to serve. She is indeed a potent reminder that Britain is a maritime country and as such we should never lose sight of the worth of our Navy in securing the nation’s freedoms and democracy. She reminds us that the sea should be at the heart of our defence. The standards can be damaged when, as Nelson once wrote to Lady Hamilton, ‘Government don’t care much for us’. Like Nelson, whom he championed in such an inimitable way, Colin White’s death in December 2008 tore a hole in the naval historical fabric. Like his hero, he died prematurely depriving the world of an undoubted talent. Admired and respected internationally – by royalty, the Royal Navy, historians and enthusiasts of Nelson and naval history alike – Colin was the right man in the right place at the right time. His apogee was the Trafalgar bicentenary, which he steered with considerable success. In the wake of his extensive research, which identified new sources (which he was happy to share with others, a rarity) and ‘revealed new insights’ (a favourite phrase), he launched a fleet of Nelson books culminating in the landmarkNelson: The New Letters, fired a broadside of spell-binding lectures and justly earned the description of being the admiral's ‘representative on earth’. x ‘Ladies and gentlemen, imagine that you are sitting with Nelson in the Great Cabin of Victory on the eve of Trafalgar …’ Drawing by John Gwyther, 2009.
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