Pressgang

Pressgang. Impressment was the mode formerly resorted to for manning the British navy. The practice had not only the sanction of custom, but the force of law. It may be traced in English legislation from the days of Edward I.; and many acts of parliament, from the reign of Philip and Mary to that of George III., were passed to regulate the system of impressment. Impressment consisted in seizing by force, for service in the royal navy, seamen, river-watermen, and at times landsmen, when state emergencies rendered them necessary. The pressgang, an armed party of reliable men commanded by officers, usually proceeded to such houses in the seaport towns as were supposed to be the resort of the seafaring population, laid violent hands on all eligible men, and conveyed them forcibly to the ships of war in the harbour. As it was not in the nature of sailors to yield without a struggle many terrible fights took place between the pressgangs and their intended victims—combats in which lives were often lost. In point of justice there is little, if anything, to be said for impressment, which had not even the merit of an impartial selection from the whole available population. Under the laws all eligible men of seafaring habits were liable between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five; but exemptions were made in favour of apprentices who had not been two years apprenticed, fishermen at sea, a proportion of able seamen in each collier, harpooners in whalers, and a few others. A pressgang could board a merchant-vessel or a privateer of its own nation in any part of the world, and carry off as many of the best men as could be removed without actually endangering the vessel. The exercise of this power made a privateer dread a friendly man-of-war more than an enemy, and often led to as exciting a chase as when enemies were in pursuit of each other; for the privateer's men were the best sailors, for their purpose, that the naval officers could lay hold on. Mitigations of the harsh laws on the subject were frequently introduced. As early as 1563 the naval authorities had to secure the sanction of the local justices of peace; in 1835 the term of an impressed man's service was limited to five years save in urgent national necessity. By that time the system was becoming obsolete; the navy is now manned by voluntary service. In recent times, when volunteers fail, a system of bounties has been resorted to. But the laws sanctioning impressment slumber, without being repealed.