144 OUR FIRST FRIGATES. 



"Besides the saving of expense by changing the plan as now proposed, other 

 advantages may arise. Two frigates may be completed many months before the 

 whole if carried on together could be finished ; and should there be a call for their 

 service they might be equipped and sent to sea while the rest were progressing. 

 Some errors may be committed in the construction of the first frigates or improve- 

 ments suggested. Then in the residue the errors may be avoided and the improve- 

 ments adopted." 



Timothy Pickering's report to Congress shows the progress of the work up to 

 December 12, 1795. He states that all the live oak timber will be cut and trans- 

 ported to the different ships at farthest by the next mid-summer. The keel of the 

 frigate at Philadelphia had been completed and laid on the blocks, the pieces bolted 

 to each other; the stern frame completed and ready for raising; two-thirds of the 

 live oak for the frame received ; many of the frames put together and bolted, two- 

 thirds of the planking received; the deck beams, live-oak knees, masts, bowsprit, 

 yards and their spars procured; the copper sheathing received, and much of the 

 equipment, including even the bunting for the colors, was already in the public 

 stores. 



The zi4-gtm frigate at New York had her keel completed and laid on the blocks, 

 the pieces bolted to each other, and about a quarter of the live oak timbers for the 

 frame had arrived. The stern frame was not yet complete and several transoms 

 were wanting; the planks for the outside of the ship were nearly all cut and a great 

 part had been put in the sea water to draw out the sap and to season them; the 

 spars had been received and were ready for finishing and all the necessary contracts 

 entered into and articles daily arriving. Unfortunately a large schooner with live 

 oak bound to New York was lost on Cape Hatteras with many of the principal 

 pieces of timber necessary for the frame. 



The keel of the 44-gun frigate building at Boston was completed and laid on the 

 blocks, the stern frame almost ready to raise ; about two-thirds of the live oak tim- 

 bers received and a great part bolted together in frames and ready to put into the 

 ship; the planking had been received and was seasoning; the copper was in the public 

 stores, and the spars were ready for working and all contracts in a forward state. 



About the same state of completion appears in the case of the 44-gun frigate 

 building at Norfolk. 



The 36-gun frigate at Baltimore had her keel laid on the blocks and bolted to- 

 gether. Two-thirds of the oak timber had arrived; part of it had been bolted 

 together in frames ; much of the plank and all of the copper had been received ; the 

 spars were ready for delivery, the boats building, and the articles contracted for 

 daily arriving. 



The condition of the 36-gun frigate building at Portsmouth, N. H., appears in 

 about the same state of forwardness. 



Meanwhile, the Department of State had continued its negotiations with the 

 Dey of Algiers. A treaty was entered into on September 5, 1795, by which the Dey 



