The East Indiaman 'Atlas', 1822 (oil painting)

Creator: William John Huggins This East Indiaman sailed on her first voyage to India in 1813, and made at least nine more thereafter until 1830. The picture shows the vessel off Dover and is dated 1826, presumably at the end of her seventh voyage to Madras and China. The Atlas was built in 1812 at Paul's Yard near Hull, her managing owner being James Staniforth. By builder's measurement she was 1,267 tons, mounted twenty-six guns and had a complement of 130 men at full strength. During her East India Company service she sailed to Madras, Bengal and China under the command of Captain Charles Otway Mayne, who by his perquisites accumulated a fortune. Such speculation was not always without problems. In 1817, for example, the surgeon and second mate of the Atlas complained to the council at Canton that Mayne had taken all the extra thirty tons of private cargo normally allowed by the Company to ships officers, following a ruling of 1795. Their claim was upheld. After six voyages Mayne became the ship's husbandman and placed the command of the vessel under Captain John Hine, after which the Atlas undertook a further three regular sailings. She arrived at Gravesend at the end of her last voyage in August 1830 and was sold in May 1831 to C. Carter for breaking. Carter paid £4,100 for the Atlas, not a large sum and with a considerable part of the value being no doubt in her furnishings. The National Maritime Museum holds a further painting of the Atlas, also by Huggins (BHC3214).