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Having joined the British Navy at the age of five and a half, little John Lee was the youngest midshipman to sail the seas during the bloody era that followed the French Revolution. Not only did he see the world - he also saw a great deal of life, death, war, mutiny and finally even blazing victory with Lord Horation Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.
[Child O'War (written for younger readers) is a fictionalised memoir based on the true life story of Sir John Theophilus Lee, who joined the Royal Navy at the age of 5. It is sometimes shown as being co-authored by David Proctor, however it is also described as 'by Leon Garfield in consultation with David Proctor' and I am therefore crediting it to the former. Some references indicate that the original memoir on which the book is based was written by Lee himself in 1836 but that it was itself fictional and that Lee was an invented name.]