viii his promotion. Since his formal inception into the navy as an Ordinary Seaman in Raisonnable in 1771, he had twice crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, and then joined in an expedition to the Arctic that reached within ten degrees of the North Pole before being turned back by impenetrable ice. He had voyaged to the East Indies too where, before his eighteenth birthday, he had his first serious experience of battle, which he happily survived only then to have his first near death encounter with malaria. Even before his Lieutenant’s examination then, he had met the two imposters Triumph and Disaster and treated them just the same. His confidence in command was assured. Worth equal thought, before we blow out our birthday candles, are some of the seismic shifts going on in the world around Nelson as he grew up to attain his majority. He was a child of an era of evolution and revolution. Just a few examples may suffice: the year before he was born the Battle of Plassey had been fought and won; India ceased to be merely a commercial venture, England had embarked upon political domination, the foundations of Empire were laid. Something similar may be said in consequence of Wolfe’s victory at Quebec in 1759. The same year King George opened the British Museum to the public. Elsewhere, the mare incognitum, ditto, terra incognita – particularly of the southern hemisphere – were beginning to be explored and discovered. In 1779 the seas were also full of powerful enemies. The French had leapt at the chance of harassing the old enemy and to help the American rebels. A great fleet from Toulon was among the West Indian islands. The Dutch had signed a treaty of amity with America too and then came the news that Spain had also declared war on Britain. It was a world war and Britain was alone; her possessions at risk and from the Caribbean to the English Channel her shipping was being menaced by hostile fleets. Nelson celebrated his birthday in the midst of a war that would conclude with the loss of England’s American colonies. Revolution of sorts in industry too: the spinning jenny, the water frame, the iron railroad and bridge and, above all, the steam-driven engine all came into being in Nelson’s formative years. In 1779, Brunel Senior opened the first steam-driven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. The old order, it has often been observed, was an unconscionable long time dying, but its days were certainly numbered. Some of these events may have been more perceptible to a contemporary than others, but nevertheless they all bear witness to the fact that, to paraphrase Robert Southey, twenty (one) years is a long time, especially to a twenty-one year old.
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