Mountain climber, jazz musician, leather maker, history buff, gentleman farmer, black powder enthusiast, horseback rider, sailor, celestial navigator, captain, father, husband, brother, renaissance man and general rogue.
Douglas Fletcher Nelson was born on Sept. 6, 1940 to Iris and Syd Nelson in Bolton, in the north of England. He attended Merchant Taylors School where he was a keen rugby player, collecting a patchwork of permanent bruises on his shins, and took up playing the clarinet. It was in nearby Freshfield, England, that he first met — and dated as teenaged sweethearts — the love of his life, and wife of 29 years, Malva Nelson (Molly). While their paths diverged in early life, they came back around and married 36 years later. In the meantime, Douglas went off to St. Mary’s University in London where he became the treasurer of the climbing club. Often travelling on battered Vespa scooters and motorcycles loaded with climbing gear, he and his buddies climbed some of the highest mountains in the Alps, Welsh and Lake District ranges. It was here his sense of adventure and exploration began, a theme that carried through this life, and now onto the next.
Douglas emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada in March 1971, with his first wife Marilyn, working as a sales manager for a variety of computer companies, finally with Sunguard. Not long after arriving in Canada, he moved to Edgebrook Farm, near Alliston, Ontario. It was a perfect place for his outdoor pursuits. He taught himself everything from how to raise chickens and ducks, to how to rebuild the engine of an old Massey Ferguson tractor. He loved riding the family’s horse Glen, cross country skiing over the back hills, having bonfire parties in the back paddock with fireworks, and target practice with cans on cedar posts. He also loved going on annual hunting trips with friends near Elk Lake in northern Ontario, and playing clarinet and piano with his local jazz band.
For his 40th birthday, Douglas bought Salamander, a Northern 25 sailboat, which began his lifelong love affair with all things nautical — a love which had been sparked by sailing in the Mediterrean Sea with his former in-laws. The family spent many weekends and most summers exploring Georgian Bay and the further reaches of Lake Huron. He and the “Usual Suspects” made annual trips around the Bay, loading the boat with provisions and plenty of rum, and testing their navigation and nautical skills, through weather both sunny and stormy.
Douglas and Molly married on a fishing pier overlooking the Tennessee River in Florence, Alabama, in 1992. They moved to Toronto then on to Oakville, before making their move south to Dataw Island in South Carolina in 1996. By that point, Salamander had been replaced by Airborne, a 38-foot C&C. Airborne led to Good Fortune, a J-Class, 25-foot, which Douglas declared — and was proven correct several times — was a “very user unfriendly vessel” but fast, which was the point.
Douglas first joined the Sail and Power Squadron while a member of the Midland Bay Sailing Club in the 1980’s, and his devotion to the organization carried on for decades and across borders. He was Commodore of the Squadron in Beaufort in 2002 and 2003. He was given a Senior Navigator designation — the highest qualification in the Squadron and has taught hundreds of people how to navigate in the Low Country. He passed his US Coast Guard captain’s examination, and loved teaching Advanced Piloting, and Celestial Navigation. In 2013, he was awarded the US Sail and Power Squadron’s Order of Mariners for services to education and navigation.
He lived for nearly 25 years on Dataw Island, near Beaufort South Carolina, where he has many friends. He loved the intracoastal waterway, and the birds he’d dutifully count for the annual survey. He was a tour guide at the Hunting Island Lighthouse, and his most recent passion was the Santa Elena historical work which began in 2014. He and his friend Howard plotted the historical route of the Spanish galleon which sailed through the waters in 1565, and became an integral part of a massive project that lasted over 5 years. He began a historical navigation lecture series at the Santa Elena Center in Beaufort, teaching many more sailors. The grand finale was a coordinated Sail and Power Squadron fleet to survey the route in present day, and a detailed plotted course through the dangerous shoals for the 100’ replica ship to come back to Beaufort once again.
In November, he and Malva moved to Florence, Alabama, where Douglas passed away after a brief battle with cancer on March 23, 2021.
He lived a full life, filled with family and friends, adventure, curiosity, joy and above all else — stories. A masterful storyteller, “Dougie” yarns were his personal tales of exploration, with generous creative licence and added hyperbole. Willing or unwilling audiences would be amazed by his library of sound effects added for dramatic effect, and his ability to never spill a drop of whisky, despite wild hand gesticulations.
Much like his nautical heroes Joshua Slocum and Ernest Shackleton, Doug now sails on unfamiliar waters, towards a destination uncharted and unexplored, but he won’t be afraid. We all will miss him greatly, yet take solace that his excellent navigational skills, witty humour, and fearless sense of adventure will guide him onto his next tale: on a beam reach, sails full, right hand on the helm, left hand holding a drink, with the sun illuminating a wide grin on his face.
He is survived by his beloved high-school sweetheart and wife Malva, his two children Jamie (Meadow Caya), Marissa (Dave Budge), grandson Destin Beneteau-Nelson, sister Diana Roberts (Michael) their son Alastair, his three step-children, Chelsea McClung (Barry), Chip Hittson, Brian Hittson and their children, Molly McClung, Adelaide Hittson, Harker Hittson.
