[Mr. Byrd continues his narration of the discussion with Mr. Chiswell.]
"That it was by artful management that our iron from the plantations sold for less than that made in England, though it was generally reckoned much better. That ours would hardly fetch £6 a ton, when theirs fetched seven or eight, purely to serve that man's interest [see previous note]. Then he explained the several charges upon our sow iron after it was put on board the ships. That in the first place it paid 7s. 6d. [shillings and pence] a ton for freight, being just so much clear gain to the ships, which carry it as ballast or wedge it in among the hogsheads. When it gets home, it pays 3s. 9d. custom. These articles together made no more than 11s. 3d., and yet the merchants, by their great skill in multiplying charges, swell the account up to near 30s. a ton by that time it gets out of their hands, and they are continually adding more and more, as they serve us in our accounts of tobacco.
"He told me a strange thing about steel, that the making of the best remains at this day a profound secret in the breast of a very few and therefore is in danger of being lost, as the art of staining glass and many others have been. He could only tell me they used beechwood in the making of it in Europe and burn it a considerable time in the powder of charcoal; but the mystery lies in the liquor they quench it in.
"After dinner we took a walk to the furnace, which is elegantly built of brick, though the hearth be of firestone. There we saw the founder, Mr. Derham, who is 4s. for every ton of sow iron that he runs, which is a shilling cheaper than the last workman had. This operator looked a little melancholy because he had nothing to do, the furnace having been cold since last May for want of corn to support the cattle. This was, however, no neglect of Mr. Chiswell, because all the persons he had contracted with had basely disappointed him. But having received a small supply, they intended to blow very soon. With that view they began to heat the furnace, which is six weeks before it comes to that intense heat required to run the metal in perfection. Nevertheless, they commonly begin to blow when the fire has been kindled a week or ten days.
"Close by the furnace stood a very spacious house full of charcoal, holding at least four hundred loads, which will burnt out in three months. The company has contracted with Mr. Henry Willis to fall the wood, and then maul it and cut it into pieces four feet in length and bring it to the pits where it is coaled. All this he has undertaken to do for 2s. a cord, which must be four foot broad, four foot high, and eight foot long. Being thus carried to the pits, the collier has contracted to coal it for 5s. a load, consisting of 160 bushels. The fire in the furnace is blown by two mighty pair of bellows that cost £100 each, and these bellows are moved by a great wheel of twenty-six foot diameter. The wheel again is carried around by a small stream of water, conveyed about 350 yards overland in a trough, from a pond made by a wooden dam. But there is a great want of water in a dry season, which makes the furnace often blow out, to the great prejudice of the works."
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.