The year of 1724 (NS) was important for Alexander Spotswood. This year he was able to show that he could make a significant shipment of iron to England. I suspect that the reason he stalled in going to England was that he wanted to establish that he could produce iron.
The Customs House in London prepared a report on the amount of iron imported into Great Britain from the colonies from 1710 to 1749 for each year. In this case, as was usual, Christmas was used as the point between the years. I suppose the theory was that no business was transacted on this day. Pig iron and bar iron were distinguished. The first year of any shipment to England was 1717, when 1 ton was shipped from Nevis (an island in the British Caribbean), and 2 tons were shipped from St. Christopher (another island in the British Caribbean; also known as St. Kitts). Both of these were bar iron.
In 1718, 1 ton was shipped from Barbados (still another island in the British Caribbean), 1 ton from Nevis, and 4 tons from the combination of Virginia and Maryland. Again, all of this was bar iron, not cast (pig) iron. I am told that it takes a furnace to produce pig iron (cast iron). The furnace is required to get the iron hot enough to flow into a mold. Bar iron does not require molten iron. With a lot of labor, bar iron can be produced from a forge (again, I am told).
The first cast iron, which requires a furnace, from Virginia and Maryland to England was a shipment of 15 tons in 1723. Spotswood's furnace was just beginning to produce iron reliably. The output picked up in 1724, with 202 tons. I suspect that Spotswood wanted to see this happen before he left for England.
While he was in England, Spotswood put a relative in charge of the overall operation in Virginia. He told Byrd later that this has been a mistake, as the relative's thoughts were in the stars, not in the practical problems of running a furnace and the support operation. Spotswood made it sound as if the operation went to pieces. Actually, the schedule of iron shipments shows a somewhat different story.
The pig iron shipped from Virginia and Maryland, by successive years, starting with 1724, was:
1724 - 202 tons
1725 - 137 tons
1726 - 263 tons
1727 - 407 tons
1728 - 643 tons
1729 - 853 tons
1730 - 1527 tons
Virginia was the biggest exporter of iron to England, much bigger than Pennsylvania, which was in second place.
(31 Oct 02)
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