09-10-2003, 04:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2003, 04:33 AM by Rhydderch Hael.)
Granted, duPont brought American gunpowder manufacture to the fore, but he established his first mill in 1804, and became the large supplier of powder in the United States by 1810. However the plans and construction of the frigates began almost ten years prior to duPont's arrival, and imported English gunpowder was the preferred powder over the domestic product among shootists during that time.
Mind you, European knowledge and industry base concerning gunpowder manufacture reached back centuries, but the British endeavoured to keep gunpowder manufacturing in the American colonies as rudimentary as possible when the colonies were still under British control, with supply to colonists limited and rationed to prevent insurgence. When independence came about, the new United States had to catch up.
American powder circa 1795 could not generate the power of the European competition. An American 18-pounder (the common bore of a frigate of the day) would not range as well as a Brit. So the solution at hand: get a bigger gun. The 24-pounder.
Problem is, those guns are heavier. The ships have to be larger. Fortunately, Humphreys and Fox had the answer to that solution when the American frigates were built.
Mind you, European knowledge and industry base concerning gunpowder manufacture reached back centuries, but the British endeavoured to keep gunpowder manufacturing in the American colonies as rudimentary as possible when the colonies were still under British control, with supply to colonists limited and rationed to prevent insurgence. When independence came about, the new United States had to catch up.
American powder circa 1795 could not generate the power of the European competition. An American 18-pounder (the common bore of a frigate of the day) would not range as well as a Brit. So the solution at hand: get a bigger gun. The 24-pounder.
Problem is, those guns are heavier. The ships have to be larger. Fortunately, Humphreys and Fox had the answer to that solution when the American frigates were built.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.