The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-09 00:00:00

! inches forward, and 23 feet 1 inch abaft. The ship was thus
trimmed; and she is now gone out to try with the still
'deeply loaded ships, having only two months' biscuit; so t►;at
if the cruise extends any considerable time, she must be
provisioned from the other ships, and reduced to beg her
bread. Now what a farce all this is. Is, then, mere sailing
for a race, without regard to efficacy as a man-of-war, the
object in view in the building of ships for the service of
'the country? What could you have done in the late war
with a fleet of ships possessing the reported fine qualities of
the Vanguard? Plainly, very little. But, suppose, being
thus lightened, the Vanguard should outsail the whole
squadron, what then? Why she will have won the cup by
a species of Navy office jockeyship—by carrying a great
spread of sail, with comparatively little resistance—the great
secret of her reported success in the Mediterranean. We
here see the practical and sound policy of the Admiralty; in
bringing such ships and reports to the bar of justice, the
truth has come out. It is important to remark, that if we
had to choose between a good ship at a light trim, and a
good ship at a deep trim, we should certainly for the service
of the country select the latter, and for this reason :—That
in sending ships on foreign stations it is absolutely requi•ite
t., stow them full of stores and provisions, and the more they
can carry the better. If the ships get lighter by the expen-
diture of stores, it is easy to make them deeper; but you can
find no shift to compensate the inefficiency of a ship deeply
immersed.

We referred on a former occasion to the late Parliamen-
tary return to "two orders of the House of Commons, June
26, and July 27, 1845," as being a document without a
signature, and containing fallacies of a very absurd kind,
and which we mean, for the information of our readers, from
time to time to expose. The Vanguard is included in this
return. First, she is said to have cost only 62,115/. ; whilst
the Clarence and Thunderer are said to have cost from
72,000/. to 76,000/. Now, it will be found, that in the build-
ing of the Vanguard at Pembroke, means were resorted to
to keep down the cost, unusual on similar occasions ;
labourers were employed at 2s. per diem, to do the work
usually performed by shipwrights at 4s. or 4s. 6d. ; and it is
well known that the expense and difference in quality of
materials employed in the construction of the -Vanguard
were greatly in favour of the constructor's supposed econo-
mical system ; and this ship was built with a view to show the
accuracy of this system. Now, it is a curious fact, that in the
Dockyard returns from the Vanguard, instead of the official
document of expenses being signed by all the principal offi-
cers of the Pembroke-yard, as is customary, it was only signed
by one of them, and that one a partisan of the surveyor. It
was actually proved, that instead of this ship being built at a
less cost than the Clarence, she virtually cost 5,0001. more.
We come now to the return in this precious Parliamentary
document relative to her flotation. By this we find, at page 3,
that the draught of water by construction drawing is to be 23
feet forward, and 24 feet abaft, with a height of midship port
of 7 feet; and in page 2 we find, by return from Spithead,
she swam 23 feet 7 inches, and 21 feet 5 inches, stored for 12
months, having a midship port of 7 feet 1 inch. Here, then,
the ship swam 7 inches deeper forward, and 5 inches deeper
abaft; notwithstanding which, her midship port is actually
one inch higher. Oh, wonderful ship ! Oh, heavenly con-
structors! We ne'er may look upon your like again. So
Much for the Vanguard.
Come we now to Superb. The Superb was built at Pem-
broke in 1842 ; and, not content with the most perfect of all
perfect ships, her predecessor the Vanguard, her constructors
made a considerable alteration in the form of the stem, by
which her buoyancy was increased forward, without any
corresponding alteration in. the after body—of course down
she went by the stern, as might have been anticipated. On
fitting out this ship at Plymouth, in November, 1843, under
Captain Cory, she was found very deficient in displace-
ment, and would nat take her stores to the draught of
water intended—so much so, that it was found requisite
to put on an additional quantity of copper; she was docked
previously to fitting out, and then sent round to Portsmouth
to join the experimental fleet. On arriving at Portsmouth,
however, she was ordered, from some unknown crotchet
of the surveyor's department, to be docked again, and
very great pains were taken to prepare her for the forth-
coming trials. She went to sea under very hopeful
expectatious, and she returned to Plymouth Sound, ac-
knowledged to have sailed even worse than the Vanguard.
An order is now sent, dated September 23, to put her on
the same low diet as Vanguard, and bring her to the light
jockey trim—a plain admission of her incapacity as a deep
ship; but no sooner is this effected, than she is withdrawn
from the fleet and sent to Portsmouth to be again taken
into dock and stowed under the express directions of the sur-
veyor. Can anything be more absurd or monstrous than such
a state of things ? Here are two ships, supposed to be the
finest in the world, which are only to be sailed by certain
persons, at a certain draught of water, and which require such
a delicate trim, that to destroy their sailing, it is only requi-
site to fit them for general service. There is not upon the
records of the Admiralty, we will venture to say, an instance
of a ship docked three times within 10 months merely for ex-
perimental sailing.
It was alleged, in explanation of the bad sailing of the
Superb, that the copper on the bottom was foul, and some
weeds were exhibited brought up by an apparatus put under
the ship; but with how little reason this excuse for docking
the ship can be maintained, we leave our readers to judge,
from the following extract from a morning paper of Thursday
last, and which we suppose would not have appeared without
sufficient authority :
" The Superb, 80, Captain A. L. Cory, went into Ports-
mouth Harbour on Tuesday, and into dock all standing yes-
terday. Her men are hulked on board the Victorious; her
copper was perfectly clean and in excellent order, not a
wrinkle or swell to be seen, it having been only flattened
down about sixteen weeks back. So soon as the water was
clear from the dock men were set on to rip off the copper.
She will be fresh caulked and coppered. What ether process
she will undergo we cannot tell, but it is understood the
shipwrights and caulkers are to work early and late to get
her ready to come out of dock to-morrow. The officers be-
longing to her do not know any reason for this ship coming
into dock. She did not leak-

