Atkins was an English naval surgeon. His book includes some useful case reports and contains the first English description of African trypanosomiasis.

Atkins, surgeon on the voyage, included information about the slave trade and the natural history of the Gold Coast. "Atkins describes the manatee accurately, and tells much about fetish worship. He shows that there was no evidence of a general cannibalism in any negro tribe, but mentions how an English captain made one slave eat the liver of another as a punishment. He gives full accounts of the winds and currents" (Wikipedia article on John Atkins, accessed 01-2017). Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.