John Lethbridge

John Lethbridge (1675 to 1759) was an English merchant and engineer from Devon who is known for inventing the first underwater diving machine in 1715. His machine was an airtight oak barrel about six feet long, hooped with iron, with two holes for the diver's arms sealed against the water, a thick glass window to look through, and air holes through which air was pumped down by bellows. The diver lay on his chest inside it and was lowered on a rope, with a signal line to the crew above. After testing the machine in a pond built in his garden for the purpose, Lethbridge dived on a number of wrecks, including English warships, East Indiamen and Spanish galleons, and grew very wealthy from salvage; one of his best known recoveries was the Dutch ship Slot ter Hooge, which had sunk off Madeira with more than three tons of silver aboard. He reportedly had seventeen children, is buried in Wolborough church in Newton Abbot, is the subject of the Fisherman's Friends song John in the Barrel, and had a survey vessel named after him in 2006.