Wait. The gun has wheels on it. Doesn't it roll backwards, and therefore not much recoil is transmitted to the bulkheads? I think they use ropes to keep it from rolling too far, and the ropes have some springiness to them, so I don't know about reinforcing the bulkheads being a needful thing.
Ballast yes, but that ought to be fairly straightforward.
If Lincoln’s goal was to create an illusion of a force attacking the Confederates, why did he send Pickens a telegram stating that force would be used only if the Confederates resisted the reprovision of the Fort, that no guns or men would be landed.
Political cover for his "Peaceful Mission" illusion for the Northern side. The confederates weren't going to believe a d@mn thing he said after that attempted trick with the Brooklyn and the Star of the West.
Also they had been assured over and over that the fort would be turned over peacefully, and they wake up one morning with cannon carriages burning at Fort Moultrie and an apparently hostile force holding the cannons overlooking their city.
They weren't going to trust him, and indeed, Beauregard believed there was going to be an invasion force.
Why did Cameron tell Fox that the objective was to resupply the fort with provisions, force to be used only if the resisted the resupply effort.
You mention Fox, and the Confederates let him consult with Major Anderson only because Fox lied to them. By the time of the Charleston expedition, they had learned that Fox had lied to them, so it was more proof the Washington Government could not be trusted.
Strange Confederate intelligence learned an armada with marines and infantry was on the way, but none of the confederate agents in the War or Navy Departments picked up on the orders issued to the officers carrying out the mission.
They certainly picked up on the official orders, and they probably had some inkling of Lincoln's unofficial orders because they certainly expected a bigger force than what arrived. In my looking up information about the buildup to the civil war, I ran across a telegram message sent in March from Washington DC to the Confederates telling them that a build up of ships was underway, and to expect it.
This was before any official orders of which I have so far seen.
None of this would make a difference anyway. Davis was not going to allow Sumter to be resupplied by anyone.
A quibble here. Sumter was never "supplied" in the first place. There was no official orders to place anyone there, and so there was never any "supplies" there to begin with.
This makes it impossible to "resupply" a place that had never been "supplied". :)
And no, Davis was never going to consent to the placement of a potentially hostile foreign force at the entrance of one of their most important ports, especially after Northern newspapers had already called for the guns of Sumter to be turned on Charleston.
“Wait. The gun has wheels on it. Doesn’t it roll backwards, and therefore not much recoil is transmitted to the bulkheads? I think they use ropes to keep it from rolling too far, and the ropes have some springiness to them, so I don’t know about reinforcing the bulkheads being a needful thing.”
The gun tackle limits recoil using line, blocks & the strength of the gunwales to limit the backward motion of the gun, so that it can be brought back into battery as quickly as possible. Yes, the gunwales have to be strengthened to absorb the recoil of a 32 pounder.
“Ballast yes, but that ought to be fairly straightforward.”
Not really, how much room is available in the bilges & voids for the required weight. Can they use rocks, or does the space require lead ingots. What has to be done to secure the ballast to prevent it from moving with the roll and pitch of the ship. Not really straightforward.”
“Star of the West.” Not Lincoln’s project.
“they had been assured over and over that the fort would be turned over peacefully,”
When did the President of the United States assure the Confederate Government that Sumter would be turned over to them?
“probably had some inkling of Lincoln’s unofficial orders”
What would those orders have been?
“This makes it impossible to “resupply” a place that had never been “supplied”.
The Fort had been supplied when Anderson occupied it. He brought some guns and as much food as he could carry to support the troops in the Fort as long as possible.
After a while most of the provisions had been eaten up.
Lincoln’s plan was to provide rations for some months.
That was the objective of the mission.
Davis would not allow that to happen under any circumstance. He knew Anderson would surrender the fort rather than allow his troops to starve. Hence, Davis would allow absolutely no resupply of the fort. It didn’t make a difference if Lincoln had sent the entire U.S. Navy or a Girl Scout Troop in canoes to Sumter, he would authorize Beauregard to reduce the fort before he would allow any food into Sumter. The political pressure from South Carolina and the other Confederate States pretty much locked him into that action. Even if Davis had allowed the Fort to be reprovisioned, that would only kick the can a little further down the road.
The same porblem would arise in a couple of months. No, it really made not difference what Lincoln did, Davis would allow no resupply of Sumter under any circumstance.