The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-06 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

A Malta Correspondent writes from Valletta,
;March 31, as follows :
" Her Majesty's gunboat Alacrity, Commander J. K. E.
Baird, returned to Malta on the 24th inst. from the Piraeus,
and the Scourge corvette, Commander W. G. Jones, on the
29th, from Corfu. The Hannibal, 91, Capt. A. Farquhar,
bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral G. 1: Mundy, left port
on the 28th inst. for Beyrout, and the James Watt, 91,
Captain E. Codd, took her departure on the same day for
Corfu. These ships would have left a few days earlier, but
were detained by the bad state of the weather. Advices
have been received from Beyrout, announcing the arrival
there of her Majesty's ship Queen, 86; Capt. C. F. Hillyar,
and it was expected she would be joined by two or three
other ships shortly. The Hannibal took up with her the
following officers belonging to ships at present in those
waters—namely, Lieut. G. P. Nettleton, Lieut. M. B.
Medlycott, Lieut. W. J. Walker, and Mr. A. Kinsman. A
French man-of-war, the steam frigate Zenobie, Capt.De-
voulx (carryingthe flag of Rear-Admiral Touchard), arrived
here on the 28th inst., bound for the East, from Toul
On entering port the usual salutes were exchanged.
"Her Majesty's surveying vessel Firefly, Commander A.
L. Mansell, left on the 29th inst. for Tripoli.
com-
plete the soundings between Malta and that part sairtth ofthe
coast of Barbary commenced by the Medina, Capt. Spratt,
C. 8., which vessel is now employed, as stated in a former
letter, taking soundings between Alexandria,and Tripoli,
cable, which is to unite Malta
preliminary' to the electric
reception
and Alexandria, being laid. Preparations for the ti •
of the cable are being rapidly made here. A landing-place
on the south-east of the island, in St. George's Creek
(M a iroceo), has been determined upon, and a cable-
house is being built on the spot. There will be about six
miles of land line,which will be raised on the newly-invented
patent iron tripods, instead of on wooden poles, as in the
case of the Corfu and Sicily lines. Messrs. Ford and Laws,
telegraph engineers, in the employment of the Govern-
ment, are here superintending the operations. Mr. Ford
leaves to-day for Alexandria, to make arrangements for
landing the cable there, and to erect the land line, intelli-
gence having been received by telegraph from England, of
the death of Mr. Gisborue, who was to have performed this
part of the work. Her Majesty's corvette Scourge was to
have left for Tripoli on the 7th inst., with telegraph stores,
but, owing to some unavoidable circumstances, her depar-
ture has been postponed for another week. The sable is
expected from England about the end of April.
" The Alacrity gunboat is to leave shortly for Beyrout ;
the Liffey frigate, for Palermo, to relieve the Amphion
frigate ; and the Cressy line-of-battle ship, for Gibraltar.
The crew of the last-Lamed vessel has been very sickly of
late, and it is considered a cruise may do them good.
" The Egyptian frigate Voyageur de la Mer came in to-
day from England. She has on board, besides her own
crew, the crew of another Egyptian frigate which is being
fitted with screw machinery in one of the dockyards at
home. The captain of the Voyageur de la Merits seriously
ill, as well as several of the men, and they are to be landed
here for medical treatment. Some 13 deaths occurred
among the crew during the voyage.
" The following are her Majesty's ships now in port :
Neptune, 90 (bearing the flag of Vice-Admiral W. Fan-
shawe Martin, the Commander-in-Chief) ; Hibernia, re-
ceiving ship (flag of Rear-Admiral H. J. Codrington, C. 8.);
Cressy, 80 ; Liffey, 51; Scourge, 6 ; Alacrity, 4 ; Mohawk,
4; Quail, 2; and tug Hearty.
" It is rumoured that the Mediterranean fleet is about to
be reinforced by the Aboukir, 90 ; Donegal, 101; Hero, 91;
and Ariadne, 26.
"By her Majesty's corvette Scourge I have received a
letter from Corfu of the 26th inst., announcing the arrival
there that morning of Lord Elgin and suite, from Alexan-
dria, on board of her Majesty's frigate Terrible. His lord-
ship was to continue his route to England, via Trieste and
Vienna, on the following day. Her Majesty's ships at Corfu
on the 26th inst. were :—Coesar, 90, Capt. T. Mason (bear-
ing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sydney Dacres) ; Algiers,
91, Capt. G. O'Callaghan; Agamemnon, 91, Capt. Hope ;
Terrible, 21, Capt. H. H. Glasse, C. 8.; Assurance, 4, Com-
mander C. Aynsley.
" The English steamer, due on the 30th ult. from Alex-
andria, has only just arrived. Her delay was occasioned by
the Bombay mail being a couple of days late. It was ex-
pected the mail by the English steamer would have reached
London before that by the French steamer. As it is, the
mail by the French steamer will be first.
" Her Majesty's frigate Amphion, Capt. Cochrane, ar-
rived yesterday from Palermo and Messina ; and the Turkish
corvette Ismir, Capt. Hassien, came in on the same day
from Beyrout, Cyprus, and Rhodes, having on board 291
Druses, who have been exiled to Tripoli (Barbary). The
corvette leaves at noon to-day for her destination. H.M.S.
Cressy will leave to-morrow for Gibraltar."
The Glasgow, 51, screw frigate, was yesterday
removed from her position, and placed in No. '
dock at Portsmouth. She will merely have her
launching gear removed prior to being nndocked.
The Cockatrice, 4, screw gunboat, Lieut.-Com-
mander R. M. Gilson, has landed her long 8-inch
gun at Portsmouth dockyard. She has not yet re-
ceived her final orders, but as conveyance is ordered
to be provided for the gun to Malta, it is presumed
the vessel will follow.
The Octavia, 51, screw, is receiving her first coat
of paint in dock at Portsmouth. She is ordered to
be floated out on the 11th inst., when she will be
placed in the steam basin to receive her machinery.
The Cracker gunboat steamed out of Portsmouth
harbour yesterday to test her machinery. The
Grinder gunboat arrived in Portsmouth harbour
yesterday from the westward.
In the notice of Sir W. Armstrong's contract for
the erection of hydraulic capstans and cranes in
Portsmouth dockyard, which appeared in The Sun
yesterday, reference was made to a length of 2,160
feet of piping which would be applied only to the
working of two capstans. This is all the result that
will be gained at present, but it is ultimately in-
tended to apply power from the same pipes to the
working of two additional capstans and five steam
cranes.
The late China war has furnished the Govern-
ment with some valuable statistics on the cost of
sea transport. At one period during our war with
the Celestial Empire there were employed no less
than 63,861 tons of sailing shipping, and 12,447
tons of steam shipping ; the former averaging
•225. 6d. per ton per month, and the latter 355.
The above does not, however, represent the actual
pay of this fleet of sailing vessels and steamers,
the tonnage given being their registered tonnage,
whereas they were paid by their gross tonnage,
which may be taken, as adding one-third to the
amount of pay given by their registered tonnage.
As an instance of how fortunes are at times made
by a lucky owner of a ship on the outbreak of a
war, an old lumbering North American built ship,
owned by an English house,left Cardiff in January,
1860, with 1,000 tons of coal on board, for Shang-
hai. On arriving at her port of destination she
was immediately engaged by the British autho-
rities to convey her freight to the North, for the
use of the fleet, at £1,500 per month. She sailed
for the North, and in due course got rid of 600 tons
to the various men-of-war off the Peiho. With the
remaining 400 tons as ballast, she was started off
to Japan to fill up and
_return to the fleet, which she
did, and, after again discharging 800 tons, retained
the 400 tons left, as before, for ballast, took in some
old stores as additional ballast, and sailed from the
North for Hong Kong to pay off. The last news
of this lucky vessel received from China was to the
effect that in January last she was seen to dis-
charge 50 tons of the Welsh coal shipped on board
her at Cardiff 12 months previously on board a
steam transport bound to England. Possibly by
this time she may have cleared out the whole o
her cargo.

