Thomas Craskell

Thomas Craskell (died 1790)^[1] was a British engineer and painter active in Jamaica during the eighteenth century.

He was a military engineer for much of his life. He was a lieutenant in the Engineer Corps among the troops Major-General Peregrine Hopson led in the invasions of Martinique and Guadeloupe in early 1759.^[2] His career as a marine painter involved working alongside Peter Monamy and Samuel Scott in the mid-eighteenth century. Craskell was familiar with naval technology, and showed precise rendering of sails and rigging in his paintings. There are only four known works by Craskell; two of these are in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.^[3]

In 1758, he started the supervision of the King's House in Spanish Town.^[4]

His son, also called Thomas Craskell, was a captain in the army who was appointed superintendent general of the Maroons to replace Major John James.^[5]

Survey of Jamaica

From 1756 to 1761 he worked with James Simpson in conducting a survey of Jamaica that resulted in three maps which could be combined to create an overall map 90 x 38 inches in size.^[4]

• 
  Cornwall
• 
  Middlesex
• 
  Surrey

Paintings

• 
  Knowles' Action, the Battle of Havana 1948, painted 1753
• 
  Illustration to map of Surrey, Jamaica, 1763