Naval Career
With a reputation thus secured and plenty of family interest in his career, Duff had little difficulty progressing, being promoted to commander in 1790 and then Post Captain in 1793, a meteoric rise resulting from the growth of the Navy in the build up to war during this period. It was at this time that he married his childhood sweetheart, Sophia Dirom (sister of Alexander Dirom) in Edinburgh, and that his son Norwich Duff (later to become an admiral in his own right) was born. In the next ten years, Duff commanded HMS Duke, HMS Vengeance and HMS Glenmore all very capably, but without winning the acclaim of some of his contemporaries, particularly those in the Mediterranean under Nelson.
Duff was a proud Scotsman as well as a strict disciplinarian. He enforced cleanliness parades every week, and made every effort to make sure that as many Scots as possible served on his ships, although he never gave them preferential treatment over their English comrades. He was also a devoted husband and wrote lengthy letters to his wife during every journey. He and his wife felt that the letters were so personal that they destroyed them after reading, and so the only survivor is his final letter home, which Sophia reportedly was unable to destroy.
Following the Peace of Amiens, Duff was given HMS Mars, something of a celebrity ship in the Royal Navy following her duel with the French Hercule in 1799 in which both her captain Alexander Hood and his French counterpart were killed. Rapidly moulding the ship with his own brand of Scottish discipline, Duff took her to join the fleet off Cadiz at the beginning of October and instantly became friends with Nelson, despite their vastly different characters. Such was Duff's reputation, that Nelson entrusted him with the command of the inshore squadron, which watched the harbour entrance for an enemy appearance. The job was dangerous due to the proximity of the shore, and unpleasant because ships stationed at this point were exposed to the enemy and the threat of failure if the enemy were able to escape. Duff handled the job excellently however, and on 21 October reported that the enemy had left Cadiz and were heading out to sea.
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