A prize could be converted into a protected vessel that delivered prisoners rather than keeping them in costly confinement. The arrangement resembled an early humanitarian channel between enemies, but it depended on reciprocal trust and clear handling at the destination. American bureaucracy had not established a reliable process, while Admiralty instructions warned against arrangements likely to go wrong. Local officers nevertheless continued making exchanges because returning prisoners solved an immediate practical problem on both sides.
Notable Point · 46:12-47:25
Local officers kept cartel exchanges working
British and American officers continued using captured vessels to return prisoners even without a dependable national procedure for recognizing and administering cartel ships.