"This was when a senior Post Captain was towing his big frigate by personally taking to the oars (despite the fact that he had at least 10 replacement boat crews available aboard the ship that he had no business leaving). What an example to set to your crew - that of an idiot."

Sir Edward Pellew the role played by Lindsay, was quite a character and such an act would not have been as ridiculous, or as strange as you'd think, Naval Officers did tend to lead from the front.

A real-life example of this with Pellew concerned the rescue from a wreck of hundreds of soldiers. In the middle of a gale with the troop transport on the rocks Pellew, an extremely capable swimmer, brought his ship in as close as he dared then jumped into the sea with a rope tied around his waist, swam to the stricken ship and established the rope that enabled the soldiers to be rescued. "What an example to set to your crew - that of an idiot.", but as a result wherever he led his men followed, their trust and faith in him was astounding - Nelson was also a naval commander renowned for "leading from the front", and no-one can doubt that both Nelson and Pellew were effective and successful leaders of men.