recurrence of his malaria. In subsequently besieging the Spanish Fort of San Juan, he was one of the first of his men to fall ill, either from typhoid or yellow fever (‘yellow jack’), or, less likely but asserted, poisoning from drinking water into which the highly toxic fruit of the manchineel tree had fallen. Nelson commanded the land force, which was able to capture Fort San Juan shortly after he became ill. His first full portraiture was painted by Francis Rigaud in 1781, after Nelson had spent a good part of the remainder of 1780 recovering from a probable recurrent bout of malaria or yellow fever while in Costa Rica. The fort forms the background for the slender and rather unremarkable young man in the naval uniform of captain, his hands resting THE TRAFALGAR CHRONICLE 10 Captain Horatio Nelson, Jean Francis Rigaud 1781. (National Maritime Museum)
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