Author Topic: The Impressment Service or Press Gangs.  (Read 5465 times)

Offline stuartwaters

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The Impressment Service or Press Gangs.
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2021, 07:21:51 PM »






The Impressment Service, more commonly known as the Press, was an organisation active during wartime whose task was to find men to man the fleet. It was the organisation behind the standing Press Gangs based in all the major ports around the UK, particularly during the French Wars between 1756 and 1815. The activities of the Impress Service and the officers and men who worked for it are perhaps, more myth than fact.


Impressment, or forced military or naval service in wartime or imminent threat of war has been a fact of life since the year dot. In medieval times, one of the duties placed on the Wardens of the Cinque Ports was not just to provide the King with ships, but also the men to man them. Organised and regulated impressment has been around since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1597, Parliament passed the Vagabonds Act under which "disreputable" men or vagrants could find themselves pressed into service. In 1703, a further Act was passed limiting the impressment of men aged under 18 to those who were not apprenticed. In 1740, the maximum age for impressment was raised to 55.


There were two types of Press Gang. A ship seeking men in wartime could send it's own Press Gang ashore. This article is primarily concerned with the other type, the Standing Press Gang, permanently shore-based and under the control of the Impressment Service.


In the 17th Century, Press Gangs were unregulated and anybody could form a Press Gang and claim the bounties offered for providing the fleet with men. This could and did cause chaos in the major ports, especially in London as the Press Gangs were in competition with each other. From 1755, the Admiralty appointed Regulating Captains in charge of districts around the major ports. By 1795, there were 32 Regulating Captains running 85 Press Gangs, each headed by an officer with the rank of Lieutenant, assisted by two Midshipmen or Petty Officers with up to a dozen men. The Captain would set up his headquarters in a major port and each Lieutenant would set up his headquarters in an inn or tavern. The Gang's Headquarters or Rendezvous would have to have some characteristics. It would obviously need to have accommodation for the Gang and would also need a large room which could be secured to hold the men they had rounded up before they could be marched off to the Receiving Ship or Pressing Tender. The Pressing Tender was a vessel used by the Press Gang to transport men to the Receiving Ship.


The task of the Press Gang was obviously to find experienced seamen for the fleet and they would patrol around the streets of port towns and in places such as taverns where sailors were known to gather. On sighting a potential recruit, the Press Gang had the right to order them to stop and be examined. The Press Gang would then try to identify the men as seamen by examining their clothing, tatoos if any and signs of tar on their hands. Violence was a commonly used tool.


Up to the mid-19th century, men did not "Join the Navy" as they do now. Whether volunteer or pressed man, seamen joined the ship and remained in the ship until they either died, deserted or were paid off. Once paid off, seamen were free men until they either volunteered for another ship or were taken by a Press Gang.


In our County, a number of Press Gangs were active both during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. In 1795, the officers assigned to the Impress Service in Kent were as follows:


Captain William Daniel - Gravesend
Captain Francis Fayerman and Captain Benjamin Hulke - Dover
Captain Hugh Baikie - Margate
Lieutenants W. H. Daniel and James Horn - Gravesend
Lieutenant William Caspal - Faversham
Lieutenant R R Bradley - Folkestone
Lieutenant Caecer Costellis - Margate
Lieutenant H Marsh - Ramsgate.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.