'Practice of Search'

[USS ALASKA]

http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/098605307.jpg

I was reading about the USS Colorado in DANFS - http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/frigates/colorado.htm. During her antebellum career, she "...cruised in Cuban waters deterring the practice of search by British cruisers...". (Bold italic underlining mine) I can kinda sorta figure out what that means but does anyone have a non-guesswork definition please?

Thanks for the help,
USS ALASKA

 

[zburkett]

Good question. I started to answer and then realized I could not document my answer.