John Cleveley the Elder, (Southwark circa 1712-1777 Deptford)

The East Indiaman Alfred in three positions off St Helena

The East Indiaman Alfred in three positions off St Helena
signed and dated 'J Cleveley Pinx 1772' (lower left)
oil on canvas
77.5 x 147.3cm (30 1/2 x 58in).

The Alfred depicted here was the first of three East Indiamen to bear this name in the Honourable East India Company's fleet. Built in Barnard's Yard at Deptford for George Willson, Esq. and launched on 29 October 1772, her fine lines, elaborate stern carving and impressive armament of 32-guns, including two stern-chasers, were more akin to a Royal Navy frigate than an Indiaman, and she was widely regarded as a particularly handsome vessel. Measured by her builder at 764 tons, she was 110 feet in length with a 36 foot beam and sported a splendid figurehead of the Saxon King Alfred whom many of her contemporaries regarded as the 'Father of the English Navy'.

On 29 January 1773 she set sail from the Downs anchorage bound for the EIC's enclave at Bencoolen, on the island of Sumatra, via Saint Helena, under the command of Captain John Lauder. Arriving off Saint Helena on 1 May to take on water and fresh provisions, she reached her destination on 30 September, where she loaded cargo for home and was back in the Downs on 4 February 1775. A second voyage to Bencoolen followed from December 1776 to August 1778, after which her next two voyages were both to China but with several intermediate calls. Returning home for the last time on 20 June 1786, after an unusually lengthy voyage lasting over four years, she was then sold for breaking, her relatively short career probably due to storm damage which rendered her no longer fit for service.

Owned throughout her life by Mr. George Willson, it is likely that he commissioned this portrait of the Alfred to commemorate her completion and what would be her first port of call at Saint Helena the following year.

The island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic was discovered by the Portuguese on Saint Helena's Day, 21 May 1502. Afterwards held by the Dutch, the British East India Company briefly settled there in 1651 and even though the island changed hands again during the Anglo-Dutch Wars in the middle of the century, it had reverted to the British Crown by 1673 when, on 12 December that year, Charles II granted it to the East India Company for use as a port of call for their homebound ships. In 1684, the Company instructed Captain Knox to go to Madagascar to "procure Negrosse (sic) to bring to St. Helena for the Company's Service thare (sic)", these slaves being intended for domestic use in the growing settlement of Saint James (later Jamestown). The position of the island, especially in comparison with the hostile coasts of west and south-west Africa, was also of great strategic importance on the route to India and ships were often required to transport reinforcements to the garrison there. When, for example, the Suffolk was chartered for this purpose in 1749, it was agreed that her owners were to receive "for all Soldiers and Passengers carried to ye S[ai]d Island £5 a head" as their fee for the charter.

Saint Helena's barren appearance when approached from the sea was in marked contrast to the luxuriance of its many deep valleys, the town and anchorage for the Company's ships being situated below Saint James's valley at the northern end of the leeward side of the island. Apart from drinking water and the obvious shelter from the weather, the island regularly supplied ships with beef and lemons (to combat scurvy) whilst in return, the Company provided Saint Helena with grain which would not grow there.