What Was The Term For Forcing Men Into Military Service, Often Without Notice?

Impressment, colloquially, "the Press" or the "Press gang", refers to the act of taking men into a navy by forcefulness and with or without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, starting time in 1664 and during the 18th and early on 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to the time of Edward I of England. The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, every bit well as some sailors from other nations. People liable to impressment were "eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 18 and 45 years". Non-seamen were impressed as well, though rarely. Impressment was strongly criticized by those who believed it to be contrary to the British constitution; at the time, dissimilar many of its continental rivals, Britain did not conscript its subjects for whatsoever other military service, aside from a brief experiment with army impressment in 1778 to 1780. Though the public opposed conscription in general, impressment was repeatedly upheld by the courts, as it was deemed vital to the strength of the navy and, by extension, to the survival of the realm. Impressment was essentially a Royal Navy practice, reflecting the size of the British fleet and its substantial manpower demands. While other European navies applied forced recruitment in fourth dimension of state of war this was mostly as an extension of the practice of formal conscription applied to about European armies from the Napoleonic Wars on. The U.S. Continental Navy did yet apply a form of impressment during the American War of Independence. The impressment of seamen from American ships caused serious tensions between Great britain and the United States in the years leading up to the War of 1812. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, Britain ended the practice and never resumed it.

Regal Navy recruiting and desertion

Working and living atmospheric condition for the average crewman in the Royal Navy in the 18th century were harsh past mod standards and generally much worse than conditions on British merchant ships; their pay was around half that paid by merchantmen and was lower than that paid to a farm laborer. Until 19th-century reforms improved conditions, the Purple Navy was known to pay wages upwardly to two years in deficit and ever withheld six months' pay to discourage desertion. In fact, Naval wages had been gear up in 1653 and were not increased until Apr 1797 later sailors on 80 ships of the Channel Armada based at Spithead mutinied.^[i] ^[2] The main problem with recruiting, though, was a simple lack of qualified seamen during wartime, when it became necessary for the Navy to quickly recruit an extra 20,000 (early on 18th century) to 40,000 men (late 18th century). Privateers, the navy, and the merchant navy all competed for a small pool of ordinary and able seamen in wartime, and all three groups were usually short-handed. The recruitment figures presented to Parliament for the years 1755–1757 list 70,566 men of which 33,243 were volunteers (47%), 16,953 pressed men (24%) while another 20,370 were too listed as volunteers separately (29%). Although at that place are no records that explain why volunteers were separated into two groups, it is probable these were pressed men who became "volunteers" to become the sign-upward bonus, two months' wages in advance and a higher wage every bit it is known large numbers did practice this. Volunteering too protected the crewman from creditors as the police forbade collecting debts accrued before enlistment. Other records confirm similar percentages throughout the 18th century.^[1] Average almanac recruitment 1736–1783 ^[3]

Peace	War	Royal Navy	Privateer	Merchant	Total
1736–1738		14,845		35,239	l,084
	1739–1748	43,303	ii,602	30,392	75,997
1753–1755		17,369		twoscore,862	58,231
	1756–1763	74,771	three,286	37,584	115,641
1773–1775		18,540		50,903	69,443
	1775–1783	67,747	iii,749	44,947	116,443

All three groups besides dealt with loftier levels of desertion. In the 18th century, desertion rates on naval ships averaged 25% with little difference between volunteers and pressed men, starting high, then falling heavily later on a few months on lath a ship, and generally becoming negligible after a year — navy pay ran months or years in arrears, and desertion might mean not merely abandoning companions in the send's company, simply also the loss of a big amount of money already earned. If a navy ship had taken a prize, a deserting seaman would also forfeit his share of the prize money. In a report on proposed changes to the RN written by Admiral Nelson in 1803, he noted that since 1793 more than than 42,000 sailors had deserted.

The Impress Service and impressment at sea

The Impress Service (colloquially called the "Press-gang")^[four] formed to force sailors to serve on naval vessels (there was no concept of "joining the navy" as a fixed career-path for non-officers at the time); seamen remained attached to a transport for the duration of its commission. They were encouraged to stay in the Navy after the commission but could leave to seek other employment when the transport was paid off. Impressment relied on the legal power of the King to phone call men to war machine service, equally well as to recruit volunteers (who were paid a compensation upon joining, unlike pressed men). Seamen were not covered by the Magna Carta and "failure to allow oneself to be pressed" was punishable by hanging - although the penalization became less severe over time.^[5]

