Admiral Farragut
John Taylor Gatto loved to tell stories about how capable young people are. He collected them.
One of his favorite stories to tell was about Admiral David Farragut, America's first Admiral. I used to tell this story by saying that Farragut was put on board a warship at age 13 as a midshipman, but had to correct myself after checking the facts. It turns out that he was put on board a warship at age 9.
This was not unusual for the time. The British Navy was like the British aristocracy: If you were born into it, you were expected to pick up the family traditions. Sending you off to a warship at a tender age to learn the trade was part of the drill. Farragut was fostered by a Navy family, and in fact served several times under his foster father, David Porter.
It was at age 11 that Farragut actually got his first brief command of a ship as a "prize master." His captain had taken a prize (captured a ship) and needed that ship to be sailed safely to a port. He gave Farragut that command. When the captured captain heard what was going to happen, he reputedly said, "I'm not going anywhere with an 11-year-old as captain." Farragut's reply was, "If he shows his face above decks, have him shot."
The rest, as they say, is history.