Arthur Phillip was born into a financially precarious seafaring family and lost his father while still an infant. He first went to sea at nine, then entered Greenwich Hospital School at thirteen after impressing a captain who helped secure his place. The school taught literacy, arithmetic, navigation, and cartography to the sons of impoverished seafarers. Phillip stayed longer than the average pupil and became an apprentice aboard the whaler Fortune before serving on merchant voyages. In 1755 he entered the Royal Navy as a captain's servant aboard HMS Buckingham, a position captains could use to train a prospective officer when their formal complement of midshipmen was full.
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How Arthur Phillip entered the naval officer track
Greenwich schooling, whaling, merchant service, and a captain's-servant appointment opened the officer profession to Phillip.