Suckling's care next insured for him a continuance of active,
semi-detached duty, in the boats of the "Triumph,"--an employment very
different from, and more responsible than, that in which he had
recently been occupied, and particularly calculated to develop in so
apt a nature the fearlessness of responsibility, both professional
and personal, that was among the most prominent features of Nelson's
character. "The test of a man's courage is responsibility," said that
great admiral and shrewd judge of men, the Earl of St. Vincent, after
a long and varied experience of naval officers; and none ever shone
more brightly under this supreme proof than the lad whose career is
now opening before us. It may be interesting, too, to note that this
condition of more or less detached service, so early begun, in which,
though not in chief command, he held an authority temporarily
independent, and was immediately answerable for all that happened on
the spot, was the singular characteristic of most of his brilliant
course, during which, until 1803, two years before Trafalgar, he was
only for brief periods commander-in-chief, yet almost always acted
apart from his superior. Many a man, gallant, fearless, and capable,
within signal distance of his admiral, has, when out of sight of the
flag, succumbed with feeble knees to the burden of independent
responsible action, though not beyond his professional powers. This
strength, like all Nature's best gifts, is inborn; yet, both for the
happy possessor and for the merely average man, it is susceptible of
high development only by being early exercised, which was the good
fortune of Nelson.

Of these two years of somewhat irregular service, while nominally
attached to the "Triumph," it will be well to give the account in his
own words; for, having been written a full quarter of a century later,
they record the deepest and most lasting impressions made upon him