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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6766-8.txt b/6766-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..927be1b --- /dev/null +++ b/6766-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10784 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore, by John R. Hutchinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore + +Author: John R. Hutchinson + + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6766] +This file was first posted on January 24, 2003 +Last Updated: June 14, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the CWRU Preservation +Department Digital Library. + + + + + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE + +By J. R. Hutchinson + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + +II. WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + +III. WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + +IV. WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + +V. WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + +VI. EVADING THE GANG. + +VII. WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + +VIII. AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + +IX. THE GANG AT PLAY. + +X. WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + +XI. IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + +XII. HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + +APPENDIX: ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: + + + +AN UNWELCOME VISIT FROM THE PRESS GANG. + +MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a rare print in the +collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY. + +THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM. + +SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS WEDDING DAY. + +JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the Painting by MORLAND. + +ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. A play-bill announcing the +suspension of the Gang's operations on "Play Nights," in the collection +of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY, by whose kind permission it is reproduced. + +SAILORS CAROUSING. From the Mezzotint after J. IBBETSON. + +ANNE MILLS WHO SERVED ON BOARD THE _MAIDSTONE_ IN 1740. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT DRESSED AS A SAILOR. + +THE PRESS GANG, OR ENGLISH LIBERTY DISPLAYED. + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. Reproduced from the Original Drawing at the +Public Record Office. + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + + + +The practice of pressing men--that is to say, of taking by intimidation +or force those who will not volunteer--would seem to have been +world-wide in its adoption. + +Wherever man desired to have a thing done, and was powerful enough +to insure the doing of it, there he attained his end by the simple +expedient of compelling others to do for him what he, unaided, could not +do for himself. + +The individual, provided he did not conspire in sufficient numbers to +impede or defeat the end in view, counted only as a food-consuming atom +in the human mass which was set to work out the purpose of the master +mind and hand. His face value in the problem was that of a living wage. +If he sought to enhance his value by opposing the master hand, the +master hand seized him and wrung his withers. + +So long as the compelling power confined the doing of the things it +desired done to works of construction, it met with little opposition +in its designs, experienced little difficulty in coercing the labour +necessary for piling its walls, excavating its tanks, raising its +pyramids and castles, or for levelling its roads and building its ships +and cities. These were the commonplace achievements of peace, at +which even the coerced might toil unafraid; for apart from the normal +incidence of death, such works entailed little danger to the lives +of the multitudes who wrought upon them. Men could in consequence be +procured for them by the exercise of the minimum of coercion--by, that +is to say, the mere threat of it. + +When peace went to the wall and the pressed man was called upon to go to +battle, the case assumed another aspect, an acuter phase. Given a state +of war, the danger to life and limb, the incidence of death, at once +jumped enormously, and in proportion as these disquieting factors in the +pressed man's lot mounted up, just in that proportion did his opposition +to the power that sought to take him become the more determined, +strenuous, and undisguised. + +Particularly was this true of warlike operations upon the sea, for to +the extraordinary and terrible risks of war were here added the ordinary +but ever-present dangers of wind and wave and storm, sufficient in +themselves to appal the unaccustomed and to antagonise the unwilling. +In face of these superlative risks the difficulty of procuring men was +accentuated a thousand-fold, and with it both the nature and the degree +of the coercive force necessary to be exercised for their procuration. + +In these circumstances the Ruling Power had no option but to resort +to more exigent means of attaining its end. In times of peace, working +through myriad hands, it had constructed a thousand monuments of +ornamental or utilitarian industry. These, with the commonweal they +represented, were now threatened and must be protected at all costs. +What more reasonable than to demand of those who had built, or of +their successors in the perpetual inheritance of toil, that they should +protect what they had reared. Hitherto, in most cases, the men required +to meet the national need had submitted at a threat. They had to live, +and coercive toil meant at least a living wage. Now, made rebellious by +a fearful looking forward to the risks they were called upon to incur, +they had to be met by more effective measures. Faced by this emergency, +Power did not mince matters. It laid violent hands upon the unwilling +subject and forced him, _nolens volens_, to sail its ships, to man its +guns, and to fight its battles by sea as he already, under less overt +compulsion, did its bidding by land. + +It is with this phase of pressing--pressing open, violent and +unashamed--that we purpose here to deal, and more particularly with +pressing as it applies to the sea and sailors, to the Navy and the +defence of an Island Kingdom. + +At what time the pressing of men for the sea service of the Crown was +first resorted to in these islands it is impossible to determine. There +is evidence, however, that the practice was not only in vogue, but +firmly established as an adjunct of power, as early as the days of the +Saxon kings. It was, in fact, coeval with feudalism, of which it may be +described as a side-issue incidental to a maritime situation; for though +it is impossible to point to any species of fee, as understood of the +tenure of land, under which the holder was liable to render service at +sea, yet it must not be forgotten that the great ports of the kingdom, +and more especially the Cinque Ports, were from time immemorial bound +to find ships for national purposes, whenever called upon to do so, in +return for the peculiar rights and privileges conferred upon them by +the Crown. The supply of ships necessarily involved the supply of men +to sail and fight them, and in this supply, or, rather, in the mode +of obtaining it, we have undoubtedly the origin of the later impress +system. + +With the reign of John the practice springs into sudden prominence. +The incessant activities of that uneasy king led to almost incessant +pressing, and at certain crises in his reign commission after commission +is directed, in feverish succession, to the sheriffs of counties and the +bailiffs of seaports throughout the kingdom, straitly enjoining them +to arrest and stay all ships within their respective jurisdictions, and +with the ships the mariners who sail them. [Footnote: By a plausible +euphemism they were said to be "hired." As a matter of fact, both +ships and men were retained during the royal pleasure at rates fixed by +custom.] No exception was taken to these edicts. Long usage rendered the +royal lien indefeasible. [Footnote: In more modern times the pressing +of ships, though still put forward as a prerogative of the Crown, was +confined in the main to unforeseen exigencies of transport. On the fall +of Louisburg in 1760, vessels were pressed at that port in order to +carry the prisoners of war to France (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1491--Capt. +Byron, 17 June 1760); and in 1764, again, we find Capt. Brereton, of the +_Falmouth_, forcibly impressing the East India ship _Revenge_ for +the purpose of transporting to Fort St. George, in British India, +the company, numbering some four hundred and twenty-one souls, of the +_Siam_, then recently condemned at Manilla as unseaworthy.--_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1498--Letters of Capt. Brereton, 1764.] + +In the carrying out of the royal commands there was consequently, at +this stage in the development of pressing, little if any resort to +direct coercion. From the very nature of the case the principle of +coercion was there, but it was there only in the bud. The king's right +to hale whom he would into his service being practically undisputed, a +threat of reprisals in the event of disobedience answered all purposes, +and even this threat was as yet more often implied than openly +expressed. King John was perhaps the first to clothe it in words. +Requisitioning the services of the mariners of Wales, a notoriously +disloyal body, he gave the warrant, issued in 1208, a severely minatory +turn. "Know ye for certain," it ran, "that if ye act contrary to this, +we will cause you and the masters of your vessels to be hanged, and all +your goods to be seized for our use." + +At this point in the gradual subjection of the seaman to the needs of +the nation, defensive or the contrary, we are confronted by an event +as remarkable in its nature as it is epoch-making in its consequences. +Magna Charta was sealed on the 13th of June 1215, and within a year of +that date, on, namely, the 14th of April then next ensuing, King John +issued his commission to the barons of twenty-two seaports, requiring +them, in terms admitting of neither misconstruction nor compromise, +to arrest all ships, and to assemble those ships, together with their +companies, in the River of Thames before a certain day. [Footnote: +Hardy, _Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum_, 1833.] This wholesale embargo upon +the shipping and seamen of the nation, imposed as it was immediately +after the ensealing of Magna Charta, raises a question of great +constitutional interest. In what sense, and to what extent, was the +Charter of English Liberties intended to apply to the seafaring man? + +Essentially a tyrant and a ruthless promise-breaker, John's natural +cruelty would in itself sufficiently account for the dire penalties +threatened under the warrant of 1208; but neither his tyranny, his +faithlessness of character, nor his very human irritation at +the concessions wrung from him by his barons, can explain to our +satisfaction why, having granted a charter affirming and safeguarding +the liberties of, ostensibly, every class of his people, he should +immediately inflict upon one of those classes, and that, too, the one +least of all concerned in his historic dispute, the pains of a most +rigorous impressment. The only rational explanation of his conduct is, +that in thus acting he was contravening no convention, doing violence to +no covenant, but was, on the contrary, merely exercising, in accordance +with time-honoured usage, an already well-recognised, clearly denned and +firmly seated prerogative which the great charter he had so recently put +his hand to was in no sense intended to limit or annul. + +This view of the case is confirmed by subsequent events. Press warrants, +identical in every respect save one with the historic warrant of 1216, +continued to emanate from the Crown long after King John had gone to his +account, and, what is more to the point, to emanate unchallenged. Stubbs +himself, our greatest constitutional authority, repeatedly admits as +much. Every crisis in the destinies of the Island Kingdom--and they were +many and frequent--produced its batch of these procuratory documents, +every batch its quota of pressed men. The inference is plain. The +mariner was the bondsman of the sea, and to him the _Nullus liber homo +capiatur_ clause of the Great Charter was never intended to apply. In +his case a dead-letter from the first, it so remained throughout the +entire chapter of his vicissitudes. + +The chief point wherein the warrants of later times differed from those +of King John was this: As time went on the penalties they imposed on +those who resisted the press became less and less severe. The death +penalty fell into speedy disuse, if, indeed, it was ever inflicted at +all. Imprisonment for a term of from one to two years, with forfeiture +of goods, was held to meet all the exigencies of the case. Gradually +even this modified practice underwent amelioration, until at length +it dawned upon the official intelligence that a seaman who was free +to respond to the summons of the boatswain's whistle constituted an +infinitely more valuable physical asset than one who cursed his king and +his Maker in irons. All punishment of the condign order, for contempt +or resistance of the press, now went by the board, and in its stead the +seaman was merely admonished in paternal fashion, as in a Proclamation +of 1623, to take the king's shilling "dutifully and reverently" when it +was tendered to him. + +In its apparent guilelessness the admonition was nevertheless woefully +deceptive. Like the subdued beat of drum by which, some five years +later, the seamen of London were lured to Tower Hill, there to be seized +and thrown bodily into the waiting fleet, it masked under its mild +exterior the old threat of coercion in a new form. The ancient pains and +penalties were indeed no more; but for the back of the sailor who was +so ill-advised as to defy the press there was another rod in pickle. He +could now be taken forcibly. + +For side by side with the negative change involved in the abolition +of the old punishments, there had been in progress, throughout the +intervening centuries, a positive development of far worse omen for the +hapless sailor-man. The root-principle of direct coercion, necessarily +inherent in any system that seeks to foist an arbitrary and obnoxious +status upon any considerable body of men, was slowly but surely bursting +into bud. The years that had seen the unprested seaman freed from the +dread of the yardarm and the horrors of the forepeak, had bred a new +terror for him. Centuries of usage had strengthened the arm of that +hated personage the Press-Master, and the compulsion which had once +skulked under cover of a threat now threw off its disguise and stalked +the seafaring man for what it really was--Force, open and unashamed. The +_dernier ressort_ of former days was now the first resort. The seafaring +man who refused the king's service when "admonished" thereto had short +shrift. He was "first knocked down, and then bade to stand in the king's +name." Such, literally and without undue exaggeration, was the later +system which, reaching the climax of its insolent pretensions to +justifiable violence in the eighteenth century, for upwards of a hundred +years bestrode the neck of the unfortunate sailor like some monstrous +Old Man of the Sea. + +Outbursts of violent pressing before the dawn of the eighteenth century, +though spasmodic and on the whole infrequent, were not entirely unknown. +Times of national stress were peculiarly productive of them. Thus when, +in 1545, there was reason to fear a French invasion, pressing of the +most violent and unprecedented character was openly resorted to in order +to man the fleet. The class who suffered most severely on that occasion +were the fisher folk of Devon, "the most part" of whom were "taken +as marryners to serve the king." [Footnote: _State Papers_, Henry +VIII.--Lord Russell to the Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545. Bourne, who +cites the incident in his _Tudor Seamen_, misses the essential point +that the fishermen were forcibly pressed.] + +During the Civil Wars of the next century both parties to the strife +issued press warrants which were enforced with the utmost rigour. The +Restoration saw a marked recrudescence of similar measures. How great +was the need of men at that time, and how exigent the means employed +to procure them, may be gathered from the fact, cited by Pepys, that in +1666 the fleet lay idle for a whole fortnight "without any demand for a +farthing worth of anything, but only to get men." The genial diarist +was deeply moved by the scenes of violence that followed. They were, he +roundly declares, "a shame to think of." + +The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and +"pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it +so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's +service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" +in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to a +process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by +means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being the +English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now _prêt_, meaning +"ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, "prest" money stood +for what is nowadays, in both services, commonly termed the "king's +shilling," and the man who, either voluntarily or under duress, accepted +or received that shilling at the recruiter's hands, was said to be +"prested" or "prest." In other words, having taken the king's ready +money, he was thenceforth, during the king's pleasure, "ready" for the +king's service. + +By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter to +the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter and +his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more solemn or +binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. One of the +parties to the contract was more often than not, it is true, a strongly +dissenting party; but although under the common law of the land this +circumstance would have rendered any similar contract null and void, in +this amazing transaction between the king and his "prest" subject it was +held to be of no vitiating force. From the moment the king's shilling, +by whatever means, found its way into the sailor's possession, from that +moment he was the king's man, bound in heavy penalties to toe the +line of duty, and, should circumstances demand it, to fight the king's +enemies to the death, be that fate either theirs or his. + +By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the +English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in +pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, as we +have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the devious +means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea service. +"Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions precisely +connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. Hence, as +the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, "pressing," +in the mouths of the people at large, came to be synonymous with that +most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring system of recruiting +which, in the course of time, took the place of its milder and more +humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man disappeared, [Footnote: +The Law Officers of the Crown retained him, on paper, until the close +of the eighteenth century--an example in which they were followed by +the Admiralty. To admit his disappearance would have been to knock the +bottom out of their case.] and in his stead there came upon the +scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, "forced," as Pepys so +graphically describes his condition, "against all law to be gone." +An odder coincidence than this gradual substitution of "pressed" for +_prest,_ or one more grimly appropriate in its application, it would +surely be impossible to discover in the whose history of nomenclature. + +With the growth of the power and violence of the impress there was +gradually inaugurated another change, which perhaps played a larger part +than any other feature of the system in making it finally obnoxious to +the nation at large--finally, because, as we shall see, the nation +long endured its exactions with pathetic submission and lamentable +indifference. The incidence of pressing was no longer confined, as in +its earlier stages, to the overflow of the populace upon the country's +rivers, and bays, and seas. Gradually, as naval needs grew in volume and +urgency, the press net was cast wider and wider, until at length, during +the great century of struggle, when the system was almost constantly +working at its highest pressure and greatest efficiency, practically +every class of the population of these islands was subjected to its +merciless inroads, if not decimated by its indiscriminate exactions. + +On the very threshold of the century we stumble upon an episode +curiously indicative of the set of the tide. Czar Peter of Russia had +been recently in England, acquiring a knowledge of English customs +which, on his return home, he immediately began to put in practice. His +navy, such as it was, was wretchedly manned. [Footnote: The navy got +together by Czar Peter had all but disappeared by the time Catherine II. +came to the throne. "Ichabod" was written over the doors of the +Russian Admiralty. Their ships of war were few in number, unseaworthy, +ill-found, ill-manned. Two thousand able-bodied seamen could with +difficulty be got together in an emergency. The nominal fighting +strength of the fleet stood high, but that strength in reality consisted +of men "one half of whom had never sailed out of the Gulf of Finland, +whilst the other half had never sailed anywhere at all." When the fleet +was ordered to sea, the Admiralty "put soldiers on board, and by calling +them sailors persuaded themselves that they really were so."--_State +Papers, Russia,_ vol. lxxvii.--Macartney, Nov. 16-27, 1766.] Russian +serfs made bad sailors and worse seamen. In the English ships thronging +the quays at Archangel there was, however, plenty of good stuff-men who +could use the sea without being sick, men capable of carrying a ship to +her destination without piling her up on the rocks or seeking nightly +shelter under the land. He accordingly pressed every ninth man out of +those ships. + +When news of this high-handed proceeding reached England, it roused the +Queen and her advisers to indignation. Winter though it was, they lost +no time in dispatching Charles Whitworth, a rising diplomat of the +suavest type, as "Envoy Extraordinary to our Good (but naughty) Brother +the Czar of Muscovy," with instructions to demand the release, immediate +and unconditional, of the pressed men. Whitworth found the Czar at +Moscow. The Autocrat of All the Russias listened affably enough to what +he had to say, but refused his demand in terms that left scant room +for doubt as to his sincerity of purpose, and none for protracted +"conversations." "Every Prince," he declared for sole answer, "can take +what he likes out of his own havens." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1436--Capt. J. Anderson's letters and enclosures; _State Papers, +Russia_, vol. iv.--Whitworth to Secretary Harley.] The position thus +taken up was unassailable. Centuries of usage hedged the prerogative in, +and Queen Anne herself, in the few years she had been on the throne, had +not only exercised it with a free hand, but had laid that hand without +scruple upon many a foreign seaman. + +The lengths to which the system had gone by the end of the third quarter +of the century is thrown into vivid relief by two incidents, one of +which occurred in 1726, the other fifty years later. + +In the former year one William Kingston, pressed in the Downs--a man +who hailed from Lyme Regis and habitually "used the sea"--was, +notwithstanding that fact, discharged by express Admiralty order +because he was a "substantial man and had a landed estate." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt Charles Browne, 25 March 1726, and +endorsement.] + +The incident of 1776, known as the Duncan case, occurred, or rather +began, at North Shields. Lieutenant Oaks, captain of the press-gang in +that town, one day met in the streets a man who, unfortunately for his +future, "had the appearance of a seaman." He accordingly pressed him; +whereupon the man, whose name was Duncan, produced the title-deeds +of certain house property in London, down Wapping way, worth some six +pounds per annum, and claimed his discharge on the ground that as a +freeholder and a voter he was immune from the press. The lieutenant +laughed the suggestion to scorn, and Duncan was shipped south to the +fleet. + +The matter did not end there. Duncan's friends espoused his cause and +took energetic steps for his release. Threatened with an action at law, +and averse from incurring either unnecessary risks or opprobrium where +pressed men were concerned, the Admiralty referred the case to Mr. +Attorney-General (afterwards Lord) Thurlow for his opinion. + +The point of law Thurlow was called upon to resolve was, "Whether being +a freeholder is an exception from being pressed;" and as Duncan was +represented in counsel's instructions--on what ground, other than his +"appearance," is not clear--to be a man Who habitually used the sea, it +is hardly matter for surprise that the great jurist's opinion, biassed +as it obviously was by that alleged fact, should have been altogether +inimical to the pressed man and favourable to the Admiralty. + +"I see no reason," he writes, in his crabbed hand and nervous diction, +"why men using the sea, and being otherwise fit objects to be impressed +into His Majesty's service, should be exempted only because they +are Freeholders. Nor did I ever read or hear of such an exemption. +Therefore, unless some use or practice, which I am ignorant of, gives +occasion to this doubt, I see no reason for a Mariner being discharged, +seriously, because he is a Freeholder. It's a qualification easily +attained: a single house at Wapping would ship a first-rate man-of-war. +If a Freeholder is exempt, _eo nomine_, it will be impossible to go +on with the pressing service. [Footnote: It would have been equally +impossible to go on with the naval service had the fleet contained many +freeholders like John Barnes. Granted leave of absence from his ship, +the _Neptune,_ early in May, "in order to give his vote in the city," +he "return'd not till the 8th of August."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. +2653--Capt. Whorwood, 23 Aug. 1741.] There is no knowing a Freeholder +by sight: and if claiming that character, or even showing deeds is +sufficient, few Sailors will be without it." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 64.] + +Backed by this opinion, so nicely in keeping with its own inclinations, +the Admiralty kept the man. Its views, like its practice, had undergone +an antipodal change since the Kingston incident of fifty years before. +And possession, commonly reputed to be nine points of the law, more +than made up for the lack of that element in Mr. Attorney-General's +sophistical reasoning. + +In this respect Thurlow was in good company, for although Coke, who +lived before violent pressing became the rule, had given it as his +opinion that the king could not lawfully press men to serve him in his +wars, the legal luminaries who came after him, and more particularly +those of the eighteenth century, differed from him almost to a man. +Blackstone, whilst admitting that no statute expressly legalised +pressing, reminded the nation--with a leer, we might almost say--that +many statutes strongly implied, and hence--so he put it--amply justified +it. In thus begging the question he had in mind the so-called Statutes +of Exemption which, in protecting from impressment certain persons or +classes of persons, proceeded on the assumption, so dear to the Sea +Lords, that the Crown possessed the right to press all. This also +was the view taken by Yorke, Solicitor-General in 1757. "I take the +prerogative," he declares, "to be most clearly legal." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] + +Another group of lawyers took similar, though less exalted ground. Of +these the most eminent was that "great oracle of law," Lord Mansfield. +"The power of pressing," he contends, "is founded upon immemorial usage +allowed for ages. If not, it can have no ground to stand upon. The +practice is deduced from that trite maxim of the Constitutional Law +of England, that private mischief had better be submitted to than that +public detriment should ensue." + +The sea-lawyer had yet to be heard. With him "private mischief" counted +for much, the usage of past ages for very little. He lived and suffered +in the present. Of common law he knew nothing, but he possessed a fine +appreciation of common justice, and this forced from him an indictment +of the system that held him in thrall as scathing in its truth, its +simplicity and its logic as it is spontaneous and untutored in its +diction. + +"You confidently tell us," said he, dipping his pen in the gall of +bitterness, "that our King is a father to us and our officers friends. +They are so, we must confess, in some respects, for Indeed they use us +like Children in Whiping us into Obedience. As for English Tars to +be the Legitimate Sons of Liberty, it is an Old Cry which we have +Experienced and Knows it to be False. God knows, the Constitution is +admirable well Callculated for the Safety and Happiness of His Majesty's +Subjects who live by Employments on Shore; but alass, we are not +Considered as Subjects of the same Sovereign, unless it be to Drag us by +Force from our Families to Fight the Battles of a Country which Refuses +us Protection." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions of the +Seamen of the Fleet, 1797.] + +Such, in rough outline, was the Impress System of the eighteenth +century. In its inception, its development, and more especially in its +extraordinary culmination, it perhaps constitutes the greatest anomaly, +as it undoubtedly constitutes the grossest imposition, any free +people ever submitted to. Although unlawful in the sense of having no +foundation in law, and oppressive and unjust in that it yearly enslaved, +under the most noxious conditions, thousands against their will, it was +nevertheless for more than a hundred years tolerated and fostered as the +readiest, speediest and most effective means humanly devisable for the +manning of a fleet whose toll upon a free people, in the same period +of time, swelled to more than thrice its original bulk. Standing as a +bulwark against aggression and conquest, it ground under its heel the +very people it protected, and made them slaves in order to keep them +free. Masquerading as a protector, it dragged the wage-earner from +his home and cast his starving family upon the doubtful mercies of the +parish. And as if this were not enough, whilst justifying its existence +on the score of public benefit it played havoc with the fisheries, +clipped the wings of the merchant service, and sucked the life-blood out +of trade. + +It was on the rising tide of such egregious contradictions as these that +the press-gang came in; for the press-gang was at once the embodiment +and the active exponent of all that was anomalous or bad in the Impress +System. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + + + +The root of the necessity that seized the British sailor and made of him +what he in time became, the most abject creature and the most efficient +fighting unit the world has ever produced, lay in the fact that he was +island-born. + +In that island a great and vigorous people had sprung into being--a +people great in their ambitions, commerce and dominion; vigorous in +holding what they had won against the assaults, meditated or actual, of +those who envied their greatness and coveted their possessions. Of this +island people, as of their world-wide interests, the "chiefest defence" +was a "good fleet at sea." [Footnote: This famous phrase is used, +perhaps for the first time, by Josiah Burchett, sometime Secretary to +the Admiralty, in his _Observations on the Navy_, 1700.] + +The Peace of Utrecht, marking though it did the close of the protracted +war of the Spanish Succession, brought to the Island Kingdom not peace, +but a sword; for although its Navy was now as unrivalled as its commerce +and empire, the supreme struggle for existence, under the guise of the +mastery of the sea, was only just begun. Decade after decade, as that +struggle waxed and waned but went remorselessly on, the Navy grew in +ships, the ships in tonnage and weight of metal, and with their growth +the demand for men, imperative as the very existence of the nation, +mounted ever higher and higher. In 1756 fifty thousand sufficed for the +nation's needs. By 1780 the number had reached ninety-two thousand; and +with 1802 it touched high-water mark in the unprecedented total of +one hundred and twenty-nine thousand men in actual sea pay. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 567-Navy Progress, 1756-1805. These figures are +below rather than above the mark, since the official returns on which +they are based are admittedly deficient.] + +Beset by this enormous and steadily growing demand, the Admiralty, the +defensive proxy of the nation, had perforce to face the question as to +where and how the men were to be obtained. + +The source of supply was never at any time in doubt. Here, ready to +hand, were some hundreds of thousands of persons using the sea, or +following vocations merging into the sea in the capacity of colliers, +bargemen, boatmen, longshoremen, fishermen and deep-sea sailors or +merchantmen, who constituted the natural Naval Reserve of an Island +Kingdom--a reserve ample, if judiciously drawn upon, to meet, and more +than meet, the Navy's every need. + +The question of means was one more complicated, more delicate, and hence +incomparably more difficult of solution. To draw largely upon these +seafaring classes, numerous and fit though they were, meant detriment +to trade, and if the Navy was the fist, trade was the backbone of the +nation. The sufferings of trade, moreover, reacted unpleasantly upon +those in power at Whitehall. Methods of procuration must therefore be +devised of a nature such as to insure that neither trade nor Admiralty +should suffer--that they should, in fact, enjoy what the unfortunate +sailor never knew, some reasonable measure of ease. + +In its efforts to extricate itself and trade from the complex +difficulties of the situation, Admiralty had at its back what an +eighteenth century Beresford would doubtless have regarded as the finest +talent of the service. Neither the unemployed admiral nor the half-pay +captain had at that time, in his enforced retirement at Bath or +Cheltenham, taken seriously to parliamenteering, company promoting, +or the concocting of pedigrees as a substitute for walking the +quarter-deck. His occupation was indeed gone, but in its stead there +had come to him what he had rarely enjoyed whilst on the active service +list--opportunity. Carried away by the stimulus of so unprecedented +a situation as that afforded by the chance to make himself heard, +he rushed into print with projects and suggestions which would have +revolutionised the naval policy and defence of the country at a stroke +had they been carried into effect. Or he devoted his leisure to the +invention of signal codes, semaphore systems, embryo torpedoes, gun +carriages, and--what is more to our point--methods ostensibly calculated +to man the fleet in the easiest, least oppressive and most expeditious +manner possible for a free people. Armed with these schemes, he +bombarded the Admiralty with all the pertinacity he had shown in his +quarter-deck days in applying for leave or seeking promotion. Many, +perhaps most, of the inventions which it was thus sought to father upon +the Sea Lords, were happily never more heard of; but here and there one, +commending itself by its seeming practicability, was selected for trial +and duly put to the test. + +Fair to look upon while still in the air, these fruits of leisured +superannuation proved deceptively unsound when plucked by the hand of +experiment. Registration, first adopted in 1696, held out undeniable +advantages to the seaman. Under its provisions he drew a yearly +allowance when not required at sea, and extra prize-money when on +active service. Yet the bait did not tempt him, and the system was +soon discarded as useless and inoperative. Bounty, defined by some +sentimentalist as a "bribe to Neptune," for a while made a stronger +appeal; but, ranging as it did from five to almost any number of pounds +under one hundred per head, it proved a bribe indeed, and by putting an +irresistible premium on desertion threatened to decimate the very ships +it was intended to man. In 1795 what was commonly known as the Quota +Scheme superseded it. This was a plan of Pitt's devising, under which +each county contributed to the fleet according to its population, the +quota varying from one thousand and eighty-one men for Yorkshire to +twenty-three for Rutland, whilst a minor Act levied special toll on +seaports, London leading the way with five thousand seven hundred and +four men. Like its predecessor Bounty, however, this mode of recruiting +drained the Navy in order to feed it. Both systems, moreover, possessed +another and more serious defect. When their initial enthusiasm had +cooled, the counties, perhaps from force of habit as component parts of +a country whose backbone was trade, bought in the cheapest market. Hence +the Quota Man, consisting as he generally did of the offscourings of the +merchant service, was seldom or never worth the money paid for him. An +old man-o'-war's-man, picking up a miserable specimen of this class of +recruit by the slack of his ragged breeches, remarked to his grinning +messmates as he dangled the disreputable object before their eyes: +"'Ere's a lubber as cost a guinea a pound!" He was not far out in his +estimate. + +As in the case of the good old method of recruiting by beat of drum and +the lure of the king's shilling, system after system thus failed to draw +into its net, however speciously that net was spread, either the class +or the number of men whose services it was desired to requisition. And +whilst these futilities were working out their own condemnation the +stormcloud of necessity grew bigger and bigger on the national horizon. +Let trade suffer as it might, there was nothing for it but to discard +all new-fangled notions and to revert to the system which the usage +of ages had sanctioned. The return was imperative. Failing what Junius +stigmatised as the "spur of the Press," the right men in the right +numbers were not to be procured. The wisdom of the nation was at fault. +It could find no other way. + +There were, moreover, other reasons why the press-gang was to the Navy +an indispensable appendage--reasons perhaps of little moment singly, +but of tremendous weight in the scale of naval necessity when lumped +together and taken in the aggregate. + +Of these the most prominent was that fatal flaw in naval administration +which Nelson was in the habit of anathematising as the "Infernal +System." Due partly to lack of foresight and false economy at Whitehall, +partly to the character of the sailor himself, it resolved itself into +this, that whenever a ship was paid off and put out of commission, all +on board of her, excepting only her captain and her lieutenants, ceased +to be officially connected with the Navy. Now, as ships were for various +reasons constantly going out of commission, and as the paying off of a +first-second-or third-rate automatically discharged from their country's +employ a body of men many hundreds in number, the "lowering" effects of +such a system, working year in, year out, upon a fleet always in chronic +difficulties for men, may be more readily imagined than described. + +To a certain limited extent the loss to the service was minimised by +a process called "turning over"; that is to say, the company of a +ship paying off was turned over bodily, or as nearly intact as it was +possible to preserve it, to another ship which at the moment chanced to +be ready, or making ready, for sea. Or it might be that the commander of +a ship paying off, transferred to another ship fitting out, carried the +best men of his late command, commonly known as "old standers," along +with him. + +Unfortunately, the occasion of fitting out did not always coincide with +the occasion of paying off; and although turnovers were frequently made +by Admiralty order, there were serious obstacles in the way of their +becoming general. Once the men were paid off, the Admiralty had no +further hold upon them. By a stretch of authority they might, it is +true, be confined to quarters or on board a guardship; but if in these +circumstances they rose in a body and got ashore, they could neither +be retaken nor punished as deserters, but--to use the good old service +term--had to be "rose" again by means of the press-gang. Turnovers, +accordingly, depended mainly upon two closely related circumstances: the +goodwill of the men, and the popularity of commanders. A captain who +was notorious for his use of the lash or the irons, or who was reputed +unlucky, rarely if ever got a turnover except by the adoption of the +most stringent measures. One who, on the other hand, treated his men +with common humanity, who bested the enemy in fair fight and sent rich +prizes into port, never wanted for "followers," and rarely, if ever, +had recourse to the gang. [Footnote: In his Autobiography Lord Dundonald +asserts that he was only once obliged to resort to pressing--a statement +so remarkable, considering the times he lived in, as to call for +explanation. The occasion was when, returning from a year's "exile in a +tub," a converted collier that "sailed like a hay-stack," he fitted out +the _Pallas_ at Portsmouth and could obtain no volunteers. Setting +his gangs to work, he got together a scratch crew of the wretchedest +description; yet so marvellous were the personality and disciplinary +ability of the man, that with only this unpromising material ready +to his hand he intercepted the Spanish trade off Cape Finisterre and +captured four successive prizes of very great value. The _Pallas_ +returned to Portsmouth with "three large golden candlesticks, each about +five feet high, placed upon the mast-heads," and from that time onward +Dundonald's reputation as a "lucky" commander was made. He never again +had occasion to invoke the aid of the gang.] Under such men the seaman +would gladly serve "even in a dung barge." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 28 Sept. 1776.] Unhappily for the +service, such commanders were comparatively few, and in their absence +the Infernal System drained the Navy of its best blood and accentuated a +hundred-fold the already overwhelming need for the impress. + +The old-time sailor, [Footnote: The use of the word "sailor" was +long regarded with disfavour by the Navy Board, who saw in it only a +colourless substitute for the good old terms "seaman" and "mariner." +Capt. Bertie, of the _Ruby_ gunship, once reported the pressing of a +"sailor," Thomas Letting by name, out of a collier in Yarmouth Roads, +and was called upon by My Lords to define the new-fangled term. This +he did with admirable circumlocution. "As for explaining the word +'sailor,'" said he, "I can doe it no otherwise than (by) letting of +you know that Thomas Letting is a Sailor."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. +1468--Capt. Bertie, 6 May 1706.] again, was essentially a creature of +contradictions. Notorious for a "swearing rogue," who punctuated his +strange sea-lingo with horrid oaths and appalling blasphemies, he +made the responses required by the services of his Church with all the +superstitious awe and tender piety of a child. Inconspicuous for his +thrift or "forehandedness," it was nevertheless a common circumstance +with him to have hundreds of pounds, in pay and prize-money, to his +credit at his bankers, the Navy Pay-Office; and though during a voyage +he earned his money as hardly as a horse, and was as poor as a church +mouse, yet the moment he stepped ashore he made it fly by the handful +and squandered it, as the saying went, like an ass. When he was sober, +which was seldom enough provided he could obtain drink, he possessed +scarcely a rag to his back; but when he was drunk he was himself +the first to acknowledge that he had "too many cloths in the wind." +According to his own showing, his wishes in life were limited to three: +"An island of tobacco, a river of rum, and--more rum;" but according +to those who knew him better than he knew himself, he would at any time +sacrifice all three, together with everything else he possessed, for the +gratification of a fourth and unconfessed desire, the dearest wish of +his life, woman. Ward's description of him, slightly paraphrased, fits +him to a hair: "A salt-water vagabond, who is never at home but when +he is at sea, and never contented but when he is ashore; never at ease +until he has drawn his pay, and never satisfied until he has spent +it; and when his pocket is empty he is just as much respected as a +father-in-law is when he has beggared himself to give a good portion +with his daughter." [Footnote: Ward, _Wooden World Dissected_, 1744.] +With all this he was brave beyond belief on the deck of a ship, timid to +the point of cowardice on the back of a horse; and although he fought to +a victorious finish many of his country's most desperate fights, and +did more than any other man of his time to make her the great nation +she became, yet his roving life robbed him of his patriotism and made it +necessary to wring from him by violent means the allegiance he shirked. +It was at this point that he came in contact with what he hated most in +life, yet dearly loved to dodge--the press-gang. + +That such a creature of contradictions should be averse from serving the +country he loved is perhaps the most consistent trait in his +character; for here at least the sailor had substantial grounds for his +inconsistency. + +For one thing, his aversion to naval service was as old as the Navy +itself, having grown with its growth. We have seen in what manner King +John was obliged to admonish the sailor in order to induce him to take +his prest-money; and Edward III., referring to his attitude in the +fourteenth century, is said to have summed up the situation in the +pregnant words: "There is navy enough in England, were there only +the will." Raleigh, recalling with bitterness of soul those glorious +Elizabethan days when no adventurer ever dreamt of pressing, scoffed +at the seamen of King James's time as degenerates who went on board a +man-of-war "with as great a grudging as if it were to be slaves in the +galleys." A hundred years did not improve matters. The sailors of Queen +Anne entered her ships like men "dragged to execution." [Footnote: +Justice, _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 1705, Appendix on Pressing.] + +In the merchant service, where the sailor received his initiation into +the art and mystery of the sea, life during the period under review, and +indeed for long after, was hard enough in all conscience. Systematic +and unspeakably inhuman brutality made the merchant seaman's lot a daily +inferno. Traders sailing out of Liverpool, Bristol and a score of other +British ports depended almost entirely for their crews upon drugged rum, +so evil was their reputation in this respect amongst seafaring men. In +the East India Company's ships, even, the conditions were little short +of unendurable. Men had rather be hanged than sail to the Indies in +them. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1463, 1472--Letters of Captains +Bouler and Billingsley, and numerous instances.] + +Of all these bitternesses the sailor tasted freely. Cosmopolite that +he was, he wandered far a-sea and incurred the blows and curses of many +masters, happy if, amid his manifold tribulations, he could still call +his soul his own. Just here, indeed, was where the shoe of naval service +pinched him most sorely; for though upon the whole life on board a +man-of-war was not many shades worse than life aboard a trader, it yet +introduced into his already sadly circumscribed vista of happiness the +additional element of absolute loss of free-will, and the additional +dangers of being shot as an enemy or hanged as a deserter. These +additional things, the littles that yet meant so much, bred in him a +hatred of the service so implacable that nothing less drastic than the +warrant and the hanger could cope with or subdue it. Eradicated it never +was. + +The keynote to the sailor's treatment in the Navy may be said to have +been profane abuse. Officers of all ranks kept the Recording Angel +fearfully busy. With scarcely an exception they were men of blunt speech +and rough tongue who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, and the +ordinary seaman something many degrees worse. These were technicalities +of the service which had neither use nor meaning elsewhere. But to the +navigation of the ship, to daily routine and the maintenance of that +exact discipline on which the Navy prided itself, they were as essential +as is milk to the making of cheese. Nothing could be done without them. +Decent language was thrown away upon a set of fellows who had been bred +in that very shambles of language, the merchant marine. To them "'twas +just all the same as High Dutch." They neither understood it nor +appreciated its force. But a volley of thumping oaths, bellowed at them +from the brazen throat of a speaking-trumpet, and freely interlarded +with adjectives expressive of the foulness of their persons, and the +ultimate state and destination of their eyes and limbs, saved the +situation and sometimes the ship. Officers addicted to this necessary +flow of language were sensible of only one restraint. Visiting parties +caused them embarrassment, and when this was the case they fell back +upon the tactics of the commander who, unable to express himself with +his usual fluency because of the presence of ladies on the quarter-deck, +hailed the foreyard-arm in some such terms as these: "Foreyard-arm +there! God bless you! God bless you! God bless you! _You know what I +mean!_" + +Hard words break no bones, and to quarter-deck language, as such, the +sailor entertained no rooted objection. What he did object to, and +object to with all the dogged insistence of his nature, was the fact +that this habitual flow of profane scurrility was only the prelude to +what, with grim pleasantry, he was accustomed to describe as "serving +out slops." Anything intended to cover his back was "slops" to the +sailor, and the punishments meted out to him covered him like a garment. + +The old code of naval laws, the _Monumenta Juridica_ or _Black Book_ of +the Admiralty, contained many curious disciplinary methods, not a few +of which too long survived the age they originated in. If, for instance, +one sailor robbed another and was found guilty of the crime, boiling +pitch was poured over his head and he was powdered with feathers "to +mark him," after which he was marooned on the first island the ship fell +in with. Seamen guilty of undressing themselves while at sea were ducked +three times from the yard-arm--a more humane use of that spar than +converting it into a gallows. On this code were based Admiral the +Earl of Lindsay's "Instructions" of 1695. These included ducking, +keel-hauling, fasting, flogging, weighting until the "heart or back be +ready to break," and "gogging" or scraping the tongue with hoop-iron +for obscene or profane swearing; for although the "gentlemen of the +quarter-deck" might swear to their heart's content, that form of +recreation was strictly taboo in other parts of the ship. Here we have +the origin of the brutal discipline of the next century, summed up in +the Consolidation Act of George II. [Footnote: 22 George II. c. 33.]--an +Act wherein ten out of thirty-six articles awarded capital punishment +without option, and twelve death or minor penalties. + +Of the latter, the one most commonly in use was flogging at the gangway +or jears. This duty fell to the lot of the boatswain's mate. [Footnote: +"As it is the Custom of the Army to punish with the Drums, so it is +the known Practice of the Navy to punish with the Boatswain's +Mate."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. (afterwards Admiral) +Boscawen, 25 Feb. 1746-7.] The instrument employed was the +cat-o'-nine-tails, the regulation dose twelve lashes; but since the +actual number was left to the captain's discretion or malice, as the +case might be, it not infrequently ran into three figures. Thus John +Watts, able seaman on board H.M.S. _Harwich,_ Capt. Andrew Douglas +commander, in 1704 received one hundred and seventy lashes for striking +a shipmate in self-defence, his captain meanwhile standing by and +exhorting the boatswain's mate to "Swinge the Dog, for hee has a Tough +Hide"--and that, too, with a cat waxed to make it bite the harder. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5.] + +It was just this unearned increment of blows--this dash of bitter added +to the regulation cup--that made Jack's gorge rise. He was not the sort +of chap, it must be confessed, to be ruled with a feather. "An impudent +rascal" at the best of times, he often "deserved a great deal and had +but little." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1472--Capt. Balchen, 26 +Jan. 1716-7.] But unmerited punishment, too often devilishly devised, +maliciously inflicted and inhumanly carried out, broke the back of his +sense of justice, already sadly overstrained, and inspired him with a +mortal hatred of all things naval. + +For the slightest offence he was "drubbed at the gears"; for serious +offences, from ship to ship. If, when reefing topsails on a dark night +or in the teeth of a sudden squall, he did not handle the canvas with +all the celerity desired by the officer of the watch, he and his fellow +yardsmen were flogged _en bloc_. He was made to run the gauntlet, often +with the blood gushing from nose and ears as the result of a previous +dose of the cat, until he fell to the deck comatose and at the point of +death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1466--Complaint of ye Abuse of +a Sayler in the _Litchfield_, 1704. In this case the man actually died.] +Logs of wood were bound to his legs as shackles, and whatever the nature +of his offence, he invariably began his expiation of it, the preliminary +canter, so to speak, in irons. If he had a lame leg or a bad foot, he +was "started" with a rope's-end as a "slacker." If he happened to be +the last to tumble up when his watch was called, the rattan [Footnote: +Carried at one time by both commissioned and warrant officers.] raised +weals on his back or drew blood from his head; and, as if to add insult +to injury, for any of these, and a hundred and one other offences, he +was liable to be black-listed and to lose his allowance of grog. + +Some things, too, were reckoned sins aboard ship which, unhappily for +the sailor, could not well be avoided. Laughing, or even permitting the +features to relax in a smile in the official presence, was such a sin. +"He beats us for laughing," declare the company of the _Solebay_, in +a complaint against their commander, "more like Doggs than Men." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1435--Capt. Aldred, 29 Feb. 1703-4.] +One of the _Nymph's_ company, in or about the year 1797, received three +dozen for what was officially termed "Silent Contempt"--"which was +nothing more than this, that when flogged by the boatswain's mate the +man smiled." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions, 1793-7.] +This was the "Unpardonable Crime" of the service. + +Contrariwise, a man was beaten if he sulked. And as a rule the sailor +was sulky enough. Works of supererogation, such as polishing everything +polishable--the shot for the guns, in extreme cases, not even +excepted--until it shone like the tropical sun at noonday, left him +little leisure or inclination for mirth. "Very pretty to look at," +said Wellington, when confronted with these glaring evidences of +hyper-discipline, "but there is one thing wanting. I have not seen a +bright face in the ship." + +A painful tale of discipline run mad, or nearly so, is unfolded by that +fascinating series of sailor-records, the Admiralty Petitions. Many of +them, it must in justice be owned, bear unqualified testimony to the +kindness and humanity of officers; but in the great majority of cases +the evidence they adduce is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And if their +language is sometimes bombastic, if their style is almost uniformly +illiterate, if they are the productions of a band of mutinous dogs +standing out for rights which they never possessed and deserving of a +halter rather than a hearing, these are circumstances that do not in +the least detract from the veracity of the allegations they advance. The +sailor appealed to his king, or to the Admiralty, "the same as a child +to its father"; and no one who peruses the story of his wrongs, as set +forth in these documents, can doubt for a moment that he speaks the +truth with all a child's simplicity. + +The seamen of the _Reunion_ open the tale of oppression and ill-usage. +"Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in Salt Water +and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look as Clean as +if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's Grog which has +the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not Tyd to please +him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the _Amphitrite_ "flogging is +their portion." The men of the _Winchelsea_ "wold sooner be Shot at like +a Targaite than to Remain." The treatment systematically meted out +to the _Shannon's_ crew is more than the heart "can Cleaverly +Bear"--enough, in short, to make them "rise and Steer the Ship into an +Enemies Port." The seamen of the _Glory_ are made wretched by "beating, +blacking, tarring, putting our heads in Bags," and by being forced to +"drink half a Gallon of Salt Water" for the most trivial breaches of +discipline or decorum. On the _Blanch,_ if they get wet and hang or +spread their clothes to dry, the captain "thros them overboard." The +_Nassau's_ company find it impossible to put the abuse they receive on +paper. It is "above Humanity." Though put on board to fight for king and +country, they are used worse than dogs. They have no encouragement to +"face the Enemy with a chearful Heart." Besides being kept "more +like Convicts than free-born Britons," the _Nymph's_ company have an +unspeakable grievance. "When Engaged with the Enemy off Brest, March +the 9th, 1797, they even Beat us at our Quarters, though on the Verge of +Eternity." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5l25--Petitions, 1793-7.] + +On the principle advanced by Rochefoucault, that there is something +not displeasing to us in the misfortunes of our friends, the sailor +doubtless derived a sort of negative satisfaction from the fact that he +was not the only one on shipboard liable to the pains and penalties of +irascibility, brutality and excessive disciplinary zeal. Particularly +was this true of his special friend the "sky-pilot" or chaplain, that +super-person who perhaps most often fell a victim to quarter-deck +ebullitions. Notably there is on record the case of one John +Cruickshank, chaplain of H.M.S. _Assurance,_ who was clapped in irons, +court-martialled and dismissed the service merely because he happened +to take--what no sailor could ever condemn him for-a drop too much, and +whilst in that condition insisted on preaching to the ship's company +when they were on the very point of going into action. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5. His zeal was +unusual. Most naval chaplains thought "of nothing more than making His +Majesty's ships sinecures"] There is also that other case of the "saucy +Surgeon of the _Seahorse_" who incurred his captain's dire displeasure +all on account of candles, of which necessary articles he, having his +wife on board, thought himself entitled to a more liberal share than +was consistent with strict naval economy; and who was, moreover, so +"troblesome about his Provisions, that if he did not always Chuse out +of ye best in ye whole Ship," he straightway got his back up and +"threatened to Murder the Steward." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Blowers, 3 Jan. 1710-11.] Such interludes as these would +assuredly have proved highly diverting to the foremast-man had it not +been for the cat and that savage litter of minor punishments awaiting +the man who smiled. + +In the matter of provisions, there can be little doubt that the sailor +shared to the full the desire evinced by the surgeon of the _Seahorse_ +to take blood-vengeance upon someone on account of them. His +"belly-timber," as old Misson so aptly if indelicately describes it, was +mostly worm-eaten or rotten, his drink indescribably nasty. + +Charles II. is said to have made his breakfast off ship's diet the +morning he left the _Naseby,_ and to have pronounced it good; and Nelson +in 1803 declared it "could not possibly be improved upon." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580-Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] +Such, however, was not the opinion of the chaplain of the _Dartmouth,_ +for after dining with his captain on an occasion which deserves to +become historic, he swore that "although he liked that Sort of Living +very well, as for the King's Allowance there was but a Sheat of +Browne Paper between it and Hell." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1464--Misdemenors Comited by Mr Edward Lewis, Chapling on Board H. M. +Shipp Dartmouth, 1 Oct. 1702.] Which of these opinions came nearest to +the truth, the sequel will serve to show. + +On the face of it the sailor's dietary was not so bad. A ship's stores, +in 1719, included ostensibly such items as bread, wine, beef, pork, +peas, oatmeal, butter, cheese, water and beer, and if Jack had but had +his fair share of these commodities, and had it in decent condition, +he would have had little reason to grumble about the king's allowance. +Unhappily for him, the humanities of diet were little studied by the +Victualling Board. + +Taking the beef, the staple article of consumption on shipboard, cooking +caused it to shrink as much as 45 per cent., thus reducing the sailor's +allowance by nearly one-half. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1495--Capt. Barrington, 23 Dec. 1770.] The residuum was often "mere +carrion," totally unfit for human consumption. "Junk," the sailor +contemptuously called it, likening it, in point of texture, +digestibility and nutritive properties, to the product of picked oakum, +which it in many respects strongly resembled. The pork, though it lost +less in the cooking, was rancid, putrid stuff, repellent in odour and +colour-particulars in which it found close competitors in the butter and +cheese, which had often to be thrown overboard because they "stunk +the ship." [Footnote: To disinfect a ship after she had been fouled by +putrid rations or disease, burning sulphur and vinegar were commonly +employed. Their use was preferable to the means adopted by the carpenter +of the _Feversham_, who in order to "sweeten ship" once "turn'd on +the cock in the hould" and through forgetfulness "left it running for +eighteen howers," thereby not only endangering the vessel's safety, +but incidentally spoiling twenty-one barrels of powder in the +magazine.--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. Watson, 18 April 1741.] +The peas "would not break." Boiled for eight hours on end, they came +through the ordeal "almost as hard as shott." Only the biscuit, apart +from the butter and cheese, possessed the quality of softness. Damp, +sea-water, mildew and weevil converted "hard" into "soft tack" and added +another horror to the sailor's mess. The water he washed these varied +abominations down with was frequently "stuff that beasts would cough +at." His beer was no better. It would not keep, and was in consequence +both "stinking and sour." [Footnote: According to Raleigh, old oil +and fish casks were used for the storing of ship's beer in Elizabeth's +reign.] Although the contractor was obliged to make oath that he had +used both malt and hops in the brewing, it often consisted of nothing +more stimulating than "water coloured and bittered," and sometimes the +"stingy dog of a brewer" even went so far as to omit the "wormwood." + +Such a dietary as this made a meal only an unavoidable part of the day's +punishment and inspired the sailor with profound loathing. "Good +Eating is an infallible Antidote against murmuring, as many a Big-Belly +Place-Man can instance," he says in one of his petitions. Poor fellow! +his opportunities of putting it to the test were few enough. On Mondays, +Wednesdays and Fridays, the so-called Banyan days of the service, when +his hateful ration of meat was withheld and in its stead he regaled +himself on plum-duff--the "plums," according to an old regulation, "not +worse than Malaga"--he had a taste of it. Hence the banyan day, though +in reality a fast-day, became indelibly associated in his simple mind +and vocabulary with occasions of feasting and plenty, and so remains to +this day. + +If the sailor's only delicacy was duff, his only comforts were rum and +tobacco, and to explore some unknown island, and discover therein a +goodly river of the famous Jamaica spirit, flowing deep and fragrant +between towering mountains of "pig tail," is commonly reputed to have +been the cherished wish of his heart. With tobacco the Navy Board did +not provide him, nor afford dishonest pursers opportunity to "make dead +men chew," [Footnote: Said of pursers who manipulated the Muster Books, +which it was part of their duty to keep, in such a way as to make it +appear that men "discharged dead" had drawn a larger quantity of tobacco +than was actually the case, the difference in value of course going +into their own pockets.] until 1798; but rum they allowed him at a +comparatively early date. When sickness prevailed on board, when beer +ran short or had to be turned over the side to preserve a sweet ship, +rum or wine was issued, and although the Admiralty at first looked +askance at the innovation, and at times left commanders of ships to foot +the bill for spirits thus served out, the practice made gradual headway, +until at length it ousted beer altogether and received the stamp of +official approval. Half a pint, dealt out each morning and evening in +equal portions, was the regular allowance--a quantity often doubled were +the weather unusually severe or the men engaged in the arduous duty +of watering ship. At first the ration of rum was served neat and +appreciated accordingly; but about 1740 the practice of adding water was +introduced. This was Admiral Vernon's doing. Vernon was best known to +his men as "Old Grog," a nickname originating in a famous grogram coat +he affected in dirty weather; and as the rum and water now served out +to them was little to their liking, they marked their disapproval of the +mixture, as well as of the man who invented it, by dubbing it "grog." +The sailor was not without his sense of humour. + +The worst feature of rum, from the sailor's point of view, worse by far +than dilution, was the fact that it could be so easily stopped. Here his +partiality for the spirit told heavily against him. His grog was stopped +because he liked it, rather than because he deserved to lose it. The +malice of the thing did not make for a contented ship. + +The life of the man-o'-war's-man, according to Lord Nelson, was on an +average "finished at forty-five years." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Bad food and +strenuous labour under exceptionally trying conditions sapped his +vitals, made him prematurely old, and exposed him to a host of ills +peculiar to his vocation. He "fell down daily," to employ the old +formula, in spotted or putrid fevers. He was racked by agues, distorted +by rheumatic pains, ruptured or double-ruptured by the strain of +pulling, hauling and lifting heavy weights. He ate no meal without +incurring the pangs of acute indigestion, to which he was fearfully +subject. He was liable to a "prodigious inflammation of the head, nose +and eyes," occasioned by exposure. Scurvy, his most inveterate and +merciless enemy, "beat up" for him on every voyage and dragged his +brine-sodden body down to a lingering death. Or, did he escape these +dangers and a watery grave, protracted disease sooner or later rendered +him helpless, or a brush with the enemy disabled him for ever from +earning his bread. + +His surgeons were, as a rule, a sorry lot. Not only were they deficient +in numbers, they commonly lacked both professional training and skill. +Their methods were consequently of the crudest description, and long +continued so. The approved treatment for rupture, to which the sailor +was painfully liable, was to hang the patient up by the heels until the +prolapsus was reduced. Pepys relates how he met a seaman returning from +fighting the Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped with oakum," and as late +at least as the Battle of Trafalgar it was customary, in amputations, +to treat the bleeding stump with boiling pitch as a cauterant. In his +general attitude towards the sick and wounded the old-time naval surgeon +was not unlike Garth, Queen Anne's famous physician. At the Kit Cat Club +he one day sat so long over his wine that Steele ventured to remind +him of his patients. "No matter," said Garth. "Nine have such bad +constitutions that no physician can save them, and the other six such +good ones that all the physicans in the world could not kill them." + +Many were the devices resorted to in order to keep the man-o'-war's-man +healthy and fit. As early as 1602 a magic electuary, invented by one +"Doctor Cogbourne, famous for fluxes," was by direction of the Navy +Commissioners supplied for his use in the West Indies. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Barker, 14 Oct. 1702.] By Admiral +Vernon and his commanders he was dosed freely with "Elixir of Vitriol," +which they not only "reckoned the best general medicine next to +rhubarb," but pinned their faith to as a sovereign specific for scurvy +and fevers. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 161--Admiral Vernon, 31 +Oct. 1741.] Lime-juice, known as a valuable anti-scorbutic as early as +the days of Drake and Raleigh, was not added to his rations till 1795. +He did not find it very palatable. The secret of fortifying it was +unknown, and oil had to be floated on its surface to make it keep. +Sour-crout was much more to his taste as a preventive of scurvy, and +in 1777, at the request of Admiral Montagu, then Governor and +Commander-in-Chief over the Island of Newfoundland, the Admiralty caused +to be sent out, for the use of the squadron on that station, where +vegetables were unprocurable, a sufficient quantity of that succulent +preparation to supply twelve hundred men for a period of two months. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 471--Admiral Montagu, 28 Feb. 1777, +and endorsement.] + +Rice the sailor detested. Of all species of "soft tack" it was least to +his liking. He nicknamed it "strike-me-blind," being firmly convinced +that its continued use would rob him of his eyesight. Tea was not added +to his dietary till 1824, but as early as 1795 he could regale himself +on cocoa. For the rest, sugar, essence of malt, essence of spruce, +mustard, cloves, opium and "Jesuits'" or Peruvian bark were considered +essential to his well-being on shipboard. He was further allowed a +barber-one to every hundred men-without whose attentions it was found +impossible to keep him "clean and healthy." + +With books he was for many years "very scantily supplied." It was not +till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he +had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with +the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of +literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure +with such books as the _Old Chaplains Farewell Letter_, Wilson's +_Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man_, Seeker's _Duties of the Sick_, and, +lest returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his +ailments, Gibson's _Advice after Sickness_. Thousands of pounds were +spent upon this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet +in strict accordance with the amount of storage room available at the +various dockyards. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Accountant-General, +Misc. (Various), No. l06--Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, +Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.] + +A fundamental principle of man-o'-war routine was that the sailor formed +no part of it for hospital purposes. Hence sickness was not encouraged. +If the sailor-patient did not recover within a reasonable time, he was +"put on shore sick," sometimes to the great terror of the populace, who, +were he supposed to be afflicted with an infectious disease, fled +from him "as if he had the plague." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2732--Capt. Young, 24 June 1740.] On shore he was treated for thirty +days at his country's charges. If incurable, or permanently disabled, he +was then turned adrift and left to shift for himself. A clean record +and a sufficiently serious wound entitled him to a small pension or +admission to Greenwich Hospital, an institution which had religiously +docked his small pay of sixpence a month throughout his entire service. +Failing these, there remained for him only the streets and the beggar's +rôle. + +His pay was far from princely. From 3d. a day in the reign of King John +it rose by grudging increments to 20s. a month in 1626, and 24s. in +1797. Years sometimes elapsed before he touched a penny of his earnings, +except in the form of "slop" clothing and tobacco. Amongst the instances +of deferred wages in which the Admiralty records abound, there may be +cited the case of the _Dreadnought_, whose men in 1711 had four years' +pay due; and of the _Dunkirk_, to whose company, in the year following, +six and a half years' was owing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Bennett, 8 March 1710-11. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Butler, 19 March, 1711-12,] And at the time of the Nore Mutiny it was +authoritatively stated that there were ships then in the fleet which +had not been paid off for eight, ten, twelve and in one instance even +fifteen years. "Keep the pay, keep the man," was the policy of the +century--a sadly mistaken policy, as we shall presently see. + +In another important article of contentment the sailor was hardly better +off. The system of deferred pay amounted practically to a stoppage of +all leave for the period, however protracted, during which the pay was +withheld. Thus the _Monmouth's_ men had in 1706 been in the ship "almost +six years, and had never had the opportunity of seeing their families +but once." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1468-Capt. Baker, 3 Nov. +1706.] In Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_, there were in 1744 two +hundred and fifty men who "had not set foot on shore near two year." +Admiral Penrose once paid off in a seventy-four at Plymouth, many +of whose crew had "never set foot on land for six or seven years"; +[Footnote: Penrose (Sir V. C., Vice-Admiral of the Blue), _Observations +on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc.,_ 1824.] and Brenton, in +his _Naval History_, instances the case of a ship whose company, after +having been eleven years in the East Indies, on returning to England +were drafted straightway into another ship and sent back to that quarter +of the globe without so much as an hour's leave ashore. + +What was true of pay and leave was also true of prize-money. The +sailor was systematically kept out of it, and hence out of the means of +enjoyment and carousal it afforded him, for inconscionable periods. From +a moral point of view the check was hardly to his detriment. But +the Navy was not a school of morals, and withholding the sailor's +hard-earned prize-money over an indefinite term of years neither made +for a contented heart nor enhanced his love for a service that first +absorbed him against his will, and then, having got him in its clutches, +imposed upon and bested him at every turn. + +Although the prime object in withholding his pay was to prevent his +running from his ship, so far from compassing that desirable end it had +exactly the contrary effect. Both the preventive and the disease were of +long standing. With De Ruyter in the Thames in 1667, menacing London +and the kingdom, the seamen of the fleet flocked to town in hundreds, +clamouring for their wages, whilst their wives besieged the Navy Office +in Seething Lane, shrieking: "This is what comes of not paying our +husbands!" + +Essentially a creature of contradictions, the sailor rarely, if he could +avoid it, steered the course laid down for him, and in nothing perhaps +was this idiosyncrasy so glaringly apparent as in his behaviour as his +country's creditor. He "would get to London if he could." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 12 Dec. 1742.] "An +unaccountable humour" impelled him "to quit His Majesty's service +without leave." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Shirley, Governor +of Massachusetts, 12 Sept. 1746.] Once the whim seized him, no ties of +deferred pay or prize-money had power to hold him back. The one he could +obtain on conditions; the other he could dispose of at a discount which, +though ruinously heavy, still left him enough to frolic on. + +The weapon of deferred pay was thus a two-edged one. If it hurt the +sailor, it also cut the fingers of those who employed it against him. So +exigent were the needs of the service, he could "run" with impunity. +For if he ran whilst his pay was in arrears, he did so with the full +knowledge that, barring untimely recapture by the press-gang, he would +receive a free pardon, together with payment of all dues, on the sole +condition, which he never kept if he could help it, of returning to his +ship when his money was gone. He therefore deserted for two reasons: +First, to obtain his pay; second, to spend it. + +The penalty for desertion, under a well-known statute of George I., +[Footnote: 13 George I., art. 7.] was death by hanging. As time went on, +however, discipline in this respect suffered a grave relapse, and fear +of the halter no longer served to check the continual exodus from the +fleet. If the runaway sailor were taken, "it would only be a whipping +bout." So he openly boasted. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1479--Capt. Boscawen, 26 April 1743.] The "bout," it is true, at times +ran to six, or even seven hundred lashes--the latter being the heaviest +dose of the cat ever administered in the British navy; [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 12 Nov. 1765.] but +even this terrible ordeal had no power to hold the sailor to his duty, +and although Admiral Lord St. Vincent, better known in his day as +"hanging Jervis," did his utmost to revive the ancient custom of +stretching the sailor's neck, the trend of the times was against him, +and within twenty-five years of the reaffirming of the penalty, in the +22nd year of George II., hanging for desertion had become practically +obsolete. + +In the declining days of the practice a grim game at life and death was +played upon the deck of a king's ship lying in the River St. Lawrence. +The year was 1760. Quebec had only recently fallen before the British +onslaught. A few days before that event, at a juncture when every man in +the squadron was counted upon to play his part in the coming struggle, +and to play it well, three seamen, James Mike, Thomas Wilkinson and +William M'Millard by name, deserted from the _Vanguard_. Retaken some +months later, they were brought to trial; but as men were not easy to +replace in that latitude, the court, whilst sentencing all three to +suffer the extreme penalty of the law, added to their verdict a rider +to the effect that it would be good policy to spare two of them. Admiral +Lord Colvill, then Commander-in-Chief, issued his orders accordingly, +and at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July the condemned +men, preceded to the scaffold by two chaplains, were led to the +_Vanguard's_ forecastle, where they drew lots to determine which of them +should die. The fatal lot fell to James Mike, who, in presence of the +assembled boats of the squadron, was immediately "turned off" at the +foreyard-arm. