This chapter concentrates on how the administration of the Navy impinged on the captains' lives, showing the degree to which this was based on precedent established in the Restoration Navy of Pepys. Captains had to ask for their pay, expenses, allowances, leave, officers or followers. Every recently posted captain had to ask for the pay due to him for the preceding years during which he served as lieutenant, and every year subsequently had to ask for an order to have his accounts accepted by the Navy Board. The granting of this order was not automatic, as every book had to pass the scrutiny of the sharp-eyed clerks who cross-checked journals and logs, basing their considerable bureaucratic control on age-old precedent. Inattention to duty was castigated, and systems had been devised to detect corruption if it were attempted.

Historians dependent upon contemporary writing for evidence will know that matters which were taken for granted were often not reported, and only exceptional conditions were considered worth comment. For example, the fact that every commission and warrant had to be paid for is not mentioned in the captains' letters; rare commentary on this topic is found only in the letters of Commanders-in-Chief who had to account for the money received. Despite this caveat the captains' letters have revealed the day-to-day procedures by which the Navy was administered.