Rodney's patronage reaches Nelson and his own young son

Rodney sponsored capable officers during his career, including Horatio Nelson. He also used patronage to make his own son a post captain at fifteen. A seniority-based promotion system offers one possible motive for advancing the boy so early, but that rationale is presented only as an argument. Rodney himself had reached post rank at about twenty-two to twenty-four after roughly a decade at sea. Promotion at fifteen is therefore judged improper even within a service where early deaths made seniority valuable.