Description:

Watt, James (1736-1819) A superb content James Watt letter coordinating the installation of a pair of steam engines for the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, Don Diego Gardoqui

Autograph Letter Signed, "Boulton & Watt," 3 pages, 7.5" x 10", Birmingham, March 25, 1793, addressed in his hand on the integral address leaf to "Messrs Fermin de Fastet & Co. Merch[ant]s London" with a black "BIRMINGHAM" cancelation above. Expected folds, seal loss tear infilled, some soiling to transmittal leaf, else very good.

Watt writes, in full: "We advised you in our last, that we had agreed with James Murdoch to go to Spain to erect the BWS Engine - In terms we were able to make with him, were 21/ pr week[?] from the time of his Engagement to his return, and £50 upon the Engines being completed to Satisfaction. This we have engaged to make good to him, he is now under a course of instruction upon the drawings which the very good size of the Engine renders necessary. Yesterday we are informed by letter (of Feby 21st) from J. Watt Junr. that Malcolm Logan had promised to call upon him at Naples previous to his departure for Spain, but had not done it then though the time was long expired which he had allotted for finishing the Mill at Cardita [sic, Catania?], and that as J[ames] W[att] Jr was then just setting and for Sicily, he could not go to enquire after Logan but ha wrote him to press his departure which he was persuaded would meet with no difficulty. He adds in a postscript that he had seen Logan, who had finished the mill & would set[?] and very soon & that he had taken the necessary steps to hasten his departure. It would appear that you will not be doubly provided, but that will be no less as Malcom is a good mill wright, & we expect his assistance will be as much needed in that article as in the Engine. The other is not a mill wright though a good workman in the Engine way[.] We have at last received [a] letter from Liverpool Thorn[?] & Co. say that the first vessel for Cadiz will be the Sarah, the owners of which have not yet fixed the freight, She is to go to Dublin & return before she sails for Cadiz which will be at lest 3 weeks. She is to taken the advantage of convoy & is certain of going, no other will sale from here before her- We have also had an answer form our brother at Bristol, but like the other indeterminate as to rate of freight & when vessels would sail. We therefore think that Hull will prove the best port for shipping the goods & have wrote to Mr Broadley for information. The Engine N1 which is complete will make above 50 tons and we have so many goods ready for No 2 as may make about 80 tons in all - we shall be obliged to you to advise the freight from London to Cadiz for our government also when a convoy may be expected, & her rates of insurance from Liverpool Bristol & Hull respectively. We have wrote again to Liverpool to prevent any engagement but to advise the freight."

A remarkable letter written as Watt's improvements to the steam engine began to bear financial fruit. Although his pioneering steam grist mill in London (the Albion Mills) went up in flames in 1791-the plant had already demonstrated the steam engine's tremendous potential. The firm of Boulton & Watt was soon commending a variety of projects both in Britain and abroad-including projects in Italy and Spain. The project in Cadiz was for a pair of blowing engine for a blast furnace. Don Diego Gardoqui (1735-1798) commissioned the engines through the London merchants Fermin de Tastet & Co. Each fifty horsepower engine supplied air for six furnaces each. ("Plan of blowing engine for Don Diego Gardoqui, Cadiz, Spain, 1793, Archives of Soho, Birmingham City Archives, Ref. MS3147/Portfolio/5/592). Don Diego Gardoqui was himself living in America, serving as the Spanish Ambassador to the United States. (During the American Revolution, he acted as the financial intermediary between the Spanish crown and the United StatesÑhelping secure critical arms and supplies).

However, James Murdoch, who had been tasked with supervising the engine's installation in Cadiz, delayed the project. Born in 1768, he was the brother of William Murdoch (1754-1839) who came to work for Watt in 1777 and soon became an important collaborator for Watt developing several important improvements in the steam engine. William also developed early steam turbines, experimented with compressed air leading the way for pneumatic tube messaging systems, and the production of gas from coal. In 1810, he became a partner in Boulton & Watt led the company in the production of steam engines for ships.

James appears not to have shared his brother's industrious nature, as evidenced in the present letter. In October of the same year, Watt proposed replacing Murdoch with Richard Mitchell, complaining that the former had been "behaving very ill in drawing money, & have also heard accounts of his behaviour in this country which are unpleasing." A week and a half later Watt lamented, "we are in much want of some one there [Spain] James Murdoch's conduct has been execrably bad, he has drawn money every way he could, & refuses to work unless they pay him seven Dollars a day," concluding that "we are obliged to recall him, & shall be brought into damages by his proceedings, this we wish to imparted to his Brother [William]..." (Watt to Thomas Wilson, October 10, 1793, Boulton and Watt Papers, Cornwall Record Office; Watt to Wilson, October 23, 1783, Ibid).

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