Gossip became intelligence and command across a global navy

Royal Navy captains gathered information through letters, dinners, merchants, local agents, and other officers. They built relationships whenever they entered port and circulated what those contacts had learned. The same correspondence carried objectives rather than constant detailed orders, allowing junior commanders to use local knowledge when long transit times made centralized control impossible. A junior officer's statement of intentions told a senior what the officer planned to do, with intervention reserved for serious objections. Intelligence gathering and delegated command shared the same communications network.