[3] Jock Willis had joined ships sailing along the British coast after having run away from his home at Eyemouth, Berwickshire, when he was 14 years old.

[4] During one of his sailing voyages to London, he found employment at a pub frequented by seafarers in the New India Dock (now Canary Wharf).

[5] Willis married Janet Dunbar on 23 July 1815,[4] and the couple had nine children – six sons and three daughters – of whom the eldest was also named John.

Also known as 'White Hat Willis', it was during his time that the company built and owned clippers like Cutty Sark.

[4] The first vessel purchased by John Willis was the 253-ton Sunderland-built barque Demarara Planter in 1830,[1] which sailed to the West Indies.