ill.. liC
Had the Trafalgar been taken into dock, we should not
have been surprised, because the copper of that ship was
very much covered with weed, as is well known, and she
had not, previously to the cruise, had the advantage of
recent docking, common to all the other ships of the squa-
dron. These operations on the productions of the inspired
school of shipbuilding requisite to their perfect success, may
be considered very trifling ; but they are, at the same time,
very costly.

MELANCHOLY ACCIDBXT.-KIEKCIIDBRIGHT, OCT.
4.—A melancholy loss of life occurred here on the night of Tues-
day, or early on the morning of Wednesday last. Robert Cun-
ningham, of Linkens, occupying the farm of Nether Boreland,
off the town of Kirkcudbright, having been in the parish of Borgue
in the course of Tuesday, taking sheep to grass parks there, took
his seat in Forrest's coach, from Newton-Stewart, about Barber.
row, in Bourge. On the coach crossing the ferry at Kirkcud-
bright, he was requested to keep his seat, but he declined, came off
the coach, saying —" No, no; I don't wish to be drowned in a
coach (alluding to a recent accident which occurred at the ferry);
when lam drowned, I shall be droWned on my feet." He crossed
the ferry, went to the inn at which the coach stopped, paid his
fare, and, in company with a friend, walked out of town as far as
the Millburn on his way home, when his friend parted with him,
and bade him good night. This might be about 10 o'clock. There
are reasons for believing that he was seen about an hour later
by Robert Hannah, the post runner from Tarff.bridge, about half a
mile out of town, at 11 o'clock ; but from this hour no further
trace of him can be had till about half-past five on Wednesday
morning, when his body was found lying in the dock at Kirkcud-
bright, on its back on the sand, the tide having receded from the
spot two hours at least before the body was found. We under-
stand that as soon as the accident was known, the superintendent
of police instituted an investigation Into the circumstances of the
case, and requested Dr. Shand to examine the body, who reported
that death must have been occasioned by drowning, there being no
external marks of his having sustained any injury. From further
inquiries it has been ascertained that cries of a shrill and urgent
nature were heard in the direction of the dock, about twenty
minutes before two o'clock, at which time it is supposed the gen-
tleman, unfortunately, under the impression that he had left his
horse at Castlesod, retraced his steps to Kirkcudbright, with the
view of re-crossing the ferry, and the night being very dark, missed
his way, and stepped over the quay, which is quite unprotected, and
fell into the dock. The accident is more to be regretted, that it
might have been prevented had our municipal authorities taken
the necessary and called-for precaution of putting a fence-chain
round the dock—a precaution more especially called for, as the
dock is right in the way of the ferry-boat, which is in demand at
all hours of time, night as well as day. We only hope that this
accident, with the previous one already referred to, will induce the
authorities to adopt Immediate measures, both as regards the
dock and the ferry, to secure the safety of the public to an extent
which has not hitherto been obtained, however loudly called for.—

