The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-29 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, the
General Commanding in Chief, has left town for a
few weeks' tour in Germany.
A telegram received by the authorities at Ports-
mouth late on Friday evening conveyed the intima-
tion of her Majesty's gracious intention to inspect
the headquarters of the 32d Regiment in the dock-
yard at Portsmouth, on Saturday, at 11 a.m., on
their landing from the Albuera transport, and prior
to their proceeding to their destination—the camp
at Shorncliffe. The troops were conveyed ashore by
steam tug soon after breakfast, and preparations
made to receive her Majesty by the military and
naval authorities. A dais had been hurriedly pre-
pared for her Majesty on the ground between the
Ropery and Middle Storehouse, and thence to the
King's Stairs, where her Majesty and his Royal
Highness the Prince Consort were to land, the path-
way was covered with red cloth. In front of the
dais the 32d were drawn up in line with their band
and colours—the latter having emblazoned on their
silk the glorious names of Roleia, Vimiera, Corunna,
Salamanca, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Penin-
sula, Waterloo, Punjab, Mooltan, Goojerat, and
Lucknow.

Her Majesty, his Royal Highness the Prince
Consort, with the Princess Alice, and Prince Arthur,
attended by Viscount Sydney, and the ladies and
gentlemen of the Royal suite, shortly afterwards
arrived in the Fain, screw yacht, amid the cus-
tomary salutes from the ships and garrison, and
were received on landing by Major-Gen. Sir J. Y.
Scarlett, K.C.8., Admirals W. Bowles, C. 8., Hon.
C. Grey, and their respective staffs. Her Majesty
immediately proceeded to the ground where the
troops were drawn-up in line, passing down in front
and. rear, after which the troops marched past in
quarter distance column, and afterwards again re-
formed in line opposite to her Majesty, who desired
that the Lucknow men should be called to the front.
and expressed her wish to see Dr. Boyd, wlO was
accordingly presented to her Majesty by Col. Bell,
commanding the regiment. Her Majesty expressed
her gratification at seeing Dr. Boyd again returned
to England from India, and also at the appearance
of the men in general. Her Majesty and his Royal
Highness the Prince Consort, having taken leave
of Colonel Bell and the officers of the regiment,
returned to the King's Stairs under a Royal salute
from the troops, the band playing the National
Anthem. Her Majesty immediately embarked for
Osborne on board the Fairy, and left the harbour
under the customary salutes and the cheering of the
crews of the different vessels who had manned the
yards. The East Kent Militia furnished the guard
of honour for the occasion. At the close of the in-
spection the 32d were marched to the railway
station, and left by special train for Shorncliffe.
We are authorised to state that the First Lord of
the Admiralty will hold a levee on Friday next, the
2d of September, at the Commander-in• Chief's
office, Admiralty House, Portsmouth Dockyard.
Any officer who may be desirous of attending must
leave his• name, rank, and seniority at the office of
the Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, by 3 p.m.
of Wednesday, the 31st inst.
General Napier, from Bermuda, has succeeded,
as head of the Commissiarat Department in the
Camp at Colchester, Mr. J. M. Lindsay, appointed
to a similar office in Sierra Leone. There is some
idea of camping out the troops for two or three
' days before the summer closes.
The encampment on the North Denes at Great
Yarmouth, formed by the battery of Royal Artil-
lery,'under the command of Major Brandling, as
stated in The Sun of Wednesday, was broken up
on Friday, and the troops returned in the evening
of that day to Norwich under the command of
Capt. Strangways, son of the gallant general who
fell in the Crimean campaign.
The transport ship Marchioness of Londonderry,
heavrday which has been for a considerable time, and at
heavy expense, waiting in Kingston harbour, sailed
onF with troops for Hong Kong. She was
towed out of the harbour and for some distance by
one of the tug vessels, the wind being easterly_.
y
Orders were on Saturday issued
the depots from the Horse
Gnards to the officers commanding
the East India. regiments at
Chathama
and the other
of
military stations directing, the reinforcements se-
lected' to embark for India to proceed to the follow-
ing phices—viz., for Calcutta.-2d (the Queen's)
Dragoon Guards, 65 men ; 7th Hussars, 91 men ;
Fusiieers, Ist battalion, 89 men; 6th Regiment,
Ist battalion, 218 men; 20th Regiment, Ist batta-
lion, 71 men; 34th Regiment, 'T men •, 35th (Royal
Sussex) R4,rirnent, 78 men ; 37th Regiment, 200
men ; 42d Royal Highlanders, 123 men ; 43d Light
Infantry, 77 men ; 48th Regimenttl69 men ; 60th
• Royal Rifles, 2d battalion, 251 men ; 67th Revoi_
went, 217 men ; 71st Highland Light Infantry, 82
men; 73d Regiment, 114 men ; 77th Regiment, 424
men ; 80th Regiment, 99 men ; 88th Connaught
Rangers, 46 men ; 90th Light Infantry, 173 meth
.97th (Earl of Ulster's) Regiment, 2 men ;
_Regiment, 89 men; and.'Royal Artillery, 152 men.
'The above reinforcements are to embark in the
king Philip, Merchantman, Alfred, Walmer Castle,
Minden, Octavia, Algiers, Surrey, and Hanover,
the vessels chartered by the Hon. Council for India.
The following detachments are to embark for Bom-
bay :-3d (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, 13
men ; 6th Dragoon Guards, 95 men ; Bth Hussars,
19 men ; 17th Lancers, 70 men ; 4th King's Owen,
Ist battalion, 281,,men ; 28th Regiment, 153 men ;
31st Regiment, 120 Men ; 56th Regiment, 67 men ;
Zith Regiment, 91 men ; 83d Regiment, 6 men ;
.139th Regiment, 1 man ; 95th Regiment, llimen ;

