In the office of the Chat Han Shipyard located in East London, Director Sir Hope pounded the table and shouted at the procurement officer in front of him: "Give those damn French people gold coins, women, as much as you want, it's what you're best at, just get me those damn steam engines!"
The procurement officer lowered his head and quietly said, "We've tried all those methods, Director, but they still refuse to sell…"
Hope angrily kicked over the coat rack and yelled at the procurement officer: "Don't just stand there, go think of another way!"
He had thought that buying a batch of French steam engines to use on steam paddle ships, for delivery of the soon-to-default order, could solve the current crisis—though the French steam engines required quite a bit of adaptation work, most of the ship-buying clients would be willing to wait a bit rather than cancel their orders.