Dumfries Courier.
THE THoROUGHFARE-PHOBIA.---A new disease has
within the last few months become very prevalent in the metro- '
polls : and as no name has yet been given to it, we honour it with
the appellation of the Thoroughfare-phobia. It consists of a very
dangerous stoppage, preventing the free circulation of the blood of
commerce through the veins and arteries of the metropolis.
Fleet-street has, been seized in this shocking way several times
during the present year; and Piccadilly, which we thought bad
just got over a very long attack, has suffered a serious relapse
within the last week or two. We really begin to tremble for the
very existence of the City, when we see these awful symptoms of
a general breaking-up beginning to show themselves in all
quarters of the metropolis. If the suburban roads, which are
called the lungs of London, should be taken in the same way, suffo-
cation would be the inevitable consequence.—Punch.
ROCHESTER PETTY SESSIONS.—The mother of
the boy Menem, who was sentenced to pay 15s. for stealing a few
walnuts valued at 6d., the property of Sir John Marshall, at Gill-
ingham, and whose case appeared in the London journals last week,
entered the court, and said that the money hid been given her by
a gentleman named Underwood, at Gillingham, for the purpose of
releasing her son from going to prison. It appeared also that some
humane gentleman sent to the county court a post-office order for
the amount, and other sums had been forwarded for the same
benevolent object. The money was accordingly paid, and the
discharge made out.
By the death of the Rev. Dr. Perkins three livings,
in the county and diocese have become vacant, viz., the Vicarage
of Dawlish, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter; the Rectory of
Mamhead, in the gift of Sir Robert Newman, Bart. ; and the
Rectory of St. Lawrence, in this city, in the gift of the CrOWII,--
Western Luminary.

PROSPECTUS OF THE
BOSTON, GRANTHAM, LEICESTER, and
MIDLAND COUNTIES JUNCTION RAILWAY
COMPANY.
(Provisionally Registered.)
Offices-5, Guildhall Chambers, Basinghall-street.
Capito.l4Boo,ooo/., in 40,000 Shares of 201, each.
Deposit, 2/. 2s. per Share.
ritovlsioxat, COMMITTEE.
Wm. Corbett Smith, Esq., Ditttsera-114 High Sheriff of Leices-
tershire
John Summerecales, Esq., Sheriff of Lincoln
Sir Wm. Wynn, Suffolk-street, Pall-mall, Chairman of the North
Wales Railway
Sir George Rich, towndes-street, Belgrave-square, Director of the
Oxford, Southampton, Gosport, and Portsmouth Railway
Msjor-Gen. Sir Love Parry, Madryn, Carnarvonshire, Director of
the North Wales Railway
Honourable Captain Douglas Kinnaird Pulteney, Parliament street,
London, Chairman of the York and Lancaster Railway
R ear-Admiral Ayscough, Southampton, Director of the Manchester
a,nd Southampton Railway
Lieutenant-Colonel Eirington, Scotch Fusilier Guards, 12, Wynd-
ham-place, Director of the Leeds and Liverpool Railway
Lieutenant-COlonel Fitch, 36, York-terrace, Regent's-park, Director ,
of the South and Midland Railway
Adamthwaite, John, Esq., Oakhili, Teen, Staffordshire
Altlehne,DepreregteßCtreehairhlegtat q.'East Shilton, Leicestershire, Director of
and Leicester Railway
Atkinson, J. 8., Esq.. Elmwood House, Leeds, Director of the Lei-
cester and Bedford Railway
Deli, Robert, Esq., Manor House, Chiswick. Director of the Direct
East and West Junction Railway
11, Park-terrace, Brixton-road, Director of
BitAhned'i,rirlelwilagrrr, oAterhampton, and South Staffordshire. and
the North WateS EailwaY#
Betts, William, Esq„ Bey4s Mount, giotgyampton