The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-10 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

t' VALETTA, Aug. 30.—1 take advantage of a
steamer leaving to-day to send you a few lines. The
Himalaya left yesterday for England. Her Majesty's
gunboat Assurance, Commander C. M. Aynsley,
came in yesterday from Castellamare, where she left
the chief portion of the fleet under the command of
Ticc-Admiral Sir W. F. Martin, K.C. B. Her Ma-
jesty's frigate Melpomene, Capt. Ewart, arrived to-
day from Beyrout, 11-days. The British steamer
Rangoon, having on board another portion of the
Malta and Alexandria electric cable, arrived on the
28th from England. Sept. 3.—Since despatching
the above via Italy nothing has occurred worthy of
notice except the departure on the 31st nit. of her
Majesty's gunboat Recruit, 6 guns, Commander D.
Spain, for England, to be paid off. Her Majesty's
ships in port are the Hibernia receiving ship (flag
of Rear-Admiral 11. J. Codrington, C. 8.); the Mel-
pomene, 51 ; the Medina, 4 ; the Assurance, 4 ; the
Mohawk, 4, and the Hearty, tug."
The Lords of the Admiralty have just conferred a
pension for wounds and distinguished services on
Capt. Davies, }i.N., chief constable of the counties
of Cambridge and Huntingdon.
The Pelican, 17, screw, Commander Brook, re-
cently commissioned at Portsmouth, is berthed off
the King's Stairs of the dockyard, her crew busily
engaged in preparing her for sea.
Her Majesty's screw yacht Fairy, Master-Com-
mander Welsh, has been placed in No. 1 dock for
examination and cleansing of her bottom, &c.
The gunboat Handy, 40-horse power, was launched
from the gunboat yard at Haslar on Friday, with
her steam up, to test the joints of her machinery,
and on Saturday steamed over to the dockyard at
Portsmouth, where her outfit will be completed for
service in the African rivers, for which she has been
commissioned. The extension of the ten easternmost
sheds in the yard is being carried out by the con-
tractors, but all Government work goes on very
slackly owing to the small number of men at pre-
sent employed in the yard, and no repairs whatever
are being made good to any of the vessels except
such as are ordered for launching, as their services
may be required afloat. The Pheasant is one of the
22 boats whose repairs had been made good before
the gunboat affair tookplace, and called attention to
the way in which repairs were made. After lying
on her blocks under Haslar sheds for two years since
her repair, which cost £1,500, she is now found to
require further repair before she can be placed in
the water, and what may reasonably be expected is
that all her old timber must be taken out of her be-
fore she can be pronounced seaworthy. There are
21 other vessels whose repairs were made good at
Hasler upon the same rule as the Pheasant.
The six gunboats attached to thefirst-class reserve
at Portsmouth have exchanged their 68 and 32-
pounder smooth-bore guns for 100 and 40-pounder
Armstrongs, which they will retain as their perma-
nent armament, their smooth-bores being returned
into store at the gun wharf.
The crew of the screw steamship St. Jean d'Acre,
99, Commander J. D. M'Crae, at Plymouth, are to
be paid off on Friday,
The screw steamship Renown, Capt. A. Forbes,
from the Mediterranean, arrived yesterday morning
in Plymouth Sound.
The Defence, 22, iron frigate, is still lying in
Chatham harbour, moored to the sheer-hulk, the in-
tention of docking her during the present high tide
having been abandoned, her great draught of water
rendering that operation exceedingly hazar-
dous excepting during the very highest tides. It
had been originally intended to attempt to dock her
at 1 a.m. on Sunday morning, and the workmen were
directed to be in the yard at that hour ; but subse-
quently the order was countermanded, it being
thought there would have been sufficient water for
that operation yesterday afternoon. This, however,
was found not to be the case, and she will accordingly
not be docked until the next springs. As soon as
the iron lower masts have been received from the
Thames Iron Company they will be put on board,
and the steamer rigged.
The screw steamship Renown, 89, Capt. Arthur
Forbes, from the Mediterranean, arrived in Ply-
mouth Sound yesterday morning. She sailed from
Beyrout August 7, remained a week at Malta, and
left Gibraltar on Sunday, August 31. The Renown
came home from Malta under canvass, but kept her
fires banked up for an emergency. She has on
board half a company of Royal Engineers, some
Sappers and Miners, and between 300 and 400
naval and military invalids, women, and children,
numbering altogether with her crew about 2,000
persons. The military are under command of Lieut.
Fenton, and in medical charge of Dr. Fentcn. The
new guns taken out by this ship were left at Malta,
and tLose in bad condition brought from the island
are stowed on her lower deck. The military and
the invalids will land at Plymouth. The Renown
will, it is said, leave to-day for some port to the
eastward, probably Sheerness. While on the station
some cases of smallpox occurred among the crew;
they are now all in good health_ When the Re-
mown left the Orion, 81, at Beyrout, on the 7th of
August, all were well on board., Commander Wm.
de Vere, late of the Agamemnon, 89, was acting
c stptain, and First Lieut. John R. Simcoe, of the
Orion, was doing duty as commander. The original
eltptain, J. T. B. E. Frere, and Commander Vashon
B had left. The former arrived at Malta
while the Renown was there, and would return
h ome overland. The screw steamship Sanspareil,7o,
C 'pt. A. P. E. Wilmot, C. 8., was at Gibraltar.
The follo wing appointments were made yesterday
at, tne Admiralty :—Capt. G. J. Napier, to the
Qa, laces ; W. Telfer, surgeon, to the Malacca; F. G.
' rhorns, surgeon, to the Scylla; J. C. Messer, aur-
H. ?on, to the Pelican ; E. Wallar, assist.-surg., to the
T rafalgar ; J. T. B. Torrance, assist,-surg., to the
NlSalacca ; A. C. Johnston, assist.-surg., to the Peli-
cox( ; E. Olive, acting assist.-surg., to the Orestes ;
West, chief engineer, to the Malacca ; G. Rock,
er c'lef engineer, additional, to the Seringapatam, at
tl vs Cape, for service of dock and victualling yard ;
fenderson Leslie, to the Malacca ; J. Pearse, first-
e lass assist-engineer, to the Malacca; L. Backler,
I !s,st-class assist.-engineer, to the Asia, as supernu-
-la-turary ; W. J. Hawkins, second-class assist.-engi-
't es r, to the Arrogant, for the Handy, vice Backler ;
J. Stocks, acting second-class assist.-engineer, to the
Malacca; W. Hair, acting second-class assist.-en-
gineer, to the Hawke, additional, for the Magpie,
vice Hawkins; T. Smith, acting second-class assist.-
engineer, to the Asia, as supernumerary ; Henry
W. Arlidge, paymaster, to the Cadmus ; and Philip
Muegrave, nominated to a naval cadetship.