Former Third Mate
Turns Maritime Author

James L. Nelson, former AB and Third Mate aboard the Rose, has swallowed the anchor and turned to writing maritime fiction, employing many of the experiences from his time aboard Rose, along with the history of the original Rose, in his books. Nelson came to the Rose in 1991, after having served aboard the sailing ships Golden Hinde and Lady Washington. It was a year later that the desire to write overwhelmed him and he began his first novel. "I had been thinking about a book set during the War of 1812. But of course, working aboard Rose was surrounded by the maritime history of the American Revolution. I'll never forget this. I was working on deck one day, serving a piece of rigging, when the idea for my first book came to me, just one sentence, just like a bolt. I stood up and jotted that one sentence down, and that was the seed of the book." That book, which would become By Force of Arms, was started during the winter of 1992, written mostly in the third mate's cabin of the ship, and on the great cabin table. "No one had really written about the naval history of the American Revolution, not for many years, and the whole time working on the book I kept thinking, `someone is going to beat me to this’" Nelson says.
Nelson's books are available online at www.Amazon.com. Click on a title to see more information.			Keep an eye out for Nelson's forthcoming Lords of the Ocean on Amazon.com
By Force of Arms incorporated much of the history of the original Rose when she was on patrol in Narragansett Bay, as well as some of Nelson's experiences aboard the modern replica. Captain Richard Bailey easily recognized his own maneuvers in the opening sequence of the book, when protagonist Isaac Biddlecomb steers his ship frightfully close to the rocks at Castle Hill. At the same time that he was writing Force of Arms, Nelson helped create the Rose Sail Training Manual, still in use aboard the ship. After the 1992 season, Nelson gave up professional sailing to concentrate full time on his writing. By Force of Arms was published in 1996, followed by The Maddest Idea in 1997 and The Continental Risque in 1998. At least two more volumes in the series, dubbed the Revolution at Sea Saga, are planned for the summers of 1999 and 2000. Nelson still makes an effort to get to sea, and generally sails with the Rose for a part of each summer. He now lives in Maine with his wife and two children. For more information on Nelson's books as well as other books set in Tall Ships, see http://www.tallshipsbooks.com