George Bruce of Carnock

Sir George Bruce of Carnock (about 1550 to 1625) was a Scottish merchant, ship-owner and mining engineer who built a coal and salt business at Culross on the Firth of Forth. He was an innovator in coal mining techniques and built the Moat Pit at Culross, described as the world's first example of undersea mining, which reached the Upper Hirst seam at a depth of 40 fathoms, about 73 metres, using new drainage technology. King James VI visited the workings in 1617, and the English writer John Taylor described a horse-drawn drainage machine with an endless chain of buckets. A storm inundated the Moat Pit in March 1625. The coal also fuelled the salt pans that Bruce owned around Culross.