Sorocold falling into river 1700s

‘‘He stepped awry and slipped into the river………though help was just at hand, there was no taking hold of him, till by the force of the water he was carried through, and pushed under the large wheel which was then going round at a great rate. The body stopped the motion for a little while till the plasher beyond him gave way and broke; upon which the wheel went again, and like Jonah’s whale, spewed him out to the mill tail, where he was taken up and received no hurt at all.’’
(This account, if true, may have done engineer George Sorocold more harm than the author knew – there are no further references to him alive after 1717.
From Daniel Defoe’s ‘A Tour of Britain, first edition 1726.)

Derby Museums