Discussion of Iron, Stone Supply & Frigates
Document 1787Discusses pig iron available for frigates; also discusses availability of stone. Two vessels drifted down river and were damaged or destroyed near Fort Montgomery.
West Point April 30th 1787 Sir I have rec’d your of 20th by Mr. Green. And have been down to look after the vessels, but could find only one, which is sunk on the edge of the channel, on the [illegible] side of the River, better than three miles from this - the others I find to be nearly opposite to fort Montgomery and I believe in [illegible] water as I cannot [hear] or [learn] of any lady that she has been since she first went down. In answer to yours [illegible] 1st can the quantity of [illegible] in each of the freights be known. Not certain but from the best information I can get then was between thirty and forty [illegible] just on board of the one we have found but it is very uncertain how much is on board of her now as a great quantity of it is said to have been taken away both during the War and since, And what now remains is under a great many tons of stone, or perhaps that would have been gone also, the other is said to have had much more put on board of her 2d Where [illegible] the [illegible] burnt and how deep [illegible] in the water. The frigates were set fire to opposite to Constitution hand and being ebb tide drifted down the river One nearly as far as fort Montgomery before she burnt to the waters edge and sunk. The other one that I have found the Bottom of her lays for and after the River, upon the Edge of the Channel, the timber of her [illegible] side is to be seen at [illegible] water and the other side is about ten feet under water at the same time. Owning to her listing of as the Edge of the Channel runs [illegible] the stern port when the [illegible] at low water there is about [illegible] [illegible] feet. 3d Supposing there to be a quantity of pig iron now Remaining in the bottom of the freight [illegible] [illegible] be the expenses per ton in getting it [illegible]. If [illegible]
This transcription was generated by machine using Anthropic's Claude Code (a mix of sonnet and opus models). It may contain errors or inaccuracies. Please verify against the document image. Learn more about our generative AI methodology.