[1] Subsequently, he entered into partnership with Watts as agents for English investors who had a plan unveiled in 1869 to construct an outer harbour in Largs Bay free of cost to the South Australian Government.
Wells submitted a tender to the South Australian Government for installation of a lighthouse on the Margaret Brock Reef using this technology, and despite protestations of men like O.
The tender price had however been based on a false assumption of the number of days calm enough to operate the machinery and the one year job ended up taking three, and resulted in the bankruptcy of the contractor W. F.
Disputes arose between the firm of Wells Brothers and the Government, and after legal proceedings and reference to arbitration the latter agreed to take over the plant and material and finish the work.
[citation needed] Wells returned to England with his family on the Orient Line ship Yatala in 1872, which on 27 March was wrecked off France, but without loss of life.