Aubrey frequently mentions his respect of Lord Nelson, repeating a line he heard him say at a dinner in his early life in the navy, "Never mind manoeuvres, always go at them," in Chapter 3 of "Master and Commander" and in many of the subsequent novels, then quoted by Tom Pullings as "Never mind manoeuvres, always go straight at them." In one of his letters to his wife written from Boston, when Aubrey has a wounded right arm and can write to her only with his left hand, he couches this news of his injury to her as part of his desire to imitate Nelson in all things, except matrimonially, in Chapter 4 of "The Fortune of War".