Sailing warships, so it has been said, ‘were powered no less by pounds sterling than by the winds.’ The third essential element was surely food and water: no ship could stay at sea without the availability of casked provisions, supplemented by fresh meat and vegetables. The supply of fresh water posed particular difficulties; cooking and ‘steeping’ salt provisions to make them edible required large quantities. In deadweight tons the water casks a ship took on board at the start of a commission weighed far more than the rest of the provisions put together.

British ships and troops had to be supplied with these provisions at ports and rendezvous from the Caribbean to the eastern Indian Ocean. The distribution of ships and men in the various stations across the world varied enormously over twenty years of war, which required considerable anticipation by the Victualling Board in awarding its contracts. The pattern of the two wars changed radically over time, but there were strategic features which were common to both Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In both, the majority of the ships were grouped in fleets in ‘Home Waters,’ in the Channel, Irish Sea and the North Sea, engaged in defence against invasion, convoying trade or blockading French ports, or those under French control. At intervals the south and north ‘flanks’ of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Baltic, became strategically important and the Admiralty Board made its fleet dispositions accordingly. In both wars fighting for overseas possessions took place in the West and East Indies, although eventually British control of the Western Approaches, combined with successful amphibious operations, ensured that by 1811 the French had no overseas empire.

The Board's task was to feed these men scattered throughout the world, as well as providing for garrisons and units of the army overseas. At the end of 1792, just before the declaration of war by France, only 17,000 men were in sea pay and problems with manning resulted in a slow increase through the 1790s. However, by 1801, just before the Peace of Amiens, the number voted by Parliament reached 140,000, eight times the number at the start of the war.