The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-15 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTH.

At an early hour yesterday morning the inhabitant; of
Portsmouth were awakened from their slumbers by the
report of repeated salutes in the harbour; and not a few
of them were induced thereby to turn out of bed, fancy-
ing that the Queen, the King of the French, and Prince
Albert, had already arrived and taken them by surprise.
It turned out, however, that the salutes were fired in
honour of the Admiralty flag, which had been hoisted
in the port in consequence of the arrival of Sir G.
Cockburn, Sir W. Gage, and the Right Hon. 11. T. L.
Corry, Lords of the Admiralty, on the previous night.
In the morning their flag, on being hoisted onboard
the Victory, was saluted by all the ships at Spithead.
At a very early hour the St. Vincent, 120, flag-ship,
Caledonia, 120, and Queen, 110, all up topgallantmasts,
topgallantyards, run out the life-lines, and dressed ship.
The St. Vincent hoisted the royal standard at the main,
white ensign at the fore, and union•jack at the mizen ;
the Caledonia hoisted the French flag at the main, a red
ensign at the fore, and union• jack at the mizen ; the Queen
hoisted the flag of the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Charles
Rowley (white), at the main, a blue ensign at the fore,
and a union-jack at the wizen; and dressed ship in the
very gayest colours. . _

On the previous evening the brigs forming the experi-
mental squadron, with the exception of the Cruiser, all
dropped down to St. Helen's to salute the French
squadron as they passed.
. . . _

'The weather iltiring the whole of yesterday was very
unfavourable. The early morn was ushered in by light-
ning and thunder, and though there were brief periods
of sunshine, the day was, upon the whole, so rainy and
squally, that a pretty general opinion prevailed that the
royal party, whose arrival had been expected from
Windsor, and who it was conceived must be made ac-
quainted with the state of the weather through the
medium of the telegraph, would postpone their depar-
ture for another day. The water in the harbour was in
a state of great commotion, and it was impossible to
cross from Portsmouth to Gosport, without getting a
pretty good drenching from the spray. The boisterous
state of the sea outside, therefore, might easily be
imagined.

About half-past ten, the weather being very squally,
and the rain descending in torrents, the three line of-
battle ships above-mentioned, hoisted the French jack
and the British ensign alongside, and hauled down as the
signal to take in colours. The life-lines for manning
yards were still kept out. The flag of Sir Charles
Rowley was then removed from the Queen back to his
own ship the St. Vincent, and the fleet seemed to have
resumed their former appearance. The rain on the pre-
vious eveninc, was accompanied -by loud peals of thunder
and vivid lightning. The sea ran very high yesterday,
dashing over the ramparts, and, being spring tide, the
houses along shore were from one to four feet under
water. A more miserable day it were impossible to
conceive.

At twelve o'clock a body of Artillerymen went over
from the Royal Marine Artillery Barracks to Fort
Moncton on the Gosport side, with powder for the
battery to salute the royal squadron, as it passed out to
Spithead, and at about the same hour three detachments
of regiments in garrison on the Portsmouth side, of 500
each, marched down, and passed over the harbour by
the floating-bridge to Gosport, to form the guard of
honour for the reception of the august party.
In consequence of the arrival of the Lords of the
Admiralty, the harbour was in a state of animation in
the morning ; and several of the vessels in the harbour
were dressed out. In the course of the morning, their
Lordships paid a visit to the Gomer, when salutes were
exchanged between one of the French steamers and the
Victory. Shortly after this, about twelve o'clock, the
royal steam frigate the Gomer, followed by the Elan and
Pluton, left the harbour, and this circumstance served to
confirm the notion that prevailed that the royal party
would not arrive, as at first expected, yesterday, but
would defer their departure from Windsor. It, how-
ever, turned out that the French steamers merely left
the harbour, lest, at low water, there might not be suffi-
cient to carry them safe out. Thousands of spectators
assembled on the walls, to get a view of the noble yacht
frigate. She went out with considerable difficulty, how-
ever, the wind and tide being dead against her.
A most lamentable and awful calamity occurred at
Portsmouth yesterday evening, at about twenty minutes
to four, on the King's Bastion. As the Artillerymen
(Royal) were reloading one of the guns, which
,is sup-
posed to have hung fire, the charge went off, and blew
ono of them to pieces, and the other was so horribly
mutilated that it is impossible he can live. The gulls
upon this bastion are 32-pounders, and there are only
four of them ; consequently to fire a royal salute requires
each gun to be loaded five times and one six. It is usual
to use the worm to clear out the gun, we believe, every
second charge, and it is supposed some fire had remained
in the chaner. The names of the unfortunate men are
reported to us as Sandy Miller and Michael Walker, be-
tween 25 and 27 years of age. Hiller was blown into
fragments, and Walk ,r had his thigh broken, his arm
blown off into the moat, and his body otherwise dis-
figured. In the excited state of the town, it has lien
impossible to arrive at anything like a correct statement
of anything further than the bare fact that such a cala-
mity has happened. Only five guns had been fired when
the awful catastrophe occurred. They instantly ceased
firing ; but the bodies being removed, and the fragments
of flesh, clothing, &e., gathered, the guns were again
loaded for the purpose of saluting the royal yacht as she
passed by the standard on the bastion. The guns upon
the King's Bastion being for heavy metal (32's), they
are never used except upon very extraordinary occasions;
and we are informed the present is only the fourth time
they have been-used for royal salutes since they have
been mounted ; and the first time they were so used a
similar horrible calamity occurred whilst the Artillery-
men were ramming down the charge.
ENIBARKATION OF THE QUEEN AND PRINCE