Overview

Surging from the blood-soaked decks of HMS Victory at the battle of Trafalgar to the dank dungeons and prison hulks of Britain and the untracked wilderness of colonial New South Wales, Nelson: A Debt of Honour, is a true, inspiring story of survival against insurmountable odds of an ordinary lowly-born boy thrust into extraordinary circumstances and his rite of passage to manhood fighting prejudice and discrimination in both the old and new worlds. William Cooke is a fatherless waif raised at the Norfolk rectory of The Rev. Edmund Nelson, father of England's most famous hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson. In an extant letter written just before his death in 1801, Rev Nelson wrote to his famous son asking him to find a place for young Will. The lad is sent to Merton, the home Nelson shares with his notorious lover Emma Hamilton. Distracted by his complicated personal life, not to mention the war against the French, Admiral Nelson side-steps his father's plea, finding a berth for the boy aboard a newly built merchant ship, then promptly forgetting about him. Four years later 15 year-old Will serendipitously returns to Merton just as Nelson is leaving to meet his fate at Trafalgar. The Admiral accepts he has A Debt of Honour to fulfil his beloved father's death-bed plea and has him mustered to HMS Defiance before taking him aboard HMS Victory for what will be Nelson's last battle. Nelson dies at Trafalgar, but Will survives, only to be swept up in the transportations to Australia after being wrongly convicted of stealing a pound of lead. Cooke's journey from dank country dungeons to Gloucester Prison and finally the disease-ridden prison hulk Retribution, is precisely and carefully reconstructed from existing records and recounted in graphic detail rarely - if ever - shown in previous accounts of convict life. After serving out his time Cooke explores the new colony looking for the opportunity to start a new life, but soon discovers there is little chance of success for an ex-convict in a colony tightly controlled by the same self-serving 'land and lineage' aristocracy who run Britain. The device utilised to unveil Cooke's remarkable life is another remarkable extant document - an 1881 interview with Will conducted by Australian-born journalist John Haynes - co-founder with Jules Archibald of the then newly established news magazine The Bulletin. The interview ran as a full page in The Bulletin of August 20, 1881, just months before Cooke's death. A reconstruction of the interview - featuring intuitive and at times sceptical questioning by Haynes' - is the device utilised to slowly unveil Cooke's remarkable life and how it was once inter-woven with the famous name of Britain's most revered hero - Admiral Horatio Nelson. For all its detail, the book is no tome. Written in the modern narrative non-fiction genre, the story moves like a fast-paced, thought-provoking novel.

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9780994296245

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Reviews

SIMON STOREY 5.0 out of 5 stars An adventure story from page one to the end. Reviewed in Australia on 2 June 2024 Verified Purchase Well written. Full of action from the start. Takes the reader from the Napoleonic wars, Nelson's victory to the slums of Sydney Town, and out the other side. Definitely a feel-good book with bucket loads of facts and adventure. One or two very minor typos but overall, a beaut read. Cher 5.0 out of 5 stars a book for all Australians Reviewed in Australia on 29 April 2024 Verified Purchase A beautifully written and researched story! Ken Vernon has done justice to a convict's life story and faithfully brought the history of early convict life to the reader with stark reality! A must read you will not be able to put down. All Australians particularly young Australian can gain so much from absorbing this early colonial reality and history! 10/10. Dean Gould 5.0 out of 5 stars Humanity and history crafted together Reviewed in Australia on 5 September 2024 Great book that centres on the human tale of William Cooke who somehow finds himself caught up in some of history's biggest moments. Beautifully researched and crafted to tell the tale of hardship and hope woven through sea battles, convict settlements, corruption, ambition and humility. I loved it. Freya1958 5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging Historical Fiction! Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2024 As a lover of historical fiction I recently purchased 'Nelson: A Debt of Honour'. It tells the story of convict William Cooke's life weaving together thoroughly researched factual information into an engaging narrative as only a skilled storyteller can do. I finished reading the book & wished there had been a few more chapters to enjoy. A great yarn!! Kevin J. Somers 5.0 out of 5 stars A very well researched book Reviewed in the United States on 14 July 2024 Verified Purchase If you are a student of Admiral Horatio Nelson and life in the 18th and early 19th century history, you will enjoy this book. Easy read and well researched it depicts Nelson in a different life, and tells the story of a young man that experienced the horrors of naval warfare then was unjustly convicted of theft and transported to the penal colony of New South Wales. Once you start reading, you won't put it down.

Author Information

Ken Vernon is one of those mavericks life throws up occasionally. Born in Australia, leaving school at fifteen he travelled the world looking for the perfect wave. After driving a Russian motor bike from Britain down the length of Africa he ended up at Rhodes University, graduating with an honours degree in Journalism and Politics, later reporting on African wars and politics from Angola to Zambia. Chosen to accompany South Africa's first attempt to conquer Mt. Everest in 1996 - the deadliest year in Everest climbing history in which the leadership of the SA team became reviled and ridiculed by mountaineers world-wide - Ken's expose of that debacle, 'Everest '96', became an Amazon #1 best-seller world-wide.

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