In Elizabethan times a statute regulated impressment as a form of recruitment, and with the introduction of the Vagrancy Act in 1597 men of disrepute (vagrants) establish themselves drafted into service. In 1703 an human action passed limiting the impressment of men to those nether 18 years of age who were not apprenticed. A farther act in 1740 raised the historic period to 55. Although no foreigner could exist pressed, if they married a British woman, or had worked on a British merchant ship for two years, they lost their protection. Some governments, including United kingdom, issued "Protections" against impressment which protected men had to carry on their person at all times; but in times of crisis the Admiralty would order a "Hot Printing", which meant that no-one remained exempt.^[6] The Purple Navy too impressed seamen from inbound British merchant ships at sea, though this was washed by individual warships, rather than past the Print Service. Impressment, particularly press gangs, became consistently unpopular with the British public (as well as in the American colonies), and local officials oft acted against them, to the point of imprisoning officers from the Impressment Service, or opposing them by force of arms.

Basis of impressment

At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar over half the Purple Navy'due south 120,000 sailors were pressed men. The ability of the Impressment Service to conscript was express by police to seafarers, including merchant seamen, longshoremen and fishermen. There is no basis to the widespread impression that civilians without whatever seafaring background were randomly seized from dwelling house or workplace by press gangs or that the latter were employed inland away from coastal ports.^[vii] Convicted picayune criminals were, withal, often given the option of volunteering for naval service every bit unskilled "quota men" by inland courts (see below).^[viii]

Patrolling in or near bounding main ports, the press gang would try to detect men aged between xv and 55 with seafaring or river-gunkhole experience but this was not essential and those with no experience were chosen "Landsmen". From 1740, Landsmen were legally exempt from impressment only this was on occasion ignored in wartime unless the person seized was an apprentice or a "gentleman".^[9] Two Landsmen were considered by captains to be the equivalent of an Able Seaman. If a Landsman was able to prove his status to the Admiralty he was usually released. Court records do however show fights breaking out equally people attempted to avert what was perceived as wrongful impressment, and the London Times reported occasions when printing gangs instituted a "hot press" (ignoring protections against impressment) in order to homo the navy.^[x] Merchant seaman aground from their ships (and usually conspicuous by their vesture and general appearance) were however another thing. Anyone with seafaring feel encountered in the street would beginning be asked to volunteer for naval service. If the potential recruit refused he was often plied with alcohol or merely seized and taken. A commonly held belief of a play a trick on used in taverns was to surreptitiously drib a King's shilling ("prest money") into his drink, equally past "finding" the shilling in his possession he was deemed to accept volunteered, and that this led to some tavern owners putting glass bottoms in their tankards. All the same, this is a legend; press officers were subject to fines for using trickery and a volunteer had a "cooling-off" menstruum in which to change his heed.

The great majority of men pressed were taken from merchant ships at sea, especially those homeward bound for England. This was legal every bit long every bit the Navy replaced the homo they took, and many Naval captains would have the best seamen, replacing them with malcontents and landsmen from their ain ship. It was as well common for "trusted" volunteers to human action equally substitutes; they would then desert as soon as the merchant ship docked, and render to their Navy transport. Outbound merchant ships, officers and apprentices were exempt from impressment. When war broke out the Navy would deploy frigates and vessels off the coast to intercept inbound merchantman. Reportedly some merchant captains redirected their ships to Irish ports to offload favored crewmen, before making final land-autumn in England. In 1740, a merchantman fired on a cruiser attempting to impress its crew; threats of like violence to avoid sailors being pressed were supposedly non uncommon, especially with the E India ships whose crews had been away from their families and England for a considerable fourth dimension. In times of an extreme shortage of men, the Navy would "embargo" the coast for a brusque time; merchantmen had to supply a portion of their crew in commutation for permission to sail.^[1] Many merchant ships had hiding places constructed where their best crew could hide when approached by a Naval vessel.^{[ citation needed ]}

In addition to impressment, England also used the Quota System (or The Quod) from 1795 to 1815, whereby each county was required to supply a sure number of volunteers, based on its population and the number of its seaports. Different impressment, the Quota Arrangement oftentimes resulted in criminals serving on board ships equally counties who failed to run across their quota offered prisoners the choice of completing their judgement or volunteering. Apart from the probably lower quality of recruits taken by this means, another downside of the Quota Organization was the frequent introduction of disease, especially typhus, to salubrious ships.^[5]

British North America

One of the largest impressment operations occurred in the jump of 1757 in New York Urban center, then even so under British colonial rule. Three thousand British soldiers cordoned off the urban center, and plucked clean the taverns and other sailors' gathering places. "All kinds of tradesmen and Negroes" were hauled in, well-nigh viii hundred in all.^[11] Four hundred of these were "retained in the service."

