Charles Williamson was the father of John Ernest Williamson (1881-1966), an important cinematographer who made the first underwater films. Captain Charles Williamson was the inventor of a flexible arm with a coupled mitten. This flexible arm led to the development of a tube that could be lowered from a boat to the sea bottom.
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In 1912 John Ernest Williamson (J.E.) had the epiphany that the tube his father had invented could be put to use to film underwater. He constructed a special chamber where the cameras were installed. This chamber is still today called “Williamson Photosphere”.
I love this photo. It and the text come from The Rebreather Site, which you should check out for more pictures and information on the device. There are a couple of shots of a controllable, underwater octopus suit. Yes.
(Via Sunday Magazine / The New York Times, which published article on the original use of the device to find sunken treasure.)