A parcel of drawings which William Symington prepared in 1828 had been preserved by his descendants  and came to light in the late 1970's. Together with important original depictions of the Dalswinton steamboat and the Charlotte Dundas were sketches of other inventions including a concept for operating a diving bell which he had developed in 1784. William Symington's biographer, Dr. Robert Bowie, was well aware of the drawings but made no mention of  the drawing of  "Diving Bell & Apparatus" in his "Brief Narrative." The originals are now held by Museum Victoria. In 1787 William made a grandiose proposal to Admiralty to recover the wreck of the Royal George which sank off Portsmouth in 1782.

Commissioned in 1756, the Royal George was a 100 gun first-rate ship of the line and the pride of the Royal Navy.  It sunk off Portsmouth in 1782 as a consequence of negligence. To facilitate a routine repair to a water pipe she had been heeled over by moving the guns toward the port side.  Although the lower gun port sills were almost at sea level, barrels of rum were then loaded on the port side, causing the ship to heel more than expected, allowing the sea to flood through the exposed ports.  The lieutenant on watch was oblivious to the danger and the Royal George sank instantly with the loss of around 900 lives.

THE RAISING OF THE ROYAL GEORGE

Soon after the catastrophic sinking of the Royal George on 29 August 1782, attempts were entertained to salvage her valuable armaments and to raise the vessel which had become a substantial obstruction to navigation.

Within weeks of the sinking, the firm of Spalding and Co. of Edinburgh was engaged to dive on the wreck. Using a diving bell of his own design, Charles Spalding, an Edinburgh confectioner, made several dives on the Royal George and managed to retrieve a number of cannon. [1]

 However, salvage rights were then awarded to William Tracey who had submitted a proposal to raise the vessel using a series of slings. His efforts were unsuccessful and were abandoned. It was not until 1843 that Charles Pasley of the Royal Engineers finally cleared the site using divers and a series of massive gunpowder explosions. [2]

[1] The Scots Magazine Volume 45 June 1783 page 324

[2] J. S., (Julian Sleight), A Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George, at Spithead, August, 1782. Fourth Edition 1841

NOTES ON THE USE OF DIVING BELLS

Edmund Halley, the renowned astronomer, had patented a diving bell in 1691. In his paper published in 1716, The Art of Living Underwater, he described an improved device. [1] He proposed that barrels of fresh air would be lowered to the bell and emptied into it using a hose. Stale air would be released from the bell by a stopcock. In 1776, Charles Spalding (1738-1783) described certain improvements on Dr. Halley's diving bell. [2] [3] Spalding’s diving bell accommodated two men and measured 5 feet diameter at the base and 2 ½ feet at the top. Air was replaced using barrels lowered from the supporting vessel. His principal improvement was an internal “balance-weight” suspended from the roof of the bell which was operated by the occupants of the bell. Raising or lowering this counterweight controlled the descent and lifting of the bell.  His improvements also included “Ropes-ends, to be caught of in case of accidents.” These improvements notwithstanding, in June 1783 Charles Spalding and his nephew were asphyxiated while diving on a wreck in Dublin Bay. [4]

One insuperable obstacle was that the available pumps were insufficiently powerful to deliver air under pressure to a submerged bell.

[1] Halley, Edmund, The Art of Living under Water: Or, a Discourse concerning the Means of Furnishing Air at the Bottom of the Sea in Any Ordinary Depths Phil. Trans. 1716 pages 492-499

[2] Transactions of the Society of Arts Volume I, 3rd Edition, London 1806 pages 220-238

[3] The Scots Magazine Volume 40 Thursday 1 October 1778 pages 527-529

[4] The Scots Magazine Volume 45 June 1783 pages 324-325

WILLIAM SYMINGTON’S PROPOSAL TO THE ADMIRALTY TO SALVAGE THE ROYAL GEORGE

The Admiralty and Navy Board accepted William Tracey’s proposal to raise the Royal George in preference to 117 other proposals which had been submitted. [1]

William Symington had received no response to his own initial proposals to the Admiralty Board. Writing from Edinburgh on 30 January 1787, he once again submitted his proposal to recover the Royal George using his novel Diving Bell. His letter to Sir Charles Middleton, Comptroller of the Navy [2] is as follows: [3]

                                                                                                                                               Edin.r January 30th 1787.

Sir

     Having some time ago made proposals to the Board of Admiralty with respect to the recovery of the Wreck of the Royal George; and having received no satisfactory answer, I am encouraged, by your public character, by your activity & zeal in the management of the affairs of the Navy, & by the advice of a friend, to addrefs you on that Subject. Whether my proposals were properly laid before their Lordships Commifsioners of the Admiralty, or treated with neglect by them I know not. But allow me to inform you, that I offered to inform their Lordships at my own expence, to remove the Royal George from its  present situation, if they would give me a right to what I could recover as my own property. To these proposals I am still ready to agree: and, further, if the value of the recovered wreck should be thought too much for my trouble, I shall engage if it exceeds Ten thousand pounds Sterling, to give one fourth to the Government: provided their Lordships, on their part, shall grant me security, that no other adventurer shall interfere before the end of July, by which period if I shall not have begun my operation, these obligations shall no longer be binding.