The Purple Navy likewise used impressment extensively in British North America from 1775 to 1815. Its press gangs sparked resistance, riots, and political turmoil in seaports such every bit Halifax, St John'southward, and Quebec Metropolis. Even so, the Purple Navy extended the reach of its press gangs into coastal areas of British North America past the early 19th century. In response, sailors and residents fought dorsum with a range of tactics. They sometimes reacted violently. The riots in St John'due south in 1794 and Halifax in 1805 led to a prohibition on impressment on shore for much of the Napoleonic Wars. The protest came from a broad swath of the urban customs, including elites, rather than simply the vulnerable sailors, and had a lasting negative touch on on civil–naval relations in what became Canada. The local communities did not encourage their young men to volunteer for the Royal Navy.^[12]

Continental Navy

The Continental Navy impressed men into its service during the American Revolutionary State of war. The Continental Congress authorized structure of thirteen frigates, including USSVirginia in 1775. The senior captain of the Continental Navy, James Nicholson, was appointed to command Virginia, built and launched at Baltimore, Maryland. When Virginia was fully rigged and fitted out in 1777, Nicholson received orders to sheet to Martinique, to deliver dispatches and accept on a cargo of artillery and ammunition for the Continental Army. Many of Nicholson's crew had deserted to sign on as privateers, for higher pay at less risk. With inadequate crew to comply with orders from Congress, Nicholson impressed nearly thirty citizens of Baltimore for service aboard Virginia, an act expressly forbidden by Maryland constabulary. Maryland governor Thomas Johnson demanded firsthand release of the impressed men. Nicholson refused, stating impressment was common practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and some of the northern states. Congress convinced Nicholson to release the impressed citizens of Baltimore, to avoid bug with the Land of Maryland, just the practise of impressment continued where the local state legislature or governor gave consent. Nicholson avoided the demand for local government consent by stopping the American merchant ships Holker and Fair American at sea in 1780, to print men from their crews. The individual states did non deny the concept of impressment for their own navies, merely were reluctant to grant the correct to the Continental Congress. The concept of drafting men into armed service remained contentious, fifty-fifty afterward adoption of the federal constitution.^[13]

Conflict with the United States

In 1795, the Jay Treaty went into effect, addressing many issues left unresolved afterwards the American Revolution, and averting a renewed disharmonize. All the same, the treaty's fail to address British impressment of sailors from American ships and ports became a major cause of complaint amongst those who disapproved of it. While non-British subjects were not impressed, Britain did not recognize naturalised American citizenship, and treated anyone built-in a British subject field as still "British" — equally a result, the Majestic Navy impressed over 9,000 sailors who claimed to be American citizens. During the wars with France (1793 to 1815), the Majestic Navy aggressively reclaimed British deserters on lath ships of other nations, both by halting and searching merchant ships, and, in many cases, by searching American port cities. Although this was illegal, Thomas Jefferson ignored it to remain on good terms with Britain equally he was negotiating to obtain "the Floridas". This inverse in 1805 when the British began seizing American merchantmen trading with the West Indies and condemning the ships and their cargoes as a prize and enforcing impressment on their crews.^{[ citation needed ]} Under the Rule of 1756, in times of war, directly trade between a neutral European state and a British colony was forbidden if such trade had non existed in time of peace. The Americans had found a way around this past "landing" cargoes from Europe in the United States and issuing certificates that duty had been paid. The transport would and so canvas, with the cargo never having been offloaded or duty actually paid, every bit now bona fide commerce betwixt neutral America and the West Indies. The British became aware of the practice during the court case involving the seizure of the Essex. The court ruled that the cargo of the Essex had never been intended for American markets so the voyage had not been broken and could thus be considered continuous. The finish result was the blockade of New York Harbor by two British frigates, the Cambrian and the Leander, which provoked public demonstrations. For the next year scores of American ships were condemned in admiralty courts and American seamen were impressed with increasing frequency until, in the early on summertime of 1807, when three deserters from the British frigate HMSMelampus lying in Chesapeake Bay enlisted on the American frigate USSChesapeake. Later on searching the Chesapeake, the deserters, David Martin, John Strachan, and William Ware, were found to be native-born Americans who had been wrongly impressed. Unfortunately the search had likewise found that a crew member listed, Jenkin Ratford, was a British deserter; however, he could not exist found. Admiral Berkeley angrily issued an social club to all commanders in the North Atlantic Squadron to search the Chesapeake if encountered on the high seas. 8 miles southeast of Greatcoat Henry a boat from the British frigate HMSLeopard intercepted her but Commodore Barron declined to permit his crew to be mustered. The Leopard began approaching and the commander shouted a alert to which Barron replied "I don't hear what yous say". The Leopard then fired two shots across the bow and almost immediately poured a broadside into the American ship and, without the Chesapeake returning burn down, poured another two broadsides into it. 3 crew were killed and eighteen wounded. The British boarding party not but arrested the British deserter just too the three Americans. The Chesapeake–Leopard Affair provoked an outcry for war from all parts of the country and Jefferson subsequently wrote: "The affair of the Chesapeake put state of war into my hand, I had just to open it and permit havoc loose". He ordered the state governors to set up their militias merely the Embargo Act of 1807 he eventually passed only ordered all British armed vessels out of American waters and forbade all contact with them if they remained. As a cause of the War of 1812, the impressment and ship seizures caused serious diplomatic tension, and helped to plow American public opinion against United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. Impressment humiliated and dishonored the U.S. because it was unable to protect its ships and sailors.^[fourteen] ^[xv]

