The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-05 00:00:00

-MAY 5, 1857.

log we find that the Assistance brought from the
Crimea, and landed at Ports Mouth dockyard on the
17th of May, 1856, 880 men and 105 horses ; she
made another. trip, and arrived a second time at
the dockyard-on the 15th of August, 1856, with
801 men and 14 horses, thus showing her advan-
tages as a troop frigate as to accommodation and
speed. •
The Adventure, 4, screw steam; troopship, Corn-
mand4Lacy, got up her ste en in the steam-basin
at Portsmouth yesturday, to try her machinery
preparatory to being reported w ady for service.
The Winchester, 50, 'qv ain T. Wilson, has
been hauled up to the eh itham Dockyard, where
the crew are busily engaged in stripping her and
removing her stor-s into the dockyard, previously
to the ve=sel being paid off and placed in ordinary.
The Mersey, .40, the large steam frigate building
at Chatham Dockyard, is progressing rapidly, and
already some idea can he formed of her immense
size. She will he the Idngest steam frigate in the
service, being considerably longer than the R.)yral
Sovereign, 131, recently launched at Portsmouth.
The following are the principal .dimensions of ,the
Mersey :—Length over all, 336 ft. 'Gin. ;. length
between perpendiculars, 300 ft. ; length .of keel for
tonnage,. 264 ft. 4in. ; extreme breadth; 52ft. ;
breadth for tonnage, sft. 3in. •, breadth moulded,
50ft. Bin. ; depth .of hold, 19fr. 10in. ; burd m,
3,726 70-94 tons. Her engines will be of 1,090
horsepower.
Two large vessels which have been nearly con-
structed at Chatham will be launched 'dtrriug the
present year ; they are the 41od, which was ori-
ginally designed as a sailintf vessA, but has been
altered to a 90-gun s:Tew steamer, an.i the Charyb-
dis, 21, screw s eam corvette, which was commenced
in March of last year, from the designs 'of Captain
Sir B. Walker, Surveyor of the Navy.
The paddlewheel steam-frigate Furious, 16, Capt.
Sherard Osborne, and the screw steam store-ship
Helper, Master Commander James Hill, sailed
from Plymouth yesterday afternoon for Coins, with
two despatch boats and 12- gnirboats—viz., the
Surprise, the Cormorant, the Algerine, the Lee, the
Banterer, the Lnrn, the Kestrel, the Drake, the
Janus, the Firm, the Watchful, the Woodcock,
the Slaney, and the Leven.
The Cressy, 80 guns, screw steamship, Captain
Richard L. Warren, was inspected yesterday in
harbour at Sheerness by the Cornmander-in-Ciiief,
the Hon. William Gordon, Vice-Admiral of the
White and Commander-in-Chief of all ships arid
vessels' in the rivers Thames and Medway. The
gallant admiral expressed himself highly satisfied
with the efficient state of the crew. The Cressy
left the Bosphorus in company with the Majes'ic
on the 11th Feb. last. She sighted the Lizard on
the afternoon of the 24th April, having previously
to that time experienced variab:e winds and calm

weather. She then fell in with strong east-iqy
winds ; in consequence of which steam wag got up
on the afternoon of the 28th April, and arrived at
Spithead the same night ; left Spithead, under
steam, on the 30,11 April, and arrived at the Great
Nore on the 2d May, at about 7 p. rn. ; empe into
harbour yesterday. She brings home large quan-
tities of surplus ammunitiot, stores, slops, c:uth-
ing, &c., for the return of which some time will
be occupied beyond the usual time for returning
her own stores.

On the coast guard cutter Curlew being placed
in on the ebb dry yesterday morning, the only
bodies found in her were—Mr. W. Shepherd, late
second mate, in command ; E. White, mariner ; W.
Redding, mariner; and Joseph Matthew, first-class
boy. There are now missing—A S winey, mariner ;
H. White, gunner; and Win. Weeller, ordinary
mariner.

