PORT OF INVERCARGILL.

Southland Times, Issue 913, 9 March 1868, Page 2

PORT OF INVERCARGILL.

Ho arrivals or depai tares since our last issue. .-.".■■_ • ♦ The ViCTOBTAir Line t of Battue" Ship— The Nelson, line of battle ship, the first instalment of our_ Victoria L floating _ defence,, steamed into the bay on Tuesday, preceded by the Victoria. The tSeJson was first spoken by the schooner Proserpine, hence to Belfast, on Sunday forenoon, and on the arrival of Captain Brown at Belfast on Monday-he immediately telegraphed the intelligence. On Monday, at 3 p.m. the Nelson was sighted off Cape Otway, and at ten minutes past five on Tuesday morning she entered Port Phillip Heads. The Victoria, in command of Captain Nor Jian, dropped down the bay on the previous evening, and conveyed her up to the anchorage, Captain Payne, who superintended the fitting up of the Nelson at home, and who has brought her out here, was warmly welcomed and congratulated by a number of friends on his arrival once more in these waters. The Nelson may be called a present to Victoria from the Imperial Government, and as she is ready to receive 500 or 600 boys on board for the purpose of industrial training, she may be said to represent what would otherwise cost us £75,000 at least. Kesides that, the Admiralty — determined not to stint us in this matter — have given us at least £13,000 worth more in stores, shot, shell, munitions of war, and all the expensive et ceteras which, if we did not get them *in this way, we should have to buy some day or another. Her tonnage is oddly enough set down variously in tho navy lists, and she 'is rated both at 2736 tons and at 4060 tens, but for all purposes she may be reckoned as the largest vessel we have seen here, the Galatea not excepted. Originally, she had five decks, but the upper one was cut down to .leave only a spacious poop. She has now an upper-deck, a main deck, a lower deck, and an orlop deck. Her armament consists of six 12---pounder howitzers for boat and field practice, and two 68-poundexs, converted by the Palliser process to rifled 150-pdunders. These are on her upper-deck^ the two heavy guns being fired on pivot slides on the forecastle. On her main deck are twenty 32-pounders of the 42cwt pattern, intended for boys' practice, and on her lower deck are her most dangerous weapons, viz. — twenty converted 64-pounders i.e., the old cast iron smooth-bore sixty-iours rebored and fitted with double tubing of wrought iron, and rifled, all according to Major PaUiser's latest invention. As this is the proper place to refer to these guns in ; detail, we may further, mention that the 32-poun-ders are not perhaps the moßt serviceable according to modern ideas, but they afford splendid practice for boys (who cannot work the heavier artillery), and are economical, inasmuch as they enable us to use up a large stock of amunition fitted.' to. guns of that calibre which we have now on hand. . It will be remembered that H.M.C.S. Victoria has 32-pounders in her armament, and the ammunition included in the stores purchased on her account is very far from .being expended. The heavy guns on the lower deck are for the practice of our naval volunteers of all sorts, who could not be better employed than in learning their duties in respect to weapons which have been fonnd to possess the power of penetrating the plates of most of the heaviest mailed ships afloat. — "Argus," Feb. 5.