Nelson’s Forgotten Son: A Journey from Exile to Trafalgar

Historical fiction helps us step closer to truths that history books alone cannot convey so that we don’t just observe it from afar, but we can live it. This is particularly true of Regency England, the world of Jane Austen, CS Forrester and my Nelson and His Son trilogy. At a recent talk to Mosman Rotary Club in Sydney, I shared about how my novels not only explore the great battles and worlds which are both familiar and foreign to us, but also the personal struggles of those in British naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson’s shadow. My second novel focuses on his stepson Josiah, my ancestor Fanny Nelson’s son from her first marriage; a young man who carried both privilege and rejection in his blood.

Oliver presenting at Mosman Rotary Club, Sydney

History alone can feel like a museum visit - interesting, but detached. Fiction, by contrast, lets us step into the action. As Coleridge wrote, it invites us to exercise the “willing suspension of disbelief.” It also works best when an author takes the readers on a journey where strong characters learn to change, as in Jane Austen’s novels.

Therefore in Nelson’s Lost Son, the second novel in my trilogy, I wanted to give Josiah a journey of his own - one marked by disappointment, exile and hard choices, but also by resilience.

Josiah’s Fall and Exile

After he stuck up for his humiliated mother Fanny, he is rejected by his famous stepfather and the Nelson family, ending an eight-year span in the Royal Navy and left wondering what to do with his life.

I have a good friend who was an officer in the Royal Navy and had a similar life-changing experience when he fell afoul of a powerful officer intent on ending his career. Many can relate to the agony of making life decisions when we are young. Through his choices and decisions - some thrust upon him - Josiah develops and grows and when he has overcome the obstacles he is able to move on with his life.

His unusual adventure begins after he discovers news no one in power in Britain wants to hear. He is shanghaied aboard a very different ship from the ones under Nelson’s patronage.

‘HMS ‘Amelia’ chasing the French frigate ‘Arethuse’ 1813′ by John Christian Schetky

To Africa and the Caribbean

My novel takes this lost young man to Africa and the sugar islands of the Caribbean. The hero of the story must forget his naïve ambitions to recover a lost career in the Royal Navy and save himself from the unscrupulous and murderous slavers operating the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

The voyage of the “Amelia”, a slave ship, is based on a true vessel of that name - one of the last British slave ships before the Slave Trade - or at least the British part of it - was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1807.

There is another connection to slavery in this story. Nelson met Fanny when he was an officer serving in the Caribbean. Based in Antigua at the English Harbour, his squadron patrolled the leeward islands suppressing the illegal trade between the islands and the newly independent United States. Fanny’s family were from the island of Nevis, a jewel among sugar islands.

There Fanny was born and grew up in the household of the leading judge. Later her mother and father died, and Fanny married a local doctor called Nisbet. They had a son – Josiah – but within a very short time Fanny’s husband had died and a few years later together with the infant Josiah, Fanny and Horatio left Nevis and settled in Norfolk.

French Invasion

As is historically accurate at the time of my novel, the French are threatening to invade the Leeward Islands and Nevis has few defences.

There is no actual evidence that Fanny’s son Josiah led the defence of the islands, but the tactics are well-researched and it adds to the rollicking yarn. It also enables me to introduce another fascinating character, Josiah’s friend Jefferson, a former enslaved man from the slave ship, Amelia.

Of all the characters in my book, I found Jefferson to be the most intriguing. One moment he was not there and the next he appeared to me fully formed: a soldier with a history of enslavement himself and a man for the moment.

His story corresponds with a real-life escaped slave of Thomas Jefferson, he who wrote the Declaration of Independence - a document replete with irony for those opposed to slavery. Jefferson is much like Josiah - footloose, homeless and aware that he has lost more times than he has won.

And then, of course, there is a romantic thread that asks whether Josiah will find the courage to love, even as war closes in.

Nelson Returns to the Story

It wouldn’t be a Napoleonic novel without the appearance of a threatening French fleet, secret intelligence on which the battle of Trafalgar hinges and of course, Nelson himself. Now what is he doing in the Caribbean and will the pair reunite after their tormented past?

My novel culminates in the Battle of Trafalgar with the British fleet securing its greatest victory since the defeat of the Spanish Armada. For Britain, Trafalgar sealed naval supremacy and had far-reaching consequences - even for the new colony of New South Wales.

For Josiah, Trafalgar is both an ending and a beginning. What it means for his future is the starting point for the final volume of my Nelson and his Son trilogy, The Nelson Inheritance, which I am close to completing.

Research in Nevis

Behind Josiah’s fictional journey lies the historical backdrop that makes historical fiction compelling.

Hotel Montpelier Nevis

During a visit to Nevis, I met a taxi driver who knew all of Nevis’ secrets. We visited the church where Nelson married Fanny and had lunch in the snooty boutique hotel which occupies the site of Montpelier, the house where Fanny lived as first lady of the island.

He showed me was the Nisbet Plantation where Josiah was born. At the nearby church there was a list of children in the Sunday School. Many of them had the surname Nisbet. When he saw me looking at the list of names my taxi driver said: “They are the other family” by which he meant they were the descendants of those formerly enslaved there. It gave me a strange feeling, both positive and negative and a sense of connection with the past. The island is a beautiful place, and the people are friendly and proud of what they have achieved. Today it has the fifth highest standard of living of any Caribbean nations.

Insight Adds Extra Layer

One question I had was how the struggle against slavery in the Caribbean evolved towards emancipation. I discovered, that a key element was the role of the Methodist movement. The Methodist church early on took a stand on behalf of the enslaved, welcomed them to join their churches and helped educate them. By this time the population of the islands was not made up of just enslaved people and white planters. On Nevis there were 20,000 slaves and 1600 whites but there were 2000 free coloured. They obtained their freedom for different reasons often as a reward for years of faithful service. These people were able to survive, and it says a lot about their resourcefulness and their hard work since they were often landless and dependent on planters for employment.

Hope for Healing

Talking about slavery and its legacies remains sensitive. The toppling of Bristol’s philanthropist Edward Colston’s statue into the harbour shows how raw these memories remain. The peoples of the West Indies, who fifty years ago were proud members of the British Commonwealth, now have a new generation who have been born into times where history shapes politics.

One project to heal the history of Bristol and the Caribbean islands has been a joint effort between the universities and the governments to create an archive for anyone to find out about their ancestors. This has meant the archiving of the plantation records among other things. I strongly support this as understanding history in all its complexity allows us to see the people of the time more clearly. Historical fiction, and I hope this novel in particular, can also help us to do that. By giving us characters who live through it, we step closer to truths that history books alone cannot convey so that we don’t just observe it from afar, but we live it.

Image with thanks to The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/may/05/how-the-fall-of-edward-colstons-statue-revolutionised-the-way-british-history-is-told

Critical acclaim for Nelson’s Lost Son

“This is more than an action/adventure, though it certainly is that. It’s also an exploration of how a once rising star, brought low, begins his redemption, and starts to develop into a man of real character. A rollicking and enjoyable read. Highly recommended.”

-        Diane Donovan, senior Reviewer of the Midwest Book Review

To purchase Oliver’s books in hard copy or as e-books, find the links on the home page. Nelson's Folly is also available as an audiobook.

If anyone knows of any groups who would welcome a historical author as a guest speaker, please share in the comments below or email Oliver at ogreeves@gmail.com.