11.3

Royal Artillery, 65 men ; and Royal Engineers, 15
men, the whole of whom proceed to Bombay in the
Akbar, Brunelle, and Tiptree. The reinforcements
that embark in the Hougomont, Barham, and Gos-
forth, for Madras, are-Ist (the King's) Dragoon
Guards, 62 men ; 12th Lancers, 64 men ; Ist batta-
lion, Ist Royals, 6 men ; 44th Regiment, 7 men ;
68th Light Infantry, 1 man ; 69th Regiment, 78
men ; 91st Regiment, 88 men ; and Royal Artillery,
62 men. The Earl Balcarras will embark the fol-
lowing troops for Kurrachee—viz., 49 men of the
7th (Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards ; 182 men
of the 46th ; 4 men of the 51st Light Infantry ; 28
men of the 70th Regiment ; 103 men of the 79th
Highlanders; two men of the 81st Regiment; six
men of the 94th Regiment ; and 71 men of the
98th Regiment.
Some further trials were made at Chatham garri-
son on Saturday last, by direction of Major-Gen.
Eyre, for the purpose of ascertaining the time re-
quired in pitching and striking the tents invented
by Major Rhodes, and also those in use by the
troops at Chatham. The trials took place, as be-
fore, in the grounds attached to the garrison hos-
pital, where a number of tents have been pitched,
including some invented by Major Rhodes, all of
which are occupied by
.patients from the hospital,
Dr. A. Maclean, principal medical officer of the
hospital, together with other officers of the staff
and medical department of the army. being pre-
sent. The operations commenced by 15 soldiers,
all of them unacquainted with tents, being ordered
to pitch Major Rhodes's large hospital tent, which
is 30 feet in length, 15 feet wide, and 10 feet high.
This the troops accomplished in exactly 34
minutes, or about one-half the time occupied
in pitching the tent at the last trial. The
same men were then ordered to pitch the Govern •
ment hospital marquee, which is about the same
size as Rhodes's hospital tent, being 30 feet by
141 foet, and 14 feet in height. In this operation
they were engaged a few minutes over an hour, or
double the time taken to pitch Rhodes's tent. It
should, however, be remarked that the tent was so
badly put up that a pertion of it had to be taken
down in order to refix it perfectly. The troops
were then directed to strike Major Rhodes's hospi-
tal tent, which they completed in seven minutes,
the Government hospital marquee requiring the
same men 12 minutes to strike it. From the result
of these trials, the officers present were perfectly
satisfied that not only are the tents invented by
Major Rhodes superior to those of the Government
in comfort and accommodation for the troops, but
that they can be pitched and struck in considerably
less time and with a smaller number of men.
Viscount Grey de Wilton, M.P., has just retired
from the army. His lordship was senior Lieute-
nant in the Ist Regiment of Life Guards.
The East Essex Militia Rifles, under command
of Col. the Hon. H. C. Maynard, will assemble for
their annual drill at Colchester ; and the West
Essex, under Col. R. Brise, at Chelmsford, on the
21st Sept. next.

SCREW PROPELLERS AND ?HEIR IM-
PROVEMENT.

