Favourite of Fortune: Captain John Quilliam, Trafalgar Hero

Born on the Isle of Man two hundred fifty years ago, Captain John Quilliam has, until now, evaded detailed study of his extraordinary life. While celebrated as a Manx hero, in the wider world beyond the Island one of the most important men on the quarter deck of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar remains largely unrecognized.

Trafalgar, however, was not even the high point of Quilliam’s professional journey. From the lowest rung of the ladder in the dockyard at Portsmouth he climbed to ...