Royal Navy Press Gang

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy’s duties were extensive. They included such basic tasks as transporting men and supplies, creating blockades to prevent the enemy from replenishing their soldiers and stocks, and actual warfare activities involving highly destructive cannon fire.

However, Britain had its fingers in pies all over the world. Even though it wasn’t at war with all these nations, it was using its navy to protect its interests by patrolling the coasts of its colonies and offering escorts to its merchant ships along trade routes. Needless to say, such far-reaching responsibilities necessitated an enormous number of crew members.

Sailors, of course, preferred life on somewhat safer merchant ships where they received better pay and a chance to go home between voyages. By comparison, naval conscription lasted years, and the likelihood of death as a result of battle, malnutrition, or disease was high enough to frighten off volunteers. However, experienced sailors were valuable to the navy. So, when authorities ran short of willing participants, the government sanctioned the use of press-gangs. Or, to put it bluntly, brute-force kidnappers.

Armed groups patrolled docks, taverns, and nearby places for seafaring men they could manhandle into conscription. At times of extreme need, the gangs might even go into the countryside in search of possible victims. The law allowed the forcible taking of men of “seafaring habits,” aged 18 to 55. However, the press-gangs might grab anyone hale and healthy enough to be of use if the need was great. The only men safe from such action were apprentices (who had to prove they were bound by contract) and, of course, gentlemen.

One way to draw men hiding from press gangs out into the open was to start some kind of riot. My novella, "Always with You" in the Moonlight Madness anthology contains a scene based on a true event where the press-gang thugs pretended to take the women since they had not met their quota of men. Needless to say, the men came out to save their kinfolk and were duly nabbed.

Merchant vessels out at sea were also not safe from such gangs. In fact, American merchant ships were favorite targets, and relentless impressment was cited as one of the reasons for the War of 1812.

Once aboard a navy vessel, impressed men were typically not given shore leave for fear they would desert. One of the very few legal ways to escape the life they’d been forced into was serious injury. If the wound was severe enough to require treatment on land, their ship might sail while they are recovering and they’d be free to go. Sometimes only to be conscripted again.

As you can see, it was a harrowing time for simple, honest folk. It affected not only the men, but the women who loved them and depended on them.