The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

December, 1926 ship upon which lovers of the sea and its navy might look with pardon- able pride. A War Office letter, bearing date of Sept. 18, 1796, was found by a colleague, when searching the archives of the navy department for informa- tion about the timber used to build the U. S. S. CoNSTITUTION. The sec- retary of the treasury is informed by this letter that: “There will be wanted for the frigate destined for the Mediterranean twenty-four 9-pounders and twelve 6- pounders and for the three frigates now under construction forty 12- pounders.” The frigate destined for the Medi- terranean was the 86-gun frigate CRESCENT built by us; for tribute to the Dey of Algiers. We need not hang our heads because of the con- ditions which gave rise to those words written so long ago, for now, we realize that the United States did but keep its words. It did not “scrap” its treaty of amity with Algiers, on- erous as it was. The other three frigates for which the forty 12-pound- ers were wanted, were the UNITED STATES (44), building at Philadelphia; the CONSTELLATION (38), building at Baltimore, and the CONSTITUTION (44), building at Boston. This letter of Sept. 18, 1796 contains much of in- terest and as it forms the basis of the research which led to this article, it is quoted in part. The omission Details of 24-pounder “Iron Guns,” carriages and mounting, from “American Artillerist Companion,” Louis le Toussard, Philadelphia, MARINE REVIEW is a table of “defects to be tolerated in cannon for the use of the marine of the United States,” which has been published elsewhere.* War Office, Sept. 13, 1796. “The Secretary of the Treasury. Sir: “There will be wanted for the frig-: ate destined for the Mediterranean, twenty four 9-pounders, and twelve 6-pounders, and for the three frigates now under construction forty 2-pound- ers; it is requested therefore that a contract may be entered into for the delivery of this number of cannon on or before the first of April ensuing. “To obviate as much as_ possible dispute with the person who may engage to furnish them, it may be proper that the contract should com- prise the following conditions. 1. That the guns be cast in the solid and bored. 2. That the twenty four 9-pounders and twelve 6-pounders conform exact- ly in weight, bore, caliber, and length to British ship guns of the same di- mensions now in use. 8. That the forty 12-pounders be formed agreeably to the dimensions laid down, in the annexed draught. 4. That the guns after having been bored and before undergoing any proof, shall be examined by one or two persons to be appointed by the President of the United States, in the presence of such other person as shall. be named by the owner of the works. That this examination shall commence by a verification of the diameters of the different parts and external cavi- ties or defects that are specified in the annexed table, exhibiting the de- *“The Battery of Old Ironsides’—Army Ord- nance, November, 1925. 21 fects which are to be tolerated. That in all cases where the bore or caliber is found to be less than the diameter prescribed, and the defects not greater than those tolerated, the cannon shall be returned to the boring machine, to be enlarged, before being proved; and in all cases where the defects are greater than those tolerated, the examination shall cease, and the can- non be rejected. 5. That the instruments commonly employed to ascertain dimensions, and discover cavities or holes in the ex- ternal and internal parts of guns shall be used on such occasions. 6. That the touch-hole must end in the cannon, at the middle of the rounding of the angle at the bottom of the bore. That should any holes be found in the touch-hole, deeper than the twentieth of an inch, the cannon cannot be admitted to proof, till the same shall have been filled up with beaten iron. 7. That the trunnions must be per-- pendicular to the vertical plane, which is supposed to pass through the touch- hole and to cut the bore into two equal parts. That the upper part of the trunnion shall be level with the center of the caliber, or bore, and that the usual relative weight be pre- served between the breech, and chace. 8. That the proof by powder shall be as follows, viz: Each cannon shall be proved by two successive dis- charges. The weight of the powder for the first discharge shall be equal to half the weight of the ball. The cartridge shall be well rammed down with a wad over it; two balls shall be placed over, which shall be well ram- med down; the balls to be measured so as to allow a sufficient windage, and approved of by the officers who shall (Continued on Page 52) 1811