[No 5] Report of progress made in providing materials for the Frigates, and in building them. December 12. 1795. [No 6. See report &c &c [undecipherable] rec'd 15 Dec. 1795] [3] [Need] [1] A Statement of the progress in providing materials for the Frigates and in building them. If the Frigates had been constructed with the timber at hand, in the several places where they were destined to be built, they might by this time have been completed. But the design of rendering them permanently useful, having determined the Executive to have them constructed with live Oak and Cedar, the measures deemed necessary and adequate to the procuring of those materials were taken during the last year. The common and easy acquisition of these articles in the ordinary service of the merchants forbade any apprehension of extraordinary difficulty in procuring the same for the frigates. But in the experiment it has been found that timber of the lengths and sizes necessary for frigates was greatly dispersed and grew generally in places difficult of access and required extraordinary means of transportation to the landing. The natural difficulties of the country have been increased by unusual quantities of rain. Ship carpenters were sent from the Northern States to the colonies having the live Oak, and employed during the last winter in cutting and hewing the timber; but the climate deterred them from staying to prosecute their work, so that those men only capable of selecting the proper timber and moulding it in the requisite forms have been prevailed on to remain. These with Negroes [Continues]