Ilfracombe from the Eastward by Nicholas Pocock, 1797. Repro ID: PW5909. ©National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, LondonPocock was born in Bristol, the son of a merchant. In 1766 he went to sea and for a long time commanded the Lloyd, a merchant ship belonging to the Bristol porcelain maker, Richard Champion. He made many voyages in Champion's ships, mainly to America, and began illustrating their logbooks with his drawings. Four of these logs are in the Museum’s collection.

In 1780, the year Pocock married and left the sea, he submitted a painting to the Royal Academy. Although it arrived too late for that year's exhibition it prompted an encouraging letter from the President, Sir Joshua Reynolds. In 1789 Pocock moved to London, establishing himself as the natural successor to Dominic Serres (d.1793) for naval commissions.

Watercolour was Pocock’s preferred medium and in 1806 he was one of the founders of the Old Watercolour Society.