Short answers, pulled from the story.
Thomas Somers was an English textile factory superintendent who became one of the original investors and architects of the Beverly Cotton Manufactory in Beverly, Massachusetts. He traveled to England in the fall of 1785 on behalf of the Tradesmen and Manufacturers of Baltimore, Maryland, to obtain descriptions and models of British cotton carding and spinning machines.
Somers traveled to England at his own expense in the fall of 1785 and, after encountering difficulties, left with stolen descriptions and models of the machines used for carding and spinning cotton. He returned to Baltimore in the summer of 1786.
A boat carrying much of his personal property from England crashed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Reports indicate he lost one-half of the property he had brought with him.
On the 8th of March 1787, the Legislature of Massachusetts granted Somers twenty pounds from the Public Treasury. The funds were used to assist both Somers personally and the startup costs of the Beverly Cotton Manufactory.
The Beverly Cotton Manufactory was an early American cotton mill located in Beverly, Massachusetts. Somers was one of its original investors and architects, having supplied designs based on the machine descriptions and models he brought back from England.
Yes. There is historical indication that Somers's financial contribution to the Manufactory was higher than what would have been reasonably expected, and that he overestimated his grasp of what the construction required.