ABSTRACT
Theft, perquisites and inaccessible accounts were a potent mixture. Precedent engendered regulation, both administrative and legal. Loopholes were closed, awareness increased, promoting movement from panic reaction towards systematic control. However the process was a painful one, for allegations fed on rumour and bred distrust. They threatened both personnel and the navy. Allegations of fraud were perhaps the most threatening, for the very operation of the navy depended on public confidence in the bills issued by the naval boards. Fraud was a disease. Distrust, once sowed, was difficult to eradicate. This chapter discusses a case that demonstrates the importance of external opinion to the establishment of public credit. The first investigation was into the proceedings of contractors who supplied victuals to the British fleet in the Leeward Islands during the American war. Implicit in frauds and forgery was confidence that the regulation check systems would fail to detect the deception.
