John Lethbridge

John Lethbridge was a wool merchant based in Newton Abbot who invented a diving machine in 1715 that was used to salvage valuables from wrecks.

This machine was an airtight oak barrel that allowed “the diver” to submerge long enough to retrieve underwater material.

There are two holes for the arms, and a glass about 4 inches diameter, and an inch and a quarter thick to look through, which is fixed in the bottom part, so as to be in a direct line with the eye, two airholes upon the upper part, into one of which air is conveyed by a pair of bellows, both which are stopt with plugs immediately before going down to the bottom.

I have been 10 fathoms deep many a hundred times, and have been 12 fathom, but with great difficultyAfter testing this machine in his garden pond (specially built for the purpose) Lethbridge dived on a number of wrecks: four English men-of-war, one East Indiaman (both English and Dutch), two Spanish galleons and a number of galleys.

[citation needed] One of his better-known recoveries was on the Dutch Slot ter Hooge, which had sunk off Madeira with over three tons of silver on board.