CHAPTER XLII.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FLAG OFFICERS, AND COMMODORES OF THE FIRST CLASS, NOT COMMANDING IN CHIEF.

Every Flag Officer serving in a Fleet, but not commanding in chief, is to superintend, with great attention, all the Ships of the Division or Squadron put under his directions; he is to see that their Crews are properly disciplined; that all orders and regulations are punctually attended to and obeyed; and the stores, provisions, and water kept as complete, and the Ships in every respect, as fit for service, as circumstances will admit. (When a Commander-in-chief distributes his Fleet into two parts, each part constitutes a Division, and a further distribution of these, or one of them, into two or more parts, make so many Sub-divisions; but if the Fleet be arranged in three parts, each part is called a Squadron.)

2.

Every Flag Officer being responsible to the Commander-in-chief for the good order and discipline of the Division or Squadron he commands, all reports of the state of the Ships and of their defects, applications for repairs or refitting, demands for stores or provisions, and representations of the state of their Crews, or of the misconduct of their Officers or Men, are to be made to him.

3.

Every Flag Officer, when at sea, is to be particularly attentive in observing that the Ship which carries his Flag, and all the Division or Squadron under his orders, preserve very correctly their station in whatever line or order of sailing the Fleet may be formed; and when any evolution is performing, he is to be attentive to the manner in which the Ships under his direction perform it, always correcting, immediately, by signal, or otherwise, as he shall think fit, every apparent want of activity and exertion, and every mistake or appearance of neglect.

4.

The Commander of one Division or Squadron may correct, by signal or otherwise, the mistake or negligence of a Ship in another Division or Squadron, whenever it is probable that, from their relative situations, that Ship cannot be distinctly seen by the Flag Officer commanding the Division or Squadron to which she belongs; or whenever, being in the presence of an enemy, the Flag Officer commanding that Division or Squadron, whatever may be his situation, does not himself immediately correct such mistake or negligence.

5.

Every Flag Officer, when in battle, is to observe the conduct of every Ship near him, whether of the Division or Squadron he commands or not; and he is, at the end of the battle, to report his observations to the Commander-in-chief, that the conduct of every Officer may be represented as he shall really deserve. And if any Flag Officer shall observe any Ship evidently avoiding the battle, or not doing her duty properly in it, he is immediately to make such signal to her, or to take such steps, as the case may appear to him to require, for procuring her more efficient co-operation; and at the end of the battle, he is to report, without loss of time, to the Commander-in-chief any transaction of this nature in which he shall have so interfered.

6.

When a Commodore of the First Class shall, in consequence of the presence of a senior Captain, strike his Broad Pendant, temporarily, and become First Captain of the Ship in which he is serving, he is not on that account to be required to keep any accounts as Captain, or to sign any books or papers, or to do any other duty than would been required of him as First-Class Commodore; but the Captain under him in the same Ship is to execute all the detailed duties of Captain of the Ship, in the same manner as the Captain of a Flag Ship.

7.

Every Flag Officer and Commodore of the First Class, not commanding-in-chief, is to keep a Journal, in the Form in the Appendix, a copy of which is to be sent, at the end of every three months, to the Secretary of the Admiralty, through his Commander-in-chief, or the senior Flag Officer of the Fleet.