Brook Watson

Sir Brook Watson, Bt
Caricature of Watson by Robert Dighton, 1803
Born	(1735-02-07)7 February 1735 Plymouth, Devon, England
Died	2 October 1807(1807-10-02) (aged 72) England
Occupation	Merchant
Spouse(s)	Helen Campbell

Sir Brook Watson, 1st Baronet (7 February 1735 – 2 October 1807) was a British merchant, soldier, and later Lord Mayor of London. He is perhaps most famous as the subject of John Singleton Copley's painting Watson and the Shark, which depicts a shark attack on Watson as a boy that resulted in the loss of his right leg below the knee.

Watson was the only son of John Watson and Sarah Watson (née Schoefield). Born in Plymouth, Devon in 1735, he was orphaned in 1741 and sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Boston, Massachusetts. His uncle was a merchant who traded in the West Indies. Before the age of 14, Watson had expressed his interest in the sea, so his uncle signed him up as a crew member on one of his merchant ships.

While swimming alone in Havana harbour, Cuba in 1749, the 14-year-old Watson was attacked by a shark. The shark attacked twice before Watson was rescued. The first time, the shark removed flesh from below the calf of Watson’s right leg; the second time, it bit off his right foot at the ankle. Watson was rescued by his shipmates, but his leg had to be amputated below the knee. Watson recuperated in a Cuban hospital and recovered within three months.

On his return to Boston, Watson found that his uncle was bankrupt. He took a job under Captain John Huston on a schooner that supplied provisions to the British army at Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia (1750). At Fort Lawrence he came to the notice of Robert Monckton, and by 1755 he was commissary with Monckton at the Battle of Fort Beauséjour. Three years later he was sent to supervise the expulsion of the Acadians from the Baie Verte area. He worked with the English trader Joseph Slayter, and in 1758 he was commissary under General James Wolfe at the Siege of Louisbourg (1758). He was known as 'the wooden-legged commissary'.