The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-23 00:00:00

WOOLWICH-SATURDAY.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, with the view
of satisfying themselves and the service generally of the effici.
ency and comparative strength of the chains and anchors used
in her Majesty s navy, ordered one of the best and largest
anchors, weighing 96cwt. 3qrs. and 51bs., suitable for a first-
rate ship of war, made at Woolwich Dockyard on Perring's
principle, to be attached to a chain Q inches in diameter, the
usual dimensions, and have both tested by Bramah's hydraulic
machine, constructed for that purpose.
Thursday being the day at first named for the proofs being
made, Rear-Admiral Sir James Gordon, K.C.8., Lieutenant-
Governor of Greenwich Hospital, arrived at the Woolwich
Dockyard, and a great number of naval officers, celebrated
engineers, and scientific men, from various parts of the country,
attended ; but owing to the non-arrival of some of the Lords of
the Admiralty, who were expected to be present, the testing
was postponed until yesterday afternoon, when their Lord-
ships other duties still preventing them from being present,
the experiment was made in the presence of Captain Sir Francis
A. Collier, Knt., C.B. and K. C. H., Superintendent of the
Royal Dockyard; Captain Mingaye, Captain Rideout, Capt.
Denison, Captain Denham, Commander Tresahar, Lieutenant
Lawrence, and a number of officers of the Royal Navy.
Amongst the military officers present were Lieutenant-Col.
Dundas, C. 8., Lieutenant-Col. Sabine, and Lieutenant-Col.
Chalmer, of the Royal Artillery, and Captains Blythe and
Herrick of the line.

Amongst the engineers were Mr. Howard, Cornhill ; Mr.
Bremner, Edinburgh ; Mr. 4thiiiiPson Glasgow ; and Mr.
Seeward, Limehouse. Mr. Oliver fang, Woolwich ; Mr.
John Fincham, Chatham ; Mr. J. Atkins. Sheerness ; Mr.
T. F. Haw Ices, Plymouth; Mr. R. Blake, Portsmouth; and
Mr. Roberts, late of Devonport Dockyard, forming the Com-
mittee of Master Shipwrights, appointed by the Lord Com-
missioners of the Admiralty to examine suggestions for the im-
provement of vessels employed in her Majesty's service, were
also present, and a number of private gentlemen, apparently
anxious to know the result.
On the order being given and the power applied, Mr.
Ewart, Chief Engineer of the Woolwich dockyard, examined
the progress of the strain, and found that, with a weight of
sixty tons, the point of the fluke had been drawn forward a
space of two inches and three quarters from its usual position
with the ring end of the shank. At this period of the experi-
ment the hydraulic pressure was withdrawn, the anchor
having been found incapable for the service for which it
was intended, as it ought not to have yielded so much with
a power of 66i tons, the full weight it would have to resist
before it could have been passed as perfect. Capt. Sir. F. A.
Collier ordered that the power should be again applied, to as-
certain the utmost strain the anchor or the chain would bear
before breaking ; and when the full pressure of 664 tons was
put: on, the anchor was found to have yieled 4} inches from the
point of the fluke to the ring-end of the shank, and the mo-
ment the strain was equal to 68 tons, or 14 tons above the
proof, the shank broke completely through, and the parts en-
tirely separated from each other, at about eighteen inches from
the fluke end.
The usual test for the chain of an anchor of 96 cwt. is 81i
tors, consequently the chain had not the full power upon it,
and did not appear to be in the least strained ; bur it will, on
a future occasion, have the full power applied to it to ascertain
its capabilities. It was intended to have tested one of Porter's
patent anchors of 28 cwt., which Mr. Honiball, the patentee,
felt confident would bear an equal strain before breaking as the
large anchor of 96 cwt. ; but the time requisite to remove such
a heavy mass of iron as the broken anchor, and the breaking
of a small portion of the stretching frame, caused the trial to
be postponed until the middle of next week.

NEW NOVEL, EDITED BY MRS. GORE.—We are
requested to state that " Fascination," edited by Mrs. Gore, au-
thoress of " Mothers and Daughters,"" The Man of Fortune,"
&c., is published this day by Mr. Celtfuin, of Great Marlborough.
street, and may now be had at all the Libraries. Mr. Colburn has
also just published :—l. Sir Henry Morgan,t he Buccaneer; a
Nautical Romance. By Edward Howard, Esq., author of " Rattlin
the Reefer," &c. 3 vols.-2. The School for Wives ; a Novel. By
the authoress of " Temptation." 3 vols.-3. Anne Boleya ; an
Historical Romance. By Mrs. A. T. Thomson. 3 vols.—and has
also just ready a new novel entitled" Lady Anne Granard, or Keeping
up Appearances." By the late Miss Landon, authoress of Ethel
Churchill," " The Improvisatrice," &c. 3 vols.

1 Two 'men have been recently arrested by the police,
under suspicious circumstances, though neither of them have as
yet been identified. One was found ii% an obscure street, at a
late hour of night, carrying a bag with upwards of I,ooof. in it,
for the possession of which he could not account satisfactorily;
and the other, who had long been an object of suspicion, was found
to be suddenly in possession of 3,000 f., believed to have been the
produce of some robbery in which he had been concerned. Both.
these individuals are in confinement.
HEREFORDSHIRE AND GLOUCESTERSHIRE CANAL.
—This useful undertaking is gradually pressing towards completion.
About a fortnight since the embankment across the Leddon valley
was made passable for long boats. The canal is therefore naviga.
hie now as far as the Moor-end bridge, which is within a short dis.
lance of the tunnel at Washington, and on Friday last a party of
nearly fifty of the inhabitants of Ledbury made a voyage and in-
spected the works of the tunnel.—HerVord Times.
STATISTICS OF SPEED.—The sloth is by no means
a small animal, and yet it can travel only fifty paces in a day; a
worm crawls only five inches in fifty seconds ; but a lady-bird can
fly twenty million times its own length in less than an hour ; an
in a minute ; the wild mule of ThrlarY has a speedelk can run a nine and half in seven minutes; an antelope
ajle
even greater
than that; an eagle can fly eighteen, leagues in an hour; and a
Canary, falcon can even fly 250 leagues in the short space of six.
teen hours. A violent wind travels sixty miles in an hoar; soutidl
1,142 English feet ill a second.—Rtefkfi