John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1976
According to the
Customs House Report
prepared for the House of Lords (quoted here recently), the first cast iron from Virginia and Maryland was fifteen tons in 1723. We saw in the last Note that this must have come from Alexander Spotswood's furnace, for Augustine Moore wrote that Spotswood had sent his sloop with about twenty tons of iron to Moore's landing. Ten of these tons went to Bristol and some went "to the Londoners".
The first shipment of cast iron (pig iron) to England was made in 1723 by Spotswood. According to Drysdale, the Lt. Governor in 1722, the iron works was a novelty, but it did seem to be producing cast iron products for consumption in Virginia. This was also the last year that Rev. Hugh Jones was in Virginia, and he expressed the thought that Spotswood was having some difficulties, but that he could expect to overcome these problems. There are simple reasons that there may have been problems. Perhaps the water supply was limited and iron could only be produced for a few months. Perhaps there was insufficient labor to make charcoal, mine the ore, and grow the food. We do know that Augustine Moore says that the Bristol merchants were sending slaves to Spotswood in 1723.
The Tubal furnace (Spotswood's first) was expected, when it was in full operation, to make hundreds of tons of iron each year. Therefore, the 15 tons shipped to England in 1723 could hardly have represented a furnace that was in full operation, even though some of the production was for local consumption in Virginia. Again this brings us back to Rev. Jones' comments which suggest there were difficulties in 1722.
In 1724, 202 tons of cast iron were shipped from Virginia and Maryland. Though other furnaces were appearing, this probably represents mostly Virginia production, especially by Spotswood. If so, this shows that the 1723 shipment had been limited by the production capabilities, which were being ironed out in 1723 and 1724.
Spotswood had been stalling on returning to England, where his presence had been requested to clear up the titles of the tracts of land which he was trying to obtain. The fact that he did not leave until 1724 probably shows that he was trying to get the furnace into a good operating condition before he left.
So, when did Spotswood become a producer of cast iron? It depends on what you mean by "producer". If you mean that the furnace was a regular and steady producer of iron, the answer could be 1723 or 1724. If you mean the first pour of molten iron, even if the furnace had to be shut down afterwards, the date might be 1721 or 1722. In no way, was he a producer of iron before 1720.
(12 Sep 04)