And then, again, among these instructions cropped up the reminder that in times past commanders of cruisers had not been wont to keep the sea in bad weather—­a period when the conditions were most favourable for smugglers—­but now the Admiralty remarked that if the commander should be deficient in “this most essential part of your duty” he would be superseded.  On the west coasts of England and Scotland especially some of the commanders had been accustomed in former years to pass the night in some harbour, bar, or creek instead of cruising on their station and counteracting the designs of the smugglers, “who will always prefer the night time for carrying on his operations.”  Consequently the Admiralty now strictly charged the commanders to cruise during the night, and no matter of private concern must serve as a pretext for any intermission.

They were also to maintain a regular communication with the commander of any other vessel with which they had been instructed to cruise in concert.  And cruisers were to be furnished with the laws relative to smuggling and not to exceed the powers vested in the commanders by law.  As to any un-Customed or prohibited goods these were to be secured in the King’s Warehouse at the next port, and care was to be taken that these goods remained undamaged or pilfered by the crew.  And after the goods had been thus put ashore both the commander and mate were carefully to search the smuggling vessel, the boxes, and bedding of her crew to see if anything had been kept back.

Whenever a vessel was seized at sea precautions must be taken to ascertain the distance from the shore “by causing two points of land to be set, and the bearings thereof to be noted by two or more of your officers and mariners who are acquainted with those points of land, so that each of them may be in condition to swear to the bearings from the note taken by him at the time, to be produced by him upon the trial of the vessels.”

Any papers found on board the smuggling craft were immediately to be initialled by the persons present, and no cruiser or any of her boats should be employed in carrying passengers or pleasure parties.  The commander and mate were to keep separate journals of all the proceedings of the cruiser relating to wind and weather, bearings, and distances from the land, soundings, &c., every twenty-four hours so that the admiral could tell whether the cruisers had used every exertion to suppress smuggling, or had been negligent and slack in their duties.  For this purpose the twenty-four hours were divided into three parts thus:—­Midnight to 8 A.M., 8 A.M. to 4 P.M., and 4 P.M. to midnight.  In each of these three divisions the commander was to fix his position by cross-bearings and soundings if in less than 30 fathoms.  This was to be done a little before sunrise, at noon, and a little before sunset, provided that if the land were not seen or the cruiser be chasing a vessel, this fact was to be noted in the journal, and the bearings and soundings were to be taken whenever the land should be seen.  An exact copy of this journal was to be sent after the end of each month to the admiral under whose command the cruiser happened to be placed.