汉普顿道路是一个非常了不起的地方。除了是东海岸最重要的港口之一，它还是创新的摇篮。在汉普顿道路上发生的一些“第一”是尤金·埃利（Eugene ElyBirmingham) and Robert Gilruth’s (of NASA fame) designing, building and sailing of the world’s first hydrofoiling sailboat. This year I learned about another first, Hampton Roads is considered to be the birthplace of underwater photography* and it led to the first successful underwater motion pictures.
这一切都始于当发明家的商人水手查尔斯·威廉姆森（Charles Williamson）上尉将他的家人从英格兰搬到佛蒙特州，再到诺福克。威廉姆森（Williamson）的许多发明包括折叠式婴儿车和船舶信号系统。1903年，他为“海底工作的设备”申请了专利，该仪器本质上是一个防水管，可实现水下维修，救助工作，在海底旅游甚至水下旅游业上的商业收获（他在1911年获得专利的“基于潜艇的愉悦设备”专利）同样的想法）。
Williamson’s 3-foot diameter tube was made of a series of concentric, interlocking iron rings covered with a waterproof fabric of canvas and rubber. It was strong enough to resist the pressure of the water but pliable and flexible enough to move with the current (or the boat). The tube, which could be extended up to 250 feet in length, stretched between a specially outfitted barge and an observation/work chamber and facilitated communication, provided fresh air and created a passageway large enough for a man to climb through. Like most of Captain Williamson’s other inventions, the “Apparatus for Submarine Work” was never a commercial success, but what his son ended up using it for changed the world forever!
1912年，约翰·欧内斯特·威廉姆森（John Ernest Williamson）在费城唱片和弗吉尼亚人的摄影师和定期记者工作时，约翰·欧内斯特·威廉姆森（John Ernest Williamson）提出了试图使用他父亲的“海底工作”来拍摄照片的想法。在他的兄弟乔治（George）的帮助下，他扩大了工作室，并在管子底部观看港口，以方便相机。在他们在汉普顿道路的最初测试中，他们发现了water was so murky it limited visibility to just a few feet (Really? I can’t believe they were surprised by this our water isn’t exactly “tropical” looking around here! Sometimes you can’t even see further than two inches!). To extend visibility they engineering a bank of tungsten electric lamps so they could be turned on and remain lit underwater.
For their next test, the lights werehung off the back of their boat so they would illuminate the area in front of the observation window. Once Williamson was in position with his camera,窗户前面降低了诱饵线，并打开灯光。在片刻之内，工作室被数千条鱼包围。约翰·欧内斯特（John Ernest）度过了一个下午的照片，不知道他们是否会遇到，但是在暗室里几个小时就产生了一些很棒的水下照片。一张图像甚至显示了科学的美国杂志！
威廉姆森（Williamson）在黑暗的房间里意识到，如果他使用的曝光（1/50秒或更少）可以拍摄照片，那么在类似的条件下，他也许也可以拍摄水下电影（电影业都在其中1913年的婴儿期，每个人都对它着迷，并试图弄清楚如何利用它）。威廉姆森（Williamson）在弗吉尼亚州立大学（Virginian-Pilot）的编辑凯维尔·格伦南（Keville Glennan）询问了他的照片和他的电影创意，格伦南立即意识到威廉姆森兄弟（Williamson Brothers）取得的成就的重要性。在下一个星期日，他刊登了一篇完整的文章，详细介绍了这一成就。
Within days of the article’s publication, hundreds of letters and telegrams from magazines and newspapers around the country began arriving. Among them was an invitation to display Williamson’s photographs at the First International Motion Picture Exposition in New York. The images were the hit of the show and many of the attendees offered to help fund an expedition to the Bahamas to experiment with underwater motion pictures. One of the investors, Charles J. Hite of the Thanhouser Film Corporation, supplied a motion picture camera, a “cinematograph operator” (Carl Louis Gregory), all the necessary film, and a promise to market the completed film.
In preparation for the expedition, John Ernest and George devised a new observation chamber which they called a “photosphere.” It was a 6×10-foot steel globe with a large funnel-shaped window on one side. The window, made in France, was an inch-and-a-half thick and five feet in diameter. They also had optical experts at the Rochester Institute of Technology develop new camera lenses and film for the expedition and acquired nine 2,400 candlepower Cooper-Hewitt mercury vapour lamps. As it turned out, the lamps were rarely needed since sunlight easily reached depths up to 150 feet and water clarity allowed viewing up to 150 to 200 feet.
