At the time of the War of 1812 the Admiralty had two key documents to assist in their control over the navy's men and ships, the Regulations and Instructions relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea and the Articles of War. The Regulations and Instructions were the detailed outline of the expectations for each officer aboard ship and for those commanding a station. In a sense it was a lengthy series of ‘thou shalts’. The Articles of War listed the behaviour subject to punishment, the range of punishment from which a court martial could choose, and the right for the captain to punish summarily seamen and marines. The articles outlined the fate of the mariners and marines deemed to be ‘sinners’. In addition to these two documents the Admiralty added specific written orders and instructions to direct not only the station admirals, but also the officers serving under them, on decisions in areas ranging from naval tactics to daily life aboard ship. Apart from the Admiralty orders and instructions, station admirals and their supporting flag officers issued their own sets of written commands to control the officers, seamen and marines under their direct authority. Some captains of individual ships also issued their own sets of written orders to shape the behaviour of their inferior officers and crews. The Admiralty's push to centralization reached down through the navy, as officers at each level became more accountable to those above, and in turn attempted to tighten control over those below. In a perfect world these written directives would create order, as every officer abided by them. This is not what happened. Officers failed to follow the written regulations, instructions and orders, and the Admiralty responded with constant surveillance of the officers’ activities, marked by reminders and injunctions to conform to their superiors’ directives.

Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty's Service at Sea

The central tenet of the Regulations and Instructions was the expectation that all officers preserve and ready their ships and crews for action, so that they would be able to achieve the goals the Admiralty set for them. The first collection of Regulations and Instructions, published in 1731, was an attempt to gain control over the ships’ officers and undo confusion resulting from a series of previous standing orders. The 1731 Regulations and Instructions laid out in an organized manner the duties of the “various posts.”