In the United States of America, generally, and to some extent in
England, the invention of the diving-bell has been attributed to Sir
William Phipps; who was, however, one of the first persons who used the
bell advantageously, in recovering nearly 300,000l. treasure from a
Spanish wreck, near the Bahamas. The _invention_, or the earliest use of
the diving-bell, dates from upwards of a century before the birth of
Phipps; the first instance of its use being at Cadiz, in the presence of
Charles V., in 1538; whereas Phipps was born at Pemaguid, in America, in
1650. There is, likewise, another popular error, that the Mulgrave
family, of which the present head is the Marquess of Normanby, descended
from Sir William Phipps; the founder of the Mulgrave family being
Phipps, one of the earliest explorers of the Arctic regions.
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