Every year, roughly two to three hundred cadets enter service in the Royal Navy, of which only about a quarter can pass the Navy Department exam and become officers after a six-year internship period, and among them, only about eight percent become captains, while only two percent are promoted to general officers.
This means that, even if you do have backing, in the Royal Navy, you must achieve results that match your status and rank if you wish to be promoted.
Today at the docks, there are two ready examples: Colonel Robert Fitzroy, captain of the Beagle, a distant nephew of the Duke of Grafton, and Mr. Eld Carter, a descendant of the Carter family, a prominent Irish family, who was recently transferred as Assistant Director of the Navy Supply Affairs Bureau, nephew of Major General John Carter, and cartographer on the Beagle.
