Our Vice Presidents

Rear Admiral Joe Callo USN Rtd

Joe retired as a rear admiral from a distinguished career in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1989. Since then he has established himself as a prominent naval historian, writing about Nelson and ‘America’s first sea warrior’ John Paul Jones, for which he won the Samuel Eliot Morison Award.

His career has taken him into TV scriptwriting and producing and he has won numerous awards, including the Peamariner-body Broadcasting Award and a 1998 Telly Award. He divides his time between Kansas City, Missouri, and New York City, where every November he arranges The Pickle Night Dinner at the prestigious New York City Yacht Club. Joe is well-placed to help The 1805 Club commemorate the naval operations during the bicentenaries of the War of 1812 and to extend its influence in the United States.

Dr Agustín Guimerá Ravina

Agustín, has become one of Spain’s leading naval historian’s and has supported The 1805 Club since 1997 when he organised the brilliant bicentenary commemorations of the Nelson attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1797. He is based at the Instituto de Historia, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CSIC) in Madrid.

A popular speaker at naval historical conferences, Agustín has himself organised two significant academic conferences in Spain, notably on the Battle of Trafalgar in Cadiz in 2003 and in Madrid in 2010, The Napoleonic Empire and the New European Political Culture. He is a key player in the current series of international conferences on Naval Leadership in the Age of Sail (1750–1840). Agustín is keen to foster closer links between The 1805 Club and Spain, a country which played such a significant part in Nelson’s career and the final demise of Napoleon.

Randy B Mafit

Randy Mafit served as the Club’s North American Secretary since its earliest days and was also the Editor-Chief of The Kedge Anchor, which he organised from his home in Oregon. His role and personal enthusiasm have been vital to the running of the Club for its North American membership.

He first visited Portsmouth and HMS Victory while studying in London in 1969. Service in the U.S. Navy after college rekindled his interest in Nelson and English naval history of the Georgian era. He began to collect Nelson memorabilia when he and his wife Dana discovered a nice miniature of Nelson on ivory at a local antique market many years ago. Randy was captivated by the Hornblower books as a boy and he continues to read nautical fiction for recreation. He and Dana make frequent visits to the United Kingdom and attend Club events whenever they can and enjoy meeting others with an interest in Nelson.

Ken Flemming

Ken, a founder member of The 1805 Club, served in the Royal Navy as a marine engineer at the time of conflict in Malaya, Aden and the Gulf States as well as a more relaxed time. Considerable service was spent on the Ton class minesweepers which he delighted in.

On leaving the service, he became a manager with Tesco supermarkets before being appointed as a manager for a large Tesco distribution centre.

Somewhat missing the camaraderie of a uniformed, disciplined service he joined HM Prison Service becoming a Lifer Officer. Looking after the interest and welfare at times of notorious individuals who had received a Life Sentence of indeterminate length. Conflict caught up with him again at the Strangeways prison riot, Manchester. Being one of twelve officers to first re-enter the jail after two hours of it starting. Fighting was sometimes confined and concentrated, facing evil from the rioting inmates before finally helping to bring the insurrection to an end six weeks later. As a specially trained riot officer he took part in other prison disturbances throughout the country. He led a pioneering education program under some difficulties to help inmates return to normal life by finding them employment on release. Participants often declaring, “I have never worked in my life why should I work now”.

Previously seeing a notice placed in Navy News in February 1983 about the formation of The Nelson Society in October 1982. He joined the founding committee becoming lifetime friends with Tom Vincent who had also served and Keith Evans who had worked with naval intelligence, MOD. All serving on the committee under its founding chairman, the late Ron Fiske together with Michael Nash. Four people who unexpectedly had come together agreed on the 14 May 1990 to form, The 1805 Club on the 1st August 1990, on the anniversary of the Battle of the Nile at a celebratory dinner.

It was decided the official date of its start would be 21st October 1990 with all four founding members agreeing to pay the subscription rate in advance of four years to help fund the cost of its launch and primary year.

He became editor in 2010 of the successful Club magazine, The Kedge Anchor established and named by Randy Mafit, its previous North American editor. His family naval background and continuing interest in the Nelson period and particularly the 20th century Royal Navy resulted in a naval library in excess of 1,000 books. He has written and continues to write various papers of naval interest.