GREATEST NAVY HERO NELSON ‘WAS A PAEDO’
Shocking claim by descendant of HMS Victory cabin boy
BRITAIN’S greatest naval hero, Lord Nelson, was a paedophile, according to a descendant of a cabin boy.
The shocking claim is being made by Audrey Burns, who is selling a telescope used by Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
The four-part telescope was presented to cabin boy William Cook, nicknamed “Nelson’s Boy”, by HMS Victory’s captain Thomas Hardy. It has remained in his family for more than 200 years.
Audrey, 88, of Queensland, BY NATHAN PYNN Australia, said: “My great-greatgreat-grandfather was William Thomas ‘Cookie’ Cook. He was the cabin boy and personal servant to Lord Nelson and Captain Hardy at the Battle of Trafalgar.
“I grew up listening to stories of the great battle.
“The sad truth is that poor young boys were used for sex on those ships. It was whispered in our family that Cookie was abused.
“Lord Horatio Nelson may well have been called a paedophile today. We were told Cookie slept in Nelson’s cabin.”
Paintings of Nelson’s death show a cabin boy covered in bandages. In 1881, William told a Sydney newspaper: “One of the rascals that did for Nelson… shot me.”
William, who was born in Gloucestershire in 1795, joined the Navy at the age of eight.
Jim Spencer, of Hansons Auctioneers in Derbyshire, said: “Part of the story surrounding this telescope poses some difficult questions about Nelson’s conduct.” The telescope, left, is expected to fetch £8000, when it is sold on July 2.