Retired sailor Joseph Johnson walked around London with a model of Nelson's ship on his head

A Dapper Dan of his day, this extravagant fellow was the retired sailor Joseph Johnson, known as Black Joe. After he was wounded in the 1810s, he was struck off the books of the merchant navy, but without the right to a pension. In short, the invalid was left without any means of subsistence. So he set a model of Admiral Nelson's ship upon his head and walked about London singing sea ballads, and that was how he earned his bread.

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Retired sailor Joseph Johnson walked around London with a model of Nelson's ship on his head

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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