Charles Anthony Deane

Who was Charles Anthony Deane?

Charles Anthony Deane was a pioneering diving engineer.

Born in Deptford, Charles and his brother John and studied at the Greenwich Hospital School for Boys to become merchant seamen, going to sea at the age of 14 for a period of 7 years before returning to Deptford.

Charles Deane then took up employment as a caulker at Barnard's Shipyard. During this time he realised the problem of fighting fires within the holds of ships.

In the 1820s John Deane was present in England when horses were trapped by fire in a stable. To get through the smoke and fire fumes he put on a medieval knight-in-armor helmet air-pumped by hose from a fire brigade water pump, and rescued all the horses. In 1823 he patented a "Smoke Helmet" to be used by firemen in smoke-filled areas; the full title is given as "Apparatus or Machines to be worn by Persons entering Rooms or other places filled with Smoke of other Vapour, for the purpose of extinguishing Fire, or extricating Persons or Property therein". The apparatus comprised a copper helmet with an attached flexible collar and garment. A long leather hose attached to the rear of the helmet was to be used to supply air, the original concept being that it would be pumped using a double bellows. A short pipe allowed breathed air to escape. The garment was to be constructed from leather or airtight cloth, secured by straps.