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Question on a Longbow-related quote

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jb.68:
Wellington also considered the use of the longbow  during the peninsular wars and commissioned a report.  The report came back and amongst the reasons were cost and time in training the archers.  It was considered that it would take at least 7 years to get archers up to a decent standard and be more cost effective than training soldiers to point and pull a trigger.  I think the often-quoted phrase that he was told is  “No such skilled men exist in England anymore my Lord”

jb

Justin Snyder:

--- Quote from: JW_Halverson on October 15, 2010, 04:20:18 pm ---
*Bows and arrows are more easily provided than muskets and ammunition.


--- End quote ---
That statement is almost comical. Definitely spoken by someone who hadn't tried to make 1000 arrows by hand.

Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to ship 10,000 arrows. You might need to get a few more pack mules. As for rate of fire, it is true you can shoot faster with a bow, but you need to resupply a lot more often. How many arrows can a soldier reasonably carry?

Cromm:

--- Quote from: Justin Snyder on October 15, 2010, 06:49:42 pm ---
--- Quote from: JW_Halverson on October 15, 2010, 04:20:18 pm ---
*Bows and arrows are more easily provided than muskets and ammunition.


--- End quote ---
That statement is almost comical. Definitely spoken by someone who hadn't tried to make 1000 arrows by hand.

Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to ship 10,000 arrows. You might need to get a few more pack mules. As for rate of fire, it is true you can shoot faster with a bow, but you need to resupply a lot more often. How many arrows can a soldier reasonably carry?

--- End quote ---

I would say 50 each man.

Postman:
I think JB nailed it -  I know a lot of combat vets, some that even shoot compounds bows, that would be useless with any longbow,unless they were using it as a staff/club. When we are reading this now in the USA, I think we are envisioning our 50-65 lb. bows. Lethal, but probably not what Ben had in mind.  Also, pouring lead in a mold IS a lot easier than making an arrow.
 (BUT.... put me in a time machine and  I'd rather have my hunting bow than a musket  ;))

JW_Halverson:
There was a wonderful article on the Battle of Agincourt in a magazine called Primitive Archer, you might have seen it.  They had pretty good information on how many arrows were used, etc.  You gotta take into account that wars were planned as many as 5-10 years in advance and were scheduled often between planting in the spring and harvest in the fall.  There were Guilds of Fletchers, literally factories for the production of ammunition.  Gimme a couple years and the deep pockets of the king to pay for materials and I can get you a wagonload of arrows. 

An advantage they had that we may be overlooking is that they probably were not spine matching, grain weight matching, etc.  They were cranking out "clothyard" length shafts with bodkins on one end and fletching on the other....not Robin Hood's matched tournement darts. 

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