Hi

Those were my exact thoughts - i followed one William Thompson who was a 4'10 mariner who was on a ship called Hind and had a wife called Sarah. Unfortunately i found his will and he left everything to his wife in 1838, given i know that our Sarah died in 1799 it was not him.

I thought it was a bit of a long shot, as like you i thought it was unlikely that a mariner would be able to take his family on voyages with him. I never thought about the army so might try that line.
thanks