Print. Joseph Cotton (1746-1825) was appointed Deputy Master of Trinity House in 1803. He served as a Director of the East India Company between 1795 and 1823. For several years he was also the Chairman of the East India Dock Company, formed in 1793. In 1818 he published a 'Memoir on the Origin and Incorporation of the Trinity House of Deptford Strond'. Cotton Street in Poplar is named after him. Thomas Merle, who published this print was primarily a picture seller and frame maker at 36 Leadenhall Street, near East India House, for over 40 years up to at least 1826 - latterly as Thomas Merle & Son from around 1821. He was both the marine painter Thomas Luny's principal London outlet for many years and also the early agent for William John Huggins (c. 1817-23) before the latter set himself up independently at no. 105. There is a copy of his trade card, probably from the early 1790s, on the back of a relatively early Luny (oil on panel) of the Battle of the Saints, 1782, which is also in the Museum collection (BHC2701). This states he was 'successor to the late Mr Deerlove'. While he sold prints, he published very few: this is apparently the only one bearing his name in the NMM collection. The British Museum has only six published or sold by him, the earliest dated 1785. One of the loss of the indiaman 'Halsewell', published in 1786 by its artist, Lieutenant William Elliott RN but sold by Merle, is the only marine subject. The only other portrait, dated 1821, is of the lawyer Philip Hurd, inscribed to the Hebdomadal Club. This was also by Stewardson (d.1859), who was also based in Leadenhall Street, 1804-11. [PvdM amended 1/11]