1726 - apprenticed to joiner, Thomas Miller then later turned over to John Hall, a shipwright and Deptford boat builder. 1743 - sworn a freeman of the Shipwrights' Company. 1747 - earliest date found of his art work. Birth of his twin sons, marine artists John (the younger) and Robert. 1755 - painted the fictitious depiction of the Royal George (launched in 1756) off Deptford at the launch of the Cambridge. 1764 - started to exhibit at the Free Society. 1776 - final exhibition at the Free Society.