Although the duties performed by merchant shipping on behalf of the government during the wars were extremely diverse, its primary role was the delivery of the army to foreign shores and then the maintenance of its maritime supply lines. In 1814 this work accounted for 83 per cent of the total cost of the service. The victualling of naval fleets, though equally important, was a much smaller part of its role. This is clearly demonstrated in chart 2.1. It shows the total number of transports engaged, together with the number allocated to each activity, at various times during the wars.

Only between 5 and 10 per cent of the transports were committed to victualling the fleet. The rest were predominately used as troop and horse ships, particularly in 1795 mainly in the West Indies and again in 1808–09, this time for the Peninsular and Walcheren campaigns. However, between 1810 and 1812 a higher proportion of transports were used as floating and mobile barracks and warehouses for munitions, supplies and provisions in support of Wellington's army in the Peninsula and the naval and military forces which blockaded the eastern coast of America throughout the war against the United States.

The Transport Board

In 1794 the newly created Transport Board inherited the responsibility for chartering and co-ordinating the activities of merchant shipping on behalf of the government. During the period 1794 to 1815 it spent over £42 million on chartering and fitting out transports for this service. The Board was established as a subsidiary board of the Treasury but operated principally on the instructions of the secretary of state for war. Despite this, it was considered by many to be a branch of the navy and this perception persists today. Indeed the 18th and 31st Reports from the Select Committee on Finance in 1798 reviewed the activities of the Board under the section heading ‘Admiralty, Dockyards and Transports’. The Commission for Naval Revision reviewed the Transport Board's operations in its 9th Report and revisited them in its 13th Report. However, it was but one element in a complex administration system which involved the secretaries of state, the Treasury, the War Office, the Admiralty, the Navy Board, the Ordnance Board and the Victualling Board.