,The gunboat Mayflower left Sheerness yesterday
on a trial of her engines, after being repaired by the
engineer stall of the Edinburgh, woo are daily em-
ployed on board the factory steamvessel afloat,
Capt. E. -P. Halsted. To-day the Manly gunboat
goes out, and on Wednesday the Phoenix,; all of
which vessels have been repaired under the superin-
tendence of the inspecting engineer of the steam
squadron of reserve, Mr. Langley.
The paddlewheel ti oopship Dee, Master-Com-
mander T. Pullen, was yesterday morbingadmitted
into basin at Wool wich, on her return from Ply-
mouth and Portsmouth. She landed at Woolsvicb
the following officers and privates of the Royal.
Marine Corps, discharged- twin bet... Majesty's 70,
gun flagship Boicawen, Rear-Admiral Fanshawe,
late on service in North America and the West
'lndies--namely, Captain 11. G. J. Davies, First
Lieutenant W. A. Delacombe, and° 46 rank and
file, from Plymouth. Instructions were issued
from the Admiralty to the chief engineer of the
Dee, on her departure from Woolwich,to note do wn
with special care the working of Mr. Wethered'a
superheating apparatus, fluted on board, as it is the
desire of GovernMent to be furnished with a de-
tailed and final report thereon. The system has
been satisfactory throughout the lengthened trials
to which it bas been subjected, the rate of economy
averaging about 35 per cent, in the consumption of,
fuel.

Her Majesty's ship Rhadamanthus, having been
supplied with a set of new hoilev, and having un-
dergone the necessary repairs of machinery,
was yesterday morning placed under the shears iu
the inner basin, Woolwich, t 3 have her funnels
applied.
The piddle-wheel steamer Monkey, having bad
h-r machinery and boiler unshipped, is ordered to
be surveyed in Wuolwieh

Mr. Morris, Deputy Military Storekeeper of
Woolwich Arsenal, accompanied by a committee of
eagilieer officers, yesterday morning inspected a
/umber of military store-h.vuses, adjoining the site
facing the Artillery Baraack., on which it is pro
posed to raise a garrison church and quarters, with
a view to their removal forthwith. It is in c intern-
plation to erect a museum in the lomlity, in order
to store the RussiAn guns and other trophies cap-
tured in the Crimea.

The following promotions and appointments were
made yesterday at the Admiralty :
Commandera—Thomas Gichran (1851), recently in
command of the Mariner, 12, sloop, on the North
American and West India station ' • and Edward K.
Barnard (1852), recently in command of the Racehorse,
14, sloop, in the East Indies, have been promoted to be
captains.

Lieutenants—James B. Veitch (1847), recently serving
in the Arrogant, 46. screw, in the Baltic ; Henry
Harvey (1847), recently serving in the Hawke, 60,
screw, in the Baltic ; and John Henry Howard (1847),
recently serving in the Hydra, 6, paddle, at the Cape of
Good Hope, have been promoted to he commanders.
Master—Henry A. Martin, Co the Leopard.
Second Master—Clement Hirtzel (acting), to the Vol-
cane.

Master's Aebistant—Henry Hosken, to the Boscawen.

THE LOSS OF THIC CURLEW _REVENUE

CUTTER.

SHEERNESS, MONDAY.
The Curlew, revenuecutter, which was run down
by the Baron Osy, Antwerp steamer, ebbed dry on
the beach at Cockle-shell Hard this morning, when
the vessel underwent a close examination ; the re-
sult was finding the bodies of 4 out of 7 of the un-
fortunate sufferers, who were, we may say, drowned
in their beds, The names of those found were as
follows

Wm. Shepherd, second mate, in command.
Edmund White, able seaman.
Wm. Reading, able seaman.

Joseph Matthews, ordinary seaman.
Two silver watches were also found below, sup-
posed to, belong to Shepherd and Sweeney.
There are still 3 bodies not yet found, which pos-
sibly may have floated out of the cutter—

Henry White, boatswain.
Alex. Sweeney, able Eeiman.
W. Wheeler, able seamen.

The bodies are not at all decompo3ed, and were
inimediately identified by those who knew them
when alive. The commander, W. Shepherd, was
found in the fore part of the vessel. it appears that
when under water and drowning, the poor fellow
must have broken the bulh ad down, and s got
out of his state room into that part of the vessel
which was occupied by the crew.
M. Hawkins, the ordinary seaman who was on
deck and was the only one saved from the ill-fated
cutter, is ordered to appear before the Privy Coun-
cil, Board of Trade, together with the commander
and crew of the Scout cutter, who rescued him from
the wreck on Friday, the Ist inst , and which was
also lying close by him at anchor on the Mouse
Sands, considerably out of the track of vessels run-
ning up that channel, when all the circumstances
tociching this sad catastrophe will be brought to
light.

A coroner's inquest was to have been held this
morning, but other urgent business prevented
Lewis, E*q., (coroner), from attending. To-mor-
row, however, at 11, a 4ull body of 13 lieutenants,
or naval officers, will assemble on board her Majes-
ty's ship Formidable, when they will adjourn to
the Fly cutter, where the bodies are, to view them.
The yeEsol'a port quarter le entirely cutaway,