I suppose we must console ourselves with the fact that it is not a unique fate - a morose comfort to my mind, but there you have it. Men like you and I, Archie, we placed ourselves knowingly at the mercy of the wind and the whims of our kings besides. We cannot now look back indignant at where those currents have drawn us.

[Does the admiral even believe this himself? Well, some version of it. If nothing else, he believes that his own path was of his own choosing. He is too proud of that achievement to mourn its conclusion. Indeed, it was when the interests of the navy began to bend him to a path that he was unwilling to walk that he cut himself forcibly from it. Yet, he is not without regrets:]

We can not, however strongly we may wish to.