Fairfax carries forward a political admiral’s work

Fairfax arrived with a different presence from Tryon but a broad professional background of his own. He had commanded the officer-training establishment Britannia and HMS Monarch during the bombardment of Alexandria before becoming a rear admiral. His later appointment as Second Naval Lord also clarifies the distinction between naval Sea Lords and the civilian Lords of the Admiralty. On the Australia Station he spent substantial time bedding in the arrangements that Tryon had advanced rather than beginning again. Nelson gave that continuity a visible setting for the station's naval and political relationships.