It was authorised in 1720, and some work was carried out, but the undertakers lost most of the share money speculating on the South Sea Bubble.

The canal company could not really afford the purchase price, but needed to secure the water supply to prevent the rival scheme from using it.

[1] In 1712, Thomas Steers, a civil engineer and surveyor who had arrived in Liverpool in 1710 to work on building the docks,[2] surveyed the Douglas and recommended that it be made accessible to ships, enabling the transport of coal from the coalfields around Wigan down to the Ribble, and onwards to Preston.

[3] It is not clear who employed him, but it may have been Sir Roger Bradshaigh, who owned land on which coal could be mined around Wigan, and who presented a bill to the House of Commons on 10 April 1713.

The bill was supported by petitions from Justices of the Peace and Gentlemen from the County palatine of Lancaster, who saw the potential for improved manufacturing and communications.

Steers had proposed seven locks to negotiate the rise of 75 feet (23 m) from the mouth of the river at Hesketh Bank to Wild Mill in Wigan.

A series of pamphlets were produced in an attempt to sway local opinion, and with the support of Wigan Corporation, another bill was presented.

the channel downstream from there was made straighter and wider for about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to where work began on the lowest lock at Croston Finney.

A boat was constructed, that allowed Steers to trade on the river, and he stated that he had spent £700 on the work carried out, but that Squire had only given him £600.

All denied any wrongdoing, with Steers describing how he had bought land, stone and timber, constructed the lock, and been carrying goods along a 5-mile (8 km) section of the river.

[7] The case rumbled on from 1729 to 1734, with Squire disappearing around 1730, but the Court of Chancery failed to reach a conclusion as to whether the men had deliberately set out to defraud shareholders of their money.

They asked William Palmer, who was working on improvements to the River Ouse Navigation for the Corporation of York, to make a new survey, which he duly did.

[7] Holt and Leigh consulted Steers occasionally, paying him for advice on the basin in Wigan and Crooke Lock.

[14] To improve access to the navigation, a new lock was constructed further downstream at Tarleton, but there were complaints that it caused flooding, and it had been abandoned by 1770.

The main traffic was coal from Wigan, with north Lancashire limestone and Westmorland slate travelling in the opposite direction.

[13] The Leeds and Liverpool Canal had been authorised by an Act of Parliament on 19 May 1770,[16] with the main opposition coming from the Douglas Navigation.

However, they were chiefly concerned with protecting their water supply, and ensuring that the aqueduct to carry the canal over the navigation at Newburgh, near Parbold, would not impede the progress of fixed-masted boats.

[19] Alexander Leigh's 29 shares were initially bought by two committee members, Jonathan Blundell and William Earle, both from Liverpool, and held in trust on behalf of the proprietors.

[20] Having bought Leigh's shares, the Leeds and Liverpool lost no time in ensuring that they could adequately service the Wigan coal trade.

There were calls to bypass the river sections of the old navigation entirely, and work started on a new cut, including two locks, from Gathurst to Wigan.

[20] Both the original bill presented to Parliament in 1713 nnd the second attempt in 1720 were supported by noting the coal pits, and the delphs, a local word for a mine or quarry, of stone and slate, the transport of which would be much easier if the river was navigable.

[27] Around 1738 or 1739, Leigh and Holt bought some land from Lord Derby at Freckleton on The Fylde, on the north bank of the Ribble opposite the mouth of the Douglas.

Lowther owned large collieries at Whitehaven, and if the bill had succeeded, he would have monopolised the coal trade to Ireland.

Few records of what was carried exist, but a boat named Expedition carried coal, cannel, cinders (coke) turn and paving stones downriver, and returned with timber, hides, kelp, soap ashes, barley, beans, and most importantly limestone, which was the major return cargo.