ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the North Sea, as a combination of Colonial and War Office correspondence drew in the Admiralty on the importance of at any period, and under any conditions of Maritime hostilities in the North of Europe as well. Numerous French warships, with the nominal object of protecting their Fisheries were reported along the British coast. The Coast Guard service now became a naval asset, rather than a customs one, and had to be paid for. Pakington, the political head of the Admiralty, attempted to defend Walkers service by calling Paget’s attack an attempt to shake public confidence in the state of the Royal Navy. The first point was a clarification that it belonged to the Cabinet alone to determine, on considerations of State policy, the amount of force requisite for maintaining the naval supremacy of Great Britain, and the measures adopted for that purpose.