     It is some years since I turned my attention to the improvement of the Diving Bell, & have succeeded to my most sanguine wishes; having finished a scheme beyond any thing of the kind yet produced in the world, & which in the present state of the arts and sciences must be reckoned compleat. With it I shall engage to descend to any depth, and remain any length of time, even so long as vefsels shall be able to ride safely at the surface and not only to descend myself, but also to take, or send, down any number of men, tho’ it were an hundred, to execute any necefsary work. Consequently, I have thought of projecting it upon a greater scale than has hitherto been proposed; as I intend to apply it to the execution of any work below the water: such as founding Bridges in deep rivers, harbours, fortifications, or other buildings in the sea, &c accordingly, I also laid before their Lordships proposals for extending the public harbours so far into the sea, as to enable ships to go and come at low water; & I promised, at my own expence to shew the practicability of it, if the above terms were  granted relative to the Royal George: But have have received answers to neither.-I know there are other  schemes of improved Diving Bells proposed at present, & I am also acquainted with their principles of construction, but they are trifling compared with mine. These men may work for seasons upon the wreck without effecting much, as I am sure will be the result; but I shall engage in a very few weeks to recover the whole, either in pieces or in the  lump, tho’ she were ten times the weight she is. The powers I apply to the execution of my scheme, being the greatest yet known, enables me to act more powerfully, more expeditiously, & consequently at a lower rate than any man whatever.

     Being utterly unknown to you, I can only be induced by your public character, to expect the favour of your representing the matter to the Board of Admiralty; which if you shall be so good as do, let me afsure you, that you may speak of my schemes with the greatest confidence, as they are neither whim nor chimaera, but the result of the most deliberate & sound reflection. Being satisfied of the advantages that must  accrue both to myself and the public from these schemes; whether they shall be overlooked; that they may not, at least, be unknown, I have also wrote The Right Honble Henry Dundas, Treasurer of the Navy, on the fame subject.

     Hoping your excuse for this trouble, I beg leave to be

     Sir

                                              Your most humble  & most obedient servant

                                                       William Symington

                                                             Engineer

Sir Charles Middleton

Comptroller of the Navy 

[1] J. S., (Sleight, Julian), A Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George, at Spithead, August, 1782. Fourth Edition 1841

[2] Middleton was then a member of the Navy Board and the senior administrator of the navy

[3] NMM Greenwich MID/9/14 Correspondence on the question of the raising of HMS ROYAL GEORGE, 1782-1788. Includes letters from: William Symington, Engineer, to Sir Charles Middleton, 30 Jan 1787, re: the use of a diving bell; William Tracey to Sir Charles Middleton, 25 Feb 1788; John Clerk, 23 Apr 1787, and copy letter from the same to Lord Viscount Howe, n.d. (2 items). Also copies of letters to and from the Rt Hon Lord Viscount Keppel, 27 Sep-7 Oct 1782 (labelled ‘Mr Dales correspondence with Lord Sandwich about raising the ROYAL GEORGE’)

WILLIAM SYMINGTON’S IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DIVING BELL 1784

Rendered in 1827 or 1828, this drawing was intended to represent a concept of a diving bell which William Symington had developed in 1784.

 The diving bell itself is very simply sketched and depicts a basic bell-shaped structure holding two occupants armed with tools, one standing and the other seated. The bell is lifted manually by a winch on deck.

This diagram contains scant detail but the essential feature of William Symington’s concept is revealed, namely the use of a steam engine to ventilate the diving bell. Below deck there is a beam engine which is coupled to an air pump. A flexible pipe running over a large overhead guide-wheel delivered fresh air from the pump into the base of the diving bell.  A steady supply of fresh air pumped under pressure was in contrast to the primitive systems devised by Halley and Spalding which depended on lowering barrels of fresh air to the bell. He may have discussed the concept of a diving bell with John Smeaton who was consulting engineer to Carron Company. In 1788 Smeaton had employed a diving machine in the reconstruction of Ramsgate harbour. Smeaton used a cast iron chest which accommodated two men and which was supplied by fresh air pumped down from a boat. [1] John Rennie, a contemporary of William Symington, rendered improvements in the diving bell which he employed for construction work under water. In 1812 Rennie also proposed a scheme to raise the Royal George but his proposal was not pursued. [2]

[1] Smeaton, John, An Historical Report on Ramsgate Harbour: written by order of, and addressed to the Trustees. The Second Edition London 1791

[2] Boucher, Cyril T. G., John Rennie 1761-1821 The Life and Work of a Great Engineer 1963