
to the steam basin, and of much easier access and
greater depth of water than the original entrance
at the north corner of the dockyard. The sections
of the two docks at their point of junction are, how-
ever, of very different proportions, the width of
No. 10, at its broad altar, being 80 feet, while
that of No. 7 is only 72ft. 3in., the flooring of the
latter being also several feet higher than the new
dock. The following are the chief dimensions of
the new dock :—Length between caissons, when
using extreme sunk grooves, 352 ft. 4in. ; but if
western caisson is placed in outer rebate, 366 ft. 2in,
By removing the central caisson and throwing the
two docks in one, using the eastern sunk groove and
the western rebates a space between the two ex-
treme caissons is gained of 644 ft. Sin. The width
throughout is 100 ft. from coping to coping ; but the
sectional forms of the docks are, as already stated,
constructed on opposite principles. The new dock
is 37 feet in depth, from floor to coping ; 34 feet
from top of inverts to coping, and its breadth
diminishing 100 feet at its copings to 35 feet at the
floor. The Warrior, on her arrival at Portsmouth
and admission into the dock, will take up the whole
of the whole of the new and extend 47 feet into No.
7. The greatest difficulty experienced daring the
work was the erection of the coffer dam and the
formation of the dock entrance, the latter resting
on a bed of peat.
The Duncan, 101, screw, chief engineer Mr. W.
G. Barr, was yesterday taken out of Portsmouth
harbour by Capt. H. Broadhead, commanding the
reserve at the port. In her supposed final trial at
the measured mile in Stokes Bay, with a Griffith's
propeller, she realised a speed of 13.263 knots
(11.500 knots at sea), accompanied, however, with
an extraordinary amount of vibration.
In consequence of the serious accident which re-
cently occurred at the Nore by the bursting of a
large 10-inch shell in close proximity to her Ma-
jesty's cutter Sylph, during the time the Kent
Volunteer Artillery were at practice at Sheerness,
the most positive orders have been issued for the
greatest possible care to be taken in artillery prac-
tice, which will in future be carried on under the
superintendence of the regular Artillery. The shell
which caused the accident did some injury to the
Sylph's mainsail, and fragments were thrown about
the deck. The commander, as well as the man at
the helm, both had very narrow escapes.
The arrangements for the introduction of the
newly-arranged Audit Department in Chatham-
dockyard were completed on Saturday. The ap-
pointment of Principal of the Audit Department has
been conferred on Mr. H. W. R. Walker, from the
office of the Accountant-General of the Navy,
who will visit the various dockyards in succession,
a staff of clerks and writers for performing the ne-
cessary duties being appointed at each of the naval
establishments. The entire control of the Audit
_Department is vested in Sir R. M. Bromley, K.C.8.,
the accountant-general.
The following appointments were made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—Capt. F. Warden, C. 8., to
the Cuckoo ; Corn. G. J. Malcolm to the Barracouta;
Com. W. B. Hobson to the Pantaloon; J. D. Switzer,
master, additional, to the Russell; G. Yeo, surgeon,
to the Saturn; M. Thomson, surgeon, to the Royal
Adelaide ; R. Williamson, chief engineer, to the In-
dus, for charge of the machinery of the Valorous ;
H. Rider, F. Andrew, and W. H. Moon, acting
second.class assist.-engineers, to the Indus, as super-
numeraries ; C. Salmon, acting second-class assist.-
engineer, to the Asia, as supernumerary ; T. H.
Walker, acting second-class assist.- engineer, to the
Cumberland, as supernumerary; A. Stewart, acting
second-class assist.-engineer, to the Cumberland, as
snpernamerary ; W. H. G. Webb, W. S. Thomson,
J. Baillie, W. G. Paige, and W. R. B. Braving,
acting second-class assist.-engineers, to the Indus,
as supernumeraries ; C. Allsop, acting second-class
assist.-engineer, to the Asia, as supernumerary ; W.
H. M. Arnold, paymaster, to the Pantaloon ; J. G.
Itickcord, assist.-paymaster, to the Ajax; and R. J.
-• Smart, clerk, to the Nile, as supernumerary.

of Army Expenditure will enter into all contracts
for the supply of provisions and stores required for
the provost prisons, and this duty will no longer de-
volve on the commanding officer at the station. The
accounts and vouchers which arc in future to be pre-
pared by the provost-sergeants, are to be certified
by the commanding officer. Where a strictly regi-
mental system of imprisonment is carried out in the
barrack cells, these new regulations will not apply,
but the existing system of accounts are to be fol-
lowed.

Her Majesty has been pleased to approve Mr.
Westley Richards's breech-loading rifled carbine
being adopted in the cavalry. The following is the
description of this very efficient weapon :—Bore,
0.448 inches; weight of bullet, 400 grains; length
of barrel, 20 inches; number of grooves, 8; charge,
2 drachms; pitch of rifling, one turn in 20 inches ;
weight, 61b. 12oz. ; sighted to 700 yards ; bullet,
cylindro-conoidal, with hollow base.