His mechanical knowledge caused him to be appointed chairman of the trustees for the completion of Ramsgate Harbour, and his energy contributed materially to the ultimate success of Smeaton's designs.
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Amongst the latter were a Dollond 46-inch achromatic, aperture 3¾ inches, and the one Cassegrain reflector constructed by Short, of 24 inches focus and 6 aperture, known among opticians as 'Short's Dumpy.'
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The appearance of the Great Comet of 1744 gave him, then a schoolboy at Geneva, a permanent bias towards astronomy; he diligently prepared, however, for a mercantile career in counting-houses at Geneva, Leghorn, and Genoa, and visited Rome in the jubilee year (1750).
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