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 10 July 1760; Captains' Logs, 1026--Log of H.M.S. _Vanguard_.] + +Encouraged in this grim fashion, desertion assumed alarming proportions. +Nelson estimated that whenever a large convoy of merchant ships +assembled at Portsmouth, at least a thousand men deserted from the +fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State +of the Fleet, 1803.] This was a "liberty they would take," do what you +could to prevent it. + +Of those who thus deserted fully one-third, according to the same high +authority, never saw the fleet again. "From loss of clothes, drinking +and other debaucheries" they were "lost by death to the country." Some +few of the remainder, after drinking His Majesty's health in a final +bowl, voluntarily returned on board and "prayed for a fair wind"; but +the majority held aloof, taking their chances and their pleasures in +sailorly fashion until, their last stiver gone, they fell an easy prey +to the press-gang or the crimp. + +While the crimp was to the merchant service what the press-gang was +to the Navy, a kind of universal provider, there was in his method of +preying upon the sailor a radical difference. Like his French compeer, +the recruiting sergeant of the Pont Neuf in the days of Louis the +Well-Beloved, wherever sailors congregated the crimp might be heard +rattling his money-bags and crying: "Who wants any? Who wants any?" +Where the press-gang used the hanger or the cudgel, the crimp employed +dollars. The circumstance gave him a decided "pull" in the contest for +men, for the dollars he offered, whether in the way of pay or bounty, +were invariably fortified with rum. The two formed a contraption no +sailor could resist. "Money and liquor held out to a seaman," said +Nelson, "are too much for him." + +In law the offence of enticing seamen to desert His Majesty's service, +like desertion itself, was punishable with death; [Footnote: 22 +George n. cap. 33.] but in fact the penalty was either commuted to +imprisonment, or the offender was dealt with summarily, without invoking +the law. Crimps who were caught red-handed had short shrift. Two of the +fraternity, named respectively Henry Nathan and Sampson Samuel, were +once taken in the Downs. "Send Nathan and Samuel," ran the Admiralty +order in their case, "to Plymouth by the first conveyance. Admiral Young +is to order them on board a ship going on foreign service as soon as +possible." Another time an officer, boarding a boat filled with men as +it was making for an Indiaman at Gravesend, found in her six crimps, +all of whom suffered the same fate. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1542--Capt. Bazeley, 7 Feb. 1808. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. +Bowater, 12 June 1796.] + +Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver cooped," +and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, it was +world-wide. In whatever waters a British man-o'-war cast anchor, there +the crimp appeared, plying his crafty trade. His assiduity paid a high +compliment to the sterling qualities of the British seaman, but for the +Navy it spelt wholesale depletion. + +In home ports he was everywhere in evidence. No ship of war could lie in +Leith Roads but she lost a good part of her crew through his seductions. +"M'Kirdy & M'Lean, petty-fogging writers," were the chief crimps at +Greenock. Sheerness crimps gave "great advance money." Liverpool was +infested with them, all the leading merchant shippers at Bristol, +London and other great ports having "agents" there, who offered the +man-o'-war's-man tempting bounties and substantial wages to induce him +to desert his ship. A specially active agent of Bristol shipowners was +one Vernon Ley, who plied his trade chiefly at Exeter and Plymouth, +whence he was known to send to Bristol, in the space of six months, as +many as seventy or eighty men, whom he provided with postchaises for the +journey and 8 Pounds per man as bounty. James White, a publican who kept +the "Pail of Barm" at Bedminster, made a close second in his activity +and success. Spithead had its regular contingent of crimps, and many an +East India ship sailing from that famous anchorage was "entirely manned" +by their efforts, of course at the expense of the ships of war lying +there. At Chatham, crimpage bounty varied from fifteen to twenty +guineas per head; and at Cork, a favourite recruiting ground for both +merchantmen and privateers, the same sum could be had any day, with high +wages to boot. + +In the Crown Colonies a similar state of things prevailed. Queen's ships +visiting Jamaica in or about the year 1716 lost so heavily they scarce +dared venture the return voyage to England, their men having "gone +a-wrecking" in the Gulf of Florida, where one armed sloop was reputed +to have recovered Spanish treasure to the value of a hundred thousand +dollars. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Balchen, 13 May +1716.] Time did not lessen desertion in the island, though it wrought a +change in the cause. When Admiral Vernon was Commander-in-Chief there +in the forties, he lost five hundred men within a comparatively short +time--"seduced out," to use his own words, "through the temptations of +high wages and thirty gallons of rum, and conveyed drunk on board from +the punch-houses where they are seduced." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 233--Admiral Vernon, 5 Sept. 1742. A rare recruiting sheet of 1780, +which has for its headpiece a volunteer shouting: "Rum for nothing!" +describes Jamaica as "that delightful Island, abounding in Rum, Sugar +and Spanish Dollars, where there is delicious living and plenty of GROGG +and PUNCH."] + +At Louisberg, in the Island of Cape Breton, the North American Squadron +in 1746 lost so many men through the seductions practised by New England +skippers frequenting that port, that Townsend, the admiral in command, +indited a strongly worded protest to Shirley, then Governor of +Massachusetts; but the latter, though deploring the "vile behaviour" +of the skippers in question, could do nothing to put a stop to it. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Townsend, 17 Aug.; Shirley, 12 +Sept. 1746.] As a matter of fact he did not try. + +On the coast of Carolina many of the English merchantmen in 1743 paid +from seventeen to twenty guineas for the run home, and in addition "as +many pounds of Sugar, Gallons of Rum and pounds of Tobacco as pounds +in Money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1 1479-Capt. Bladwell, 1 July +1743.] + +The lust for privateering had much to answer for in this respect. So +possessed were the Virginians by the desire to get rich at the expense +of their enemies that they quite "forgot their allegiance to the King." +By the offer of inordinately high wages and rich prizes they did their +utmost to seduce carpenters, gunners, sailmakers and able seamen from +His Majesty's ships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1480--Capt. +Lord Alexander Banff, 21 Oct. 1744.] Any ship forced to winter at Rhode +Island, again, always counted upon losing enough men to "disable her +from putting to sea" when the spring came. Here, too, the privateering +spirit was to blame, Rhode Island being notorious for its enterprise in +that form of piracy. Another impenitent sinner in her inroads upon the +companies of king's ships was Boston, where "a sett of people made it +their Business" to entice them away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1440--Capt. Askew, 27 Aug. 1748.] No ship could clean, refit, victual +or winter there without "the loss of all her men." Capt. Young, of +the _Jason_, was in 1753 left there with never a soul on board except +"officers and servants, widows' men, the quarter-deck gentlemen and +those called idlers." The rest had been seduced at 30 Pounds per head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 Oct. 1753. The +"widows' men" here humorously alluded to would not add much to the +effectiveness of the depleted company. They were imaginary sailors, +borne on the ship's books for pay and prize-money which went to +Greenwich Hospital.] + +So it went on. Day in, day out, at home and abroad, this ceaseless drain +of men, linking hands in the decimation of the fleet with those able +adjutants Disease and Death, accentuated progressively and enormously +the naval needs of the country. For the apprehension and return of +deserters from ships in home ports a drag-net system of rewards and +conduct-money sprang into being; but this the sailor to some extent +contrived to elude. He "stuck a cockade in his hat" and made shift to +pass for a soldier on leave; or he laid furtive hands on a horse and +set up for an equestrian traveller. In the neighbourhood of all great +seaport towns, as on all main roads leading to that paradise and +ultimate goal of the deserter, the metropolis, horse-stealing by sailors +"on the run" prevailed to an alarming extent; and although there was +a time when the law strung him up for the crime of borrowing horses to +help him on his way, as it had once hanged him for deserting, the naval +needs of the country eventually changed all that and brought him a +permanent reprieve. Thenceforth, instead of sending the happy-go-lucky, +devil-may-care felon to the gallows, they turned him over to the +press-gang and so re-consigned him, penniless and protesting, to the +duty he detested. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + + + +From the standpoint of a systematic supply of men to the fleet, the +press-gang was a legitimate means to an imperative end. This was the +official view. In how different a light the people came to regard the +petty man-trap of power, we shall presently see. + +Designed as it was for the taking up of able-bodied adults, the main +idea in the formation of the gang was strength and efficiency. It was +accordingly composed of the stoutest men procurable, dare-devil fellows +capable of giving a good account of themselves in fight, or of carrying +off their unwilling prey against long odds. Brute strength combined +with animal courage being thus the first requisite of the ganger, it +followed--not perhaps as a matter of course so much as a matter of +fact--that his other qualities were seldom such as to endear him to the +people. Wilkes denounced him for a "lawless ruffian," and one of the +newspapers of his time describes him, with commendable candour and +undeniable truth, as a "profligate and abandoned wretch, perpetually +lounging about the streets and incessantly vomiting out oaths and horrid +curses." [Footnote: _London Chronicle,_ 16 March 1762.] + +The getting of a gang together presented little difficulty. The first +business of the officer charged with its formation was to find suitable +quarters, rent not to exceed twenty shillings a week, inclusive of fire +and candle. Here he hung out a flag as the sign of authority and a bait +for volunteers. As a rule, they were easily procurable. All the roughs +of the town were at his disposal, and when these did not yield material +enough recourse was had to beat of drum, that instrument, together with +the man who thumped it, being either hired at half-a-crown a day or +"loaned" from the nearest barracks. Selected members of the crowd thus +assembled were then plied with drink "to invite them to enter"--an +invitation they seldom refused. + +It goes without saying that gangs raised in this manner were of an +exceedingly mixed character. On the principle of setting a thief +to catch a thief, seafaring men of course had first preference, but +landsmen were by no means excluded. The gang operating at Godalming in +1782 may be cited as typical of the average inland gang. It consisted of +three farmers, one weaver, one bricklayer, one labourer, and two others +whose regular occupations are not divulged. They were probably sailors. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Boston, Report on +Rendezvous, 1782.] + +Landsmen entered on the express understanding that they should not +be pressed when the gang broke up. Sailor gangsmen, on the contrary, +enjoyed no such immunity. The most they could hope for, when their +arduous duties came to an end, was permission to "choose their ship." +The concession was no mean one. By choosing his ship discreetly the +gangsman avoided encounters with men he had pressed, thus preserving his +head unbroken and his skin intact. + +Ship-gangs, unlike those operating on land, were composed entirely of +seamen. For dash, courage and efficiency, they had no equal and few +rivals. + +Apart from the officers commanding it, the number of men that went to +the making of a gang varied from two to twenty or more according to the +urgency of the occasion that called it into being and the importance or +ill-repute of the centre selected as the scene of its operations. +For Edinburgh and Leith twenty-one men, directed by a captain, two +lieutenants and four midshipmen, were considered none too many. Greenock +kept the same number of officers and twenty men fully employed, for +here there was much visiting of ships on the water, a fast cutter being +retained for that purpose. The Liverpool gang numbered eighteen men, +directed by seven officers and backed by a flotilla of three tenders, +each under the command of a special lieutenant. Towns such as +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great Yarmouth, Cowes and Haverfordwest also had +gangs of at least twenty men each, with boats as required; and Deal, +Dover and Folkstone five gangs between them, totalling fifty men and +fifteen officers, and employing as many boats as gangs for pressing in +the Downs. + +In the case of ship-gangs, operating directly from a ship of war in +harbour or at sea, the officers in charge were as a matter of course +selected from the available ward or gun-room contingent. Few, if any, of +the naval men whose names at one time or another spring into prominence +during the century, escaped this unpleasant but necessary duty in their +younger days. But on shore an altogether different order of things +prevailed. + + [Illustration: MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a +rare print in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley.] + +The impress service ashore was essentially the grave of promotion. +Whether through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high +places, the officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, +service derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or +of again commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat +spoke of them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the +fictitious rank denoting a kind of service quarantine that knew no +pratique. + +Like the salt junk of the foremast--man, the Yellow Admiral got +fearfully "out of character" through over-keeping. With the service he +lost all touch save in one degrading particular. His pay was better +than his reputation, but his position was isolated, his duties and his +actions subject to little official supervision. With opportunity came +peculiar temptations to bribery and peculation, and to these he often +succumbed. The absence of congenial society frequently weighed heavy +upon him and drove him to immoderate drinking. Had he lived a generation +or so later the average impress officer ashore could have echoed with +perfect truth, and almost nightly iteration, the crapulous sentiment +in which Byron is said to have toasted his hosts when dining on board +H.M.S. _Hector_ at Malta:-- + + "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, + Was ever mortal drunk as I am!" + +[Footnote: The authenticity of the anecdote, notwithstanding the fact +that it was long current in naval circles, is more than doubtful. When +Bryon visited Malta in 1808 the _Hector_ was doing duty at Plymouth as a +prison-ship, and naval records disclose no other ship of that name till +1864.] + +A lieutenant attached to the gang at Chester is responsible for a piece +of descriptive writing, of a biographical nature, which perhaps depicts +the impress officer of the century at his worst. Addressing a brother +lieutenant at Waterford, to which station his superior was on the point +of being transferred, "I think but right," says he, "to give you a +character of Capt. P., who is to be your Regulating Captain. I have been +with him six months here, and if it had not been that he is leaving +the place, I should have wrote to the Board of Admiralty to have been +removed from under his command. At first you'll think him a Fine old +Fellow, but if it's possible he will make you Quarrel with all your +Acquaintance. Be very Careful not to Introduce him to any Family that +you have a regard for, for although he is near Seventy Years of Age, he +is the greatest Debauchee you ever met with--a Man of No Religion, a +Man who is Capable of any Meanness, Arbitrary and Tyrannicall in his +Disposition. This City has been several times just on the point of +writing against him to the Board of Admiralty. He has a wife, and +Children grown up to Man's Estate. The Woman he brings over with him +is Bird the Builder's Daughter. To Conclude, there is not a House in +Chester that he can go into but his own and the Rendezvous, after having +been Six Months in one of the agreeablest Cities in England." [Footnote: +_Ad,_ 1. 1500--Lieut. Shuckford, 7 March 1780.] + +Ignorant of the fact that his reputation had thus preceded him, Capt. P. +found himself assailed, on his arrival at Waterford, by a "most Infamous +Epitaph," emanating none knew whence, nor cared. This circumstance, +accentuated by certain indiscretions of which the hectoring old officer +was guilty shortly after his arrival, aroused strong hostility against +him. A mob of fishwives, attacking his house at Passage, smashed the +windows and were with difficulty restrained from levelling the place +with the ground. His junior officers conspired against him. Piqued by +the loss of certain perquisites which the newcomer remorselessly swept +away, they denounced him to the Admiralty, who ordered an inquiry into +his conduct. After a hearing of ten days it went heavily against him, +practically every charge being proved. He was immediately superseded and +never again employed--a sad ending to a career of forty years under such +men as Anson, Boscawen, Hawke and Vernon. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780, and enclosures constituting the +inquiry.] Yet such was the ultimate fate of many an impress officer. +A stronger light focussed him ashore, and habits, proclivities and +weaknesses that escaped censure at sea, were here projected odiously +upon the sensitive retina of public opinion. + +Of the younger men who drifted into the shore service there were some, +it need scarcely be said, who for obvious reasons escaped, or, rather, +did not succumb to the common odium. A notable example of this type +of officer was Capt. Jahleel Brenton, who for some years commanded the +gangs at Leith and Greenock. Though a man of blunt sensibilities and +speech, he possessed qualities which carried him out of the stagnant +back-water of pressing into the swim of service afloat, where he +eventually secured a baronetcy and the rank of Vice-Admiral. Singularly +enough, he was American-born. + +The senior officer in charge of a gang, commonly known as the Regulating +Captain, might in rank be either captain or lieutenant. It was his duty +to hire, but not to "keep" the official headquarters of the gang, to +organise that body, to direct its operations, to account for all moneys +expended and men pressed, and to "regulate" or inspect the latter and +certify them fit for service or otherwise. In this last-named duty a +surgeon often assisted him, usually a local practitioner, who received a +shilling a head for his pains. One or more lieutenants, each of whom had +one or more midshipmen at his beck and call, served under the Regulating +Captain. They "kept" the headquarters and led the gang, or contingents +of the gang, on pressing forays, thus coming in for much of the hard +work, and many of the harder knocks, that unpopular body was liable to. +Sometimes, as in the case of Dover, Deal and Folkestone, several gangs +were grouped under a single regulating officer. + +The pay of the Regulating Captain was 1 Pound a day, with an additional +5s. subsistence money. Lieutenants received their usual service pay, and +for subsistence 3s. 6d. In special cases grants were made for coach-hire +[Footnote: Capt. William Bennett's bill for the double journey between +Waterford and Cork, on the occasion of the inquiry into the conduct +of the Regulating Officer at the former place, over which he presided, +amounted to forty-three guineas--a sum he considered "as moderate as +any gentleman's could have been, laying aside the wearing of my uniform +every day." Half the amount went in chaise and horse hire, "there +being," we are told, "no chaises upon the road as in England," and +"only one to be had at Cork, all the rest being gone to Dublin with +the Lawyers and the Players, the Sessions being just ended and the Play +House broke up" (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Bennett, 24 March +1782). Nelson's bill for posting from Burnham, Norfolk, to London +and back, 260 miles, in the year 1789, amounted to 19 Pounds, 55. 2d. +(_Admiralty Records_ Victualling Dept, Miscellanea, No. 26).] and +such purposes as "entertainments to the Mayor and Corporation, the +Magistrates and the Officers of the Regulars and the Militia, by way of +return for their civilities and for their assistance in carrying on the +impress." The grant to the Newcastle officers, under this head, in 1763 +amounted to upwards of 93 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1493--Capt. Bover, 6 March 1763, and endorsement.] + +"Road-money" was generally allowed at the rate of 3d. a mile for +officers and 1d. a mile for gangers when on the press; but as a matter +of fact these modest figures were often largely exceeded--to the no +small emolument of the regulating officer. Lieut. Gaydon, commanding at +Ilfracombe, in 1795 debited the Navy Board with a sum of 148 Pounds for +1776 miles of travel; Capt. Gibbs, of Swansea, with 190 Pounds for 1561 +miles; and Capt. Longcroft, of Haverfordwest, with 524 Pounds for 8388 +miles--a charge characterised by Admiral M'Bride, who that year reported +upon the working of the impress, as "immense." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] He might well have +used a stronger term. + +An item which it was at one time permissible to charge, possesses a +special interest. This was a bonus of 1s. a head on all men pressed--a +bonus that was in reality nothing more than the historic prest shilling +of other days, now no longer paid to pressed men, diverted into the +pockets of those who did the pressing. The practice, however, was +short-lived. Tending as it did to fill the ships with unserviceable men, +it was speedily discontinued and the historic shilling made over to the +certifying surgeon. + +The shore midshipman could boast but little affinity with his namesake +of the quarter-deck. John Richards, midshipman of the Godalming gang, +had never in his life set foot on board a man-of-war or been to sea. His +age was forty. The case of James Good, of Hull, is even more remarkable. +He had served as "Midshipman of the Impress" for thirty years out of +sixty-three. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Acklom, +6 Oct. 1814. _Admiralty Records_ 1.1502--Capt. Boston, Report on +Rendezvous, 1782.] The pay of these elderly youths at no time exceeded a +guinea a week. + +The gangsman was more variously, if not more generously remunerated. At +Deal, in 1743, he had 1s. per day for his boat, and "found himself," or, +in the alternative, "ten shillings for every good seaman procured, in +full for his trouble and the hire of the boat." At Dover, in 1776, he +received 2s. 6d. a day; at Godalming, six years later, 10s. 6d. a week; +and at Exeter, during the American War of Independence, when the demand +for seamen was phenomenal, 14s. a week, 5s. for every man pressed, and +clothing and shoes "when he deserved it." Pay and allowances were thus +far from uniform. Both depended largely upon the scarcity or abundance +of suitable gangsmen, the demand for seamen, and the astuteness of the +officer organising the gang. Some gangs not on regular wages received as +much as "twenty shillings for each man impressed, and six-pence a mile +for as many miles as they could make it appear each man had travelled, +not exceeding twenty, besides (a noteworthy addition) the twelve-pence +press-money "; but if a man pressed under these conditions were found +to be unserviceable after his appearance on shipboard, all money +considerations for his capture were either withheld or recalled. On the +whole, considering the arduous and disagreeable nature of the gangsman's +calling, the Navy Board cannot be accused of dealing any too generously +by him. + +"If ever you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the +captains and pursers," Charles II. is credited with having once said +to his council, "you may go to bed." What in this sense was true of the +service afloat was certainly not less true of that loosely organised and +laxly supervised naval department, the impress ashore. Considering the +repute of the officers engaged in it, and the opportunities they enjoyed +for peculation and the taking of bribes--considering, above all, the +extreme difficulty of keeping a watchful eye upon officers scattered +throughout the length and breadth of the land, the wonder is, not that +irregularities crept in, but that they should have been, upon the whole, +so few and so venial. + +To allow the gangsmen to go fishing for sea-fish or dredging for +oysters, as was commonly done when there was little prospect of a catch +on land, was no more heinous than the custom prevailing--to everybody's +knowledge--at King's Lynn in Norfolk, where the gang had no need to +go a-fishing because, regularly as the cobbles came in, the midshipman +attached to the gang appeared on the quay and had the "insolence to +demand Three of the Best Fysh for the Regulating Captain, the Lieutenant +and himself." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the +Owners of the Fishing Cobbles of Lynn, 3 March 1809.] And if, again, +rating a gangsman in choicest quarterdeck language were no serious +offence, why should not the Regulating Captain rate his son as +midshipman, even though "not proper to be employed as such." And +similarly, granting it to be right to earn half a sovereign by pressing +a man contrary to law, where was the wrong in "clearing him of the +impress" for the same amount, as was commonly done by the middies at +Sunderland and Shields. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1557--Capt. +Bell, 27 June 1806, enclosure.] These were works of supererogation +rather than sins against the service, and little official notice was +taken of them unless, as in the case of Liverpool, they were carried +to such lengths as to create a public scandal. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Child, 30 Jan. 1800.] + +There were, as a matter of course, some officers in the service who went +far beyond the limits of such venial irregularities and, like Falstaff, +"misused the king's press damnably." Though according to the terms +of their warrant they were "to take care not to demand or receive any +money, gratuity, reward, or any other consideration whatsoever for the +sparing, exchanging or discharging any person or persons impressed or to +be impressed," the taking of "gratifications" for these express purposes +prevailed to a notorious extent. The difficulty was to fasten the +offence upon the offenders. "Bailed men," as they were called, did not +"peach." Their immunity from the press was too dearly bought to admit of +their indulging personal animus against the officer who had taken their +money. It was only through some tangle of circumstance over which the +delinquent had no control that the truth leaked out. Such a case was +that of the officer in command of the _Mary_ tender at Sunderland, a +lieutenant of over thirty years' standing. Having pressed one Michael +Dryden, a master's mate whom he ought never to have pressed at all, he +so far "forgot" himself as to accept a bribe of 15 Pounds for the man's +release, and then, "having that day been dining with a party of military +officers," forgot to release the man. The double lapse of memory +proved his ruin. Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the +unfortunately constituted lieutenant was "broke" and black-listed. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June 1798, +and endorsement.] + +Another species of fraud upon which the Admiralty was equally severe, +was that long practised with impunity by a certain regulating officer at +Poole. Not only did he habitually put back the dates on which men were +pressed, thus "bearing" them for subsistence money they never received, +he made it a further practice to enter on his books the names of +fictitious pressed men who opportunely "escaped" after adding their +quota to his dishonest perquisites. So general was misappropriation of +funds by means of this ingenious fraud that detection was deservedly +visited with instant dismissal. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1526--Capt. Boyle, 2 Oct. 1801, and endorsement.] + +Though to the gangsman all things were reputedly lawful, some things +were by no means expedient. He could with impunity deprive almost any +ablebodied adult of his freedom, and he could sometimes, with equal +impunity, add to his scanty earnings by restoring that freedom for a +consideration in coin of the realm; but when, like Josh Cooper, sometime +gangsman at Hull, he extended his prerogative to the occupants of +hen-roosts, he was apt to find himself at cross-purposes with the law as +interpreted by the sitting magistrates. + +Amongst less questionable perquisites accruing to the gangsman two only +need be mentioned here. One was the "straggling-money" paid to him +for the apprehension of deserters--20s. for every deserter taken, with +"conduct" money to boot; the other, the anker of brandy designedly +thrown overboard by smugglers when chased by a gang engaged in pressing +afloat. Occasionally the brandy checked the pursuit; but more often +it gave an added zest to the chase and so hastened the capture of the +fugitive donors. + +To the unscrupulous outsider the opportunities for illicit gain afforded +by the service made an irresistible appeal. Sham gangs and make-believe +press-masters abounded, thriving exceedingly upon the fears and +credulity of the people until capture put a term to their activities +and sent them to the pillory, the prison or the fleet they pretended to +cater for. + +Their mode of operation seldom varied. They pressed a man, and then took +money for "discharging" him; or they threatened to press and were bought +off. One Philpot was in 1709 fined ten nobles and sentenced to the +pillory for this fraud. He had many imitators, amongst them John Love, +who posed as a midshipman, and William Moore, his gangsman, both of +whom were eventually brought to justice and turned over to His Majesty's +ships. + +The rôle adopted by these last-named pretenders was a favourite one with +men engaged in crimping for the merchant service. Shrewsbury in 1780 +received a visit from one of these individuals--"a Person named Hopkins, +who appeared in a Lieutenant's Uniform and committed many fraudulant +Actions and Scandalous Abuses in raising Men," as he said, "for the +Navy." Two months later another impostor of the same type appeared at +Birmingham, where he scattered broadcast a leaflet, headed with the +royal arms and couched in the following seductive terms: "Eleven Pounds +for every Able Seaman, Five Pounds for every ordinary Seaman, and Three +Pounds for every Able-bodied Landsman, exclusive of a compleat set of +Sea Clothing, given by the Marine Society. All Good Seamen, and other +hearty young Fellows of Spirit, that are willing to serve on board any +of His Majesty's Vessels or Ships of War, Let them with Chearfulness +repair to the Sailors' Head Rendezvous in this Town, where a proper +Officer attends, who will give them every encouragement they can desire. +Now my Jolly Lads is the time to fill your Pockets with Dollars, Double +Doubloon's & Luidores. Conduct Money allowed, Chest and Bedding sent +Carriage Free." Soon after, the two united forces at Coventry, whither +Capt. Beecher desired to "send a party to take them," but to this +request the Admiralty turned a deaf ear. In their opinion the game was +not worth the candle. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of +Capt. Beecher, 1780] + +Ex-midshipman Rookhad, who when dismissed the service took to boarding +vessels in the Thames and extorting money and liquor from the masters as +a consideration for not pressing their men, did not escape so lightly. +Him the Admiralty prosecuted. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 12. Process was by information in the +Court of King's Bench, for a misdemeanour.] + +It was in companies, however, that the sham ganger most frequently took +the road, for numbers not only enhanced his chances of obtaining money, +they materially diminished the risk of capture. One such gang was +composed of "eighteen desperate villians," who were nevertheless taken. +Another, a "parcel of fellows armed with cutlasses like a pressgang," +appeared at Dublin in 1743, where they boldly entered public-houses on +pretence of looking for sailors, and there extorted money and drink. +What became of them we are not told; but in the case of the pretended +gang whose victim, after handing over two guineas as the price of his +release, was pressed by a regularly constituted gang, we learn the +gratifying sequel. The real gang gave chase to the sham gang and pressed +every man of them. + +According to the "Humble Petition of Grace Blackmore of Stratford le +Bow, widow," on Friday the 29th of May, in an unknown year of Queen +Anne's reign, "there came to Bow ffaire severall pretended pressmasters, +endeavouring to impress." A tumult ensued. Murder was freely "cryed +out," apparently with good reason, for in the mêlée petitioner's +husband, then constable of Bow, was "wounded soe that he shortly after +dyed." [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic,_ Anne, xxxvi. No. 17.] + +There were occasions when the sham gang operated under cover of a real +press-warrant, and for this the Admiralty was directly to blame. It had +become customary at the Navy Office to send out warrants, whether to +commanders of ships or to Regulating Captains, in blank, the person +to whom the warrant was directed filling in the name for himself. Such +warrants were frequently stolen and put to irregular uses, and of this a +remarkable instance occurred in 1755. + +In that year one Nicholas Cooke, having by some means obtained +possession of such a warrant, "filled up the blank thereof by directing +it to himself, by the name and description of Lieutenant Nicholas Cooke, +tho' in truth not a Lieutenant nor an Officer in His Majesty's Navy," +hired a vessel--the _Providence_ snow of Dublin--and in her cruised the +coasts of Ireland, pressing men. After thus raising as many as he could +carry, he shaped his course for Liverpool, no doubt intending, on his +arrival at that port, to sell his unsuspecting victims to the merchant +ships in the Mersey at so much a head. Through bad seamanship, however, +the vessel was run aground at Seacombe, opposite to Liverpool, and Capt. +Darby, of H.M.S. _Seahorse_, perceiving her plight, and thinking to +render assistance in return for perhaps a man or two, took boat and +rowed across to her. To his astonishment he found her full of Irishmen +to the number of seventy-three, whom he immediately pressed and removed +to his own ship. The circumstance of the false warrant now came to +light, and with it another, of worse omen for the mock lieutenant. In +the hold a quantity of undeclared spirits was discovered, and this fact +afforded the Admiralty a handle they were not slow to avail themselves +of. They put the Excise Officers on the scent, and Cooke was prosecuted +for smuggling. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 101.] + +The most successful sham gang ever organised was perhaps that said to +have been got together by a trio of mischievous Somerset girls. The +scene of the exploit was the Denny-Bowl quarry, near Taunton. The +quarrymen there were a hard-bitten set and great braggarts, openly +boasting that no gang dare attack them, and threatening, in the event +of so unlikely a contingency, to knock the gangsmen on the head and bury +them in the rubbish of the pit. There happened to be in the neighbouring +town "three merry maids," who heard of this tall talk and secretly +determined to put the vaunted courage of the quarrymen to the test. +They accordingly dressed themselves in men's clothing, stuck cockades in +their hats, and with hangers under their arms stealthily approached the +pit. Sixty men were at work there; but no sooner did they catch sight of +the supposed gang than they one and all threw down their tools and ran +for their lives. + +Officially known as the Rendezvous, a French term long associated with +English recruiting, the headquarters of the gang were more familiarly, +and for brevity's sake, called the "rondy." Publicans were partial to +having the rondy on their premises because of the trade it brought +them. Hence it was usually an alehouse, frequently one of the shadiest +description, situated in the lowest slum of the town; but on occasions, +as when the gang was of uncommon strength and the number of pressed +men dealt with proportionately large, a private house or other suitable +building was taken for the exclusive use of the service. It was +distinguished by a flag--a Jack--displayed upon a pole. The cost of the +two was 27s., and in theory they were supposed to last a year; but in +towns where the populace evinced their love for the press by hewing +down the pole and tearing the flag in ribbons, these emblems of national +liberty had frequently to be renewed. At King's Lynn as much as 13 +Pounds was spent upon them in four years--an outlay regarded by the +Navy Board with absolute dismay. It would have been not less dismayed, +perhaps, could it have seen the bunting displayed by rendezvous whose +surroundings were friendly. There the same old Jack did duty year after +year until, grimy and bedraggled, it more resembled the black flag than +anything else that flew, wanting only the skull and cross-bones to make +it a fitting emblem of authorised piracy. + +The rondy was hardly a spot to which one would have resorted for a +rest-cure. When not engaged in pressing, the gangsmen were a roistering, +drinking crew, under lax control and never averse from a row, either +amongst themselves or with outsiders. Sometimes the commanding officer +made the place his residence, and when this was the case some sort of +order prevailed. The floors were regularly swept, the beds made, the +frowsy "general" gratified by a weekly "tip" on pay-day. But when, on +the other hand, the gangsmen who did not "find themselves" occupied +the rondy to the exclusion of the officer, eating and sleeping there, +tramping in and out at all hours of the day and night, dragging pressed +men in to be "regulated" and locked up, and diverting such infrequent +intervals of leisure as they enjoyed by pastimes in which fear of the +"gent overhead" played no part--when this was the case the rondy became +a veritable bear-garden, a place of unspeakable confusion wherein papers +and pistols, boots and blankets, cutlasses, hats, beer-pots and staves +cumbered the floors, the lockers and the beds with a medley of articles +torn, rusty, mud-stained, dirt-begrimed and unkept. + +Amongst accessories essential to the efficient activity of gangs +stationed at coast or river towns the boat had first place. Sometimes +both sail and row-boats were employed. Luggers of the old type, fast +boats carrying a great press of sail, served best for overhauling ships; +but on inland waterways, such as the Thames, the Humber or the Tyne, a +"sort of wherry, constructed for rowing fast," was the favourite vehicle +of pursuit. The rate of hire varied from 1s. a day to two or more +guineas a week, according to the size and class of boat. At Cork it was +"five shillings Irish" per day. + +Accessories of a less indispensable nature, occasionally allowed, were, +at Dartmouth and a few other places, cockades for the gangsmen's hats, +supplied at a cost of 1s. each; at Tower Hill a messenger, pay 20s. a +week; and at Appledore an umbrella for use in rainy weather, price 12s. +6d. + +The arms of the gang comprised, first, a press-warrant, and, second, +such weapons as were necessary to enforce it. + +In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably +associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as +the cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the +gangsmen are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's +"good oak plant." Apart from this artistic evidence, however, there is +no valid reason for believing that the bludgeon ever came into general +use as the ganger's weapon. As early as the reign of Anne he went armed +with the "Queen's broad cutlash," and for most gangs, certainly for all +called upon to operate in rough neighbourhoods, the hanger remained the +stock weapon throughout the century. In expeditions involving special +risk or danger, the musket and the pistol supplemented what must have +been in itself no mean weapon. + +As we have already seen, the earliest recorded press-warrants emanated +from the king in person, whilst later ones were issued by the king in +council and endorsed by the naval authorities. As the need of men became +more and more imperative, however, this mode of issue was found to be +too cumbersome and inexpeditious. Hence, by the time the eighteenth +century came in, with its tremendously enhanced demands on behalf of the +Navy, the royal prerogative in respect to warrants had been virtually +delegated to the Admiralty, who issued them on their own initiative, +though ostensibly in pursuance of His Majesty's Orders in Council. + +An Admiralty warrant empowered the person to whom it was directed to +"impress" as many "seamen" as possibly he could procure, giving to each +man so impressed 1s. "for prest money." He was to impress none but such +as "were strong bodies and capable to serve the king"; and, having +so impressed such persons, he was to deliver them up to the officer +regulating the nearest rendezvous. All civil authorities were to be +"aiding and assisting" to him in the discharge of this duty. + +Now this document, the stereotyped press-warrant of the century, here +concisely summarised in its own phraseology, was not at all what it +purported to be. It was in fact a warrant out of time, an official +anachronism, a red-tape survival of that bygone period when pressing +still meant "presting" and force went no further than a threat. For men +were now no longer "prested." They were pressed, and that, too, in the +most drastic sense of the term. The king's shilling no longer changed +hands. Even in Pepys' time men were pressed "without money," and in +none of the accounts of expenses incurred in pressing during the century +which followed, excepting only a very few of the earlier ones, can +any such item as the king's shilling or prest-money be discovered. +Its abolition was a logical sequence of the change from presting to +pressing. + +The seaman, moreover, so far from being the sole quarry of the +warrant-holder, now sought concealment amongst a people almost without +exception equally liable with himself to the capture he endeavoured to +elude. Retained merely as a matter of form, and totally out of keeping +with altered conditions, the warrant was in effect obsolete save as an +instrument authorising one man to deprive another of his liberty in +the king's name. Even the standard of "able bodies and capable" had +deteriorated to such an extent that the officers of the fleet were kept +nearly as busy weeding out and rejecting men as were the officers of the +impress in taking them. + +Still, the warrant served. Stripped of its obsolete injunctions, it +read: "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and water-ways, and +compel them to come in"--enough, surely, for any officer imbued with +zeal for His Majesty's service. + +Though according to the strict letter of the law as defined by various +decisions of the courts a press-warrant was legally executable only by +the officer to whom it was addressed, in practice the limitation was +very widely departed from, if not altogether ignored; for just as a +constable or sheriff may call upon bystanders to assist him in the +execution of his office, so the holder of a press-warrant, though +legally unable to delegate his authority by other means, could call upon +others to aid him in the execution of his duty. Naturally, the gangsmen +being at hand, and being at hand for that very purpose, he gave them +first preference. Hence, the gangsman pressed on the strength of a +warrant which in reality gave him no power to press. + +While the law relating to the intensive force of warrants was thus +deliberately set at naught, an extraordinary punctiliousness for legal +formality was displayed in another direction. According to tradition and +custom no warrant was valid until it had received the sanction of the +civil power. Solicitor-General Yorke could find no statutory authority +for such procedure. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] He accordingly pronounced it to be +non-essential to the validity of warrants. Nevertheless, save in cases +where the civil power refused its endorsement, it was universally +adhered to. What was bad law was notoriously good policy, for a +disaffected mayor, or an unfriendly Justice of the Peace, had it in his +power to make the path of the impress officer a thorny one indeed. "Make +unto yourselves friends," was therefore one of the first injunctions +laid upon officers whose duties unavoidably made them many enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + + + +In theory an authority for the taking of seafaring men only, the +press-warrant was in practice invested with all the force of a Writ +of Quo Warranto requiring every able-bodied male adult to show by what +right he remained at large. The difference between the theory and the +practice of pressing was consequently as wide as the poles. + +While the primary and ostensible objective of the impress remained +always what it had been from the outset, the seaman who had few if any +land-ties except those of blood or sex, from this root principle +there sprang up a very Upas tree of pretension, whose noxious branches +overspread practically every section of the community. Hence the +press-gang, the embodiment of this pretension, eventually threw aside +ostence and took its pick of all who came its way, let their occupation +or position be what it might. It was no duty of the gangsman to employ +his hanger in splitting hairs. "First catch your man," was for him the +greatest of all the commandments. Discrimination was for his masters. +The weeding out could be done when the pressing was over. + +The classes hardest hit by this lamentable want of discrimination were +the classes engaged in trade. "Mr. Coventry," wrote Pepys some four +years after the Restoration, "showed how the medium of the men the King +hath one year with another employed in his navy since his coming, hath +not been above 3000 men, or at most 4000; and now having occasion for +30,000, the remaining 26,000 _must be found out of the Trade of the +Nation_." Naturally. Where a nation of shopkeepers was concerned it +could hardly have been otherwise. They who go down to the sea in ships +and do business in great waters, returning laden with the spoils of the +commercial world, have perforce to render tribute unto Caesar; but Mr. +Commissioner Coventry little guessed, when he enunciated his corollary +with such nice precision, to what it was destined to lead in the next +hundred years or so. + +Under the merciless exactions of the press-gang Trade did not, however, +prove the submissive thing that was wont to stand at its doors and cry: +"Will you buy? will you buy?" or to bow prospective customers into its +rich emporiums with unctuous rubbing of hands and sauve words. +Trade knew its power and determined to use it. "Look you! my Lords +Commissioners," cried Trade, truculently cocking its hat in the face of +Admiralty, "I have had enough. You have taken my butcher, my baker, my +candlestick-maker, nor have you spared that worthy youth, the 'prentice +who was to have wed my daughter. My coachman, the driver of my gilded +chariot, goes in fear of you, and as for my sedan-chair man, he is no +more found. My colliers, draymen, watermen, the carpenters who build my +ships and the mariners who sail them, the ablest of these my necessary +helpers sling their hammocks in your fleet. You have crippled the +printing of my Bible and the brewing of my Beer, and I can bear no more. +Protect me from my arch-enemy the foreigner if you must and will, but +not, my Lords Commissioners, by such monstrous personal methods as +these." "Your servant!" said Admiralty, obsequious before the only power +it feared--"your servant to command!" and straightway set about finding +a remedy for the evils Trade complained of. + +Now, to attain this end, so desirable if Trade were to be placated, it +was necessary to define with precision either whom the gang might take, +or whom it might not take; and here Admiralty, though notoriously a body +without a brain, achieved a stroke of genius, for it brought down both +birds with a single stone. Postulating first of all the old _lex sine +lege_ fiction that every native-born Briton and every British male +subject born abroad was legally pressable, it laid it down as a logical +sequence that no man, whatever his vocation or station in life, +was lawfully exempt; that exemption was in consequence an official +indulgence and not a right; and that apart from such indulgence every +man, unless idiotic, blind, lame, maimed or otherwise physically unfit, +was not only liable to be pressed, but could be legally pressed for +the king's service at sea. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 26; and _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. 1805, well express the official view.] +Having thus cleared the ground root and branch, Admiralty magnanimously +proceeded to frame a category of persons whom, as an act of grace and a +concession to Trade, it was willing to protect from assault and capture +by its emissary the press-gang. + +These exemptions from the wholesale incidence of the impress were not +granted all at once. Embodied from time to time in Acts of Parliament +and so-called acts of official grace--slowly and painfully wrung from a +reluctant Admiralty by the persistent demands and ever-growing power of +Trade--they spread themselves over the entire century of struggle for +the mastery of the sea, from which they were a reaction, and, touching +the lives of the common people in a hundred and one intimate points and +interests, culminated at length in the abolition of that most odious +system of oppression from which they had sprung, and in a charter +of liberties before which the famous charter of King John sinks into +insignificance. + + [Illustration: THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM.] + +As a matter of policy the foreigner had first place in the list of +exemptions. He could volunteer if he chose, [Footnote: Strenuous efforts +were made in 1709 to induce the "Poor Palatines"--seven thousand of them +encamped at Blackheath, and two thousand in Sir John Parson's brewhouse +at Camberwell--to enter for the navy. But the "thing was New to them to +go aboard a Man of Warr," so they declined the invitation, "having the +Notion of being sent to Carolina."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Letters +of Capt. Aston.] but he must not be pressed. [Footnote: 13 George II. +cap. 17.] To deprive him of his right in this respect was to invite +unpleasant diplomatic complications, of which England had already +too many on her hands. Trade, too, looked upon the foreigner as her +perquisite, and Trade must be indulged. Moreover, he fostered mutiny in +the fleet, where he was prone to "fly in the face" of authority and to +refuse to work, much less fight, for an alien people. If, however, he +served on board British merchant ships for two years, or if he married +in England, he at once lost caste, since he then became a naturalised +British subject and was liable to have even his honeymoon curtailed by +a visit from the press-gang. Such, in fact, was the fate of one William +Castle of Bristol in 1806. Pressed there in that year on his return +from the West Indies, he was discharged as a person of alien birth; but +having immediately afterwards committed the indiscretion of taking a +Bristol woman to wife, he was again pressed, this time within three +weeks of his wedding-day, and kept by express order of Admiralty. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 23 July 1806.] + +For some years after the passing of the Act exempting the foreigner, +his rights appear to have been generally, though by no means universally +respected. "Discharge him if not married or settled in England," was the +usual order when he chanced to be taken by the gang. With the turn of +the century, however, a reaction set in. Pressed men claiming to be +of alien birth were thenceforth only liberated "if unfit for service." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 11 March 1756, +endorsement, and numerous instances.] For this untoward change the +foreigner could blame none but himself. When taxed with having an +English wife, he could seldom or never be induced to admit the soft +impeachment. Consequently, whenever he was taken by the gang he was +assumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have committed +the fatal act of naturalisation. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Phillip, 26 Feb. 1805.] Alien seamen in distress through +shipwreck or other accidental causes, formed a humane exception to this +unwritten law. + +The negro was never reckoned an alien. Looked upon as a proprietary +subject of the Crown, and having no one in particular to speak up for +or defend him, he "shared the same fate as the free-born white man." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 29 Oct. +1762.] Many blacks, picked up in the West Indies or on the American +coast "without hurting commerce," were to be found on board our ships +of war, where, when not incapacitated by climatic conditions, they +made active, alert seamen and "generally imagined themselves free." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 585--Admiral Donnelly, 22 Feb. 1815.] +Their point of view, poor fellows, was doubtless a strictly comparative +one. + +Theoretically exempt by virtue of his calling, whatever that might be, +the landsman was in reality scarcely less marked down by the gang than +his unfortunate brother the seafaring man; for notwithstanding all its +professions to the contrary, Admiralty could not afford to ignore +the potentialities of the reserve the landsman represented. Hence no +occupation, no property qualification, could or did protect him. As +early as 1705 old Justice, in his treatise on sea law, deplores bitterly +the "barbarous custom of pressing promiscuously landsmen and seamen," +and declares that the gang, in its purblind zeal, "hurried away +tradesmen from their houses, 'prentices and journeymen from their +masters' shops, and even housekeepers (householders) too." By 1744 +the practice had become confirmed. In that year Capt. Innes, of His +Majesty's armed sloop the _Hind_, applied to the Lords Commissioners for +"Twenty Landsmen from Twenty to Twenty-five years of Age." The Admiralty +order, "Let the Regulating Captains send them as he desires," [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1983--Capt. Innes, 3 May 1744, and endorsement.] +leaves no room for doubt as to the class of men provided. They were +pressed men, not volunteers. + +Nor is this a solitary instance of a practice that was rapidly growing +to large proportions. Many a landsman, in the years that followed, +shared the fate of the Irish "country farmer" who went into Waterford +to sell his corn, and was there pressed and sent on board the tender; of +James Whitefoot, the Bristol glover, "a timid, unformed young man, the +comfort and support of his parents," who, although he had "never seen +a ship in his life," was yet pressed whilst "passing to follow his +business," which knew him no more; and of Winstanley, the London +butcher, who served for upwards of sixteen years as a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Bligh, 16 May 1781. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Duchess of Gordon, 14 Feb. 1804. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 584--Humble Petition of Betsey Winstanley, 2 Sept. 1814.] +Wilkes' historic barber would have entered upon the same enforced career +had not that astute Alderman discovered, to the astonishment of the +nation at large, that a warrant which authorised the pressing of seamen +did not necessarily authorise the pressing of a city tonsor. + +Amongst landsmen the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the +country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress officers +had particular instructions concerning him. They were to delete him from +the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a certificate from +the minister and churchwardens of his parish, this migratory farm-hand, +provided always he were not a sailor masquerading in that disguise, +could traverse the length and breadth of the land to all intents and +purposes a free man. To him, as well as to the grower of corn who +depended so largely upon his aid in getting his crop, the concession +proved an inestimable boon. There were violations of the harvester's +status, it is true; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of +Sir William Oglander, Bart., July 1796.] but these were too infrequent +to affect seriously the industry he represented. + +So far as the press was concerned, the harvester was better off than the +gentleman, for while the former could dress as he pleased, the latter +was often obliged to dress as he could, and in this lay an element of +danger. So long as his clothes were as good as the blood he boasted, and +he wore them with an aplomb suggestive of position and influence, the +gentleman was safe; but let his pretensions to gentility lie more in the +past than in the suit on his back, and woe betide him! In spite of his +protestations the gang took him, and he was lucky indeed if, like the +gentleman who narrates his experience in the _Review_ for the both of +February 1706, he was able to convince his captors that he was foreign +born by "talking Latin and Greek." + +To the people at large, whether landsmen or seafarers, the Act exempting +from the press every male under eighteen and over fifty-five years of +age would have brought a sorely needed relief had not Admiralty been a +past-master in the subtle art of outwitting the law. In this instance +a simple regulation did the trick. Every man or boy who claimed the +benefit of the age-limit when pressed, was required to prove his claim +ere he could obtain his discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 43: "It is incumbent on those +who claim to be exempted to prove the facts."] The impossibility of any +general compliance with such a demand on the part of persons often as +ignorant of birth certificates as they were of the sea, practically +wiped the exemption off the slate. + +In the eyes of the Regulating Captain no man was older than he looked, +no lad as young as he avowed. Hence thousands of pressed men over +fifty-five, who did not look the age they could not prove, figured on +the books of the fleet with boys whose precocity of appearance gave +the lie to their assertions. George Stephens, son of a clerk in the +Transport Office, suffered impressment when barely thirteen; and the son +of a corporal in Lord Elkinton's regiment, one Alexander M'Donald, +was listed in the same manner while still "under the age of twelve." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Vice-Admiral Hunter, 10 May +1813. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Butchart, 22 Jan. 1782, and +enclosure.] The gang did not pause by the way to discuss such questions. + +Apprentices fell into a double category--those bound to the sea, those +apprenticed on land. Nominally, the sea apprentice was protected from +the impress for a term of three years from the date of his indentures, +provided he had not used the sea before; [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6, +re-affirmed 13 George II. cap. 17.] while the land apprentice enjoyed +immunity under the minimum age-limit of eighteen years. The proviso in +the first case, however, left open a loop-hole the impress officer was +never slow to take advantage of; and the minimum age-limit, as we have +just seen, had little if any existence in fact. Apprentices pressed +after the three years' exemption had expired were never given up, nor +could their masters successfully claim them in law. They dropped like +ripe fruit into the lap of Admiralty. On the other hand, apprentices +pressed within the three years' exemption period were generally +discharged, for if they were not, they could be freed by a writ of +Habeas Corpus, or else the masters could maintain an action for damages +against the Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 25.] 'Prentices who "eloped" or ran +away from their masters, and then entered voluntarily, could not be +reclaimed by any known process at law if they were over eighteen years +of age. On the whole, the position of the apprentice, whether by land or +sea, was highly anomalous and uncertain. Often taken by the gang in the +hurry of visiting a ship, or in the scurry of a hot press on shore, he +was in effect the shuttlecock of the service, to-day singing merrily +at his capstan or bench, to-morrow bewailing his hard fate on board a +man-o'-war. + +When it came to the exemption of seamen, Admiralty found itself on the +horns of a dilemma. Both the Navy and the merchant service depended in a +very large degree upon the seaman who knew the ropes--who could take his +turn at the wheel, scud aloft without going through the lubber-hole, and +act promptly and sailorly in emergency. To take wholesale such men +as these, while it would enormously enhance the effectiveness of His +Majesty's ships of war, must inevitably cripple sea-borne trade. It was +therefore necessary, for the well-being of both services, to discover +the golden mean. According to statute law [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. +17.] every person using the sea, of what age soever he might be, was +exempt from the impress for two years from the time of his first making +the venture. The concession did not greatly improve the situation from +a trade point of view. It merely touched the fringe of the problem, and +Trade was insistent. + +A further concession was accordingly made. All masters, mates, +boatswains and carpenters of vessels of fifty tons and upwards were +exempted from the impress on condition of their going before a Justice +of the Peace and making oath to their several qualifications. This +affidavit, coupled with a succinct description of the deponent, +constituted the holder's "protection" and shielded him, or was supposed +to shield him, from molestation by the gang. Masters and mates of +colliers, and of vessels laid up for the winter, came under this head; +but masters or mates of vessels detected in running dutiable goods, or +caught harbouring deserters from the fleet, could be summarily dealt +with notwithstanding their protections. The same fate befell the mate or +apprentice who was lent by one ship to another. + +In addition to the executive of the vessel, as defined in the foregoing +paragraph, it was of course necessary to extend protection to as many +of her "hands", as were essential to her safe and efficient working. How +many were really required for this purpose was, however, a moot point on +which ship-masters and naval officers rarely saw eye to eye; and since +the arbiter in all such disputes was the "quarter-deck gentlemen," the +decision seldom if ever went in favour of the master. + +The importance of the coal trade won for colliers an early concession, +which left no room for differences of opinion. Every vessel employed +in that trade was entitled to carry one exempt able-bodied man for each +hundred units of her registered tonnage, provided it did not exceed +three hundred. The penalty for pressing such men was 10 Pounds for each +man taken. [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6.] + +On the coasts of Scotland commanders of warships whose carpenters had +run or broken their leave, and who perhaps were left, like Capt. Gage of +the _Otter_ sloop, "without so much as a Gimblett on board," [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829-Capt. Gage, 29 Sept. 1742.] might press +shipwrights from the yards on shore to fill the vacancy, and suffer no +untoward consequences; but south of the Tweed this mode of collecting +"chips" was viewed with disfavour. There, although ship-carpenters, +sailmakers and men employed in rope-walks were by a stretch of the +official imagination reckoned as persons using the sea, and although +they were generally acknowledged to be no less indispensable to the +complete economy of a ship than the able-bodied seaman, legal questions +of an extremely embarrassing nature nevertheless cropped up when the +scene of their activities underwent too sudden and violent a change. +The pressing of such artificers consequently met with little official +encouragement. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1778-83, No. 2.] + +Where the Admiralty scored, in the matter of ship protections, and +scored heavily, was when the protected person went ashore. For when on +shore the protected master, mate, boatswain, carpenter, apprentice +or seaman no longer enjoyed protection unless he was there "on ship's +duty." The rule was most rigorously, not to say arbitrarily, enforced. +Thus at Plymouth, in the year 1746, a seaman who protested in broken +English that he had come ashore to "look after his master's _sheep_" was +pressed because the naval officer who met and questioned him "imagined +sheep to have no affinity with a ship!" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2381--Capt. John Roberts, 11 July 1746. Capt. Roberts was a very +downright individual, and years before the characteristic had got him +into hot water. The occasion was when, in 1712, an Admiralty letter, +addressed to him at Harwich and containing important instructions, by +some mischance went astray and Roberts accused the Clerk of the Check of +having appropriated it. The latter called him a liar, whereupon Roberts +"gave him a slap in the face and bid him learn more manners." For this +exhibition of temper he was superseded and kept on the half-pay list +for some six years. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Brand, 8 March +1711-12. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2378, section 11, Admiralty note.] + +Any mate who failed to register his name at the rendezvous, as soon as +his ship arrived in port, did so at his peril. Without that formality he +was "not entitled to liberty." So strict was the rule that when William +Tassell, mate of the _Elizabeth_ ketch, was caught drinking in a Lynn +alehouse one night at ten o'clock, after having obtained "leave to run +about the town" until eight only, he was immediately pressed and +kept, the Admiralty refusing to declare the act irregular. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Capt. Bowyer, 25 July 1809, and enclosure.] + +In many ports it was customary for sailors to sleep ashore while +their ships lay at the quay or at moorings. The proceeding was highly +dangerous. No sailor ever courted sleep in such circumstances, even +though armed with a "line from the master setting forth his business," +without grave risk of waking to find himself in the bilboes. The Mayor +of Poole once refused to "back" press-warrants for local use unless +protected men belonging to trading vessels of the port were granted the +privilege of lodging ashore. "Certainly not!" retorted the Admiralty. +"We cannot grant Poole an indulgence _that other towns do not enjoy_." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Scott, 4 Jan. 1780, and +endorsement.] + +In spite of the risk involved, the sailor slept ashore and--if he +survived the night--tried to steal back to his ship in the grey of the +morning. Now and then, by a run of luck, he made his offing in safety; +but more frequently he met the fate of John White of Bristol, who was +taken by the gang when only "about ninety yards from his vessel." + +The only exceptions to this stringent rule were certain classes of +men engaged in the Greenland and South Seas whale fisheries. Skilled +harpooners, linesmen and boat-steerers, on their return from a whaling +cruise, could obtain from any Collector of Customs, for sufficient bond +put in, a protection from the impress which no Admiralty regulation, +however sweeping, could invalidate or override. Safeguarded by this +document, they were at liberty to live and work ashore, or to sail in +the coal trade, until such time as they should be required to proceed +on another whaling voyage. If, however, they took service on board any +vessel other than a collier, they forfeited their protections and could +be "legally detained." [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 28. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 14 March 1756. _Admiralty Records_ 7. +300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 42.] + +In one ironic respect the gang strongly resembled a boomerang. So +thoroughly and impartially did it do its work that it recoiled upon +those who used it. The evil was one of long standing. Pepys complained +of it bitterly in his day, asserting that owing to its prevalence +letters could neither be received nor sent, and that the departmental +machinery for victualling and arming the fleet was like to be undone. +With the growth of pressing the imposition was carried to absurd +lengths. The crews of the impress tenders, engaged in conveying pressed +men to the fleet, could not "proceed down" without falling victims to +the very service they were employed in. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755, and numerous instances.] To check +this egregious robbing of Peter to pay Paul, both the Navy Board and the +Government were obliged to "protect" their own sea-going hirelings, and +even then the protections were not always effective. + +Between the extremes represented by the landsman who enjoyed nominal +exemption and the seaman who enjoyed none, there existed a middle or +amphibious class of persons who lived exclusively on neither land +nor water, but habitually used both in the pursuit of their various +callings. These were the wherry or watermen, the lightermen, bargemen, +keelmen, trowmen and canal-boat dwellers frequenting mainly the inland +waterways of the country. + +In the reign of Richard II. the jurisdiction of Admirals was denned as +extending, in a certain particular, to the "main stream of great rivers +nigh the sea." [Footnote: 15 Richard II. cap. 2.] Had the same line of +demarcation been observed in the pressing of those whose occupations lay +upon rivers, there would have been little cause for outcry or complaint. +But the Admiralty, the successors of the ancient "Guardians of the Sea" +whose powers were so clearly limited by the Ricardian statute, gradually +extended the old-time jurisdiction until, for the purposes of the +impress, it included all waterways, whether "nigh the sea" or inland, +natural or artificial, whereon it was possible for craft to navigate. +All persons working upon or habitually using such waterways were +regarded as "using the sea," and later warrants expressly authorised the +gangs to take as many of them as they should be able, not excepting even +the ferryman. The extension was one of tremendous consequence, since +it swept into the Navy thousands of men who, like the Ely and Cambridge +bargemen, were "hardy, strong fellows, who never failed to make good +seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 April +1755.] + +Amongst these denizens of the country's waterways the position of the +Thames wherryman was peculiar in that from very early times he had been +exempt from the ordinary incidence of the press on condition of +his periodically supplying from his own numbers a certain quota of +able-bodied men for the use of the fleet. The rule applied to all +watermen using the river between Gravesend and Windsor, and members +of the fraternity who "withdrew and hid themselves" at the time of the +making of such levies, were liable to be imprisoned for two years and +"banished any more to row for a year and a day." [Footnote: 2 & 3 Philip +and Mary, cap. 16.] The exemption he otherwise enjoyed appears to have +conduced not a little to the waterman's proverbial joviality. As a +youth he spent his leisure in "dancing and carolling," thus earning the +familiar sobriquet of "the jolly young waterman." Even so, his tenure of +happiness was anything but secure. With the naval officer and the gang +he was no favourite, and few opportunities of dashing his happiness were +allowed to pass unimproved. In the person of John Golden, however, +they caught a Tartar. To the dismay of the Admiralty and the officer +responsible for pressing him, he proved to be one of my Lord Mayor's +bargemen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733-Capt. Young, 7 March +1756.] + +Apart from the watermen of the Thames, the purchase of immunity from the +press by periodic levies met with little favour, and though the levy was +in many cases reluctantly adopted, it was only because it entailed the +lesser of two evils. The basis of such levies varied from one man in ten +to one in five--a percentage which the Admiralty considered a "matter +of no distress"; and the penalty for refusing to entertain them was +wholesale pressing. + +The Tyne keelmen, while ostensibly consenting to buy immunity on this +basis, seldom levied the quota upon themselves. By offering bounties +they drew the price of their freedom to work in the keels from outside +sources. Lord Thurlow confessed that he did not know what "working in +the keels" meant. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1752-77, No. 70.] There were' few in the fleet who could have +enlightened him of their own experience. The keelmen kept their ranks as +far as possible intact. In this they were materially aided by the Mayor +and Corporation of Newcastle, who held a "Grand Protection" of the +Admiralty, and in return for this exceptional mark of their Lordships' +favour did all they could to further the pressing of persons less +essential to the trade of the town and river than were their own +keelmen. + +On the rivers Severn and Wye there was plying in 1806 a flotilla of +ninety-eight trows, ranging in capacity from sixty to one hundred and +thirty tons, and employing five hundred and eighty-eight men, of whom +practically all enjoyed exemption from the press. It being a time of +exceptional stress for men, the Admiralty considered this proportion +excessive, and Capt. Barker, at that time regulating the press at +Bristol, was ordered to negotiate terms. He proposed a contribution of +trowmen on the basis of one in every ten, coupling the suggestion with a +thinly veiled threat that if it were not complied with he would set +his gangs to work and take all he could get. The Association of Severn +Traders, finding themselves thus placed between the devil and the deep +sea, agreed to the proposal with a reluctance they in vain endeavoured +to hide under ardent protestations of loyalty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 24 April and 9 May 1806, and enclosure.] + +In the three hundred "flats" engaged in carrying salt, coals and other +commodities between Nantwich and Liverpool there were employed, in +1795, some nine hundred men who had up to that time largely escaped +the attentions of the gang. In that year, however, an arrangement was +entered into, under duress of the usual threat, to the effect that they +should contribute one man in six, or at the least one man in nine, +in return for exemption to be granted to the remainder. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 +April 1795.] + +Turf-boats plying on the Blackwater and the Shannon seem to have enjoyed +no special concessions. The men working them were pressed when-ever they +could be laid hold of, and if they were not always kept, their discharge +was due to reasons of physical unfitness rather than to any acknowledged +right to labour unmolested. Ireland's contribution to the fleet, apart +from the notoriously disaffected, was of too much consequence to be +played with; for the Irishman was essentially a good-natured soul, +and when his native indolence and slowness of movement had been duly +corrected by a judicious use of the rattan and the rope's-end, his +services were highly esteemed in His Majesty's ships of war. + +In the category of exemptions the fisheries occupied a place entirely +their own. They were carefully fostered, but indifferently protected. + +Previous to the year 1729 the most important concession granted to those +engaged in the taking of fish was the establishing of two extra "Fishe +Dayes" in the week. The provision was embodied in a statute of 1563, +whereby the people were required, under a penalty of, 3 Pounds for each +omission, "or els three monethes close Imprisonment without Baile or +Maineprise," to eat fish, to the total exclusion of meat, on Fridays and +Saturdays, and to content themselves with "one dish of flesh to three +dishes of fish" on Wednesdays. [Footnote: 5 Elizabeth, cap. 5.] The +enactment had no religious significance whatever; but in order to avoid +any suspicion of Popish tendencies it was deemed advisable, by those +responsible for the measure, to saddle it with a rider to the effect +that all persons teaching, preaching or proclaiming the eating of fish, +as enjoined by the Act, to be of "necessitee for the saving of the soule +of man," should be punished as "spreaders of fause newes." The true +significance of the measure lay in this. The abolition of Romish +fast-days had resulted, since the Reformation, in an enormous falling +off in the consumption of fish, and this decrease had in turn played +havoc with the fisheries. Now the fisheries were in reality the national +incubator for seamen, and Cecil, Elizabeth's astute Secretary of +State, perceiving in their decadence a grave menace to the manning of +prospective fleets, determined, for that reason if for no other, to +reanimate the dying industry. The Act in question was the practical +outcome of his deliberations. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, +Elizabeth, vol. xxvii. Nos. 71 and 72, comprising Cecil's original +memoranda.] + +An enactment which combined so happily the interests of the fisher +classes with those of national defence could not but be productive +of far-reaching consequences. The fishing industry not only throve +exceedingly because of it, it in time became, as Cecil clearly foresaw +it would become, a nursery for seamen and a feeder of the fleet as +unrivalled for the excellence of its material as it was inexhaustible in +its resources. Its prosperity was in fact its curse. Few exemptions were +granted it. Adventurers after whale and cod had special concessions, +suited to the peculiar conditions of their calling; but with these +exceptions craft of every description employed in the taking or the +carrying of fish, for a very protracted period enjoyed only such +exemptions as were grudgingly extended to sea-going craft in general. +The source of supply represented by the leviathan industry was too +valuable to be lightly restricted. + +On the other hand, it was too important to be lightly depleted. +Therefore under Cecil's Act establishing extra "Fishe Dayes," no +fisherman "using or haunting the sea" could be pressed off-hand to serve +in the Queen's Navy. The "taker," as the press-master was at that time +called, was obliged to carry his warrant to the Justices inhabiting +the place or places where it was proposed that the fishermen should be +pressed, and of these Justices any two were empowered to "choose +out such nomber of hable men" as the warrant specified. In this way +originated the "backing" or endorsing of warrants by the civil power. At +first obligatory only as regards the pressing of fishermen, it came to +be regarded in time as an essential preliminary to all pressing done on +land. + +No further provision of a special nature would appear to have been made +for the protecting of fisher folk from the press until the year 1729, +when an exemption was granted which covered the master, one apprentice, +one seaman and one landsman for each vessel. [Footnote: 2 George n. cap. +15.] In 1801, however, a sweeping change was inaugurated. A statute +of that date provided that no person engaged in the taking, curing or +selling of fish should be impressed. [Footnote: 41 George in. cap. 21.] +The exemption came too late to prove substantially beneficial to an +industry which had suffered incalculable injury from the then recent +wars. The press-gang was already nearing its last days. + +Prior to the Act of 1801 persons whose sole occupation was "to +pick oysters and mussels at low water" were accounted fishermen and +habitually pressed as "using the sea." + +The position of the smaller fry of fishermen is thrown into vivid relief +by an official communique of 1709 as opposed to an incident of later +date. "These poor people," runs the note, which was addressed to a naval +commander who had pressed a fisherman out of a boat of less than three +tons, "have been always protected for the support of their indigent +families, and therefore they must not Be taken into the service +unless there is a pressing occasion, _and then they will be all forced +thereinto_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1.2377--Capt. Robinson, 4 +Feb. 1708-9, and endorsement.] Captain Boscawen, writing from the Nore +in 1745, supplies the antithesis. He had been instructed to procure half +a dozen fishing smacks, each of not less than sixty tons burden, for +transport purposes. None were to be had. "The reason the fishermen give +for not employing vessels of that size," he states, in explanation of +the fact, "is that all the young men are pressed, and that the old men +and boys are not able to work them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1481--Capt. Boscawen, 23 Dec. 1745.] + +Conditions such as these in time taught the fisherman wisdom, and he +awoke to the fact that exemption for a consideration, as in the case of +workers on rivers and canals, was preferable to paying through the +nose. The Admiralty was never averse from driving a bargain of this +description. It saved much distress, much bad blood, much good money. +In this way Worthing fishermen bought exemption in 1780. The fishery of +that town was then in its infancy, the people engaged in it "very poor +and needy." They employed only sixteen boats. Yet they found it cheaper +to contribute five men to the Navy, at a cost of 40 Pounds in +bounties, than to entertain the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1446--Capt. Alms, 2 Jan. 1780.] + +The Orkney fisherman bought his freedom, both on his fishing-grounds and +when carrying his catch to market, on similar terms; but being a person +of frugal turn of mind, he gradually developed the habit of withholding +his stipulated quota. The unexpected arrival in his midst of an armed +smack, followed by a spell of vigorous pressing, taught him that to +be penny-wise is sometimes to be pound-foolish. