John Ernest Williamson

John Ernest Williamson (8 December 1881 – 15 July 1966) was an English filmmaker who invented the "photosphere" from which he filmed and photographed undersea.^[2] He is credited as being the first person to take an underwater photograph from a submarine.^[3]

John Ernest Williamson
Underwater photographer and submarine films John Ernest Williamson
Born	(1881-12-08)8 December 1881
Died	(1966-07-15)15 July 1966
Known for	underwater filmmaking
Spouse	Lilah Freeland Williamson
Children	Sylvia, Annecke Jans

A 1915 illustration of the tube, drawn by Ernest's younger brother George^[1]

Williamson descending into the tube with camera

Biography

He was born in Liverpool, England^[4] 1881 to Charles Williamson, a sea captain from Norfolk, Virginia.^[5] Charles had invented a deep-sea tube, made of concentric iron rings, "which stretched like an accordion". The tube was used for underwater repair and for ship salvage. In 1912 Williamson, while working as a reporter, used the device to make underwater photographs in Norfolk Harbor.^[3] He then expanded the photosphere, which he named Jules Verne, and used it to create motion pictures, starting first in the Bahamas.^[2][6]

Williamson created a film company, the Submarine Film Corporation.^[7] Their first feature film came out in 1914 and was entitled "Thirty Leagues Under the Sea" starring Williamson in a fight with a shark.^[6] The Submarine Film Corporation would also partner with other companies such as Thanhouser Company. J. Ernest Williamson and his brother George M. Williamson would shoot and develop the film using their photosphere which was then finalized and distributed by others.^[6]

Partial filmography

• Thirty Leagues Under the Sea (1914)^[6]
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1916)^[6]
• The Submarine Eye (1917)^[6]
• Wet Gold (1921)
• Wonders of the Sea (1922)^[8]
• The Uninvited Guest (1924)
• The Mysterious Island (1929)
• With Williamson Beneath the Sea (1932)^[9]