Very interesting, Tom, thanks for sharing.

The one area of controversy that rumbles on, I think, is whether Nelson deliberately tricked the rebels into coming out. Basically whether he encouraged them to come out so that he could then capture them, as opposed to letting them come out only for him to receive orders from Palermo to capture them.

My position is that he, and Hamilton, did lure them out to please the king. Lock, who was biased but well-informed, says that one of Nelson's captains accused the admiral of having decoyed the rebels out. And, on balance, I think that argument stands.