It is certain that he never was idle.

Even before he had passed his examination for lieutenant, he had distinguished himself while serving in the squadron told off to suppress the slave trade in Brazilian waters: and in those days our naval operations against the Portuguese traders in "blackbirds" involved considerable peril to life and limb.
'Eighteen years, however, elapsed before Captain Augustus Hobart was able to shot his guns in view of the broadside of a European foe.

He had previously enjoyed two years' half-holiday at home; that is to say, he had been appointed, as a reward for his services in South America, to a lieutenancy on board the Royal yacht, the Victoria and Albert, then commanded by the late Adolphus Fitz-Clarence.

But in the historically momentous year 1854 there was serious business to be done by Lieutenant--now Commander--Hobart.

A diplomatic squabble between France and Russia about the Holy Places in Palestine developed into an angry quarrel between the Emperor Nicholas, France, and England.