The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-28 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

COLLISION BETWEEN A FRENCH AND ENGLISH MAN-
OF-WAR.—An unfortunate collision between the Spy,
3, Lieutenant-Commander Western, and a French
man-of-war steamer, occurred during the night, a
short time since, on the coast of Africa, arising from
some mistake in the night signals. The Spy hoisted
the usual signal, which was not seen by the French.
Fortunately no lives were lost, but the spars and rig-
ging of both vessels were damaged.
Aid, lighter, sailed on Saturday morning from De-
vonport, with stores for Portsmouth.
Avon, steamer, at Devonport, is to be commissioned
as a tender to the Impregnable, in lieu of the Fearless.
The crew of the Fearless to be transferred to the Avon,
when the Fearless will be sent to the eastward to wait
further orders. _ _

Banshee, ex-Holyhead steam-packet, Master-Com-
mander Smithett, arrived at Woolwich on Saturday
afternoon, to have one of her boilers taken out. Ca-
radoc is also to have one taken out, and the vessels
are then to be tried against each other.
Bellerophon, 78, Captain Baynes, C. 8., may now
be hourly expected at Devonport. She was towed
through the Straits of Gibraltar by the Janus, on the
11th instant.

Camel lighter, Faben master, arrived at Devonport
on Friday morning from Exmouth, with the furniture
of Rear-Admiral Moresby, and has discharged it on
board the Portland.
Dragon, 6, steam-frigate, Captain 11. W. Giffard,
assisted from a perilous position, with loss of fore-
topmast and jibboom, a Dutch merchant ship, and
towed her into Gibraltar, on the 15th.
Hercules store-ship, Master Commander Fulton,
was towed from Greenhithe, on Saturday morning,
by the Monkey and the Advice, to the Downs, on
her way with stores for Gibraltar and Malta.
Vesuvius, advanced steam-sloop, will tow the Port-
land, 50, Captain Chads, out of harbour into the
Sound this day, and will then prcceed round the Ed-
dystone to try her engines.
PORTSMOUTH, SUNDAY.—The Retribution steam,
frigate, Captain Warden, came into harbour to-day
under steam. During her late trial to Queenstown
she averaged a speed of 7i knots, and with sails from
9 to 10 knots. She is very buoyant and will be armed
with six more guns, and have her complement in-
creased 30 men.
The Pluto steam-vessel from the coast of Africa,
is hourly expected here, having left Fayal the
26th ult.
The Dauntless screw steam-frigate, Captain Hal-
stead, had arrived at Queenstown, and was coaling
on the 23d. She embarked a number of seamen, ap-
prentices from the Wizard instruction brig, and sailed
for Lisbon.
The Imaum, 72, and Inflexible steam-sloop, were
at Port Royal on the 28th of September; the Inde-
fatigable, 50, was at Greytown; the Persian, 12, was
at Corn Island, Mosquito ; she has been very sickly
and lost four or five men, and many of her crew were
then on the sick list. The Bermuda schooner was at
Carthagena, en route to Jamaica ; she also had been
sickly, but her crew were recovering; the Alarm, 26,
was at Antigua, which had also been sickly ; Mr.
Congreve, her purser, died on the 23d of September.
The Lily, 12, ommander Bedford, arrived in
Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the 4th of Au-
gust, en route to the East Indies and China.
The Heroine, 8, and Dolphin brigantine, arrived at
St. Helena on the 26th of August from Ascension,
and sailed on the 29th for the cruising ground.
The Success American trader arrived at Spithead
yesterday afternoon from London, and sailed this af-
ternoon for Sydney.
The Sprightly steam-tender sailed this afternoon
for Plymouth.
WOOLWICH, OCT. 26.—The Lightning steam-
vessel, Master-Commander Petley, arrived here on
Friday from Devonport, where she had conveyed
supernumeraries for service in the Portland, 50,
which is making ready at that port as flag-ship on.
the Pacific station.