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 11 May 1798, and Admiralty note.] + +On the Scottish coasts fishermen and ferrymen--the latter a numerous +class on that deeply indented seaboard--offered up one man in every five +or six on the altar of protection. The sacrifice distressed them less +than indiscriminate pressing. A prosperous people, they chose out those +of their number who could best be spared, supporting the families thus +left destitute by common subscription. Buss fishermen, who followed +the migratory herring; from fishing-ground to fishing-ground, were +in another category. Their contribution, when on the Scottish coast, +figured out at a man per buss, but as they were for some inscrutable +reason called upon to pay similar tribute on other parts of the coast, +they cannot be said to have escaped any too lightly. Neither did the +four hundred fishing-boats composing the Isle of Man fleet. Their crews +were obliged to surrender one man in every seven. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795; +Admiral Philip, Report on Rendezvous, 1 Aug. 1801.] + +Opinions as to the value of material drawn from these sources differed +widely. The buss fisherman was on all hands acknowledged to be a +seasoned sailor; but when it came to those employed in smaller craft, it +was held that heaving at the capstan for a matter of only six or seven +weeks in the year could never convert raw lads into useful seamen, even +though they continued that healthful form of exercise all their lives. +This was the view entertained by the masters of fishing-smacks smarting +from loss of "hands." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Thomas +Hurry, master, 3 March 1777.] + +Admiralty saw things in quite another light. "What you admit," said +their Lordships, expressing the counter-view, "it is our business to +prevent. We will therefore take these lads, who are admittedly of no +service to you save for hauling in your nets or getting your anchors, +and will make of them what you, on your own showing, can never +make--able seamen.": The argument, backed as it was by the strong arm of +the press-gang, was unanswerable. + +The fact that the fisherman passed much of his time on shore did not +free him from the press any more than it freed the waterman, or the +worker in keel or trow. In his main vocation he "used the sea," and that +was enough. For the use of the sea was the rule and standard by which +every man's liability to the press was supposed to be measured and +determined. + +Except in the case of masters, mates and apprentices to the sea, whose +affidavits or indentures constituted their respective safeguards against +the press, every person exempt from that infliction, whether by statute +law or Admiralty indulgence, was required to have in his possession an +official voucher setting forth the fact and ground of his exemption. +This document was ironically termed his "protection." + +Admiralty protections were issued under the hand of the Lord High +Admiral; ordinary protections, by departments and persons who possessed +either delegated or vested powers of issue. Thus each Trinity House +protected its own pilots; the Customs protected whale fishermen and +apprentices to the sea; impress officers protected seamen temporarily +lent to ships in lieu of men taken out of them by the gangs. Some +protections were issued for a limited period and lapsed when that period +expired; others were of perpetual "force," unless invalidated by some +irregular acton the part of the holder. No protection was good unless +it bore a minute description of the person to whom it applied, and all +protections had to be carried on the person and produced upon demand. +Thomas Moverty was pressed out of a wherry in the Thames owing to his +having changed his clothes and left his protection at home; and +John Scott of Mistley, in Suffolk, was taken whilst working in his +shirtsleeves, though his protection lay in the pocket of his jacket, +only a few yards away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. +Bridges, 11 August 1743. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Capt. Ballard, 15 +March 1804, and enclosure.] + +The most trifling irregularity in the protection itself, or the +slightest discrepancy between the personal appearance of the bearer and +the written description of him, was enough to convert the protection +into so much waste paper and the bearer into a naval seaman. +North-country apprentices, whose indentures bore a 14s. stamp in +accordance with Scottish law, were pressed because that document did not +bear a 15s. stamp according to English law. A seaman was in one instance +described in his protection as "smooth-faced," that is, beardless. The +impress officer scrutinised him closely. "Aha!" said he, "you are not +smooth-faced. You are pockmarked"; and he pressed the poor fellow for +that reason. + +To be over-protected was as bad as having no protection at all. +Thomas Letting, a collier's man, and John Anthony of the merchant ship +_Providence_, learnt this fact to their cost when they were taken out +of their respective ships for having each two protections. In short, +the slightest pretext served. If a protection had but a few more days to +run; if the name, date, place or other essential particular showed +signs of "coaxing," that is, of having been "on purpose rubbed out" or +altered; if a man's description did not figure in his protection, or +if it figured on the back instead of in the margin, or in the margin +instead of on the back; if his face wore a ruddy rather than a pale +look, if his hair were red when it ought to have been brown, if he +proved to be "tall and remarkable thin" when he should have been +middle-sized and thick-set--in any of these, as in a hundred and one +similar cases, the bearer of the protection paid the penalty for what +the impress officer regarded as a "hoodwinking attempt" to cheat the +King's service of an eligible man. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the impress officer regarded every +pressable man as a person who made it his chief business in life +to defraud the Navy of his services on the "miserable plea of a +protection," it by no means followed that his zeal in pressing him +on that account had in every case the countenance or met with the +unqualified approval of the Admiralty. Thousands of men and boys taken +in this irresponsible fashion obtained their discharge, though with +more or less difficulty and delay, when the facts of the case were +laid before the naval authorities; and in general it may be said, that +although the Lords Commissioners were only too ready to wink at any +colourable excuse whereby another physical unit might be added to the +fleet, they nevertheless laid it down as a rule, inviolable at least +on paper, "never to press any man from protections," since it brought +"great trouble and clamour upon them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +3. 50--Admiralty Minutes, 26 Feb. 1744-5.] To assert that the rule was +generally obeyed would be to turn the truth into a lie. On the contrary, +it was almost universally disregarded. Both officers and gangs traversed +it on every possible occasion, leaving the justice or injustice of the +act to the arbitrament of the higher tribunal. Zeal for the service was +no crime, and to release a man was always so much easier than to catch +him. + +"Pressing from protections," as the phrase ran in the service, did +not therefore mean that the Admiralty over-rode its own protections +at pleasure. It merely signified that on occasion more than ordinarily +stringent measures were adopted for the holding-up and examining of +all protected persons, or of as many of them as could be got at by the +gangs, to the end that all false or fraudulent vouchers might be weeded +out and the dishonest bearers of them consigned to another place. And +yet there were times when "pressing from protections" had its plenary +significance too. + +Lovers of prints who are familiar with Hogarth's "Stage Coach; or, +a Country Inn Yard," date 1747, will readily recall the two +"outsides"--the one a down-in-the-mouth soldier, the other a jolly +Jack-tar on whose bundle may be read the word "Centurion." Now the +_Centurion_ was Anson's flag-ship, and in this print Hogarth has +incidentally recorded the fact that her crew, on their return from that +famous voyage round the world, were awarded life-protections from the +press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Anson, 24 July +1744.] + +The life-protection was an indulgence extended to few. Samuel Davidson +of Newcastle, sailor, aged fifty, who had "served for nine years during +the late wars," in 1777 made bold to plead that fact as a reason why he +should be freed from the attentions of the press-gang for the rest of +his life. But the Lords Commissioners refused to admit the plea "unless +he was in a position not inferior to that of chief mate." On the other +hand, Henry Love of Hastings, who had merely served in a single Dutch +expedition, but had the promise of Pitt and Dundas that both he and +those who volunteered with him should never be pressed, was immediately +discharged when that calamity befell him. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1449--Capt. Columbine, 21 July 1800.] + +The granting of extraordinary protections was thus something entirely +erratic and not to be counted upon. Captain Balchen in 1708 had special +protections for ten of his ship's company whom he desired to bring to +London as witnesses in a suit then pending against him; but the building +of the three earlier Eddystone lighthouses was allowed to be seriously +impeded by the pressing of the unprotected workmen when on shore at +Plymouth, and the keepers of the first erection of that name were once +carried off bag and baggage by the gang. + +Smeaton, who built the third Eddystone, protected his men by means of +silver badges, and his storeboat enjoyed similar immunity--presumably +with the consent of Admiralty--by reason of a picture of the lighthouse +painted on her sail. Other great constructors, as well as rich +mercantile firms, bought protection at a price. They supplied a +stipulated number of men for the fleet, and found the arrangement a +highly convenient one for ridding themselves of those who were useless +to them or had incurred their displeasure. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 583--Admiral Thornborough, 30 Nov. 1813.] + +Private protections, of which great numbers saw the light, were in no +case worth the paper they were written on. Joseph Bettesworth of Ryde, +Isle of Wight, Attorney-at-Law and Lord of the Manor of Ashey and Ryde, +by virtue of an ancient privilege pertaining to that Manor and confirmed +by royal Letters Patent, in 1790 protected some twenty seafaring men to +work his "Antient Ferry or Passage for the Wafting of Passengers to and +from Ride, Portsmouth and Gosport, in a smack of about 14 tons, and a +wherry." The regulating captain at the last-named place asked what he +should do about it. "Press every man as soon as possible," replied their +Lordships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1506--Capt. John Bligh, +June 1790, and enclosure.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + + + +"A man we want, and a man we must have," was the naval cry of the +century. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Deposition of John +Swinburn, 28 July 1804.] + +Nowhere was the cry so loud or so insistent as on the sea, where every +ship of war added to its volume. In times of peace, when the demand +for men was gauged by those every-day factors, sickness, death and +desertion, it dwindled, if it did not altogether die away; but given +a war-cloud on the near horizon and the cry for men swelled, as +many-voiced as there were keels in the fleet, to a sudden clamour of +formidable proportions--a clamour that only the most strenuous and +unremitting exertions could in any measure appease. + +Every navy is argus-eyed, and in crises such as these, when the +very existence of the nation was perhaps at stake, it was first and +principally towards the crews of the country's merchant ships that the +eyes of the Navy were directed; for, shipboard life and shipboard duty +being largely identical in both services, no elaborate training +was required to convert the merchant sailor into a first-rate +man-o'-war's-man. The ships of both services were sailing ships. Both, +as a rule, went armed. Hence, not only was the merchant sailor an able +seaman, he was also trained in the handling of great guns, and in the +use of the cutlass, the musket and the boarding-pike. In a word, he was +that most valuable of all assets to a people seeking to dominate the +sea--a man-o'-war's-man ready-made, needing only to be called in in +order to become immediately effective. + +The problem was how to catch him--how to take him fresh and vigorous +from his deep-sea voyaging--how to enroll him in the King's Navy ere he +got ashore with a pocketful of money and relaxed his hardened muscles in +the uncontrolled debauchery he was so partial to after long abstention. + +A device of the simplest yet of the most elaborate description met the +difficulty. It was based upon the fact that to take the sailor afloat +was a much easier piece of strategy than to ferret him out of his +hiding-places after he got ashore. The impress trap was therefore set in +such a way as to catch him before he reached the land. + +With infinite ingenuity and foresight sea-gangs were picketed from +harbour to harbour, from headland to headland, until they formed an +almost unbroken chain around the coasts and guarded the sailor's every +point of accustomed approach from overseas: This was the outer cordon +of the system, the beginning of the gauntlet the returning sailor had to +run, and he was a smart seaman indeed who could successfully negotiate +the uncharted rocks and shoals with which the coast was everywhere +strewn in his despite. + +The composition of this chain of sea-gangs was mixed to a degree, yet +singularly homogeneous. + +First of all, on its extreme outer confines, perhaps as far down Channel +as the Scillies, or as far north as the thirteen-mile stretch of sea +running between the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast, where the trade +for Liverpool, Whitehaven, Dublin and the Clyde commonly came in, the +homing sailor would suddenly descry, bearing down upon him under press +of sail, the trim figure of one of His Majesty's frigates, or the clean, +swift lines of an armed sloop. The meeting was no chance one. Both +the frigate and the sloop were there by design, the former cruising +to complete her own complement, the latter to complete that of some +ship-of-the-line at Plymouth, Spithead or the Nore, to which she stood +in the relation of tender. + +Tenders were vessels taken into the king's service "at the time of +Impressing Seamen." Hired at certain rates per month, they continued in +the service as long as they were required, often most unwillingly, and +were principally employed in obtaining men for the king's ships or in +matters relative thereto. In burden they varied from thirty or forty to +one hundred tons, [Footnote: This was the maximum tonnage for which the +Navy Board paid, but when trade was slack larger vessels could be had, +and were as a matter of fact frequently employed, at the nominal tonnage +rate.] the smaller craft hugging the coast and dropping in from port +to port, the larger cruising far beyond shore limits. For deep-sea or +trade-route cruising the smaller craft were of little use. No ship of +force would bring-to for them. + +While press-warrants were supplied regularly to every warship, no matter +what her rating, the supply of tenders was less general and much more +erratic. It was only when occasion demanded it, and then only to ships +of the first, second and third rate, that tenders were assigned for the +purpose of bringing their crews up to full strength. The urgency of +the occasion, the men to be "rose," the diplomacy of the commander +determined the number. A tender to each ship was the rule, but however +parsimonious the Navy Board might be on such occasions, a carefully +worded appeal to its prejudices seldom failed to produce a second, +or even a third attendant vessel. Boscawen once had recourse to this +ingenious ruse in order to obtain tender number two. The Navy Board +detested straggling seamen, so he suggested that, with several tenders +lying idle in the Thames, his men might be far more profitably employed +than in straggling about town. "Most reprehensible practice!" assented +the Board, and placed a second vessel at his disposal without more ado. +Lieut. Upton was immediately put in charge of her and ordered seawards. +He returned within a week with twenty-seven men, pressed out of +merchantmen in Margate Roads. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1478--Letters of Capt. Boscawen, July and August 1743.] + +The tender assigned to Boscawen on this occasion was the _Galloper_, an +American-built vessel, "rigged in the manner the West Indians do +their sloops." Her armament consisted of six 9-pounders and threescore +small-arms, but as a sea-boat she belied her name, for she was +hopelessly sluggish under sail, and the great depth of her waist, and +her consequent liability to ship seas in rough weather, rendered her +"very improper" for cruising in the Channel. + +For her company she had a master, a mate and six hands supplied by the +owners, in addition to thirty-four seamen temporarily drafted into her +from Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_. It was the duty of the former +to work the vessel, of the latter to do the pressing; but these +duties were largely interchangeable. All were under the command of the +lieutenant, who with forty-two men at his beck and call could organise, +on a pinch, five gangs of formidable strength and yet leave sufficient +hands, given fair weather, to mind the tender in their temporary +absence. Tender's men were generally the flower of a ship's company, +old hands of tried fidelity, equal to any emergency and reputedly proof +against bribery, rum and petticoats. Yet the temptation to give duty the +slip and enjoy the pleasures of town for a season sometimes proved too +strong, even for them, and we read of one boat's-crew of eight, who, +overcome in this way, were discovered after many days in a French +prison. Instead of going pressing in the Downs, they had gone to +Boulogne. + +On the commanders of His Majesty's ships the onus of raising men fell +with intolerable insistence. Nelson's greatest pleasure in his promotion +to Admiral's rank is said to have been derived from the fact that with +it there came a blessed cessation to the scurvy business of pressing; +and there were in the service few captains, whether before or after +Nelson's day, who could not echo with hearty approval the sentiment of +Capt. Brett of the _Roebuck_, when he said: "I can solemnly declare +that the getting and taking care of my men has given me more trouble and +uneasiness than all the rest of my duty." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1478--Capt. Brett, 27 Oct. 1742.] + +Commanders of smaller and less effective ships found themselves on the +horns of a cruel dilemma did they dare to ask for tenders. Beg and +pray as they would, these were rarely allowed them save as a special +indulgence or a crying necessity. To most applications from this source +the Admiralty opposed a front well calculated "to encourage the others." +"If he has not men enough to proceed on service," ran its dictum, "their +Lordships will lay up the ship." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1471--Capt. Boyle, 1 March 1715-6, endorsement, and numerous instances.] +Faced with the summary loss of his command, their Lordships' high +displeasure, and consequent inactivity and half-pay for an indefinite +period, the captain whose complement was short, and who could obtain +neither men nor tender from the constituted authority, had no option but +to put to sea with such hands as he already bore and there beat up for +others. This, with their Lordships' gracious permission, he accordingly +did, thus adding another unit to the fleet of armed vessels already +prowling the Narrow Seas on a similar errand. It can be readily imagined +that such commanders were not out for pleasure. + +To the great and incessantly active flotilla got together in this way, +the regulating captains on shore contributed a further large contingent. +Every seaport of consequence had its rendezvous, every seaport +rendezvous its amphibious gang or gangs who ranged the adjacent coast +for many leagues in swift bottoms whose character and mission often +remained wholly unsuspected until some skilful manoeuvre laid them +aboard their intended victim and brought the gang swarming over her +decks, armed to the teeth and resolute to press her crew. + +We have now three classes of vessels, of varying build, rig, tonnage and +armament, engaged in a common endeavour to intercept and take the homing +sailor. Let us next see how they were disposed upon the coast. + +Tenders from Greenwich and Blackwall ransacked the Thames below bridge +as far as Blackstakes in the river Medway, the Nore and the Swin +channel. Tenders from Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover watched the +lower Thames estuary, swept the Downs, and kept a sharp lookout along +the coasts of Kent and Sussex, of Essex and of Norfolk. To these tenders +from Lynn dipped their colours off Wells-on-Sea or Cromer, whence +they bore away for the mouth of Humber, where Hull tenders took up the +running till met by those belonging to Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne +and Shields, which in turn joined up the cordon with others hailing +from Leith and the Firth of Forth. Northward of the Forth, away to the +extreme Orkneys, and all down the west coast of Scotland through the two +Minches and amongst the Hebrides, specially armed sloops from Leith and +Greenock made periodic cruises. Greenock tenders, again, united with +tenders from Belfast and Whitehaven in a lurking watch for ships making +home ports by way of the North Channel; or circled the Isle of Man, ran +thence across to Morecambe Bay, and so down the Lancashire coast the +length of Formby Head, where the Mersey tenders, alert for the Jamaica +trade, relieved them of their vigil. Dublin tenders guarded St. George's +Channel, aided by others from Milford Haven and Haverfordwest. Bristol +tenders cruised the channel of that names keeping a sharp eye on Lundy +Island and the Holmes, where shipmasters were wont to play them tricks +if they were not watchful. Falmouth and Plymouth tenders guarded the +coast from Land's End to Portland Bill, Portsmouth tenders from Portland +Bill to Beachy Head, and Folkestone and Dover tenders from Beachy Head +to the North Foreland, thus completing the encircling chain. Nor was +Ireland forgotten in the general sea-rummage. As a converging point for +the great overseas trade-routes it was of prime importance, and tenders +hailing from Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, or making +those places their chief ports of call, exercised unceasing vigilance +over all the coast. + +In this general scouring of the coastal waters of the kingdom certain +points were of necessity subjected to a much closer surveillance than +others. Particularly was this true of the sea routes followed by the +East and West India, and the Baltic, Virginia, Newfoundland, Dutch +and Greenland trades, where these converged upon such centres of +world-commerce as London, Poole, Bristol, Liverpool and the great +northern entrepôts on the Forth and Clyde, the Humber and the Tyne. A +tender stationed off Poole, when a Newfoundland fish-convoy was expected +in, never failed to reap a rich harvest. At Highlake, near the mouth +of the Mersey, many a fine haul was made from the sugar and rum-laden +Jamaica ships, the privateers and slavers from which Liverpool drew her +wealth. Early in the century sloops of war had orders "to cruise between +Beechy and the Downs to Impress men out of homeward-bound Merchant +Ships," and in 1755 Rodney's lieutenants found the Channel "full of +tenders." Except in times of profound peace--few and brief in the +century under review--it was rarely or never in any other state. An +ocean highway so congested with the winged vehicles of commerce could +not escape the constant vigilance of those whose business it was to +waylay the inward-bound sailor. + +A favourite station in the Channel was "at ye west end of ye Isle of +Wight, near Hurst Castle," where the watchful tender, having under her +eye all ships coming from the westward, as well as all passing through +the Needles, could press at pleasure by the simple expedient of sending +gangs aboard of them. At certain times of the year such ports as +Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Brixham came in for similar +attention. When the fleets were due back from the "Great Fishery" on the +Dogger Banks, tenders cruising off those ports netted more men than they +could find room for; and so heavy was the tribute paid in this way by +the fishermen of the last-named port in 1805, that "not a single man was +to be found in Brixham liable to the impress." Every unprotected man, +out of a total of ninety-six fishing-smacks then belonging to the place, +had been snapped up by the tenders and ships of war cruising off the bay +or further up-Channel. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 Sept.] + +The double cordon composed of ships and tenders on the cruise by no +means exhausted the resources called into play for the intercepting of +the sailor afloat. Still nearer the land was a third or innermost line +composed of boat-gangs operating, like so many of the tenders, from +rendezvous on shore, or from ships of war lying in dock or riding +at anchor. Less continuous than the outer cordon, it was not less +effective, and many a sailor who by strategy or good luck had all but +won through, struck his flag to the gang when perhaps only the cast of a +line separated him from shore and liberty. + +It was across the entrance to harbours and navigable estuaries that this +innermost line was most frequently and most successfully drawn. Pill, +the pilot station for the port of Bristol, threw out such a line to +the further bank of Avon and thereby caught many an able seaman who +had evaded the tenders below King Road. On Southampton Water it was +generally so impassable that few men who could in the slightest +degree be considered liable to the press escaped its toils. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 +Aug. 1805.] Dublin Bay knew it well. A press "on float" there, carried +out silently and swiftly in the grey of a September morning, 1801, +whilst the mists still hung thick over the water, resulted in the +seizure of seventy-four seamen who had eluded the press-smacks cruising +without the bay; but of this number two proving to be protected +apprentices, the Lord Mayor sent the Water Bailiff of the city, "with a +detachment of the army," and took them by force out of the hands of the +gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1526--Capt. Brabazon, 16 Sept. +1801.] On the Thames, notwithstanding the ceaseless activity of the +outer cordons, the innermost line of capture yielded enormously. The +night of October the 28th, 1776, saw three hundred and ninety-nine men, +the greater part of them good seamen, pressed by the boats of a single +ship--the _Princess Augusta_, Captain Sir Richard Bickerton commander, +then fitting out at Woolwich. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1497--Capt. Bickerton, 29 Oct. 1776.] Such a raid was very properly +termed a "hot press." + +The amazing feature of this exploit is, that it should have been +possible at all, in view of what was going on in the Thames estuary +below a line drawn across the river's mouth from Foulness to +Sheerness-reach. Seawards of this line lay the two most famous +anchorages in the world, where ships foregathered from every quarter +of the navigable globe. Than the Nore and the Downs no finer +recruiting-ground could anywhere be found, and here the shore-gangs +afloat, and the boat-gangs from ships of war, were for ever on the +alert. No ship, whether inward or outward bound, could pass the Nore +without being visited. Nothing went by unsearched. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] The wonder is that any +unprotected sailor ever found his way to London. + +Between the Nore and the North Foreland the conditions were equally +rigorous. Through all the channels leading to the sea, channels +affording anchorage to innumerable ships of every conceivable rig and +tonnage, the gangs roamed at will, exacting toll of everything that +carried canvas. Even the smaller craft left high and dry upon the +flats, or awaiting the tide in some sand-girt pool, did not escape their +hawk-like vigilance. + + [Illustration: SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS +WEDDING DAY.] + +In the Downs these conditions reached their climax, for thither, in +never-ending procession, came the larger ships which were so fruitful of +good hauls. With the wind at north, or between north and east, few ships +came in and little could be done. But when the wind veered and came +piping out of the west or sou'-west, in they came in such numbers that +the gangs, however numerous they might be, had all their work cut out +to board them. A special tender, swift and exceedingly well-found, was +accordingly stationed here, whose duty it was to be "very watchful that +no vessel passed without a visit from the impress boats." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Orders of Vice-Admiral Buckle to Capt. +Yates, 29 April 1778.] In such work as this man-o'-war boats were of +little use. Just as they could not negotiate Deal beach without danger +of being reduced to matchwood, so they could not live in the choppy sea +kicked up in the Downs by a westerly gale. Folkstone market boats and +Deal cutters had to be requisitioned for pressing in those waters. Their +seaworthiness and speed made the Downs the crux of inward-bound ships, +whose only means of escaping their attentions was to incur another +danger by "going back of the Goodwins." + +The procedure of boat-gangs pressing in harbour or on rivers seldom +varied, unless it were by accident. As a rule, night was the time +selected, for to catch the sailor asleep conduced greatly to the success +and safety of the venture. The hour chosen was consequently either close +upon midnight, some little time after he had turned in, or in the early +morning before he turned out. The darker the night and the dirtier the +weather the better. Surprise, swiftly and silently carried out, was half +the battle. + +A case in point is the attempt made by Lieut. Rudsdale, of H.M.S. +_Licorne_, "to impress all men (without exception) from the ships and +vessels lying at Cheek Point above Passage of Waterford," in the year +'79. Putting-off in the pinnace with a picked crew at eleven o'clock +on a dark and tempestuous October night, he had scarcely left the ship +astern ere he overtook a boatload of men, how many he could not well +discern in the darkness, pulling in the direction he himself was bound. +Fearful lest they should suspect the nature of his errand and alarm +the ships at Passage, he ran alongside of them and pressed the entire +number, sending the boat adrift. Putting back, he set his capture on +board the _Licorne_ and once more turned the nose of the pinnace towards +Passage. There, dropping noiselessly aboard the _Triton_ brig, he caught +the hands asleep, pressed as many of them as he had room for, and with +them returned to the ship. Meanwhile, the master of the _Triton_ armed +what hands he had left and met Rudsdale's second attempt to board +him with a formidable array of handspikes, hatchets and crowbars. +A fusillade of bottles and billets of wood further evinced his +determination to protect the brig against all comers, and lest there +should be any doubt on that point he swore roundly that he would be the +death of every man in the pinnace if they did not immediately sheer +off and leave him in peace. This the lieutenant wisely did. No further +surprises were possible that night, for by this time the alarm had +spread, the pinnace was half-full of missiles, and one of his men lay +in the bottom of her severely wounded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +471--Deposition of Lieut. Rudsdale, 24 Oct. 1779.] As it was, he had a +very fair night's work to his credit. Between the occupants of the boat +and those of the brig he had obtained close upon a score of men. + +The expedients resorted to by commanders of ships of war temporarily +in port and short of their tale of men are vividly depicted in a report +made to the Admiralty in 1711. "Three days ago, very privately," +writes Capt. Billingsley, whose ship, the _Vanguard_, was then lying at +Blackstakes, "I Sent two fishing Smacks with a Lieutenant and some Men, +with orders to proceede along the Essex Coast, and downe as far as the +Wallet, to the Naze, with directions to take all the men out of Oyster +Vessels and others that were not Exempted. The project succeeded, and +they are return'd with fourteen men, all fit, and but one has ever been +in the Service. The coast was Alarm'd, and the country people came downe +and fir'd from the Shore upon the Smacks, and no doubt but they doe +still take 'em to be privateers." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Billingsley, 5 May 1711.] + +Pressing at sea differed materially in many of its aspects from pressing +on the more sheltered waters of rivers and harbours. Carried out as a +rule in the broad light of day, it was for that very reason accompanied +with a more open and determined display of force than those quieter +ventures which depended so largely for their success upon the element +of surprise. Situated as we are in these latter days, when anyone who +chooses may drive his craft from Land's End to John o' Groats without +hindrance, it is difficult to conceive that there was ever a time when +the whole extent of the coastal waters of the kingdom, as ranged by +the impress tender, was under rigorous martial law. Yet such was +unquestionably the case. Throughout the eighteenth century the flag was +everywhere in armed evidence in those waters, and no sailing master of +the time could make even so much as a day's run with any certainty that +the peremptory summons: "Bring to! I'm coming aboard of you," would not +be bawled at him from the mouth of a gun. + +The retention of the command of a tender depended entirely upon her +success in procuring men. As a rule, she was out for no other purpose, +and this being so, it is not to be supposed that the officer in charge +of her would do otherwise than employ the means ordained for that end. +Accordingly, as soon as a sail was sighted by the tender's lookout man, +a gun was loaded, shotted with roundshot, and run out ready for the +moment when the vessel should come within range. + +The first intimation the intended victim had of the fate in store for +her was the shriek of the roundshot athwart her bows. This was the +signal, universally known as such, for her to back her topsails and +await the coming of the gang, already tumbling in ordered haste into the +armed boat prepared for them under the tender's quarter. And yet it was +not always easy for the sprat to catch the whale. A variety of factors +entered into the problem and made for failure as often as for success. +Sometimes the tender's powder was bad--so bad that in spite of an extra +pound or so added to the charge, the shot could not be got to carry +as far as a common musket ball. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2485--Capt. Shirley, 5 Nov. 1780, and numerous instances.] When this was +the case her commander suffered a double mortification. His shot, +the symbol of authority and coercion, took the water far short of its +destined goal, whilst the vessel it was intended to check and intimidate +surged by amid the derisive cat-calls and laughter of her crew. + +Even with the powder beyond reproach, ships did not always obey the +summons, peremptory though it was. One pretended not to hear it, or to +misunderstand it, or to believe it was meant for some other craft, and +so held stolidly on her course, vouchsafing no sign till a second shot, +fired point-blank, but at a safe elevation, hurtled across her decks and +brought her to her senses. Another, perhaps some well-armed Levantine +trader or tall Indiaman whose crew had little mind to strike their +colours submissively at the behest of a midget press-smack, would pipe +to quarters and put up a stiff fight for liberty and the dear delights +of London town--a fight from which the tender, supposing her to have +accepted the gage of battle, rarely came off victor. Or the challenged +ship, believing herself to be the faster craft of the two, clapped on +all sail, caught an opportune "slatch of wind," and showed her pursuer +a clean pair of heels, the tender's guns meanwhile barking away at her +until she passed out of range. These were incidents in the chapter of +pressing afloat which every tender's commander was familiar with. Back +of them all lay a substantial fact, and on that he relied for his supply +of men. There was somehow a magic in the boom of a naval gun that +had its due effect upon most ship-masters. They brought-to, however +reluctantly, and awaited the pleasure of the gang. But the sailor had +still to be reckoned with. + +In order to invest the business of taking the sailor with some semblance +of legality, it was necessary that the commander of the tender, in whose +name the press-warrant was made out, or one of his two midshipmen, each +of whom usually held a similar warrant, should conduct the proceedings +in person; and the first duty of this officer, on setting foot upon the +deck of the vessel held up in the manner just described, was to order +her entire company to be mustered for his inspection. If the master +proved civil, this preliminary passed off quickly and with no more +confusion than was incidental to a general and hasty rummaging of +sea-chests and lockers in search of those magic protections on which +hung the immediate destiny of every man in the ship, excepting only the +skipper, his mate and that privileged person, the boatswain. The muster +effected, the officer next subjected each protection to the closest +possible scrutiny, for none who knew the innate trickery of seamen +would ever "take their words for it." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1482--Capt. Boscawen, 20 March 1745-6.] Men who had no protections, +men whose papers bore evident traces of "coaxing" or falsification, +men whose appearance and persons failed to tally exactly with the +description there written down--these were set apart from their more +fortunate messmates, to be dealt with presently. To their ranks were +added others whose protections had either expired or were on the point +of expiry, as well as skulkers who sought to evade His Majesty's press +by stowing themselves away between or below decks, and who had been +by this time more or less thoroughly routed out by members of the gang +armed with hangers. The two contingents now lined up, and their total +was checked by reference to the ship's articles, the officer never +omitting to make affectionate inquiries after men marked down as "run," +"drowned," or "discharged"; for none knew better than he, if an old hand +at the game, how often the "run" man ran no further afield than some +secure hiding-place overlooked by his gangers, or how miraculously the +"drowned" bobbed up once more to the surface of things when the gang had +ceased from troubling. If the ship happened to be an inward-bound, and +to possess a general protection exempting her from the press only +for the voyage then just ending, that fact greatly simplified and +abbreviated the proceedings, for then her whole company was looked upon +as the ganger's lawful prey. In the case of an outward-bound ship, the +gang-officer's duty was confined to seeing that she carried no more +hands than her protection and tonnage permitted her to carry. All others +were pressed. Cowed by armed authority, or wounded and bleeding in a +lost cause as hereafter to be related, the men were hustled into the +boat with "no more violence than was necessary for securing them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aldred, 12 June 1708.] +Their chests and bedding followed, making a full boat; and so, having +cleared the ship of all her pressable hands, the gang prepared to return +to the tender. But first there was a last stroke of business to be done. +The gunner must have his bit. + +Up to this point, beyond producing the ship's papers for inspection and +gruffly answering such questions as were put to, him, the master of the +vessel had taken little part in what was going on. His turn now came. By +virtue of his position he could not be pressed, but there existed a very +ancient naval usage according to which he could be, and was, required to +pay for the powder and shot expended in inducing him to receive the +gang on board. In law the exaction was indefensible. Litigation often +followed it, and as the century grew old the practice for that reason +fell into gradual desuetude, a circumstance almost universally deplored +by naval commanders of the old school, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 13 Oct. 1795, and Admiralty endorsement.] who were +ever sticklers for respect to the flag; but during the first five or six +decades of the century the shipmaster who had to be fired upon rarely +escaped paying the shot. The money accruing from his compliance with +the demand, 6s. 8d., went to the gunner, whose perquisite it was, and +as several shots were frequently necessary to reduce a crew to becoming +submissiveness, the gunners must have done very well out of it. Refusal +to "pay the shot" could be visited upon the skipper only indirectly. +Another man or two were taken out of him by way of reprisals, and the +press-boat shoved off--to return a second, or even a third time, if the +pressed men numbered more than she could stow. + +From this summary mode of depriving a ship of a part or the whole of her +crew two serious complications arose, the first of which had to do +with the wages of the men pressed, the second with what was technically +called "carrying the ship up," that is to say, sailing her to her +destination. + +According to the law of the land, the sailor who was pressed out of a +ship was entitled to his wages in full till the day he was pressed, and +not only was every shipmaster bound to provide such men with tickets +good for the sums severally due to them, tickets drawn upon the owners +and payable upon demand, but it was the duty of every impress officer +to see that such tickets were duly made out and delivered to the men. +Refusal to comply with the law in this respect led to legal proceedings, +in which, except in the case of foreign ships, the Admiralty invariably +won. Eminently fair to the sailor, the provision was desperately hard on +masters and owners, for they, after having shipped their crews for the +run or voyage, now found themselves left either with insufficient hands +to carry the ship up, or with no hands at all. As a concession to the +necessity of the moment a gang was sometimes put on board a ship for the +avowed purpose of pressing her hands when she arrived in port; but such +concessions were not always possible, [Footnote: Nor were they always +effective, as witness the following: "Tuesday the 15th, the _Shandois_ +sloop from Holland came by this place (the Nore). I put 15 men on board +her to secure her Company till their Protection was expired. Soon after +came from Sheerness the Master Attendant's boat to assist me on that +service. I immediately sent her away with more Men and Armes for the +better Securing of the Sloop's Company, but that night, in Longreach, +the Vessel being near the Shore, and almost Calme, they hoisted the boat +out to tow the Sloop about, and all the Sloop's men, being 18, got +into her and Run ashore, bidding defiance to my people's +fireing."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, H.M.S. _Argyle_, +18 Feb. 1725-6.] and common equity demanded that in their absence ample +provision should be made for the safety of vessels suddenly disabled by +the gang. This the Admiralty undertook to do, and hence there grew up +that appendage to the impress afloat generally known as "men in lieu" or +"ticket men." + +The vocation of the better type "man in lieu" was a vicarious sort of +employment, entailing any but disagreeable consequences upon him who +followed it. At every point on the coast where a gang was stationed, and +at many where they were not, great numbers of these men were retained +for service afloat whenever required. The three ports of Dover, Deal and +Folkestone alone at one time boasted no less than four hundred and fifty +of them, and when a hot press was in full swing in the Downs even this +number was found insufficient to meet the demand. Mostly fishermen, +Sea-Fencibles and others of a quasi-seafaring type, they enjoyed +complete exemption from the impress as a consideration for "going +in pressed men's rooms," received a shilling, and in some cases +eighteen-pence a day while so employed, and had a penny a mile +road-money for their return to the place of their abode, where they +were free, in the intervals between carrying ships up, to follow any +longshore occupation they found agreeable, save only smuggling. The +enjoyment of these privileges, and particularly the privilege of +exemption from the press, made them, as a class, notorious for their +independence and insolence--characteristics which still survive in not a +few of their descendants. Tenders going a-pressing often bore a score +or two of these privileged individuals as supers, who were drafted into +ships, as the crews were taken out, to assist the master, mate and few +remaining hands, were any of the latter left, in carrying them up. Or, +if no supers of this class were borne by the tender, she "loaned" the +master a sufficient number of her own company, duly protected by tickets +from the commanding officer, and invariably the most unserviceable +people on board, to work the ship into the nearest port where regular +"men in lieu" could be obtained. + +Had all "men in lieu" conformed to the standard of the better class +substitute of that name, the system would have been laudable in the +extreme and trade would have suffered little inconvenience from the +depredations of the gangs; but there was in the system a flaw that +generally reduced the aid lent to ships to something little better than +a mere travesty of assistance. That flaw lay in the fact that Admiralty +never gave as good as it took. Clearly, it could not. True, it supplied +substitutes to go in "pressed men's rooms," but to call them "men in +lieu" was a gross abuse of language. In reality the substitutes supplied +were in the great majority of cases mere scum in lieu, the unpressable +residuum of the population, consisting of men too old or lads too +young to appeal to the cupidity of the gangs, poor creatures whom the +regulating captains had refused, useless on land and worse than useless +at sea. + +In the general character of the persons sent in pressed men's rooms +Admiralty thus had Trade on the hip, and Trade suffered much in +consequence. More than one rich merchantman, rusty from long voyaging, +strewed the coast with her cargo and timbers because all the able seamen +had been taken out of her, and none better than old men and boys could +be found to sail her. Few seaport towns were as wise as Sunderland, +where they had a Society of Shipowners for mutual insurance against +the risks arising from the pressing of their men. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1541--Capt. Bligh, 8 Jan. 1807, enclosure.] Elsewhere +masters, owners and underwriters groaned under the galling imposition; +but the wrecker rejoiced exceedingly, thanking the gangs whose ceaseless +activities rendered such an outrageous state of things possible. + +Whichever of these two classes the ticket man belonged to, he was an +incorrigible deserter. "Thirteen out of the fifteen men in lieu that I +sent up in the _Beaufort_ East-Indiaman," writes the disgusted commander +of the _Comet_ bombship, from the Downs, "have never returned. As +they are not worth inquiring for, I have made them run." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Burvill, 4 Sept. 1742. A +man-o'-war's-man was "made run" when he failed to return to his ship +after a reasonable absence and an R was written over against his name on +the ship's books.] Such instances might be multiplied indefinitely. Once +the ticket man had drawn his money for the trip, there was no such thing +as holding him. The temptation to spend his earnings in town proved too +strong, and he went on the spree with great consistency and enjoyment +till his money was gone and his protection worthless, when the +inevitable overtook him. The ubiquitous gang deprived him of his only +remaining possession, his worthless liberty, and sent him to the fleet, +a ragged but shameless derelict, as a punishment for his breach of +privilege. + +The protecting ticket carried by the man in lieu dated from 1702, when +it appears to have been first instituted; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1433--Capt. Anderson, 5 April 1702.] but even when the bearer was no +deserter in fact or intention, it had little power to protect him. No +ticket man could count upon remaining unmolested by the gangs except the +undoubted foreigner and the marine, both of whom were much used as men +in lieu. The former escaped because his alien tongue provided him with +a natural protection; the latter because he was reputedly useless on +shipboard. In the person of the marine, indeed, the man in lieu achieved +the climax of ineptitude. It was an ironical rule of the service that +persons refusing to act as men in lieu should suffer the very fate they +stood in so much danger of in the event of their consenting. Broadstairs +fishermen in 1803 objected to serving in that capacity, though tendered +the exceptional wage of 27s. for the run to London. "If not compelled +to go in that way," they alleged, "they could make their own terms +with shipmasters and have as many guineas as they were now offered +shillings." Orders to press them for their contumacy were immediately +sent down. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Carter, 16 Aug. +1803.] + +By the year 1811 the halcyon days of the man in lieu were at an end. As +a class he was then practically extinct. Inveterate and long-continued +pressing had drained the merchant service of all able-bodied British +seamen except those who were absolutely essential to its existence. +These were fully protected, and when their number fell short of the +requirements of the service the deficiency was supplied by foreigners +and apprentices similarly exempt. So few pressable men were to be found +in any one ship that it was no longer considered necessary to send +ticket men in their stead when they were taken out, and as a matter +of fact less than a dozen such men were that year put on board ships +passing the Downs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1453--Capt. +Anderson, 31 Aug. 1811.] Pressing itself was in its decline, and as for +the vocation of the man in lieu, it had gone never to return. + +Ships and tenders out for men met with varied fortunes. In the winter +season the length of the nights, the tempestuous weather and the cold +told heavily against success, as did at all times that factor in the +problem which one old sea-dog so picturesquely describes as "the room +there is for missing you." Capt. Barker, of the _Thetis_, in 1748 made +a haul of thirty men off the Old-Head of Kinsale, but lost his barge +in doing so, "it blowed so hard." Byng, of the _Sutherland_, grumbled +atrociously because in the course of his run up-Channel in '42 he was +able to press "no more than seventeen." Anson, looking quite casually +into Falmouth on his way down-Channel, found there in '46 the _Betsey_ +tender, then just recently condemned, and took out of her every man she +possessed at the cost of a mere hour's work, ignorant of the fact that +when pressing eight of those men the commander of the _Betsey_ had been +"eight hours about it." It was all a game of chance, and when you played +it the only thing you could count upon was the certainty of having both +the sailor and the elements dead against you. + + [Illustration: JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the painting by Morland.] + +But if the "room there is for missing you," conspiring with other +unfavourable conditions, rendered pressing afloat an uncertain and +vexatious business, the chances of making a haul were on the other hand +augmented by every ship that entered or left the Narrow Seas, not even +excepting the foreigner. The foreign sailor could not be pressed unless, +as we have seen, he had naturalised himself by marrying an English +wife, but the foreign ship was fair game for every hunter of British +seamen.--An ancient assumption of right made it so. + +From the British point of view the "Right of Search" was an eminently +reasonable thing. Here was an island people to whose keeping Heaven had +by special dispensation committed the dominion of the seas. To defend +that dominion they needed every seaman they possessed or could produce. +They could spare none to other nations; and when their sailors, who +enjoyed no rights under their own flag, had the temerity to seek refuge +under another, there was nothing for it but to fire on that flag +if necessary, and to take the refugee by armed force from under its +protection. This in effect constituted the time-honoured "Right of +Search," and none were so reluctant to forego the prerogative, or so +keen to enforce it, as those naval officers who saw in it a certain +prospect of adding to their ships' companies. The right of search was +always good for another man or two. + +It was often good for a great many more, for the foreign skipper was at +the best an arrant man-stealing rogue. If a Yankee, he hated the British +because he had beaten them; if a Frenchman or a Hollander, because +they had beaten him. His animus was all against the British Navy, his +sympathies all in favour of the British sailor, in whom he recognised +as good, if not a better seaman than himself. He accordingly enticed +him with the greatest pertinacity and hid him away with the greatest +cunning. + +Every impress officer worth his salt was fully alive to these facts, and +on all the coast no ship was so thoroughly ransacked as the ship whose +skipper affected a bland ignorance of the English tongue or called +Heaven to witness the blamelessness of his conduct with many +gesticulations and strange oaths. Lieut. Oakley, regulating officer at +Deal, once boarded an outward-bound Dutch East-Indiaman in the Downs. +The master strenuously denied having any English sailors on board, but +the lieutenant, being suspicious, sent his men below with instructions +to leave no part of the ship unsearched. They speedily routed out three, +"who discovered that there were in all thirteen on board, most of them +good and able seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 3363--Lieut. +Oakley, 8 Dec. 1743.] The case is a typical one. + +Another source of joy and profit to the gangs afloat were the great +annual convoys from overseas. For safety's sake merchantmen in times +of hostilities sailed in fleets, protected by ships of war, and when a +fleet of this description was due back from Jamaica, Newfoundland or the +Baltic, that part of the coast where it might be expected to make its +land-fall literally swarmed with tenders, all on the _qui vive_ for +human plunder. They were seldom disappointed. The Admiralty protections +under which the ships had put to sea in the first instance expired with +the home voyage, leaving the crews at the mercy of the gangs. If, +that is to say, the commanders of the convoying men-o'-war had not +forestalled them, or the ships' companies were not composed, as in one +case we read of, of men who were all "either sick or Dutchmen." + +The privateer had to be approached more warily than the merchantman, +since the number of men and the weight of metal she carried made her an +ugly customer to deal with. She was in consequence notorious for being +the sauciest craft afloat, and though "sauce" was to the naval officer +what a red rag is to a bull, there were few in the service who did +not think twice before attempting to violate the armed sanctity of the +privateer. At the same time the hands who crowded her deck were the +flower of British seamen, and in this fact lay a tremendous incentive to +dare all risks and press her men. Her commission or letter of marque of +course protected her, but when she was inward-bound that circumstance +carried no weight. + +Against such an adversary the tender stood little chance. When she +hailed the privateer, the latter laughed at her, threatening to sink her +out of hand, or, if ordered to bring to, answered with all the insolent +contempt of the Spanish grandee: "Mariana!" Accident sometimes stood +the tender in better stead, where the pressing of privateer's-men was +concerned, than all the guns she carried. Capt. Adams, cruising for men +in the Bristol Channel, one day fell in with the Princess Augusta, a +letter of marque whose crew had risen upon their officers and tried +to take the ship. After hard fighting the mutiny was quelled and the +mutineers confined to quarters, in which condition Adams found them. +The whole batch, twenty-nine in number, was handed over to him, "though +'twas only with great threats" that he could induce them to submit, +"they all swearing to die to a man rather than surrender." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 28 June 1745.] + +A year or two prior to this event this same ship, the Princess Augusta, +had a remarkable adventure whilst sailing under the merchant flag of +England. On the homeward run from Barbadoes, some fifty leagues to the +westward of the Scillies, she fell in with a Spanish privateer, who +at once engaged and would undoubtedly have taken her but for an +extraordinary occurrence. Just as the trader's assailants were on the +point of boarding her the Spaniard blew up, strewing the sea with his +wreckage, but leaving the merchantman providentially unharmed. Capt. +Dansays, of H.M.S. the _Fubbs_ yacht, who happened to be out for men +at the time in the chops of the Channel, brought the news to England. +Meeting with the trader a few days after her miraculous escape, he had +boarded her and pressed nine of her crew. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 Feb. 1741-2.] + +From the smuggling vessels infesting the coasts the sea-going gangs drew +sure returns and rich booty. In the south and east of England people who +were "in the know" could always buy tobacco, wines and silks for a mere +song; and in Cumberland, in the coast towns there, and inland too, the +very beggars are said to have regaled themselves on tea at sixpence or +a shilling the pound. These commodities, as well as others dealt in by +runners of contrabrand, were worth far more on the water than on land, +and none was so keenly alive to the fact as the gangsman who prowled the +coast. Animated by the prospect of double booty, he was by all odds the +best "preventive man" the country ever had. + +There was a certainty, too, about the pressing of a smuggler that was +wanting in other cases. The sailor taken out of a merchant ship, or the +fisherman out of a smack, might at the eleventh hour spring upon you a +protection good for his discharge. Not so the smuggler. There was in his +case no room for the unexpected. No form of protection could save him +from the consequences of his trade. Once caught, his fate was a foregone +conclusion, for he carried with him evidence enough to make him a +pressed man twenty times over. Hence the gangsman and the naval officer +loved the smuggler and lost no opportunity of showing their affection. + +"Strong Breezes and Cloudy," records the officer in command of H.M.S. +_Stag_, a twenty-eight gun frigate, in his log. "Having made the Signal +for Two Strange Sail in the West, proceeded on under Courses & Double +Reeft Topsails. At 1 sett the Jibb and Driver, at 3 boarded a Smugling +Cutter, but having papers proving she was from Guernsey, and being out +limits, pressed one Man and let her go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2734--Log of H.M.S. _Stag_, Capt. Yorke commander, 5 Oct. 1794.] + +"Friday last," says the captain of the _Spy_ sloop of war, "I sail'd out +of Yarmouth Roads with a Fleet of Colliers in order to press Men, & in +my way fell in with Two Dutch Built Scoots sail'd by Englishmen, bound +for Holland, one belonging to Hull, call'd the _Mary_, the other to +Lyn, call'd the _Willing Traveller_. I search'd 'em and took out of the +former 64 Pounds 14. and out of the latter 300 Pounds 6, all English +Money, which I've deliver'd to the Collector of Custome at Yarmouth. +I likewise Imprest out of the Two Vessells seven men." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. Arnold, 29 May 1727. The exporting of +coin was illegal.] + +"In the execution of my orders for pressing," reports Capt. Young, from +on board the Bonetta sloop under his command, "I lately met with two +Smuglers, & landing my boats into a Rocky Bay where they were running of +Goods, the Weather came on so Violent I had my pinnace Stove so much as +to be rendered unservisable. They threw overboard all their Brandy, Tea +and Tobacco, of which last wee recover'd about 14 Baggs and put it +to the Custom house. In Endeavouring to bring one of them to Sail, my +Boatswain, who is a very Brisk and Deserving Man, had his arm broke, so +that tho' wee got no more of their Cargo, it has broke their Voyage and +Trade this bout." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 +April 1739.] + +On the 13th of December 1703, George Messenger, boatswain of the _Wolf_ +armed sloop, whilst pressing on the Humber descried a "keel" lying high +and dry apart from the other shipping in the river, where it was then +low water. Boarding her with the intention of pressing her men, he found +her deserted save for the master, and thinking that some of the hands +might be in hiding below--where the master assured him he would find +nothing but ballast--he "did order one of his Boat's crew to goe down in +the Hold and see what was therein"; who presently returned and reported +"a quantity of wool conceal'd under some Coales a foot thik." The +exportation of wool being at that time forbidden under heavy penalties, +the vessel was seized and the master pressed--a course frequently +adopted in such circumstances, and uniformly approved. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1465--Deposition of George Messenger, 20 Dec. +1703. Owling, ooling or wooling, as the exportation of wool contrary +to law was variously termed, was a felony punishable, according to +an enactment of Edward III., with "forfeiture of life and member." So +serious was the offence considered that in 1565 a further enactment was +formulated against it. Thereafter any person convicted of exporting a +live ram, lamb or sheep, was not only liable to forfeit all his goods, +but to suffer imprisonment for a year, and at the end of the year "in +some open market town, in the fulness of the market on the market day, +to have his right hand cut off and nailed up in the openest place of +such market." The first of these Acts remained in nominal force till +1863.] + +While the gangs afloat in this way lent their aid in the suppression +of smuggling, they themselves were sometimes subjected to disagreeable +espionage on the part of those whose duty it was to keep a special +lookout for runners of contraband goods. An amusing instance of this +once occurred in the Downs. The commanding officer of H.M.S. _Orford_, +discovering his complement to be short, sent one of his lieutenants, +Richardson by name, in quest of men to make up the deficiency. In the +course of his visits from ship to ship there somehow found their way +into the lieutenant's boat a fifteen-gallon keg of rum and ten bottles +of white wine. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening he boarded +an Indiaman and went below with the master. Scarcely had he done so, +however, when an uproar alongside brought him hurriedly on deck--to find +his boat full of strange faces. A Customs cutter, in some unaccountable +way getting wind of what was in the boat, had unexpectedly "clapt them +aboard," collared the man-o'-war's-men for a set of rascally smugglers, +and confiscated the unexplainable rum and wine, becoming so fuddled on +the latter, which they lost no time in consigning to bond, that one of +their number fell into the sea and was with difficulty fished out by +Richardson's disgusted gangsmen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1473--Capt. Brown, 30 July 1727, and enclosures.] + +The only inward-bound ship the gangsmen were forbidden to press from was +the "sick ship" or vessel undergoing quarantine because of the presence, +or the suspected presence, on board of her of some "catching" disease, +and more particularly of that terrible scourge the plague. Dread of the +plague in those days rode the country like a nightmare, and just as the +earliest quarantine precautions had their origin in that fact, so those +precautions were never more rigorously enforced than in the case of +ships trading to countries known to be subject to plague or reported +to be in the grip of it. The Levantine trader suffered most severely +in this respect. In 1721 two vessels from Cyprus, where plague was then +prevalent, were burned to the water's edge by order of the authorities, +and as late as 1800 two others from Morocco, suspected of carrying the +dread disease in the hides composing their cargo, were scuttled and sent +to the bottom at the Nore. This was quarantine _in excelsis_. Ordinary +preventive measures went no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," +as communication with the shore was called, for a period varying usually +from ten to sixty-five days, and during this period no gang was allowed +to board the ship. + +The seamen belonging to such ships always got ashore if they could; +for though the penalty for deserting a ship in quarantine was death, +[Footnote: 26 George II. cap. 6.] it might be death to remain, and the +sailor was ever an opportunist careless of consequences. So, for that +matter, was the gangsman. Knowing well that Jack would make a break +for it the first chance he got, he hovered about the ship both day and +night, alert for every movement on board, watchful of every ripple on +the water, taunting the woebegone sailors with the irksomeness of their +captivity or the certainty of their capture, and awaiting with what +patience he could the hour that should see pratique restored and the +crew at his mercy. Whether the ship had "catching" disease on board or +not might be an open question. There was no mistaking its symptoms in +the gangsman. + +Stangate Creek, on the river Medway, was the great quarantine station +for the port of London, and here, in the year 1744, was enacted one of +the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in connection with pressing +afloat. The previous year had seen a recrudescence of plague in the +Levant and consequent panic in England, where extraordinary precautions +were adopted against possible infection. In December of that year there +lay in Stangate Creek a fleet of not less than a dozen Levantine ships, +in which were cooped up, under the most exacting conditions imaginable, +more than two hundred sailors. At Sheerness, only a few miles distant, +a number of ships of war, amongst them Rodney's, were at the same +time fitting out and wanting men. The situation was thus charged with +possibilities. + +It was estimated that in order to press the two hundred sailors from the +quarantine ships, when the period of detention should come to an end, +a force of not less than one hundred and fifty men would be required. +These were accordingly got together from the various ships of war +and sent into the Creek on board a tender belonging to the _Royal +Sovereign_. This was on the 15th of December, and quarantine expired on +the 22nd. + +The arrival of the tender threw the Creek into a state of consternation +bordering on panic, and that very day a number of sailors broke bounds +and fell a prey to the gangs in attempting to steal ashore. Seymour, +the lieutenant in command of the tender, did not improve matters by his +idiotic and unofficerlike behaviour. Every day be rowed up and down the +Creek, in and out amongst the ships, taunting the men with what he would +do unless they volunteered, when the 22nd arrived, and he was free to +work his will upon them. He would have them all, he assured them, if he +had to "shoot them like small birds." + +By the 22nd the sailors were in a state of "mutinous insolence." +When the tender's boats approached the ships they were welcomed "with +presented arms," and obliged to sheer off in order to obtain "more +force," so menacing did the situation appear. Seeing this, and either +mistaking or guessing the import of the move, the desperate seamen +rushed the cabins, secured all the arms and ammunition they could lay +hands on, hoisted out the ship's boats, and in these reached the shore +in safety ere the tender's men, by this time out in strength, could +prevent or come up with them. The fugitives, to the number of a hundred +or more, made off into the country to the accompaniment, we are told, +of "smart firing on both sides." With this exchange of shots the curtain +falls on the "Fray at Stangate Creek." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1480--Capt. Berkeley, 30 Dec. 1744, and enclosure.] In the engagement +two of the seamen were wounded, but all escaped the snare of the fowler, +and in that happy denouement our sympathies are with them. + +Returning transports paid immediate and heavy tribute to the gangs +afloat. Out of a fleet of such vessels arriving at the Nore in 1756 +two hundred and thirty men, "a parcel of as fine fellows as were ever +pressed," fell to the gangs. Not a man escaped from any of the ships, +and the boats were kept busy all next day shifting chests and bedding +and putting in ticket men to navigate the depleted vessels to London. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 6, 7 and 8 July +1756.] A similar press at the Cove of Cork, on the return of the +transports from America in '79, proved equally productive. Hundreds of +sailors were secured, to the unspeakable grief of the local crimps, who +were then offering long prices in order to recruit Paul Jones, at that +time cruising off the Irish coast. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1499--Letters of Capt. Bennett, 1779.] + +The cartel ship was an object of peculiar solicitude to the sea-going +gangsman. In her, after weary months passed in French, Spanish or Dutch +prisons, hundreds of able-bodied British seamen returned to their native +land in more or less prime condition for His Majesty's Navy. The warmest +welcome they received was from the waiting gangsman. Often they got +no other. Few cartels had the extraordinary luck of the ship of that +description that crept into Rye harbour one night in March 1800, and in +bright moonlight landed three hundred lusty sailor-men fresh from French +prisons, under the very nose of the battery, the guard at the port +head and the _Clinker_ gun-brig. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1449--Capt. Aylmer, 9 March 1800.] + +Of all the seafaring men the gangsman took, there was perhaps none whom +he pressed with greater relish than the pilot. The every-day pilot of +the old school was a curious compound. When he knew his business, which +was only too seldom, he was frequently too many sheets in the wind to +embody his knowledge in intelligent orders; and when he happened to be +sober enough to issue intelligent orders, he not infrequently showed +his ignorance of what he was supposed to know by issuing wrong ones. +The upshot of these contradictions was, that instead of piloting His +Majesty's ships in a becoming seamanly manner, he was for ever running +them aground. Fortunately for the service, an error of this description +incapacitated him and made him fair game for the gangs, who lost no +time in transferring him to those foremast regions where ship's grog +was strictly limited and the captain's quite unknown. William Cook, +impressed upon an occasion at Lynn, with unconscious humour styled +himself a landsman. He was really a pilot who had qualified for that +distinction by running vessels ashore. + +In the aggregate this unremitting and practically unbroken surveillance +of the coast was tremendously effective. Like Van Tromp, the vessels +and gangs engaged in it rode the seas with a broom at their masthead, +sweeping into the service, not every man, it is true, but enormous +numbers of them. As for their quality, "One man out of a merchant ship +is better than three the lieutenants get in town." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Roberts, 27 June 1732.] This was the general +opinion early in the century; but as the century wore on the quality of +the man pressed in town steadily deteriorated, till at length the sailor +taken fresh from the sea was reckoned to be worth six of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +EVADING THE GANG. + + + +As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that +the British sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into +Falstaff's famous commodity, "food for powder." + +Outward bound, the ship's protection--that "sweet little cherub" which, +contrary to all Dibdinic precedent, lay down below--had spread its +kindly aegis over him, and, generally speaking, saved him harmless from +the warrant and the hanger. But now the run for which he has signed +on is almost finished, and as the Channel opens before him the magic +Admiralty paper ceases to be of "force" for his protection. No sooner, +therefore, does he make his land-fall off the fair green hills or +shimmering cliffs than his troubles begin. He is now within the outer +zone of danger, and all about him hover those dreaded sharks of the +Narrow Seas, the rapacious press-smacks, seeking whom they may devour. +Conning the compass-card of his chances as they bear down upon him +and send their shot whizzing across his bows, the sailor, in his fixed +resolve to evade the gang at any cost, resorted first of all to the most +simple and sailorly expedient imaginable. He "let go all" and made a run +for it. That way lay the line of least resistance, and, with luck on his +side, of surest escape. + +Three modes of flight were his to choose between--three modes involving +as many nice distinctions, plus a possible difference with the master. +He could run away in his ship, run away with her, or as a last resort +he could sacrifice his slops, his bedding, his pet monkey and the gaudy +parrot that was just beginning to swear, and run from her. Which +should it be? It was all a toss-up. The chance of the moment, instantly +detected and as instantly acted upon, determined his choice. + +The sailor's flight in his ship depended mainly upon her sailing +qualities and the master's willingness to risk being dismasted or hulled +by the pursuer's shot. Granted a capful of wind on his beam, a fleet +keel under foot, and a complacent skipper aft, the flight direct was +perhaps the means of escape the sailor loved above all others. The spice +of danger it involved, the dash and frolic of the chase, the joy of +seeing his leaping "barky" draw slowly away from her pursuer in the +contest of speed, and of watching the stretch of water lying between him +and capture surely widen out, were sensations dear to his heart. + +Running away _with_ his ship was a more serious business, since the +adoption of such a course meant depriving the master of his command, +and this again meant mutiny. Happily, masters took a lenient view of +mutinies begotten of such conditions. Not infrequently, indeed, they +were consenting parties, winking at what they could not prevent, and +assuming the command again when the safety of ship and crew was assured +by successful flight, with never a hint of the irons, indictment or +death decreed by law as the mutineer's portion. + +These modes of flight did not in every instance follow the hard-and-fast +lines here laid down. Under stress of circumstance each was liable to +become merged in the other; or both, perhaps, had to be abandoned +in favour of fresh tactics rendered necessary by the accident or the +exigency of the moment. The _Triton_ and _Norfolk_ Indiamen, after +successfully running the gauntlet of the Channel tenders, in the +Downs fell in with the _Falmouth_ man-o'-war. The meeting was entirely +accidental. Both merchantmen were congratulating themselves on having +negotiated the Channel without the loss of a man. The _Triton_ had all +furled except her fore and mizen topsails, preparatory to coming to an +anchor; but as the wind was strong southerly, with a lee tide running, +the _Falmouth's_ boats could not forge ahead to board her before the set +of the tide carried her astern of the warship's guns, whereupon her crew +mutinied, threw shot into the man-o'-war's boats, which had by this time +drawn alongside, and so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear +away. Meantime a shot had brought the _Norfolk_ to on the _Falmouth's_ +starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On her decks an +ominous state of things prevailed. Her crew would not assist to clew up +the sails, the anchor had been seized to the chain-plates and could not +be let go, and when the gang from the _Falmouth_ attempted to cut the +buoy ropes with which it was secured, the "crew attacked them with +hatchets and treenails, made sail and obliged them to quit the ship." +Being by that, time astern of the _Falmouth's_ guns, they too made their +escape. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1485--Capt. Brett, 25 June +1755.] + +Never, perhaps, did the sailor adopt the expedient of running away, +ship and all, with so malicious a goodwill or so bright a prospect of +success, as when sailing under convoy. In those days he seldom ventured +to "risk the run," even to Dutch ports and back, without the protection +of one or more ships of war, and in this precaution there was danger as +well as safety; for although the king's ships safeguarded him against +the enemy if hostilities were in progress, as well as against the +"little rogues" of privateers infesting the coasts and the adjacent +seas, no sooner did the voyage near its end than the captains of the +convoying ships took out of him, by force if necessary, as many men as +they happened to require. This was a _quid pro quo_ of which the sailor +could see neither the force nor the fairness, and he therefore let slip +no opportunity of evading it. + +"Their Lordships," writes a commander who had been thus cheated, "need +not be surprised that I pressed so few men out of so large a Convoy, +for the Wind taking me Short before I got the length of Leostaff +(Lowestoft), the Pilot would not take Charge of the Shipp to turn her +out over the Stamford in the Night, which Oblig'd me to come to an +Anchor in Corton Road. This I did by Signal, but the Convoy took no +Notice of it, and all of them Run away and Left me, my Bottom being +like a Rock for Roughness, so that I could not Follow them." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Letters of Capt. Young, 1742.] + +Supposing, however, that all these manoeuvres failed him and the gang +after a hot chase appeared in force on deck, the game was not yet up +so far as the sailor was concerned. A ship, it is true, had neither the +length of the Great North Road nor yet the depth of the Forest of Dean, +but all the same there was within the narrow compass of her timbers many +a lurking place wherein the artful sailor, by a judicious exercise of +forethought and tools, might contrive to lie undetected until the gang +had gone over the side. + +About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of June 1756, Capt. +William Boys, from the quarter-deck of his ship the _Royal Sovereign_, +then riding at anchor at the Nore, observed a snow on fire in the +five-fathom channel, a little below the Spoil Buoy. He immediately sent +his cutter to her assistance, but in spite of all efforts to save her +she ran aground and burnt to the water's edge. Her cargo consisted of +wine, and the loss of the vessel was occasioned by one of her crew, who +was fearful of being pressed, hiding himself in the hold with a lighted +candle. He was burnt with the ship. