Star.
London, England, 1815-06-13 00:00:00

MILITARY NUDGES..

As tile Bt idge EstablisbrnenY of the Duke of Vest..
LINGTON'S army in Belgium is on a greater scale than
has been known in the British service at any former
period, it may be acceptable to give some information
of the final arrangements which have been made for
the performance of that very essential branch of mi-
aitary duty ; particularly as the subject appears, of
late, to have attracted a good deal of public attention.
To our non-military readers, it may be proper pre-
viously to explain, that the pontoons, used in the
formation of bridges in the field, are portable boats,
which in the laritiO service are made of tin, for the
sake of lightness, and the construction of which is so
ingeniously contrived, that if the sides or bottom are!
perforated in several places by shot holes, they are
prevented from sinking by being divided into a great
number of water tight partitions, which likewise
contribute to their strength.
Each pontoon is mounted on a waggon, which also
carries an anchor, and a certain number of baplks.
planks, oars, ropes, and other stores, in such quan-
tity as to complete exactly that portion of the bridge
which. one pontoon is capable of supporting. In
good roads, such as those of England, six horses can
draw a pontoon with its stores complete; but on ser-
vice more will be required.
When an ariny. after a march, arrives at a river,
over which a bridge is to be formed, the pontoons are
taken off their carriages, launched, and anchored in
line, abteast of each other, at any distance apart
which may be judged couvenient. Then the baulks
are laid on, extending from one pontoon to another ;
across which the planks are afterwards applied ; and
thus a bridge, capable of passing troops, cavalry, and
artillery, can be made in a very short time.
Ten pontoons will farm a good bridge for infantry
over a river of about 60 yards wide; bat if more are
used, the bridge will be so much the stronger,' and
better calculated for carriages and artillery.
The formation of military bridges in the British
service is considered' a part• of the duty of the engi-
neer department. Doting the whole of the late war
in the Peninsulaaefficers of that corps had the charge
of the pontoon train, and directed its operations and
movements; but the establishment, being then in its
infancy, was very incomplete. A party of Portu-
guese naval officers and seamen, occasionally assisted
by soldiers of the line, none of whom (either sailors
or soldiers) were previously trained. to that duty,
acted as pontooners. To these a small party of Bri-
tish seamen was subsequently added. Civil artificers
executed the repairs—Spanish bullock-drivers, and
oxen, and afterwards a detachment of artillery drivers
and horses, commanded by a Captain of the royal ar-
tillery, were-employed in the movements-
From this heterogeneous mixture (then unavoid-
able) of officers and men of different nations, and of
various' professions and departments, aniliteryanaval,;
and civil, that perfect unity of action which is essen-
tial in all military operations, could scarcely be ex-
pected. A new and more efficient system has there-
fore recently been adopted in Belgium. The Pon-
toons are to be manoeuvred entirely by officers and
men of the engineer department, and the drivers and
horses appropriated for that duty are also put entirely
under the command of the engineers.
Two companies of the Royal Sappers ans4ithiefs•
commanded by one Brevet-Major, two Captain, and
four Subalterns of the Royal Engineers, am at pre-
sent employed with the Pontoon train in the Duke of
WELLINGTON'S army, and another company, particu-
larly expert in that duty) has lately sailed m rein-
force them.
As the fact is not generally known, k is proper to
state, for the information of the public, that the royal
sappers and miners in the British service are not
merely trained to the peculiar operations cf sapping
and mining, but likewise to all the other practical
field duties ef the engineer department, amongst which
the formation of military bridges, by meant of boats,
pontoons, casks, &c. has been most assiduously at-
tended to. To qu-lify them for executing this duty
with proper activity, on the most rapid rivers, they
are exercised in the operations of rowlig, casting and
weighing anchors, knotting, splicing, ace. under the
direction of officers of the Royal Engineers. The
spot selected for their practice is a part. of the Med-
way, below Chatham, which is there subject to the
action of the tides, and exceeds mast inland rivers in
rapidity. In this manner a very great number of
officers and men have been tr.iued within the last

three. years, iu consequence of whose continual exer-
tions and experience, many useful inqr ovements have
been made, and the manccuvres of pontoons and 01
military bridges in general, under various given cit.
cumstances, have been reduced to a system.

A private of the 93d Regiment, quartered at Cork,
died, apparently, on Saturday week in the barracks.
On Tuesday last the body was conveyed with mili-
tary honours for interment in St. Nicholas Church-
yard, when, at the moment of lowering the coffin into
the grave, his comrades conceived they heard a faint
noise within it. The lid was immediately taken off,
and, to their great astonishment, they discovensi that
he was still alive. The poor fellow was taken back
again in the open coffin, but his recovery is doubtful,
A lamentable accident occurred at Hayle, in Coro-
wall, on Sunday se'nnight. A party, consisting of
six young men and five women, having gone on the
water, a sailor; in a state of intoxication, took the
tiller ; and, in attempting to tack, the boat adorn-
timely upset, whereby four of the men and four'
women were drowned. One young man and woman
were taken up by Mr. DODD, of the steam passage-
vessel, who happened to be in his boat, near the spot
at the time. Another young man saved himself by
clinging to the boat. All the bodies were taken up
soon atter the occurrence of the lamentable catas-
trophe, but every attempt to restore animation proved
fruitless. Three of the young women who wear
drowned were sisters.
Tux SUN'S Disk.—There is now on the Sun's disk
the most extraordinary configuration of macula or
spots, that ever was seen: they present, when viewed
through an astronomical or inverting telescope, the ex.
act resemblance of the figures 28. If viewed through
an erect telescope, they will of course appear inverted
but equally distinct—the 2 in particular is perfectly
formed: Spots have frequently appeared of a circular
or spherical figure, resembling small planetary bodies,
on the Sun'• disk : but this is probably the first in-
stance in the memory of man of their being arranged
so as to describe say knows gun of varied Camp