18th century and until 1815, the main complaints about prize money concerned delays in its payment and practices that deprived ordinary seamen of much of what was due to them. Although the incidence of captains selling captured ships abroad and defrauding crews of prize money reduced greatly in the course of the century, payment was often by way of a promissory note, or ticket to be paid when the relevant naval department had funds. Although officers could generally afford to wait for payment, which was often made only in London and sometimes in instalments that might stretch over several years, most seamen sold their promissory notes at a large discount. Other seamen authorised another individual to collect their prize money, who did not always pass it on, or lost out when they transferred to a new ship, if their prize money were not forwarded. A final issue of contention was that the value of prizes assessed in overseas Vice-Admiralty courts could be reassessed in the Admiralty Court in Britain if the Admiralty appealed the initial valuation. Excessive valuations in Vice-Admiralty courts, particularly in the West Indies, arose because the courts charged fees based on the prizes' values. This led to delays and possible reduced payments. To some extent, delays arose from the time taken by Vice-Admiralty courts adjudicating whether captured ships were legitimate prizes and, if they were, their value. In the War of 1812, the Vice-Admiralty courts at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and, to a lesser extent, Bermuda had to deal with many, often small, American ships captured both by privateers and naval vessels, leading to lengthy legal delays in adjudication. Once an adjudication was made, providing there was no appeal, the funds from the sale of a captured ship or its goods should have been available for payment within two years, but the whole process from capture to payment might take three years or more. Under the so-called joint capture rules, which did not apply to privateers, any Royal Navy ship present when a capture took place was entitled to share in the prize money. However, this rule led to disputes where, for example, three claimant ships had been pursuing the captured ship but were out of sight when another captured it, or where a squadron commander claimed a share in a prize captured by his subordinate in disobedience to that commander's orders. In order to minimise disputes, some