Folio 413-414: William Bowles, Salisbury. He is complaining that he has not had a...

Folio 413-414: William Bowles, Salisbury. He is complaining that he has not had a reply to his letter about an imprest on his pay of £10.2s 6p on account of expenses incurred by Lieutenant Seward. He points out that he had told the Lieutenant he was very doubtful such expenses would be paid by the Admiralty and cautioned him about incurring them. He points out that when he was in command of HMS Aquilon at the Buenos Aires station and in the River Plate, there was no accredited agent present and so he inevitably had to use private means to transfer messages back to the UK and thereby incurred considerable expenses himself. Nevertheless, he has never requested reimbursement. On that basis why would he have promised the lieutenant he would be reimbursed? He is anxious that this been made clear to the Admiralty and if doubts remain he advises that they ask other officers who served on HMS Aquilon with him at the time. He encloses a list of their names. See Folio 420

Folio 415-416: enclosure to folios 413-414. An unsigned minute dated 7 October 1814. This sets out the rules for reimbursing officers. This states if the imprest is charged at the navy office against the name of an officer, then he has to pay unless an irregularity has occurred. That said the Admiralty has on occasion transferred an imprest from one officer to another, in this case from Captain Bowles to Lieutenant Seward, if they believe it is reasonable to do so.

Folio 417-418: enclosure to folios 413-414. A minute signed by W Pearce dated 1 December 1814. This refers to a century old rule dated 27 August 1715, which deals with imprests. Given this authority and history of its implementation the writer suggests it must take precedent and that should be used as a means to encourage Captains to be rigorous in the management of monies especially where subordinate officers are concerned and asks that the earlier minute sanctioning the transfer of the imprest not be executed.

Folio 419: enclosure to folios 413-414. A letter dated 15 April 1815 to the Navy Board from George Byng, George Doddington, John Jennings, Charles Turner, A Stangan and George Bailly. The letter asks that when it appears that any Captain has drawn monies from the Navy Board accounts then no Captain should be reimbursed any monies until such time as the accounts are in good order.

Folio 420: enclosure to folios 413-414. An undated list of officers serving on board HMS Aquilon in August 1813. They are: Lieutenants Samuel Sparshott, WB Bowyer and G Montgomerie. The Master, A Franklyn. Lieutenant RM NL Chads. Surgeon J Lepper and Parson O Roberts. The note also adds that Lieutenant Sparshott is now on HMS Euphrates, and that lieutenants Bowyer and Franklyn are in London. The note is signed by Captain William Bowles.