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substance was given off, known as coal tar. The coke was readily bought by the new ironworks. But might not the coal tar be refined in such a way that it could be used to coat the hulls of ships ? u
    When his son and heir was six years old, the Earl turned almost exclusively to the pursuit of his scientific dream, being granted a patent for his "coal tar". In the following year, 1782, he pacified his creditors with promises of future riches and set up "The British Tar Company" at Culross. He was not alone in the venture. Matthew Boulton, who had successfully marketed James Watt's steam-engine was a family friend. Joseph Black, "the father of modern chemistry" and Professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh, was a friend and enthusiast. Sir John Dalrymple, a parliamentary lawyer, surveyed the company's financial obligations and reported favourably to the Earl's creditors. By 1783 there were four furnaces at Culross, processing twenty-eight tons of coal a week. The Earl was delighted and thought only of expanding the project. Adam Smith as well as Black and Dalrymple became an admirer of the new process. Now was the time to raise vast sums of capital and the Earl wrote hopefully to his uncle Andrew Stuart urging him to invest at such a propitious moment. "We are encouraged to proceed in establishing the manufacture upon a very large scale in different parts of Great Britain . . . but a capital of thirty to forty thousand pounds will in the course of a few years need to be expended." Such an outlay was staggering, it was far more than all the accumulated debts of all the Cochranes in history. £22,400 was invested with a promise of an annual clear profit of £5ooo. 12
    The delighted Earl was within reach of his ambition. He had, after all, achieved an easy and cheap answer to the problems of worm-eaten vessels. Dalrymple hardly exaggerated when he claimed that "from a Naval Nation Lord Dundonald deserves a Statue of Gold". The Earl travelled to Birmingham, taking young Thomas Cochrane with him, and talked to the great James Watt of this and other inventions which had either been proposed or were thought desirable. Young Lord Cochrane remembered how they discussed the problem of finding some source of lighting for the streets of towns and cities. The man who could invent and patent such a process was assured of wealth and honours. The solution seemed far away. On the Culross estate the Earl was preoccupied with the distilling of coal tar and had no leisure to consider other men's problems. He was concerned over the vapour which was given off in the process, since it was inflammable and possibly injurious. Near the house itself, he had an experimental kiln which he decided to adapt in order to get rid of the unwanted fumes. In darkness, he fitted a gun barrel to the outlet pipe, carrying the vapour to a safe height. Then, as the process of extracting coal tar began, he held a light to the muzzle. Three miles away, on the other shore of the Firth, the inhabitants stared in amazement as the dark waters and distant coast blazed with light. But the Earl's head was bent to examine the dark and glossy coal tar on which he had set all his hopes. Above him, the gas lighting, which he had invented without realising it, blazed unheeded. It was William Murdoch, an employee of James Watt who saw the possibility latent in the one invention which might have saved Cul-ross. He developed it and it was later patented by Frederic Winsor in 1804. 13
    But the Earl still had his coal tar and, taking young Lord Cochrane with him once more, he set off for London. He was about to present his great discovery to the Admiralty and their ship-repairers. It was not too much to hope that wealth and honour would be his at last.
    The Admiralty seemed disinclined at first to take any notice of the coal tar invention. But they relented and agreed to coat one side of a buoy at the Nore with the Earl's patent mixture. However, they insisted that it was to be done at the