[Elements of Military Art and Science by Henry Wager Halleck]@TWC D-Link bookElements of Military Art and Science CHAPTER VII 67/73
of| When | Repaired from | Cost. |Guns.
|built.| | -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Vengeance,...........| 74 | -- | 1800 to 1807 | L84,720 Ildefonso,...........| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1808 | 85,195 Scipio,..............| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1809 | 60,785 Tremendous,..........| 74 | -- | 1807 to 1810 | 135,397 Elephant,............| 74 | -- | 1808 to 1811 | 67,007 Spencer,.............| 74 | 1800 | 1809 to 1813 | 124,186 Romulus,.............| 74 | -- | 1810 to 1812 | 73,141 Albion,..............| 74 | 1802 | 1810 to 1813 | 102,295 Donegal,.............| 74 | -- | 1812 to 1815 | 101,367 Implacable,..........| 74 | -- | 1813 to 1815 | 59,865 Illustrious,.........| 74 | 1803 | 1813 to 1816 | 74,184 Northumberland,......| 74 | -- | 1814 to 1815 | 59,795 Kent,................| 74 | -- | 1814 to 1818 | 88,357 Sultan,..............| 74 | 1807 | 1816 to 1818 | 61,518 Sterling Castle,.....| 74 | -- | 1816 to 1818 | 65,280 -- ---------------------------------------------------------- This table, although incomplete, gives for the above fifteen ships, during a period of less than twenty years, the cost of _timber alone_ used in their repair, an average of about $400,000 each.
More timber than this was used, in all probability, upon the same vessels, and paid for out of the funds appropriated "for such as may be ordered in course of the year to be repaired." But the amount specifically appropriated for timber for these fifteen ships, would, in every twelve or fifteen years, equal the entire _first cost_ of the same items.
If we add to this amount, the cost of labor required in the application of timber to the operations of repair, and take into consideration the expense of other materials and labor, and the decayed condition of many of the ships at the end of this period, we should not be surprised to find the whole sum _expended_ under these heads to equal the first cost, even within the minimum estimate of seven years.
The whole cost of timber used for hulls, masts, and yards, in building between 1800 and 1820, was L18,727,551; in repairs and "ordinary wear and tear," L17,449,780; making an annual average of $4,560,158 for building timber, and $4,273,371 for that used in repairs.
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