This museum is always changing! 


The JOHN LETHBRIDGE 250 exhibition -
was opened on the 10th March by International diver
and Marine Archeologist, Robert Stenuit and the Mayor
of Newton Abbot, Councillor Corney-Walker.

John Lethbridge invented a diving machine, testing it in his
garden in Newton Abbot at the very hour of the eclipse in 1715! 
He went on to work as a salvage man-'wrackman' for the
Dutch East India Company, and is known all over the world.

Robert Stenuit is a Director of the Groupe de Recherche Archeologique Sous-Marine Post Medieval of Brussels, he was asked to open the exhibition because of his great admiration for the skills and courage of John Lethbridge. Stenuit knows more than most how Lethbridge worked. In 1977 Stenuit had a replica built of the diving-engine and dived in it,whilst being filmed by the BBC Chronicle programme.(The film can be seen in the exhibition)
 
 

Pictured, are Robert Stenuit (R)
with his diving colleague and friend,
Marc Jasinski, underwater camerman. 


Robert and Marc both worked together diving on the Slot ter Hooge, a Dutch East Indiaman shipwreck in the 1970s. 

John Lethbridge had dived on the same wreck in 1725.

Stenuit managed to recover the artefacts that Lethbridge was unable to retrieve-"he did not leave much", Stenuit commented during his speech!

Robert and Marc both worked together diving on the Slot ter Hooge, a Dutch East Indiaman shipwreck in the 1970s. 

John Lethbridge had dived on the same wreck in 1725.

Stenuit managed to recover the artefacts that Lethbridge was unable to retrieve-"he did not leave much", Stenuit commented during his speech!

With the help of very generous funding from Devon, District & Town Councillors, as well as Charities and local citizens the museum was able to produce an exhibition worthy of the man. 

 
Film crews from BBC “Inside Out” programme, have been busy filming the ‘Lethbridge’ story which was released on March 4th . They filmed a period re-enactment in a local orchard, together with Marine Archaeologist Mark Horton, from Coast to Coast,interviewing Stenuit  in the museum.

The Museum commissioned local craftsmen Nick & Adam Hunt to take on the challenge of building a full-sized replica of Lethbridge's "diving-engine" for the exhibition, which will be a lasting legacy for the town.

For more photographs see NEWS section.