Chapter 4 – First Day On The Job

"Do not question someone who knows what they are doing."

'1st January 1771,

Finally I have reported to the third-rate HMS Raisonnable. I serve as an ordinary seaman and soon-to-be coxswain under captain Maurice Suckling, my uncle. Knowing him, I'll probably be working skin to bone from dusk to dawn. I am sure as hell going to miss Benny, he was a brother to me, but now I have more pressing matters to concern myself with, for starting today my loyalties lie with the Royal British Navy, and nothing shall ever come between my country and I…'

The taste of bile burned within Horatio Nelson's mouth as he vomited his breakfast over the side rail of the Raisonnable and into the deep blue ocean below.

'How any relative of mine could suffer from seasickness is completely beyond me.' Maurice Suckling stood straight and proud over his gasping nephew as he lectured the boy on the seaworthiness of his father. 'You're father was one of the best sailors I had ever met. This was of course before he became a clergyman. The crazy old bastard.' Suckling began to pace back and forth along the deck as he continued his talk. 'That man had sea-legs as steady as a marksman's musket and a stomach made of iron.'

'Give the lad a break,' Said Frankie from across the deck. He was leaning casually against the far rail, chuckling as he watched his captain lecture yet another newcomer. 'The boy will find his place here, if you give it time.'

Maurice had to hold his large feathered captains hat as the strengthening wind tried to tear it from his balding head. The captain took a few steps towards Frankie, 'Then I expect you to show our new recruit to his stations.'

'Yes sir.' Frankie hopped up onto his feet, gathered Nelson and led the boy to the quarterdeck. All the while Frankie instructed him on his duties as a seaman.

Frankie was Maurice's second in command. He was much younger than the captain, only around twenty-eight years of age. The mans long dark hair was tied back out of his chiselled face, his navy uniform lacked a sense of pride for his white shirt and brown breeches were wrinkled and his navy blue jacket was undone and flapped freely in the wind. As for Maurice, the captain was a dedicated commander who worked his men hard and achieved the best results. Captain Maurice had a strong reputation among the other sailors, mostly because he was a hard man to get along with. There was a rumour among the sailors that he once marooned a group of his own men on an island because he learned that they were defectors and had planned to overtake the ship. Each man was given a weeks worth of food and a pistol with one shot. When Maurice returned to the island several weeks later he found that, of the five men he put on the island, one yet remained. Two of the bodies were never found, and the other two had appeared to have been cooked and stripped of their flesh. The survivor was recaptured and taken back to England to be hanged for cannibalism. Whether Maurice had intended for the punishment to be so gruesome has never been revealed, but it is known that no one has ever dared to cross Captain Maurice since that day onwards.

Captain Maurice was at least twice Frankie's age, his face was worn and his thin white moustache was the only hair that remained on his head. His captain's uniform was well kept, and his stance was always firm and powerful, reinforced by the way that he carried his black cane with the silver head at all times.

'Now as you can see, this is a standard HMS ship.' Frankie gave Nelson the basic tour, 'There's the mast, rigging, sails, stern, bow and all the rest.' The ship was busy, and men ran back and forth across the deck. Frankie Continued, 'You will firstly be shown how to work the rigging, as coxswain you will also assist in navigating the ship and you will later be instructed in loading and firing muskets and cannons.'

Frankie's tutorial was sternly interrupted by captain Suckling's orders, 'To your stations men, I think it is about time the Raisonnable made her way out to open waters. Don't you agree, Frankie?'

Frankie had already taken hold of the rigging and was ready to let the sails loose. 'Aye sir.' He responded, 'And she is going to welcome it with smooth sailing, despite this terrible headwind.'

The sun began to fall from the sky a few hours after noon and still Nelson struggled to keep up with the ship. It was a big ship and there was much work to be done. Every now and then he would be called to adjust one of the sails or to organise the powder supplies in the hold, or even just to scrub the deck. The work was not made easier in that Nelson still suffered from seasickness and nausea, and he began to question whether he would ever get over it, or if sea life was really the best choice for him, either way there was no going back now.

At last the seemingly eternal working day came to an end and Nelson was permitted to go to his hammock under the deck where all the other crew would sleep. The sleeping quarter below deck was dark and it was filled with a musty aroma. Nelson remained in his seaman's uniform as he crawled into his hammock, he assumed that the endless swaying of the sea and the groans and snorts of the sleeping crew would keep him from sleeping, but the extreme day of working had tired the boy to a point where these things no longer mattered, and he slept peacefully as if he were a baby resting peacefully in it's crib.