After his Newfoundland service, Rodney spent about ten months officially ill while improving the Old Alresford estate he had bought with prize money. In 1753 he married Jane Compton, whose father had served as consul in Lisbon; they had three children before her death in 1757. His Portsmouth guardship command shows how peacetime naval employment could fit around family life: with a trusted first lieutenant and a good relationship with the admiral, a captain might attend the ship only one or two days a week. Prize wealth and patronage made family life ashore part of a serving Royal Navy officer's career.
Notable Point · 41:13-43:41
Prize money, marriage, and peacetime guardship life
Rodney's estate, first marriage, and Portsmouth guardship command show how prize wealth and trusted subordinates shaped an eighteenth-century officer's life ashore.