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 26 June 1756. Oddly enough, a somewhat similar +accident was indirectly the cause of Capt. Boys' entering the Navy. In +1727, whilst the merchantman of which he was then mate was on the voyage +home from Jamaica, two mischievous imps of black boys, inquisitive +to know whether some liquor spilt on deck was rum or water, applied a +lighted candle to it. It proved to be rum, and when the officers +and crew, who were obliged to take to the boats in consequence, were +eventually picked up by a Newfoundland fishing vessel, unspeakable +sufferings had reduced their number from twenty-three to seven, +and these had only survived by feeding on the bodies of their dead +shipmates. In memory of that harrowing time Boys adopted as his seal the +device of a burning ship and the motto: "From Fire, Water and Famine by +Providence Preserved."] + +Barring the lighted candle and the lamentable accident which followed +its use, the means of evading the gang resorted to in this instance +was of a piece with many adopted by the sailor. He contrived cunning +hiding-places in the cargo, where the gangsmen systematically "pricked" +for him with their cutlasses when the nature of the vessel's lading +admitted of it, or he stowed himself away in seachests, lockers and +empty "harness" casks with an ingenuity and thoroughness that often +baffled the astutest gangsman and the most protracted search. The spare +sails forward, the readily accessible hiding-hole of the green-hand, +afforded less secure concealment. Pierre Flountinherre, routed out of +hiding there, endeavoured to save his face by declaring that he +had "left France on purpose to get on board an English man-of-war." +Frenchman though he was, the gang obliged him. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1510--Capt. Baskerville, 5 Aug. 1795.] + +In his endeavours to best the impress officers and gangsmen the sailor +found a willing backer in his skipper, who systematically falsified +the ship's articles by writing "run," "drowned," "discharged" or +"dead" against the names of such men as he particularly desired to save +harmless from the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1525--Capt. +Berry, 31 March 1801.] This done, the men were industriously coached +in the various parts they were to play at the critical moment. In the +skipper's stead, supposing him to be for some reason unfit for naval +service, some specially valuable hand was dubbed master. Failing this +substitution, which was of course intended to save the man and not the +skipper, the ablest seaman in the ship figured as mate, whilst others +became putative boatswain or carpenter and apprentices--privileged +persons whom no gang could lawfully take, but who, to render their +position doubly secure, were furnished with spurious papers, of which +every provident skipper kept a supply at hand for use in emergencies. +When all hands were finally mustered to quarters, so to speak, there +remained on deck only a "master" who could not navigate the ship, a +"mate" unable to figure out the day's run, a "carpenter" who did not +know how to handle an adze, and some make-believe apprentices "bound" +only to outwit the gang. And if in spite of all these precautions an +able seaman were pressed, the real master immediately came forward and +swore he was the mate. + +Such thoroughly organised preparedness as this, however, was the +exception rather than the rule, for though often attempted, it rarely +reached perfection or stood the actual test. The sailor was too +childlike by nature to play the fraud successfully, and as for the +impress officer and the gangsman, neither was easily gulled. Supposing +the sailor, then, to have nothing to hope for from deception or +concealment, and supposing, too, that it was he who had the rough bottom +beneath him and the fleet keel in pursuit, how was he to outwit the gang +and evade the pinch? Nothing remained for him but to heave duty by the +board and abandon his ship to the doubtful mercies of wind and wave. +He accordingly went over the side with all the haste he could, +appropriating the boats in defiance of authority, and leaving only the +master and his mate, the protected carpenter and the apprentices to work +the ship. Many a trader from overseas, summarily abandoned in this +way, crawled into some outlying port, far from her destination, in +quest--since a rigorous press often left no others available--of "old +men and boys to carry her up." There is even on record the case of +a ship that passed the Nore "without a man belonging to her but the +master, the passengers helping him to sail her." Her people had "all +got ashore by Harwich." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. +Bouler, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] + +Few shipowners were so foolhardy as to incur the risk of being thus hit +in the pocket by the sailor's well-known predilection for French leave +when in danger of the press. Nor were the masters, for they, even when +not part owners, had still an appreciable stake in the safety of the +ships they sailed. As between masters, owners and men there consequently +sprang up a sort of triangular sympathy, having for its base a common +dread of the gangs, and for its apex their circumvention. This apex +necessarily touched the coast at a point contiguous to the ocean tracks +of the respective trades in which the ships sailed; and here, in some +spot far removed from the regular haunts of the gangsman, an emergency +crew was mustered by those indefatigable purveyors, the crimps, and held +in readiness against the expected arrival. + +Composed of seafaring men too old, too feeble, or too diseased to excite +the cupidity of the most zealous lieutenant who eked out his pay on +impress perquisites; of lads but recently embarked on the adventurous +voyage of their teens; of pilots willing, for a consideration, to forego +the pleasure of running ships aground; of fishermen who evaded His +Majesty's press under colour of Sea-Fencible, Militia, or Admiralty +protections; and of unpressable foreigners whose wives bewailed them +more or less beyond the seas, this scratch crew--the Preventive Men of +the merchant service--here awaited the preconcerted signal which should +apprise them that their employer's ship was ready for a change of hands. + +For safety's sake the transfer was generally effected by night, when +that course was possible; but the untimely appearance of a press-smack +on the scene not infrequently necessitated the shifting of the crews in +the broad light of day and the hottest of haste. On shore all had been +in readiness perhaps for days. At the signal off dashed the deeply laden +boats to the frantic ship, the scratch crew scrambled aboard, and the +regular hands, thus released from duty, tumbled pell-mell into the empty +boats and pulled for shore with a will mightily heartened by a running +fire of round-shot from the smack and of musketry from her cutter, +already out to intercept the fugitives. Then it was:-- + + "Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard to wind'ard; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard a-lee; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! else 'tis farewell home and kindred, + And the bosun's mate a-raisin' hell in the King's Navee. + Cheerily, lads, cheerily ho! the warrant's out, the hanger's drawn! + Cheerily, lads, so cheerily! we'll leave 'em an _R_ in pawn!" + +[Footnote: When Jack deserted his ship under other conditions than those +here described, an _R_ was written against his name to denote that he +had "run." So, when he shirked an obligation, monetary or moral, by +running away from it, he was said to "leave an _R_ in pawn."] + +The place of muster of the emergency men thus became in turn the +landing-place of the fugitive crew. Its whereabouts depended as a matter +of course upon the trade in which the ship sailed. The spot chosen for +the relief of the Holland, Baltic and Greenland traders of the East +Coast was generally some wild, inaccessible part abutting directly +on the German Ocean or the North Sea. London skippers in those trades +favoured the neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, where the maze of inland +waterways constituting the Broads enabled the shifty sailor to lead the +gangs a merry game at hide and seek. King's Lynners affected Skegness +and the Norfolk lip of the Wash. Of the men who sailed out of Hull not +one in ten could be picked up, on their return, by the gangs haunting +the Humber. They went ashore at Dimlington on the coast of Holderness, +or at the Spurn. The homing sailors of Leith, as of the ports on the +upper reaches of the Firth of Forth, enjoyed an immunity from the +press scarcely less absolute than that of the Orkney Islanders, who for +upwards of forty years contributed not a single man to the Navy. Having +on either hand an easily accessible coast, inhabited by a people upon +whose hospitality the gangs were chary of intruding, and abounding in +lurking-places as secure as they were snug, the Mother Firth held on to +her sailor sons with a pertinacity and success that excited the envy of +the merchant seaman at large and drove impress officers to despair. The +towns and villages to the north of the Firth were "full of men." On +no part of the north coast, indeed, from St. Abb's Head clear round to +Annan Water, was it an easy matter to circumvent the canny Scot who went +a-sailoring. He had a trick of stopping short of his destination, +when homeward bound, that proved as baffling to the gangs as it was +in seeming contradiction to all the traditions of a race who pride +themselves on "getting there." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795, and Captains' +Letters, _passim_.] + +In the case of outward-bound ships, the disposition of the two crews +was of course reversed. The scratch crew carried the ship down to the +stipulated point of exchange, where they vacated her in favour of the +actual crew, who had been secretly conveyed to that point by land. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Lord Nelson, Memorandum +on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Whichever way the trick was worked, it +proved highly effective, for, except from the sea, no gang durst venture +near such points of debarkation and departure without strong military +support. + +There still remained the emergency crew itself. The most decrepit, +crippled or youthful were of course out of the question. But the +foreigner and our shifty friend the man in lieu were fair game. Entering +largely as they did into the make-up of almost every scratch crew, they +were pressed without compunction whenever and wherever caught abusing +their privileges by playing the emergency man. To keep such persons +always and in all circumstances was a point of honour with the Navy +Board. It had no other means of squaring accounts with the scratch crew. + +The emergency man who plied "on his own" was more difficult to deal +with. Keepers of the Eddystone made a "great deal of money" by putting +inward-bound ships' crews ashore; but when one of their number, Matthew +Dolon by name, was pressed as a punishment for that offence, the +Admiralty, having the fear of outraged Trade before its eyes, ordered +his immediate discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. +Yeo, 25 July 1727.] + +The pilot, the fisherman and the longshoreman were notorious offenders +in this respect. Whenever they saw a vessel bound in, they were in the +habit of putting off to her and of first inciting the crew to escape and +then hiring themselves at exorbitant rates to work the vessel into port. +On such mischievous interlopers the gangsman had no mercy. He took +them whenever he could, confident that when their respective cases were +stated to the Board, that body would "tumble" to the occasion. + +Any attempt at estimating the number of seafaring men who evaded the +gangs and the call of the State by means of the devices and subterfuges +here roughly sketched into the broad canvas of our picture would prove a +task as profitless as it is impossible of accomplishment. One thing only +is certain. The number fluctuated greatly from time to time with the +activity or inactivity of the gangs. When the press was lax, there arose +no question as there existed no need of escape; when it was hot, it was +evaded systematically and with a degree of success extremely gratifying +to the sailor. Taking the sea-borne coal trade of the port of London +alone, it is estimated that in the single month of September 1770, at +a time when an exceptionally severe press from protections was in full +swing, not less than three thousand collier seamen got ashore between +Yarmouth Roads and Foulness Point. As the coal trade was only one of +many, and as the stretch of coast concerned comprised but a few miles +out of hundreds equally well if not better adapted to the sailor's +furtive habits, the total of escapes must have been little short of +enormous. It could not have been otherwise. In this grand battue of the +sea it was clearly impossible to round-up and capture every skittish son +of Neptune. + +On shore, as at sea, the sailor's course, when the gang was on his +track, followed the lines of least resistance, only here he became a +skulk as well as a fugitive. It was not that he was a less stout-hearted +fellow than when at sea. He was merely the victim of a type of land +neurosis. Drink and his recent escape from the gang got on his nerves +and rendered him singularly liable to panic. The faintest hint of a +press was enough to make his hair rise. At the first alarm he scuttled +into hiding in the towns, or broke cover like a frightened hare. + +The great press of 1755 affords many instances of such panic flights. +Abounding in "lurking holes" where a man might lie perdue in comparative +safety, King's Lynn nevertheless emptied itself of seamen in a few +hours' time, and when the gang hurried to Wells by water, intending to +intercept the fugitives there, the "idle fishermen on shore" sounded a +fresh alarm and again they stampeded, going off to the eastward in great +numbers and burying themselves in the thickly wooded dells and hills of +that bit of Devon in Norfolk which lies between Clay-next-the-Sea and +Sheringham. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 +March and 21 April 1755.] + +A similar exodus occurred at Ipswich. The day the warrants came down, as +for many days previous, the ancient borough was full of seamen; but no +sooner did it become known that the press was out than they vanished +like the dew of the morning. For weeks the face of but one sailor was +seen in the town, and he was only ferreted out, with the assistance of a +dozen constables, after prolonged and none too legal search. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Brand, 26 Feb. 1755.] + +How effectually the sailor could hide when dread of the press had him in +its grip is strikingly illustrated by the hot London press of 1740. On +that occasion the docks, the riverside slums and dens, the river itself +both above and below bridge, were scoured by gangs who left no stratagem +untried for unearthing and taking the hidden sailor. When the rigour of +the press was past not a seaman, it is said, was to be found at large in +London; yet within four-and-twenty hours sixteen thousand emerged from +their retreats. [Footnote: Griffiths, _Impressment Fully Considered_.] + +The secret of such effectual concealment lay in the fact that the nature +of his hiding-place mattered little to the sailor so long as it was +secure. Accustomed to quarters of the most cramped description on +shipboard, he required little room for his stowing. The roughest +bed, the worst ventilated hole, the most insanitary surroundings and +conditions were all one to him. He could thus hide himself away in +places and receptacles from which the average landsman would have turned +in fear or disgust. In quarry, clay-pit, cellar or well; in holt, hill +or cave; in chimney, hayloft or secret cell behind some old-time oven; +in shady alehouse or malodorous slum where a man's life was worth +nothing unless he had the smell of tar upon him, and not much then; on +isolated farmsteads and eyots, or in towns too remote or too hostile +for the gangsman to penetrate--somewhere, somehow and of some sort the +sailor found his lurking-place, and in it, by good providence, lay safe +and snug throughout the hottest press. + +Many of the seamen employed in the Newfoundland trade of Poole, gaining +the shore at Chapman's Pool or Lulworth, whiled away their stolen +leisure either in the clay-pits of the Isle of Purbeck, where they +defied intrusion by posting armed sentries at every point of access to +their stronghold, or--their favourite haunt--on Portland Island, +which the number and ill-repute of the labourers employed in its stone +quarries rendered well-nigh impregnable. To search for, let alone +to take the seamen frequenting that natural fortress--who of course +"squared" the hard-bitten quarrymen--was more than any gang durst +undertake unless, as was seldom the case, it consisted of some "very +superior force." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] + +With the solitary exception of Falmouth town, the Cornish coast was +merely another Portland Neck enormously extended. From Rame Head to the +Lizard and Land's End, and in a minor sense from Land's End away to Bude +Haven in the far nor'-east, the entire littoral of this remote part of +the kingdom was forbidden ground whereon no gangsman's life was worth +a moment's purchase. The two hundred seins and twice two hundred +drift-boats belonging to that coast employed at least six thousand +fishermen, and of these the greater part, as soon as the fishing season +was at an end, either turned "tinners" and went into the mines, where +they were unassailable, + + [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 28 Sept. 1805.] or betook themselves to their strongholds +at Newquay, St. Ives, Newland, Mousehole, Coversack, Polpero, Cawsand +and other places where, in common with smugglers, deserters from the +king's ships at Hamoaze, and an endless succession of fugitive merchant +seamen, they were as safe from intrusion or capture as they would have +been on the coast of Labrador. It was impossible either to hunt them +down or to take them on a coast so "completely perforated." A thousand +"stout, able young fellows" could have been drawn from this source +without being missed; but the gangs fought shy of the task, and only +when they carried vessels in distress into Falmouth were the redoubtable +sons of the coves ever molested. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral M'Bride, 9 March 1795. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Petition +of the Inhabitants of the Village of Coversack, 31 Jan. 1778.] + +On the Bristol Channel side Lundy Island offered unrivalled facilities +for evasion, and many were the crews marooned there by far-sighted +skippers who calculated on thus securing them against their return from +Bristol, outward bound. The gangs as a rule gave this little Heligoland +a wide berth, and when carried thither against their will they had a +disconcerting habit of running away with the press-boat, and of thus +marooning their commanding officer, that contributed not a little to +the immunity the island enjoyed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Aylmer, 22 Dec. 1743.] + +The sailor's objection to Lundy was as strong as the gangsman's. From +his point of view it was no ideal place to hide in, and the effect upon +him of enforced sojourn there was to make him sulky and mutinous. Rather +the shore with all its dangers than an island that produced neither +tobacco, rum, nor women! He therefore preferred sticking to his ship, +even though he thereby ran the risk of impressment, until she arrived +the length of the Holmes. + +These islands are two in number, Steep Holme and Flat Holme, and so +closely can vessels approach the latter, given favourable weather +conditions, that a stone may be cast on shore from the deck. The +business of landing and embarking was consequently easy, and though the +islands themselves were as barren as Lundy of the three commodities the +sailor loved, he was nevertheless content to terminate his voyage there +for the following reasons. Under the lee of one or other of the islands +there was generally to be found a boat-load of men who were willing, for +a suitable return in coin of the realm, to work the ship into King Road, +the anchorage of the port of Bristol. The sailor was thus left free to +gain the shore in the neighbourhood of Uphill, Weston, or Clevedon Bay, +whence it was an easy tramp, not to Bristol, of which he steered clear +because of its gangs, but to Bath, or, did he prefer a place nearer at +hand, to the little town of Pill, near Avon-mouth. + +A favourite haunt of seafaring men, fishermen, pilots and pilots' +assistants, with a liberal sprinkling of that class of female known +in sailor lingo as "brutes," this lively little town was a place after +Jack's own heart. The gangsmen gave it a wide berth. It offered an +abundance of material for him to work upon, but that material was a +trifle too rough even for his infastidious taste. The majority of the +permanent indwellers of Pill, as well as the casual ones, not only +protected themselves from the press, when such a course was necessary, +by a ready use of the fist and the club, but, when this means of +exemption failed them, pleaded the special nature of their calling with +great plausibility and success. They were "pilots' assistants," and as +such they enjoyed for many years the unqualified indulgence of the +naval authorities. The appellation they bore was nevertheless purely +euphemistic. As a matter of fact they were sailors' assistants who, +under cover of an ostensible vocation, made it their real business, +at the instigation and expense of Bristol shipowners, to save crews +harmless from the gangs by boarding ships at the Holmes and working them +from thence into the roadstead or to the quays. They are said to have +been "very fine young men," and many a longing look did the impress +officers at Bristol cast their way whilst struggling to swell their +monthly returns. So essentially necessary to the trade of the place were +they considered to be, however, that they were allowed to checkmate +the gangs, practically without molestation or hindrance, till about the +beginning of the last century, when the Admiralty, suddenly awaking to +the unpatriotic nature of a practice that so effectually deprived the +Navy of its due, caused them to be served with a notice to the effect +that "for the future all who navigated ships from the Holmes should +be pressed as belonging to those ships." At this threat the Pill men +jeered. Relying on the length of pilotage water between King Road and +Bristol, they took a leaf from the sailor's log and ran before the +press-boats could reach the ships in which they were temporarily +employed. For four years this state of things continued. Then there was +struck at the practice a blow which not even the Admiralty had foreseen. +Tow-paths were constructed along the river-bank, and the pilots' +assistants, ousted by horses, fell an easy prey to the gangs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 +April 1805.] + +Bath had no gang, and was in consequence much frequented by sailors +of the better class. In 1803--taking that as a normal year--the number +within its limits was estimated at three hundred--enough to man a +ship-of-the-line. The fact being duly reported to the Admiralty, a +lieutenant and gang were ordered over from Bristol to do some +pressing. The civic authorities--mayor, magistrates, constables and +watchmen--fired with sudden zeal for the service, all came forward "in +the most handsome manner" with offers of countenance and support. In the +purlieus of the town, however, the advent of the gang created panic. The +seamen went into prompt hiding, the mob turned out in force, angry and +threatening, resolved that no gang should violate the sanctuary of a +cathedral city. Seeing how the wind set, the mayor and magistrates, +having begun by backing the warrant, continued backing until they backed +out of the affair altogether. The zealous watchmen could not be found, +the eager constables ran away. Dismayed by these untimely defections, +the lieutenant hurriedly resolved "to drop the business." So the gang +marched back to Bristol empty-handed, followed by the hearty execrations +of the rabble and the heartier good wishes of the mayor, who assured +them that as soon as he should be able to clap the skulking seamen in +jail "on suspicion of various misdemeanours," he would send for them +again. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 3 and 11 +July 1803.] We do not learn that he ever did. + +To Bristol no unprotected sailor ever repaired of his own free will, +for early in the century of pressing the chickens of the most notorious +kidnapping city in England began to come home to roost. The mantle of +the Bristol mayor whom Jeffreys tried for a "kidnapping knave" fell +upon a succession of regulating captains whose doings put their civic +prototype to open shame, and more petitions and protests against the +lawlessness of the gangs emanated from Bristol than from any other city +in the kingdom. + +The trowmen who navigated the Severn and the Wye, belonging as they did +mainly to extra-parochial spots in the Forest of Dean, were exempt from +the Militia ballot and the Army of Reserve. On the ground that they +came under the protection of inland navigation, they likewise considered +themselves exempt from the sea service, but this contention the Court +of Exchequer in 1798 completely overset by deciding that the "passage +of the River Severn between Gloucester and Bristol is open sea." A +press-gang was immediately let loose upon the numerous tribe frequenting +it, whereupon the whole body of newly created sailors deserted their +trows and fled to the Forest, where they remained in hiding till the +disappointed gang sought other and more fruitful fields. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 +April 1805.] + +Within Chester gates the sailor for many years slept as securely as upon +the high seas. No householder would admit the gangsmen beneath his roof; +and when at length they succeeded in gaining a foothold within the city, +all who were liable to the press immediately deserted it--"as they do +every town where there is a gang"--and went "to reside at Parkgate." +Parkgate in this way became a resort of sea-faring men without parallel +in the kingdom--a "nest" whose hornet bands were long, and with good +reason, notorious for their ferocity and aggressiveness. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] An attempt +to establish a rendezvous here in 1804 proved a failure. The seamen +fled, no "business" could be done, and officer and gang were soon +withdrawn. + +In comparison with the seething Deeside hamlet, Liverpool was tameness +itself. Now and then, as in 1745, the sailor element rose in arms, +demanding who was master; but as a rule it suffered the gang, if not +gladly, at least with exemplary patience. Homing seamen who desired to +evade the press in that city--and they were many--fled ashore from +their ships at Highlake, a spot so well adapted to their purpose that it +required "strict care to catch them." From Highlake they made their +way to Parkgate, swelling still further the sailor population of that +far-famed nest of skulkers. + +Cork was a minor Parkgate. A graphic account of the conditions obtaining +in that city has been left to us by Capt. Bennett, of H.M.S. _Lennox_, +who did port duty there from May 1779 till March 1783. "Many hundreds +of the best Seamen in this Province," he tells us, "resort in Bodys +in Country Villages round about here, where they are maintained by the +Crimps, who dispose of them to Bristol, Liverpool and other Privateers, +who appoint what part of the Coast to take them on Board. They go in +Bodys, even in the Town of Cork, and bid defiance to the Press-gangs, +and resort in houses armed, and laugh at both civil and military Power. +This they did at Kinsale, where they threatened to pull the Jail down +in a garrison'd Town." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. +Bennett, 12 and 26 April 1782.] These tactics rendered the costly +press-gangs all but useless. A hot press at Cork, in 1796, yielded only +sixteen men fit for the service. + +Space fails us to tell of how, owing to a three days' delay in the +London post that brought the warrants to Newhaven in the spring of '78, +the "alarm of soon pressing" spread like wildfire along that coast and +drove every vessel to sea; of how "three or four hundred young fellows" +belonging to Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, who had no families and could +well have been spared without hindrance to the seafaring business of +those towns, thought otherwise and took a little trip of "thirty or +forty miles in the country to hide from the service"; or of how Capt. +Routh, of the rendezvous at Leeds, happened upon a great concourse of +skulkers at Castleford, whither they had been drawn by reasons of safety +and the alleged fact that + + "Castleford woman must needs be fair, + Because they wash both in Calder and Aire," + +and after two unsuccessful attempts at surprise, at length took them +with the aid of the military. These were everyday incidents which were +accepted as matters of course and surprised nobody. Nevertheless the +vagaries of the wayward children of the State, who chose to run away and +hide instead of remaining to play the game, cost the naval authorities +many an anxious moment. _They_ had to face both evasion and invasion, +and the prevalence of the one did not help to repel the other. + +His country's fear of invasion by the French afforded the seafaring +man the chance of the century. Pitt's Quota Bill put good money in his +pocket at the expense of his liberty, but in Admiral Sir Home Popham's +great scheme for the defence of the coasts against Boney and his +flat-bottomed boats he scented something far more to his advantage and +taste. + +From the day in 1796 when Capt. Moriarty, press-gang-officer at Cork, +reported the arrival of the long-expected Brest fleet off the Irish +coast, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1621--Capt. Crosby, 30 Dec. +1796.] the question how best to defend from sudden attack so enormously +extended and highly vulnerable a seaboard as that of the United Kingdom, +became one of feverish moment. At least a hundred different projects +for compassing that desirable end at one time or another claimed +the attention of the Navy Board. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 581--Admiral Knowles, 25 Jan. 1805.] One of these was decidedly +ingenious. It aimed at destroying the French flotilla by means of logs +of wood bored hollow and charged with gunpowder and ball. These were to +be launched against the invaders somewhat after the manner of the modern +torpedo, of which they were, in fact, the primitive type and original. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Rear-Admiral Young, 14 Aug. 1803, +and secret enclosure, as in the Appendix. The Admiral's "machine," as he +termed it, though embodying the true torpedo idea of an explosive device +to be propelled against an enemy's ship, was not designed to be so +propelled on its own buoyancy, but by means of a fishing-boat, in which +it lay concealed. Had his inventive genius taken a bolder flight and +given us a more finished product in place of this crudity, the Whitehead +torpedo would have been anticipated, in something more than mere +principle, by upwards of half a century.] + +Meantime, however, the Admiralty had adopted another plan--Admiral +Popham, already famous for his improved code of signals, its originator. +On paper it possessed the merits of all Haldanic substitutes for the +real thing. It was patriotic, cheap, simple as kissing your hand. All +you had to do was to take the fisherman, the longshoreman and other +stalwarts who lived "one foot in sea and one on shore," enroll them in +corps under the command (as distinguished from the control) of naval +officers, and practise them (on Sundays, since it was a work of strict +necessity) in the use of the pike and the cannon, and, hey presto! the +country was as safe from invasion as if the meddlesome French had never +been. The expense would be trivial. Granting that the French did not +take alarm and incontinently drop their hostile designs upon the tight +little island, there would be a small outlay for pay, a trifle of a +shilling a day on exercise days, but nothing more--except for martello +towers. The boats it was proposed to enroll and arm would cost nothing. +Their patriotic owners were to provide them free of charge. + +Such was the Popham scheme on paper. On a working basis it proved +quite another thing. The pikes provided were old ship-pikes, rotten and +worthless. The only occasion on which they appear to have served any +good purpose was when, at Gerrans and St. Mawes, the Fencibles joined +the mob and terrified the farmers, who were ignorant of the actual +condition of the pikes, into selling their corn at something less than +famine prices. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Capt. Spry, 14 +April 1801.] Guns hoary with age, requisitioned from country churchyards +and village greens where they had rusted, some of them, ever since the +days of Drake and Raleigh, were dragged forth and proudly grouped as +"parks of artillery." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. +Bradley, 21 Aug. 1796.] Signal stations could not be seen one from the +other, or, if visible, perpetrated signals no one could read. The armed +smacks were equally unreliable. In Ireland they could not be "trusted +out of sight with a gun." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. +Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] In England they left the guns behind them. The +weight, the patriotic owners discovered, seriously hampered the carrying +capacity and seaworthiness of their boats; so to abate the nuisance they +hove the guns overboard on to the beach, where they were speedily buried +in sand or shingle, while the appliances were carried off by those who +had other uses for them than their country's defence. The vessels thus +armed, moreover, were always at sea, the men never at home. When it was +desired to practise them in the raising of the sluice-gates which, in +the event of invasion, were to convert Romney Marsh into an inland +sea, no efforts availed to get together sufficient men for the purpose. +Immune from the press by reason of their newly created status of +Sea-Fencibles, they were all elsewhere, following their time-honoured +vocations of fishing and smuggling with industry and gladness of heart. +As a means of repelling invasion the Popham scheme was farcical and +worthless; as a means of evading the press it was the finest thing +ever invented. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, +Reports on Sea-Fencibles, 1805; Admiral Lord Keith, Sentiments upon the +Sea-Fencible System, 7 Jan. 1805.] The only benefits the country ever +drew from it, apart from this, were two. It provided the Admiralty with +an incomparable register of seafaring men, and some modern artists with +secluded summer retreats. + +It goes without saying that a document of such vital consequence to the +seafaring man as an Admiralty protection did not escape the attention +of those who, from various motives, sought to aid and abet the sailor +in his evasion of the press. Protections were freely lent and exchanged, +bought and sold, "coaxed," concocted and stolen. Skilful predecessors +of Jim the Penman imitated to the life the signatures of Pembroke and +Sandwich, Lord High Admirals, and of the lesser fry who put the official +hand to those magic papers. "Great abuses" were "committed that +way." Bogus protections could be obtained at Sunderland for 8s. 6d., +Stephenson and Collins, the disreputable schoolmasters who made a +business of faking them, coining money by the "infamous practice." In +London "one Broucher, living in St. Michael's Lane," supplied them +to all comers at 3 Pounds apiece. Even the Navy Office was not above +suspicion in this respect, for in '98 a clerk there, whose name does +not transpire, was accused of adding to his income by the sale of +bogus protections at a guinea a head. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2740--Lieut. Abbs, 5 Oct. 1798.] + +American protections were the Admiralty's pet bugbear. For many years +after the successful issue of the War of Independence a bitter animosity +characterised the attitude of the British naval officer towards the +American sailor. Whenever he could be laid hold of he was pressed, and +no matter what documents he produced in evidence of his American birth +and citizenship, those documents were almost invariably pronounced false +and fraudulent. There were weighty reasons, however, for refusing to +accept the claim of the alleged American sailor at its face value. No +class of protection was so generally forged, so extensively bought and +sold, as the American. Practically every British seaman who made the run +to an American port took the precaution, during his sojourn in that land +of liberty, to provide himself with spurious papers against his return +to England, where he hoped, by means of them, to checkmate the gang. The +process of obtaining such papers was simplicity itself. All the sailor +had to do, at, say, New York, was to apply himself to one Riley, whose +other name was Paddy. The sum of three dollars having changed hands, +Riley and his client betook themselves to the retreat of some shady +Notary Public, where the Irishman made ready oath that the British +seaman was as much American born as himself. The business was now as +good as done, for on the strength of this lying affidavit any Collector +of Customs on the Atlantic coast would for a trifling fee grant the +sailor a certificate of citizenship. Riley created American citizens +in this way at the rate, it is said, of a dozen a day, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1523-Deposition of Zacharias Pasco, 20 Jan. +1800.] and as he was only one of many plying the same lucrative trade, +the effect of such wholesale creations upon the impress service in +England, had they been allowed to pass unchallenged, may be readily +conceived. + +The fraud, worse luck for the service, was by no means confined to +America. Almost every home seaport had its recognised perveyor of +"false American passes." At Liverpool a former clerk to the Collector +of Customs for Pembroke, Pilsbury by name, grew rich on them, whilst at +Greenock, Shields and other north-country shipping centres they were for +many years readily procurable of one Walter Gilly and his confederates, +whose transactions in this kind of paper drove the Navy Board to +desperation. They accordingly instructed Capt. Brown, gang-officer at +Greenock, to take Gilly at all hazards, but the fabricator of passes +fled the town ere the gang could be put on his track. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1549--Capt. Brown, 22 Aug. 1809.] + +Considering that every naval officer, from the Lord High Admiral +downwards, had these facts and circumstances at his fingers' end, it +is hardly suprising that protections having, or purporting to have, +an American origin, should have been viewed with profound +distrust--distrust too often justified, and more than justified, by the +very nature of the documents themselves. Thus a gentleman of colour, +Cato Martin by name, when taken out of the _Dolly_ West-Indiaman at +Bristol, had the assurance to produce a white man's pass certifying his +eyes, which were undeniably yellow, to be a soft sky-blue, and his hair, +which was hopelessly black and woolly, to be of that well-known hue most +commonly associated with hair grown north of the Tweed. It was reserved, +however, for an able seaman bearing the distinguished name of Oliver +Cromwell to break all known records in this respect. When pressed, he +unblushingly produced a pass dated in America the 29th of May and +viséd by the American Consul in London on the 6th of June immediately +following, thus conferring on its bearer the unique distinction of +having crossed the Atlantic in eight days at a time when the voyage +occupied honester men nearly as many weeks. To press such frauds was a +public benefit. On the other hand, one confesses to a certain sympathy +with the American sailor who was pressed because he "spoke English very +well." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2734--Capt. Yorke, 8 March +1798.] + +Believing in the simplicity of his heart that others were as gullible +as himself, the fugitive sailor sought habitually to hide his identity +beneath some temporary disguise of greater or less transparency. That of +farm labourer was perhaps his favourite choice. The number of seamen so +disguised, and employed on farms within ten miles of the coast between +Hull and Whitby prior to the sailing of the Greenland and Baltic +ships in 1803, was estimated at more than a thousand able-bodied men. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Phillip, Report on +Rendezvous, 25 April 1804.] Seamen using the Newfoundland trade of +Dartmouth were "half-farmer, half-sailor." When the call of the sea no +longer lured them, they returned to the land in an agricultural sense, +resorting in hundreds to the farmsteads in the Southams, where they +were far out of reach of the gangs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral M'Bride, Report on Rendezvous, 28 Feb. 1795] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + + + +In his endeavours to escape the gang the sailor resembled nothing so +much as that hopelessly impotent fugitive the flying-fish. For both the +sea swarmed with enemies bent on catching them. Both sought to evade +those enemies by flight, and both, their ineffectual flight ended, +returned to the sea again whether they would or not. It was their fate, +a deep-sea kismet as unavoidable as death. + +The ultimate destination of the sailor who by strategy or accident +succeeded in eluding the triple line of sea-gangs so placed as to head +him off from the coast, was thus never in doubt. His longest flights +were those he made on land, for here the broad horizon that stood +the gangs in such good stead at sea was measurably narrower, while +hiding-places abounded and were never far to seek. All the same, in +spite of these adventitious aids to self-effacement, the predestined end +of the seafaring man sooner or later overtook him. The gang met him at +the turning of the ways and wiped him off the face of the land. In the +expressive words of a naval officer who knew the conditions thoroughly +well, the sailor's chances of obtaining a good run for his money "were +not worth a chaw of tobacco." + +For this inevitable finish to all the sailor's attempts at flight on +shore there existed in the main two reasons. The first of these lay in +the sailor himself, making of him an unconscious aider and abettor in +his own capture. Just as love and a cough cannot be hid, so there was +no disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by +characteristics that infallibly betrayed him. His bandy legs and rolling +gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea, and no "soaking" +in alehouse or tavern could eliminate the salt from the peculiar oaths +that were as natural to him as the breath of life. Assume what disguise +he would, he fell under suspicion at sight, and he had only to open +his mouth to turn that suspicion into certainty. It needed no Sherlock +Holmes of a gangsman to divine what he was or whence he came. + +The second reason why the sailor could never long escape the gangs was +because the gangs were numerically too many for him. It was no question +of a chance gang here and there. The country swarmed with them. + +Take the coast. Here every seaport of any pretensions in the way of +trade, together with every spot between such ports known to be favoured +or habitually used by the homing sailor as a landing-place, with certain +exceptions already noted, either had its own particular gang or was +closely watched by some gang stationed within easy access of the spot. +In this way the whole island was ringed in by gangs on shore, just as it +was similarly ringed in by other gangs afloat. + +"If their Lordships would give me authority to press here," says Lieut. +Oakley, writing to the Sea Lords from Deal in 1743, "I could frequently +pick up good seamen ashoar. I mean seamen _who by some means escape +being prest by the men of war and tenders_." + +In this modest request the lieutenant states the whole case for the +land-gang, at once demonstrating its utility and defining its functions. +Unconsciously he does more. He echoes a cry that incessantly assailed +the ears of Admiralty: "The sailor has escaped! Send us warrants and +give us gangs, and we will catch him yet." + +It was this call, the call of the fleet, that dominated the situation +and forced order out of chaos. The men must be "rose," and only +method could do it. The demand was a heavy one to make upon the most +unsystematic system ever known, yet it survived the ordeal. The coast +was mapped out, warrants were dispatched to this point and that, +rendezvous were opened, gangs formed. No effort or outlay was spared to +take the sailor the moment he got ashore, or very soon after. + +In this systematic setting of land-traps that vast head-centre of the +nation's overseas trade, the metropolis, naturally had first place. The +streets, and especially the waterside streets, were infested with gangs. +At times it was unsafe for any able-bodied man to venture abroad +unless he had on him an undeniable protection or wore a dress that +unmistakeably proclaimed the gentleman. The general rendezvous was on +Tower Hill; but as ships completing their complement nearly always sent +a gang or two to London, minor rendezvous abounded. St. Katherine's by +the Tower was specially favoured by them. The "Rotterdam Arms" and the +"Two Dutch Skippers," well-known taverns within that precinct, were +seldom without the bit of bunting that proclaimed the headquarters of +the gang. At Westminster the "White Swan" in King's Street usually bore +a similar decoration, as did also the "Ship" in Holborn. + +A characteristic case of pressing by a gang using the last-named house +occurred in 1706. Ransacking the town in quest of pressable subjects of +Her Majesty, they came one day to the "Cock and Rummer" in Bow Street, +where a big dinner was in progress. Here nothing would suit their tooth +but mine host's apprentice, and as ill-luck would have it the apprentice +was cook to the establishment and responsible for the dinner. Him they +nevertheless seized and would have hurried away in spite of his master's +supplications, protests and offers of free drinks, had it not been for +the fact that a mob collected and forcibly prevented them. Other gangs +hurrying to the assistance of their hard-pressed comrades--to the +number, it is said, of sixty men--a free fight ensued, in the course of +which a burly constable, armed with a formidable longstaff, was singled +out by the original gang, doubtless on account of the prominent part he +took in the fray, as a fitting substitute for the apprentice. By dint of +beating the poor fellow till he was past resistance they at length got +him to the "Ship," where they were in the very act of bundling him +into a coach, with the intention of carrying him to the waterside below +bridge, and of their putting him on board the press-smack, when in the +general confusion he somehow effected his escape. [Footnote: "A Horrible +Relation," _Review_, 17 March 1705-6.] Such incidents were common enough +not only at that time but long after. + +At Gravesend sailors came ashore in such numbers from East India and +other ships as to keep a brace of gangs busy. Another found enough to do +at Broadstairs, whence a large number of vessels sailed in the Iceland +cod fishery and similar industries. Faversham was a port and had its +gang, and from Margate right away to Portsmouth, and from Portsmouth to +Plymouth, nearly every town of any size that offered ready hiding to the +fugitive sailor from the Channel was similarly favoured. Brighton formed +a notable exception, and this circumstance gave rise to an episode about +which we shall have more to say presently. + +To record in these pages the local of all the gangs that were stationed +in this manner upon the seaboard of the kingdom would be as undesirable +as it is foreign to the scope of this chapter. Enough to repeat that +the land, always the sailor's objective in eluding the triple cordon of +sea-borne gangs, was ringed in and surrounded by a circle of land-gangs +in every respect identical with that described as hedging the southern +coast, and in its continuity almost as unbroken as the shore itself. +Both sea-gangs and coast-gangs were amphibious, using either land or sea +at pleasure. + +Inland the conditions were the same, yet materially different. What was +on the coast an encircling line assumed here the form of a vast net, +to which the principal towns, the great cross-roads and the arterial +bridges of the country stood in the relation of reticular knots, while +the constant "ranging" of the gangs, now in this direction, now in that, +supplied the connecting filaments or threads. The gangs composing this +great inland net were not amphibious. Their most desperate aquatic +ventures were confined to rivers and canals. Ability to do their twenty +miles a day on foot counted for more with them than a knowledge of how +to handle an oar or distinguish the "cheeks" of a gaff from its "jaw." + +Just as the sea-gangs in their raids upon the land were the Danes and +"creekmen" of their time, so the land-gangsman was the true highwayman +of the century that begot him. He kept every strategic point of every +main thoroughfare, held all the bridges, watched all the ferries, +haunted all the fairs. No place where likely men were to be found +escaped his calculating eye. + +He was an inveterate early riser, and sailors sauntering to the fair for +want of better employment ran grave risks. In this way a large number +were taken on the road to Croydon fair one morning in September 1743. +For actual pressing the fair itself was unsafe because of the +great concourse of people; but it formed one of the best possible +hunting-grounds and was kept under close observation for that reason. +Here the gangsman marked his victim, whose steps he dogged into the +country when his business was done or his pleasure ended, never for a +moment losing sight of him until he walked into the trap all ready set +in some wayside spinny or beneath some sheltering bridge. + +Bridges were the inland gangsman's favourite haunt. They not only +afforded ready concealment, they had to be crossed. Thus Lodden Bridge, +near Reading, accounted one of the "likeliest places in the country +for straggling seamen," was seldom without its gang. Nor was the great +bridge at Gloucester, since, as the first bridge over the Severn, it +drew to itself all the highroads and their users from Wales and the +north. To sailors making for the south coast from those parts it was a +point of approach as dangerous as it was unavoidable. Great numbers +were taken here in consequence. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +58l--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +So of ferries. The passage boats at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, +watched by gangs from Inverkeithing, yielded almost as many men in the +course of a year as the costly rendezvous at Leith. Greenock ferries +proved scarcely less productive. But there was here an exception. The +ferry between Glenfinart and Greenock plied only twice a week, and +as both occasions coincided with market-days the boat was invariably +crowded with women. Only once did it yield a man. Peter Weir, the hand +in charge, one day overset the boat, drowning every soul on board except +himself. Thereupon the gang pressed him, arguing that one who used the +sea so effectively could not fail to make a valuable addition to the +fleet. + +Inland towns traversed by the great highroads leading from north to +south, or from east to west, were much frequented by the gangs. Amongst +these Stourbridge perhaps ranked first. Situated midway between +the great ports of Liverpool and Bristol, it easily and effectually +commanded Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, Kidderminster +and other populous towns, while it was too small to afford secure +hiding within itself. The gangs operating from Stourbridge brought in +an endless procession of ragged and travel-stained seamen. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +From ports on the Bristol Channel to ports on the English Channel, and +the reverse, many seamen crossed the country by stage-coach or wagon, +and to intercept them gangs were stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and +Exeter. Taunton and Salisbury also, as "great thoroughfares to and from +the west," had each its gang, and a sufficient number of sailors escaped +the press at the latter place to justify the presence of another at +Romsey. Andover had a gang as early as 1756, on the recommendation of no +less a man than Rodney. + +Shore gangs were of necessity ambulatory. To sit down before the +rendezvous pipe in hand, and expect the evasive sailor to come of his +own accord and beg the favour of being pressed, would have been a futile +waste of time and tobacco. The very essence of the gangman's duty lay in +the leg-work he did. To that end he ate the king's victuals and wore the +king's shoe-leather. Consequently he was early afoot and late to bed. +Ten miles out and ten home made up his daily constitutional, and if +he saw fit to exceed that distance he did not incur his captain's +displeasure. The gang at Reading, a strategic point of great importance +on the Bath and Bristol road, traversed all the country round about +within a radius of twenty miles--double the regulation distance. That at +King's Lynn, another centre of unmeasured possibilities, trudged as far +afield as Boston, Ely, Peterborough and Wells-on-Sea. And the Isle of +Wight gang, stationed at Cowes or Ryde, now and then co-operated with a +gang from Portsmouth or Gosport and ranged the whole length and breadth +of the island, which was a noted nest of deserters and skulkers. +"Range," by the way, was a word much favoured by the officers who led +such expeditions. Its use is happy. It suggests the object well in view, +the nicely calculated distance, the steady aim that seldom missed its +mark. The gang that "ranged" rarely returned empty-handed. + +On these excursions the favourite resting-place was some secluded +nook overlooking the point of crossing of two or more highroads; the +favourite place of refreshment, some busy wayside alehouse. Both were +good to rest or refresh in, for at both the chances of effecting a +capture were far more numerous than on the open road. + +The object of the gang in taking the road was not, however, so much +what could be picked up by chance in the course of a day's march, as the +execution of some preconcerted design upon a particular person or place. +This brings us to the methods of pressing commonly adopted, which may be +roughly summarised under the three heads of surprise, violence and the +hunt. Frequently all three were combined; but as in the case of gangs +operating on the waters of rivers or harbours, the essential element +in all pre-arranged raids, attacks and predatory expeditions was the +first-named element, surprise. In this respect the gangsmen were genuine +"Peep-o'-Day Boys." The siege of Brighton is a notable case in point. + +The inhabitants of Brighton, better known in the days of the press-gang +as Brighthelmstone, consisted largely of fisher-folk in respect to +whom the Admiralty had been guilty of one of its rare oversights. For +generations no call was made upon them to serve the king at sea. +This accidental immunity in course of time came to be regarded by +the Brighton fisherman as his birthright, and the misconception bred +consequences. For one thing, it made him intolerably saucy. He boasted +that no impress officer had power to take him, and he backed up the +boast by openly insulting, and on more than one occasion violently +assaulting the king's uniform. With all this he was a hardy, long-lived, +lusty fellow, and as his numbers were never thinned by that active +corrector of an excessive birth-rate, the press-gang, he speedily +overstocked the town. An energetic worker while his two great harvests +of herring and mackerel held out, he was at other times indolent, lazy +and careless of the fact that his numerous progeny burdened the rates. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Berkeley, Report on +Rendezvous, 31 Dec. 1804.] These unpleasing circumstances having been +duly reported to the Admiralty, their Lordships decided that what the +Brighton fisherman required to correct his lax principles and stiffen +his backbone was a good hot press. They accordingly issued orders for an +early raid to be made upon that promising nursery of man-o'-war's-men. + +The orders, which were of course secret, bore date the 3rd of July 1779, +and were directed to Capt. Alms, who, as regulating officer at Shoreham, +was likewise in charge of the gang at Newhaven under Lieut. Bradley, and +of the gang at Littlehampton under Lieut. Breedon. At Shoreham there was +also a tender, manned by an able crew. With these three gangs and the +tender's crew at his back, Alms determined to lay siege to Brighton +and teach the fishermen there a lesson they should not soon forget. But +first, in order to render the success of the project doubly sure, he +enlisted the aid of Major-General Sloper, Commandant at Lewes, who +readily consented to lend a company of soldiers to assist in the +execution of the design. + +These preparations were some little time in the making, and it was not +until the Thursday immediately preceding the 24th of July that all was +in readiness. On the night of that day, by preconcerted arrangement, +the allied forces took the road--for the Littlehampton gang, a matter +of some twenty miles--and at the first flush of dawn united on the +outskirts of the sleeping town, where the soldiers were without loss of +time so disposed as to cut off every avenue of escape. This done, +the gangs split up and by devious ways, but with all expedition, +concentrated their strength upon the quay, expecting to find there a +large number of men making ready for the day's fishing. To their intense +chagrin the quay was deserted. The night had been a tempestuous one, +with heavy rain, and though the unfortunate gangsmen were soaked to the +skin, the fishermen all lay dry in bed. Hearing the wind and rain, not a +man turned out. + +By this time the few people who were abroad on necessary occasions +had raised the alarm, and on every hand were heard loud cries of +"Press-gang!" and the hurried barricading of doors. For ten hours "every +man kept himself locked up and bolted." For ten hours Alms waited in +vain upon the local Justice of the Peace for power to break and enter +the fishermen's cottages. His repeated requests being refused, he was at +length "under the necessity of quitting the town with only one man." So +ended the siege of Brighton; but Bradley, on his way back to Newhaven, +fell in with a gang of smugglers, of whom he pressed five. Brighton did +not soon forget the terrors of that rain-swept morning. For many a long +day her people were "very shy, and cautious of appearing in public." The +salutary effects of the raid, however, did not extend to the fishermen +it was intended to benefit. They became more insolent than ever, and a +few years later marked their resentment of the attempt to press them by +administering a sound thrashing to Mr. Midshipman Sealy, of the Shoreham +rendezvous, whom they one day caught unawares. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1445-46--Letters of Capt. Alms.] + +The surprise tactics of the gang of course varied according to +circumstances, and the form they took was sometimes highly ingenious. +A not uncommon stratagem was the impersonation of a recruiting party +beating up for volunteers. With cockades in their hats, drums rolling +and fifes shrilling, the gangsmen, who of course had their arms +concealed, marched ostentatiously through the high-street of some +sizable country town and so into the market-place. Since nobody had +anything to fear from a harmless recruiting party, people turned out in +strength to see the sight and listen to the music. When they had in this +way drawn as many as they could into the open, the gangsmen suddenly +threw off their disguise and seized every pressable person they could +lay hands on. Market-day was ill-adapted to these tactics. It brought +too big a crowd together. + +A similar ruse was once practised with great success upon the +inhabitants of Portsmouth by Capt. Bowen of the _Dreadnought_, in +connection with a general press which the Admiralty had secretly ordered +to be made in and about that town. Dockyard towns were not as a rule +considered good pressing-grounds because of the drain of men set up by +the ships of war fitting out there; but Bowen had certainly no reason to +subscribe to that opinion. Late on the night of the 8th of March 1803, +he landed a company of marines at Gosport for the purpose, as it was +given out, of suppressing a mutiny at Fort Monckton. The news spread +rapidly, drawing crowds of people from their homes in anticipation of +an exciting scrimmage. This gave Bowen the opportunity he counted upon. +When the throngs had crossed Haslar Bridge he posted marines at the +bridge-end, and as the disappointed people came pouring back the +"jollies" pressed every man in the crowd. Five hundred are said to have +been taken on this occasion, but as the nature of the service forbade +discrimination at the moment of pressing, nearly one-half were next +day discharged as unfit or exempt. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1057--Admiral Milbanke, 9 March 1803.] + +Sometimes, though not often, it was the gang that was surprised. All +hands would perhaps be snug in bed after a long and trying day, when +suddenly a thunderous knocking at the rendezvous door, and stentorian +cries of: "Turn out! turn out there!" coupled with epithets here +unproducible, would bring every man of them into the street in the turn +of a handspike, half-dressed but fully armed and awake to the fact that +a party of belated seamen was coming down the road. The sailors were +perhaps more road-weary than the gangsmen, and provided none of them +succeeded in slipping away in the darkness, or made a successful +resistance, in half-an-hour's time or less the whole party would be safe +under lock and key, cursing luck for a scurvy trickster in delivering +them over to the gang. + +The sailor's well-known partiality for drink was constantly turned to +account by the astute gangsman. If a sailor himself, he laid aside his +hanger or cudgel and played the game of "What ho! shipmate" at the +cost of a can or two of flip, gently guiding his boon companion to +the rendezvous when he had got him sufficiently corned. Failing these +tactics, he adopted others equally effective. At Liverpool, where the +seafaring element was always a large one, it was a common practice for +the gangs to lie low for a time, thus inducing the sailor to believe +himself safe from molestation. He immediately indulged in a desperate +drinking bout and so put himself entirely in their power. Whether +rolling about the town "very much in liquor," or "snugly moored in Sot's +Bay," he was an easy victim. + +Another ineradicable weakness that often landed the sailor in the +press-room was his propensity to indulge in "swank." Two jolly tars, who +were fully protected and consequently believed themselves immune from +the press, once bought a four-wheeled post-chaise and hired a painter +in Long Acre to ornament it with anchors, masts, cannon and a variety +of other objects emblematic of the sea. In this ornate vehicle they set +out, behind six horses, with the intention of posting down to Alnwick, +where their sweethearts lived. So impatient were they to get over the +road that they could not be prevailed upon, at any of the numerous inns +where they pulled up for refreshment, to stop long enough to have the +wheels properly greased, crying out at the delay: "Avast there! she's +had tar enough," and so on again. Just as they were making a triumphal +entry into Newcastle-upon-Tyne the wheels took fire, and the chaise, +saturated with the liquor they had spilt in the course of their mad +drive, burst into flames fore and aft. The sailors bellowed lustily for +help, whereupon the spectators ran to their assistance and by swamping +the ship with buckets of water succeeded in putting out the fire. Now it +happened that in the crowd drawn together by such an unusual occurrence +there was an impress officer who was greatly shocked by the exhibition. +He considered that the sailors had been guilty of unseemly behaviour, +and on that ground had them pressed. Notwithstanding their protections +they were kept. + +In his efforts to swell the returns of pressed men the gangsman was +supposed--we may even go so far as to say enjoined--to use no more +violence than was absolutely necessary to attain his end. The question +of force thus resolved itself into one of the degree of resistance he +encountered. Needless to say, he did not always knock a man down before +bidding him stand in the king's name. Recourse to measures so extreme +was not always necessary. Every sailor had not the pluck to fight, and +even when he had both the pluck and the good-will, hard drinking, weary +days of tramping, or long abstinence from food had perhaps sapped his +strength, leaving him in no fit condition to hold his own in a scrap +with the well-fed gangsman. The latter consequently had it pretty much +his own way. A firm hand on the shoulder, or at the most a short, sharp +tussle, and the man was his. But there were exceptions to this easy +rule, as we shall see in our next chapter. + +Hunting the sailor was largely a matter of information, and +unfortunately for his chances of escape informers were seldom wanting. +Everywhere it was a game at hide-and-seek. Constables had orders to +report him. Chapmen, drovers and soldiers, persons who were much on +the road, kept a bright lookout for him. The crimp, habitually given to +underhand practices, turned informer when prices for seamen ruled low +in the service he usually catered for. His mistress loved him as long +as his money lasted; when he had no more to throw away upon her she +perfidiously betrayed him. And for all this there was a reason as +simple as casting up the number of shillings in the pound. No matter how +penniless the sailor himself might be, he was always worth that sum at +the rendezvous. Twenty shillings was the reward paid for information +leading to his apprehension as a straggler or a skulker, and it was +largely on the strength of such informations, and often under the +personal guidance of such detestable informers, that the gang went +a-hunting. + +Apart from greed of gain, the motive most commonly underlying +informations was either jealousy or spite. Women were the greatest +sinners in the first respect. Let the sailorman concealed by a woman +only so much as look with favour upon another, and his fate was sealed. +She gave him away, or, what was more profitable, sold him without +regret. There were as good fish in the sea as ever came out. Perhaps +better. + +On the wings of spite and malice the escapades of youth often came home +to roost after many years. Men who had run away to sea as lads, but had +afterwards married and settled down, were informed on by evil-disposed +persons who bore them some grudge, and torn from their families as +having used the sea. Stephen Kemp, of Warbelton in Sussex, one of the +many who suffered this fate, had indeed used the sea, but only for a +single night on board a fishing-boat. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1445--Capt. Alms, 9 June 1777.] + +In face of these infamies it is good to read of how they dealt with +informers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There the role was one fraught with +peculiar danger. Rewards were paid by the Collector of Customs, and when +a Newcastle man went to the Customs-House to claim the price of some +sailor's betrayal, the people set upon him and incontinently broke his +head. One notorious receiver of such rewards was "nearly murther'd." +Thereafter informers had to be paid in private places for fear of the +mob, and so many persons fell under suspicion of playing the dastardly +game that the regulating captain was besieged by applicants for +"certificates of innocency." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1497--Letters of Capt. Bover, 1777.] + + + [Illustration: ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. +A play-bill announcing the suspension of the Gang's operations on +"Play Nights"; in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley, by whose kind +permission it is reproduced.] + + +Informations not infrequently took the form of anonymous communications +addressed by the same hand to two different gangs at one and the same +time, and when this was the case, and both gangs sallied forth in quest +of the skulker, a collision was pretty sure to follow. Sometimes the +encounter resolved itself into a running fight, in the course of which +the poor sailor, who formed the bone of contention, was pressed and +re-pressed several times over between his hiding-place and one or other +of the rendezvous. + +Rivalry between gangs engaged in ordinary pressing led to many a +stirring encounter and bloody fracas. A gang sent out by H.M.S. _Thetis_ +was once attacked, while prowling about the waterside slums of Deptford, +by "three or four different gangs, to the number of thirty men." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Butcher, 29 Oct. 1782.] +There was a greater demand for bandages than for sailors in Deptford +during the rest of the night. + +The most extraordinary affair of this description to be met with in the +annals of pressing is perhaps one that occurred early in the reign +of Queen Anne. Amongst the men-of-war then lying at Spithead were the +_Dorsetshire_, Capt. Butler commander, and the _Medway_. Hearing that +some sailors were in hiding at a place a little distance beyond Gosport, +Capt. Butler dispatched his 1st and 2nd lieutenants, in charge of thirty +of his best men, with instructions to take them and bring them on board. +It so happened that a strong gang was at the same time on shore from +the _Medway_, presumably on the same errand, and this party the +Dorsetshires, returning to their ship with the seamen they had taken, +found posted in the Gosport road for the avowed purpose of re-pressing +the pressed men. By a timely detour, however, they reached the waterside +"without any mischief done." + +Meanwhile, a rumour had somehow reached the ears of Capt. Butler to the +effect that a fight was in progress and his 1st lieutenant killed. He +immediately took boat and hurried over to Gosport, where, to his relief, +he found his people all safe in their boats, but on the Point, to use +his own graphic words, "severall hundred People, some with drawn Swords, +some with Spitts, others with Clubbs, Staves & Stretchers. Some cry'd +'One & All!' others cry'd 'Medways!' and some again swearing, cursing & +banning that they would knock my People's Brains out. Off I went with my +Barge to the Longboat," continues the gallant captain, "commanding them +to weigh their grappling & goe with me aboard. In the meantime off +came about twelve Boats full with the _Medway's_ men to lay my +Longboat aboard, who surrounded us with Swords, Clubbs, Staves & divers +Instruments, & nothing would do but all our Brains must be Knock't +out. Finding how I defended the Longboat, they then undertook to attack +myselfe and people, One of their Boats came upon the stern and made +severall Blows at my Coxwain, and if it had not been for the Resolution +I had taken to endure all these Abuses, I had Kill'd all those men with +my own Hand; but this Boat in particular stuck close to me with only six +men, and I kept a very good Eye upon her. All this time we were rowing +out of the Harbour with these Boats about us as far as Portsmouth Point, +my Coxwain wounded, myselfe and People dangerously assaulted with Stones +which they brought from the Beech & threw at us, and as their Boats +drop'd off I took my opportunity & seized ye Boat with the Six Men +that had so attack'd me, and have secured them in Irons." With this +the incident practically ended; for although the Medways retaliated +by seizing and carrying off the _Dorsetshire's_ coxwain and a crew +who ventured ashore next day with letters, the latter were speedily +released; but for a week Capt. Butler--fiery old Trojan! who could have +slain a whole boat's-crew with his own hand--remained a close prisoner +on board his ship. "Should I but put my foot ashoar," we hear him +growl, "I am murther'd that minute." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1467--Capt. Butler, 1 June 1705.] + +With certain exceptions presently to be noted, every man's hand was +against the fugitive sailor, and this being so it followed as a matter +of course that in his inveterate pursuit of him the gangsman found more +honourable allies than that nefarious person, the man-selling informer. +The class whom the sailor himself, in his contempt of the good feeding +he never shared, nicknamed "big-bellied placemen"--the pompous mayors, +the portly aldermen and the county magistrate who knew a good horse +or hound but precious little law, were almost to a man the gangsman's +coadjutors. Lavishly wined and dined at Admiralty expense, they urbanely +"backed" the regulating captain's warrants, consistently winked at his +glaring infractions of law and order, and with the most commendable +loyalty imaginable did all in their power to forward His Majesty's +service. Even the military, if rightly approached on their pinnacle +of lofty superiority, now and then condescended to lend the gangsman +a hand. Did not Sloper, Major-General and Commandant at Lewes, throw a +whole company into the siege of Brighton? + +These post-prandial concessions on the part of bigwigs desirous of +currying favour in high places on the whole told heavily against the +sorely harassed object of the gangsman's quest, rendering it, +amongst other things, extremely unsafe for him to indulge in those +unconventional outbursts which, under happier conditions, so uniformly +marked his jovial moods. At the playhouse, for example, he could not +heave empty bottles or similar tokens of appreciation upon the stage +without grave risk of incurring the fate that overtook Steven David, +Samuel Jenkins and Thomas Williams, three sailors of Falmouth town who, +merely because they adopted so unusual a mode of applauding a favourite, +were by magisterial order handed over to Lieut. Box of H.M.S. _Blonde_, +with a peremptory request that they should be transferred forthwith to +that floating stage where the only recognised "turns" were those of +the cat and the capstan. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. +Ballard, 13 Dec. 1806.] + +Luckily for the sailor and those of other callings who shared his +liability to the press, the civil authorities did not range themselves +on the gangsman's side with complete unanimity. Local considerations of +trade, coupled with some faint conception of the hideous injustice the +seafaring classes groaned under, and groaned in vain, here and there +outweighed patriotism and dinners. Little by little a cantankerous +spirit of opposition got abroad, and every now and then, at this point +or at that, some mayor or alderman, obsessed by this spirit beyond his +fellows and his time, seized such opportunities as office threw in his +way to mark his disapproval of the wrongs the sailor suffered. Had this +attitude been more general, or more consistent in itself, the press-gang +would not have endured for a day. + +The role of Richard Yea and Nay was, however, the favourite one with +urban authorities. Towns at first not "inclinable to allow a pressing," +afterwards relented and took the gang to their bosom, or entertained it +gladly for a time, only to cast it out with contumely. A lieutenant who +was sent to Newcastle to press in 1702 found "no manner of encouragement +there"; yet seventy-five years later the Tyneside city, thanks to the +loyal co-operation of a long succession of mayors, and of such men as +George Stephenson, sometime Deputy-Master of the Trinity House, had +become one of the riskiest in the kingdom for the seafaring man who +was a stranger within her gates. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1498--Capt. Bover, 11 Aug. 1778.] + +The attitude of Poole differed in some respects from that of other +towns. Her mayors and magistrates, while they did not actually oppose +the pressing of seamen within the borough, would neither back the +warrants nor lend the gangs their countenance. The reason advanced for +this disloyal attitude was of the absurdest nature. Poole held that +in order to press twenty men you were not at liberty to kill the +twenty-first. That, in fact, was what had happened on board the _Maria_ +brig as she came into port there, deeply laden with fish from the Banks, +and the corporation very foolishly never forgot the trivial incident. + +It did not, of course, follow that the Poole sailor enjoyed freedom from +the press. Far from it. What he did enjoy was a reputation that, if not +all his own, was yet sufficiently so to be shared by few. Bred in +that roughest of all schools, the Newfoundland cod fishery, he was an +exceptionally tough nut to crack. + + "If Poole were a fish pool + And the men of Poole fish, + There'd be a pool for the devil + And fish for his dish," + +was how the old jibe ran, and in this estimate of the Poole man's +character the gangs fully concurred. They knew him well and liked him +little, so when bent on pressing him they adopted no squeamish measures, +but very wisely "trusted to the strength of their right arms for it." +Some of their attempts to take him make strange reading. + +About eight o'clock on a certain winter's evening, Regulating Captain +Walbeoff, accompanied by Lieut. Osmer, a midshipman and eight gangsmen, +broke into the house of William Trim, a seafaring native of the place +whom they knew to be at home and had resolved to press. Alarmed by the +forcing of the door, and only too well aware of what it portended, +Trim made for the stairs, where, turning upon his pursuers, he struck +repeatedly and savagely at the midshipman, who headed them, with a +red-hot poker which he had snatched out of the fire at the moment of his +flight. He was, however, quickly overpowered, disarmed and dragged back +into the lower room, where his captors threw him violently to the floor +and with their hangers took effective measures to prevent his escape or +further opposition. His sister happened to be in the house, and whilst +this was going on the lieutenant brutally assaulted her, presumably +because she wished to go to her brother's assistance. Meanwhile Trim's +father, a man near seventy years of age, who lived only a stone's-throw +away, hearing the uproar, and being told the gang had come for his +son, ran to the house with the intention, as he afterwards declared, of +persuading him to go quietly. Seeing him stretched upon the floor, he +stooped to lift him to his feet, when one of the gang attacked him and +stabbed him in the back. He fell bleeding beside the younger man, +and was there beaten by a number of the gangsmen whilst the remainder +dragged his son off to the press-room, whence he was in due course +dispatched to the fleet at Spithead. The date of this brutal episode is +1804; the manner of it, "nothing more than what usually happened on +such occasions" in the town of Poole. [Footnote _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Admiral Phillip, Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers +at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + +For this deplorable state of things Poole had none but herself to +thank. Had she, instead of merely refusing to back the warrants, taken +effective measures to rid herself of the gang, that mischievous +body would have soon left her in peace. Rochester wore the jewel of +consistency in this respect. When Lieut. Brenton pressed a youth there +who "appeared to be a seafaring man," but turned out to be an exempt +city apprentice, he was promptly arrested and deprived of his sword, the +mayor making no bones of telling him that his warrant was "useless +in Rochester." With this broad hint he was discharged; but the people +proved less lenient than the mayor, for they set about him and beat +him unmercifully. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1784-92, No. 42: Deposition of Lieut. Brenton.] + +Save on a single occasion, already incidentally referred to, civic +Liverpool treated the gang with uniform kindness. In 1745, at a time +when the rebels were reported to be within only four miles of the +city, the mayor refused to back warrants for the pressing of sailors +to protect the shipping in the river. His reason was a cogent one. The +captains of the _Southsea Castle_, the _Mercury_ and the _Loo_, three +ships of war then in the Mersey, had just recently "manned their boats +with marines and impressed from the shore near fifty men," and the +seafaring element of the town, always a formidable one, was up in arms +because of it. This so intimidated the mayor that he dared not sanction +further raids "for fear of being murder'd." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1440--Letters of Capt. Amherst, Dec. 1745.] His dread of +the armed sailor was not shared by Henry Alcock, sometime mayor of +Waterford. That gentleman "often headed the press-gangs" in person. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780.] + +Deal objected to the press for reasons extending back to the reign of +King John. As a member of the Cinque Ports that town had constantly +supplied the kings and queens of the realm, from the time of Magna +Charta downwards, with great numbers of able and sufficient seamen who, +according to the ancient custom of the Five Ports, had been impressed +and raised by the mayor and magistrates of the town, acting under orders +from the Lord Warden, and not by irresponsible gangs from without. It +was to these, and not to the press as such, that Deal objected. The +introduction of gangs in her opinion bred disorder. Great disturbances, +breaches of the peace, riots, tumults and even bloodshed attended their +steps and made their presence in any peaceably disposed community highly +undesirable. Within the memory of living man even, Deal had obliged no +less than four hundred seamen to go on board the ships of the fleet, and +she desired no more of those strangers who recently, incited by Admiral +the Marquis of Carmarthen, had gone a-pressing in her streets and +grievously wounded divers persons. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, +Anne, xxxvi: No. 24: Petition of the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of the +Free Town and Borough of Deal.] + +In this commonsense view of the case Deal was ably supported by Dover, +the premier Cinque Port. Dover, it is true, so far as we know never +embodied her objections to the press in any humble petition to the +Queen's Majesty. She chose instead a directer method, for when the +lieutenant of the _Devonshire_ impressed six men belonging to a +brigantine from Carolina in her streets, and attempted to carry them +beyond the limits of the borough, "many people of Dover, in company with +the Mayor thereof, assembled themselves together and would not permit +the lieutenant to bring them away." The action angered the Lords +Commissioners, who resolved to teach Dover a lesson. Orders were +accordingly sent down to Capt. Dent, whose ship the _Shrewsbury_ +man-o'-war was then in the Downs, directing him to send a gang ashore +and press the first six good seamen they should meet with, taking care, +however, since their Lordships did not wish to be too hard upon the +town, that the men so pressed were bachelors and not householders. +Lieut. O'Brien was entrusted with this delicate punitive mission. +He returned on board after a campaign of only a few hours' duration, +triumphantly bearing with him the stipulated hostages for Dover's future +good behaviour--"six very good seamen, natives and inhabitants, and five +of them bachelors." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1696--Capt. Dent, +24 Aug. 1743.] The sixth was of course a householder, a circumstance +that made the town's punishment all the severer. + +Its effects were less salutary than the Admiralty had anticipated. True, +both Dover and Deal thereafter withdrew their opposition to the press so +far as to admit the gang within their borders; but they kept a watchful +eye upon its doings, and every now and then the old spirit flamed out +again at white heat, consuming the bonds of some poor devil who, like +Alexander Hart, freeman of Dover, had been irregularly taken. On this +occasion the mayor, backed by a posse of constables, himself broke open +the press-room door. A similar incident, occurring a little later in the +same year, so incensed Capt. Ball, who aptly enough was at the time +in command of the _Nemesis_, that he roundly swore "to impress every +seafaring man in Dover and make them repent of their impudence." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, +No. 44; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1507--Capt. Ball, 15 April 1791.] + +Where the magistrate had it most in his power to make or mar the +fugitive sailor's chances was in connection with the familiar fiction +that the Englishman's house is his castle. To hide a sailor was to steal +the king's chattel--penalty, 5 Pounds forfeited to the parish; and if +you were guilty of such a theft, or were with good reason suspected of +being guilty, you found yourself in much the same case as the ordinary +thief or the receiver of stolen goods. A search warrant could be sworn +out before a magistrate, and your house ransacked from cellar to garret. +Without such warrant, however, it could not be lawfully entered. In the +heat of pressing forcible entry was nevertheless not unusual, and many +an impress officer found himself involved in actions for trespass or +damages in consequence of his own indiscretion or the excessive zeal of +his gang. The defence set up by Lieut. Doyle, of Dublin, that the "Panel +of the Door was Broke by Accident," would not go down in a court of law, +however avidly it might be swallowed by the Board of Admiralty. + +More than this. The magistrate was by law empowered to seize all +straggling seamen and landsmen and hand them over to the gangs for +consignment to the fleet. The vagabond, as the unfortunate tramp of +those days was commonly called, had thus a bad time of it. For him all +roads led to Spithead. The same was true of persons who made themselves +a public nuisance in other ways. By express magisterial order many +answering to that description followed Francis Juniper of Cuckfield, "a +very drunken, troublesome fellow, without a coat to his back," who +was sent away lest he should become "chargeable to the parish." The +magistrate in this way conferred a double benefit upon his country. He +defended it against itself whilst helping it to defend itself against +the French. Still, the latter benefit was not always above suspicion. +The "ignorant zeal of simple justices," we are told, often impelled them +to hand over to the gangs men whom "any old woman could see with half +an eye to be properer objects of pity and charity than fit to serve His +Majesty." + +"Send your myrmidons," was a form of summons familiar to every gang +officer. As its tone implies, its source was magisterial, and when the +officer received it he hastened with his gang to the Petty Sessions, the +Assizes or the prison, and there took over, as an unearned increment of +His Majesty's fleet, the person of some misdemeanant willing to exchange +bridewell for the briny, or the manacled body of some convicted felon +who preferred to swing in a hammock at sea rather than on the gallows +ashore. + +A strangely assorted crew it was, this overflow of the jails that +clanked slowly seawards, marshalled by the gang. Reprieves and +commutations, if by no means universal in a confirmed hanging age, +were yet common enough to invest it with an appalling sameness that +was nevertheless an appalling variety. Able seamen sentenced for +horse-stealing or rioting, town dwellers raided out of night-houses, +impostors who simulated fits or played the maimed soldier, fishermen in +the illicit brandy and tobacco line, gentlemen of the road, makers of +"flash" notes and false coin, stealers of sheep, assaulters of women, +pickpockets and murderers in one unmitigated throng went the way of the +fleet and there sank their vices, their roguery, their crimes and their +identity in the number of a mess. + +Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too--youths barely in their teens, +guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people who passed +in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine service on Sunday" +and remaining impenitent and obdurate when confronted with all the +"terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and dark cells" pertaining to +a well-equipped city jail. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534, +1545--Capt. Barker, 1 March 1805, 20 Aug. 1809, and numerous instances.] +The turning over of such young reprobates to the gang was one of the +pleasing duties of the magistrate. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + + + +When all avenues of escape were cut off and the sailor found himself +face to face with the gang and imminent capture, he either surrendered +his liberty at the word of command or staked it on the issue of a fight. + +His choice of the latter alternative was the proverbial turning of +the worm, but of a worm that was no mean adversary. Fear of the gang, +supposing him to entertain any, was thrown to the winds. Fear of +the consequences--the clink, or maybe the gallows for a last +land-fall--which had restrained him in less critical moments when he had +both room to run and opportunity, sat lightly on him now. In red realism +there flashed through his brain the example of some doughty sailor, the +hero of many an anchor-watch and forecastle yarn, who had fought the +gang to its last man and yet come off victor. The swift vision fired +his blood and nerved his arm, and under its obsession he stood up to his +would-be captors with all the dogged pluck for which he was famous when +facing the enemy at sea. + +In contests of this description the weapon perhaps counted for as much +as the man who wielded it, and as its nature depended largely upon +circumstances and surroundings, the range of choice was generally +wide enough to please the most elective taste. Pressing consequently +introduced the gangsman to some strange weapons. + +Trim, the Poole sailor whose capture is narrated in the foregoing +chapter, defended himself with a red-hot poker. In what may be termed +domestic as opposed to public pressing, the use of this homely utensil +as an impromptu liberty-preserver was not at all uncommon. Hot or cold, +it proved a formidable weapon in the hands of a determined man, more +especially when, as was at that time very commonly the case, it belonged +to the ponderous cobiron or knobbed variety. + +Another weapon of recognised utility, particularly in the vicinity +of docks, careening-stations and ship-yards, was the humble tar-mop. +Consisting of a wooden handle some five or six feet in length, though of +no great diameter, terminating in a ball of spun-yarn forming the actual +mop, this implement, when new, was comparatively harmless. No serious +blow could then be dealt with it; but once it had been used for "paying" +a vessel's bottom and sides it underwent a change that rendered it +truly formidable. The ball of ravellings forming the mop became then +thoroughly, charged with tar or pitch and dried in a rough mass scarcely +less heavy than lead. In this condition it was capable of inflicting +a terrible blow, and many were the tussels decided by it. A remarkable +instance of its effective use occurred at Ipswich in 1703, when a gang +from the _Solebay_, rowing up the Orwell from Harwich, attempted to +press the men engaged in re-paying a collier. They were immediately +"struck down with Pitch-Mopps, to the great Peril of their Lives." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. Aldred, 6 Jan. 1702-3.] + +The weapon to which the sailor was most partial, however, was the +familiar capstan-bar. In it, as in its fellow the handspike, he found +a whole armament. Its availability, whether on shipboard or at the +waterside, its rough-and-ready nature, and above all its heft and +general capacity for dealing a knock-down blow without inflicting +necessarily fatal injuries, adapted it exactly to the sailor's +requirements, defensive or the reverse. It was with a capstan-bar that +Paul Jones, when hard pressed by a gang on board his ship at Liverpool, +was reputed to have stretched three of his assailants dead on deck. +Every sailor had heard of that glorious achievement and applauded it, +the killing perhaps grudgingly excepted. + +So, too, did he applaud the hardihood of William Bingham, that far-famed +north-country sailor who, adopting pistols as his weapon, negligently +stuck a brace of them in his belt and walked the streets of Newcastle in +open defiance of the gangs, none of which durst lay a hand on him till +the unlucky day when, in a moment of criminal carelessness that could +never be forgiven, he left his weapons at home and was haled to the +press-room fighting, all too late, like a fiend incarnate. + +Not to enlarge on the endless variety of chance weapons, there remained +those good old-standers the musket, the cutlass and the knife, each of +which, in the sailor's grasp, played its part in the rough-and-tumble of +pressing, and played it well. A case in point, familiar to every seaman, +was the last fight put up by that famous Plymouth sailor, Emanuel +Herbert, another fatalist who, like Bingham, believed in having two +strings to his bow. He accordingly provided himself with both fuzee +and hanger, and with these comforting bed-fellows retired to rest in an +upper chamber of the public-house where he lodged, easy in the knowledge +that whatever happened the door of his crib commanded the stairs. From +this stronghold the gang invited him to come down. He returned the +compliment by inviting them up, assuring them that he had a warm welcome +in store for the first who should favour him with a visit. The ambiguity +of the invitation appears to have been thrown away upon the gang, for +"three of my people," says the officer who led them, "rushed up, and the +gun missing fire, he immediately run one of them through the body +with the hanger"--a mode of welcoming his visitors which resulted in +Herbert's shifting his lodgings to Exeter jail, and in the wounded man's +speedy death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Brown, 4 +July 1727.] + +Here was a serious contingency indeed; but whatever deterrent effect the +fatal issue of this affair, as of many similar ones, may have had upon +the sailor's use of lethal weapons when attacked by the gang, that +effect was largely, if not altogether, neutralised by the upshot of the +famous Broadfoot case, which, occurring some sixteen years later, gave +the scales of justice a decided turn in the sailor's favour and robbed +the killing of a gangsman of its only terror, the shadow of the gallows. +The incident in question opened in Bristol river, with the boarding of +a merchant-man by a tender's gang. As they came over the side Broadfoot +met them, blunderbuss in hand. Being there to guard the ship, he bade +them begone, and upon their disregarding the order, and closing in upon +him with evident intent to take him, he clapped the blunderbuss, which +was heavily charged with swanshot, to his shoulder and let fly into +the midst of them. One of their number, Calahan by name, fell mortally +wounded, and Broadfoot was in due course indicted for wilful murder. +[Footnote: _Westminster Journal_, 30 April 1743.] How he was found not +guilty on the ground that a warrant directed to the lieutenant gave +the gang no power to take him, and that he was therefore justified in +defending himself, was well known to every sailor in the kingdom. No +jury thereafter ever found him guilty of a capital felony if by chance +he killed a gangsman in self-defence. The worst he had to fear was a +verdict of manslaughter--a circumstance that proved highly inspiriting +to him in his frequent scraps with the gang. + +There was another aspect of the case, however, that came home to the +sailor rather more intimately than the risk of being called upon to "do +time" under conditions scarcely worse than those he habitually endured +at sea. Suppose, instead of his killing the gangsman, the gangsman +killed him? He recalled a case he had heard much palaver about. An able +seaman, a perfect Tom Bowling of a fellow, brought to at an alehouse in +the Borough--the old "Bull's Head" it was--having a mind to lie snug +for a while, 'tween voyages. However, one day, being three sheets in +the wind or thereabouts, he risked a run and was made a prize of, worse +luck, by a press-gang that engaged him. Their boat lay at Battle Bridge +in the Narrow Passage, and while they were bearing down upon her, with +the sailor-chap in tow, what should Jack do but out with his knife and +slip it into one of the gangers. 'Twas nothing much, a waistcoat wound +at most, but the ganger resented the liberty, and swearing that no man +should tap his claret for nix, he ups with his cudgel and fetches Jack +a clip beside the head that lost him the number of his mess, for soon +after he was discharged dead along of having his head broke. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Lieut. Slyford, 24 Nov. 1755. "Discharged +dead," abbreviated to "DD," the regulation entry in the muster books +against the names of persons deceased.] + +Risks of this sort raised grave issues for the sailor--issues to be well +considered of in those serious moments that came to the most reckless on +the wings of the wind or the lift of the waves at sea, what time drink +and the gang were remote factors in the problem of life. But ashore! Ah! +that was another matter. Life ashore was far too crowded, far too sweet +for serious reflections. The absorbing business of pleasure left little +room for thought, and the thoughts that came to the sailor later, when +he had had his fling and was again afoot in search of a ship, decidedly +favoured the killing of a gangsman, if need be, rather than the loss of +his own life or of a berth. The prevalence of these sentiments rendered +the taking of the sailor a dangerous business, particularly when he +consorted in bands. + +In that part of the west country traversed by the great roads from +Bristol to Liverpool, and having Stourbridge as its approximate centre, +ambulatory bands proved very formidable. The presence of the rendezvous +at Stourbridge accounted for this. Seamen travelled in strength because +they feared it. Two gangs were stationed there under Capt. Beecher, and +news of the approach of a large party of seamen from the south having +one day been brought in, he at once made preparations for intercepting +them. Lieut. Barnsley and his gang marched direct to Hoobrook, a couple +of miles south of Kidderminster, a point the seamen had perforce to +pass. His instructions were to wait there, picking up in the meantime +such of the sailor party as lagged behind from footsoreness or fatigue, +till joined by Lieut. Birchall and the other gang, when the two were to +unite forces and press the main body. Through unforeseen circumstances, +however, the plan miscarried. Birchall, who had taken a circuitous +route, arrived late, whilst the band of sailors arrived early. They +numbered, moreover, forty-six as against eleven gangsmen and two +officers. Four to one was a temptation the sailors could not resist. +They attacked the gangs with such ferocity that out of the thirteen only +one man returned to the rendezvous with a whole skin. Luckily, there +were no casualties on this occasion; but a few days later, while two of +Barnsley's gangsmen were out on duty some little distance from the town, +they were suddenly attacked by a couple of sailors, presumably members +of the same band, who left one of them dead in the road. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Beecher, 12 July and 4 Aug. 1781.] + +Owing to its close proximity to the Thames, that remote suburb of +eighteenth century London known as Stepney Fields was much frequented +by armed bands of the above description, who successfully resisted all +attempts to take them. The master-at-arms of the _Chatham_ man-o'-war, +chancing once to pass that way, came in for exceedingly rough usage at +their hands, and when next day a lieutenant from the same ship +appeared upon the scene with a gang at his back and tried to press the +ringleaders in that affair, they "swore by God he should not, and if he +offered to lay hands on them, they would cut him down." With this threat +they drew their cutlasses, slashed savagely at the lieutenant, and +"made off through the Mobb which had gathered round them." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2579--Capt. Townshend, 21 April 1743.] + +A spot not many miles distant from Stepney Fields was the scene of a +singular fray many years later. His Majesty's ship _Squirrel_ happened +at the time to be lying in Longreach, and her commander, Capt. Brawn, +one day received intelligence that a number of sailors were to be met +with in the town of Barking. He at once dispatched his 1st and 2nd +lieutenants with a contingent of twenty-five men and several petty +officers, to rout them out and take them. They reached Barking about +nine o'clock in the evening, the month being July, and were not long in +securing several of the skulkers, who with many of the male inhabitants +of the place were at that hour congregated in public-houses, +unsuspicious of danger. The sudden appearance in their midst of so +large an armed force, however, coupled with the outcry and confusion +inseparable from the pressing of a number of men, alarmed the townsfolk, +who poured into the streets, rescued the pressed men, and would have +inflicted summary punishment upon the intruders had not the senior +officer, seeing his party hopelessly outnumbered, tactfully drawn off +his force. This he did in good order and without serious hurt; but just +as he and his men were congratulating themselves upon their escape, they +were suddenly ambushed, at a point where their road ran between high +banks, by a "large concourse of Irish haymakers, to the number of at +least five hundred men, all armed with sabres [Footnote: So in +the original, but "sabres" is perhaps an error for "scythes."] and +pitchforks," who with wild cries and all the Irishman's native love of +a shindy fell upon the unfortunate gangsmen and gave them a "most severe +beating." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Brawn, 3 July +1803.] + +Attacks on the gang, made with deliberate intent to rescue pressed men +from its custody, were by no means confined to Barking. The informer +throve in the land, but notwithstanding his hostile activity the sailor +everywhere had friends who possessed at least one cardinal virtue. They +seldom hung back when he was in danger, or hesitated to strike a blow in +his defence. + +There came into Limehouse Hole, on a certain day in the summer of 1709, +a vessel called the _Martin_ galley. How many men were in her we do not +learn; but whatever their number, there was amongst them one man who +had either a special dread of the press or some more than usually urgent +occasion for wishing to avoid it. Watching his opportunity, he slipped +into one of the galley's boats, sculled her rapidly to land, and there +leapt out--just as a press-gang hove in sight ahead! It was a dramatic +moment. The sailor, tacking at sight of the enemy, ran swiftly along +the river-bank, but was almost immediately overtaken, knocked down, and +thrown into the press-boat, which lay near by. "This gather'd a Mob," +says the narrator of the incident, "who Pelted the Boat and Gang by +throwing Stones and Dirt from the Shoar, and being Pursued also by the +Galley's men, who brought Cutlasses in the Boat with them to rescue +their Prest Man, the Gang was at last forc'd to betake themselves to a +Corn-lighter, where they might stand upon their Defence. The Galley's +men could not get aboard, but lay with their Boat along the side of the +Lighter, where they endeavouring to force in, and the Gang to keep them +out, the Boat of a sudden oversett and some of the Men therein were +Drown'd. Three of the Press-Gang were forc'd likewise into the Water, +whereof 'tis said one is Drown'd and the other two in Irons in the New +Prison. The remaining part of the Gang leapt into a Wherry, the Galley's +men pursuing them, but, not gaining upon them, they gave over the +Pursuit." The pressed man all this while was laughing in his sleeve. "He +lay on the other side of the Lighter, in the Tender's boat, whence he +made his escape." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aston, +10 Aug. 1709.] + +In their efforts to restore the freedom of the pressed man, the sailor's +friends did not confine their attention exclusively to the gang. When +they turned out in vindication of those rights which the sailor did not +possess, they not infrequently found their diversion in wrecking the +gang's headquarters or in making a determined, though generally futile, +onslaught upon the tender. Respectable people, who had no particular +reason to favour the sailor's cause, viewed these ebullitions of mingled +rage and mischief with dismay, stigmatising those who so lightheartedly +participated in them as the "lower classes" and the "mob." + +Few towns in the kingdom boasted--or reprobated, as the case might be--a +more erratically festive mob than Leith. As far back as 1709 Bailie +Cockburn had advised the inhabitants of that burgh to "oppose any +impressor," and seizing the occasion of the "Impressure of an Apprentice +Boy," had set them an example by arresting the pinnace of Her Majesty's +ship _Rye_, together with her whole crew, thirteen in number, and +keeping them in close confinement till the lad was given up. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2448--Capt. Shale, 4 Jan. 1708-9.] The worthy +Bailie was in due time gathered unto his fathers, and with the growth of +the century gangs came and went in endless succession, but neither the +precept nor the example was ever forgotten in Leith. Much pressing was +done there, but it was done almost entirely upon the water. To transfer +the scene of action to the strand meant certain tumult, for there the +whim of the mob was law. Now it pulled the gang-officer's house about +his ears because he dared to press a shipwright; again, it stoned the +gang viciously because they rescued some seamen from a wreck--and kept +them. Between whiles it amused itself by cutting down the rendezvous +flag-staff; and if nothing better offered, it split up into component +parts, each of which became a greater terror than the whole. One +night, when the watch had been set and all was quiet, a party of +this description, only three in number, approached the rendezvous +and respectfully requested leave to drink a last dram with some +newly pressed men who were then in the cage, their quondam shipmates. +Suspecting no ulterior design, the guard incautiously admitted them, +whereupon they dashed a quantity of spirits on the fire, set the place +in a blaze, and carried off the pressed men amid the hullabaloo that +followed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1516-9--Letters of Capt. +Brenton, 1797-8; Lieut. Pierie, 2 Feb. 1798.] + +If Leith did this sort of thing well, Greenock, her commercial rival on +the Clyde, did it very much better; for where the Leith mob was but a +sporadic thing, erupting from its slummy fastnesses only in response to +rumour of chance amusement to be had or mischief to be done, Greenock +held her mob always in hand, a perpetual menace to the gangsman did he +dare to disregard the Clydeside ordinance in respect to pressing. That +ordinance restricted pressing exclusively to the water; but it went +further, for it laid it down as an inviolable rule that members of +certain trades should not be pressed at all. + +It was with the Trades that the ordinance originated. There was little +or no Greenock apart from the Trades. The will of the Trades was +supreme. The coopers, carpenters, riggers, caulkers and seamen of +the town ruled the burgh. Assembled in public meeting, they resolved +unanimously "to stand by and support each other" in the event of a +press; and having come to this decision they indited a trite letter +to the magistrates, intimating in unequivocal terms that "if they +countenanced the press, they must abide by the consequences," for once +the Trades took the matter in hand "they could not say where they would +stop." With the worthy burgesses laying down the law in this fashion, it +is little wonder that the gangs "seldom dared to press ashore," or that +they should have been able to take "only two coopers in ten months." + +For the Trades were as good as their word. The moment a case of +prohibited pressing became known they took action. Alexander Weir, +member of the Shipwrights' Society, was taken whilst returning from his +"lawful employ," and immediately his mates, to the number of between +three and four hundred, downed tools and marched to the rendezvous, +where they peremptorily demanded his release. Have him they would, and +if the gang-officer did not see fit to comply with their demand, not +only should he never press another man in Greenock, but they would seize +one of the armed vessels in the river, lay her alongside the tender, +where Weir was confined, and take him out of her by force. Brenton was +regulating captain there at the time, and to pacify the mob he promised +to release the man--and broke his word. Thereupon the people "became +very riotous and proceeded to burn everything that came in their way. +About twelve o'clock they hauled one of the boats belonging to the +rendezvous upon the Square and put her into the fire, but by the timely +assistance of the officers and gangs, supported by the magistrates and a +body of the Fencibles, the boat was recovered, though much damaged, and +several of the ringleaders taken up and sent to prison." The affair did +not end without bloodshed. "Lieut. Harrison, in defending himself, was +under the necessity of running one of the rioters through the ribs." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1508--Letters of Capt. Brenton, 1793.] + +Though Bailie Cockburn once "arrested" the pinnace of a man-o'-war at +Leith, the attempted burning of the Greenock press-boat is worthy of +more than passing note as the only instance of that form of retaliation +to be met with in the history of home pressing. In the American +colonies, on the other hand, it was a common feature of demonstrations +against the gang. Boston was specially notorious for that form of +reprisal, and Governor Shirley, in one of his masterly dispatches, +narrates at length, and with no little humour, how the mob on one +occasion burnt with great éclat what they believed to be the press-boat, +only to discover, when it was reduced to ashes, that it belonged to +one of their own ringleaders. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +38l8--Shirley to the Admiralty, 1 Dec. 1747.] + +The threat of the Greenock artificers to lay alongside the tender and +take out their man by force of arms was one for which there existed +abundant, if by no means encouraging precedent. Long before, as early, +indeed, as 1742, the keelmen frequenting Sunderland had set them an +example in that respect by endeavouring, some hundreds strong, to haul +the tender ashore--an attempt coupled with threats so dire that the +officer in command trembled in his shoes lest he and his men should all +"be made sacrifices of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Allen, 13 March 1741-2.] Nothing so dreadful happened, however, for +the attempt, like that made at Shoreham a few years later, when there +"appear'd in Sight, from towards Brighthelmstone, about two or three +Hundred Men arm'd with different Weapons, who came with an Intent to +Attack the _Dispatch_ sloop," failed ignominiously, the attackers being +routed on both occasions by a timely use of swivel guns and musketry. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Lieut. Barnsley, 25 March 1746.] + +Similar disaster overtook the organisers of the Tooley Street affair, +of which one Taylor, lieutenant to Capt. William Boys of the _Royal +Sovereign_, was the active cause. At the "Spread-Eagle" in Tooley Street +he and his gang one evening pressed a privateersman--an insult keenly +resented by the master of the ship. He accordingly sent off to the +tender, whither the pressed man had been conveyed for security's sake, +two wherries filled with armed seamen of the most piratical type. The +fierce fight that ensued had a dramatic finish. "Two Pistols we took +from them," says the narrator of the incident, in his quaint old style, +"and three Cutlasses, and Six Men; but one of the Men took the Red Hott +Poker out of the Fire, and our Men, having the Cutlasses, Cutt him and +Kill'd him in Defence of themselves." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1488--Lieut. Taylor, 1 April 1757.] + +In attacks of this nature the fact that the tender was afloat told +heavily in her favour, for unless temporarily hung up upon a mud-bank by +the fall of the tide, she could only be got at by means of boats. With +the rendezvous ashore the case was altogether different. Here you had a +building in a public street, flaunting its purpose provocatively in +your very face, and having a rear to guard as well as a front. For these +reasons attacks on the rendezvous were generally attended with a greater +measure of success than similar attempts directed against the tenders. +The face of a pressed man had only to show itself at one of the stoutly +barred windows, and immediately a crowd gathered. To the prisoner behind +the bars this crowd was friendly, commiserating or chaffing him by +turns; but to the gangsmen responsible for his being there it was +invariably and uncompromisingly hostile, so much so that it needed only +a carelessly uttered threat, or a thoughtlessly lifted hand, to fan +the smouldering fires of hatred into a blaze. When this occurred, as +it often did, things happened. Paving-stones hurtled through the +curse-laden air, the windows flew in fragments, the door, assailed by +overwhelming numbers, crashed in, and despite the stoutest resistance +the gang could offer the pressed man was hustled out and carried off in +triumph. + +The year 1755 witnessed a remarkable attack of this description upon the +rendezvous at Deal, where a band of twenty-seven armed men made a sudden +descent upon that obnoxious centre of activity and cut up the gang +most grievously. As all wore masks and had their faces blackened, +identification was out of the question. A reward of 200 Pounds, offered +for proof of complicity in the outrage, elicited no information, and as +a matter of fact its perpetrators were never discovered. + +In Capt. McCleverty's time the gang at Waterford was once very roughly +handled whilst taking in a pressed man, and Mr. Mayor Alcock came +hurrying down to learn what was amiss. He found the rendezvous beset by +an angry and dangerous gathering. "Sir," said he to the captain, "have +you no powder or shot in the house?" McCleverty assured him that he had. +"Then, sir," cried the mayor, raising his voice so that all might hear, +"do you make use of it, and I will support you." The crowd understood +that argument and immediately dispersed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1500--Deposition of Lieut. M Kellop, 1780.] + +Had the Admiralty reasoned in similar terms with those who beat its +gangsmen, converted its rendezvous into match-wood and carried off its +pressed men, it would have quickly made itself as heartily feared as it +was already hated; but in seeking to shore up an odious cause by +pacific methods it laid its motives open to the gravest misconstruction. +Prudence was construed into timidity, and with every abstention from +lead the sailor's mobbish friends grew more daring and outrageous. + +One night in the winter of 1780, whilst Capt. Worth of the Liverpool +rendezvous sat lamenting the temporary dearth of seamen, Lieut. Haygarth +came rushing in with a rare piece of news. On the road from Lancaster, +it was reported, there was a whole coach-load of sailors. The chance +was too good to be lost, and instant steps were taken to intercept +the travellers. The gangs turned out, fully armed, and took up their +position at a strategic point, just outside the town, commanding the +road by which the sailors had to pass. By and by along came the coach, +the horses weary, the occupants nodding or asleep. In a trice they were +surrounded. Some of the gangsmen sprang at the horses' heads, others +threw themselves upon the drowsy passengers. Shouts, curses and the +thud of blows broke the silence of the night. Then the coach rumbled on +again, empty. Its late occupants, fifteen in number, sulkily followed on +foot, surrounded by their captors, who, as soon as the town was reached, +locked them into the press-room for the rest of the night, it being the +captain's intention to put them on board the tender in the Mersey at +break of day. + +In this, however, he was frustrated by a remarkable development in the +situation. Unknown to him, the coach-load of seamen had been designed +for the _Stag_ privateer, a vessel just on the point of sailing. News +of their capture reaching the ship soon after their arrival in the town, +Spence, her 1st lieutenant, at once roused out all his available men, +armed them, to the number of eighty, with cutlass and pistol, and led +them ashore. There all was quiet, favouring their design. The hour was +still early, and the silent, swift march through the deserted streets +attracted no attention and excited no alarm. At the rendezvous the +opposition of the weary sentinels counted for little. It was quickly +brushed aside, the strong-room door gave way beneath a few well-directed +blows, and by the time Liverpool went to breakfast the _Stag_ +privateer was standing out to sea, her crew not only complete, but ably +supplemented by eight additional occupants of the press-room who had +never, so far as is known, travelled in that commodious vehicle, the +Lancaster coach. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7, 300--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1778-83, No. 19.] + +The neighbouring city of Chester in 1803 matched this exploit by another +of great audacity. Chester had long been noted for its hostility to the +gang, and the fact that the local volunteer corps--the Royal Chester +Artillery--was composed mainly of ropemakers, riggers, shipwrights and +sailmakers who had enlisted for the sole purpose of evading the press, +did not tend to allay existing friction. Hence, when Capt. Birchall +brought over a gang from Liverpool because he could not form one in +Chester itself, and when he further signalised his arrival by pressing +Daniel Jackson, a well-known volunteer, matters at once came to an ugly +head. The day happened to be a field-day, and as Birchall crossed the +market square to wait upon the magistrates at the City Hall, he was +"given to understand what might be expected in the evening," for one of +the artillerymen, striking his piece, called out to his fellows: +"Now for a running ball! There he goes!" with hissing, booing and +execrations. At seven o'clock one of the gang rushed into the captain's +lodgings with disquieting news. The volunteers were attacking the +rendezvous. He hurried out, but by the time he arrived on the scene the +mischief was already done. The enraged volunteers, after first driving +the gang into the City Hall, had torn down the rendezvous colours and +staff, and broken open the city jail and rescued their comrade, whom +they were then in the act of carrying shoulder-high through the streets, +the centre of a howling mob that even the magistrates feared to face. By +request Birchall and his gang returned to Liverpool, counting themselves +lucky to have escaped the "running ball" they had been threatened +with earlier in the day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. +Birchall, 29 Dec. 1803.] + +Another town that gave the gang a hot reception was Whitby. As in the +case of Chester the gang there was an importation, having been brought +in from Tyneside by Lieuts. Atkinson and Oakes. As at Chester, too, a +place of rendezvous had been procured with difficulty, for at first +no landlord could be found courageous enough to let a house for so +dangerous a purpose. At length, however, one Cooper was prevailed upon +to take the risk, and the flag was hung out. This would seem to have +been the only provocative act of which the gang was guilty. It sufficed. +Anticipation did the rest; for just as in some individuals gratitude +consists in a lively sense of favours to come, so the resentment of mobs +sometimes avenges a wrong before it has been inflicted. + +On Saturday the 23rd of February 1793, at the hour of half-past seven +in the evening, a mob of a thousand persons, of whom many were women, +suddenly appeared before the rendezvous. The first intimation of what +was about to happen came in the shape of a furious volley of brickbats +and stones, which instantly demolished every window in the house, to +the utter consternation of its inmates. Worse, however, was in store +for them. An attempt to rush the place was temporarily frustrated by the +determined opposition of the gang, who, fearing that all in the house +would be murdered, succeeded in holding the mob at bay for an hour and +a half; but at nine o'clock, several of the gangsmen having been in the +meantime struck down and incapacitated by stones, which were rained +upon the devoted building without cessation, the door at length gave way +before an onslaught with capstan-bars, and the mob swarmed in unchecked. +A scene of indescribable confusion and fury ensued. Savagely assaulted +and mercilessly beaten, the gangsmen and the unfortunate landlord were +thrown into the street more dead than alive, every article of furniture +on the premises was reduced to fragments, and when the mob at length +drew off, hoarsely jubilant over the destruction it had wrought, nothing +remained of His Majesty's rendezvous save bare walls and gaping windows. +Even these were more than the townsfolk could endure the sight of. Next +evening they reappeared upon the scene, intending to finish what they +had begun by pulling the house down or burning it to ashes; but the +timely arrival of troops frustrating their design, they regretfully +dispersed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2739--Lieut. Atkinson, 26 +Feb. and 27 June 1793.] + +Out at sea the sailor, if he could not set the tune by running away from +the gang, played up to it with great heartiness. To sink the press-boat +was his first aim. With this end in view he held stolidly on his course, +if under weigh, betraying his intention by no sign till the boat, +manoeuvring to get alongside of him, was in the right position for him +to strike. Then, all of a sudden, he showed his hand. Clapping his helm +hard over, he dexterously ran the boat down, leaving the struggling +gangsmen to make what shift they could for their lives. Many a knight +of the hanger was sent to Davy Jones in this summary fashion, unloved in +life and cursed in the article of death. + +The attempt to best the gang by a master-stroke of this description was +not, it need hardly be said, attended with uniform success. A miss of an +inch or two, and the boat was safe astern, pulling like mad to recover +lost ground. In these circumstances the sailor recalled how he had once +seen a block fall from aloft and smash a shipmate's head, and from this +he argued that if a suitable object such as a heavy round-shot, or, +better still, the ship's grindstone, were deftly dropped over the side +at the psychological moment, it must either have a somewhat similar +effect upon the gangsmen below or sink the boat by knocking a hole in +her bottom. The case of the _John and Elizabeth_ of Sunderland, that +redoubtable Holland pink whose people were "resolved sooner to dye +than to be impressed," affords an admirable example of the successful +application of this theory. + +As the _John and Elizabeth_ was running into Sunderland harbour one +afternoon in February 1742, three press-boats, hidden under cover of +the pier-head, suddenly darted out as she surged past that point and +attempted to board her. They met with a remarkable repulse. For ten +minutes, according to the official account of the affair, the air +was filled with grindstones, four-pound shot, iron crows, handspikes, +capstan-bars, boat-hooks, billets of wood and imprecations, and when it +cleared there was not in any of the boats a man who did not bear upon +his person some bloody trace of that terrible fusillade. They sheered +off, but in the excitement of the moment and the mortification of +defeat Midshipmen Clapp and Danton drew their pistols and fired into the +jeering crew ranged along the vessel's gunwhale, "not knowing," as they +afterwards pleaded, "that there was any balls in the pistols." Evidence +to the contrary was quickly forthcoming. A man fell dead on the pink's +deck, and before morning the two middies were safe under lock and key in +that "dismal hole," Durham jail. It was a notable victory for the sailor +and applied mechanics. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Allen, 13 March 1741-2, and enclosure.] + +The affair of the _King William_ Indiaman, a ship whose people kept +the united boats'-crews of two men-of-war at bay for nearly twenty-four +hours, carried the sailor's resistance to the press an appreciable step +further and developed some surprising tactics. Between three and four +o'clock in the afternoon of a day in September 1742, two ships came into +the Downs in close order. They had been expected earlier in the day, and +both the _Shrewsbury_ frigate and the _Shark_ sloop were on the lookout +for them. A shot from the former brought the headmost to an anchor, but +the second, the _King William_, hauled her wind and stood away close to +the Goodwins, out of range of the frigate's guns. Here, the tide being +spent and the wind veering ahead, she was obliged to anchor, and the +warships' boats were at once manned and dispatched to press her men. +Against this eventuality the latter appear to have been primed "with +Dutch courage," as the saying went, the manner of which was to broach +a cask of rum and drink your fill. On the approach of the press-boats +pandemonium broke loose. The maddened crew, brandishing their cutlasses +and shouting defiance, assailed the on-coming boats with every +description of missile they could lay hands on, not excepting that most +dangerous of all casual ammunition, broken bottles. The _Shrewsbury's_ +mate fell, seriously wounded, and finding themselves unable to face +the terrible hail of missiles, the boats drew off. Night now came on, +rendering further attempts temporarily impossible--a respite of which +the Indiaman's crew availed themselves to confine the master and break +open the arms-chest, which he had taken the precaution to nail down. +With morning the boats returned to the attack. Three times they +attempted to board, and as often were they repulsed by pistol and +musketry fire. Upon this the _Shark_, acting under peremptory orders +from the _Shrewsbury_, ran down to within half-gunshot of the Indiaman +and fired a broadside into her, immediately afterwards repeating the +dose on finding her still defiant. The ship then submitted and all +her men were pressed save two. They had been killed by the _Shark's_ +gun-fire. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829--Capt. Goddard, 22 +Sept. and 16 Oct., and his Deposition, 19 Oct. 1742.] + +With the appearance of the gang on the deck of his ship there was +ushered in the last stage but one of the sailor's resistance to the +press afloat. How, when this happened, all hands were mustered and the +protected sheep separated from the unprotected goats, has been fully +described in a previous chapter. These preliminaries at an end, "Now, my +lads," said the gang officer, addressing the pressable contingent in the +terms of his instructions, "I must tell you that you are at liberty, if +you so choose, to enter His Majesty's service as volunteers. If you +come in in that way, you will each receive the bounty now being paid, +together with two months' advance wages before you go to sea. But if +you don't choose to enter volunteerly, then I must take you against your +wills" + +It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback--ay! and young one +too--spat viciously when he heard it. Conceive the situation! Here were +these poor fellows returning from a voyage which perhaps had cut them +off from home and kindred, from all the ordinary comforts and pleasures +of life, for months or maybe years; here were they, with the familiar +cliffs and downs under their hungry eyes, suddenly confronted with an +alternative of the cruellest description, a Hobson's choice that +left them no option but to submit or fight. It was a heartbreaking +predicament for men, and more especially for sailor-men, to be placed +in, and if they sometimes rose to the occasion like men and did their +best to heave the gang bodily into the sea, or to drive them out of +the ship with such weapons as their hard situation and the sailor's +Providence threw in their way--if they did these things in the gang's +despite, they must surely be judged as outraged husbands, fathers and +lovers rather than as disloyal subjects of an exacting king. They would +have made but sorry man-o'-war's-men had they entertained the gang in +any other way. + +Opposed to the service cutlass, the sailor's emergency weapon was but a +poor tool to stake his liberty upon, and even though the numerical +odds chanced to be in his favour he often learnt, in the course of his +pitched battles with the gang, that the edge of a hanger is sharper +than the corresponding part of a handspike. Lucky for him if, with his +shipmates, he could then retreat to close quarters below or between +decks, there to make a final stand for his brief spell of liberty +ashore. This was his last ditch. Beyond it lay only surrender or death. + +The death of the sailor at the hands of the gang introduces us to a +phase of pressing technically known as the accidental, wherein the +accidents were of three kinds--casual, unavoidable, and "disagreeable." + +The casual accident was one that could be neither foreseen nor averted, +as when Capt. Argles, returning to England on the breaking up of the +Limerick rendezvous in 1814, was captured by an American privateer "well +up the Bristol Channel," a place where no one ever dreamed of falling +in with such an enemy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. +Argles, 17 Aug. 1814.] + +To the unavoidable accident every impress officer and agent was liable +in the execution of his duty. It could thus be foreseen in the abstract, +though not in the instance. Hence it could not be avoided. Wounds given +and received in the heat and turmoil of pressing came under this head, +provided they did not prove fatal. + +The accident "disagreeable" was peculiar to pressing. It consisted in +the killing of a man, by whatever means and in whatever manner, whilst +endeavouring to press him, and the immediate effect of the act, which +was common enough, was to set up a remarkable contradiction in terms. +The man killed was not the victim of the accident. The victim was the +officer or gangsman who was responsible for striking him off the roll +of His Majesty's pressable subjects, and who thus let himself in for the +consequences, more or less disagreeable, which inevitably followed. + +While it was naturally the ambition of every officer engaged in pressing +"to do the business without any disagreeable accident ensuing," he +preferred, did fate ordain it otherwise, that the accident should +happen at sea rather than on land, since it was on land that the most +disagreeable consequences accrued to the unfortunate victim. These +embraced flight and prolonged expatriation, or, in the alternative, +arrest, preliminary detention in one of His Majesty's prisons, and +subsequent trial at the Assizes. What the ultimate punishment might be +was a minor, though still ponderable consideration, since, where naval +officers or agents were concerned, the law was singularly capricious. +[Footnote: As in Lacie's case, 25 Elizabeth, where a mortal wound having +been inflicted at sea, whereof the party died on land, the prisoner was +acquitted because neither the Admiralty nor a jury could inquire of +it.] At sea, on the other hand, the conditions which on land rendered +accidents of this nature so uniformly disagreeable, were almost entirely +reversed. How and why this was so can be best explained by stating a +case. + +The accident in point occurred in the year 1755, and is associated with +the illustrious name of Rodney. The Seven Years War was at the time +looming in the near future, and England's secret complicity in the +causes of that tremendous struggle rendered necessary the placing of her +Navy upon a footing adequate to the demands which it was foreseen would +be very shortly made upon it. In common with a hundred other naval +officers, Rodney, who was then in command of the _Prince George_ +guardship at Portsmouth, had orders to proceed without loss of time +to the raising of men. One of his lieutenants was accordingly sent to +London, that happy hunting-ground of the impress officer, while two +others, with picked crews at their backs, were put in charge of tenders +to intercept homeward-bounds. This was near the end of May. + + [Illustration: ANNE MILLS. Who served on board the _Maidstone_ +in 1740.] + +On the 1st of June, in the early morning, one of these tenders--the +_Princess Augusta_, Lieut. Sax commander--fell in, off Portland Bill, +with the _Britannia_, a Leghorn trader of considerable force. In +response to a shot fired as an intimation that she was expected to +lay-to and receive a gang on board, the master, hailing, desired +permission to retain his crew intact till he should have passed that +dangerous piece of navigation known as the Race. To this reasonable +request Sax acceded and the ship held on her course, closely followed by +the tender. By the time the Race was passed, however, the merchant-man's +crew had come to a resolution. They should not be pressed by "such +a pimping vessel" as the _Princess Augusta_. Accordingly, they first +deprived the master of the command, and then, when again hailed by the +tender, "swore they would lose their lives sooner than bring too." The +Channel at this time swarmed with tenders, and to Sax's hint that they +might just as well give in then and there as be pressed later on, they +replied with defiant huzzas and the discharge of one of their maindeck +guns. The tender was immediately laid alongside, but on the gang's +attempting to board they encountered a resistance so fierce that Sax, +thinking to bring the infuriated crew to their senses, ordered his +people to fire upon them. Ralph Sturdy and John Debusk, armed with +harpoons, and John Wilson, who had requisitioned the cook's spit as +a weapon, fell dead before that volley. The rest, submitting without +further ado, were at once confined below. + +Now, three questions of moment are raised by this accident: What became +of the ship? what was done with the dead men? and what punishment was +meted out to the lieutenant and his gang? The crew once secured +under hatches, the safety of the ship became of course the first +consideration. It was assured by a simple expedient. The gang remained +on board and worked the vessel into Portsmouth harbour, where, after her +hands had been taken out--Rodney the receiver--"men in lieu" were put +on board, as explained in our chapter on pressing afloat, and with this +make-shift crew she was navigated to her destination, in this instance +the port of London. + +As persons killed at sea, the three sailors who lay dead on the +ship's deck did not come within the jurisdiction of the coroner. That +official's cognisance of such matters extended only to high-water mark +when the tide was at flood, or to low-water mark when it was at ebb. +Beyond those limits, seawards, all acts of violence done in great ships, +and resulting in mayhem or the death of a man, fell within the sole +purview and jurisdiction of the Station Admiral, who on this occasion +happened to be Sir Edward Hawke, commander of the White Squadron at +Portsmouth. Now Sir Edward was not less keenly alive to the importance +of keeping such cases hidden from the public eye than were the Lords +Commissioners. Hence he immediately gave orders that the bodies of the +dead men should be taken "without St. Helens" and there committed to the +deep. Instead of going to feed the Navy, the three sailors thus went to +feed the fishes, and another stain on the service was washed out with a +commendable absence of publicity and fuss. + +There still remained the lieutenant and his gang to be dealt with and +brought to what, by another singular perversion of terms, was called +justice. On shore, notwithstanding the lenient view taken of such +accidents, an indictment of manslaughter, if not of murder, would have +assuredly followed the offence; and though in the circumstances it is +doubtful whether any jury would have found the culprits guilty of +the capital crime, yet the alternative verdict, with its consequent +imprisonment and disgrace, held out anything but a rosy prospect to the +young officer who had still his second "swab" to win. That was where the +advantage of accidents at sea came in. On shore the judiciary, however +kindly disposed to the naval service, were painfully disinterested. At +sea the scales of justice were held, none too meticulously, by brother +officers who had the service at heart. Under the judicious direction of +Admiral Osborn, who in the meantime had succeeded Sir Edward Hawke in +the Portsmouth command, Lieut. Sax and his gang were consequently +called upon to face no ordeal more terrible than an "inquiry into their +proceedings and behaviour." Needless to say, they were unanimously +exonerated, the court holding that the discharge of their duty fully +justified them in the discharge of their muskets. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5925--Minutes at a Court-Martial held on board H.M.S. +_Prince George_ at Portsmouth, 14 Nov. 1755. Precedent for the procedure +in this case is found in _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 27.] When such disagreeable accidents had to +be investigated, the disagreeable business was done--to purloin an apt +phrase of Coke's--"without prying into them with eagles' eyes." + +But it is time to leave the trail of blood and turn to a more agreeable +phase of pressing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GANG AT PLAY. + + + +The reasons assigned for the pressing of men who ought never to have +made the acquaintance of the warrant or the hanger were often as +far-fetched as they are amusing. "You have no right to press a person +of my distinction!" warmly protested an individual of the superior type +when pounced upon by the gang. "Lor love yer! that's the wery reason +we're a-pressin' of your worship," replied the grinning minions of the +service. "We've such a set of black-guards aboard the tender yonder, we +wants a toff like you to learn 'em manners." + +The quixotic idea of inculcating manners by means of the press infected +others besides the gangsman. In a Navy whose officers not only plumed +themselves on representing the _ne plus ultra_ of etiquette, but +demanded that all who approached them should do so without sin either +of omission or commission, the idea was universal. Pride of service and +pride of self entered into its composition in about equal proportions; +hence the sailing-master who neglected to salute the flag, or who +through ignorance, crass stupidity, or malice aforethought flew +prohibited colours, was no more liable to be taught an exemplary lesson +than the bum-boatman who sauced the officer of the watch when detected +in the act of smuggling spirits or women into one of His Majesty's +ships. + +For all such offenders the autocracy of the quarter-deck, from the rigid +commander down to the very young gentleman newly joined, kept a jealous +lookout, and many are the instances of punishment, swift and implacable, +following the offence. Insulted dignity could of course take it out of +the disrespectful fore-mastman with the rattan, the cat or the irons; +but for the ill-mannered outsider, whether pertaining to sea or land, +the recognised corrective was His Majesty's press. A solitary exception +is found in the case of Henry Crabb of Chatham, a boatman who rejoiced +in incurable lameness; rejoiced because, although there were many +cripples on board the Queen's ships in his day, his infirmity was such +as to leave him at liberty to ply for hire "when other men durst not for +feare of being Imprest." He was an impudent, over-reaching knave, and +Capt. Balchen, of the _Adventure_ man-o'-war, whose wife had suffered +much from the fellow's abusive tongue and extortionate propensities, +finding himself unable to press him, brought him to the capstan and +there gave him "eleven lashes with a Catt of Nine Tailes." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1466--Capt. Balchen, 10 March 1703-4.] + +A letter written in the early forties-a letter as breezy as the sea from +which it was penned--gives us a striking picture of the old-time naval +officer as a teacher of deportment. Cruising far down-Channel, Capt. +Brett, of the _Anglesea_ man-o'-war, there fell in with a ship whose +character puzzled him sorely. He consequently gave chase, but the wind +falling light and night coming on, he lost her. Early next morning, as +luck would have it, he picked her up again, and having now a "pretty +breeze," he succeeded in drawing within range of her about two o'clock +in the afternoon, when he fired a shot to bring her to. The strange sail +doubtless feared that she was about to lose her hands, for instead of +obeying the summons she trained her stern-chasers on the _Anglesea_ and +for an hour and a half blazed away at her as fast as she could load. +"They put a large marlinespike into one of their guns," the indignant +captain tells us, "which struck the carriage of the chase gun upon our +forecastle, dented it near two inches, then broke asunder and wounded +one of the men in the leg, and had it come a yard higher, must +infallibly have killed two or three. By all this behaviour I concluded +she must be an English vessel taken by the Spaniards. However, when we +came within a cable's length of him he brought to, so we run close under +his stern in order to shoot a little berth to leeward of him, and at the +same time bid them hoist their boats out. Our people, as is customary +upon such occasions, were then all up upon the gunhill and in the +shrouds, looking at him. Just as we came under his quarter he pointed a +gun that was sticking out a little abaft his main-shrouds right at us, +and put the match to it, but it happened very luckily that the gun +blew. A fellow that was standing on the quarter-deck then took up a +blunderbuss and presented it, which by its not going off must have +missed fire. As it was almost impossible, they being stripp'd and +bareheaded, besides having their faces besmeared with powder, for us +to judge them by their looks, I concluded they must be a Parcell of +Light-headed Frenchmen run mad, and thinking it by no means prudent to +let them kill my men in such a ridiculous manner, I ordered the marines, +who were standing upon the quarter-deck with their musquets shoulder'd, +to fire upon them. As soon as they saw the musquets presented they +fell flat upon the decks and by that means saved themselves from being +kill'd. Some of our people at the same time fired a 9-pounder right into +his quarter, upon which they immediately submitted. I own I never was +more surprised in all my life to find that she was an English vessel, +tho' my surprise was lessened a good deal when I came to see the master +and all his fighting men so drunk as to be scarce capable of giving a +rational answer to any question that was asked them. I was very glad to +find that none of them were hurt; _but I found out the man who presented +the blunderbuss, and upon his behaving saucily when I taxed him with +it, I took him out of the vessel._" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1479--Capt. Brett, 17 April 1743. The captain's use of gender is +philologically instructive. Not till later times, it seems, did ships +lose the character of a "strong man armed" and take on, uniformly, the +attributes of the skittish female.] + + [Illustration: SAILORS CAROUSING. From the mezzotint after J. Ibbetson.] + +So abhorrent a condiment was "sauce" to the naval palate, whether +of officer or impress agent, that its use invariably brought its own +punishment with it. "You are no gentleman!" said Gangsman Dibell to one +Hartnell, a currier who accidentally jostled him whilst he was drinking +in a Poole taproom. "No, nor you neither!" replied Hartnell. The +retort cost him a most disagreeable experience. Dibell and his comrades +collared him and dragged him off to the rendezvous, where he was locked +up in the black-hole till the next day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers at Poole, 13 +Aug. 1804.] + +At Waterford Capt. Price went one better than this, for a man who was +totally unfit for the service having one day shown him some trifling +disrespect, the choleric old martinet promptly set the gang upon him and +had him conveyed on board the tender, "where," says Lieut. Collingwood, +writing a month later, "he has been eating the king's victuals ever +since." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. Collingwood, 18 +March 1781.] Punishment enough, surely! + +One night at Londonderry, as Lieut. Watson was making his way down to +the quay for the purpose of boarding the _Hope_ tender, of which he was +commander, he accidentally ran against a couple of strangers. + +"Hallo! my lads," cried he, "who and what are you?" + +"I am what I am," replied one of them, insolently. + +The lieutenant, who had been dining, fired up at this and demanded to +know if language such as that was proper to be addressed to a king's +officer. + +"As you please," said he of the insolent tongue. "If you like it better, +I'll say I'm a piece of a man." + +"So I see by your want of manners," retorted the lieutenant. "Come along +with me, my brave piece! I know those who will make a whole man of you +before they're done." + +With that he seized the fellow, meaning to take him to his boat, which +lay near by, but the pressed man, watching his chance, tripped him up +and made off. Next day there was a sequel. The lieutenant "was taken +possession of by the Civil Power" on a charge of assault. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Lieut. Watson, 27 Oct. 1804.] + +Another officer who met with base ingratitude from a pressed man whose +manners he attempted to reform was Capt. Bethel of the _Phoenix_. At the +Nore he was once grossly abused by the crew of a Customs-House boat, +and in retaliation took one of their number and carried him to sea. +Peremptory orders reaching him at one of the Scottish ports, however, he +discharged the man and paid his passage south. He was immediately sued +for false imprisonment and cast in heavy damages. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bethel, 29 Aug. 1762.] + +Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, was "had" in similar fashion by the +master of an East-Indiaman whom he pressed at Manilla because of his +insolence, and who afterwards, by a successful suit at law, let him +in for 400 Pounds damages and costs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1494--Capt. Brereton, 18 Oct. 1765.] + +This was turning the tables of etiquette on its professors with a +vengeance. + +Such costly lessons in the art of politeness, however, did not in +the least abash the naval officer or deter him from the continued +inculcation of manners. Young fellows idly roystering on the river could +not be permitted to miscall with impunity the gorgeous admiral +passing in his twelve-oared barge, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 577--Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, 24 June 1710.] nor irate +shipmasters who flouted the impress service of the Crown as a "pitiful" +thing and its officers as "little scandalous creatures," be allowed to +go scot-free. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Robinson, +21 Feb. 1725-6.] At whatever cost, the dignity of the service must be +maintained. + +Nowhere did the use of invective attain such extraordinary perfection as +amongst those who plied their vocations on the country's busy waterways. +Here "sauce" was reduced to a science and vituperation to a fine art. +Thames watermen and Tyne keelmen in particular acquired an astounding +proficiency in the choice and application of abusive epithets, but of +the two the keelman carried off the palm. The wherryman, it is true, +possessed a ripe vocabulary, but the fact that it embraced only a single +dialect seriously handicapped him in his race with the keelman, who +had no less than three to draw upon, all equally prolific. Between +"keelish," "coblish" and "sheelish," the respective dialects of the +north-country keelman, pilot and tradesman, he had at his command a +source of supply unrivalled in vituperative richness, abundance and +variety. With these at his tongue's end none could touch, much less +outdo him in power and scope of abusive description. He became in +consequence of these superior advantages so "insupportably impudent" +that the only known cure for his complaint was to follow the +prescription of Capt. Atkins of the _Panther_, and "take him as fast +as you could ketch him"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. +Atkins, 23 Dec. 1720.] but even this drastic method of curbing his +tongue was robbed of much of its efficacy by the jealous care with which +he was "protected." + +Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours +when you meet with a ship of war--the marine equivalent for raising +one's hat--constituted a gross contempt of the king's service. The +custom was very ancient, King John having instituted it in the second +year of his reign. At that time, and indeed for long after, the salute +was obligatory, its omission entailing heavy penalties; [Footnote: A +copy of the original proclamation may be seen in Lansdowne MSS., clxxi, +f. 218, where it is also summarised in the following terms: _"Anno 2 +regni Johannis regis: Frends not amaining at the j sumons but resisting +the King his lieutenant, the L. Admirall or his lieutenant, to lose the +ship and goods, & theire bodies to be imprisoned."_] but with the advent +of the century of pressing another means of inspiring respect for the +flag, now exacted as a courtesy rather than a right, came into vogue. +The offending vessel paid for its omission in men. + +If you were anything but a king's ship, and flew a flag that only +king's ships were entitled to fly, you were guilty, in the eyes of every +right-seeing naval officer, of another piece of ill manners so gross +as to be deserving of the severest punishment the press was capable of +inflicting upon you. You might fly the "flag and Jack white, with a red +cross (commonly called St. George's cross) passing quite through the +same"; likewise the "ensign red, with the cross in a canton of white +at the upper corner thereof, next to the staff"; but if you presumed to +display His Majesty's Jack, commonly called the Union Jack, or any +other of the various flags of command flown by ships of war or +vessels employed in the naval service, swift retribution overtook +you. Similarly, the inadvertent hoisting of your colours "wrong end +uppermost," or in any other manner deemed inconsistent with the dignity +of the service which permitted you to fly them, laid you open +to reprisals of the most summary nature. Before you realised the +heinousness of your offence, a gang boarded you and your best man or +men were gone beyond recall. The joy of waterside weddings--occasions +prolific in the display of wrong colours--was often turned into sorrow +in this way. + +Inability to do the things you professed to do involved grave risk of +making intimate acquaintance with the gang. If, for example, you were +a skipper and navigated your vessel more like a 'prentice than a master +hand, some one belonging to you was bound, in waters swarming with ships +of war, to pay the piper sooner or later. "A few days ago," writes Capt. +Archer of the _Isis_, "a ship called the _Jane_, Stewart master, ran +on board of us in a most lubberly manner--for which, as is customary +on such occasions, I took four of his people." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1448--Capt. Archer, 17 May 1795.] + +Ability to handle a musical instrument sometimes proved as fatal to +one's liberty as inability to handle a ship. Queen Anne was directly +responsible for this. Almost immediately after her accession she signed +a warrant authorising the pressing of "drummers, fife and haut boys for +sea and land." [Footnote: _Home Office Military Entry Books_, clxviii, +f. 406.] Though the authorisation was only temporary, the practice +thus set up continued long after its origin had been relegated to the +scrap-heap of memory, and not only continued, but was interpreted in a +sense much broader than its royal originator ever intended it should +be. This tendency to take an ell in lieu of the stipulated inch was +illustrated as early as 1705, when Lieut. Thomson, belonging to the +_Lickfield_, chancing to meet one Richard Bullard, fiddler, "persuaded +him to go as far as Woolwich with him, to play a tune or two to him +and some friends who had a mind to dance, saying he would pay him for +it"--which he did, when tired of dancing, by handing him over to the +press-gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Byron, 13 July +1705.] + +In 1781, again, a "stout lad of 17" was pressed at Waterford because, +as a piper, he was considered likely to be "useful in amusing the +new-raised men"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. +Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] and as late as 1807 a gang at Portsmouth, +acting under orders from Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, took one Madden, +a blind man, because of his "qualification of playing on the Irish +bagpipes." His affliction saved him. He was discharged, and the amount +of his pay and victualling was deducted from Sir Robert's wages as +a caution to him to be more careful in future. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, 1 Dec. 1808.] + +Perhaps the oddest reasons ever adduced in justification of specific +acts of pressing were those put forward in the cases of James Baily, a +Gosport ferry-man who was pressed on account of his "great inactivity," +and of John Conyear, exempt passenger on the packet-boat plying between +Dartmouth and Poole, subjected to the same process because, as the +officer responsible ingenuously put it when called to book for the act, +if Conyear had not been on board, "another would, who might have been a +proper person to serve His Majesty." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1451--Capt. Argles, 4 May 1807; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. +Scott, 13 March 1780.] + +An ironical interest attaches to the pressing of John Hagin, a youth +of nineteen who cherished an ambition to go a-whaling. Tramping the +riverside at Hull one day in search of a ship, he accidentally met one +of the lieutenants employed in the local impress service, and mistaking +him for the master of a Greenland ship, stepped up to him and asked him +for a berth. "Berth?" said the obliging officer. "Come this way;" and +he conducted the unsuspecting youth to the rendezvous. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Ackton, 23 March 1814.] + +Before you took a voyage for the benefit of your health in those days it +was always advisable to satisfy yourself as to the nature of the cargo +the vessel carried or intended to carry, otherwise you were liable to +be let in for a longer voyage than health demanded. Richard Gooding of +Bawdsey, in the county of Suffolk, a twenty-one-year-old yeoman who knew +nothing of the iniquities practised in ships, in an evil hour acted on +the advice of his apothecary and ran across to Holland for the sake of +his health, which the infirmities of youth appear to have undermined. +All went well until, on the return trip, just before Bawdsey Ferry hove +in sight, down swooped a revenue cutter's boat with an urgent request +that the master should open up his hatches and disclose what his hold +contained. He demurred, alleging that it held nothing of interest +to revenue men; but on their going below to see for themselves they +discovered an appreciable quantity of gin. Thereupon the master wickedly +declared Gooding to be the culprit, and he was pressed on suspicion of +attempting to run a cargo of spirits. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1530--Capt. Broughton, 20 April 1803, and enclosure.] + +Into the operations of the gang this element of suspicion entered very +largely, especially in the pressing of supposed sailors. To carry about +on your person any of the well-known marks of the seafaring man was to +invite certain disaster. When pressed, like so many others, because +he was "in appearance very much like a sailor," John Teede protested +vehemently that he had never been to sea in his life, and that all who +said he had were unmitigated liars. "Strip him," said the officer, who +had a short way with such cases. In a twinkling Teede's shirt was over +his head and the sailor stood revealed. Devices emblematic of love and +the sea covered both arms from shoulder to wrist. "You and I will lovers +die, eh?" said the officer, with a twinkle, as he spelt out one of +the amatory inscriptions. "Just so, John! I'll see to that. Next man!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1522--Description of a Person calling +himself John Teede, 28 Dec. 1799.] + +Bow-legged men ran the gravest of risks in this respect, and the goose +of many a tailor was effectually cooked because of the damning fact, +which no protestations of innocence of the sea could mitigate, that long +confinement to the board had warped his legs into a fatal resemblance to +those of a typical Jack-tar. Harwich once had a mayor who, after vowing +that he would "never be guilty of saying there was no law for pressing +sailors," as a convincing proof that he knew what was what, and was +willing to provide it to the best of his ability, straightway sent out +and pressed--a tailor! [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. +Allen, 26 March 1706.] + +The itinerant Jewish peddler who hawked his wares about the country +suffered grievously on this account. However indisputably Hebraic his +name, his accent and his nose might be, those evidences of nationality +were Anglicised, so to speak, by the fact that his legs were the legs of +a sailor, and the bandy appendages so characteristic of his race sooner +or later brought the gang down upon him in full cry and landed him in +the fleet. + +In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of +acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger--a great, bearded +man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, resorted daily +to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water mark," now writing +with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating wildly to the sea +and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, then all unused to +"visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his antics in wonder and +consternation. The principal inhabitants of the place, alarmed by his +vagaries, constituted themselves a committee of safety, and with the +parson at their head went down to interview him; and when, in response +to their none too polite inquiries, he flatly refused to give any +account of himself, they by common consent voted him a spy and a public +menace, telling each other that he was undoubtedly engaged in drawing +plans of the coast in order to facilitate' the landing of some enemy; +for did not the legend run:-- + + "He who would Old England win, + Must at Weybourn Hope begin?" + +and was not the "Hoop," as it was called locally, only a few miles to +the northward? No time was to be lost. Post-haste they dispatched a +messenger to Lieut. Brace at Yarmouth, begging him, if he would save his +country from imminent danger, to lose not a moment in sending his gang +to seize the suspect and nip his fell design in the bud. With this +alarming request Brace promptly complied, and the stranger was dragged +away to Yarmouth. Arraigned before the mayor, he with difficulty +succeeded in convincing that functionary that he was nothing more +dangerous than a stray agriculturist whom the Empress Catherine had +sent over from Russia to study the English method of growing-turnips! +[Footnote: _State Papers_, Russia, cv.--Lieut. Brace, 18 Aug. 1780.] + +The unhandsome treatment meted out to the inoffensive Russian is of a +piece with the whole aspect of pressing by instigation, of which it is +at once a specimen and a phase. The incentive here was suspicion; but in +the fertile field of instigation motives flourished in forms as varied +as the weaknesses of human nature. + +Thomas Onions, respectable burgess of Bridgnorth, engaged in working +a trow from that place to Bristol, fell under suspicion owing to the +mysterious disappearance of a portion of the cargo, which consisted of +china. The rest of the crew being metaphorically as well as literally in +the same boat, the consignee's agent, on the trow's arrival at Bristol, +hinted at a more than alliterative connection between china and chests, +which he was proceeding to search when Onions objected, very rightly +urging that he had no warrant. "Is it a warrant you're wanting?" +demanded the baffled agent. "Very well, we'll see if we cannot find +one." With that he stepped ashore and hurried to the rendezvous, where +he knew the officers, and within the hour the gang added Onions to the +impress stock-pot. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Memorial of +the Inhabitants and Burgesses of Bridgnorth, 12 March 1808.] + +Much the same motive led to the pressing of Charles M'Donald, a +north-country youth of education and property. His mother wished him to +enter the army, but his guardians, piqued by her insistence, "had him +kidnapped on board the impress tender at Shields, under pretence of +sending him on a visit." