d push
the fortunes of those in whom he was interested. Much of the promotion
was then in the hands of the admirals on foreign stations; and this
local power to reward distinguished service, though liable to abuse in
many ways, conduced greatly to stimulate the zeal and efforts of
officers who felt themselves immediately under the eye of one who
could make or mar their future. Each naval captain, also, could in his
degree affect more or less the prospects of those dependent upon him.
Thus Suckling, though not going to sea himself, continued with
intelligent solicitude his promised care of the young Nelson. When the
"Raisonnable" was paid off, he was transferred to the command of the
"Triumph," of seventy-four guns, stationed as guard-ship in the river
Medway; and to her also he took with him his nephew, who was borne
upon her books for the two following years, which were, however, far
from being a period of inactive harbor life. Having considerable
professional interest, he saw to the lad's being kept afloat, and
obtained for him from time to time such service as seemed most
desirable to his enterprising spirit.

The distinction between the merchant seaman and the man-of-war's man,
or even the naval officer, in those days of sailing ships and simple
weapons was much less sharply marked than it has since become. Skill
in seamanship, from the use of the marlinespike and the sail-needle
up to the full equipping of a ship and the handling of her under
canvas, was in either service the prime essential. In both alike,
cannon and small arms were carried; and the ship's company, in the
peaceful trader as well as in the ship of war, expected to repel force
with force, when meeting upon equal terms. With a reduced number of
naval vessels in commission, and their quarter-decks consequently
over-crowded with young officers, a youth was more likely to find on
board them a life of untasked idleness than a call to professional
occupation and improvement. Nelson therefore was sent by his careful
guardian to a merchant-ship trading to the West Indies, to learn upon
her, as a foremast hand, the elements of his profession, under
conditions which, from the comparative fewness of the crew and the
activity of the life, would tend to develop his powers most rapidly.
In this vessel he imbibed, along with nautical knowledge, the
prejudice which has usually existed, more or less, in the merchant
marine against the naval service, due probably to