Re: Napoleon and Royal Navy:   Washington really wanted a commission as an officer in the British Army. And of course was turned down. Admittedly at the time he was pushing for this (about 1758) he had "played a leading role" in two massacres: "one a massacre that he oversaw, the other a massacre that he survived; one an embarrassing defeat; the other a hollow victory." (His Excellency George Washington, by Joseph J Ellis, p 38).