This month's Collingwood Society meeting was about someone I'd never heard of -
John Quilliam, the first lieutenant on Victory at the time of Trafalgar. He seems to have had a really interesting life, growing up on the Isle of Man, and rising right through the ranks from able seaman to post captain, and playing a part in some of the major events of the time along the way.
I've written up the talk
here at
greatwatersblog, so won't repeat it all again here, but I really enjoyed it - the variety of backgrounds and lives the naval officers had is fascinating, and it's always interesting to learn about someone new.