End of impressment

British impressment ended, in practice merely not police force afterward 1814, at the stop of the Napoleonic Wars.^[16] In 1835 legislation was passed exempting seaman who had been pressed and afterward served for more five years from farther impressment. The practise had however fallen into abeyance well before that date, although the opportunity was taken to land that the Crown still had the correct of impressment if necessary. In 1853 a new system of fixed-term engagements gave the Royal Navy a sufficient number of volunteer recruits to meet its manpower needs until World State of war I, when conscription was used for all the military services. In the intervening menstruation, with much reduced manpower needs and improved conditions of service, the navy was able to rely on voluntary enlistment, plus the recollect of reservists when necessary, to meet its requirements.

English language and afterward British naval impressment laws

The first Act of Parliament legalising this practice was passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1563 and was known as "an act touching political considerations for the maintenance of the navy". It was renewed many times until 1631. In the Vagabonds Human action 1597, several lists of persons were field of study to impressment for service in the armada. The Recruiting Human action 1703 was an act passed "for the increment of seamen and better encouragement of navigation, and the protection of the Coal Trade". This human activity gave parish authorities the power to amateur boys to the body of water, and reaffirmed rogues and vagabonds were subject to exist pressed into the navy. In 1740, impressment was limited to men between eighteen and 45, and it also exempted foreigners. The concluding police was passed in 1835, in which the power to impress was reaffirmed. This limited the length of service of a pressed homo to five years, and added the provision that a man could non be pressed twice. Although Great britain abased the practice of impressment in 1815, impressment remained legal until the early 1900s, and the diverse laws authorising impressment have never been repealed.^{[ commendation needed ]}

In 1708, Parliament passed an Act forbidding impressment in American waters, without clearly stating whether the police applied only to the navy, or to ceremonious authorities equally well, and whether it applied just to the current war or to all hereafter wars.^[17] Two attorneys-general of Bang-up United kingdom, i in 1716, and another in 1740, issued opinions that the 1708 Act was no longer in effect,^[18] but many American colonists disagreed. As a result of the uncertainty over the legality of impressment in American waters, Parliament passed a new Human action in 1746, stating that impressment was forbidden in the West Indies, but not in America, leading to a anarchism in Boston the following twelvemonth, and continued with the colonies, specially with heavily maritime New England.^[19]

British army impressment laws

Starting in 1645, the New Model Army raised by Oliver Cromwell to overthrow Charles I during the English Civil War was largely manned by impressment.^[20] After the restoration of the monarchy, impressment into the regular army was discontinued.

During the American Revolutionary State of war, after the losses at the Boxing of Saratoga and the apprehended hostilities with France, the existing voluntary enlistment measures were judged to be insufficient. Between 1775 and 1781, the regular army increased from 48,000 to 110,000. Ii acts were passed, the Recruiting Act 1778 and the Recruiting Act 1779, for the impression of individuals into the British Army.^[21] The chief advantages of these acts was in the number of volunteers brought in nether the apprehension of impressment. To avert impressment, some recruits incapacitated themselves past cut off the pollex and forefinger of the right hand.^[22] The Recruiting Deed of 1779 was repealed on 26 May 1780, and army impressment was permanently discontinued.

