The Sun. — 1846-04-13 (London, England)

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.  - - PORTSMOUTH, SATURDAY.—The Rodney, 92, Captain Collier, is ready for sea, and will go out of harbour on Monday. It is reported that she is to go as flag ship to the East Indies.  The St. Vincent, 120 flag ship, will be ready to proceed to Spithead towards the latter end of next week. She has been removed to her usual moorings, and is now taking in her guns. The contemplated improvements,in this ship have been abandoned for the present, as it would require so long a time to complete them, that all hope of her joining in the summer cruise in the channel must, in that case, be given up. An addition of about six inches to her false keel is all that has been done. The Phcenix, steam sloop, Commander Dennis, sailed this afternoon for Gibraltar. _  The Endymion, 44, Captain Lambert, arrived at Bermuda on the 24th ult. On the preceding Sunday, in the afternoon, while running with a fair sind, she was overtaken by a tremendously heavy squall. The men were aloft on the yards reducing sail, when the force of the wind struck the ship; in an instant the eye-bolt on the mainmast head, to which the foreyard brace-block is attached, gave way, the fureyard broke in the slings, and the weight of it carried away the fore-topsail parrill, and before the men on the yard could secure themselves, seven of them dropped into the water, and were lost; the ship then running ten knots through the water. The Sampson steam-frigate, Capt. Henderson.—The following is an extract of a letter from an officer belonging to this vessel, which we give in order to show the injustice of those parties who decry our steam menof-war. The letter is dated Madeira, March 4th, 1846 . —" The engines work so smoothly that there is not the least jerking with them, and they have done their duty well in this last gale—such a gale as I hope we shall never have to encounter again. The Tweed, one of the crack West India mail boats, sailed from Southampton on the 17th February, and the Sampson sailed from Plymouth on the 20th following. The Tweed got to Madeira twenty hours before us, so that we beat her three days. The first five days she had fine weather, whilst we had scarcely any, and this should be reckoned relative to our comparative speed. Our name is up as being a fast vessel. We went twelve knots an hour under steam alone, coming into this port —when we got smooth water the engines making eighteen and a half revolutions. I never was in a vessel before where we had to ease her going head to sea. We have been glad to give all we could on purpose to make them steer, but the Sampson goes too fast, so that we have been forced to aid the engines. The Tweed could not stand the gale, but it well tested our sea qualities ; and we all like the Sampson, as being a perfect steamer, and a good sea boat, and the Captain is highly pleased with her." The Contest man-of-war brig, constructed by Mr. White, was launched from the projector's building slip at Cowes, this morning, and was directly taken in tow by the Comet steam vessel, and brought into the harbour to be fitted for commission. She is 450 tons burden. The Apollo, troop ship, Commander Radcliffe, is in the harbour, under orders to refit. At the time of her departure from Monte Video, Rear-Admiral Inglefield's flag was flying in the Vernon, 50, Captain Fitzgerald. The Dock-yard artizans employed on the Apollo, are ordered to work from six in the morning to seven at night, to expedite her. It is understood she is to take troops to the East Indies. The Excellent has been again at practice this week in testing and trying the range of new guns, among which are a number of long-short guns, designed for the use of the brigs hitherto denominated la•gun brigs, which are in future to be armed with only twelve of these guns of 32-pound bore, instead of the 32-pound carronades which they have previously carried. The trials have been very satisfactory. These guns weigh only 45 cwt. each.  DETERMINED SUICIDE —Ye terdal morning, between tea and eleven o'clocgkr,oaomdettnertni:isned suicide . was committed by James Branch, a the service of Candon, Esq., of Little Chelsea. The unfortunate master man had,. on Saturday, received warning from his quit his service in a month. Afterwards he stated to hgiisvtfeeell9w-servants that lie himi a .character, and was fearful his master would not gig fnirm toirning he received he appeared much dejected. Yesterday iettstables to the orders to bring the horse and the foot.house, and, having been gone a considerable man WILS sent to the stable to know the cause. trn.tein entering the stables, be discovered the groom suspended by a rope to a beam, quite dead.