The Experiment was a cutter employed by HM Revenue services, guarding against smuggling.[4] He appears in a document of August 1797 has a shipwright concluding the apprenticeship of a John Lane.Given that all ships he built were truly huge he must have had considerable experience prior to 1802 to be given such major responsibility.The Royal Navy were so impressed that they moved him to be Chief Shipwright of the far larger Portsmouth Dockyard in 1802/3.[6] In 1808 he made a survey drawing of "Algesiras" a Spanish captured ship, brought to Portsmouth for a refit to Royal Navy standards.