nature which saved the British _Belvidera_; and the _General Pike_,
under Commodore Chauncy, and the new American frigate _Guerriere_
suffered in the same way; while often the muzzles of the guns would
crack. A more universal disadvantage 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 1/2 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 18's, 18
32-pound carronades, 2 long 12's, and one shifting 24-pound
carronade, a broadside of 576 pounds. Yet by the actual weighing
of all the different shot on both sides it was found that the
difference in broadside force was only about 77 pounds, or the
_Constitution's_ shot were about 7 per cent, short weight. The
long 24's of the _United States_ each threw a shot but 4 1/4 pounds
heavier than the long 18's of the _Macedonian_; here again the
difference was about 7 per cent. The same difference existed in
favor of the _Penguin_ and _Epervier_ compared with the _Wasp_
and _Hornet_. Mr. Fenimore Cooper [Footnote: See "Naval History,"
i, p. 380.] 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 throughout
make this allowance for ocean cruisers. The deficit was sometimes
owing to windage, but more often the shot was of full size but
defective in density. The effect of this can be gathered from the
following quotation from the work of a British artillerist: "The