ON 31 JANUARY 1746 William Larkins, a thirty-four-year-old seaman from Dover, entered the headquarters of the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies in Leadenhall Street. In a committee room ‘scarce inferior to anything of the like nature in the City’, Thomas Hall, managing owner of several East India ships, introduced William to a few directors who formed the Committee of Shipping. He presented William as the second mate of his ship Salisbury, hired by the Company for a voyage to Madras and Bengal. William duly swore the traditional oath not to trade in the goods that the Company traded in or to break bulk of the Company's cargo on the way home. Although from now on he would be employed and paid by Thomas Hall, William would receive the Company's protection. Provided he abided by the Company's rules his feet were now firmly on the ladder leading to a command and a possible fortune from the Company's indulgence of private trade.

Nothing is known of William's early career, but he must have spent many years at sea and acquired a thorough knowledge of navigation to secure an officer's berth in an Indiaman. Influence as well as skill was needed. His marriage the previous year to Christian Pascall, daughter of a banker of Dover and mother of baby Thomas, probably opened the door to investors in ships owned by Thomas Hall, thereby sharing in the valuable patronage. The hostilities between Britain and France favoured him as the navy soaked up skilled navigators from the merchant marine. War always offered the best opportunity for an experienced mariner to walk straight into the post of a sworn officer in the most highly sought after branch of the merchant service.

Emerging from East India House, William probably turned left down Leadenhall Street and Cornhill and into Birchin Lane to the Jerusalem Coffee House, ‘the general resort of those who had anything to do with India’ and the hub of the Company's shipping. Company regulations, shipping schedules, chart makers’ and instrument makers’ advertisements were posted up round the walls. With the ships of the season preparing to depart, the bustle was at its height.