‘Close with the enemy and ram everything grey!’ So the Austrian Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff rallied his men 153 years ago on 20th July in one of naval history’s outstanding battles, the Battle of Lissa. Ship’s Surgeon Ephraim M Epstein was there. Researching his life set me on a quest to discover just what made the battle so famous. And to find his descriptive poem on it which gained him a reward from the Emperor Franz Joseph. Result: a new view and a mystery. Click here for the dramatic true story.

A few years later Dr Epstein returned to the USA to live in the wild West… but not for long. He was destined for a new wife, nine children and three more careers across America…