MEMOIR OF DANIEL TREADWELL. 413 



From what precedes, it is clear that the reputation of the six-pounders as to 

 strengtli and endurance was satisfactorily established. They had already been 

 accepted by the Government after the usual proof charges. The subsequent trials 

 were to determine their strength and endurance, as compared with other guns in the 

 possession of the Government, and they were proved to be superior to all others. 



While the making of the 32-pounders was going on, Mr. Treadwell sent the fol- 

 lowing letter to the Secretary of the Navy : — 



To Hon. David Henshaw, Secretary of the Navy. 



Cambridge, September 15, 1843. 

 Sir, — The first contract for 32-pounders, in March, 1842, required that they should be 

 completed in eigliteen months. I then thought that the time woukl be sufficient for me to 

 perfect the machinery and metliods of operation, upon which I had been employed nearly a 

 year, and manufacture them, as well as the field-pieces which I had agreed to furnish for the 

 Army. In this estimate of time, liowever, I find that I have come short, as I had but little 

 more than completed the Army guns when it expired. . . . 



It was then proposed that a new contract should be made, by which the wei^dit 

 of the guns should be reduced, and the time extended. 



This proposition was acceded to, and a new contract made on the 3d of October, 

 1843, for four 32-pounders, and the time was extended to nine months from the 

 date. The weight of the gun was reduced from 2, GOO or 2,800 pounds to 1,700 

 or 1,900 pounds, the length of the bore 70 inches, and the size remaining the 

 same, according to the Army Manual and the drawings of the Ordnance Bureau ; to 

 be proved by twice firing eight pounds of powder, one shot, and two wads. The 

 guns to be delivered at the Navy Yard at Charlestown. The cost to be $1,000 

 for each gun. 



To W.y. M. Crane, Esq,, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, U.S.A. 



Cambridge, June 10, 1844. 

 Sir, — The four thirty-two-pounder cannon of wrought iron and steel which I have contracted 

 to make for the Navy are very nearly completed, and can be finished by the 3d of July according 

 to the terms of the contract. I wish to inform you, liowever, that I have, since welding these 

 guns together, made an improvement in the method of working which gives much greater cer- 

 tainty to the soundness of the joinings, and, altiiough I have no ap|irehension that the guns now 

 nearly finished will not stand the proof contracted for, yet I should like to furnish yon with guns 

 which may be carried to much higher charges than is provided for in the contract, that you may 

 have at once an experimental proof of their superiorit}'. I will therefore propose, instead of now 

 completing these, to make four others, which, as I am now well prepared, will cause but a short 

 delay — two or three months — beyond the time of the contract. This can be of no consequence 

 to the service, and the advantage resulting from it may be important. The loss to me will be 