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. +Bland, 29 Nov. 1806, and enclosure.] + +An "independent fortune of fourteen hundred pounds," bequeathed to him +by his "Aunt Elizabeth," was instrumental in launching John Stillwell of +Clerkenwell upon a similar career. His step-mother and uncle desired +to retain possession of the money, of which they were trustees; so they +suborned the gang and the young man disappeared. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1539--Capt. Burton, 25 April 1806, and enclosure.] + +A more legitimate pastime of the gang was the pressing of incorrigible +sons. George Clark of Birmingham and William Barnicle of Margate, the +one a notorious thief, the other the despair of his family because of +his drunken habits, were two out of many shipped abroad by this cheap +but effectual means, the instigator of the gang being in each case +the lad's own father. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Jeremiah +Clark, 30 July 1806; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1547--Lieut. Dawe, 4 Sept. +1809.] The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in this +way amazingly simplified. + +In thus utilising the gang as a means of retaliating upon those who +incurred their displeasure, both naval officers and private individuals, +had they been arraigned for the offence, could have pleaded in +justification of their conduct the example of no less exalted a body +than the Admiralty itself. The case of the bachelor seamen of Dover, +pressed because of an official animus against that town, was as +notorious as their Lordships' futile attempt to teach the Brighton +fishermen respect for their betters, or their later orders to Capt. +Culverhouse, of the Liverpool rendezvous, instructing him "to take all +opportunities of impressing seafaring men belonging to the Isle of +Man," as a punishment for the "extreme ill-conduct of the people of that +Island to His Majesty's Officers on the Impress Service." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 3. 148--Admiralty Minutes, 11 Oct. 1803.] The +Admiralty method of paying out anyone against whom you cherished a +grudge possessed advantages which strongly commended it to the splenetic +and the vindictive. For suppose you lay in wait for your enemy and +beat or otherwise maltreated him: the chances were that he would either +punish you himself or invoke the law to do it for him; while if you +removed him by means of the garrot, the knife or the poisoned glass, no +matter how discreetly the deed was done the hangman was pretty sure to +get you sooner or later. But the gang--it was as safe as an epidemic! +The fact was not lost upon the community. People in almost every station +of life appreciated it at its true worth, and, encouraged by the example +of the Admiralty, availed themselves of the gang as the handiest, +speediest and safest of mediums for wiping out old scores. + +On shipboard, where life was more cramped and men consequently came +into sharper contact than on shore, resentments were struck from daily +intercourse like sparks from steel. Like sparks some died, impotent to +harm their object; but others, cherished in bitterness of spirit through +many a lonely watch, flashed into malicious action with that hoped-for +opportunity, the coming of the gang. John Gray, carpenter of a merchant +ship, in a moment of anger threatened to cut the skipper down with an +axe. This happened under a West-Indian sun. Months afterwards, as the +ship swung lazily into Bristol river and the gang came aboard, the +skipper found his opportunity. Beckoning to the impress officer, he +pointed to John Gray and said: "Take that man!" [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 22 June 1808, and enclosure.] Gray never +again lifted an axe on board a merchant vessel. + +Certain amenities which once passed between the master and the mate of +the _Lady Shore_ serve to throw an even broader light upon the origin +of quarrels at sea and the methods of settling them then in vogue. The +_Lady Shore_ was on the passage home from Quebec when the master one day +gave certain sailing directions which the mate, who was a sober, careful +seaman, thought fit to disregard on the ground that the safety of the +ship would be endangered if he followed them. The master, an irascible, +drunken brute, at this flew into a passion and sought to ingraft his +ideas of seamanship upon the mate through the medium of a handspike, +with which he caught him a savage blow "just above the eye, cutting him +about three inches in length." It was in mid-ocean that this lesson in +navigation was administered. By the time Scilly shoved its nose above +the horizon the skipper's "down" on the mate had reached an acute stage. +His resentment of the latter's being the better seaman had now deepened +into hatred, and to this, as the voyage neared its end, was added +growing fear of prosecution. At this juncture a man-o'-war hove in +sight and signalled an inspection of hands. "Get your chest on deck, Mr. +Mate," cried the exultant skipper. "You are too much master here. It is +time for us to part." Taken out of the ship as a pressed man, the mate +was ultimately discharged by order of the Admiralty; but the skipper +had his revenge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Matthew Gill to +Admiral Moorsom, 15 Jan. 1813.] + +A riot that occurred at King's Lynn in the year '55 affords a striking +instance of the retaliatory use of the gang on shore. In the course of +the disturbance mud and stones were thrown at the magistrates, who +had come out to do what they could to quell it. Angered by so gross +an indignity, they supplied the gang with information that led to the +pressing of some sixty persons concerned in the tumult, but as these +consisted mainly of "vagrants, gipsies, parish charges, maimed, halt and +idiots," the magisterial resentment caused greater rejoicings at +Lynn than it did at Spithead, where the sweepings of the borough were +eventually deposited. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir +Edward Hawke, 8 June 1755.] + +There is a decided smack of the modern about the use the gang was put to +by the journeymen coopers of Bristol. Considering themselves underpaid, +they threatened to go on strike unless the masters raised their wages. +In this they were not entirely unanimous, however. One of their number +stood out, refusing to join the combine; whereupon the rest summoned +the gang and had the "blackleg" pressed for his contumacy. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 20 Aug. 1808, and enclosure.] + +In pressing William Taylor of Broadstairs the gang nipped in the bud +as tender a romance as ever flourished in the shelter of the Kentish +cliffs, which is saying not a little. Taylor was only a poor fisherman, +and when he dared to make love to the pretty daughter of the Ramsgate +Harbour-Master, that exalted individual, who entertained for the girl +social ambitions in which fishermen's shacks had no place, resented +his advances as insufferable impertinence. A word to Lieut. Leary, his +friend at the local rendezvous, did the rest. Taylor disappeared, and +though he was afterwards discharged from His Majesty's ship Utrecht on +the score of his holding a Sea-Fencible's ticket, the remedy had worked +its cure and the Harbour-Master was thenceforth free to marry his +daughter where he would. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. +Austen, 23 Sept. 1803.] + +So natural is the transition from love to hate that no apology is needed +for introducing here the story of Sam Burrows, the ex-beadle of Chester +who fell a victim to the harsher in much the same manner as Taylor did +to the gentler passion. Burrows' evil genius was one Rev. Lucius Carey, +an Irish clergyman--whether Anglican or Roman we know not, nor does it +matter--who had contracted the unclerical habit of carrying pistols and +too much liquor. In this condition he was found late one night knocking +in a very violent manner at the door of the "Pied Bull," and swearing +that, while none should keep him out, any who refused to assist him +in breaking in should be shot down forthwith. Burrows, the ex-beadle, +happened to be passing at the moment. He seized the drunken cleric and +with the assistance of James Howell, one of the city watchmen, forcibly +removed him to the watch-house, whence he was next day taken before the +mayor and bound over to appear at the Sessions. Now it happened that +certain members of the local press-gang were Carey's boon companions, so +no sooner did he leave the presence of the mayor than he looked them up. +That same evening Burrows was missing. Carey had found him a "hard bed," +otherwise a berth on board a man-o'-war. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1532--Capt Birchall, 17 July 1804, and enclosures.] + +In the columns of the _Westminster Journal_, under date of both May +1743, we read of a sailor who, dying at Ringsend, was brought to +Irishtown church-yard, near Dublin, for burial. "When they laid him on +the ground," the narrative continues, "the coffin was observed to stir, +on which he was taken up, and by giving him some nourishment he came +to himself, and is likely to do well." Whether this sailor was ever +pressed, either before or after his abortive decease, we are not +informed; but there is on record at least one well-authenticated +instance of that calamity overtaking a person who had passed the bourne +whence none is supposed to return. + +In the year 1723 a young lad whose name has not been preserved, but who +was at the time apprentice to a master sailmaker in London, set out from +that city to visit his people, living at Sandwich. He appears to have +travelled afoot, for, getting a "lift" on the road, he was carried into +Deal, where he arrived late at night, and having no money was glad to +share a bed with a seafaring man, the boatswain of an Indiaman then in +the Downs. From this circumstance sprang the events which here follow. +Along in the small hours of the night the lad awoke, and finding the +room stuffy and day on the point of breaking, he rose and dressed, +purposing to see the town in the cool of the morning. The catch of +the door, however, refused to yield under his hand, and while he was +endeavouring to undo it the noise he made awakened the boatswain, who +told him that if he looked in his breeches pocket he would find a knife +there with which he could lift the latch. Acting on this hint, the +lad succeeded in opening the door, and thereupon went downstairs in +accordance with his original intention. When he returned some half-hour +later, as he did for the purpose of restoring the knife, which he +had thoughtlessly slipped into his pocket, the bed was empty and the +boatswain gone. Of this he thought nothing. The boatswain had talked, he +remembered, of going off to his ship at an early hour, in order, as he +had said, to call the hands for the washing down of the decks. The +lad accordingly left the house and went his way to Sandwich, where, as +already stated, his people lived. + +Meantime the old inn at Deal, and indeed the whole town, was thrown into +a state of violent commotion by a most shocking discovery. Going about +their morning duties at the inn, the maids had come to the bed in which +the boatswain and the apprentice had slept, and to their horror found +it saturated with blood. Drops of blood, together with marks of +blood-stained hands and feet, were further discovered on the floor and +the door of the chamber, down the stairs, and along the passage leading +to the street, whence they could be distinctly traced to the waterside, +not so very far away. Imagination, working upon these ghastly survivals +of the hours of darkness, quickly reconstructed the crime which it was +evident had been committed. The boatswain was known to have had money +on him; but the youth, it was recalled, had begged his bed. It was +therefore plain to the meanest understanding that the youth had murdered +the boatswain for his money and thrown the body into the sea. + +At once that terrible precursor of judgment to come, the hue and cry was +raised, and that night the footsore apprentice lay in Sandwich jail, a +more than suspected felon, for his speedy capture had supplied what +was taken to be conclusive evidence of his guilt. In his pocket they +discovered the boatswain's knife, and both it and the lad's clothing +were stained with blood. Asked whose blood it was, and how it came +there, he made no answer. Asked was it the boatswain's knife, he +answered, "Yes, it was," and therewith held his peace. In face of such +evidence, and such an admission, he stood prejudged. His trial at the +Assizes was a mere formality. The jury quickly found him guilty, and +sentence of death was passed upon him. + +The day of execution came. Up to this point Fate had set her face +steadfastly against our apprentice lad; but now, in the very hour +and article of death, she suddenly relented and smiled upon him. The +dislocating "drop" was in those days unknown. When you were hanged, +you were hanged from a cart, which was suddenly whisked from under you, +leaving you dangling in mid-air like a kind of death-fruit nearly, but +not quite, ready to fall. Much depended on the executioner, and that +grim functionary was in this case a raw hand, unused to his work, who +bungled the job. The knot was ill-adjusted, the rope too long, the +convict tall and lank. This last circumstance was no fault of the +executioner's, but it helped. When they turned him off, the lad's feet +swept the ground, and his friends, gathering round him like guardian +angels, bore him up. Cut down at the end of a tense half-hour, he was +hurried away to a surgeon's and there copiously bled. And being young +and virile, he revived. + +Trudging to Portsmouth some little time after, with the intention of for +ever leaving a country to which he was legally dead, he fell in with one +of the numerous press-gangs frequenting that road, and was sent on board +a man-o'-war. There, in course of time, he rose to be master's mate, and +in that capacity, whilst on the West-India station, was transferred to +another ship. On this ship he met the surprise of his life--if life can +be said to hold further surprises for one who has died and lived again. +As he stepped on deck the first person he met was his old bed-fellow, +the boatswain. + +The explanation of the amazing series of events which led up to this +amazing meeting is very simple. On the evening of that fateful night at +Deal the boatswain, who had been ailing, was let blood. In his sleep the +bandage slipped and the wound reopened. Discovering his condition when +awakened by the apprentice, he rose and left the house, intending to +have the wound re-dressed by the barber-surgeon who had inflicted it, +with more effect than discretion, some hours earlier. At the very door +of the inn, however, he ran into the arms of a press-gang, by whom +he was instantly seized and hurried on board ship. [Footnote: Watts, +_Remarkable Events in the History of Man_, 1825.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + + + +The medieval writer who declared women to be "capable of disturbing the +air and exciting tempests" was not indulging a mere quip at the expense +of that limited storm area, his own domestic circle. He expressed +what in his day, and indeed for long after, was a cardinal article of +belief--that if you were so ill-advised as to take a woman to sea, she +would surely upset the weather and play the mischief with the ship. + +To this ungallant superstition none subscribed more heartily than the +sailor, though always, be it understood, with a mental reservation. +Unlike many landsmen who held a similar belief, he limited the malign +influence of the sex strictly to the high-seas, where, for that reason, +he vastly preferred woman's room to her company; but once he was safe +in port, woman in his opinion ceased to be dangerous, and he then vastly +preferred her company to her room. + +For her companionship he had neither far to seek nor long to wait. It +was a case of + + "Deal, Dover and Harwich, + The devil gave his daughter in marriage." + +All naval seaports were full of women, and to prevent the supply from +running short thoughtful parish officials--church-wardens and other +well-meaning but sadly misguided people--added constantly to the number +by consigning to such doubtful reformatories the undesirable females of +their respective petty jurisdictions. The practice of admitting women +on board the ships of the fleet, too--a practice as old as the Navy +itself--though always forbidden, was universally connived at and tacitly +sanctioned. Before the anchor of the returning man-of-war was let go a +flotilla of boats surrounded her, deeply laden with pitiful creatures +ready to sell themselves for a song and the chance of robbing their +sailor lovers. No sooner did the boats lay alongside than the last +vestige of Jack's superstitious dread of the malevolent sex went by the +board, and discipline with it. Like monkeys the sailors swarmed into +the boats, where each selected a mate, redeemed her from the grasping +boatman's hands with money or blows according to the state of his +finances or temper, and so brought his prize, save the mark! in triumph +to the gangway. It was a point of honour, not to say of policy, with +these poor creatures to supply their respective "husbands," as they +termed them, with a drop of good-cheer; so at the gangway they were +searched for concealed liquor. This was the only formality observed on +such occasions, and as it was enforced in the most perfunctory manner +imaginable, there was always plenty of drink going. Decency there was +none. The couples passed below and the hell of the besotted broke loose +between decks, where the orgies indulged in would have beggared the pen +of a Balzac. [Footnote: Statement of Certain Immoral Practices, 1822.] + +During the earlier decades of the century these conditions, monstrous +though they were, passed almost unchallenged, but as time wore on and +their pernicious effects upon the _morale_ of the fleet became more and +more appalling, the service produced men who contended strenuously, and +in the end successfully, with a custom that, to say the least of it, did +violence to every notion of decency and clean living. In 1746 the ship's +company of the _Sunderland_ complained bitterly because not even their +wives were "suffer'd to come aboard to see them." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Brett, 22 Feb. 1745-6.] It was a sign of the +times. By the year '78 the practice had been fined down to a point +where, if a wherry with a woman in it were seen hovering in a suspicious +manner about a ship of war, the boatman was immediately pressed and the +woman turned on shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. +Boteler, 18 April 1778.] Another twenty years, and the example of such +men as Jervis, Nelson and Collingwood laid the evil for good and all. +The seamen of the fleet themselves pronounced its requiescat when, +drawing up certain "Rules and Orders" for their own guidance during the +mutiny of '97, they ordained that "no woman shall be permitted to go +on shore from any ship, but as many come in as pleases." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--A Detail of the Proceedings on Board the +_Queen Charlotte_ in the Year 1797.] + +An unforeseen consequence of thus suppressing the sailor's impromptu +liaisons was an alarming increase in the number of desertions. On shore +love laughs at locksmiths; on shipboard it derided the boatswain's mate. +To run and get caught meant at the worst "only a whipping bout," and, +the sailor's hide being as tough as his heart was tender, he ran and +took the consequences with all a sailor's stoicism. In this respect he +was perhaps not singular. The woman in the case so often counts for more +than the punishment she brings. + +Few of those who deserted their ships for amatory reasons had the +luck--viewing the escapade from the sailor's standpoint--that attended +the schoolmaster of the _Princess Louisa_. Going ashore at Plymouth to +fetch his chest from the London wagon, he succumbed to the blandishments +of an itinerant fiddler's wife, whom he chanced to meet in the husband's +temporary absence, and was in consequence "no more heard of." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Boys, 5 April 1742.] + +Had it always been a case of the travelling woman, the sailor's flight +in response to the voice of the charmer would seldom have landed him in +the cells or exposed his back to the caress of the ship's cat. Where he +was handicapped in his love flights was this. The haunt or home of his +seducer was generally known to one or other of his officers, and when +this was not the case there were often other women who gladly gave +him away. "Captain Barrington, Sir," writes "Nancy of Deptford" to the +commander of a man-o'-war in the Thames, "there is a Desarter of yours +at the upper water Gate. Lives at the sine of the mantion house. He is +an Irishman, gose by the name of Youe (Hugh) MackMullins, and is trying +to Ruing a Wido and three Children, for he has Insenuated into the Old +Woman's faver so far that she must Sartingly come to poverty, and you +by Sarching the Cook's will find what I have related to be true and much +oblidge the hole parrish of St. Pickles Deptford." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1495--Capt. Barrington, 22 Oct. 1771, enclosure.] + +A favourite resort of the amatory tar was that extra-parochial spot +known as the Liberty of the Fleet, where the nuptial knot could be tied +without the irksome formalities of banns or licence. The fact strongly +commended it to the sailor and brought him to the precinct in great +numbers. + +"I remember once on a time," says Keith, the notorious Fleet parson, "I +was at a public-house at Ratcliffe, which was then full of Sailors and +their Girls. There was fiddling, piping, jigging and eating. At length +one of the Tars starts up and says: 'Damn ye, Jack! I'll be married just +now; I will have my partner.' The joke took, and in less than two hours +Ten Couples set out for the Flete. They returned in Coaches, five Women +in each Coach; the Tars, some running before, some riding on the Coach +Box, and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, the Couples went up +into an upper Room, where they concluded the evening with great Jollity. +The landlord said it was a common thing, when a Fleet comes in, to have +2 or 3 Hundred Marriages in a week's time among the Sailors." [Footnote: +Keith, Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages, +1753.] + +In the "Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life," a play produced at Covent +Garden Theatre in 1755, Trueblue is pressed, not in, but out of the +arms of his tearful Nancy. The situation is distressingly typical. The +sailor's happiness was the gangsman's opportunity, however Nancy might +suffer in consequence. + +For the average gangsman was as void of sentiment as an Admiralty +warrant, pressing you with equal avidity and absence of feeling whether +he caught you returning from a festival or a funeral. To this callosity +of nature it was due that William Castle, a foreign denizen of Bristol +who had the hardihood to incur the marital tie there, was called +upon, as related elsewhere, to serve at sea in the very heyday of his +honeymoon. Similarly, if four seamen belonging to the _Dundee_ Greenland +whaler had not stolen ashore one night at Shields "to see some women," +they would probably have gone down to their graves, seawards or +landwards, under the pleasing illusion that the ganger was a man of like +indulgent passions with themselves. The negation of love, as exemplified +in that unsentimental individual, was thus brought home to many a +seafaring man, long debarred from the society of the gentler sex, +with startling abruptness and force. The pitiful case of the "Maidens +Pressed," whose names are enrolled in the pages of Camden Hotten, +[Footnote: Hotten, List of Persons of Quality, etc., who Went from +England to the American Plantations.] is in no way connected with +pressing for naval purposes. Those unfortunates were not victims of the +gangsman's notorious hardness of heart, but of their own misdeeds. Like +the female disciples of the "diving hand" stated by Lutterell [Footnote: +Lutterell, Historical Relation of State Affairs, 12 March 1706.] to have +been "sent away to follow the army," they were one and all criminals of +the Moll Flanders type who "left their country for their country's good" +under compulsion that differed widely, both in form and purpose, from +that described in these pages. + +To assert, however, that women were never pressed, in the enigmatic +sense of their being taken by the gang for the manning of the fleet, +would be to do violence to the truth as we find it in naval and other +records. As a matter of fact, the direct contrary was the case, and +there were in the kingdom few gangs of which, at one time or another +in their career, it could not be said, as Southey said of the gang at +Bristol, that "they pressed a woman." + +The incident alluded to will be familiar to all who know the poet as +distinguished from the Bard of Avon. It is found in the second "English +Eclogue," under the caption of the "Grandmother's Tale," and has to do +with the escapade, long famous in the more humorous annals of Southey's +native city, of blear-eyed Moll, a collier's wife, a great, ugly +creature whose voice was as gruff as a mastiff's bark, and who wore +habitually a man's hat and coat, so that at a few yards' distance you +were at a loss to know whether she was man or woman. + + "There was a merry story told of her, + How when the press-gang came to take her husband + As they were both in bed, she heard them coming, + Drest John up in her nightcap, and herself + Put on his clothes and went before the captain." + +A case of pressing on all-fours with this is said to have once occurred +at Portsmouth. A number of sailors, alarmed by the rumoured approach of +a gang while they were a-fairing, took it into their heads, so the story +goes, to effect a partial exchange of clothing with their sweethearts, +in the hope that the hasty shifting of garments would deceive the gang +and so protect them from the press. It did. In their parti-garb make-up +the women looked more sailorly than the sailors themselves. The gang +consequently pressed them, and there were hilarious scenes at the +rendezvous when the fair recruits were "regulated" and the ludicrous +mistake brought to light. + +It was not only on shore, however, or on special occasions such as +this, that women played the sailor. A naval commander, accounting to +the Admiralty for his shortness of complement, attributes it mainly to +sickness, partly to desertion, and incidentally to the discharge of one +of the ship's company, "who was discovered to be a woman." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Burney, 15 Feb. 1782.] + +His experience is capped by that of the master of the _Edmund and Mary_, +a vessel engaged in carrying coals to Ipswich. Shrewdly suspecting +one of his apprentices, a clever, active lad, to be other than what he +seemed, he taxed him with the deception. Taken unawares, the lad burst +into womanly tears and confessed himself to be the runaway daughter of +a north-country widow. Disgrace had driven her to sea. [Footnote: _Naval +Chronicle_, vol. xxx. 1813, p. 184.] + +These instances are far from being unique, for both in the navy and the +mercantile marine the masquerading of women in male attire was a not +uncommon occurrence. The incentives to the adoption of a mode of life +so foreign to all the gentler traditions of the sex were various, though +not inadequate to so surprising a change. Amongst them unhappiness +at home, blighted virtue, the secret love of a sailor and an abnormal +craving for adventure and the romantic life were perhaps the most +common and the most powerful. The question of clothing presented little +difficulty. Sailors' slops could be procured almost anywhere, and no +questions asked. The effectual concealment of sex was not so easy, and +when we consider the necessarily intimate relations subsisting between +the members of a ship's crew, the narrowness of their environment, the +danger of unconscious betrayal and the risks of accidental discovery, +the wonder is that any woman, however masculine in appearance or skilled +in the arts of deception, could ever have played so unnatural a part for +any length of time without detection. The secret of her success perhaps +lay mainly in two assisting circumstances. In theory there were no women +at sea, and despite his occasional vices the sailor was of all men the +most unsophisticated and simple-minded. + +Conspicuous among women who threw the dust of successful deception in +the eyes of masters and shipmates is Mary Anne Talbot. Taking to the sea +as a girl in order to "follow the fortunes" of a young naval officer for +whom she had conceived a violent but unrequited affection, she was known +afloat as John Taylor. In stature tall, angular and singularly lacking +in the physical graces so characteristic of the average woman, +she passed for years as a true shellback, her sex unsuspected and +unquestioned. Accident at length revealed her secret. Wounded in an +engagement, she was admitted to hospital in consequence of a shattered +knee, and under the operating knife the identity of John Taylor merged +into that of Mary Anne Talbot. [Footnote: Times, 4 Nov. 1799.] + +It is said, perhaps none too kindly or truthfully, that the lady doctor +of the present day no sooner sets up in practice than she incontinently +marries the medical man around the corner, and in many instances the +sailor-girl of former days brought her career on the ocean wave to an +equally romantic conclusion. However skilled in the art of navigation +she might become, she experienced a constitutional difficulty in +steering clear of matrimony. Maybe she steered for it. + +A romance of this description that occasioned no little stir in its day +is associated with a name at one time famous in the West-India trade. +Through bankruptcy the name suffered eclipse, and the unfortunate +possessor of it retired to a remote neighbourhood, taking with him his +two daughters, his sole remaining family. There he presently sank under +his misfortunes. Left alone in the world, with scarce a penny-piece to +call their own, the daughters resolved on a daring departure from the +conventional paths of poverty. + +Making their way to Portsmouth, they there dressed themselves as sailors +and in that capacity entered on board a man-o'-war bound for the West +Indies. At the first reduction of Curaçoa, in 1798, as in subsequent +naval engagements, both acquitted themselves like men. No suspicion of +the part they were playing, and playing with such success, appears to +have been aroused till a year or two later, when one of them, in a brush +with the enemy, was wounded in the side. The surgeon's report terminated +her career as a seaman. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT.] + + + Meanwhile the other sister contracted tropical fever, and whilst +lying ill was visited by one of the junior officers of the ship. +Believing herself to be dying, she told him her secret, doubtless with +a view to averting its discovery after death. He confessed that the news +was no surprise to him. In fact, not only had he suspected her sex, he +had so far persuaded himself of the truth of his suspicions as to fall +in love with one of his own crew. The tonic effect of such avowals is +well known. The fever-stricken patient recovered, and on the return of +the ship to home waters the officer in question made his late foremast +hand his wife. [Footnote: Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. 1802, p. 60.] + +Of all the veracious yarns that are told of girl-sailors, there is +perhaps none more remarkable than the story of Rebecca Anne Johnson, the +girl-sailor of Whitby. One night a hundred and some odd years ago a Mrs. +Lesley, who kept the "Bull" inn in Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate Street, +found at her door a handsome sailor-lad begging for food. He had eaten +nothing for four and twenty hours, he declared, and when plied with +supper and questions by the kind-hearted but inquisitive old lady, he +explained that he was an apprentice to the sea, and had run from +his ship at Woolwich because of the mate's unduly basting him with a +rope's-end. "What! you a 'prentice?" cried the landlady; and turning his +face to the light, she subjected him to a scrutiny that read him through +and through. + +Next day, at his own request, he was taken before the Lord Mayor, to +whom he told his story. That he was a girl he freely admitted, and he +accounted for his appearing in sailor rig by asserting that a brutal +father had apprenticed him to the sea in his thirteenth year. More +astounding still, the same unnatural parent had actually bound her, the +sailor-girl's, mother, apprentice to the sea, and in that capacity +she was not only pressed into the navy, but killed at the battle of +Copenhagen, up to which time, though she had followed the sea for many +years and borne this child in the meantime, her sex had never once been +called in question. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xx. 1808, p. +293.] + +While woman was thus invading man's province at sea, that universal +feeder of the Navy, the pressgang, made little or no appeal to her as +a sphere of activity. On Portland Island, it is true, Lieut. McKey, who +commanded both the Sea-Fencibles and the press-gang there, rated his +daughter as a midshipman; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 April 1805] but with this exception +no woman is known to have added the hanger to her adornment. The three +merry maids of Taunton, who as gangsmen put the Denny Bowl quarrymen to +rout, were of course impostors. + +But if the ganger's life was not for woman, there was ample compensation +for its loss in the wider activities the gang opened up for her. The +gangsman was nothing if not practical. He took the poetic dictum that +"men must work and women must weep"--a conception in his opinion too +sentimentally onesided to be tolerated as one of the eternal verities of +human existence--and improved upon it. By virtue of the rough-and-ready +authority vested in him he abolished the distinction between toil and +tears, decreeing instead that women should suffer both. + +"M'Gugan's wife?" growled Capt. Brenton, gang-master at Greenock, when +the corporation of that town ventured to point out to him that +M'Gugan's wife and children must inevitably come to want unless +their bread-winner, recently pressed, were forthwith restored to +them,--"_M'Gugan's wife is as able to get her bread as any woman in the +town!_" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Brenton, 15 Jan. +1795.] + +For two hundred and fifty years, off and on--ever since, in fact, the +press-masters of bluff King Hal denuded the Dorset coast of fishermen +and drove the starving women of that region to sea in quest of food +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII_.: Lord Russell to the +Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545.]--the press-gang had been laboriously +teaching English housewives this very lesson, the simple economic truth +that if they wanted bread for themselves and their families while their +husbands were fagging for their country at sea, they must turn to and +work for it. Yet in face of this fact here was M'Gugan's wife trying to +shirk the common lot. It was monstrous! + +M'Gugan's wife ought really to have known better. The simplest +calculation, had she cared to make it, would have shown her the utter +futility of hoping to live on the munificent wage which a grateful +country allowed to M'Gugan, less certain deductions for M'Gugan's slops +and contingent sick-benefit, in return for his aid in protecting it from +its enemies; and almost any parish official could have told her, what +she ought in reason to have known already, that she was no longer merely +M'Gugan's wife, dependent upon his exertions for the bread she ate, but +a Daughter of the State and own sister to thousands of women to whom the +gang in its passage brought toil and poverty, tears and shame--not, mark +you, the shame of labour, if there be such a thing, but the bedraggled, +gin-sodden shame of the street, or, in the scarce less dreadful +alternative, the shame of the goodwife of the ballad who lamented her +husband's absence because, worse luck, sundry of her bairns "were gotten +quhan he was awa'." + +Lamentable as this state of things undoubtedly was, it was nevertheless +one of the inevitables of pressing. You could not take forcibly one +hundred husbands and fathers out of a community of five hundred souls, +and pay that hundred husbands and fathers the barest pittance instead of +a living wage, without condemning one hundred wives and mothers to hard +labour on behalf of the three hundred children who hungered. Out of +this hundred wives and mothers a certain percentage, again, lacked the +ability to work, while a certain other percentage lacked the will. These +recruited the ranks of the outcast, or with their families burdened +the parish. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of the +Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Portsmouth, +3 Dec 1793, and numerous instances.] The direct social and economic +outcome of this mode of manning the Navy, coupled with the payment of +a starvation wage, was thus threefold. It reversed the natural +sex-incidence of labour; it fostered vice; it bred paupers. The first +was a calamity personal to those who suffered it. The other two were +national in their calamitous effects. + +In that great diurnal of the eighteenth-century navy, the Captains' +Letters and Admirals' Dispatches, no volume can be opened without +striking the broad trail of destitution, misery and heart-break, to +mention no worse consequences, left by the gang. At nearly every turn of +the page, indeed, we come upon recitals or petitions recalling vividly +the exclamation involuntarily let fall by Pepys the tender-hearted when, +standing over against the Tower late one summer's night, he watched +by moonlight the pressed men sent away: "Lord! how some poor women did +cry." + +A hundred years later and their heritors in sorrow are crying still. Now +it is a bed-ridden mother bewailing her only son, "the principal prop +and stay of her old age"; again a wife, left destitute "with three +hopeful babes, and pregnant." And here, bringing up the rear of the sad +procession--lending to it, moreover, a touch of humour in itself not far +removed from tears--comes Lachlan M'Quarry. The gang have him, and amid +the Stirling hills, where he was late an indweller, a motley gathering +of kinsfolk mourn his loss--"me, his wife, two Small helpless Children, +an Aged Mother who is Blind, an Aged Man who is lame and unfit for work, +his father in Law, and a sister Insane, with his Mother in Law who is +Infirm." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1454--The Humble Petition of +Jullions Thomson, Spouse to Lachlan M'Quarry, 2 May 1812.] The fact +is attested by the minister and elders of the parish, being otherwise +unbelievable; and Lachlan is doubtless proportionately grieved to find +himself at sea. Men whose wives "divorced" them through the medium of +the gang--a not uncommon practice--experienced a similar grief. + +Besides the regular employment it so generously provided for wives +bereft of their lawful support, the press-gang found for the women of +the land many an odd job that bore no direct relation to the earning of +their bread. When the mob demolished the Whitby rendezvous in '93, it +was the industrious fishwives of the town who collected the stones +used as ammunition on that occasion; and when, again, Lieut. M'Kenzie +unwisely impressed an able seaman in the house of Joseph Hook, +inn-keeper at Pill, it was none other than "Mrs. Hook, her daughter and +female servant" who fell upon him and tore his uniform in shreds, thus +facilitating the pressed man's escape "through a back way." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Lieut. M'Kenzie, 20 Oct. 1805.] + +The good people of Sunderland at one time indulged themselves in the +use of a peculiar catch-phrase. Whenever any feat of more than ordinary +daring came under their observation, they spoke of it as "a case of +Dryden's sister." The saying originated in this way. The Sunderland gang +pressed the mate of a vessel, one Michael Dryden, and confined him in +the tender's hold. One night Dryden's sister, having in vain bribed the +lieutenant in command to let him go, at the risk of her life smuggled +some carpenter's tools on board under the very muzzles of the sentinel's +muskets, and with these her brother and fifteen other men cut their way +to freedom. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 +June and 10 July 1798.] + +A tender lying in King Road, at the entrance to Bristol River, was the +scene of another episode of the "Dryden's sister" type. Going ashore +one morning, the lieutenant in command fell from the bank and broke +his sword. It was an ill omen, for in his absence the hard fate of the +twenty pressed men who lay in the tender's hold, "all handcuft to each +other," made an irresistible appeal to two women, pressed men's wives, +who had been with singular lack of caution admitted on board. Whilst the +younger and prettier of the two cajoled the sentinel from his post, the +elder and uglier secured an axe and a hatchet and passed them unobserved +through the scuttle to the prisoners below, who on their part made such +good use of them that when at length the lieutenant returned he found +the cage empty and the birds flown. The shackles strewing the press-room +bore eloquent testimony to the manner of their flight. The irons had +been hacked asunder, some of them with as many as "six or seven Cutts." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 12 May 1759.] + +Never, surely, did the gang provide an odder job for any woman than the +one it threw in the way of Richard Parker's wife. The story of his part +in the historic mutiny at the Nore is common knowledge. Her's, being +less familiar, will bear retelling. But first certain incidents in the +life of the man himself, some of them hitherto unknown, call for brief +narration. + +Born at Exeter in or about the year 1764, it is not till some nineteen +years later, or, to be precise, the 5th of May 1783, that Richard Parker +makes his debut in naval records. On that date he appears on board +the _Mediator_ tender at Plymouth, in the capacity of a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 9307--Muster Book of +H.M. Tender the _Mediator_.] + +The tender carried him to London, where in due course he was delivered +up to the regulating officers, and by them turned over to the _Ganges_, +Captain the Honourable James Lutterell. This was prior to the 30th of +June 1783, the date of his official "appearance" on board that ship. +On the _Ganges_ he served as a midshipman--a noteworthy fact [Footnote: +Though one of rare occurrence, Parker's case was not altogether unique; +for now and then a pressed man by some lucky chance "got his foot on the +ladder," as Nelson put it, and succeeded in bettering himself. Admiral +Sir David Mitchell, pressed as the master of a merchantman, is a notable +example. Admiral Campbell, "Hawke's right hand at Quiberon," who entered +the service as a substitute for a pressed man, is another; and James +Clephen, pressed as a sea-going apprentice, became master's-mate of the +Doris, and taking part in the cutting out of the Chevrette, a corvette +of twenty guns, from Cameret Bay, in 1801, was for his gallantry on that +occasion made a lieutenant, fought at Trafalgar and died a captain. On +the other hand, John Norris, pressed at Gallions Reach out of a collier +and "ordered to walk the quarter-deck as a midshipman," proved such a +"laisie, sculking, idle fellow," and so "filled the sloop and men +with vermin," that his promoter had serious thoughts of "turning him +ashore."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, undated letter, +1741.]--till the 4th of September following, when he was discharged to +the _Bull-Dog_ sloop by order of Admiral Montagu. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10614--Muster Book of H.M.S. _Ganges_.] + +His transfer from the _Bull-Dog_ banished him from the quarter-deck and +sowed within him the seeds of that discontent which fourteen years later +made of him, as he himself expressed it, "a scape-goat for the sins of +many." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Dying Declaration of the +Late Unfortunate Richard Parker, 28 June 1797.] He was now, for what +reason we do not learn, rated as an ordinary seaman, and in that +capacity he served till the 15th of June 1784, when he was discharged +sick to Haslar Hospital. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, +1. 10420, 10421--Muster Books of H.M. Sloop _Bull-Dog_.] + +At this point we lose track of him for a matter of nearly fourteen +years, but on the 31st of March 1797, the year which brought his period +of service to so tragic a conclusion, he suddenly reappears at the Leith +rendezvous as a Quota Man for the county of Perth. Questioned as to his +past, he told Brenton, then in charge of that rendezvous, "that he had +been a petty officer or acting lieutenant on board the _Mediator_, Capt. +James Lutterell, at the taking of five prizes in 1783, when he received +a very large proportion of prize-money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1517--Capt. Brenton, 10 June 1797.] The inaccuracies evident on the +face of this statement are unquestionably due to Brenton's defective +recollection rather than to Parker's untruthfulness. Brenton wrote his +report nearly two and a half months after the event. + +After a period of detention on board the tender at Leith, Parker, in +company with other Quota and pressed men, was conveyed to the Nore in +one of the revenue vessels occasionally utilised for that purpose, and +there put on board the _Sandwich_, the flag-ship for that division of +the fleet. At half-past nine on the morning of the 12th of May, upon the +2nd lieutenant's giving orders to "clear hawse," the ship's company got +on the booms and gave three cheers, which were at once answered from the +_Director_. They then reeved yard-ropes as a menace to those of the +crew who would not join them, and trained the forecastle guns on the +quarter-deck as a hint to the officers. The latter were presently put +on shore, and that same day the mutineers unanimously chose Parker to +be their "President" or leader. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: Deposition of Lieut. Justice.] +The fact that he had been pressed in the first instance, and that +after having served for a time in the capacity of a "quarter-deck young +gentleman" he had been unceremoniously derated, singled him out for +this distinction. There was amongst the mutineers, moreover, no other so +eligible; for whatever Parker's faults, he was unquestionably a man of +superior ability and far from inferior attainments. + +The reeving of yard-ropes was his idea, though he disclaimed it. An +extraordinary mixture of tenderness and savagery, he wept when it was +proposed to fire upon a runaway ship, the _Repulse_, but the next moment +drove a crowbar into the muzzle of the already heavily shotted gun and +bade the gunner "send her to hell where she belonged." "I'll make a +beefsteak of you at the yard-arm" was his favourite threat. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: +Depositions of Capt. John Wood, of H.M. Sloop _Hound_, William +Livingston, boat-swain of the _Director_, and Thomas Barry, seaman on +board the _Monmouth._] It was prophetic, for that way, as events quickly +proved, lay the finish of his own career. + +At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June Parker, convicted and +sentenced to death after a fair trial, stood on the scaffold awaiting +his now imminent end. The halter, greased to facilitate his passing, was +already about his neck, and in one of his hands, which had been freed at +his own request, he held a handkerchief borrowed for the occasion from +one of the officers of the ship. This he suddenly dropped. It was the +preconcerted signal, and as the fatal gun boomed out in response to it +he thrust his hands into his pockets with great rapidity and jumped +into mid-air, meeting his death without a tremor and with scarce a +convulsion. Thanks to the clearness of the atmosphere and the facility +with which the semaphores did their work that morning, the Admiralty +learnt the news within seven minutes. [Footnote: Trial and Life of +Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] Now comes the woman's part in the +drama on which the curtain rose with the pressing of Parker in '83, and +fell, not with his execution at the yard-arm of the _Sandwich_, as one +would suppose, but four days after that event. + +In one of his spells of idleness ashore Parker had married a Scotch +girl, the daughter of an Aberdeenshire farmer--a tragic figure of a +woman whose fate it was to be always too late. Hearing that her husband +had taken the bounty, she set out with all speed for Leith, only to +learn, upon her arrival there, that he was already on his way to the +fleet. At Leith she tarried till rumours of his pending trial reached +the north country. The magistrates would then have put her under arrest, +designing to examine her, but the Admiralty, to whom Brenton reported +their intention, vetoed the proceeding as superfluous. The case +against Parker was already complete. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1517--Capt. Brenton, 15 June 1797, and endorsement.] Left free to follow +the dictates of her tortured heart, the distracted woman posted south. + +Eating his last breakfast in the gun-room of the _Sandwich_, Parker +talked affectionately of his wife, saying that he had made his will and +left her a small estate he was heir to. Little did he dream that she was +then within a few miles of him. + +The _Sandwich_ lay that morning above Blackstakes, the headmost ship of +the fleet, and at the moment when Parker leapt from her cathead scaffold +a boat containing his wife shot out into the stream. He was run up to +the yard-arm before her very eyes. She was again too late. + +He hung there for an hour. Meantime, with a tenacity of purpose as +touching as her devotion, the unhappy woman applied to the Admiral +for the body of her husband. She was denied, and Parker's remains were +committed to the new naval burial ground, beyond the Red-Barrier Gate +leading to Minster. The burial took place at noon. By nightfall the +grief-stricken woman had come to an amazing resolution. _She would steal +the body_. + +Ten o'clock that night found her at the place of interment. Save for the +presence of the sentinel at the adjoining Barrier Gate, the loneliness +of the spot favoured her design, but a ten-foot palisade surrounded the +grounds, and she had neither tools nor helpers. Unexpectedly three women +came that way. To them she disclosed her purpose, praying them for the +love of God to help her. Perhaps they were sailors' wives. Anyhow, they +assented, and the four body-snatchers scaled the fence. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT. Dressed as a sailor.] + + +The absence of tools, as it happened, presented no serious impediment to +the execution of their design. The grave was a shallow one, the freshly +turned mould loose and friable. Digging with their hands, they soon +uncovered the coffin, which they then contrived to raise and hoist over +the cemetery gates into the roadway, where they sat upon it to conceal +it from chance passers-by till four o'clock in the morning. It was then +daylight. The neighbouring drawbridge was let down, and, a fish-cart +opportunely passing on its way to Rochester, the driver was prevailed +upon to carry the "lady's box" into that town. A guinea served to allay +his suspicions. + +Three days later a caravan drew up before the "Hoop and Horseshoe" +tavern, in Queen Street, Little Tower Hill. A woman alighted--furtively, +for it was now broad daylight, whereas she had planned to arrive while +it was still dark. A watchman chanced to pass at the moment, and the +woman's strange behaviour aroused his suspicions. Pulling aside the +covering of the van, he looked in and saw there the rough coffin +containing the body of Parker, which the driver of the caravan had +carried up from Rochester for the sum of six guineas. Later in the +day the magistrates sitting at Lambeth Street Police Court ordered +its removal, and it was deposited in the vaults of Whitechapel church. +[Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] + +Full confirmation of this extraordinary story, should any doubt it, may +be found in the registers of the church in question. Amongst the burials +there we read this entry: "_July, 1797, Richard Parker, Sheerness, Kent, +age 33. Cause of death, execution. This was Parker, the President of +the Mutinous Delegates on board the fleet at the Nore. He was hanged +on board H.M.S._ Sandwich _on the 30th day of June_." [Footnote: Burial +Registers of St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, 1797.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + + + +Once the gang had a man in its power, his immediate destination was +either the rendezvous press-room or the tender employed as a substitute +for that indispensable place of detention. + +The press-room, lock-up or "shut-up house," as it was variously termed, +must not be confounded with the press-room at Newgate, where persons +indicted for felony, and perversely refusing to plead, were pressed +beneath weights till they complied with that necessary legal formality. +From that historic cell the rendezvous press-room differed widely, both +in nature and in use. Here the pressed men were confined pending their +dispatch to His Majesty's ships. As a matter of course the place was +strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, being in these +respects merely a commonplace replica of the average bridewell. Where it +differed from the bridewell was in its walls. Theoretically these were +elastic. No matter how many they held, there was always room within them +for more. As late as 1806 the press-room at Bristol consisted of a cell +only eight feet square, and into this confined space sixteen men were +frequently packed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 March 1806.] + +Nearly everywhere it was the same gruesome story. The sufferings of +the pressed man went for nothing so long as the pressed man was kept. +Provided only the bars were dependable and the bolts staunch, anything +would do to "clap him up in." The town "cage" came in handy for the +purpose; and when no other means of securing him could be found, he +was thrust into the local prison like a common felon, often amidst +surroundings unspeakably awful. + +According to the elder Wesley, no "seat of woe" on this side of the +Bottomless Pit outrivalled Newgate except one. [Footnote: London +Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1761.] The exception was Bristol jail. A filthy, +evil-smelling hole, crowded with distempered prisoners without medical +care, it was deservedly held in such dread as to "make all seamen fly +the river" for fear of being pressed and committed to it. For when the +eight-foot cell at the rendezvous would hold no more, Bristol pressed +men were turned in here--to come out, if they survived the +pestilential atmosphere of the place, either fever-stricken or pitiful, +vermin-covered objects from whom even the hardened gangsman shrank with +fear and loathing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, +4 Aug. 1759.] Putting humane considerations entirely aside, it is +well-nigh inconceivable that so costly an asset as the pressed man +should ever have been exposed to such sanitary risks. The explanation +doubtless lies in the enormous amount of pressing that was done. The +number of men taken was in the aggregate so great that a life more or +less was hardly worth considering. + +Of ancient use as a county jail, Gloucester Castle stood far higher in +the pressed man's esteem as a place of detention than did its sister +prison on the Avon. The reason is noteworthy. Richard Evans, for many +years keeper there, possessed a magic palm. Rub it with silver in +sufficient quantity, and the "street door of the gaol" opened before +you at noonday, or, when at night all was as quiet as the keeper's +conscience, a plank vanished from the roof of your cell, and as you +stood lost in wonder at its disappearance there came snaking down +through the hole thus providentially formed a rope by the aid of which, +if you were a sailor or possessed of a sailor's agility and daring, it +was feasible to make your escape over the ramparts of the castle, though +they towered "most as high as the Monument." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 28 April and 26 May 1759.] + +In the absence of the gang on road or other extraneous duty the +precautions taken for the safety of pressed men were often very +inadequate, and this circumstance gave rise to many an impromptu rescue. +Sometimes the local constable was commandeered as a temporary guard, and +a story is told of how, the gang having once locked three pressed men +into the cage at Isleworth and stationed the borough watchman over them, +one Thomas Purser raised a mob, demolished the door of the cage, and set +its delighted occupants free amid frenzied shouts of: "Pay away within, +my lads! and we'll pay away without. Damn the constable! He has no +warrant." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 99.] + +In strict accordance with the regulations governing, or supposed to +govern, the keeping of rendezvous, the duration of the pressed man's +confinement ought never to have exceeded four-and-twenty hours from +the time of his capture; but as a matter of fact it often extended far +beyond that limit. Everything depended on the gang. If men were brought +in quickly, they were as quickly got rid of; but when they dribbled in +in one's and two's, with perhaps intervals of days when nothing at all +was doing, weeks sometimes elapsed before a batch of suitable size could +be made ready and started on its journey to the ships. + +All this time the pressed man had to be fed, or, as they said in the +service, subsisted or victualled, and for this purpose a sum varying +from sixpence to ninepence a day, according to the cost of provisions, +was allowed him. On this generous basis he was nourished for a hundred +years or more, till one day early in the nineteenth century some +half-score of gaunt, hungry wretches, cooped up for eight weary weeks in +an East-coast press-room during the rigours of a severe winter, made the +startling discovery that the time-honoured allowance was insufficient +to keep soul and body together. They accordingly addressed a petition to +the Admiralty, setting forth the cause and nature of their sufferings, +and asking for a "rise." A dozen years earlier the petition would have +been tossed aside as insolent and unworthy of consideration; but the +sharp lesson of the Nore mutiny happened to be still fresh in their +Lordships' memories, so with unprecedented generosity and haste they +at once augmented the allowance, and that too for the whole kingdom, to +fifteen-pence a day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of +the Pressed Men at King's Lynn, 27 Jan. 1809, and endorsement.] + +It was a red-letter day for the pressed man. A single stroke of +the official pen had raised him from starvation to opulence, and +thenceforward, when food was cheap and the purchasing power of the penny +high, he regaled himself daily, as at Limerick in 1814, on such abundant +fare as a pound of beef, seven and a half pounds of potatoes, a pint of +milk, a quart of porter, a boiling of greens and a mess of oatmeal; or, +if he happened to be a Catholic, on fish and butter twice a week instead +of beef. The quantity of potatoes is worthy of remark. It was peculiar +to Ireland, where the lower classes never used bread. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 1 March 1814.] + +Though faring thus sumptuously at his country's expense, the pressed man +did not always pass the days of his detention in unprofitable idleness. +There were certain eventualities to be thought of and provided against. +Sooner or later he must go before the "gent with the swabs" and be +"regulated," that is to say, stripped to the waist, or further if that +exacting officer deemed it advisable, and be critically examined for +physical ailments and bodily defects. In this examination the local +"saw-bones" would doubtless lend a hand, and to outwit the combined +skill of both captain and surgeon was a point of honour with the pressed +man if by any possibility it could be done. With this laudable end in +view he devoted much of his enforced leisure to the rehearsal of such +symptoms and the fabrication of such defects as were best calculated to +make him a free man. + +For the sailor to deny his vocation was worse than useless. The ganger's +shrewd code--"All as says they be land-lubbers when I says they baint, +be liars, and all liars be seamen"--effectually shut that door in his +face. There were other openings, it is true, whereby a knowing chap +might wriggle free, but officers and medicoes were extremely "fly." He +had not practised his many deceptions upon them through long years +for nothing. They well knew that on principle he "endeavoured by every +stratagem in his power to impose"--that he was, in short, a cunning +cheat whose most serious ailments were to be regarded with the least +sympathy and the utmost suspicion. Yet in spite of this disquieting fact +the old hand, whom long practice had made an adept at deception, and +who, when he was so inclined, could simulate "complaints of a nature +to baffle the skill of any professional man," [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1540--Capt. Barker, 5 Nov. 1807.] rarely if ever faced +the ordeal of regulating without "trying it on." Often, indeed, he +anticipated it. There was nothing like keeping his hand in. + +Fits were his great stand-by, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1534--Capt. Barker, 11 Jan. 1805, and many instances.] and the time +he chose for these convulsive turns was generally night, when he could +count upon a full house and nothing to detract from the impressiveness +of the show. Suddenly, at night, then, a weird, horribly inarticulate +cry is heard issuing from the press-room, and at once all is uproar and +confusion. Unable to make himself heard, much less to restore order, and +fearing that murder is being done amongst the pressed men, the sentry +hastily summons the officer, who rushes down, half-dressed, and hails +the press-room. + +"Hullo! within there. What's wrong?" + +Swift silence. Then, "Man in a fit, sir," replies a quavering voice. + +"Out with him!" cries the officer. + +Immediately, the door being hurriedly unbarred, the "case" is handed out +by his terrified companions, who are only too glad to be rid of him. +To all appearances he is in a true epileptic state. In the light of the +lantern, held conveniently near by one of the gangsmen, who have by this +time turned out in various stages of undress, his features are seen to +be strongly convulsed. His breathing is laboured and noisy, his head +rolls incessantly from side to side. Foam tinged with blood oozes from +between his gnashing teeth, flecking his lips and beard, and when his +limbs are raised they fall back as rigid as iron. [Footnote: Almost the +only symptom of _le grand mal_ which the sailor could not successfully +counterfeit was the abnormal dilation of the pupils so characteristic of +that complaint, and this difficulty he overcame by rolling his eyes up +till the pupils were invisible.] + +After surveying him critically for a moment the officer, if he too is +an old hand, quietly removes the candle from the lantern and with a +deft turn of his wrist tips the boiling-hot contents of the tallow cup +surrounding the flaming wick out upon the bare arm or exposed chest of +the "case." When the fit was genuine, as of course it sometimes was, the +test had no particular reviving effect; but if the man were shamming, as +he probably was in spite of the great consistency of his symptoms, the +chances were that, with all his nerve and foreknowledge of what was +in store for him, the sudden biting of the fiery liquid into his naked +flesh would bring him to his feet dancing with pain and cursing and +banning to the utmost extent of his elastic vocabulary. + +When this happened, "Put him back," said the officer. "He'll do, alow or +aloft." + +Going aloft at sea was the true epileptic's chief dread. And with good +reason, for sooner or later it meant a fall, and death. + +In the meantime other enterprising members of the press-room community +made ready for the scrutiny of the official eye in various ways, +practising many devices for procuring a temporary disability and a +permanent discharge. Some, horrible thought! "rubbed themselves with Cow +Itch and Whipped themselves with Nettles to appear in Scabbs"; +others "burnt themselves with oil of vitriol" to induce symptoms with +difficulty distinguishable from those of scurvy, that disease of such +dread omen to the fleet; whilst others emulated the passing of the poor +consumptive of the canting epitaph, whose "legs it was that carried her +off." Bad legs, indeed, ran a close race with fits in the pressed man's +sprint for liberty. They were so easily induced, and so cheaply. The +industrious application of the smallest copper coin procurable, +the humble farthing or the halfpenny, speedily converted the most +insignificant abrasion of the skin into a festering sore. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 20 June 1741; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Bowyer, 18 Dec. 1808; _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1451--A. Clarke, Examining Surgeon at Dublin, 18 May 1807; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1517--Letters of Capt. Brenton, March and April 1797, and +many instances.] + +Here and there a man of iron nerve, acting on the common belief that if +you had lost a finger the Navy would have none of you, adopted a more +heroic method of shaking off the clutch of the gang. Such a man was +Samuel Caradine, some time inhabitant of Kendal. Committed to the House +of Correction there as a preliminary to his being turned over to the +fleet for crimes that he had done, he expressed a desire to bid farewell +to his wife. She was sent for, and came, apparently not unprepared; for +after she had greeted her man through the iron door of his cell, "he put +his hand underneath, and she, with a mallet and chisel concealed for +the purpose, struck off a finger and thumb to render him unfit for His +Majesty's service." [Footnote: _Times_, 3 Nov. 1795.] + +A stout-hearted fellow named Browne, who hailed from Chester, would have +made Caradine a fitting mate. "Being impressed into the sea service, he +very violently determined, in order to extricate himself therefrom, to +mutilate the thumb and a finger of his left hand; which he accomplished +by repeatedly maiming them with an old hatchet that he had obtained +for that purpose. He was immediately discharged." [Footnote: _Liverpool +Advertiser_, 6 June 1777.] Such men as these were a substantial loss to +the service. Fighting a gun shoulder to shoulder, what fearful execution +would they not have wrought upon the "hereditary enemy"! + +It did not always do, however, to presume upon the loss of a forefinger, +particularly if it were missing from the left hand. Capt. Barker, while +he was regulating the press at Bristol, once had occasion to send into +Ilchester for a couple of brace of convicts who had received the royal +pardon on condition of their serving at sea. Near Shepton Mallet, on the +return tramp, his gangsmen fell in with a party armed with sticks and +knives, who "beat and cut them in a very cruel manner." They succeeded, +however, in taking the ringleader, one Charles Biggen, and brought him +in; but when Barker would have discharged the fellow because his left +forefinger was wanting, the Admiralty brushed the customary rule +aside and ordered him to be kept. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1528--Capt. Barker, 28 July 1803, and endorsement.] + +The main considerations entering into the dispatch of pressed men to the +fleet, when at length their period of detention at headquarters came to +an end, were economy, speed and safety. Transport was necessarily either +by land or water, and in the case of seaport, river or canal towns, both +modes were of course available. Gangs operating at a distance from the +sea, or remote from a navigable river or canal, were from their very +situation obliged to send their catch to market either wholly by +land, or by land and water successively. Land transport, though always +healthier, and in many instances speedier and cheaper than transport by +water, was nevertheless much more risky. Pressed men therefore preferred +it. The risks--rescue and desertion--were all in their favour. Hence, +when they "offered chearfully to walk up," or down, as the case might +be, the seeming magnanimity of the offer was never permitted to blind +those in charge of them to the need for a strong attendant guard. +[Footnote: In the spring of 1795 a body of Quota Men, some 130 strong, +voluntarily marched from Liverpool to London, a distance of 182 miles, +instead of travelling by coach as at first proposed. Though all had +received the bounty and squandered it in debauchery, not a man deserted; +and in their case the danger of rescue was of course absent. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 21 April 1795.] The men would have had +to walk in any case, for transport by coach, though occasionally +sanctioned, was an event of rare occurrence. A number procured in +Berkshire were in 1756 forwarded to London "by the Reading machines," +but this was an exceptional indulgence due to the state of their feet, +which were already "blistered with travelling." + +Even with the precaution of a strong guard, there were parts of the +country through which it was highly imprudent, if not altogether +impracticable, to venture a party on foot. Of these the thirty-mile +stretch of road between Kilkenny and Waterford, the nearest seaport, +perhaps enjoyed the most unenviable reputation. No gang durst traverse +it; and no body of pressed men, and more particularly of pressed +Catholics, could ever have been conveyed even for so short a distance +through a country inhabited by a fanatical and strongly disaffected +people without courting certain bloodshed. The naval authorities in +consequence left Kilkenny severely alone. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] + +The sending of men overland from Appledore to Plymouth, a course +frequently adopted to avoid the circuitous sea-route, was attended +with similar risks. The hardy miners and quarrymen of the intervening +moorlands loved nothing so much as knocking the gangsman on the head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on +Rendezvous, 22 Sept. 1805.] + +The attenuated neck of land between the Mersey and the Dee had an evil +reputation for affairs of this description. Men pressed at Chester, +and sent across the neck to the tenders or ships of war in the Mersey, +seldom reached their destination unless attended by an exceptionally +strong escort. The reason is briefly but graphically set forth by Capt. +Ayscough, who dispatched three such men from Chester, under convoy of +his entire gang, in 1780. "On the road thither," says he, "about seven +miles from hence, at a village called Sutton, they were met by upwards +of one Hundred Arm'd Seamen from Parkgate, belonging to different +privateers at Liverpool. An Affray ensued, and the three Impress'd men +were rescued by the Mobb, who Shot one of my Gang through the Body +and wounded two others." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. +Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] Parkgate, it will be recalled, was a notorious +"nest of seamen." The alternative route to Liverpool, by passage-boat +down the Dee, was both safer and cheaper. To send a pressed man +that way, accompanied by two of the gang, cost only twelve-and-six. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Phillip, 14 Sept. 1804.] + +Mr. Midshipman Goodave and party, convoying pressed men from Lymington +to Southampton, once met with an adventure in traversing the New Forest +which, notwithstanding its tragic sequel, is not without its humorous +side. They had left the little fishing village of Lepe some miles +behind, and were just getting well into the Forest, when a cavalcade of +mounted men, some thirty strong, all muffled in greatgoats and armed to +the teeth, unexpectedly emerged from the wood and opened fire upon them. +Believing it to be an attempt at rescue, the gang closed in about +their prisoners, but when one of these was the first to fall, his arm +shattered and an ear shot off, the gangsmen, perceiving their mistake, +broke and fled in all directions. Not far, however. The smugglers, for +such they were, quickly rounded them up and proceeded, not to shoot +them, as the would-be fugitives anticipated, but to administer to them +the "smugglers' oath." This they did by forcing them on their knees +and compelling them, at the point of the pistol and with horrible +execrations, to "wish their eyes might drop out if they told their +officers which way they, the smugglers, were gone." Having extorted this +unique pledge of secrecy as to their movements, they rode away into the +Forest, unaware that Mr. Midshipman Goodave, snugly ensconced in the +neighbouring ditch, had seen and heard all that passed--a piece of +discretion on his part that later on brought at least one of the +smugglers into distressing contact with the law. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 18: Informations +of Shepherd Goodave, 1 Oct. 1779.] + +Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch +pressed men from seaport towns by land--as at Exmouth, where the +entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle +all shipping up, or shut it out, for days together--so the dangers +peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them +from inland towns by water. This was the case at Stourbridge. Handed +over to contractors responsible for their safe-keeping, the numerous +seamen taken by the gangs in that town and vicinity were delivered +on board the tenders in King Road, below Bristol--conveyed thither +by water, at a cost of half a guinea per head. This sum included +subsistence, which would appear to have been mainly by water also. To +Liverpool, the alternative port of delivery, carriage could only be had +by land, and the risks of land transit in that direction were so great +as to be considered insuperable, to say nothing of the cost. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships +made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men was +of course to put them immediately on ship-board; but when no ship was +thus available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign or +on other prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case +of rendezvous lying so far afield as to render land transport +impracticable, but to forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In +this way there grew up a system of sea transport that centred from many +distant and widely separated points of the kingdom upon those great +entrepôts for pressed men, the Hamoaze, Spithead and the Nore. + +Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped +to these destinations as "passengers" on colliers and merchant vessels, +their escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more gangsmen, +according to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they had no +escort at all, the masters being simply bound over to make good all +losses arising from any cause save death, capture by an enemy's ship or +the act of God. From King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per head, by this +means of transport, was 2 Pounds, 15s., including victualling; from +Hull, 2 Pounds 12s. 6d.; from Newcastle, 10s. 6d. The lower rates for +the longer runs are explained by the fact that, shipping facilities +being so much more numerous on the Humber and the Tyne, competition +reduced the cost of carriage in proportion to its activity. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Phillip, 3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral +Pringle, 2 April 1795.] + +In spite of every precaution, such serious loss attended the shipping +of men in this manner as to force the Admiralty back upon its own +resources. Recourse was accordingly had, in the great majority of cases, +to that handy auxiliary of the fleet, the hired tender. Tenders fell +into two categories--cruising tenders, employed exclusively, or almost +exclusively, in pressing afloat after the manner described in an earlier +chapter, and tenders used for the double purpose of "keeping" men +pressed on land and of conveying them to the fleet when their numbers +grew to such proportions as to make a full and consequently dangerous +ship. In theory, "any old unmasted hulk, unfit to send to sea, would +answer to keep pressed men in." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] In practice, the contrary was the +case. Fitness for sea, combined with readiness to slip at short notice, +was more essential than mere cubic capacity, since transhipment was thus +avoided and the pressed man deprived of another chance of taking French +leave. + +One all-important consideration, in the case of tenders employed for +the storing and detention of pressed men prior to their dispatch to the +fleet, was that the vessel should be able to lie afloat at low +water; for if the fall of the tide left her high and dry, the risk +of desertion, as well as of attack from the shore, was enormously +increased. Whitehaven could make no use of man-storing tenders for this +reason; and at the important centre of King's Lynn, which was really a +receiving station for three counties, it was found "requisite to have +always a vessel below the Deeps to keep pressed men aboard," since their +escape or rescue by way of the flats was in any anchorage nearer +the town a foregone conclusion. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755.] + +On board the tenders the comfort and health of the pressed man were no +more studied than in the strong-rooms and prisons ashore. A part of the +hold was required to be roughly but substantially partitioned off for +his security, and on rare occasions this space was fitted with bunks; +but as the men usually arrived "all very bare of necessaries"--except +when pressed afloat, a case we are not now considering--any provision +for the slinging of hammocks, or the spreading of bedding they did +not possess, came to be looked upon as a superfluous and uncalled-for +proceeding. Even the press-room was a rarity, save in tenders that had +been long in the service. Down in the hold of the vessel, whither the +men were turned like so many sheep as soon as they arrived on board, +they perhaps found a rough platform of deal planks provided for them to +lie on, and from this they were at liberty to extract such sorry comfort +as they could during the weary days and nights of their incarceration. +Other conveniences they had none. When this too was absent, as not +infrequently happened, they were reduced to the necessity of "laying +about on the Cables and Cask," suffering in consequence "more than +can well be expressed." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +A'Court, 22 April 1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 11 +Feb. 1777, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] It is not too much to say +that transported convicts had better treatment. + +Cooped up for weeks at a stretch in a space invariably crowded to +excess, deprived almost entirely of light, exercise and fresh air, and +poisoned with bad water and what Roderick Random so truthfully called +the "noisome stench of the place," it is hardly surprising that on +protracted voyages from such distant ports as Limerick or Leith the men +should have "fallen sick very fast." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1444--Capt. Allen, 4 March 1771, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] +Officers were, indeed, charged "to be very careful of the healths of the +seamen" entrusted to their keeping; yet in spite of this most salutary +regulation, so hopelessly bad were the conditions under which the men +were habitually carried, and so slight was the effort made to ameliorate +them, that few tenders reached their destination without a more or less +serious outbreak of fever, small-pox or some other equally malignant +distemper. Upon the fleet the effect was appalling. Sickly tenders could +not but make sickly ships. + +If the material atmosphere of the tender's hold was bad, its moral +atmosphere was unquestionably worse. Dark deeds were done here at times, +and no man "peached" upon his fellows. Out of this deplorable state +of things a remarkable legal proceeding once grew. Murder having +been committed in the night, and none coming forward to implicate the +offender, the coroner's jury, instead of returning their verdict against +some person or persons unknown, found the entire occupants of the +tender's hold, seventy-two in number, guilty of that crime. A warrant +was actually issued for their apprehension, though never executed. +To put the men on their trial was a useless step, since, in the +circumstances, they would have been most assuredly acquitted. