In the course of a long and productive career, he was a sea captain, a cartographer, a professor of geometry at the University of Oxford, deputy controller of the Royal Mint, astronomer royal, and inventor of the deep-sea diving bell.

在漫长而又多产中，他当过船长、地图绘、牛津大学几何学教授、皇厂副厂长、皇天文学，是深海潜水钟发明人。