With the Admiralty’s yacht, the Enchantress, as his home and office, he mastered every detail of navy tactics and capabilities. He appeared to be everywhere at once, inquiring, badgering, learning.
He was interested in everything from gunnery to the morale of his sailors. He was fascinated with aeroplanes and immediately understood their utility in warfare. He spent hundreds of hours learning to fly. He crawled into the cramped quarters of gun turrets and learnt how they worked. It became his practice to solicit information and opinions from junior officers and ordinary seamen, often ignoring or arguing with their superiors. The respect he showed them, and the increases in pay he won for them, made him a favourite in the ranks.