There is no mechanical question of such impor-
tance as regards improving the efficiency of a steam
fleet, nor one which has been so completely over-
looked by our scientific naval men, as that of ascer-
taining the precise form and pitch of a screw, with
which the highest results as to speed and diminu-
tion of vibration are attainable. When first the
screw propeller was introduced into the Royal
navy it was quite as often used with three fans as
with two, the " pitches" or turns of both descrip-
tions varying considerably. Indeed, it was only
after a rather long time, and the complete establish-
ment of a negative proof that no greater results
were obtainable with the additional fan than with
two, that the latter form was at last generally
adopted, and slowly came into use throughout the
English navy. Beyond this change, which scarcely
deserves the name of an improvement, and some
trifling experiments which were made in 1853 on
board her Majesty's yacht Fairy, to which we shall
presently refer, no public attempt seems to have
been made either to improve the form of the screw
or even to ascertain if it was capable of improve-
ment. This all-important point seems to have been
allowed to fall into the usual order of routine, and
1 the two fan-shaped blades having generally what is
called a uniform pitch or turn became, like the
anchor, the " established" screw of the navy.
Fortunately, however, for the Admiralty, and
for the efficiency of our steam liners, a matter of
such vital interest as the form of the propeller
could not be long overlooked. Sir Howard Douglas,
who, though in the highest rank of the military
profession, is nevertheless one of the ablest scienti-
fic authorities on the tactics of steam warfare and
naval gunnery now alive, took the matter up some
two years back, and began a series of experiments
with a view of ascertaining practically whether the
Admiraly screw was the best (about which the gal-
lant General entertained strong misgivings), and, if
not, in what way its form could be improved. The
main object was, of course, to ascertain the shape of
a propeller which would diminish vibration while
exerting increased power, and, therefore, obtaining
increased speed. There are very few of our readers
who will require to be reminded of the unpleasant
effect produced by the constant tremulous vibration
in the stern of a ship while the screw is in motion.
But Sir Howard Douglas shows that this effect is
more than unpleasant—it is even dangerous, and
the injury done to the stern by the constant shake
of the screw may produce results to be dreaded.
Of cours.-!, whenever there is great vibration'there
is loss of power somewhere, and the force that should
here be exerted to propel the ship is lost in shaking
I her frame to the very centre. This most unprofit-
able result Sir Howard Douglas's experiments
showed conclusively,:was due to the angular fan-
shaped form of the Admiralty screw, and caused by
the sudden and violent reaction of the disturbed
water in the screw frame as the propeller entered
and emerged from it. The rectilinear edges are in
this respect highly disadvantageous, since the whole
of an edge enters and leaves the water at once on
each side of the aperture of the screw-frame, within
which aperture the water is comparatively in a
quiescent state as regards propulsion. This led
Sir Howard to see that if the leading corners of a
screw blade were curved, " they would slide ob-
liquely and continuously through the water like a
screw formed with an entire feather, so that at no
moment would there be any shock or discon-
tinuity of action." The result of this im-
portant discovery Sir Howard privately communi-
cated to one or two of our leading engineers, and
the Admiralty will probably find an excuse for
their own supineness in the matter in the fact that
three engineers, whom we need not name, were
against the proposed improvement, and considered
that to cut off the " leading corners" of the Admi-
ralty screw would be to deprive it of half its pro-
pelling force. Confident, however, in the truth of
his discovery, and in the scientific principles on
which it was based, Sir Howard, nothing daunted,
took out a protective patent for his improvement
last year. In taking this step the gallant General
only wished to put beyond question his claim to
haying originated the idea. Any thought of pro lt-
, ing by it in a pecuniary point of view he, of course,
considered far beneath his character and position in
the army. His improvement is registered as con-
sisting, first, in a modification in the form of the
blades, so that the advance or leading edges of the
propeller blades shall receive less shock in cutting
through the water, and therefore produce a more
equable action of the propeller, resulting in less
tremulous motion in the stern of the ship when
under way, and also steadying and equalising the
propelling force. For this purpose the advance
edge of the screw blades is of a convex curved form
so that the curve of this edge of the Made at the
extreme end is in rear, as regards its position in the
screw, of the inner termination of the curve, or that
next the centre. The leading edges of the screw, in
fact, when looked at in profile, resemble a wave line
similar to Hogarth's line of grace and beauty, the
two curves meeting in the centre at the boss or axis
of the screw. By this form of the advanced edges
the transition in entering and leaving the opening
in the dead wood or screw-frame of the ship is easy
and gradual ; vibration in the stern-frame is reduced
to its lowest point, and the whole force of the screw
employed to propel the vessel. A full detail of this
improvement, and value to the service was published
last year by Sir Ihward Douglas in his work on
" Naval Warfare with Steam." This admirable
ork, which has since been translated into French,
and has become among French officers almost a
textbook on all matters relating to steam warfare,
was duly presented by the author to the heads of
the Admiralty departments, and as duly acknow-
ledged with thanks. Nothing, however, was done
towards cutting off the "leading corners" of the
screws, as Sir Howard had recommended, and the
suggestion apparently shared the fate of all pro-
posed' improvements in the navy—that of being for-
gotten as soon as made. It was not, however, quite
overlooked in this instance, for about two months
ago her Majesty's frigate Doris was ordered to
Spithead to make certain trials with various kinds
of screws, but more especially of the comparative
merits of Griffiths's screw and the common Ad-
miraltyoccupied screw, with its leadino• corners cut off. The
excited much interest engineers,amoc, so m e time
showed
that when competing with
three of Griffiths's best
screws (which were the best of
all sets of improve-
ments tried) the Admiralty screw, with its leading
corners cut off, as Sir Howard had recommended,
was far better than two of the three, and very little
inferior to the best of all. The value of the im-
provement was therefore put beyond a doubt, for
the trial naturally created the impression that had
a screw been specially made on Sir Howard's plan,