How prize money differed between navies

Did non-British navies use prize money in the same way as the Royal Navy?

They used broadly similar incentives, but French instability and American financial limits made payment less dependable.

The formal idea resembled Britain's: a captured vessel was brought in, surveyed, valued, and divided into financial shares. The practical difference was whether sailors ever received the money. French claims could take years to settle, and a change of regime might erase obligations incurred by its predecessor. The early United States used a comparable incentive but had fewer public resources and generally captured less valuable ships, so its payouts could not match the British system.