Description
In 1758 a small sickly baby boy was born, son of the Rector of Burnham Thorpe in Norfolk.
No one could have envisaged that this child would, in his lifetime, become one of Englandโs greatest heroes.
Sent to sea aged 12, he soon found that although he loved the ships and the sea, he would suffer from terrible seasickness all his life.
Nelson was a small man, just 5ft 4in tall, of slight build and with a weak constitution. He was frequently very ill with recurrent bouts of malaria and dysentery, relics of his time in the tropics, Madras, Calcutta and Ceylon.
In 1780 he was again very ill, this time with scurvy and his life, and the lives of his shipboard companions, hung in the balance. But once again this small, apparently frail man survived!
In spite of his frail health, in 1784 he was given the command of the Boreas and was on duty in the West Indies when he met and married Frances Nisbet, a widow.
After an idle period at home in Norfolk, he was recalled and given the command of the Agamemnon in 1793.
ISBN: HISTORICALCHA
