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Naval Stores is a broad term which originally applied to the resin-based components used in building and maintaining wooden sailing ships, a category which includes cordage, mask, turpentine, rosin, pitch (resin) and tar. In modern usage, the term applies to all products derived from pine sap, which are used to manufacture soap, paint, varnish, shoe polish, lubricants, linoleum, and roofing materials. Having depleted much of its resources, Great Britain turned to the American colonies for them, especially lumber. In New England forest large trees could only be used by the Royal Navy for masts. By the Revolutionary War, naval stores were a large part of the New England economy. Naval stores were also a large part of the colonial Carolina economy in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Sawn lumber, shake shingles, and staves especially buoyed the northeastern Carolina economy. Naval stores even played a role during the American Revolutionary War. As Britain attempted to cripple French and Spanish capacities through blockade, they declared naval stores to be contraband. At the time Russia was Europe’s chief producer of naval stores leading to the seizure of ’neutral’ Russian vessels. In 1780 Catherine the Great announced that her navy would be used against anyone interfering with neutral trade and she gathered together European neutrals into the League of Armed Neutrality. These actions were beneficial for the struggling colonists as the British were forced to act with greater caution. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Used clothing stores |