The Caradoc, sister steam-vessel to the Banshee, is
hourly expected at Woolwich, having been ordered
round from Portsmouth.
The Jasper steam-vessel, in charge of Master-
Commander
Henry William Allen, of the Black
Eagle, and the Monkey steam-vessel, have pro-
ceeded with the Hercules storeship, Master-Com-
mander Fulton, to take her through the Downs with
troops and stores on board for Gibraltar.
The Advice steam-vessel returned to Woolwich this
evening, after accompanying the Wasp steam-sloop to
Greenhithe.
The Iphigenia (old frigate) having had her masts
taken out here, was towed back to D-ptford on the
same day (Thursday last), to be broken up at that
dockyard.
The Geyser steam-sloop, Commander Tatham, was
taken out of the basin in the afternoon of to-day, and
remains at moorings opposite the dockyard, prepara-
tory to leaving for the Brazils.
The Wasp steam-sloop, Commander Crozier, left
at one o'clock P.M. to-day for Plymouth and the coast
of Africa. The taking out her ballast and substitut-
ing a 32-pounder gun of 56 cwt. for the 68-pounder
of 87 cwt. at her stern, considerably altered her im-
mersion, and when she left her draught of water was
13 feet 5 inches forward and 14 feet 9 inches aft, her
former draught being 13 feet 7 inches forward and

16 feet 2 inches aft.
The foot leverage attached to the steering-wheel of
the Rosamond steam-sloop is the invention of Captain
Fayrer, and was fitted by Mr. Robinson, and not the
invention of Lieut. Robinson, as previously stated.
SIR Jour' Ross's EXPEDITION.—The arrival of
two carrier-pigeons from the Felix, in which Captain
Sir John Ross proceeded to the northern regions, is
not credited, and the account given in the Ayr Adver-
tiser of their being first seen tends to throw great
doubts of their being any of the pigeons given to the
gallant captain previous to his leaving Ayr. The
Advertiser says the pigeons were first seen at An-
narck, some distance from their original dovecot, and
assigns as a reason that the cot was shut up.
Those acquainted with the character of carrier pigeons
feel convinced they would have continued for days
on the top or near the cot where they were formerly
reared or kept, and must have been seen by their
owner or persons connected with the place. It is
also scarcely to be credited that two of the legs of
one of the pigeons should have been shot off without
wounding any other part of the body if it had been
fired at when flying.

A PLAN FOR REEFING TOPSAILS FROM THE DECK
WITHOUT SENDING MEN ALOFT.—This most ingenious
contrivance has been fitted on board one of the Penin-
sular and Oriental Company's vessels, the Iberia, and
found to answer admirably. The sail reefs itself, and
from the time the yard is lowered it is close reefed in
two seconds. The reefs may be again shaken out, and
the topsail at the masthead in twenty seconds. In nau-
tical affairs this contrivance is nne of the wonders of the
age, and must be rapidly brought into general use. The
invention is not expensive, because the present sails and
topsail-yards can easily be altered, at an expense not
exceeding 151. per yard and sail. The inventor, Mr. H.
D. P. Cunningham, R.N., late secretary to Admiral
Moresby, has taken out a patent, and we have no doubt
he will be amply repaid for the time and trouble he has
bestowed. It is well known to officers that many a reef
is kept in during the night, and in consequence the ves-
sel's progress retarded, on account of a disinclina-
tion to send men aloft, more particularly if
the weather be wet. With this admirable con-
trivance sail can be taken in, and again made, in
a short space of time without sending a man aloft.
The invention is of more importance to the commercial
marine than to the royal nave; but, of course, it is
equally applicable to both, and must manifestly save much
anxiety and do away with the risk of losing men off the
yards when reefers in bad weather, more particularly
in frosty weather, off Cape Horn, &c., We trust
this talented gentleman will be more successful with
this than with his other admirable inventions; we par-
ticularly allude to his plan for checking the recoil of
heavy guns by means of compressing the air in a small
cylinder fitted under the breach of the gun. As regards
the former invention, he is in the hands of the Superin-
tendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, at
Southampton, who has given him every assistance and
support in bringing it to perfection. Fortunately, in
this instance, he has difflrent materials to deal with, for
no jealous feeling can by any possibility arise between
the navy and artillery. This feeling has been the cause
of many ingenious contrivances being burked, apparently
because the suggestion did not originate with themselves.
---Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette.

Not the least wonderful part of the Exhibition
which is to be opened next year will be the edifice
within which the specimens of the industry of all
nations are to be collected. Its magnitude, the
celerity with which it is to be constructed, and the
materials of which it is to be composed, all combine
to insure for it a large share of that attention which
the Exhibition is likely to attract, and to render its
progress a matter of great public interest. A build-
ing designed to cover 752,832 superficial feet, and to
have an exhibiting surface of about twenty-one acres,
to be roofed in and handed over to the Commissioners
within little more than three months from its Com-
mencement, to be constructed almost entirely of glass
and iron; the most fragile and the strongest of work-'
ing materials, to combine the lightness of a conserva-
tory with the stability of our most permanent
structures—such- a building will naturally excite
much curiosity is to the mode in which the works
connected with it are conducted, and the advances
which are made towards its completion. Enchanted
palaces that grow up in a night are confined to fairy
land, end in this material world of ours the labours
of the bricklayer and the carpenter are
notoriously never ending. It took 300 years to
build St. Peter's at Rome, and thirty to complete
our own St. Paul's. The New Palace of West-
minister has already been fifteen years in hand, and
is still unfinished. We run up houses, it is true,
quickly enough in this country, but if there be a
touch of magic in the time occupied, there is none in
the appearance of so much stucco and brick-work as
our streets exhibit„ Something very different from
this is promised for the great edifice in Hyde-park.
only is it to rise with great rapidity, but in every
other respect is to be suggestive of Arabian Nights'
remembrances. In its favour the window law is to be
ignored, and 900,000 superficial feet of glass, weigh-
ing upwards of 400 tons, are to be used in its construc-
tion. Not a stone nor a brick will be employed
throughout the spacious structure, which is to rest
upon 3,300 cast iron columns, and to be strengthened
and kept together by 2,224 girders of the same ma-
terial. The plan of it which has been published re-
presents an edifice in every respect qualified to be-
come the repository of specimens of the world's in-
dustry ; the basement and two upper tiers diminish-
ing in area as they ascend, and thus securing a
graceful variety of outline, while the monotonous
effect of a façade 1,848 feet long is broken by a
spacious transept. This transept, 408 feet long
and 72 feet wide, will be arched, and will rise
to the height of 108 feet, inclosing with-
in it, as in a glass case, a row of trees, which respect
for the park timber has induced the Commissioners to
spare. The roof of the entire building, resting on the
cast iron girders, will be what is technically called
" ridge and valley," and will look like an undulating
sea, the whole being covered with canvas to exclude
the rays of the summer sun and prevent any inconve-
nience arising from excessive heat. This will be the
case in every part of the structure except the transep',
where the presence of trees render light necessary,
and where, therefore, the arched glass roof will remain
uncovered. When closed in and completed, the view
presented by the interior will, it is anticipated, be won-
derfully graceful and splendid. The central avenue,
1,848 feet long, 72 feet broad, and 66 feet high, with
rows of pillars shooting off from it on either side, and
so arranged that the eye can traverse freely to every
part of the building, must have a very grand appear-
ante. Care has been taken to have the columns upon
which the whole fabric rests distributed with such re-
gularity that no confusion or forest-like effect can be
produced by them. It will be the same in all the
avenues as in the central one, although there, from its
proportions and the entire absence of galleries or upper
flooring to break the perspective, the view presented
will be most imposing.
