A recent question pertained to Naval Stores. Since Great Britain had ships before they had the North American Colonies, where did they get their Naval Stores then? At first, they obtained them from the British Isles, where the ultimate source for many of the things that made up Naval Stores was trees, especially pine trees.
Wood and trees were the source of many of the goods which were needed in a civilization then. So much so that the lands became denuded of trees. Wood became a precious commodity, not something to be wasted. This is why Europe has so many half-timbered houses. Less wood was required to build a half-timbered house than it did to build one completely out of wood. The frame was built out of wood and this is visible part of the structure that we see today. The space between these timbers was filled with something else other than wood. In the oldest half-timbered construction, the space was filled with a patchwork of brush and adobe. Today, bricks are used because they are more permanent.
The roofs of houses used to be thatch but this was too dangerous from a fire standpoint. Briefly, prior to the industrial age, thatch was replaced by wood. This was a drain on the wood supply without relieving the fire hazard completely. Then it was dictated that the roofs had to be built of slate and tile, non-wood products that had excellent fire inhibiting properties.
By Seventeen Hundred, the industrial age had progressed to the point that much iron was being used. Iron processing required an intense heat which could be provided by charcoal (pure carbon). This led to an increased demand on the wood supplies. In fact, in England, the supply of wood to make charcoal was being exhausted. England was forced to procure several things from the Baltic nations such as Naval Stores and iron because of the wood shortage at home.
Very soon after Alexander Spotswood came to Virginia (in 1710) he proposed to make iron that could be shipped home to England. His arguments were good. Virginia and other Colonies had the necessary materials and energy to do so. But the mercantile mentality in England said that the colonies must supply raw materials, not finished goods. He was warned against going into the "iron works" business for this reason. But his arguments were valid.
However, the production of tar, pitch, and deal boards were encouraged. England simply could not do these at home so the Colonies were encouraged to do these things. Germans were sent to New York in 1710 to make Naval Stores. This project was poorly guided and managed, and produced little. Spotswood heard the appeal and wanted to go into Naval Stores. For this purpose, he obtained immense quantities of land which he said were for making Naval Stores. He "imported" (his word) the people who made up the Second Germanna Colony to provide the labor for this.
(01 Dec 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.