John Ernest Williamson (1881 – 1966) was a British-born photographer whose groundbreaking work in underwater photography began when his Virginia-based father, Charles Williamson, invented what he called a ‘submarine tube’: a spherical diving bell for use in salvage operations. John and his brother George spotted an opportunity for use in underwater photography and used their father’s model to develop the Williamson photosphere as the source of new vistas in photographic and moving image representation.

The photosphere was a steel photographic chamber that was lowered into the water from a ‘mother ship’. The chamber was equipped with thick clear glass windows, and powerful electric lights were used to illuminate the underwater world. The photographer sitting in the spherical chamber viewed and presented the underwater worlds from a perspective that has been likened to that of an underwater aquarium, in which photographers sat and gathered still and moving images of undersea worlds. (Fig 2).

After successful early experiments in still photography using the photosphere, the Williamson brothers developed a plan for shooting motion pictures. The Bahamas was chosen as a location offering optimal underwater conditions, including a lack of river sediment, and unusually shallow waters that inhibit the proliferation of micro-organisms and allow light reflection from brilliant white sand and coral seafloors.

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The earliest surviving footage from this pioneering work, the film IN THE TROPICAL SEAS (1914), is featured on this website with the kind permission of the Thanhouser Corporation. An introduction by Ned Thanhouser explores the genesis of the first Williamson films, explaining how funds were raised from the Corporation for the Williamson project, and detailing the enthusiastic US reception of two 1914 underwater films assembled using footage shot from the photosphere, THE TERRORS OF THE DEEP and THIRTY LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA.

Williamson’s interwar underwater experiments would later culminate in the launch of an underwater post office. The Post Office was devised in partnership with the Nassau Development Board and used the Williamson photosphere as an attraction to feed the islands’ burgeoning tourist trade.

The original of the video featured on our homepage is held at the EYE Film Museum in Amsterdam. As early film scholar Ivo Blom explains, the footage is ‘either the final reel of Thirty Leagues Under the Sea or additional footage not used in the two Thanhouser releases, assembled in a special Dutch or European release by a Dutch distributor or exhibitor.’

© Erica Carter. 11 October 2022. Images: Alamy, Thanhouser Company Film Preservation Inc.