John GORMAN (1844-1921) and his step-son William NICHOLLS (1870-1932) are both listed in the 1901 Census as being ‘Harbour Contractor’s Diver’s Attendants’. It was the attendant’s job to look after the diver he was engaged by, to assist him with the putting on of his elaborate equipment, watch him go down below the surface of the water in the diving bell, and then to stand by in readiness to deal with any signal made to him by the man who had vanished from his sight. Sometimes the diver made his descent from an anchored vessel, generally a ketch known as a ‘diver’s boat’, and sometimes from the edge of a pier, or other structure overlooking the spot where work was being taken in hand.
