The Kent was an East Indiaman, a vessel sailing for the British East India Company, and launched in 1820. She completed two voyages to Bombay and China for the Company and was on her third voyage, to Bengal and China, when a fire in the Bay of Biscay destroyed her. Her captain for all three voyages was Henry Cobb. The loss of the Kent was highly newsworthy and led a number of artists to paint their own versions of the tragedy. In addition to William Daniell, artists that dealt with the tragedy included Théodore Gudin, Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1874-1931), and an anonymous lithographer whose "Loss of the Kent" is in the National Maritime Museum, as are a number of other renditions.