Naval War of 1812 99 



suffered in the same way; while often the muzzles 

 of the guns would crack. A more universal disad 

 vantage was in the short weight of our shot. When 

 Captain Blakely sunk the Avon he officially reported 

 that her four shot which came aboard weighed just 

 32 pounds apiece, a pound and three-quarters more 

 than his heaviest; this would make his average shot 

 about 2 l / 2 pounds less, or rather over 7 per cent. 

 Exactly similar statements were made by the officers 

 of the Constitution in her three engagements. Thus 

 when she fought the Java, she threw at a broadside, 

 as already stated, 704 pounds : the Java mounted 28 

 long i8's, 1 8 32-pound carronades, 2 long I2's, and 

 one shifting 24-pound carronade, a broadside of 576 

 pounds. 



Yet by the actual weighing of all the differ 

 ent shot on both sides it was found that the dif 

 ference in broadside force was only about 77 

 pounds, or the Constitution's shot were about 7 per 

 cent short weight. The long 24*5 of the United 

 States each threw a shot 4% pounds heavier than 

 the long i8's of the Macedonian; here again the 

 difference was about 7 per cent. The same differ 

 ence existed in favor of the Penguin and Epervier 

 compared with the Wasp and Hornet. Mr. Feni- 

 more Cooper 33 weighed a great number of shot 

 some time after the war. The later castings, even, 

 weighed nearly 5 per cent less than the British shot, 

 and some of the older ones, about 9 per cent. The 

 average is safe to take at 7 per cent less, and I shall 



33 See "Naval History," i, p. 380. 