Besides the immense space thus devoted to the ge-
neral purposes of the Exhibition, there will be on the
north side of the building a room set apart for the re-
ception of machinery. The dimensions of this apart-
ment are on a scale proportionate to the important
branch of inventive industry to which it is to be de-
dicated. It will be 946 feet long, 48 feet broad, and
24 feet high. Another feature of the building will
be the refreshment courts, which, in accordance with
the aristocratic spirit of the country, are to be divided
into three classes. Those whose means and tastes
incline them to patronise the first will discuss the de-
licacies of the season under the branches of the trees
which occupy the north end of the transept; those
whose habits of life are less ambitious, or whose pa-
lates are less discriminating, must move westward ;
while for the crowd of humble visitors the requisite
accommodation will be provided on the north-east
side of the building.
To enter into further details with reference to the
interior plan would needlessly complicate this descrip-
tion, and would be inappropriate at present. It may,
however, be right to mention that while from north
to south and across the breadth of the structure the
flooring will be perfectly level, from west to east it
will be slightly inclined, like the stage of a theatre,
though not of course to the same extent. This, it is he-
lieved,will add much to the effect of the interior, by en-
abling visitors at the lower end to see almost at a
glance over the whole edifice. Though from north to
south the flooring will be quite horizontal, the land
slopes a little, and this enables the architect to give
the building on that side the appearance of a raised
foundation, which will be faced with green sod. The
advantage of this to the external beauty of the prin-
cipal facade it is almost unnecessary to point out. A
light iron railing will inclose the building at a dis-
tance of eight feet from its exterior, and beyond that
there will be a footpath. The grand entrance will be
nearly opposite the Prince's gateway, and will have
seven pairs of doors. Ample arrangements have been
made, however, for the entry and exit of visitors at
other points. The exterior surfaces on the first or
ground tier will not be of glass, but of wood, for the
purpose of greater security, and also to afford a wall
space for such articles as require to be hung up in
order to be seen to advantage. To enumerate in de-
tail all that this great undertaking embraces would be
an endless and perhaps rather a tedious task, but some
conception of the work to be performed may be
gathered from this—that the calculations of Messrs.
Fox, Henderson, and Co., the contractors, estimate,
among other requisites, 34 miles of gutters, 202 miles
of sash bars, and 8 miles of table for exhibiting.
Turning from the building as it is to be to what
has already been performed, it will be found that con-
siderable progress has been made. It is now a month
exactly since the actual work of construction com-
menced. In that time the foundation pieces on which
the columns rest have nearly all been fixed upon their
beds of concrete, and the earth filled in around them.
The columns required for a large section of the
southern and central parts of the building have been
put up and connected together by girders. The
framework begins to indicate the form of the future
structure, just as the ribs and bones of the mammoth
at the British Museum shadow forth what the animal
must have been when alive. The graduated outlines
of the structure ascending tier above tier, the cathe-
dral-like effect of the transept, and the long extended
avenues and rows of slender pillars, branching off sym-
metrically on either side of them, can already be dis-
cerned. Sleepers and joists for the flooring have
been laid in one or two parts, and one small piece
of window framing has been fixed in its place.
The external facing of the ground tier has been
commenced, and while the framework of about
one-third of the structure is in a for ward state nearly
every detail of the work has been begun. Messrs.
Fox and Henderson have already one small crane es-
tablished on the girders for hoisting up materials,
and in a few days they will have several more. The
rapidity
procuringmo
Henderson,
labour.nghiaemu wss
et theh
srequisite
with which the building progresses may be
estimated from the fact, that two columns and three
girders can be fixed in about fifteen minutes. While
the actual labour of construction proceeds a vast
amount of preparatory work goes on simultaneously.
