'Midshipman Nelson Lost in Chatham Dockyard': c. 1905 postcard, printed in England.
This postcard portrays a very young Horatio Nelson looking for the ship of his uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling of HMS Raisonnable.
The Raisonnable was lying in the Medway. He was put into the Chatham stage, and on its arrival was set down with the rest of the passengers, and left to find his way on board as he could. After wandering about in the cold, without being able to reach the ship, an officer observing the forlorn appearance of the boy, questioned him; and happening to be acquainted with his uncle, took him home, and gave him some refreshments.
When he got on board, Captain Suckling was not in the ship, nor had any person been apprized of the boy's coming. He paced the deck the whole remainder of the day, without being noticed by any one; and it was not till the second day that somebody, as he expressed it, "took compassion on him."
— Robert Southey, The Life of Nelson (first published 1813)