Colin White

Matthew Sheldon

This is a beautiful and informative guidebook and history of Nelson. A captain before he was 21; a household name throughout most of Europe at 39; killed in action just after his 47th birthday; Nelson lived a colourful, crowded and short life. He master-minded some of British history's most resounding victories - at the Nile in 1798, Copenhagen in 1801 and Trafalgar in 1805 - losing an arm and the sight in one eye in the process. He also had a tempestuous and very public love affair with Emma Hamilton, one of the most beautiful women of her day. Affectionate, engaging, a devoted frient and father, he was also ruthless and occasionally even cruel. Uninspiring and less than heroic in his personal appearance, he was still one of Britain's most charismatic leaders, able to inspire devotion, even love, in those who served with him. It is this combination of opposites that makes Nelson so fascinating: there is always something new to be said about him, some new insight into his complex character. Thanks to discoveries by many researchers at the time of the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005 we now know more than ever about the real man - his precise role in his most significant battles and the conduct of his closest relationships. this small book, drawing on the Nelson exhibitions and collections at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth, offers a brief introduction to the story of the man who is still widely regarded as one of Brtiain's greatest heroes.

Nelson

This is a beautiful and informative guidebook and history of HMS M.33. The 'monitor' HMS M.33 is a small ship with a big history. Built with incredible speed in 1915, she is one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships in the First World War, and the only remaining fighter veteran of that year's bloody Gallipoli Campaign. M.33 offers the unique opportunity to see how men lived and fought in small ships 100 years ago, and to understand a little of the dangers they faced, floating in a basic steel box in shallow waters underneath Turkish guns. HMS M.33 is also a ship with a long history of service and of restoration. Until her final sale by the Navy in 1987 she had served not only as a monitor but had been adapted to be a minelayer, a workshop and a hulk. She was known as M.33, HMS Minerva, C.23 and RMAS Minerva - and was even painted with the unofficial name HMS 'Mugwump' for three months. Now finally, after sterling work by Hampshire County Council to rescue and conserve the ship since 1990, the National Museum of the Royal Navy is delighted to complete the job, to open the ship to visitors and use her to commemorate the Gallipoli Campaign.

Matthew Sheldon

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