Nearly all the wooden arches required to span
the transept are completed. Sash bar, window-
frames, intermediate bearers and gutters, are got
ready by hundreds of workmen under sheds, formed
hastily of floor planking. The hydraulic press is at
work testing the strength of girders, and a few fires
are lighted to prepare the wrought iron bolts by
which the columns are made fast to the connecting
pieces between them. Piles of material of every kind
are collected in every part of the ground, and it is
believed that three-fourths of all that will be required
are already deposited within the hoarding. There is
darsatwahibg.
mliewfor twenty horses, which are employed in
a to
er
dkAt t presenthatwithin
ththe enclosed
e naubmo übte r ninemust
ahundredpbaee apace,
b
rs handseudt
tito
is are e
satt
1 , 500 . Nodhs
eaTi
s ewhsdifficultyriefhseretooigelritue omd
insi
is
st is
work
foouisn daleither
lother byh brought
by
mutohe s
ee sss.r
ofs. Foxoe
f contractorsOrnm materialßfi and
Bir-
mingham,
yetsuppliespreparedw
theamount
Bal t oc f,
and glassef required.
excellent The
timber urnis
qua-
lity. A portion of it is prepared at mills taken for
the purpose at Chelsea, and the rest on the grounds.
When the weather is wet, this part of the work,
which is carried on under cover, is pushed forward.
When it is dry the fixing of columns and girders is
proceeded with.; Gas has been laid on in the grounds,
and the toils of the day are continued frequently as
late as eleven o'clock at night. Within a commodious
set of offices the heads of departments regulate the

work and prescribe the division of labour to be pur-
sued. Here, too, a room has been established for
draughting plans of the building, in conformity with
which it is to be completed. A considerable por-
tion of the work is done by the piece, and no diffi-
culty is found in procuring any amount of hands
that may from time to time be required. Every
morning they assemble in great numbers at the en-
trance ready for employment,
and when engaged
they turn out very efficient workmen. Such a sup-
ply must be regarded as one of the most important
facilities which a great city like London presents
for the execution of an undertaking like this. An
ingenious system of cheques by means of variously
shaped brass tokens has been introduced to determine
the number of hours per day for which each man has
been occupied, and the remuneration to which he is
entitled. The whole business of the contractors seems
to be carried
•on in the most systematic and orderly
manner; and what is very remarkable is the little
noise or bustle with which the work proceeds. When
the materials of which the building are chiefly com•
posed are recollected this will be the more easily un-
derstood. Nearly everything is brought on the
ground ready to be put up, and the loudest sound
that reaches the ear is the occasional clink of a ham-
mer " closing rivets up." Over so large a space the
noise of labour is lost, and the building rises almost as
silently as did Solomon's temple.
The contractors still speak with perfect confidence
of their ability to construct and roof
.in the whole
before New Year's-day. They have within the last
month done a good deal, but in the two that still re-
main to them they will find their energies fully
taxed to do all that still remains to be accom-
plished. If within the limits of time presaribed to
them they succeed in carrying out so extensive
and elaborate a plan as that which they at pre-
sent contemplate, they will merit the utmost praise;
but before even the letter of their contract the safety
of the public must be placed, and we do trust that
every precaution will be adopted to prevent the possi-
bility of accidents hereafter. Of late years many
circumstances have occurred to shake the confidence
which was at first reposed in iron structures. Sus-
pension bridges and railway termini have been giving
way and falling in from comparatively slight causes
—the smallest defect in a part, the snapping of a rod,
or the shaking of a pillar, by disturbing the distribu-
tion of forces, often brings down the whole fabric.
The new building in Hyde-park is a novelty in archi-
tecture—and a novelty upon a grand scale. It is to
be provided with many galleries, where specimens of
industry will be exhibited, and where, therefore,
crowds of visitors will assemble to inspect. Consi-
dering the materials used, therefore, it is most im-
portant that every care should be taken to insure the
safety of these galleries. Messrs. Fox and Hender-
son say that they have adopted every precaution in
this respect, and that their calculations of strength
are such as to render an accident from the crowding
of spectators impossible. We trust that it may be
so, and we think it due to them to state that a minute
examination of the progress already made in the work
has impressed us with a high sense of the efficient,
orderly, and expeditious manner in which it is carried
on. This is the more remarkable when the novel
character of the structure is remembered, that novelty
removing it out of the routine habits of those engaged
in the labour of construction.