William Hutchinson (privateer)

William Hutchinson (c. 1715 probably in Newcastle upon Tyne, England – 11 February 1801 in Liverpool, England) was an English mariner, privateer, author, and inventor who developed parabolic reflectors for lighthouses and helped establish possibly the world's first lifeboat station.

Hutchinson was a seaman by the late 1730s, serving on an East Indiaman trading in India and China.

After service in the Royal Navy, he entered the employ of merchant and privateer Fortunatus Wright.

A voyage in 1750 as captain of Wright's Lowestoft ended in shipwreck, and Hutchinson later claimed that only a timely rescue saved him from being eaten by the survivors in his lifeboat, as he had drawn the short straw.

He also experimented with oil-burning lights for lighthouses, invented a new rudder and a better quick-priming mechanism for large guns, and worked with Dr. Thomas Houlston on better methods of artificial respiration for drowning victims.