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.
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.[4]
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.[5]