Her Majesty's steam storeship Rhadamanthus,
Master Commander Sturdee, yesterday commenced
shipping in Woolwich basin a cargo of boilers and
steam gear for the Black Prince, at Glasgow.
The gunboat Hind, 3, tender to the screw steam
coastguard ship Russell, 60, from Falmouth, arrived
at Plymouth on Thursday evening with a detach-
ment of Marines, and proceeded up Hamoaze,
where she was placed alongside the coal depot.
The crew of the paddlewheel steam sloop Buz-
zard, 6, were paid off at Devonport on Thursday.
the am
sloop will be piked in the third division of
meam ordinary.
All tho vessels of the first division of the steam
ordinary
at Devonport are to have their defects
made good and be
for the pennant
n placed in an efficient state, ready
required.
The gunboat Speedy 4
:at Keyhana stea placed in No. 1 dock
w
yesterday,as
overhauled, and tuya
have her valves reaired before
p
ordinary,
being transferred to the first
division of the steam

The screwsteam gunvesselLyazt was appointed
to, he removed yesterday afternoon from from Ike ham
basin. She is not, in a good p
bably he ptacod aside for future orders,
nd will pro-
Capt. E. G. Fanshawe, late of the Trafalgar a
the newiy-appointed Superintendent of
Dockyard, having arrived in England from Lionam
will, according to present arrangements, commence
his duties at Chatham dockyard this day. Capt. G.

.Goldsmith, C. 8., the late Superintendent, whose