Officer retinues helped sustain long naval careers

Repeated transfers between ships allowed sailors to build long careers despite the absence of permanent recruitment arrangements for every crew. A man could spend forty years before the mast by joining successive commissions. Some sailors followed a particular officer as part of his retinue. A first lieutenant leaving a ship of the line to command a newly commissioning vessel could ask his captain to let some of the existing crew go with him. The old ship would recruit replacements while the new commander began with men he already knew. Experienced groups could therefore remain in naval service even as individual ships decommissioned and the fleet changed size.