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 20.] +Just as assuredly any informer in their midst would have been murdered. + +The scale of victualling on board the tenders was supposed to be the +same as on shore. "Full allowance daily" was the rule; and if the copper +proved too small to serve all at one boiling, there were to be as many +boilings as should be required to go round. Unhappily for the pressed +man, there was a weevil in his daily bread. While it was the bounden +duty of the master of the vessel to feed him properly, and of the +officers to see that he was properly fed, "officers and masters +generally understood each other too well in the pursery line." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] +Rations were consequently short, boilings deficient, and though the +cabin went well content, the hold was the scene of bitter grumblings. + +Nor were these the only disabilities the pressed man laboured under. +His officers proved a sore trial to him. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord High +Admiral, foreseeing that this would be the case, directed that he should +be "used with all possible tenderness and humanity." The order was +little regarded. The callosity of Smollett's midshipman, who spat in +the pressed man's face when he dared to complain of his sufferings, +and roughly bade him die for aught he cared, was characteristic of the +service. Hence a later regulation, with grim irony, gave directions for +his burial. He was to be put out of the way, as soon as might be after +the fatal conditions prevailing on board His Majesty's tenders had done +their work, with as great a show of decency as could be extracted from +the sum of ten shillings. + +Strictly speaking, it was not in the power of the tender's officers +to mitigate the hardships of the pressed man's lot to any appreciable +extent, let them be as humane as they might. For this the pressed man +himself was largely to blame. An ungrateful rogue, his hide was as +impervious to kindness as a duck's back to water. Supply him with slops +[Footnote: The regulations stipulated that slops should be served out +to all who needed them; but as their acceptance was held to set up a +contract between the recipient and the Crown, the pressed man was not +unnaturally averse from drawing upon such a source of supply as long as +any chance of escape remained to him.] wherewith to cover his nakedness +or shield him from the cold, and before the Sunday muster came round +the garments had vanished--not into thin air, indeed, but in tobacco and +rum, for which forbidden luxuries he invariably bartered them with +the bumboat women who had the run of the vessel while she remained in +harbour. Or allow him on deck to take the air and such exercise as could +be got there, and the moment your back was turned he was away _sans +congé_. Few of these runaways were as considerate as that Scotch +humorist, William Ramsay, who was pressed at Leith for beating +an informer and there put on board the tender. Seizing the first +opportunity of absconding, "Sir," he wrote to the lieutenant in command, +"I am so much attached to you for the good usage I have received at your +hands, that I cannot think of venturing on board your ship again in the +present state of affairs. I therefore leave this letter at my father's +to inform you that I intend to slip out of the way." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1524.--Capt. Brenton, 20 Oct. 1800.] + +When that clever adventuress, Moll Flanders, found herself booked for +transportation beyond the seas, her one desire, it will be recalled, was +"to come back before she went." So it was with the pressed man. The idea +of escape obsessed him--escape before he should be rated on shipboard +and sent away to heaven only knew what remote quarter of the globe. It +was for this reason that irons were so frequently added to his comforts. +"Safe bind, safe find" was the golden rule on board His Majesty's +tenders. + +How difficult it was for him to carry his cherished design into +execution, and yet how easy, is brought home to us with surprising force +by the catastrophe that befell the _Tasker_ tender. On the 23rd of May +1755 the _Tasker_ sailed out of the Mersey with a full cargo of pressed +men designed for Spithead. She possessed no press-room, and as the +men for that reason had the run of the hold, all hatches were securely +battened down with the exception of the maindeck scuttle, an opening +so small as to admit of the passage of but one man at a time. Her crew +numbered thirty-eight, and elaborate precautions were taken for the +safe-keeping of her restless human freight. So much is evident from the +disposition of her guard, which was as follows:-- + +_(a)_ At the open scuttle two sentries, armed with pistol and cutlass. +Orders, not to let too many men up at once. + +_(b)_ On the forecastle two sentries, armed with musket and bayonet. +Orders, to fire on any pressed man who should attempt to swim away. + +_(c)_ On the poop one sentry, similarly armed, and having similar +orders. + +_(d)_ On the quarter-deck, at the entrance to the great cabin, where +the remaining arms were kept, one sentry, armed with cutlass and pistol. +Orders, to let no pressed man come upon the quarter-deck. + +There were thus six armed sentinels stationed about the ship--ample +to have nipped in the bud any attempt to seize the vessel, but for two +serious errors of judgment on the part of the officer responsible for +their disposition. These were, first, the discretionary power vested +in the sentries at the scuttle; and, second, the inadequate guard, a +solitary man, set for the defence of the great cabin and the arms it +contained. Now let us see how these errors of judgment affected the +situation. + +Either through stupidity, bribery or because they were rapidly making +an offing, the sentries at the scuttle, as the day wore on, admitted a +larger number of pressed men to the comparative freedom of the deck +than was consistent with prudence. The number eventually swelled to +fourteen--sturdy, determined fellows, the pick of the hold. One of them, +having a fiddle, struck up a merry tune, the rest fell to dancing, the +tender's crew who were off duty caught the infection and joined in, +while the officers stood looking on, tolerantly amused and wholly +unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly, just when the fun was at its height, +a splash was heard, a cry of "Man overboard!" ran from lip to lip, and +officers and crew rushed to the vessel's side. They were there, gazing +into the sea, for only a minute or two, but by the time they turned +their faces inboard again the fourteen determined men were masters of +the ship. In the brief disciplinary interval they had overpowered the +guard and looted the cabin of its store of arms. That night they carried +the tender into Redwharf Bay and there bade her adieu. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, 3 June 1755, and +enclosures.] To pursue them in so mountainous a country would have been +useless; to punish them, even had they been retaken, impossible. As +unrated men they were neither mutineers nor deserters, [Footnote: By 4 & +5 Anne, cap. 6, pressed men could be apprehended and tried for desertion +by virtue of the Queen's shilling having been forced upon them at the +time they were pressed, but as the use of that coin fell into abeyance, +so the Act in question became gradually a dead-letter. Hay, Murray, +Lloyd, Pinfold and Jervis, Law Officers of the Crown, giving an opinion +on this important point in 1756, held that "pressed men are not subject +to the Articles (of War) until they are actually rated on board some +of His Majesty's ships."--_Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1756-77, No. 3, Case 2.] and the seizure of the tender was at +the worst a bloodless crime in which no one was hurt save an obdurate +sentry, who was slashed over the head with a cutlass. + +The boldness of its inception and the anticlimaxical nature of its +finish invest another exploit of this description with an interest all +its own. This was the cutting out of the _Union_ tender from the river +Tyne on the 12th April 1777. The commander, Lieut. Colville, having that +day gone on shore for the "benefit of the air," and young Barker, the +midshipman who was left in charge in his absence, having surreptitiously +followed suit, the pressed men and volunteers, to the number of about +forty, taking advantage of the opportunity thus presented, rose and +seized the vessel, loaded the great guns, and by dint of threatening +to sink any boat that should attempt to board them kept all comers, +including the commander himself, at bay till nine o'clock in the +evening. By that time night had fallen, so, with the wind blowing strong +off-shore and an ebb-tide running, they cut the cables and stood out to +sea. For three days nothing was heard of them, and North Shields, the +scene of the exploit and the home of most of the runaways, was just on +the point of giving the vessel up for lost when news came that she +was safe. Influenced by one Benjamin Lamb, a pressed man of more than +ordinary character, the rest had relinquished their original purpose +of either crossing over to Holland or running the vessel ashore on +some unfrequented part of the coast, and had instead carried her into +Scarborough Bay, doubtless hoping to land there without interference and +so make their way to Whitby or Hull. In this design, however, they were +partly frustrated, for, a force having been hastily organised for their +apprehension, they were waylaid as they came ashore and retaken to the +number of twenty-two, the rest escaping. Lamb, discharged for his good +offices in saving the tender, was offered a boatswain's place if he +would re-enter; but for poor Colville the affair proved disastrous. +Becoming demented, he attempted to shoot himself and had to be +superseded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 13 +April 1777, and enclosures.] + +All down through the century similar incidents, crowding thick and fast +one upon another, relieved the humdrum routine of the pressed man's +passage to the fleet, and either made his miserable life in a measure +worth living or brought it to a summary conclusion. Of minor incidents, +all tending to the same happy or unhappy end, there was no lack. Now +he sweltered beneath a sun so hot as to cause the pitch to boil in the +seams of the deck above his head; again, as when the _Boneta_ sloop, +conveying pressed men from Liverpool to the Hamoaze in 1740, encountered +"Bedds of two or three Acres bigg of Ice & of five or Six foot +thicknesse, which struck her with such force 'twas enough to drive her +bows well out," he "almost perished" from cold. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 8 Feb. 1739-40.] To-day it was broad +farce. He held his sides with laughter to see the lieutenant of the +tender he was in, mad with rage and drink, chase the steward round and +round the mainmast with a loaded pistol, whilst the terrified hands, +fearing for their lives, fled for refuge to the coalhole, the roundtops +and the shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Complaint of the +Master and Company of H. M. Hired Tender _Speedwell_, 21 Dec. 1778.] +To-morrow it was tragedy. Some "little dirty privateer" swooped down +upon him, as in the case of the _Admiral Spry_ tender from Waterford to +Plymouth, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Dickson, Surveyor of +Customs at the Cove of Cork, April 1780.] and consigned him to what +he dreaded infinitely more than any man-o'-war--a French prison; or +contrary winds, swelling into a sudden gale, drove him a helpless wreck +on to some treacherous coast, as they drove the _Rich Charlotte_ upon +the Formby Sands in 1745, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. +Amherst, 4 Oct. 1745.] and there remorselessly drowned him. + +Provided he escaped such untoward accidents as death or capture by the +enemy, sooner or later the pressed man arrived at the receiving station. +Here another ordeal awaited him, and here also he made his last bid for +freedom. + +Taking the form of a final survey or regulating, the ordeal the pressed +man had now to face was no less thoroughgoing than its precursor at the +rendezvous had in all probability been superficial and ineffective. Eyes +saw deeper here, wits were sharper, and in this lay at once the pressed +man's bane and salvation. For if genuinely unfit, the fact was speedily +demonstrated; whereas if merely shamming, discovery overtook him with +a certainty that wrote "finis" to his last hope. Nevertheless, for this +ordeal, as for his earlier regulating at the rendezvous, the sailor who +knew his book prepared himself with exacting care during the tedium of +his voyage. + +No sooner was he mustered for survey, then, than the most extraordinary, +impudent and in many instances transparent impostures were sprung upon +his examiners. Deafness prevailed to an alarming extent, dumbness was by +no means unknown. Men who fought desperately when the gang took them, +or who played cards with great assiduity in the tender's hold, developed +sudden paralysis of the arms. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1464--Capt. Bloyes, Jan. 1702-3; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. +Bennett, 26 Sept. 1711. An extraordinary instance of this form of +malingering is cited in the "Naval Sketch-Book," 1826.] Legs which had +been soundness itself at the rendezvous were now a putrefying mass +of sores. The itch broke out again, virulent and from all accounts +incurable. Fits returned with redoubled frequency and violence, the sane +became demented or idiotic, and the most obviously British, losing the +use of their mother tongue, swore with many gesticulatory _sacrés_ that +they had no English, as indeed they had none for naval purposes. Looking +at the miserable, disease-ridden crew, the uninitiated spectator was +moved to tears of pity. Not so the naval officer. In France, when a +prisoner of war, learning French there without a master, he had heard a +saying that he now recalled to some purpose: _Vin de grain est plus doux +que n'est pas vin de presse_--"Willing duties are sweeter than those +that are extorted." The punning allusion to the press had tickled his +fancy and fixed the significant truism in his memory. From it he now +took his cue and proceeded to man his ship. + +So at length the pressed man, in spite of all his ruses and +protestations, was rated and absorbed into that vast agglomeration +of men and ships known as the fleet. Here he underwent a speedy +metamorphosis. It was not that he lost his individuality and became a +mere unit amongst thousands. Quite the contrary. Friends, creditors +or next-of-kin, concocting petitions on his behalf, set forth in +heart-rending terms the many disabilities he suffered from, together +with many he did not, and prayed, with a fervour often reaching no +deeper than their pockets, that he might be restored without delay to +his bereaved and destitute family. Across the bottom right-hand +corner of these petitions, conveniently upturned for that purpose, the +Admiralty scrawled its initial order: "Let his case be stated." The +immediate effect of this expenditure of Admiralty ink was magical. It +promoted the subject of the petition from the ranks, so to speak, and +raised him to the dignity of a "State the Case Man." + +He now became a person of consequence. The kindliest inquiries were made +after his health. The state of his eyes, the state of his limbs, the +state of his digestion were all stated with the utmost minuteness and +prolixity. Reams of gilt-edged paper were squandered upon him; and +by the time his case had been duly stated, restated, considered, +reconsidered and finally decided, the poor fellow had perhaps voyaged +round the world or by some mischance gone to the next. + +In the matter of exacting their pound of flesh the Lords Commissioners +were veritable Shylocks. Neither supplications nor tears had power to +move them, and though they sometimes relented, it was invariably for +reasons of policy and in the best interests of the service. Men clearly +shown to be protected they released. They could not go back upon their +word unless some lucky quibble rendered it possible to traverse the +obligation with honour. Unprotected subjects who were clearly unfit to +eat the king's victuals they discharged--for substitutes. + + [Illustration: The Press Gang, or English Liberty Displayed.] + +The principle underlying their Lordships' gracious acceptance of +substitutes for pressed men was beautifully simple. If as a pressed +man you were fit to serve, but unwilling, you were worth at least two +able-bodied men; if you were unfit, and hence unable to serve, you +were worth at least one. This simple rule proved a source of great +encouragement to the gangs, for however bad a man might be he was always +worth a better. + +The extortions to which the Lords Commissioners lent themselves in this +connection--three, and, as in the case of Joseph Sanders of Bristol, +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Capt. Barker, 4 Jan. 1805, +and endorsement.] even four able-bodied men being exacted as +substitutes--could only be termed iniquitous did we not know the +duplicity, roguery and deep cunning with which they had to cope. Upon +the poor, indeed, the practice entailed great hardship, particularly +when the home had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the discharge of +the bread-winner who had been instrumental in getting it together; but +to the unscrupulous crimp and the shady attorney the sailor's misfortune +brought only gain. Buying up "raw boys," or Irishmen who "came over for +reasons they did not wish known"--rascally persons who could be had for +a song--they substituted these for seasoned men who had been pressed, +and immediately, having got the latter in their power, turned them over +to merchant ships at a handsome profit. At Hull, on the other hand, +substitutes were sought in open market. The bell-man there cried a +reward for men to go in that capacity. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--George Crowle, Esq., M.P. for Hull, 28 Dec. 1739.] + +Even when the pressed man had procured his substitutes and obtained his +coveted discharge, his liberty was far from assured. In theory exempt +from the press for a period of at least twelve months, he was in reality +not only liable to be re-pressed at any moment, but to be subjected to +that process as often as he chose to free himself and the gang to take +him. A Liverpool youth named William Crick a lad with expectations to +the amount of "near 4000 Pounds," was in this way pressed and discharged +by substitute three times in quick succession. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Rear-Admiral Child, 8 Aug. 1799.] Intending substitutes +themselves not infrequently suffered the same fate ere they could carry +out their intention. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Lieut. +Leaver, 5 Jan. 1739-40, and numerous instances.] + +The discharging of a pressed man whose petition finally succeeded did +not always prove to be the eminently simple matter it would seem. +Time and tide waited for no man, least of all for the man who had the +misfortune to be pressed, and in the interval between his appeal and the +order for his release his ship, as already hinted, had perhaps put half +the circumference of the globe between him and home; or when the crucial +moment arrived, and he was summoned before his commander to learn the +gratifying Admiralty decision, he made his salute in batches of two, +three or even four men, each of whom protested vehemently that he was +the original and only person to whom the order applied. An amusing +attempt at "coming Cripplegate" in this manner occurred on board the +_Lennox_ in 1711. A woman, who gave her name as Alice Williams, having +petitioned for the release of her "brother," one John Williams, a +pressed man then on board that ship, succeeded in her petition, and +orders were sent down to the commander, Capt. Bennett, to give the man +his discharge. He proceeded to do so, but to his amazement discovered, +first, that he had no less than four John Williamses on board, all +pressed men; second, that while each of the four claimed to be the +man in question, three of the number had no sister, while the fourth +confessed to one whose name was not Alice but "Percilly"; and, after +long and patient investigation, third, that one of them had a wife named +Alice, who, he being a foreigner domiciled by marriage, had "tould him +she would gett him cleare" should he chance to fall into the hands +of the press-gang. In this she failed, for he was kept. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 2 Dec. 1711.] + +Of the pressed man's smiling arrest for debts which he did not owe, and +of his jocular seizure by sheriffs armed with writs of Habeas Corpus, +the annals of his incorporation in the fleet furnish many instances. +Arrest for fictitious debt was specially common. In every seaport +town attorneys were to be found who made it their regular practice. +Particularly was this true of Bristol. Good seamen were rarely pressed +there for whom writs were not immediately issued on the score of +debts of which they had never heard. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Philip, 5 Dec. 1801.] To warrant such arrest the debt had +to exceed twenty pounds, and service, when the pressed man was already +on shipboard, was by the hands of the Water Bailiff. + +The writ of Habeas Corpus was, in effect, the only legal check it +was possible to oppose to the impudent pretensions and high-handed +proceedings of the gang. While H.M.S. _Amaranth_ lay in dock in 1804 +and her company were temporarily quartered on a hulk in Long Reach, two +sheriff's officers, accompanied by a man named Cumberland, a tailor of +Deptford, boarded the latter and served a writ on a seaman for debt. The +first lieutenant, who was in charge at the time, refused to let the man +go, saying he would first send to his captain, then at the dock, for +orders, which he accordingly did. The intruders thereupon went over +the side, Cumberland "speaking very insultingly." Just as the messenger +returned with the captain's answer, however, they again put in an +appearance, and the lieutenant hailed them and bade them come aboard. +Cumberland complied. "I have orders from my captain," said the +lieutenant, stepping up to him, "to press you." He did so, and had it +not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was immediately sworn out, the +Deptford tailor would most certainly have exchanged his needle for a +marlinespike. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1532--Lieut. Collett, 13 +Feb. 1804.] + +Provocative as such redemptive measures were, and designedly so, they +were as a rule allowed to pass unchallenged. The Lords Commissioners +regretted the loss of the men, but thought "perhaps it would be as well +to let them go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 302--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1783-95, No. 24.] For this complacent attitude on the part of +his captors the pressed man had reason to hold the Law Officers of the +Crown in grateful remembrance. As early as 1755 they gave it as their +opinion--too little heeded--that to bring any matter connected with +pressing to judicial trial would be "very imprudent." Later, with the +lesson of twenty-two years' hard pressing before their eyes, they went +still further, for they then advised that a subject so contentious, +not to say so ill-defined in law, should be kept, if not altogether, at +least as much as possible out of court. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 99; _Admiralty Records_ 7. +299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 70.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + + + +Not until the year 1833 did belated Nemesis overtake the press-gang. It +died the unmourned victim of its own enormities, and the manner of +its passing forms the by no means least interesting chapter in its +extraordinary career. + +Summarising the causes, direct and indirect, which led to the final +scrapping of an engine that had been mainly instrumental in manning +the fleet for a hundred years and more, and without which, whatever its +imperfections, that fleet could in all human probability never have been +manned at all, we find them to be substantially these:-- + +_(a)_ The demoralising effects of long-continued, violent and +indiscriminate pressing upon the Fleet; + +_(b)_ Its injurious and exasperating effects upon Trade; + +_(c)_ Its antagonising effect upon the Nation; and + +_(d)_ Its enormous cost as compared with recruiting by the good-will of +the People. + +Frederick the Great, it is related, being in one of his grim humours +after the dearly bought victory of Czaslaw, invited the neighbouring +peasantry to come and share the spoil of the carcases on the field of +battle. They responded in great numbers; whereupon he, surrounding +them, pressed three hundred of the most promising and "cloathed them +immediately from the dead." [Footnote: _State Papers Foreign, +Germany,_ vol. cccxl.--Robinson to Hyndford, 31 May 1742.] In this way, +Ezekiel-like, he retrieved his losses; but to the regiments so completed +the addition of these resurrection recruits proved demoralising to a +degree, notwithstanding the Draconic nature of the Prussian discipline. +In like manner the discipline used in the British fleet, while not less +drastic, failed conspicuously to counteract the dry-rot introduced and +fostered by the press-gang. In its efforts to maintain the Navy, indeed, +that agency came near to proving its ruin. + +On the most lenient survey of the recruits it furnished, it cannot be +denied that they were in the aggregate a desperately poor lot, unfitted +both physically and morally for the tremendous task of protecting an +island people from the attacks of powerful sea-going rivals. How bad +they were, the epithets spontaneously applied to them by the outraged +commanders upon whom they were foisted abundantly prove. Witness the +following, taken at random from naval captains' letters extending over a +hundred years:-- + +"Blackguards." + +"Sorry poor creatures that don't earn half the victuals they eat." + +"Sad, thievish creatures." + +"Not a rag left but what was of such a nature as had to be destroyed." + +"150 on board, the greatest part of them sorry fellows." + +"Poor ragged souls, and very small." + +"Miserable poor creatures, not a seaman amongst them, and the fleet in +the same condition." + +"Unfit for service, and a nuisance to the ship." + +"Never so ill-manned a ship since I have been at sea. The worst set I +ever saw." + +"Twenty-six poor souls, but three of them seamen. Ragged and half dead." + +"Landsmen, boys, incurables and cripples. Sad wretches great part of +them are." + +"More fit for an hospital than the sea." + +"All the ragg-tagg that can be picked up." + +In this last phrase, "All the rag-tag that can be picked up," we have +the key to the situation; for though orders to press "no aged, diseased +or infirm persons, nor boys," were sufficiently explicit, yet in +order to swell the returns, and to appease in some degree the fleet's +insatiable greed for men, the gangs raked in recruits with a lack of +discrimination that for the better part of a century made that fleet the +most gigantic collection of human freaks and derelicts under the sun. + +Billingsley, commander of the _Ferme_, receiving seventy pressed men to +complete his complement in 1708, discovers to his chagrin that thirteen +are lame in the legs, five lame in the hands, and three almost blind. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1469--Capt. Billingsley, 5 May 1708.] +Latham, commanding the _Bristol_, on the eve of sailing for the West +Indies can muster only eighteen seamen amongst sixty-eight pressed men +that day put on board of him. As for the rest, they are either sick, +or too old or too young to be of service--"ragged wretches, bad of the +itch, who have not the least pretensions to eat His Majesty's bread." +Forty of the number had to be put ashore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 161--Admiral Watson, 26 Feb. 1754.] Admiral Mostyn, boarding his +flagship, the _Monarch_, "never in his life saw such a crew," though the +_Monarch_ had an already sufficiently evil reputation in that respect, +insomuch that whenever a scarecrow man-o'-war's man was seen ashore the +derisive cry instantly went up: "There goes a _Monarch_!" So hopelessly +bad was the company in this instance, it was found impossible to carry +the ship to sea. "I don't know where they come from," observes the +Admiral, hot with indignation, "but whoever was the officer who received +them, he ought to be ashamed, for I never saw such except in the +condemned hole at Newgate. I was three hours and a half mustering this +scabby crew, and I should have imagined that the Scum of the Earth +had been picked up for this ship." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +480--Admiral Mostyn, 1 and 6 April 1755.] The vigorous protest prepares +us for what Capt. Baird found on board the _Duke_ a few years later. +The pressed men there exhibited such qualifications for sea duty as +"fractured thigh-bone, idiocy, strained back and sickly, a discharged +soldier, gout and sixty years old, rupture, deaf and foolish, fits, +lame, rheumatic and incontinence of urine." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Baird, 22 May 1759.] + +That most reprehensible practice, the pressing of cripples for naval +purposes, would appear to have had its origin in the unauthorised +extension of an order issued by the Lord High Admiral, in 1704, to the +effect that in the appointment of cooks to the Navy the Board should +give preference to persons so afflicted. For the pressing of boys there +existed even less warrant. Yet the practice was common, so much so that +when, during the great famine of 1800, large numbers of youths flocked +into Poole in search of the bread they could not obtain in the country, +the gangs waylaid them and reaped a rich harvest. Two hundred was the +toll on this occasion. As all were in a "very starving, ragged, filthy +condition," the gangsmen stripped them, washed them thoroughly in the +sea, clad them in second-hand clothing from the quay-side shops, and +giving each one a knife, a spoon, a comb and a bit of soap, sent them on +board the tenders contented and happy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 579--Capt. Boyle, 2 June 1801.] These lads were of course a cut +above the "scum of the earth" so vigorously denounced by Admiral Mostyn. +Beginning their career as powder-monkeys, a few years' licking into +shape transformed them, as a rule, into splendid fighting material. + +The utter incapacity of the human refuse dumped into the fleet is justly +stigmatised by one indignant commander, himself a patient long-sufferer +in that respect, as a "scandalous abuse of the service." Six of these +poor wretches had not the strength of one man. They could not be got +upon deck in the night, or if by dint of the rope's-end they were at +length routed out of their hammocks, they immediately developed the +worst symptoms of the "waister"--seasickness and fear of that which +is high. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Billop, 26 Oct. +1712.] Bruce, encountering dirty weather on the Irish coast, when in +command of the _Hawke_, out of thirty-two pressed men "could not get +above seven to go upon a yard to reef his courses," but was obliged to +order his warrant officers and master aloft on that duty. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, 6 Oct. 1741.] Belitha, of the +_Scipio_, had but one man aboard him, out of a crew of forty-one, who +was competent to stand his trick at the wheel; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Belitha, 15 July 1746.] Bethell, of the +_Phoenix_, had many who had "never seen a gun fired in their lives"; +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Bethell, 21 Aug. 1759.] +and Adams, of the _Bird-in-hand_, learnt the fallacy of the assertion +that that _rara avis_ is worth two in the bush. Mustered for drill in +small-arms, his men "knew no more how to handle them than a child." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 7 Oct. 1744.] +For all their knowledge of that useful exercise they might have been +Sea-Fencibles. + +Yet while ships were again and again prevented from putting to sea +because, though their complements were numerically complete, they had +only one or no seaman on board, and hence were unable to get their +anchors or make sail; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. +Boys, 14 April 1742; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1512--Capt. Bayly, 21 July +1796, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] while Bennett, of the _Lennox_, +when applied to by the masters of eight outward-bound East-India ships +for the loan of two hundred and fifty men to enable them to engage the +French privateers by whom they were held up in the river of Shannon, +dared not lend a single hand lest the pressed men, who formed the +greater part of his crew, should rise and run away with the ship; +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1779.] +Ambrose, of the _Rupert_, cruising off Cape Machichaco with a crew of +"miserable poor wretches" whom he feared could be of "no manner of use +or service" to him, after a short but sharp engagement of only an +hour's duration captured, with the loss of but a single man, the largest +privateer sailing out of San Sebastian--the _Duke of Vandome_, +of twenty-six carriage guns and two hundred and two men, of whom +twenty-nine were killed; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Ambrose, 7 July and 26 Sept. 1741.] and Capt. Amherst, encountering a +heavy gale in Barnstable Pool, off Appledore, would have lost his ship, +the low-waisted, over-masted _Mortar_ sloop, had it not been for +the nine men he was so lucky as to impress shortly before the gale. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 12 Dec. 1744.] +Anson regarded pressed men with suspicion. When he sailed on his famous +voyage round the world his ships contained only sixty-seven; but with +his complement of five hundred reduced by sickness to two hundred and +one, he was glad to add forty of those undesirables to their number +out of the India-men at Wampoo. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Anson, 18 Sept. 1740, and 7 Dec. 1742.] These, however, were +seamen such as the gangs did not often pick up in England, where, as we +have seen, the able seaman who was not fully protected avoided the press +as he would a lee shore. + +In addition to the sweepings of the roads and slums, there were in His +Majesty's ships many who trod the decks "wide betwixt the legs, as if +they had the gyves on." Peculiar to the seafaring man, the tailor and +the huckstering Jew, the gait of these individuals, who belonged +mostly to the sailor class, was strongly accentuated by an adventitious +circumstance having no necessary connection with Israelitish descent, +the sartorial board or the rolling deep. They were in fact convicts who +had but recently shed their irons, and who walked wide from force of +habit. Reasons of policy rather than of mercy explained their presence +in the fleet. The prisons of the country, numerous and insanitary though +they were, could neither hold them all nor kill them; America would have +no more of them; and penal settlements, those later garden cities of +a harassed government, were as yet undreamt of. In these circumstances +reprieved and pardoned convicts were bestowed in about equal +proportions, according to their calling and election, upon the army and +the navy. + +The practice was one of very respectable antiquity and antecedents. By +a certain provision of the Feudal System a freeman who had committed a +felony, or become hopelessly involved in debt, might purge himself of +either by becoming a serf. So, at a later date, persons in the like +predicament were permitted to exchange their fetters, whether of debt or +iron, for the dear privilege of "spilling every drop of blood in their +bodies" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Convicts +on board the _Stanislaus_ hulk, Woolwich, 18 May 1797.] on behalf of +the sovereign whose clemency they enjoyed. Broken on the wheel of naval +discipline, they "did very well in deep water." Nearer land they were +given, like the jailbirds they were, to "hopping the twig." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 21 March 1776.] + +The insolvent debtor, who in the majority of cases had studied his +pleasures more than his constitution, was perhaps an even less desirable +recruit than his cousin the emancipated convict. In his letters to +the Navy Board, Capt. Aston, R.N., relates how, immediately after the +passing of the later Act [Footnote: 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6.] for the +freeing of such persons from their financial fetters, he "gave constant +attendance for almost two years at the sittings of the Courts of +Sessions in London and Surrey," lying in wait there for such debtors +as should choose the sea. From the Queen's Bench Prison, the Clink, +Marshalsea, Borough Compter, Poultry Compter, Wood Street Compter, +Ludgate Prison and the Fleet, he obtained in that time a total of one +hundred and thirty-two, to whom in every case the prest-shilling was +paid. They were dear at the price. Bankrupt in pocket, stamina and +health, they cumbered the ships to the despair of commanders and were +never so welcome as when they ran away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1436--Letters of Capt. Aston, 1704-5.] + +The responsibility for jail-bird recruiting did not of course rest with +the gangs. They saw the shady crew safe on board ship, that was all. +Yet the odium of the thing was theirs. For not only did association with +criminals lower the standard of pressing as the gangs practised it, +it heightened the general disrepute in which they were held. For an +institution whose hold upon the affections of the people was at the best +positively negative, this was a serious matter. Every convict whom the +gang safeguarded consequently drove another nail in the coffin preparing +for it. The first and most lasting effect of the wholesale pumping +of sewage into the fleet was to taint the ships with a taint far more +deadly than mere ineptitude. A spirit of ominous restlessness +prevailed. Slackness was everywhere observable, coupled with incipient +insubordination which no discipline, however severe, could eradicate or +correct. At critical moments the men could with difficulty be held to +their duty. To hold them to quarters in '97, when engaging the enemy +off Brest, the rattan and the rope's-end had to be unsparingly used. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Company of +H.M.S. _Nymph_, 1797.] In no circumstances were they to be trusted. +Given the slightest opening, they "ran" like water from a sieve. To +counteract these dangerous tendencies the Marines were instituted. +Drafted into the ships in thousands, they checked in a measure the +surface symptoms of disaffection, but left the disease itself untouched. +The fact was generally recognised, and it was no uncommon circumstance, +when the number of pressed men present in a ship was large in proportion +to the unpressed element, for both officers and marines to walk the deck +day and night armed, fearful lest worse things should come upon them. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1799, +and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] What they anticipated was the mutiny +of individual crews. But a greater calamity than this was in store for +them. + +In the wholesale mutinies at Spithead and the Nore the blow fell with +appalling suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that in one form or +another it had been long foreseen. Fifty-five years had elapsed since +Vernon, scenting danger from the existing mode of manning the fleet, had +first sounded the alarm. He dreaded, he told the Lords Commissioners +in so many words, the consequences that must sooner or later ensue +from adherence to the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +578--Vice-Admiral Vernon, 27 Jan. 1742-3.] Though the utterance of one +gifted with singularly clear prevision, the warning passed unheeded. Had +it been made public, it would doubtless have met with the derision with +which the voice of the national prophet is always hailed. Veiled as it +was in service privacy, it moved their Lordships to neither comment nor +action. Action, indeed, was out of the question. The Commissioners were +helpless in the grip of a system from which, so far as human sagacity +could then perceive, there was no way of escape. Let its issue be what +it might, they could no more replace or reconstruct it than they could +build ships of tinsel. + +Other warnings were not wanting. For some years before the catastrophic +happenings of '97 there flowed in upon the Admiralty a thin but steady +stream of petitions from the seamen of the fleet, each of them a rude +echo of Vernon's sapient warning. To these, coming as they did from an +unconsidered source, little if any significance was attached. Beyond the +most perfunctory inquiry, in no case to be made public, they received +scant attention. The sailor, it was thought, must have his grievances if +he would be happy; and petitions were the recognised line for him to air +them on. They were accordingly relegated to that limbo of distasteful +and quickly forgotten things, their Lordships' pigeon-holes. + +Yet there was amongst these documents at least one which should have +given the Heads of the Navy pause for serious thought. It was the +petition of the seamen of H.M.S. _Shannon_, [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Ship's Company of the _Shannon_, 16 +June 1796.] in which there was conveyed a threat that afterwards, when +the mutiny at the Nore was at its height, under the leadership of a +pressed man whose coadjutors were mainly pressed men, came within an +ace of resolving itself in action. That threat concerned the desperate +expedient of carrying the revolted ships into an enemy's port, and of +there delivering them up. Had this been done--and only the Providence +that watches over the destinies of nations prevented it--the act would +have brought England to her knees. + +At a time like this, when England's worst enemies were emphatically the +press-gangs which manned her fleet with the riff-raff of the nation and +thus made national disaster not only possible but hourly imminent, the +"old stander" and the volunteer were to her Navy what salt is to the +sea, its perpetual salvation. Such men inculcated an example, created an +_esprit de corps_, that infected even the vagrant and the jail-bird, to +say nothing of the better-class seaman, taken mainly by gangs operating +on the water, who was often content, when brought into contact with +loyal men, to settle down and do his best for king and country. Amongst +the pressed men, again, desertion and death made for the survival of the +fittest, and in this residuum there was not wanting a certain savour. +Subdued and quickened by man-o'-war discipline, they developed a +dogged resolution, a super-capacity not altogether incompatible with +degeneracy; and to crown all, the men who officered the resolute if +disreputable crew were men in whose blood the salt of centuries tingled, +men unrivalled for sea-sagacity, initiative and pluck. If they could not +uphold the honour of the flag with the pressed man's unqualified aid, +they did what was immeasurably greater. They upheld it in spite of him. + +Upon the trade of the nation the injury inflicted by the press-gang is +rightly summed up in littles. Every able seaman, every callow apprentice +taken out of or forcibly detained from a merchant vessel was, _ipso +facto,_ a minute yet irretrievably substantial loss to commerce of one +kind or another. Trade, it is true, did not succumb in consequence. +Possessed of marvellous recuperative powers, she did not even languish +to any perceptible degree. Nevertheless, the detriment was there, +a steadily cumulative factor, and at the end of any given period of +pressing the commerce of the nation, emasculated by these continuous if +infinitesimal abstractions from its vitality, was substantially less in +bulk, substantially less in pounds sterling, than if it had been allowed +to run its course unhindered. + +British in name, but Teutonic in its resentments, trade came to regard +these continual "pin-pricks" as an intolerable nuisance. It was not so +much the loss that aroused her anger as the constant irritation she +was subjected to. This she keenly resented, and the stream of her +resentment, joining forces with its confluents the demoralisation of +the Navy through pressing, the excessive cost of pressing and the +antagonising effects of pressing upon the nation at large, contributed +in no small degree to that final supersession of the press-gang which +was in essence, if not in name, the beginning of Free Trade. + +To the people the impress was as an axe laid at the root of the tree. +There was here no question, as with trade, of the mere loss of hands +who could be replaced. Attacking the family in the person of its natural +supporter and protector, the octopus system of which the gangs were the +tentacles struck at the very foundations of domestic life and brought to +thousands of households a poverty as bitter and a grief as poignant as +death. + +If the people were slow to anger under the infliction it was because, in +the first place, the gang had its advocates who, though they could not +extol its virtues, since it had none, were yet able, and that with no +small measure of success, to demonstrate to a people as insular in their +prejudices as in their habitat that, but for the invincible Navy which +the gang maintained for their protection, the hereditary enemy, the +detested French, would most surely come and compel them one and all to +subsist upon a diet of frogs. What could be seriously urged against the +gang in face of an argument such as that? + +Patriotism, moreover, glowed with ardent flame. Fanned to twofold heat +by natural hatred of the foreigner and his insolent challenge of insular +superiority, it blinded the people to the truth that liberty of the +subject is in reality nothing more than freedom from oppression. +So, with the gang at their very doors, waiting to snatch away their +husbands, their fathers and their sons, they carolled "Rule Britannia" +and congratulated themselves on being a free people. The situation was +unparalleled in its sardonic humour; and, as if this were not enough, +the "Noodle of Newcastle," perceiving vacuously that something was still +wanting, supplied the bathetic touch by giving out that the king, God +bless him! could never prevail upon himself to break through the sacred +liberties of his people save on the most urgent occasions. [Footnote: +_Newcastle Papers_--Newcastle to Yorke, 27 Feb. 1749-50.] + +The process of correcting the defective vision of the nation was as +gradual as the acquisition of the sea-power the nation had set as its +goal, and as painful. In both processes the gang participated largely. +To the fleet it acted as a rude feeder; to the people as a ruder +specialist. Wielding the cutlass as its instrument, it slowly and +painfully hewed away the scales from their eyes until it stood +visualised for what it really was--the most atrocious agent of +oppression the world has ever seen. For the operation the people should +have been grateful. The nature of the thing they had cherished so +blindly filled them with rage and incited them to violence. + +Two events now occurred to seal the fate of the gang and render its +final supersession a mere matter of time rather than of debate or +uncertainty. The mutiny at the Nore brought the people face to face with +the appalling risks attendant on wholesale pressing, while the war with +America, incurred for the sole purpose of upholding the right to press, +taught them the lengths to which their rulers were still prepared to go +in order to enslave them. In the former case their sympathies, though +with the mutineers, were frozen at the fountain-head by fear of invasion +and that supposititious diet of frogs. In the latter, as in the ancient +quarrel between Admiralty and Trade, they went out to the party who not +only abstained from pressing but paid the higher wages. + +While the average cost of 'listing a man "volunteerly" rarely exceeded +the modest sum of 30s., the expense entailed through recruiting him by +means of the press-gang ranged from 3s. 9d. per head in 1570 [Footnote: +_State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth_, vol. lxxiii. f. 38: Estimate of +Charge for Pressing 400 Mariners, 1570.] to 114 Pounds in 1756. Between +these extremes his cost fluctuated in the most extraordinary manner. +At Weymouth, in 1762, it was at least 100 Pounds; at Deal, in 1805, 32 +Pounds odd; at Poole, in the same year, 80 Pounds. [Footnote: _London +Chronicle_, 16-18 March, 1762; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, 14 Feb. and 5 Aug. 1805.] From 1756 the average steadily +declined until in 1795 it touched its eighteenth century minimum of +about 6 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Average based on +Admirals' Reports on Rendezvous, 1791-5.] A sharp upward tendency then +developed, and in the short space of eight years it soared again to 20 +Pounds. It was at this figure that Nelson, perhaps the greatest naval +authority of his time, put it in 1803. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] + +Up to this point we have considered only the prime cost of the pressed +man. A secondary factor must now be introduced, for when you had got +your man at an initial cost of 20 Pounds--a cost in itself out of all +proportion to his value--you could never be sure of keeping him. Nelson +calculated that during the war immediately preceding 1803 forty-two +thousand seamen deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Assuming, with him, +that every man of this enormous total was either a pressed man or had +been procured at the cost of a pressed man, the loss entailed upon the +nation by their desertion represented an outlay of 840,000 Pounds for +raising them in the first instance, and, in the second, a further outlay +of 840,000 Pounds for replacing them. + +In this estimate there is, however, a substantial error; for, +approaching the question from another point of view, let us suppose, as +we may safely do without overstraining the probabilities of the case, +that out of every three men pressed at least one ran from his rating. +Now the primary cost of pressing three men on the 20 Pound basis being +60 Pounds, it follows that in order to obtain their ultimate cost to the +country we must add to that sum the outlay incurred in pressing another +man in lieu of the one who ran. The total cost of the three men who +ultimately remain to the fleet consequently works out at 80 Pounds; the +cost of each at 26 Pounds, 13s. 4d. Hence Nelson's forty-two thousand +deserters entailed upon the nation an actual expenditure, not of +1,680,000 Pounds, but of nearly two and a quarter millions. + +Another fact that emerges from a scrutiny of these remarkable figures is +this. Whenever the number of volunteer additions to the fleet increased, +the cost of pressing increased in like ratio; whenever the number of +volunteers declined, the pressed man became proportionally cheaper. +Periods in which the pressed man was scarce and dear thus synchronise +with periods when the volunteer was plentiful; but scarcity of +volunteers, reacting upon the gangs, and conducing to their greater +activity, brought in pressed men in greater numbers in proportion to +expenditure and so reduced the cost per head. In this logical though at +first sight bewildering interrelation of the laws of supply and demand, +we have in a nutshell the whole case for the cost of pressing as against +the gang. Taking one year with another the century through, the impress +service, on a moderate estimate, employed enough able-bodied men to man +a first-rate ship of the line, and absorbed at least enough money to +maintain her, while the average number of men raised, taking again one +year with another, rarely if ever exceeded the number of men engaged in +obtaining them. With tranquillity at length assured to the country, with +trade in a state of high prosperity, the shipping tonnage of the nation +rising by leaps and bounds and the fleet reduced to an inexigent peace +footing, why incur the ruinous expense of pressing the seaman when, as +was now the case, he could be had for the asking or the making? + +For Peace brought in her train both change and opportunity. The frantic +dumping of all sorts and conditions of men into the fleet ceased. +Necessity no longer called for it. No enemy hovered in the offing, to be +perpetually outmanoeuvred or instantly engaged. Until that enemy could +renew its strength, or time should call another into being, the mastery +of the seas, the dear prize of a hundred years of strenuous struggle, +remained secure. Our ships, maintained nevertheless as efficient +fighting-machines, became schools of leisure wherein--a thing impossible +amid the perpetual storm and stress of war--the young blood of +the nation could be more gradually inured to the sea and tuned to +fighting-pitch. Science had not yet linked hands with warfare. Steam, +steel, the ironclad, the super-Dreadnought and the devastating cordite +gun were still in the womb of the future; but the keels of a newer +fleet were nevertheless already on the slips, and with the old order the +press-gang, now for ever obsolete, went the way of all things useless. + +Its memory still survives. Those who despair of our military system, or +of our lack of it, talk of conscription. They alone forget. A people +who for a hundred years patiently endured conscription in its most cruel +form will never again suffer it to be lightly inflicted upon them. + + + + +APPENDIX + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO + + +DEAR NEPEAN,--I enclose a little project for destroying the Enemy's +Flatboats if they venture over to our Coast, which you may shew, if you +please, to your Sea Lords as coming from some anonymous correspondent. +If they can improve upon it so as to make it useful, I shall be glad +of it; and if they think it good for nothing, and throw it in the fire, +there is no harm done. As the conveying an Army must require a very +great number of Boats, which must be very near each other, if many such +vessels as I propose should get among them, they must necessarily commit +great havoc. I cannot ascertain whether the blocks or logs of wood would +be strong enough to throw the shot without bursting, or whether they +would not throw the shot though they should burst. I think they would +not burst, and so do some Officers of Artillery here; but that might +be ascertained by experiment at any time. This sort of Fire-vessel will +have the advantage of costing very little; and of being of no service to +the Enemy should it fall into their hands. + +W. YOUNG. LEWES, 14 _Aug_. 1803. + + + [Illustration: Admiral Young's Torpedo. From the Original Drawing at +the Public Record Office.] + +_Secret_ + +"The success of an attempt to land an Army on an Enemy's Coast, whose +Army is prepared to prevent it, will depend in a great degree on the +regularity of the order in which the Boats, or Vessels, are arranged, +that carry the Troops on Shore; everything therefore which contributes +to the breaking of that order will so far contribute to render success +more doubtful; especially if, in breaking the order, some of the Boats +or Vessels are destroyed. For this purpose Fireships well managed will +be found very useful; I should therefore think that, at all the King's +Ports, and at all places where the Enemy may be expected to attempt +a landing with Ships of War or other large Vessels, considerable +quantities of materials for fitting Fireships according to the latest +method should be kept ready to be put on board any small Vessels on the +Enemy's approach; but, as such Vessels would have little or no effect +on Gunboats or Flatboats, machines might be made for the purpose of +destroying them, by shot, and by explosion. The Shot should be large, +but as they will require to be thrown but a short distance, and will +have only thin-sided Vessels to penetrate, Machines strong enough to +resist the effort of the small quantity of Powder necessary to throw +them may probably be made of wood; either by making several chambers in +one thick Block, as No. 1, or one chamber at each end of a log as No. +2, which may be used either separately, or fastened together. The Vents +should communicate with each other by means of quick Match, which should +be very carefully covered to prevent its sustaining damage, or being +moved by things carried about. Such Machines, properly loaded, may be +kept in Fishing boats or other small vessels near the parts of the Coast +where the Enemy may be expected to land; or in secure places, ready to +be put on board when the Enemy are expected. The Chambers should be cut +horizontally, and the Machine should be so placed in the Vessel as to +have them about level with the surface of the water; under the Machine +should be placed a considerable quantity of Gunpowder; and over it, +large Stones, and bags of heavy shingle, and the whole may be covered +with fishing nets, or any articles that may happen to be on board. +Several fuses, or trains of Match, should communicate with the Machine, +and with the powder under it, so managed as to ensure those which +communicate with the Machine taking effect upon the others, that the +shot may be thrown before the Vessel is blown up. The Match, or Fuses, +should be carefully concealed to prevent their being seen if the Vessel +should be boarded.... If these Vessels are placed in the front of the +Enemy's Line, and not near the extremities of it, it would be scarcely +possible for them to avoid the effects of the explosion unless, from +some of them exploding too soon, the whole armament should stop. Every +Machine would probably sink the Boat on each side of it, and so do +considerable damage to others with the shot; and would kill and wound +many men by the explosion and the fall of the stones.... As the success +of these Vessels will depend entirely upon their not being suspected by +the Enemy, the utmost secrecy must be observed in preparing the +Machines and sending them to the places where they are to be kept. A few +confidential men only should be employed to make them, and they should +be so covered as to prevent any suspicion of their use, or of what they +contain." + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Capt., + +_Admiral Spry_ tender, + +_Adventure_, H.M.S., + +Ages below eighteen and over fifty-five exempt, + +Alcock, Henry, Mayor of Waterford, + +Alms, Capt., + +_Amaranth_, H.M.S., + +Ambrose, Capt., + +Amherst, Capt, + +_Amphitrite_, H.M.S., + +Andover, the press-gang at, + +_Anglesea_, H.M.S., + +Anne, Queen, impresses foreign seamen, + arms of press-gang under, + drummers and fifers pressed for navy in her reign, + sailors unwilling to serve, + +Anson, Admiral Lord, + +Anthony, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Appledore, press-gang at, 72, + +Apprentices, exempt from impressment only in some circumstances, in +North-country pressed because their indentures bore Scotch 14s. stamp +instead of English 15s., + +Archer, Capt, + +Arms of the press-gang, + +_Assurance_, H.M.S., + +Aston, Capt, + +Atkinson, Lieut., + +Ayscough, Capt., + +Baily, James, a ferryman, pressed for his inactivity, + +Baird, Capt, + +Balchen, Capt., + +Ball, Capt., + +Banyan days, + +Bargemen impressed in thousands, + +Barker, Capt., regulating officer at Bristol, midshipman. + +Barking, the press-gang at, + +Barnicle, William, + +Barnsley, Lieut., + +Barrington, Capt., + +Bath, Bristol gang's fruitless attempt at, + +Bawdsey, + +_Beaufort_, East Indiaman, + +Beecher, Capt, + +Bennett, Capt, + +Bertie, Capt, + +Bethell, Capt, paid damages for wrongfully impressing, + +Bettesworth, John, claims privilege of granting private protections to +Ryde and Portsmouth ferrymen, + +Biggen, Charles, + +Billingsley, Capt., + +Bingham, William, + +Birchall, Lieut., + +_Bird-in-hand_, H.M.S., + +Birmingham, sham gangs at, + +_Black Book_ of the Admiralty, + +Blackstone, Sir W., + +Blackwater, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Blanche_, H.M.S., + +Blear-eyed Moll, + +_Blonde_, H.M.S., + +Boats for the press-gang, + +Boat steerers on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Boatswains, conditions of exemption, + +_Bonetta_ sloop, + +Boscawen, Capt., + +Boston, Mass., + +Bounty system, the, + +Bowen, Capt., + +Box, Lieut, + +Boys, Capt., + +Brace, Lieut., + +Bradley, Lieut, + +Brawn, Capt., + +Breedon, Lieut., + +Brenton, Capt. Jahleel, afterwards Vice-Admiral, + +Brenton, E. P., _Naval History_, + +Brenton, Lieut, + +Brereton, Capt., + +Brett, Capt, 110, + +Bridges a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +Brighton, the press-gang at, + +Bristol, the press-gang at, + +Bristol jail as press-room, + +_Bristol_, H.M.S., + +_Britannia_ trading vessel, + three of the crew shot in resisting the + press-gang, the ship captured and taken to port, + the affair not within the coroner's purview, the bodies + buried at sea, court-martial acquits officers, + +Brixham, the press-gang at, + +Broadfoot case, the, + +Broadstairs fishermen, the press-gang at, Bromley, Capt. Sir Robert, + +Bullard, Richard, a fiddler persuaded to go to Woolwich to play and for +payment was handed to the gang, + +_Bull-Dog_ sloop, + +Burchett, Josiah, _Observations on the Navy_, + +Burrows, Sam, + +Butler, Capt., + +Byron, Lord, + +Calahan, a gangsman, killed in attempting an arrest, + +Cambridge bargemen, press-gang among, + +Campbell, Admiral, + +Cape Breton, + +Caradine, Samuel, + +Carey, Rev. Lucius, + +Carmarthen, Admiral the Marquis of, + +Carolina, + +Carpenters, conditions of exemption, on warships on coast of Scotland +could be replaced by shipwrights pressed from the yards, + +Carrying the ship up, + +Cartel ships, + +Castle, William, an alien, impressed on his honeymoon, + +Castleford, the press-gang at, + +Cawsand safe from the press-gang, + +Cecil, William, Lord Burleigh, + +_Centurion_, H.M.S., Anson's flagship, whose crew on their return had +life-protection from the press, + +Chaplains, + +Charles II., + +Chatham, crimpage at, + +_Chatham_, H.M.S., + +Chester, the press-gang at + +_Chevrette_ corvette, + +Clapp, Midshipman, + +Clark, George, + +Clephen, James, + +_Clincher_ gun-brig, + +Cockburn, Bailie, of Leith, + +Cogbourne's electuary, + +Coke, Sir E., + +Collingwood, Admiral Lord, Lieut, + +Colvill, Admiral Lord, + +Colville, Lieut., + +Convoys, + +Conyear, John, + +Cooper, Josh, + +Cork, crimpage at, the press-gang at, + +Comet bomb ship, + +Cornwall, the press-gang in, + +Coversack, safe from the press-gang, + +Coventry, Mr. Commissioner, + +Coventry, sham gangs at, + +Cowes, press-gang at, + +Crabb, Henry, + +Crews depleted by the press-gang, + +Crick, William, + +Crimps, as sham gangsmen, + +Cromer, the suspicions of the inhabitants, + bring the press-gang, to take a noted Russian, + +Crown Colonies, desertions in, + + +Croydon, the press-gang around, + + +Cruickshank, John, chaplain, + +Culverhouse, Capt., + +Customs, Board of, + +Dansays, Capt., + +Danton, Midshipman, + +Darby, Capt., + +Dartmouth, H.M.S., + +Dartmouth, press-gang at, + +Davidson, Samuel, of Newcastle, applies for life protection + +"DD," discharged dead, in muster books against names of persons +deceased, + +Deal, press-gang at, + +cutters, + +Death of sailor in resisting impress, "accidental", + +Debusk, John, shot by the press-gang, on the Britannia, + +Dent, Capt., + +Deptford, the press-gang at, + +Desertion from the Navy, + +Devonshire, H.M.S., + +Dipping the flag, + +Director, H.M.S., + +Discipline in the Navy, + +Disinfecting a ship, + +Dispatch sloop, + +Dolan, Edward, + +Dominion and Laws of the Sea., See Justice, A., + +Dorsetshire, H.M.S., + +Douglas, Capt. Andrew, + +Dover, press-gang at, + +Downs, crimpage in the, + +press-gang in, + +Doyle, Lieut, + +Dreadnought, H.M.S., + +Drummers pressed for the Navy, + +Dryden, Michael, illegally pressed, + +Dryden's sister, + +Dublin, sham gangs at, the press-gang at, + +Duke, H.M.S., + +Duke of Vandome, H.M.S., + +Duncan case, the, + +Dundas, Henry, + +Dundonald, Lord, Autobiography, + +Dunkirk, H.M.S., + +Eccentricity leads to impressment, + +Eddystone lighthouse, building delayed through impressment of workmen, +builders of the third, protected, keepers at, put inward-bound, + ships' crews ashore, + +Edinburgh, press-gang at, + +Edmund and Mary Collier, + +Edward III. on the Navy, + +Elizabeth, Queen, + +Elizabeth ketch, + +Ely bargemen, press-gang among, + +Emergency crews of men unfit for pressing supplied to merchant-men by +the crimps, + +Emergency men working on their own account, places of muster for, + +English Eclogues. See Southey, R., + +Evading the press-gang. See under Press-gang, How it was evaded., + +Evans, Richard, keeper of Gloucester Castle, + +Exemption from impressment, + not a right, of foreigners, negroes not included, + of landsmen only theoretical, + property no qualification for exemption, + of harvesters, + of gentlemen, judged by appearances, + below 18 and over 55 years, + of apprentices dependent on circumstances, + of merchant seamen dependent on circumstances, + of masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters dependent on + circumstances, + of some of crew of whalers, + of Thames wherrymen by quota system, + of Tyne keelman by the same, + of Severn and Wye trow-men by 10% levy, + did not extend to turf boats on Shannon and Blackwater, + special for four on each fishing vessel, and later for all engaged + in taking, curing, and selling fish, + of Worthing fishermen for a levy, + of Scottish and Manx fishermen, on similar terms, + worthless without a document of protection, + +Exeter, the press-gang at, + +_Falmouth_, H.M.S., + +Falmouth, press-gang at, + +Faversham, the press-gang at, + +_Ferme_, H.M.S., + +Ferries, a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +_Feversham_, H.M.S., + +Fifers pressed for the Navy, + +Fire on ship board, + +Fisheries, carefully fostered, + three fish days made compulsory, became a great nursery for seamen, + few exemptions granted, at first special concessions only to the + whale and cod fisheries, + later only such number as the warrant specified might be taken, and + these the Justices chose; in 1801 no person employed in taking, + curing, or selling fish could be impressed, + with their best men impressed, only small smacks could be worked, + a quota system preferred by the fishermen of some ports, + in Cornwall, the men turned tinners in the off-season, + +Flags, flying without authority, omission to dip, + +Fleet, Liberty of, + +Folkstone market-boats, + +Folkstone, press-gang at, + +Forcible entry by the press-gang illegal, + +Foreigners impressed, theoretically exempt, married to English wives considered naturalised, + in emergency crews, + +Frederick the Great, + +Freeholders at one time exempt from impressment, + +_Fubbs_, H.M.S., + +Gage, Capt., + +_Galloper_, tender to the _Dreadnought_, + +_Ganges_, H.M.S., + +Garth, Dr., + +Gaydon, Lieut., + +Gentlemen exempt from the impress, but judged by appearance and manner, + +Gibbs, Capt., + +_Glory_, H.M.S., + +Gloucester, the press-gang at, + +Gloucester Castle used as press-room, the keeper's magic palm, + +Godalming, the press-gang at, + +Golden, John, Lord Mayor's bargeman, wrongfully impressed, + +Good, James, midshipman, + +Goodave, Midshipman, + +Gooding, Richard, + +Gosport, the press-gang at, + +Gravesend, the press-gang at, + +Gray, John, + +Great Yarmouth, press-gang at, + +Greenock, crimpage at, press-gang at, Trades Guild, + +Greenock ferries, the press-gang at, + +Greenwich Hospital, + + +Grimsby, the press-gang at, + + +Habeas Corpus, writs of, as means of arresting, and so freeing, pressed +men for debts not owing, + +Half-pay officers, their projects and inventions, + +Hamoaze, the, an entrepôt for pressed men, + +Harpooners exempt from impressment, + +Harrison, Lieut., + +Hart, Alexander, + +_Harwich_, H.M.S., + +Haverfordwest, press-gang at, + +Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward, + +_Hawke_, H.M.S., + +Haygarth, Lieut., + +Health and illness, + +_Hector_, H.M.S., + +Herbert, Emanuel, + +_Hind_ armed sloop, + +_Historical Relation of State Affairs_. See Lutterell, N., + +Hogarth's "Stage Coach," + +Hook, Joseph, + +_Hope_ tender, + +Hotten, J. C., _List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England +to the American Plantations_, + +Hull, press-gang at, + +Humber, the press-gang on, + +Hurst Castle, the press-gang at, + +Ilfracombe, the press-gang at, + +Impressment. See Pressed labour., + +Informers, + +Inland waterways and the gang at one time without the jurisdiction of +the admirals, + +Innes, Capt, + +Ipswich, the press-gang at, + +_Isis_, H.M.S., + +Isle of Man fishermen, + +Jackson, Daniel, pressed from the Chester Volunteers, + +Jamaica, + +_Jason_, H.M.S., + +Jervis, John, Earl of St. Vincent, + +Jews, pressed on account of bandy legs, + +_John and Elizabeth_ pink, + +John, King, impressment under, + +Johnson, Rebecca Anne, + +Jones, Paul, + +Justice, A., _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, + +Keith, A., parson of the Fleet, _Observations on the Act for Preventing +Clandestine Marriages_, + +Kilkenny, the press-gang at, + +King's Lynn, press-gang at, + +Kingston, William, case of, + +_King William_, Indiaman, + +_Lady Shore_, the, + +Landsmen exempt only in theory, + +Latham, Capt., + +Law officers' opinions on pressing, + +Leave, stoppage of, + +Leeds, the press-gang at, + +Leith, crimpage at, press-gang at, + +_Lennox_, H.M.S., + +Letting, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Lewis, Edward, chaplain, + +Libraries, ships', + +_Lichfield_, H.M.S., + +Licorne, H.M.S., + +Limehouse Hole, the press-gang at, + +Lindsay, Admiral the Earl of, _Instructions_, + +Linesmen on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Liskeard, the press-gang at, + +_List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England to the American +Plantations_. See Hotten, J. C., + +_Litchfield_, H.M.S., + +Littlehampton, the press-gang at, + +Liverpool, crimpage at, press-gang at, + +Lodden Bridge, the press-gang at, + +London, the press-gang in, + +Londonderry, the press-gang at, + +Longcroft, Capt, + +_Loo_, H.M.S., + +Love, Henry, gets life protection as promised by Pitt and Dundas, + +Lowestoft, the press-gang at, + +Lulworth, + +Lundy Island, safe from the press-gang, + but not to the sailors' liking, + crews marooned on, + +Lutterell, N., _Historical Relation of State Affairs_, Capt. Hon. Jas., + +Lymington, the press-gang at, + +M'Bride, Admiral, + +M'Cleverty, Capt., + +M'Donald, Alexander, impressed under the age of twelve, Charles, + +M'Gugan's wife, + +M'Kenzie, Lieut., + +M'Quarry, Lachlan, + +Magna Carta, its provisions contrary to impressment, + +Mansfield, Lord, + +Margate, the press-gang at, + +_Maria_ brig, + +Marines, + +Marooned crews on Lundy Island, + +_Martin_ galley, + +_Mary_ smuggler, + +Masters, conditions of exemption, + +Mastery of the sea, a necessity for England, + +Mates, conditions of exemption, + +Medway, press-gang on, + +_Medway_, H.M.S., + +Men in lieu, + +Merchant seamen, conditions of exemption, unprotected when sleeping +ashore, the most valuable asset to the Navy, + +Merchant service, hard conditions of crews, + +_Mercury_, H.M.S., + +Messenger, George, + +Mike, James, hanged for desertion, + +Moll Flanders, + +_Monarch_, H.M.S., + +_Monmouth_, H.M.S., + +_Monumenta Juridica_, + +Morals in the Navy, improved by Jervis, Nelson, and Collingwood, + +Moriarty, Capt, + +_Mortar_ sloop, + +Mostyn, Admiral, + +_Mediator_ tender, + +Mitchell, Admiral Sir D., + +Montagu, Admiral, + +Mousehole, safe from the press-gang, + +Moverty, Thomas, pressed, not having protection on him, + +Nancy of Deptford, + +_Naseby_, H.M.S., + +_Nassau_, H.M.S., + +_Naval History_. See Brenton, E. P., + +Navy, the growth of, in 18th century, natural sources of supply of +crews, hard conditions of service in, + discipline in, + provisions in, + comforts in, + +Negroes not exempt from impressment, + +Nelson, Admiral Lord, + +_Nemesis_, H.M.S., + +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, press-gang at, grand protection enjoyed by, + +New England, + +Newgate compared with the press-room, + +Newhaven, the press-gang at, + +Newland, safe from the press-gang, + +Newquay, safe from the press-gang, + +Nore, the press-gang at the, the mutiny at, an entrepôt for pressed-men, + +_Norfolk_, Indiaman, + +Norris, John, + +North Forland, press-gang at, + +_Nymph_, H.M.S., + + +Oakley, Lieut., + +Oaks, Lieut., + +O'Brien, Lieut., + +_Observations on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc._ See Penrose, +Admiral Sir V. C., + +_Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages._ See +Keith, A., + +_Observations on the Navy._ See Burchett, J., + +Okehampton, the press-gang at, + +Onions, Thomas, + +_Orford_, H.M.S., + +Orkney fishermen, + +Osborne, Admiral, + +Osmer, Lieut., + +_Otter_ sloop, + +Oyster vessels, + + +_Pallas_, H.M.S., + +Parker, Richard, president of the mutineers at the Nore, + +Parkgate, a resort of seamen, + +Paying off discharged entire crews, + +Paying the shot, + +Pay of sailors, deferred, + +Pembroke, Earl of, Lord High Admiral, + +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc._, + +Pepys, S., + +Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, + +Petitions of seamen of the Fleet and others, + +_Phoenix_, H.M.S., + +Pill, a favourite haunt of sailors, and shunned by gangsmen, + +Pilots, + +Pitt, William, + +Plymouth, the press-gang at, + +Polpero, safe from the press-gang, + +Poole, press-gang at, mayor refuses to back press-warrants, + +Popham, Admiral Sir Home, his scheme for coast defence, + +Portland Bill, press-gang off, + +Portland Island, + +Portsmouth, desertions at, the press-gang at, + +Post-chaise, sailors in, + +Press-boats sunk at sea, + +Pressed labour (see also Press-gang), antiquity of, for civil occupations, + for warfare, + means of enforcing, + contrary to the spirit of Magna Carta, + penalties for resistance, + derivation of the term, + the classes from which drawn, + exemptions from, + necessity of, in English Navy, + its crippling effect on trade, + +Press-gang, the why it was a necessity for the Navy, + its services not needed by some captains, + what it was, + the official and the popular views, + the class of men it was composed of, + its quarters, landsmen joining the land force not to be pressed + for sea service, + ship-gangs entirely seamen, varying numbers in gang, + the officers, + the shore service the grave of promotion, + general character of officers ashore, + duties of the Regulating Captain, + pay and road money, etc., + perquisites, peculation, and bribery in the service, + sham-gangs, + the rendezvous, + boat's arms, + press warrant, + whom the gang might take, + primarily those who used the sea, + later on trade suffers from the gang, + exemption granted as an indulgence, + the foreigner first exempted, + but not if he had an English wife, and was soon assumed to have + one, + negroes not exempt, landsmen theoretically only, + harvesters were exempt if holding a certificate, + gentlemen exempt if dressed as such, + only those proved to be between eighteen and fifty-five, + the position of apprentices was uncertain, + to press merchant seamen was resented by trade, + masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters were exempt, + colliers were exempt up to a certain proportion, + ship protections did not count on shore, + mate was not entitled to liberty unless registered at the + rendezvous, + harpooners were protected out of season on land or on colliers, + the press-gang preyed upon its fellows, + watermen, bargemen, and canal boat-dwellers were considered to use + the see, + Thames watermen and some others exempt if certain quota of men + supplied, + large numbers pressed from Ireland, + fishermen indifferently protected, but fisheries fostered, + all protected persons bound to carry their protection on them, + an error in protection invalidated it, + protections often disregarded, + special protections, + its activities afloat, + the merchant seamen the principal quest, + the chain of sea-gangs, + the outer rings, frigates pressing for their own crews and armed + sloops as tenders to ships of the line, and the vessels employed + by regulating captains at the large ports, + the inner ring of boat-gangs in harbour or on rivers; + their methods., + methods of pressing at sea, + complications arising from pressing at sea, + their varied success., + and the right to search foreign vessels for English seamen, + and convoys, + and privateers, + and smugglers, + smuggling by, + and ships in quarantine, + and transports, + and cartel ships, + and pilots, + how it was evaded, + in the ship, with her or from her, + or a combination, + hiding on board from, + evasions assisted by the skipper, + and men in lieu and foreigners in emergency crews, + pilots and fisherman taken by, when acting as emergency men, + evaded by desertion from the ship, + evaded by hiding on land and changing quarters, + Cornwall dangerous for, + safe retreats from, + empowered to take Severn and Wye trow-men, + unsuccessful efforts of, + evaded by borrowed, forged, and American protections and by + disguises, + what it did ashore, + the sailor betrayed by marked characteristics; + sailors outnumbered on shore by the gang, + its object the pressing of sailors who escaped the seagangs, + its London rendezvous and taverns used. + the inland distribution of, + the class of places selected for operations of, + the land-gangs necessarily ambulatory, + its resting and refreshment places chosen for purposes of capture, + the methods adopted, + a hot press at Brighton, + a ruse at Portsmouth, + how the sailors' liking for drink was turned to account, + the amount of violence used, + outside assistance to, + rivalry between gangs, + assisted by mayors and county magistrates, + assisted by the military, + townsmen who sided with the sailors against, + brutal behaviour of, at Poole, + resisted at Deal and Dover, + forcible entry by, illegal, + magistrates consign vagabonds and disorderly persons to, + how it was resisted, + various weapons used against, + gangs-men killed by sailors resisting them, + sailors killed by gangsmen, + by armed bands of seamen, + by the populace in attempting to impress, + pressed-men recaptured from, + tenders attacked, + rendezvous attacked, + press-boats attacked and sunk, + resistance when the press-gang had come abroad, + the hardship of impressment on arrival from long voyage, + the only means of resistance, + a sailor's death in such case "accidental," casual, unavoidable, + or disagreeable, + a case in point, + at play, + humorous reason given for impressing a person, + inculcating manners by means of the press, + the respect due to naval officers, + the outsider liable to be pressed for breach of naval etiquette, + rudeness to the press-gang treated the same way, + damages from officers for wrongful impressment, failure to dip the + flag, or flying an unauthorised flag, might lead to pressing + from that crew, + unseamanlike management of a ship laid the crew open to pressing, + pipers and fiddlers, etc., impressed, + ridiculous reasons given for impressing, + unsuspecting passenger in a smuggler declared owner of contraband + and pressed, + tattoo marks and bandy legs lead to pressing, + any eccentricity sufficient to ensure the attention of the + press-gang, + used by trustees to keep heirs from their money, and by parents to + rid them of incorrigible sons, + used for purposes of retaliation, + used by strikers to get rid of a "blackleg." + used by stern parent to part his daughter and her lover, + a drunken cleric's revenge by means of, + by pressing a sailor, causes his late bedfellow to be hanged as + his murderer, + and women, + of women and sailors in general, + lack of sentiment in gangsmen, + women impressed by, + women masquerading as men to go to sea, + women in the gang, + the hardship brought on women by the gang, + fostered vice and bred paupers, + women who released sailors from the press-gang, + the devotion of Richard Parker's wife, + In the clutch of, + the press-room, what it was; strongly built and small as it might + be, could hold any number, + Bristol gaol and Gloucester Castle used as press-rooms, + inadequate precautions for retaining pressed men on the road, + regulations for rendezvous, + victualling in the press-room, + regulating or examining for fitness for service, + fabricated ailments and defects, + dispatching pressed men to the fleet, + tenders hired for transport of pressed men, + comfort and health of pressed men on tenders, + the victualling of pressed men on tenders, + prevention of escape, + an attempt to escape-with the Tasker tender escapes from, + The Union tender cut out from the Tyne by the pressed men, + various excitements aboard + a final examination, + petitions, + substitutes, + How the gang went out, + causes of withdrawal of press-gang, + the increasingly bad quality of the product, + the spirit of restlessness and mutiny engendered, + the injury to trade, + only continued so long by the apathy of the people, + the cost of impressing, + +Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life, The, + +Press warrants, forged, + +Presting, the original term and its meaning, + +Prest money, + +Price, Capt, + +Prince George guardship at Portsmouth, + +Princess Augusta, a letter of marque, + +Princess Augusta tender, + +Princess Louisa, H.M.S, + +Privateers, loss of seamen by, pressing from, + recapture of pressed crew of, + +Prize money, + +Profane abuse of crews by officers, + +Protections, for masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters, worthless, +if the holder were ashore, bound to be always carried, + slightest error in description invalidated, + were often disregarded, + special, + for men in lieu, + for crews of convoys and privateers expired on arrival in home waters, + lent, bought, and exchanged, + American, + +Provisions in the Navy, + +Quarantine, + +Queensferry, the press-gang at, + +Quota men, + +"R" for "run" in ships' books to denote deserter, + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, + +Ramsgate, the press-gang at, + +Reading, the press-gang at, + +Registration of seamen, + +Regulating, i.e. examination of pressed-men for fitness, ailments and +defects fabricated or assumed, + +Regulating captains, character of a, + +Repulse, H.M.S., + +Rendezvous, attacked, regulations of, + +Rescue of pressed men from the gang, + +Reunion, H.M.S., + +Rhode Island, + +Rice, + +Richard II, + +Richards, John, midshipman, + +Richardson, Lieut, + +Right of search, + +Roberts, Capt. John, + +Rochester, the press-gang at, + +Rodney, Admiral Lord, + +Roebuck, H.M.S., + +Romsey, the press-gang at, + +Routh, Capt, + +_Royal Sovereign_, H.M.S., + +_Ruby_ gunship, + +Rudsdale, Lieut., + +Rum, + +_Rupert_, H.M.S., + +Russia, impressment in, + +Russian Navy, + +Ryde, the Lord of the Manor, claimed the privilege of private +protections for his ferrymen to Portsmouth and Gosport, the press-gang +at, + +_Rye_, H.M.S., + +Rye, the press-gang at, + + +Sailor, the word disfavoured by Navy Board, a creature of +contradictions, + +St. Ives, safe from the press-gang, + +St. Lawrence River, deserters in, + +St. Vincent, Earl of. See Jervis, J, + +Salisbury, the press-gang at, + +Sanders, Joseph, + +_Sandwich_, H.M.S., flag-ship at the Nore, + +Sax, Lieut, + +_Scipio_, H.M.S., + +Scott, John, pressed when his protection was lying in his coat beside +him, + +Scottish fishermen, + +_Seahorse_, H.M.S., + +"Serving out slops," + +Severn trow-men, exempted from impress by 10% levy, Court of Exchequer +rules the reverse, + +Seymour, Lieut., + +Sham gangs, + +_Shandois_ sloop, + +_Shannon_, H.M.S., + +Shannon, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Shark_, sloop, + +"She" applied to a ship, a recent use, + +Sheerness, crimpage at, + +Shields, press-gang at, + +Ships, impressment of, + +Shipwrights in Scotch yards could be pressed as carpenters on warships, + +Shirley, Governor, + +Shoreham, the press-gang at, + +_Shrewsbury_, H.M.S., + +Shrewsbury, sham gangs at, + +Sloper, Major-General, + +Smeaton, John, + +Smugglers, crew of, pressed, unsuspecting passenger declared owner and +pressed, + +_Solebay_, H.M.S., + +Southampton, the press-gang at, + +Southey, Robt, _English Eclogues_, + +_Southsea Castle_, H.M.S., + +Spithead, crimpage at, an entrepôt for pressed men, + +_Spy_ sloop of war, + +_Squirrel_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_ privateer, + +Stangate Creek, the fray at, + +Stephens, George, impressed at thirteen, + +Stephenson, George, + +Stepney Fields, press-gang at, + +Stillwell, John, + +Stourbridge, the press-gang at, + +Strike-me-blind. See Rice, + +Sturdy, Ralph, shot by the pressgang on the _Britannia_, + +Sunderland, press-gang at, + +Surgeons, + +Swansea, + + +Tailors pressed on account of bandy legs, + +Talbot, Mary Anne, + +_Tasker_ tender, + +Tassell, William, a protected mate, pressed ashore, + +Taunton, Denny-Bowl quarry, near--three girls as sham gang, the +press-gang at, + +Taylor, Lieut, + +Taylor, William, + +Teede, John, undone by tattoo marks, + +Tenders, attacked, hired for transport of pressed men, + the health and comfort of pressed men on, + their victualling, + attempts to escape from and with, + +Thames, press-gang on the, wherrymen exempted by levy of one in five, + +_Thetis_, H.M.S., + +Thomson, Lieut, + +Thurlow, Lord, + +Ticket men. See Men in lieu, + +Tobacco, + +Trading classes the greatest sufferers from impressment, not without +resentment, various trades gradually exempted, + +Tramps. See Vagabonds, + +Transports, + +Travelling, cost of, + +_Trial and Life of Richard Parker_, + +Trim, William, + +Trinity House, + +_Triton_ brig, + +_Triton_, Indiaman, + +Turning over of crews, + +Tyne keelman exempt from impress by levy--the men supplied being +obtained by them by bounties, + + +_Union_ tender, + +_Utrecht_, H.M.S., + + +Vagabonds handed over to the press-gang, + +_Vanguard_, H.M.S., + +Vernon, Admiral, + +Victualling in the press-room, + +Virginia, + + +Wages due to sailors to date of impressment, + +Walbeoff, Capt, + +Ward, Ned, _Wooden World Dissected_, + +Waterford, press-gang at, + +Watermen's language, + +Watson, Lieut, + +Watts, John, punished with 170 lashes, + +Weapons used against the press-gang, + +Weir, Alexander, + +Wellington, Duke of, + +Whalers, some of crew of, exempt from impressment, + +Whitby, the press-gang at, + +White, John, pressed at Bristol ninety yards from his vessel, + +Whitefoot, James, impressed at Bristol, + +Whitworth, Charles, Envoy to Russia, + +"Widows' men." + +Williams, John, + +_Willing Traveller_ smuggler, + +Wilson, John, shot by the press-gang on the _Britannia_, + +_Winchelsea_, H.M.S., + +Winstanley, London butcher, served as pressed man 16 years, + +_Wolf_ armed sloop, + +Women and the Press-gang, See also under Press-gang, "The Press-gang and +Women." + +_Wooden World Dissected_. See Ward, Ned, + +Wool, illegal export of, + +Worth, Capt, + +Worthing fishermen, + +Wye trow-men exempted from impress by 10% levy, + +Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Yarmouth Roads, the press-gang in, + +"Yellow Admirals." + +Yorke, Sol. Gen, + +Young, Admiral, his torpedo, + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore, by +John R. Hutchinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + +***** This file should be named 6766-8.txt or 6766-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/6/6766/ + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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R. Hutchinson + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + .side { float: right; font-size: 75%; width: 25%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; margin-left: 0.8em; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore, by John R. Hutchinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore + +Author: John R. Hutchinson + + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6766] +This file was first posted on January 24, 2003 +Last Updated: June 14, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + + + + +Text file produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the CWRU Preservation +Department Digital Library. