Reply To: Jamaica puddling

[Ray Powell]

I have quickly read the article. It gives a history of skilled iron working in Africa and its relation to slave trading. It suggests that Black metallurgists , in Jamaica, had made use of the grooved rolls used in processing sugar to roll bundles of scrap iron to produce good quality bar iron in the 1770s. It suggests that Cort learned of this from his relative, John Cort. who had been to Jamaica. He then patented the method. The article suggests Cort knew the source of the money he was give by his partner, Jellicoe,  When he was found responsible for paying off the debt the article says “Friends helped him pay debts and secure a small pension, and in their efforts launched the myth of the heroic inventor” The article does not suggest the the puddling technique was used in Jamaica.