[DiogenesLamp]

That would have been up to the ranking captain on scene.

If there is no means to use "force", then it really isn't up to the Captain, is it?

If not, the ships were authorized to use force to land not only provisions by munitions and two companies of artillerymen.

And what "force" would they use?

[Bull Snipe]

There was a means to use force if the situation required.

“And what “force” would they use?”

Most probably the guns that each of the warships carried.

[BroJoeK]

Bull snipe: "If not, the ships were authorized to use force to land not only provisions by munitions and two companies of artillerymen."

DiogenesLamp: "And what "force" would they use?"

The Lincoln-Fox plan was to land supplies at Fort Sumter, in small boats at night ideally under cover of fog.
As such, it might have required no use of force.
The plan originated (so he claimed) from Ft. Sumter's Captain Doubleday and could have succeeded, if Maj. Anderson had held the fort long enough.

Let's also remember that on April 3 -- before Lincoln ordered the mission -- Jefferson Davis wrote Bragg to say he intended to start war at Forts Sumter and Pickens regardless of what Lincoln did or didn't do.

All of which DiogenesLamp well knows but refuses to acknowledge because it explodes his anti-Lincoln narrative.