After arriving in Nassau, the team spent a month building a barge 40’ long and 16’ wide with a large well at the center to house the photosphere. It was christened theJules Verne和the power boat used to tow it was calledNautilus. [Do you get the impression Williamson loved Verne andTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]在1914年4月10日至6月10日之间，格雷戈里拍摄了超过20,000英尺的电影。从那个录像中，Thanhouser电影公司为Williamson的潜艇电影公司制作了两部电影：海底三十个联赛和深处的恐怖（也称为在海底). These two one-hour films have apparently been lost, but a 13 minute excerpt of the film survives as在de trophische zee中.
Right off the bat you’ll probably notice something odd in the film–a horse. Because the Williamson’s were interested in the entertainment value of their film they promised their investors they would include a fight between a native diver and a shark. In order to lure sharks to the filming area they searched far and wide for the perfect bait–a horse that had been condemned to be shot. On the day of the filming the horse’s owner delivered the horse but there was one problem, it was still alive–apparently no animal could be shot without an official British government permit. A short time later, a guard of formally attired Royal Bahamas police arrived on the scene, examined the horse and concurred that it was indeed lame. At that point, and apparently “with great formality,” the officer in charge read the permit to the horse. Once the police were convinced the horse understood its fate, it was shot. [Now why in the hell didn’t they film THIS event (not the shooting part obviously, yuck)? I want to see the horse’s reaction when the policeman told him was going to die!]
Clips from “In de Trophische Zee” from the Nederlands Filmmuseum.
随着马转换为诱饵，威廉姆森的船员将其悬挂在繁荣中Jules Verne，将鲨鱼吸引到该区域，然后允许诱饵下沉到Photosphere窗户上方的区域。威廉姆森（Williamson）操作相机时，每个土著潜水员都试图杀死鲨鱼。一位潜水员设法杀死了鲨鱼，但不合作的动物将潜水员拖出了相机的范围。沮丧的是，约翰·欧内斯特（John Ernest）（显然是疯子）决定他将扮演鲨鱼杀手的角色，以确保在电影中抓住动作。令人惊讶的是，他杀死了鲨鱼，在此过程中没有失去任何身体部位。
As you might expect, this first film showing underwater scenes was an instant success. The Williamson brothers immediately realized that a film of a fictional story would be even more popular and might even make some money. The most obvious story for this endeavor was the enormously popular Jules Verne novelTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The Williamson Submarine Motion Pictures Company formed a partnership with Universal Film Manufacturing Company (Universal Pictures) and the Williamson’s returned to the Bahamas in the spring of 1916 to begin filming.
Ever the showman, Williamson wanted to include the scene of Captain Nemo’s battle with a giant octopus. Since there was no way he was going to find a live creature large enough and cooperative enough to act as he wished he decided to build one. To make the tentacles writhe, squirm, reach out and grab objects, draw them in and then coil around them, Williamson used a rubber tube surrounded by tapered springs that could be inflated with compressed air to simulate the arm reaching out. As the tube deflated, the springs would drawn the arm back in. The structure was covered with a material that represented the octopus’s skin and rubber balls of graduated sizes were cut in half to represent the sucking disks. It worked so well, Williamson actually patented his idea!
Just to make sure the scene looked realistic Williamson didn’t tell the diver acting in the scene that the octopus was going to grab him and nearly drown him before he was rescued by “Captain Nemo.” He nearly gave the guy heart failure. After shark killing and near death by fake octopus I’m not so sure I’d be willing to do any more acting for this guy.
第二年9月,世界上第一个运动picture film containing scenes shot underwater was released. Unfortunately the first talking motion picture was released right around the same time so the film didn’t do as well at the box office as they’d hoped. Over the course of the next forty years John Ernest filmed underwater scenes for about eleven movies and while his work didn’t advance the technology of underwater cameras or diving equipment or offer new scientific insights, it did provide the impetus for the expanded use of undersea photography and film making.
*实际上是法国生物学家路易斯·布丹（Louis Boutan）成功地是1890年代后期的第一张水下照片在Banyuls-Sur-Mer中 - 但它是在R中eally shallow water! Williamson’s pictures were taken at a depth of thirty feet.
that was very informative a fun to watch and read… Well done Jeanne.
很棒的报道！
Lunatic is right! That was crazy and an awesome article- thanks for sharing. I however will not be found hunting sharks with a shotgun… nope, no way, no how.