Augustus Siebe was born in 1788 in Saxony. As a young child he was educated in Berlin. After leaving school he became apprentice to a caster. In 1812 he joined the army and fought as a Lieutenant in the artillery at the battle of Leipzig. He became a watch maker for a time before coming to England in 1814 where he became naturalised. Augustus Siebe was mechanical genius and didn’t really receive the recognition he deserved as a pioneer in scientific achievements. His main skill was to translate theoretical problems into practical inventions and he was frequently consulted by scholars and academics of the day. Siebe’s first notable success was with Deane Brothers’ smoke helmet. The helmet had no valves and the helmet was riveted onto a leather jacket. There were 2 pipes, one supplying fresh air from a blacksmith’s bellows and the other, tethered to the wearer’s ankle took away the contaminated air.

The original description reads: the wearer carries a lanthorn (lantern) strapped in front of his veste and a small hatchet for forcing open any door or chest which may conceal or enclose the property to be rescued.

Following the success of the smoke helmet Siebe designed a light metal helmet attached to a waterproof jacket which reached to the wearer’s waist . This became the Siebe open diving dress. The diver had to work in an erect position and should he be required to stoop he would have to adopt a bent knee position.

Although the open dress diving suit was relative success, Siebe with Deane , now a diver was not satisfied that this equipment fully exploited the concept of the diver’s dress and in 1829 the closed dress was developed. This development meant the diver could work in any position in comfort and safety. The helmet part was made separately from the breastplate and connected by a segmental thread and valves were added and the design was improved upon.
As well as developing the diving dress Augustus Siebe had already designed and developed the breach loading gun in 1819.
Siebe also patented a weighing balance machine. This machine could also be used to measure the speed of a ship by trailing a float behind and by measuring the resistance in passing through the water the speed could be calculated.
Another invention of Siebe’s was the tap for cutting hollow screws.
Although hydraulic machines were already in use, Siebe patented an improvement for these machines making them more efficient and longer lasting as well as being more effective.

In 1850 Augustus Siebe started to manufacture refrigeration equipment under a licence from the Australian, James Harrison.
An ice making machine exhibited by Augustus’s grandson Daniel Siebe at the London Exhibition was capable of converting 1 ¼ tons of water into solid blocks of ice without the use of chemicals. The main application of this machine was that of a rudimentary air conditioning device.
Other notable achievements were the manufacture and patent of a height and weight machine and a paper making machine.
Augustus Siebe also developed a method of welding iron and steel plate by the discovery of borax as a flux.

For all these discoveries, inventions and developments Augustus Siebe received many testimonials from the Society of Arts but there is little doubt that he is best remembered for the development of the closed dress diving suit which was successfully used for the salvage of the Royal George.
In 1782 the 104 gun warship Royal George sank at Spithead. In 1839 major General Paisley was charged with the removal of the Royal George along with the Edgar which had sunk in 1711. Over the next few years Siebe was to refine his air pump and diving helmet making the salvage work both safer and quicker.
He received many testimonials for the equipment notably from Major General Paisley, H Jekyll Lieutenant, Royal Engineers,
Various dockyards, Divers, Royal Navy Captains and many others. Robert Louis Stevenson the renowned author famously made a descent in Wick harbour wearing Augustus Siebe diving apparatus.

On the 15th of April in 1872 Augustus Siebe died. The firm of Siebe & Gorman continued under the management of Henry Siebe and William Gorman.

Augustus Siebe-The Godfather of Diving 1788-1872