In 1848, my great great grandfather, George Jarvis, was the caretaker for the most famous ship in the history of the British Royal Navy, the HMS Victory, which had been Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the naval victory of Trafalgar. He and his wife Ann Prior Jarvis were living on the ship, which was then moored on the Thames River downstream from London, and raising their family on a pension from the Royal Navy, which George had earned through years of service to her majesty, Queen Victoria.
