The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-22 00:00:00

THE NAT/Y.

A naval court-martial assembled on Monday, on
board the Formidable, 84, Capt. W. G. Luard, lying
in the Medway, for the trial of Lieut. C. H. Murphy,
of her Majesty's screw steamer Cressy, 81, charged
with being drunk on board the said ship on or about
the evening of the 14th of May, 1861, he being at
the time officer of the watch and behaving in an in-
subordinate manner to his superior officer, Comman-
der J. A. R. Dunlop. The Court decided that the
charges were not proved, but that the prisoner had
behaved in a disrespectful manner, and was guilty
of an act both prejudicial to good order and naval
discipline. They adjudged him to forfeit his seniority
as lieutenant from the date of his sentence.
The enlargement of Chatham dockyard, which
the Government has determined on carrying out,
will involve the expenditure of nearly £1,000,000
sterling. The proposed improvements will ne-
cessitate the enclosure of a considerable tract of
land on the eastern side of the dockyard, and adja-
cent to St. Mary's-creek and island, the whole of
which is now the property of the War Department,
a special act of Parliament having been applied for
for that purpose. On the channel side of St. Mary's
Island three large steam basins ,a ill be constructed,
each connected with the other by locks. The largest
of these basins will cover an area of 301 acres, with
a length of 1,850 feet on its leastside, and a breadth
of 700 feet, with a depth of 30 feet at neap tides.
The basin will be connected with the river by two
locks, each 600 feet in length, and will communicate
with the smallest of the three basins, which will
have an area of 7 acres, with a length of 700 feet,
and a breadth of 430. The third basin will commu-
nicate with the river, the entrance lock being oppo-
site the powder magazines at Upnor Castle. Its
area will be 22 acres, and greatest length 1,550 ft.,
with a depth of 30 feet at neaps. Communicating
with this basin will be five large docks, each capable
of docking the largest line-of-battle ship in the ser-
vice, three of the new docks being each 500 feet in
length, and the other two somewhat smaller. The
estimate for the materials to be purchased for con-
structing the locks, basins, and docks, including the
hired labour necessarily required, is £500,000. Ad-
jacent to the new basins it is intended to erect a
steam factory at an expense of £lBO,OOO exclusive
of machinery. This factory will include fitting and
erecting shops, foundries, storehouses, and a large
covered area. The sum of £85,000 is also to be ex-
pended in completing the river wall and embank-
ment on the sea side of St. Mary's Island, including
coffer-dams for executing the work within, free
from water. The river Medway, for some distance
below the dockyard, will also be deepened to form
a channel 600 feet and 27 feet deep at half-tide,
which will give 31 feet at neaps and 35 feet at
springs, so as to enable large line-of-battle ships
to ascend the river to Chatham dockyard, which
they are at present unable to do without some
risk, in consequence of the gradual lessening of
the river's depth by a process silently going on for
some years past. The probable expense of dredg-
ing the river below the entrance locks of the new
steam basins, so as to obtain the mean depth of 27
feet at half tides, is estimated at £45,000; but,
owing to the magnitude of the work proposed to be
accomplished and the accumulation of soil in the '
channel-way of the river, the outlay will, doubtless,
be considerably more. A sum of £82,000 will also
be expended in building additional wharves, and in
erecting bridges, caissons, bollards, culverts, &c.
In consequence of the extensive nature of the im-
provements to be effected at Chatham dockyard the
works are expected to be in progress several years,
and when the whole are completed that establish-
ment will be one of the most complete as well as
extensive of any of her Majesty's dockyards.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. F. T. Thompson to the
Hero ; Lieut) Alexander Buller, to the Edgar ;
Richard C. Dyer, master additional to the Impreg-
nable, for the Avon ; Win. H. Parker, master addi-
tional to the Asia, for the Euryalus ; Jesse Dixon,
2d master, to the Cygnet ; William Long, 2d master
to the Dasher; Philip Francis and E. J. P. Wade,
naval cadets, to the Challenger; Thomas F. P.
Shelley, acting 3d class assist.-engineer, to the Nep-
tune; William J. Grant, acting 3d class assist.-
engineer, to the Cesar ; John Richardson, acting
3d class assist.-engineer, to the Liffey; John A.
Cawley, acting 3d class assist-engineer, to the
London ; William Bremner, acting 3d class assist.-
engineer, to the Doris; John Franklin, acting 3d
class assist.-engineer, to the Melpomene; Nathaniel
F. Hockerston, acting 3d class assist-engineer, to
the Terrible; William F. Rowe, acting 3d class
assist.-engineer, to the Lapwing ; Alexandel•Reid
3d class assist.-engineer, to the Mars; Francis
Dormison, 3d class assist.-engineer, to the Hawke.