   ernest frank guelph cox (1883â1959) was an electrical and mechanical engineer and marine salvage expert from wolverhampton. between 1924 and 1931 his cox & danks shipbreaking co. successfully raised 35 ships of the german fleet that had been scuttled at gutter sound, scapa flow, in 1919. he eventually sold the business to the alloa shipbreaking company. the books in the bibliography and further reading list give good accounts of cox's many feats. ==early life== thumb|right|200px|blue plaque born in 1883, the eleventh son of a wolverhampton draper, cox left school at thirteen but chose to study electrical engineering in his spare time, and through a succession of jobs, earned himself the post of engineer at a wolverhampton power station by the age of eighteen. deciding that anyone who could put electricity into peoples homes would become rich, cox was determined to be just that, and moved to the post of assistant engineer at leamington, and from there to ryde corporation on the isle of wight. in doing so he learned the art of salesmanship, selling electrical power installation to the inhabitants of ryde. ==early career== from ryde he moved to hamilton, scotland at the age of twenty-three, a change of position that taught him the rudiments of management. moving yet again, this time to wishaw in lanarkshire, he took what was to be his last salaried job, laying down plant and network as chief engineer, aged just twenty-four. it was here in 1907 that cox married the daughter of wishaw councillor miller, the owner of overton forge, a lanarkshire steelworks, and joined the firm as a partner. unable to leave his post at the power station, he carried out both jobs simultaneously. by 1913 he set up the firm of cox and danks ltd, with his wife's cousin tommy danks as a silent partner and financier. cox's need for capital was met by danks who sought a way to increase his inheritance without personal involvement in business. the firm was well positioned to profit from large munitions manufacturing contracts during the first world war. the end of hostilities opened new and lucrative opportunities in scrap and metal salvage, enabling cox to open new business in sheffield, and buy out his partner danks' interests by 1920. ==shipbreaking== in 1921 cox had branched out into shipbreaking and opened a yard at queenborough, at the isle of sheppey on the thames estuary. there cox broke up and sold off an assortment of war surplus vessels, including two british battleships  and  and some ex-german naval items including a large floating dock taken as r
1883_births 1959_deaths English_engineers People_from_Wolverhampton Ship_breaking