the country.[7] Cort himself made
arrangements for carrying on the manufacture on a large scale, and with
that object entered upon the possession of a wharf at Gosport,
belonging to Adam Jellicoe, his partner's father, where he succeeded in
obtaining considerable Government orders for iron made after his
patents. To all ordinary eyes the inventor now appeared to be on the
high road to fortune; but there was a fatal canker at the root of this
seeming prosperity, and in a few years the fabric which he had so
laboriously raised crumbled into ruins. On the death of Adam Jellicoe,
the father of Cort's partner, in August, 1789,[8] defalcations were
discovered in his public accounts to the extent of 39,676L, and his
books and papers were immediately taken possession of by the
Government. On examination it was found that the debts due to Jellicoe
amounted to 89,657L, included in which was a sum of not less than
54,853L. owing to him by the Cort partnership. In the public
investigation which afterwards took place, it appeared that the capital
possessed by Cort being insufficient to enable him to pursue his
experiments, which were of a very expensive character, Adam Jellicoe
had advanced money from time to time for the purpose, securing himself
by a deed of agreement entitling him to one-half the stock and profits
of all his contracts; and in further consideration of the capital
advanced by Jellicoe beyond his equal share, Cort subsequently assigned
to him all his patent rights as collateral security. As Jellicoe had
the reputation of being a rich man, Cort had not the slightest
suspicion of the source from which he obtained the advances made by him
to the firm, nor has any connivance whatever on the part of Cort been
suggested. At the same time it must be admitted that the connexion was
not free from suspicion, and, to say the least, it was a singularly
unfortunate one. It was found that among the moneys advanced by
Jellicoe to Cort there was a sum of 27,500L. entrusted to him for the
payment of seamen's and officers' wages. How his embarrassments had
tempted him to make use of the public funds for the purpose of carrying
on his speculations, appears from his own admissions. In a memorandum
dated the 11th November, 1782, found in his strong box after his death,
he set forth that he had always had much more than his proper balance
in hand, until his engagement, about two years before, with Mr. Cort,
"which by degrees has