During the experiment, the British government immune army impressment under severely restricted circumstances — both acts emphasized volunteering over impressment, and offered strong incentives to volunteers. The impressment portion of the 1778 Human action practical only to Scotland and the surface area around London, excluding Wales and the residuum of England, to avert interfering with harvesting. The 1779 Act applied to all of Neat Britain, but was initially suspended everywhere except the area around London, and actually applied to all of Britain for only half-dozen months, until the 1779 deed was repealed in May 1780, and ground forces impressment ceased in Uk.^[23]

Unlike naval impressment, army impressment applied only to "able-bodied idle, and hell-raising Persons, who could not, upon Examination, show themselves to exercise and industriously follow some lawful Trade or Employment, or to take some Substance sufficient for their Back up and Maintenance", as well as smugglers, according to the 1778 law, merely excluding from that any men who were voters, or harvest workers. The 1779 law extended impressment likewise to "incorrigible rogues" who had abandoned their families, and left them as expenses on the parish.^[24] Impressed apprentices were released under appeal from their masters, and impressed foreigners were released when requested by their countries' embassies.^[24]

Treatment in literature

In her novel Sylvia's Lovers , Elizabeth Gaskell presents a compelling description of the practice of impressment, combining many of its aspects in a tale virtually a pocket-size littoral community during the showtime phases of the Napoleonic wars.
Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, Sailor describes the impressment, subsequent treatment, and eventual drumhead trial of a sailor during the Napoleonic Wars.

References

↑ ^one.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Hill, J. R. (2002). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Majestic Navy. Oxford Academy Press. pp. 135–137. ISBN 0-xix-860527-seven.
↑ Rodger, Northward. A. M. (1986). The Wooden Globe - An anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Collins. pp. 63–64, 115–118, 127–128. ISBN 0-00-216548-1.
↑ Fischer, Lewis R.; Nordvik, Helge Westward. Shipping and Trade, 1750-1950: Essays in International Maritime Economic History 1990, p. 25.
↑ "Fault: no |championship= specified when using {{Cite spider web}}". http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheet_impressment.htm . Retrieved 19 August 2013.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.one Weather condition of service in Uk's maritime organisations pp. 39–40.
↑ Information Sheet #78 Impressment Royal Navy Museum.
↑ John Keegan, page 38 "Battle at Sea"ISBN ane-8441-3737-half dozen
↑ John Keegan, page 39 "Battle at Sea"ISBN 1-8441-3737-vi
↑ BBC History Magazine, Vol.9 no.eight, Baronial 2008.
↑ The Times (London), May 8, 1805
↑ Nash, p. 151.
↑ Keith Mercer, "Northern Exposure: Resistance to Naval Impressment in British Due north America, 1775–1815," Canadian Historical Review, June 2010, Vol. 91 Issue ii, pp. 199–232.
↑ Fowler, William M., Jr. "The Non-Volunteer Navy" United States Naval Establish Proceedings August 1974 pp. 75–78.
↑ Paul A. Gilje, "'Free Trade and Sailors' Rights': The Rhetoric of the War of 1812," Journal of the Early Democracy, Jump 2010, Vol. 30 Effect 1, pp. ane–23.
↑ Spencer Tucker, Injured Honor: The Chesapeake-Leopard Matter (2006).
↑ Page 347, Vol.14, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition
↑ Roger (2004), p. 316.
↑ Smith, p. 291.
↑ Rogers (2004), p. 316.
↑ Rickard, J. (xi Dec 2000), New Model Army (England)
↑ Curtis, p. 57–threescore.
↑ Curtis, p. 64.
↑ The System of the British army in the American Revolution, Chapter 3, Edward E. Curtis, Ph.D.
↑ ^24.0 ^24.1 Curtis, chapter 3.

Notes

Cray, Robert E., "Remembering the USS Chesapeake: The Politics of Maritime. Death and Impressment," Journal of the Early Commonwealth (Fall 2005) vol 25
Curtis, Edward, The System of the British Regular army in the American Revolution. 1972, ISBN 0-85409-906-nine
Nash, Gary, The Urban Crucible, The Northern Seaports and the Origins of the American Revolution, 1986, ISBN 0-674-93058-four
Rodger, N. A. M. The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. W. Westward. Norton and Visitor, 1986.
Rodger, N. A. One thousand. The Command of the Body of water: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. W. W. Norton and Company, 2004.
Anthony Steel, "Impressment in the Monroe-Pinkney Negotiation, 1806-1807," The American Historical Review, Vol. 57, No. ii (Jan., 1952), pp. 352–369 online in JSTOR
Roland G. Usher, Jr. "Royal Navy Impressment During the American Revolution," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. four (Mar., 1951), pp. 673–688 online in JSTOR
Smith, Page, A new age at present begins, 1976, ISBN 0-07-059097-4
Miller, Nathan. Sea of Celebrity, 1974, ISBN 067950392

External links

The Impress Service, basic article on "printing gangs" in British ports, charged with impressing sailors into the Navy.
[1]: instance of impressment of HMS Pandora coiffure in 1790.
[ii] PBS documentary on State of war of 1812 with chapter on impressment.