. . .Thames. At the end of a letter written by him on the 18th of February in that year to Davies Gilbert, respecting a puffer engine, he said, "I am about to enter into a contract with the Trinity Board for lifting up ballast out of the bottom of the Thames for all the shipping. The first quantity stated was 300,000 tons a year, but now they state 500,000 tons. I am to do nothing but wind up the chain for 6d. per ton, which is now done by men. They never lift it above twenty-five feet high—a man will now get up ten tons for 7s. My engine at Dalcoath has lifted about 100 tons that height with one bushel of coals. I have two engines already finished for the purpose, and shall be in town in about fifteen days for to set them to work. They propose to engage with me for twenty-one years."[16] The contract was not, however, entered into. Trevithick quarreled with the capitalists who had found the money for the trials, and the "Blazer" and "Plymouth," the vessels in which his. . . Read More