for exertion, even when involving severe exposure, is apt to be
followed, though without apparent recognition of a connection between
the two, by the remark that he has not for a long time been so well.
He probably experienced, as have others, that it is not the greater
hardships of the profession, much less the dangers, but its
uncertainties and petty vexations, which tell most severely on a
high-strung organization like his own.

The immediate occasion of his going to sea was as follows. In 1770 the
Falkland Islands, a desolate and then unimportant group, lying in the
South Atlantic, to the eastward of Patagonia, were claimed as a
possession by both Spain and Great Britain. The latter had upon them
a settlement called Port Egmont, before which, in the year named, an
overwhelming Spanish squadron suddenly appeared, and compelled the
British occupants to lower their flag. The insult aroused public
indignation in England to the highest pitch; and while peremptory
demands for reparation were despatched to Spain, a number of ships of
war were ordered at once into commission. Among these was the
"Raisonnable," of sixty-four guns, to the command of which was
appointed Nelson's uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling. The latter had
some time before promised to provide for one of his sister's children,
the family being very poor; and, the custom of the day permitting
naval captains, as a kind of patronage, to take into the King's
service on board their own ships a certain number of lads, as
midshipmen or otherwise, the opportunity of giving a nephew a start in
life was now in his hands. The story is that Horatio, though then but
twelve years old, realized the burden of pecuniary care that his
father was carrying, and himself volunteered the wish that his uncle
would take him to sea. However it happened, the suggestion staggered
Suckling, who well knew the lad's puny frame and fragile constitution.