From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Braithwaite the elder
John Braithwaite the elder
John Braithwaite the elder (1760–1818), was a British en-
gineer,[1] and salvor.
Legacy
Braithwaite died in June 1818 at Westbourne Green from
the effects of a stroke of paralysis. His business was after-
Life wards carried on by his two sons, Francis and John. [2]
Braithwaite is best known as the constructor of one of
the earliest successful forms of diving bell. In 1783 he de-
scended in one of his own construction into the wreck of
Notes
the Royal George, which had gone down off Spithead in [1] http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/3/101003234/
the August of the previous year, and recovered her sheet [2] ^ Harrison 1888, p. 201.
anchor and many of her guns. In the same year, and by
the same means, he recovered a number of guns sunk in
the Spanish flotilla off Gibraltar. [2]
References
In 1788, again he made a descent to the wreck of the • Harrison, Robert (1886). "Braithwaite, John
Hartwell, an East Indiaman, lost off Boa Vista, one of the (d.1818)". In Leslie Stephen. Dictionary of National
Cape Verde islands, and recovered dollars to the value of Biography. 6. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 201.
£38,000, 7,000 pigs of lead, and 360 boxes of tin.[2] Endnotes:
In 1806, he raised from the Abergavenny, an East In- • Gentlemen’s Magazine 1818, pt. i. 644.
diaman, lost off Portland, £75,000 worth of dollars, a Persondata
quantity of tin, and other property to the value of Name Braithwaite, John
£30,000, and successfully blew up the wreck with gun-
Alternative names
powder. [2]
For these purposes, in addition to perfecting the ac- Short description Engineer
tual diving apparatus, he devised machinery for sawing Date of birth 1760
ships asunder under water. His ancestors had carried on
Place of birth
a small engineers’ shop at St Albans since 1695. His own
engineering works were in the New Road, London. [2] Date of death 1818
Place of death
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Categories:
• 1818 deaths
• 1760 births
• British inventors
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