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE + </h1> + <h2> + By J. R. Hutchinson + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>THE PRESS-GANG.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. — HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. — WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. — WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. — WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. — WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. — EVADING THE GANG. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. — WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. — AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. — THE GANG AT PLAY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. — WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. — IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII. — HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE PRESS-GANG. + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. — HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + </h2> + <p> + The practice of pressing men—that is to say, of taking by + intimidation or force those who will not volunteer—would seem to + have been world-wide in its adoption. + </p> + <p> + Wherever man desired to have a thing done, and was powerful enough to + insure the doing of it, there he attained his end by the simple expedient + of compelling others to do for him what he, unaided, could not do for + himself. + </p> + <p> + The individual, provided he did not conspire in sufficient numbers to + impede or defeat the end in view, counted only as a food-consuming atom in + the human mass which was set to work out the purpose of the master mind + and hand. His face value in the problem was that of a living wage. If he + sought to enhance his value by opposing the master hand, the master hand + seized him and wrung his withers. + </p> + <p> + So long as the compelling power confined the doing of the things it + desired done to works of construction, it met with little opposition in + its designs, experienced little difficulty in coercing the labour + necessary for piling its walls, excavating its tanks, raising its pyramids + and castles, or for levelling its roads and building its ships and cities. + These were the commonplace achievements of peace, at which even the + coerced might toil unafraid; for apart from the normal incidence of death, + such works entailed little danger to the lives of the multitudes who + wrought upon them. Men could in consequence be procured for them by the + exercise of the minimum of coercion—by, that is to say, the mere + threat of it. + </p> + <p> + When peace went to the wall and the pressed man was called upon to go to + battle, the case assumed another aspect, an acuter phase. Given a state of + war, the danger to life and limb, the incidence of death, at once jumped + enormously, and in proportion as these disquieting factors in the pressed + man's lot mounted up, just in that proportion did his opposition to the + power that sought to take him become the more determined, strenuous, and + undisguised. + </p> + <p> + Particularly was this true of warlike operations upon the sea, for to the + extraordinary and terrible risks of war were here added the ordinary but + ever-present dangers of wind and wave and storm, sufficient in themselves + to appal the unaccustomed and to antagonise the unwilling. In face of + these superlative risks the difficulty of procuring men was accentuated a + thousand-fold, and with it both the nature and the degree of the coercive + force necessary to be exercised for their procuration. + </p> + <p> + In these circumstances the Ruling Power had no option but to resort to + more exigent means of attaining its end. In times of peace, working + through myriad hands, it had constructed a thousand monuments of + ornamental or utilitarian industry. These, with the commonweal they + represented, were now threatened and must be protected at all costs. What + more reasonable than to demand of those who had built, or of their + successors in the perpetual inheritance of toil, that they should protect + what they had reared. Hitherto, in most cases, the men required to meet + the national need had submitted at a threat. They had to live, and + coercive toil meant at least a living wage. Now, made rebellious by a + fearful looking forward to the risks they were called upon to incur, they + had to be met by more effective measures. Faced by this emergency, Power + did not mince matters. It laid violent hands upon the unwilling subject + and forced him, <i>nolens volens</i>, to sail its ships, to man its guns, + and to fight its battles by sea as he already, under less overt + compulsion, did its bidding by land. + </p> + <p> + It is with this phase of pressing—pressing open, violent and + unashamed—that we purpose here to deal, and more particularly with + pressing as it applies to the sea and sailors, to the Navy and the defence + of an Island Kingdom. + </p> + <p> + At what time the pressing of men for the sea service of the Crown was + first resorted to in these islands it is impossible to determine. There is + evidence, however, that the practice was not only in vogue, but firmly + established as an adjunct of power, as early as the days of the Saxon + kings. It was, in fact, coeval with feudalism, of which it may be + described as a side-issue incidental to a maritime situation; for though + it is impossible to point to any species of fee, as understood of the + tenure of land, under which the holder was liable to render service at + sea, yet it must not be forgotten that the great ports of the kingdom, and + more especially the Cinque Ports, were from time immemorial bound to find + ships for national purposes, whenever called upon to do so, in return for + the peculiar rights and privileges conferred upon them by the Crown. The + supply of ships necessarily involved the supply of men to sail and fight + them, and in this supply, or, rather, in the mode of obtaining it, we have + undoubtedly the origin of the later impress system. + </p> + <p> + With the reign of John the practice springs into sudden prominence. The + incessant activities of that uneasy king led to almost incessant pressing, + and at certain crises in his reign commission after commission is + directed, in feverish succession, to the sheriffs of counties and the + bailiffs of seaports throughout the kingdom, straitly enjoining them to + arrest and stay all ships within their respective jurisdictions, and with + the ships the mariners who sail them. [Footnote: By a plausible euphemism + they were said to be "hired." As a matter of fact, both ships and men were + retained during the royal pleasure at rates fixed by custom.] No exception + was taken to these edicts. Long usage rendered the royal lien + indefeasible. [Footnote: In more modern times the pressing of ships, + though still put forward as a prerogative of the Crown, was confined in + the main to unforeseen exigencies of transport. On the fall of Louisburg + in 1760, vessels were pressed at that port in order to carry the prisoners + of war to France (<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1491—Capt. Byron, 17 + June 1760); and in 1764, again, we find Capt. Brereton, of the <i>Falmouth</i>, + forcibly impressing the East India ship <i>Revenge</i> for the purpose of + transporting to Fort St. George, in British India, the company, numbering + some four hundred and twenty-one souls, of the <i>Siam</i>, then recently + condemned at Manilla as unseaworthy.—<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1498—Letters of Capt. Brereton, 1764.] + </p> + <p> + In the carrying out of the royal commands there was consequently, at this + stage in the development of pressing, little if any resort to direct + coercion. From the very nature of the case the principle of coercion was + there, but it was there only in the bud. The king's right to hale whom he + would into his service being practically undisputed, a threat of reprisals + in the event of disobedience answered all purposes, and even this threat + was as yet more often implied than openly expressed. King John was perhaps + the first to clothe it in words. Requisitioning the services of the + mariners of Wales, a notoriously disloyal body, he gave the warrant, + issued in 1208, a severely minatory turn. "Know ye for certain," it ran, + "that if ye act contrary to this, we will cause you and the masters of + your vessels to be hanged, and all your goods to be seized for our use." + </p> + <p> + At this point in the gradual subjection of the seaman to the needs of the + nation, defensive or the contrary, we are confronted by an event as + remarkable in its nature as it is epoch-making in its consequences. Magna + Charta was sealed on the 13th of June 1215, and within a year of that + date, on, namely, the 14th of April then next ensuing, King John issued + his commission to the barons of twenty-two seaports, requiring them, in + terms admitting of neither misconstruction nor compromise, to arrest all + ships, and to assemble those ships, together with their companies, in the + River of Thames before a certain day. [Footnote: Hardy, <i>Rotuli + Litterarum Clausarum</i>, 1833.] This wholesale embargo upon the shipping + and seamen of the nation, imposed as it was immediately after the + ensealing of Magna Charta, raises a question of great constitutional + interest. In what sense, and to what extent, was the Charter of English + Liberties intended to apply to the seafaring man? + </p> + <p> + Essentially a tyrant and a ruthless promise-breaker, John's natural + cruelty would in itself sufficiently account for the dire penalties + threatened under the warrant of 1208; but neither his tyranny, his + faithlessness of character, nor his very human irritation at the + concessions wrung from him by his barons, can explain to our satisfaction + why, having granted a charter affirming and safeguarding the liberties of, + ostensibly, every class of his people, he should immediately inflict upon + one of those classes, and that, too, the one least of all concerned in his + historic dispute, the pains of a most rigorous impressment. The only + rational explanation of his conduct is, that in thus acting he was + contravening no convention, doing violence to no covenant, but was, on the + contrary, merely exercising, in accordance with time-honoured usage, an + already well-recognised, clearly denned and firmly seated prerogative + which the great charter he had so recently put his hand to was in no sense + intended to limit or annul. + </p> + <p> + This view of the case is confirmed by subsequent events. Press warrants, + identical in every respect save one with the historic warrant of 1216, + continued to emanate from the Crown long after King John had gone to his + account, and, what is more to the point, to emanate unchallenged. Stubbs + himself, our greatest constitutional authority, repeatedly admits as much. + Every crisis in the destinies of the Island Kingdom—and they were + many and frequent—produced its batch of these procuratory documents, + every batch its quota of pressed men. The inference is plain. The mariner + was the bondsman of the sea, and to him the <i>Nullus liber homo capiatur</i> + clause of the Great Charter was never intended to apply. In his case a + dead-letter from the first, it so remained throughout the entire chapter + of his vicissitudes. + </p> + <p> + The chief point wherein the warrants of later times differed from those of + King John was this: As time went on the penalties they imposed on those + who resisted the press became less and less severe. The death penalty fell + into speedy disuse, if, indeed, it was ever inflicted at all. Imprisonment + for a term of from one to two years, with forfeiture of goods, was held to + meet all the exigencies of the case. Gradually even this modified practice + underwent amelioration, until at length it dawned upon the official + intelligence that a seaman who was free to respond to the summons of the + boatswain's whistle constituted an infinitely more valuable physical asset + than one who cursed his king and his Maker in irons. All punishment of the + condign order, for contempt or resistance of the press, now went by the + board, and in its stead the seaman was merely admonished in paternal + fashion, as in a Proclamation of 1623, to take the king's shilling + "dutifully and reverently" when it was tendered to him. + </p> + <p> + In its apparent guilelessness the admonition was nevertheless woefully + deceptive. Like the subdued beat of drum by which, some five years later, + the seamen of London were lured to Tower Hill, there to be seized and + thrown bodily into the waiting fleet, it masked under its mild exterior + the old threat of coercion in a new form. The ancient pains and penalties + were indeed no more; but for the back of the sailor who was so ill-advised + as to defy the press there was another rod in pickle. He could now be + taken forcibly. + </p> + <p> + For side by side with the negative change involved in the abolition of the + old punishments, there had been in progress, throughout the intervening + centuries, a positive development of far worse omen for the hapless + sailor-man. The root-principle of direct coercion, necessarily inherent in + any system that seeks to foist an arbitrary and obnoxious status upon any + considerable body of men, was slowly but surely bursting into bud. The + years that had seen the unprested seaman freed from the dread of the + yardarm and the horrors of the forepeak, had bred a new terror for him. + Centuries of usage had strengthened the arm of that hated personage the + Press-Master, and the compulsion which had once skulked under cover of a + threat now threw off its disguise and stalked the seafaring man for what + it really was—Force, open and unashamed. The <i>dernier ressort</i> + of former days was now the first resort. The seafaring man who refused the + king's service when "admonished" thereto had short shrift. He was "first + knocked down, and then bade to stand in the king's name." Such, literally + and without undue exaggeration, was the later system which, reaching the + climax of its insolent pretensions to justifiable violence in the + eighteenth century, for upwards of a hundred years bestrode the neck of + the unfortunate sailor like some monstrous Old Man of the Sea. + </p> + <p> + Outbursts of violent pressing before the dawn of the eighteenth century, + though spasmodic and on the whole infrequent, were not entirely unknown. + Times of national stress were peculiarly productive of them. Thus when, in + 1545, there was reason to fear a French invasion, pressing of the most + violent and unprecedented character was openly resorted to in order to man + the fleet. The class who suffered most severely on that occasion were the + fisher folk of Devon, "the most part" of whom were "taken as marryners to + serve the king." [Footnote: <i>State Papers</i>, Henry VIII.—Lord + Russell to the Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545. Bourne, who cites the incident + in his <i>Tudor Seamen</i>, misses the essential point that the fishermen + were forcibly pressed.] + </p> + <p> + During the Civil Wars of the next century both parties to the strife + issued press warrants which were enforced with the utmost rigour. The + Restoration saw a marked recrudescence of similar measures. How great was + the need of men at that time, and how exigent the means employed to + procure them, may be gathered from the fact, cited by Pepys, that in 1666 + the fleet lay idle for a whole fortnight "without any demand for a + farthing worth of anything, but only to get men." The genial diarist was + deeply moved by the scenes of violence that followed. They were, he + roundly declares, "a shame to think of." + </p> + <p> + The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and + "pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it so + aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's + service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" in + the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to a + process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by means + of what was technically known as "prest" money—"prest" being the + English equivalent of the obsolete French <i>prest</i>, now <i>prêt</i>, + meaning "ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, "prest" money + stood for what is nowadays, in both services, commonly termed the "king's + shilling," and the man who, either voluntarily or under duress, accepted + or received that shilling at the recruiter's hands, was said to be + "prested" or "prest." In other words, having taken the king's ready money, + he was thenceforth, during the king's pleasure, "ready" for the king's + service. + </p> + <p> + By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter to + the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter and his + sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more solemn or binding + pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. One of the parties to + the contract was more often than not, it is true, a strongly dissenting + party; but although under the common law of the land this circumstance + would have rendered any similar contract null and void, in this amazing + transaction between the king and his "prest" subject it was held to be of + no vitiating force. From the moment the king's shilling, by whatever + means, found its way into the sailor's possession, from that moment he was + the king's man, bound in heavy penalties to toe the line of duty, and, + should circumstances demand it, to fight the king's enemies to the death, + be that fate either theirs or his. + </p> + <p> + By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the English + language a word—"pressed"—which tallied almost exactly in + pronunciation with the old French word <i>prest</i>, so long employed, as + we have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the + devious means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea + service. "Press" means to constrain, to urge with force—definitions + precisely connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. + Hence, as the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, + "pressing," in the mouths of the people at large, came to be synonymous + with that most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring system of + recruiting which, in the course of time, took the place of its milder and + more humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man disappeared, + [Footnote: The Law Officers of the Crown retained him, on paper, until the + close of the eighteenth century—an example in which they were + followed by the Admiralty. To admit his disappearance would have been to + knock the bottom out of their case.] and in his stead there came upon the + scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, "forced," as Pepys so + graphically describes his condition, "against all law to be gone." An + odder coincidence than this gradual substitution of "pressed" for <i>prest,</i> + or one more grimly appropriate in its application, it would surely be + impossible to discover in the whose history of nomenclature. + </p> + <p> + With the growth of the power and violence of the impress there was + gradually inaugurated another change, which perhaps played a larger part + than any other feature of the system in making it finally obnoxious to the + nation at large—finally, because, as we shall see, the nation long + endured its exactions with pathetic submission and lamentable + indifference. The incidence of pressing was no longer confined, as in its + earlier stages, to the overflow of the populace upon the country's rivers, + and bays, and seas. Gradually, as naval needs grew in volume and urgency, + the press net was cast wider and wider, until at length, during the great + century of struggle, when the system was almost constantly working at its + highest pressure and greatest efficiency, practically every class of the + population of these islands was subjected to its merciless inroads, if not + decimated by its indiscriminate exactions. + </p> + <p> + On the very threshold of the century we stumble upon an episode curiously + indicative of the set of the tide. Czar Peter of Russia had been recently + in England, acquiring a knowledge of English customs which, on his return + home, he immediately began to put in practice. His navy, such as it was, + was wretchedly manned. [Footnote: The navy got together by Czar Peter had + all but disappeared by the time Catherine II. came to the throne. + "Ichabod" was written over the doors of the Russian Admiralty. Their ships + of war were few in number, unseaworthy, ill-found, ill-manned. Two + thousand able-bodied seamen could with difficulty be got together in an + emergency. The nominal fighting strength of the fleet stood high, but that + strength in reality consisted of men "one half of whom had never sailed + out of the Gulf of Finland, whilst the other half had never sailed + anywhere at all." When the fleet was ordered to sea, the Admiralty "put + soldiers on board, and by calling them sailors persuaded themselves that + they really were so."—<i>State Papers, Russia,</i> vol. lxxvii.—Macartney, + Nov. 16-27, 1766.] Russian serfs made bad sailors and worse seamen. In the + English ships thronging the quays at Archangel there was, however, plenty + of good stuff-men who could use the sea without being sick, men capable of + carrying a ship to her destination without piling her up on the rocks or + seeking nightly shelter under the land. He accordingly pressed every ninth + man out of those ships. + </p> + <p> + When news of this high-handed proceeding reached England, it roused the + Queen and her advisers to indignation. Winter though it was, they lost no + time in dispatching Charles Whitworth, a rising diplomat of the suavest + type, as "Envoy Extraordinary to our Good (but naughty) Brother the Czar + of Muscovy," with instructions to demand the release, immediate and + unconditional, of the pressed men. Whitworth found the Czar at Moscow. The + Autocrat of All the Russias listened affably enough to what he had to say, + but refused his demand in terms that left scant room for doubt as to his + sincerity of purpose, and none for protracted "conversations." "Every + Prince," he declared for sole answer, "can take what he likes out of his + own havens." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1436—Capt. J. + Anderson's letters and enclosures; <i>State Papers, Russia</i>, vol. iv.—Whitworth + to Secretary Harley.] The position thus taken up was unassailable. + Centuries of usage hedged the prerogative in, and Queen Anne herself, in + the few years she had been on the throne, had not only exercised it with a + free hand, but had laid that hand without scruple upon many a foreign + seaman. + </p> + <p> + The lengths to which the system had gone by the end of the third quarter + of the century is thrown into vivid relief by two incidents, one of which + occurred in 1726, the other fifty years later. + </p> + <p> + In the former year one William Kingston, pressed in the Downs—a man + who hailed from Lyme Regis and habitually "used the sea"—was, + notwithstanding that fact, discharged by express Admiralty order because + he was a "substantial man and had a landed estate." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1473—Capt Charles Browne, 25 March 1726, and + endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + The incident of 1776, known as the Duncan case, occurred, or rather began, + at North Shields. Lieutenant Oaks, captain of the press-gang in that town, + one day met in the streets a man who, unfortunately for his future, "had + the appearance of a seaman." He accordingly pressed him; whereupon the + man, whose name was Duncan, produced the title-deeds of certain house + property in London, down Wapping way, worth some six pounds per annum, and + claimed his discharge on the ground that as a freeholder and a voter he + was immune from the press. The lieutenant laughed the suggestion to scorn, + and Duncan was shipped south to the fleet. + </p> + <p> + The matter did not end there. Duncan's friends espoused his cause and took + energetic steps for his release. Threatened with an action at law, and + averse from incurring either unnecessary risks or opprobrium where pressed + men were concerned, the Admiralty referred the case to Mr. + Attorney-General (afterwards Lord) Thurlow for his opinion. + </p> + <p> + The point of law Thurlow was called upon to resolve was, "Whether being a + freeholder is an exception from being pressed;" and as Duncan was + represented in counsel's instructions—on what ground, other than his + "appearance," is not clear—to be a man Who habitually used the sea, + it is hardly matter for surprise that the great jurist's opinion, biassed + as it obviously was by that alleged fact, should have been altogether + inimical to the pressed man and favourable to the Admiralty. + </p> + <p> + "I see no reason," he writes, in his crabbed hand and nervous diction, + "why men using the sea, and being otherwise fit objects to be impressed + into His Majesty's service, should be exempted only because they are + Freeholders. Nor did I ever read or hear of such an exemption. Therefore, + unless some use or practice, which I am ignorant of, gives occasion to + this doubt, I see no reason for a Mariner being discharged, seriously, + because he is a Freeholder. It's a qualification easily attained: a single + house at Wapping would ship a first-rate man-of-war. If a Freeholder is + exempt, <i>eo nomine</i>, it will be impossible to go on with the pressing + service. [Footnote: It would have been equally impossible to go on with + the naval service had the fleet contained many freeholders like John + Barnes. Granted leave of absence from his ship, the <i>Neptune,</i> early + in May, "in order to give his vote in the city," he "return'd not till the + 8th of August."—<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2653—Capt. + Whorwood, 23 Aug. 1741.] There is no knowing a Freeholder by sight: and if + claiming that character, or even showing deeds is sufficient, few Sailors + will be without it." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 299—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 64.] + </p> + <p> + Backed by this opinion, so nicely in keeping with its own inclinations, + the Admiralty kept the man. Its views, like its practice, had undergone an + antipodal change since the Kingston incident of fifty years before. And + possession, commonly reputed to be nine points of the law, more than made + up for the lack of that element in Mr. Attorney-General's sophistical + reasoning. + </p> + <p> + In this respect Thurlow was in good company, for although Coke, who lived + before violent pressing became the rule, had given it as his opinion that + the king could not lawfully press men to serve him in his wars, the legal + luminaries who came after him, and more particularly those of the + eighteenth century, differed from him almost to a man. Blackstone, whilst + admitting that no statute expressly legalised pressing, reminded the + nation—with a leer, we might almost say—that many statutes + strongly implied, and hence—so he put it—amply justified it. + In thus begging the question he had in mind the so-called Statutes of + Exemption which, in protecting from impressment certain persons or classes + of persons, proceeded on the assumption, so dear to the Sea Lords, that + the Crown possessed the right to press all. This also was the view taken + by Yorke, Solicitor-General in 1757. "I take the prerogative," he + declares, "to be most clearly legal." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 7. 298—Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] + </p> + <p> + Another group of lawyers took similar, though less exalted ground. Of + these the most eminent was that "great oracle of law," Lord Mansfield. + "The power of pressing," he contends, "is founded upon immemorial usage + allowed for ages. If not, it can have no ground to stand upon. The + practice is deduced from that trite maxim of the Constitutional Law of + England, that private mischief had better be submitted to than that public + detriment should ensue." + </p> + <p> + The sea-lawyer had yet to be heard. With him "private mischief" counted + for much, the usage of past ages for very little. He lived and suffered in + the present. Of common law he knew nothing, but he possessed a fine + appreciation of common justice, and this forced from him an indictment of + the system that held him in thrall as scathing in its truth, its + simplicity and its logic as it is spontaneous and untutored in its + diction. + </p> + <p> + "You confidently tell us," said he, dipping his pen in the gall of + bitterness, "that our King is a father to us and our officers friends. + They are so, we must confess, in some respects, for Indeed they use us + like Children in Whiping us into Obedience. As for English Tars to be the + Legitimate Sons of Liberty, it is an Old Cry which we have Experienced and + Knows it to be False. God knows, the Constitution is admirable well + Callculated for the Safety and Happiness of His Majesty's Subjects who + live by Employments on Shore; but alass, we are not Considered as Subjects + of the same Sovereign, unless it be to Drag us by Force from our Families + to Fight the Battles of a Country which Refuses us Protection." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Petitions of the Seamen of the + Fleet, 1797.] + </p> + <p> + Such, in rough outline, was the Impress System of the eighteenth century. + In its inception, its development, and more especially in its + extraordinary culmination, it perhaps constitutes the greatest anomaly, as + it undoubtedly constitutes the grossest imposition, any free people ever + submitted to. Although unlawful in the sense of having no foundation in + law, and oppressive and unjust in that it yearly enslaved, under the most + noxious conditions, thousands against their will, it was nevertheless for + more than a hundred years tolerated and fostered as the readiest, + speediest and most effective means humanly devisable for the manning of a + fleet whose toll upon a free people, in the same period of time, swelled + to more than thrice its original bulk. Standing as a bulwark against + aggression and conquest, it ground under its heel the very people it + protected, and made them slaves in order to keep them free. Masquerading + as a protector, it dragged the wage-earner from his home and cast his + starving family upon the doubtful mercies of the parish. And as if this + were not enough, whilst justifying its existence on the score of public + benefit it played havoc with the fisheries, clipped the wings of the + merchant service, and sucked the life-blood out of trade. + </p> + <p> + It was on the rising tide of such egregious contradictions as these that + the press-gang came in; for the press-gang was at once the embodiment and + the active exponent of all that was anomalous or bad in the Impress + System. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. — WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + </h2> + <p> + The root of the necessity that seized the British sailor and made of him + what he in time became, the most abject creature and the most efficient + fighting unit the world has ever produced, lay in the fact that he was + island-born. + </p> + <p> + In that island a great and vigorous people had sprung into being—a + people great in their ambitions, commerce and dominion; vigorous in + holding what they had won against the assaults, meditated or actual, of + those who envied their greatness and coveted their possessions. Of this + island people, as of their world-wide interests, the "chiefest defence" + was a "good fleet at sea." [Footnote: This famous phrase is used, perhaps + for the first time, by Josiah Burchett, sometime Secretary to the + Admiralty, in his <i>Observations on the Navy</i>, 1700.] + </p> + <p> + The Peace of Utrecht, marking though it did the close of the protracted + war of the Spanish Succession, brought to the Island Kingdom not peace, + but a sword; for although its Navy was now as unrivalled as its commerce + and empire, the supreme struggle for existence, under the guise of the + mastery of the sea, was only just begun. Decade after decade, as that + struggle waxed and waned but went remorselessly on, the Navy grew in + ships, the ships in tonnage and weight of metal, and with their growth the + demand for men, imperative as the very existence of the nation, mounted + ever higher and higher. In 1756 fifty thousand sufficed for the nation's + needs. By 1780 the number had reached ninety-two thousand; and with 1802 + it touched high-water mark in the unprecedented total of one hundred and + twenty-nine thousand men in actual sea pay. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 7. 567-Navy Progress, 1756-1805. These figures are below + rather than above the mark, since the official returns on which they are + based are admittedly deficient.] + </p> + <p> + Beset by this enormous and steadily growing demand, the Admiralty, the + defensive proxy of the nation, had perforce to face the question as to + where and how the men were to be obtained. + </p> + <p> + The source of supply was never at any time in doubt. Here, ready to hand, + were some hundreds of thousands of persons using the sea, or following + vocations merging into the sea in the capacity of colliers, bargemen, + boatmen, longshoremen, fishermen and deep-sea sailors or merchantmen, who + constituted the natural Naval Reserve of an Island Kingdom—a reserve + ample, if judiciously drawn upon, to meet, and more than meet, the Navy's + every need. + </p> + <p> + The question of means was one more complicated, more delicate, and hence + incomparably more difficult of solution. To draw largely upon these + seafaring classes, numerous and fit though they were, meant detriment to + trade, and if the Navy was the fist, trade was the backbone of the nation. + The sufferings of trade, moreover, reacted unpleasantly upon those in + power at Whitehall. Methods of procuration must therefore be devised of a + nature such as to insure that neither trade nor Admiralty should suffer—that + they should, in fact, enjoy what the unfortunate sailor never knew, some + reasonable measure of ease. + </p> + <p> + In its efforts to extricate itself and trade from the complex difficulties + of the situation, Admiralty had at its back what an eighteenth century + Beresford would doubtless have regarded as the finest talent of the + service. Neither the unemployed admiral nor the half-pay captain had at + that time, in his enforced retirement at Bath or Cheltenham, taken + seriously to parliamenteering, company promoting, or the concocting of + pedigrees as a substitute for walking the quarter-deck. His occupation was + indeed gone, but in its stead there had come to him what he had rarely + enjoyed whilst on the active service list—opportunity. Carried away + by the stimulus of so unprecedented a situation as that afforded by the + chance to make himself heard, he rushed into print with projects and + suggestions which would have revolutionised the naval policy and defence + of the country at a stroke had they been carried into effect. Or he + devoted his leisure to the invention of signal codes, semaphore systems, + embryo torpedoes, gun carriages, and—what is more to our point—methods + ostensibly calculated to man the fleet in the easiest, least oppressive + and most expeditious manner possible for a free people. Armed with these + schemes, he bombarded the Admiralty with all the pertinacity he had shown + in his quarter-deck days in applying for leave or seeking promotion. Many, + perhaps most, of the inventions which it was thus sought to father upon + the Sea Lords, were happily never more heard of; but here and there one, + commending itself by its seeming practicability, was selected for trial + and duly put to the test. + </p> + <p> + Fair to look upon while still in the air, these fruits of leisured + superannuation proved deceptively unsound when plucked by the hand of + experiment. Registration, first adopted in 1696, held out undeniable + advantages to the seaman. Under its provisions he drew a yearly allowance + when not required at sea, and extra prize-money when on active service. + Yet the bait did not tempt him, and the system was soon discarded as + useless and inoperative. Bounty, defined by some sentimentalist as a + "bribe to Neptune," for a while made a stronger appeal; but, ranging as it + did from five to almost any number of pounds under one hundred per head, + it proved a bribe indeed, and by putting an irresistible premium on + desertion threatened to decimate the very ships it was intended to man. In + 1795 what was commonly known as the Quota Scheme superseded it. This was a + plan of Pitt's devising, under which each county contributed to the fleet + according to its population, the quota varying from one thousand and + eighty-one men for Yorkshire to twenty-three for Rutland, whilst a minor + Act levied special toll on seaports, London leading the way with five + thousand seven hundred and four men. Like its predecessor Bounty, however, + this mode of recruiting drained the Navy in order to feed it. Both + systems, moreover, possessed another and more serious defect. When their + initial enthusiasm had cooled, the counties, perhaps from force of habit + as component parts of a country whose backbone was trade, bought in the + cheapest market. Hence the Quota Man, consisting as he generally did of + the offscourings of the merchant service, was seldom or never worth the + money paid for him. An old man-o'-war's-man, picking up a miserable + specimen of this class of recruit by the slack of his ragged breeches, + remarked to his grinning messmates as he dangled the disreputable object + before their eyes: "'Ere's a lubber as cost a guinea a pound!" He was not + far out in his estimate. + </p> + <p> + As in the case of the good old method of recruiting by beat of drum and + the lure of the king's shilling, system after system thus failed to draw + into its net, however speciously that net was spread, either the class or + the number of men whose services it was desired to requisition. And whilst + these futilities were working out their own condemnation the stormcloud of + necessity grew bigger and bigger on the national horizon. Let trade suffer + as it might, there was nothing for it but to discard all new-fangled + notions and to revert to the system which the usage of ages had + sanctioned. The return was imperative. Failing what Junius stigmatised as + the "spur of the Press," the right men in the right numbers were not to be + procured. The wisdom of the nation was at fault. It could find no other + way. + </p> + <p> + There were, moreover, other reasons why the press-gang was to the Navy an + indispensable appendage—reasons perhaps of little moment singly, but + of tremendous weight in the scale of naval necessity when lumped together + and taken in the aggregate. + </p> + <p> + Of these the most prominent was that fatal flaw in naval administration + which Nelson was in the habit of anathematising as the "Infernal System." + Due partly to lack of foresight and false economy at Whitehall, partly to + the character of the sailor himself, it resolved itself into this, that + whenever a ship was paid off and put out of commission, all on board of + her, excepting only her captain and her lieutenants, ceased to be + officially connected with the Navy. Now, as ships were for various reasons + constantly going out of commission, and as the paying off of a + first-second-or third-rate automatically discharged from their country's + employ a body of men many hundreds in number, the "lowering" effects of + such a system, working year in, year out, upon a fleet always in chronic + difficulties for men, may be more readily imagined than described. + </p> + <p> + To a certain limited extent the loss to the service was minimised by a + process called "turning over"; that is to say, the company of a ship + paying off was turned over bodily, or as nearly intact as it was possible + to preserve it, to another ship which at the moment chanced to be ready, + or making ready, for sea. Or it might be that the commander of a ship + paying off, transferred to another ship fitting out, carried the best men + of his late command, commonly known as "old standers," along with him. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, the occasion of fitting out did not always coincide with + the occasion of paying off; and although turnovers were frequently made by + Admiralty order, there were serious obstacles in the way of their becoming + general. Once the men were paid off, the Admiralty had no further hold + upon them. By a stretch of authority they might, it is true, be confined + to quarters or on board a guardship; but if in these circumstances they + rose in a body and got ashore, they could neither be retaken nor punished + as deserters, but—to use the good old service term—had to be + "rose" again by means of the press-gang. Turnovers, accordingly, depended + mainly upon two closely related circumstances: the goodwill of the men, + and the popularity of commanders. A captain who was notorious for his use + of the lash or the irons, or who was reputed unlucky, rarely if ever got a + turnover except by the adoption of the most stringent measures. One who, + on the other hand, treated his men with common humanity, who bested the + enemy in fair fight and sent rich prizes into port, never wanted for + "followers," and rarely, if ever, had recourse to the gang. [Footnote: In + his Autobiography Lord Dundonald asserts that he was only once obliged to + resort to pressing—a statement so remarkable, considering the times + he lived in, as to call for explanation. The occasion was when, returning + from a year's "exile in a tub," a converted collier that "sailed like a + hay-stack," he fitted out the <i>Pallas</i> at Portsmouth and could obtain + no volunteers. Setting his gangs to work, he got together a scratch crew + of the wretchedest description; yet so marvellous were the personality and + disciplinary ability of the man, that with only this unpromising material + ready to his hand he intercepted the Spanish trade off Cape Finisterre and + captured four successive prizes of very great value. The <i>Pallas</i> + returned to Portsmouth with "three large golden candlesticks, each about + five feet high, placed upon the mast-heads," and from that time onward + Dundonald's reputation as a "lucky" commander was made. He never again had + occasion to invoke the aid of the gang.] Under such men the seaman would + gladly serve "even in a dung barge." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 2733—Capt. Young, 28 Sept. 1776.] Unhappily for the service, such + commanders were comparatively few, and in their absence the Infernal + System drained the Navy of its best blood and accentuated a hundred-fold + the already overwhelming need for the impress. + </p> + <p> + The old-time sailor, [Footnote: The use of the word "sailor" was long + regarded with disfavour by the Navy Board, who saw in it only a colourless + substitute for the good old terms "seaman" and "mariner." Capt. Bertie, of + the <i>Ruby</i> gunship, once reported the pressing of a "sailor," Thomas + Letting by name, out of a collier in Yarmouth Roads, and was called upon + by My Lords to define the new-fangled term. This he did with admirable + circumlocution. "As for explaining the word 'sailor,'" said he, "I can doe + it no otherwise than (by) letting of you know that Thomas Letting is a + Sailor."—<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1468—Capt. Bertie, 6 May + 1706.] again, was essentially a creature of contradictions. Notorious for + a "swearing rogue," who punctuated his strange sea-lingo with horrid oaths + and appalling blasphemies, he made the responses required by the services + of his Church with all the superstitious awe and tender piety of a child. + Inconspicuous for his thrift or "forehandedness," it was nevertheless a + common circumstance with him to have hundreds of pounds, in pay and + prize-money, to his credit at his bankers, the Navy Pay-Office; and though + during a voyage he earned his money as hardly as a horse, and was as poor + as a church mouse, yet the moment he stepped ashore he made it fly by the + handful and squandered it, as the saying went, like an ass. When he was + sober, which was seldom enough provided he could obtain drink, he + possessed scarcely a rag to his back; but when he was drunk he was himself + the first to acknowledge that he had "too many cloths in the wind." + According to his own showing, his wishes in life were limited to three: + "An island of tobacco, a river of rum, and—more rum;" but according + to those who knew him better than he knew himself, he would at any time + sacrifice all three, together with everything else he possessed, for the + gratification of a fourth and unconfessed desire, the dearest wish of his + life, woman. Ward's description of him, slightly paraphrased, fits him to + a hair: "A salt-water vagabond, who is never at home but when he is at + sea, and never contented but when he is ashore; never at ease until he has + drawn his pay, and never satisfied until he has spent it; and when his + pocket is empty he is just as much respected as a father-in-law is when he + has beggared himself to give a good portion with his daughter." [Footnote: + Ward, <i>Wooden World Dissected</i>, 1744.] With all this he was brave + beyond belief on the deck of a ship, timid to the point of cowardice on + the back of a horse; and although he fought to a victorious finish many of + his country's most desperate fights, and did more than any other man of + his time to make her the great nation she became, yet his roving life + robbed him of his patriotism and made it necessary to wring from him by + violent means the allegiance he shirked. It was at this point that he came + in contact with what he hated most in life, yet dearly loved to dodge—the + press-gang. + </p> + <p> + That such a creature of contradictions should be averse from serving the + country he loved is perhaps the most consistent trait in his character; + for here at least the sailor had substantial grounds for his + inconsistency. + </p> + <p> + For one thing, his aversion to naval service was as old as the Navy + itself, having grown with its growth. We have seen in what manner King + John was obliged to admonish the sailor in order to induce him to take his + prest-money; and Edward III., referring to his attitude in the fourteenth + century, is said to have summed up the situation in the pregnant words: + "There is navy enough in England, were there only the will." Raleigh, + recalling with bitterness of soul those glorious Elizabethan days when no + adventurer ever dreamt of pressing, scoffed at the seamen of King James's + time as degenerates who went on board a man-of-war "with as great a + grudging as if it were to be slaves in the galleys." A hundred years did + not improve matters. The sailors of Queen Anne entered her ships like men + "dragged to execution." [Footnote: Justice, <i>Dominion and Laws of the + Sea</i>, 1705, Appendix on Pressing.] + </p> + <p> + In the merchant service, where the sailor received his initiation into the + art and mystery of the sea, life during the period under review, and + indeed for long after, was hard enough in all conscience. Systematic and + unspeakably inhuman brutality made the merchant seaman's lot a daily + inferno. Traders sailing out of Liverpool, Bristol and a score of other + British ports depended almost entirely for their crews upon drugged rum, + so evil was their reputation in this respect amongst seafaring men. In the + East India Company's ships, even, the conditions were little short of + unendurable. Men had rather be hanged than sail to the Indies in them. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1463, 1472—Letters of + Captains Bouler and Billingsley, and numerous instances.] + </p> + <p> + Of all these bitternesses the sailor tasted freely. Cosmopolite that he + was, he wandered far a-sea and incurred the blows and curses of many + masters, happy if, amid his manifold tribulations, he could still call his + soul his own. Just here, indeed, was where the shoe of naval service + pinched him most sorely; for though upon the whole life on board a + man-of-war was not many shades worse than life aboard a trader, it yet + introduced into his already sadly circumscribed vista of happiness the + additional element of absolute loss of free-will, and the additional + dangers of being shot as an enemy or hanged as a deserter. These + additional things, the littles that yet meant so much, bred in him a + hatred of the service so implacable that nothing less drastic than the + warrant and the hanger could cope with or subdue it. Eradicated it never + was. + </p> + <p> + The keynote to the sailor's treatment in the Navy may be said to have been + profane abuse. Officers of all ranks kept the Recording Angel fearfully + busy. With scarcely an exception they were men of blunt speech and rough + tongue who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, and the ordinary + seaman something many degrees worse. These were technicalities of the + service which had neither use nor meaning elsewhere. But to the navigation + of the ship, to daily routine and the maintenance of that exact discipline + on which the Navy prided itself, they were as essential as is milk to the + making of cheese. Nothing could be done without them. Decent language was + thrown away upon a set of fellows who had been bred in that very shambles + of language, the merchant marine. To them "'twas just all the same as High + Dutch." They neither understood it nor appreciated its force. But a volley + of thumping oaths, bellowed at them from the brazen throat of a + speaking-trumpet, and freely interlarded with adjectives expressive of the + foulness of their persons, and the ultimate state and destination of their + eyes and limbs, saved the situation and sometimes the ship. Officers + addicted to this necessary flow of language were sensible of only one + restraint. Visiting parties caused them embarrassment, and when this was + the case they fell back upon the tactics of the commander who, unable to + express himself with his usual fluency because of the presence of ladies + on the quarter-deck, hailed the foreyard-arm in some such terms as these: + "Foreyard-arm there! God bless you! God bless you! God bless you! <i>You + know what I mean!</i>" + </p> + <p> + Hard words break no bones, and to quarter-deck language, as such, the + sailor entertained no rooted objection. What he did object to, and object + to with all the dogged insistence of his nature, was the fact that this + habitual flow of profane scurrility was only the prelude to what, with + grim pleasantry, he was accustomed to describe as "serving out slops." + Anything intended to cover his back was "slops" to the sailor, and the + punishments meted out to him covered him like a garment. + </p> + <p> + The old code of naval laws, the <i>Monumenta Juridica</i> or <i>Black Book</i> + of the Admiralty, contained many curious disciplinary methods, not a few + of which too long survived the age they originated in. If, for instance, + one sailor robbed another and was found guilty of the crime, boiling pitch + was poured over his head and he was powdered with feathers "to mark him," + after which he was marooned on the first island the ship fell in with. + Seamen guilty of undressing themselves while at sea were ducked three + times from the yard-arm—a more humane use of that spar than + converting it into a gallows. On this code were based Admiral the Earl of + Lindsay's "Instructions" of 1695. These included ducking, keel-hauling, + fasting, flogging, weighting until the "heart or back be ready to break," + and "gogging" or scraping the tongue with hoop-iron for obscene or profane + swearing; for although the "gentlemen of the quarter-deck" might swear to + their heart's content, that form of recreation was strictly taboo in other + parts of the ship. Here we have the origin of the brutal discipline of the + next century, summed up in the Consolidation Act of George II. [Footnote: + 22 George II. c. 33.]—an Act wherein ten out of thirty-six articles + awarded capital punishment without option, and twelve death or minor + penalties. + </p> + <p> + Of the latter, the one most commonly in use was flogging at the gangway or + jears. This duty fell to the lot of the boatswain's mate. [Footnote: "As + it is the Custom of the Army to punish with the Drums, so it is the known + Practice of the Navy to punish with the Boatswain's Mate."—<i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1482—Capt. (afterwards Admiral) Boscawen, 25 Feb. + 1746-7.] The instrument employed was the cat-o'-nine-tails, the regulation + dose twelve lashes; but since the actual number was left to the captain's + discretion or malice, as the case might be, it not infrequently ran into + three figures. Thus John Watts, able seaman on board H.M.S. <i>Harwich,</i> + Capt. Andrew Douglas commander, in 1704 received one hundred and seventy + lashes for striking a shipmate in self-defence, his captain meanwhile + standing by and exhorting the boatswain's mate to "Swinge the Dog, for hee + has a Tough Hide"—and that, too, with a cat waxed to make it bite + the harder. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5265—Courts-Martial, + 1704-5.] + </p> + <p> + It was just this unearned increment of blows—this dash of bitter + added to the regulation cup—that made Jack's gorge rise. He was not + the sort of chap, it must be confessed, to be ruled with a feather. "An + impudent rascal" at the best of times, he often "deserved a great deal and + had but little." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1472—Capt. + Balchen, 26 Jan. 1716-7.] But unmerited punishment, too often devilishly + devised, maliciously inflicted and inhumanly carried out, broke the back + of his sense of justice, already sadly overstrained, and inspired him with + a mortal hatred of all things naval. + </p> + <p> + For the slightest offence he was "drubbed at the gears"; for serious + offences, from ship to ship. If, when reefing topsails on a dark night or + in the teeth of a sudden squall, he did not handle the canvas with all the + celerity desired by the officer of the watch, he and his fellow yardsmen + were flogged <i>en bloc</i>. He was made to run the gauntlet, often with + the blood gushing from nose and ears as the result of a previous dose of + the cat, until he fell to the deck comatose and at the point of death. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1466—Complaint of ye Abuse of + a Sayler in the <i>Litchfield</i>, 1704. In this case the man actually + died.] Logs of wood were bound to his legs as shackles, and whatever the + nature of his offence, he invariably began his expiation of it, the + preliminary canter, so to speak, in irons. If he had a lame leg or a bad + foot, he was "started" with a rope's-end as a "slacker." If he happened to + be the last to tumble up when his watch was called, the rattan [Footnote: + Carried at one time by both commissioned and warrant officers.] raised + weals on his back or drew blood from his head; and, as if to add insult to + injury, for any of these, and a hundred and one other offences, he was + liable to be black-listed and to lose his allowance of grog. + </p> + <p> + Some things, too, were reckoned sins aboard ship which, unhappily for the + sailor, could not well be avoided. Laughing, or even permitting the + features to relax in a smile in the official presence, was such a sin. "He + beats us for laughing," declare the company of the <i>Solebay</i>, in a + complaint against their commander, "more like Doggs than Men." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1435—Capt. Aldred, 29 Feb. 1703-4.] One + of the <i>Nymph's</i> company, in or about the year 1797, received three + dozen for what was officially termed "Silent Contempt"—"which was + nothing more than this, that when flogged by the boatswain's mate the man + smiled." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Petitions, + 1793-7.] This was the "Unpardonable Crime" of the service. + </p> + <p> + Contrariwise, a man was beaten if he sulked. And as a rule the sailor was + sulky enough. Works of supererogation, such as polishing everything + polishable—the shot for the guns, in extreme cases, not even + excepted—until it shone like the tropical sun at noonday, left him + little leisure or inclination for mirth. "Very pretty to look at," said + Wellington, when confronted with these glaring evidences of + hyper-discipline, "but there is one thing wanting. I have not seen a + bright face in the ship." + </p> + <p> + A painful tale of discipline run mad, or nearly so, is unfolded by that + fascinating series of sailor-records, the Admiralty Petitions. Many of + them, it must in justice be owned, bear unqualified testimony to the + kindness and humanity of officers; but in the great majority of cases the + evidence they adduce is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And if their + language is sometimes bombastic, if their style is almost uniformly + illiterate, if they are the productions of a band of mutinous dogs + standing out for rights which they never possessed and deserving of a + halter rather than a hearing, these are circumstances that do not in the + least detract from the veracity of the allegations they advance. The + sailor appealed to his king, or to the Admiralty, "the same as a child to + its father"; and no one who peruses the story of his wrongs, as set forth + in these documents, can doubt for a moment that he speaks the truth with + all a child's simplicity. + </p> + <p> + The seamen of the <i>Reunion</i> open the tale of oppression and + ill-usage. "Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in + Salt Water and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look as + Clean as if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's Grog + which has the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not Tyd to + please him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the <i>Amphitrite</i> + "flogging is their portion." The men of the <i>Winchelsea</i> "wold sooner + be Shot at like a Targaite than to Remain." The treatment systematically + meted out to the <i>Shannon's</i> crew is more than the heart "can + Cleaverly Bear"—enough, in short, to make them "rise and Steer the + Ship into an Enemies Port." The seamen of the <i>Glory</i> are made + wretched by "beating, blacking, tarring, putting our heads in Bags," and + by being forced to "drink half a Gallon of Salt Water" for the most + trivial breaches of discipline or decorum. On the <i>Blanch,</i> if they + get wet and hang or spread their clothes to dry, the captain "thros them + overboard." The <i>Nassau's</i> company find it impossible to put the + abuse they receive on paper. It is "above Humanity." Though put on board + to fight for king and country, they are used worse than dogs. They have no + encouragement to "face the Enemy with a chearful Heart." Besides being + kept "more like Convicts than free-born Britons," the <i>Nymph's</i> + company have an unspeakable grievance. "When Engaged with the Enemy off + Brest, March the 9th, 1797, they even Beat us at our Quarters, though on + the Verge of Eternity." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5l25—Petitions, + 1793-7.] + </p> + <p> + On the principle advanced by Rochefoucault, that there is something not + displeasing to us in the misfortunes of our friends, the sailor doubtless + derived a sort of negative satisfaction from the fact that he was not the + only one on shipboard liable to the pains and penalties of irascibility, + brutality and excessive disciplinary zeal. Particularly was this true of + his special friend the "sky-pilot" or chaplain, that super-person who + perhaps most often fell a victim to quarter-deck ebullitions. Notably + there is on record the case of one John Cruickshank, chaplain of H.M.S. <i>Assurance,</i> + who was clapped in irons, court-martialled and dismissed the service + merely because he happened to take—what no sailor could ever condemn + him for-a drop too much, and whilst in that condition insisted on + preaching to the ship's company when they were on the very point of going + into action. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5265—Courts-Martial, + 1704-5. His zeal was unusual. Most naval chaplains thought "of nothing + more than making His Majesty's ships sinecures"] There is also that other + case of the "saucy Surgeon of the <i>Seahorse</i>" who incurred his + captain's dire displeasure all on account of candles, of which necessary + articles he, having his wife on board, thought himself entitled to a more + liberal share than was consistent with strict naval economy; and who was, + moreover, so "troblesome about his Provisions, that if he did not always + Chuse out of ye best in ye whole Ship," he straightway got his back up and + "threatened to Murder the Steward." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1470—Capt. Blowers, 3 Jan. 1710-11.] Such interludes as these would + assuredly have proved highly diverting to the foremast-man had it not been + for the cat and that savage litter of minor punishments awaiting the man + who smiled. + </p> + <p> + In the matter of provisions, there can be little doubt that the sailor + shared to the full the desire evinced by the surgeon of the <i>Seahorse</i> + to take blood-vengeance upon someone on account of them. His + "belly-timber," as old Misson so aptly if indelicately describes it, was + mostly worm-eaten or rotten, his drink indescribably nasty. + </p> + <p> + Charles II. is said to have made his breakfast off ship's diet the morning + he left the <i>Naseby,</i> and to have pronounced it good; and Nelson in + 1803 declared it "could not possibly be improved upon." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 580-Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Such, + however, was not the opinion of the chaplain of the <i>Dartmouth,</i> for + after dining with his captain on an occasion which deserves to become + historic, he swore that "although he liked that Sort of Living very well, + as for the King's Allowance there was but a Sheat of Browne Paper between + it and Hell." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1464—Misdemenors + Comited by Mr Edward Lewis, Chapling on Board H. M. Shipp Dartmouth, 1 + Oct. 1702.] Which of these opinions came nearest to the truth, the sequel + will serve to show. + </p> + <p> + On the face of it the sailor's dietary was not so bad. A ship's stores, in + 1719, included ostensibly such items as bread, wine, beef, pork, peas, + oatmeal, butter, cheese, water and beer, and if Jack had but had his fair + share of these commodities, and had it in decent condition, he would have + had little reason to grumble about the king's allowance. Unhappily for + him, the humanities of diet were little studied by the Victualling Board. + </p> + <p> + Taking the beef, the staple article of consumption on shipboard, cooking + caused it to shrink as much as 45 per cent., thus reducing the sailor's + allowance by nearly one-half. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1495—Capt. + Barrington, 23 Dec. 1770.] The residuum was often "mere carrion," totally + unfit for human consumption. "Junk," the sailor contemptuously called it, + likening it, in point of texture, digestibility and nutritive properties, + to the product of picked oakum, which it in many respects strongly + resembled. The pork, though it lost less in the cooking, was rancid, + putrid stuff, repellent in odour and colour-particulars in which it found + close competitors in the butter and cheese, which had often to be thrown + overboard because they "stunk the ship." [Footnote: To disinfect a ship + after she had been fouled by putrid rations or disease, burning sulphur + and vinegar were commonly employed. Their use was preferable to the means + adopted by the carpenter of the <i>Feversham</i>, who in order to "sweeten + ship" once "turn'd on the cock in the hould" and through forgetfulness + "left it running for eighteen howers," thereby not only endangering the + vessel's safety, but incidentally spoiling twenty-one barrels of powder in + the magazine.—<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2653—Capt. Watson, + 18 April 1741.] The peas "would not break." Boiled for eight hours on end, + they came through the ordeal "almost as hard as shott." Only the biscuit, + apart from the butter and cheese, possessed the quality of softness. Damp, + sea-water, mildew and weevil converted "hard" into "soft tack" and added + another horror to the sailor's mess. The water he washed these varied + abominations down with was frequently "stuff that beasts would cough at." + His beer was no better. It would not keep, and was in consequence both + "stinking and sour." [Footnote: According to Raleigh, old oil and fish + casks were used for the storing of ship's beer in Elizabeth's reign.] + Although the contractor was obliged to make oath that he had used both + malt and hops in the brewing, it often consisted of nothing more + stimulating than "water coloured and bittered," and sometimes the "stingy + dog of a brewer" even went so far as to omit the "wormwood." + </p> + <p> + Such a dietary as this made a meal only an unavoidable part of the day's + punishment and inspired the sailor with profound loathing. "Good Eating is + an infallible Antidote against murmuring, as many a Big-Belly Place-Man + can instance," he says in one of his petitions. Poor fellow! his + opportunities of putting it to the test were few enough. On Mondays, + Wednesdays and Fridays, the so-called Banyan days of the service, when his + hateful ration of meat was withheld and in its stead he regaled himself on + plum-duff—the "plums," according to an old regulation, "not worse + than Malaga"—he had a taste of it. Hence the banyan day, though in + reality a fast-day, became indelibly associated in his simple mind and + vocabulary with occasions of feasting and plenty, and so remains to this + day. + </p> + <p> + If the sailor's only delicacy was duff, his only comforts were rum and + tobacco, and to explore some unknown island, and discover therein a goodly + river of the famous Jamaica spirit, flowing deep and fragrant between + towering mountains of "pig tail," is commonly reputed to have been the + cherished wish of his heart. With tobacco the Navy Board did not provide + him, nor afford dishonest pursers opportunity to "make dead men chew," + [Footnote: Said of pursers who manipulated the Muster Books, which it was + part of their duty to keep, in such a way as to make it appear that men + "discharged dead" had drawn a larger quantity of tobacco than was actually + the case, the difference in value of course going into their own pockets.] + until 1798; but rum they allowed him at a comparatively early date. When + sickness prevailed on board, when beer ran short or had to be turned over + the side to preserve a sweet ship, rum or wine was issued, and although + the Admiralty at first looked askance at the innovation, and at times left + commanders of ships to foot the bill for spirits thus served out, the + practice made gradual headway, until at length it ousted beer altogether + and received the stamp of official approval. Half a pint, dealt out each + morning and evening in equal portions, was the regular allowance—a + quantity often doubled were the weather unusually severe or the men + engaged in the arduous duty of watering ship. At first the ration of rum + was served neat and appreciated accordingly; but about 1740 the practice + of adding water was introduced. This was Admiral Vernon's doing. Vernon + was best known to his men as "Old Grog," a nickname originating in a + famous grogram coat he affected in dirty weather; and as the rum and water + now served out to them was little to their liking, they marked their + disapproval of the mixture, as well as of the man who invented it, by + dubbing it "grog." The sailor was not without his sense of humour. + </p> + <p> + The worst feature of rum, from the sailor's point of view, worse by far + than dilution, was the fact that it could be so easily stopped. Here his + partiality for the spirit told heavily against him. His grog was stopped + because he liked it, rather than because he deserved to lose it. The + malice of the thing did not make for a contented ship. + </p> + <p> + The life of the man-o'-war's-man, according to Lord Nelson, was on an + average "finished at forty-five years." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 580—Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Bad food and + strenuous labour under exceptionally trying conditions sapped his vitals, + made him prematurely old, and exposed him to a host of ills peculiar to + his vocation. He "fell down daily," to employ the old formula, in spotted + or putrid fevers. He was racked by agues, distorted by rheumatic pains, + ruptured or double-ruptured by the strain of pulling, hauling and lifting + heavy weights. He ate no meal without incurring the pangs of acute + indigestion, to which he was fearfully subject. He was liable to a + "prodigious inflammation of the head, nose and eyes," occasioned by + exposure. Scurvy, his most inveterate and merciless enemy, "beat up" for + him on every voyage and dragged his brine-sodden body down to a lingering + death. Or, did he escape these dangers and a watery grave, protracted + disease sooner or later rendered him helpless, or a brush with the enemy + disabled him for ever from earning his bread. + </p> + <p> + His surgeons were, as a rule, a sorry lot. Not only were they deficient in + numbers, they commonly lacked both professional training and skill. Their + methods were consequently of the crudest description, and long continued + so. The approved treatment for rupture, to which the sailor was painfully + liable, was to hang the patient up by the heels until the prolapsus was + reduced. Pepys relates how he met a seaman returning from fighting the + Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped with oakum," and as late at least as + the Battle of Trafalgar it was customary, in amputations, to treat the + bleeding stump with boiling pitch as a cauterant. In his general attitude + towards the sick and wounded the old-time naval surgeon was not unlike + Garth, Queen Anne's famous physician. At the Kit Cat Club he one day sat + so long over his wine that Steele ventured to remind him of his patients. + "No matter," said Garth. "Nine have such bad constitutions that no + physician can save them, and the other six such good ones that all the + physicans in the world could not kill them." + </p> + <p> + Many were the devices resorted to in order to keep the man-o'-war's-man + healthy and fit. As early as 1602 a magic electuary, invented by one + "Doctor Cogbourne, famous for fluxes," was by direction of the Navy + Commissioners supplied for his use in the West Indies. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1464—Capt. Barker, 14 Oct. 1702.] By Admiral Vernon + and his commanders he was dosed freely with "Elixir of Vitriol," which + they not only "reckoned the best general medicine next to rhubarb," but + pinned their faith to as a sovereign specific for scurvy and fevers. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 161—Admiral Vernon, 31 Oct. + 1741.] Lime-juice, known as a valuable anti-scorbutic as early as the days + of Drake and Raleigh, was not added to his rations till 1795. He did not + find it very palatable. The secret of fortifying it was unknown, and oil + had to be floated on its surface to make it keep. Sour-crout was much more + to his taste as a preventive of scurvy, and in 1777, at the request of + Admiral Montagu, then Governor and Commander-in-Chief over the Island of + Newfoundland, the Admiralty caused to be sent out, for the use of the + squadron on that station, where vegetables were unprocurable, a sufficient + quantity of that succulent preparation to supply twelve hundred men for a + period of two months. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 471—Admiral + Montagu, 28 Feb. 1777, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + Rice the sailor detested. Of all species of "soft tack" it was least to + his liking. He nicknamed it "strike-me-blind," being firmly convinced that + its continued use would rob him of his eyesight. Tea was not added to his + dietary till 1824, but as early as 1795 he could regale himself on cocoa. + For the rest, sugar, essence of malt, essence of spruce, mustard, cloves, + opium and "Jesuits'" or Peruvian bark were considered essential to his + well-being on shipboard. He was further allowed a barber-one to every + hundred men-without whose attentions it was found impossible to keep him + "clean and healthy." + </p> + <p> + With books he was for many years "very scantily supplied." It was not till + 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he had + practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with the + quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of literature + for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure with such + books as the <i>Old Chaplains Farewell Letter</i>, Wilson's <i>Maxims, The + Whole Duty of Man</i>, Seeker's <i>Duties of the Sick</i>, and, lest + returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his ailments, + Gibson's <i>Advice after Sickness</i>. Thousands of pounds were spent upon + this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet in strict + accordance with the amount of storage room available at the various + dockyards. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> Accountant-General, Misc. + (Various), No. l06—Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, + Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.] + </p> + <p> + A fundamental principle of man-o'-war routine was that the sailor formed + no part of it for hospital purposes. Hence sickness was not encouraged. If + the sailor-patient did not recover within a reasonable time, he was "put + on shore sick," sometimes to the great terror of the populace, who, were + he supposed to be afflicted with an infectious disease, fled from him "as + if he had the plague." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. + Young, 24 June 1740.] On shore he was treated for thirty days at his + country's charges. If incurable, or permanently disabled, he was then + turned adrift and left to shift for himself. A clean record and a + sufficiently serious wound entitled him to a small pension or admission to + Greenwich Hospital, an institution which had religiously docked his small + pay of sixpence a month throughout his entire service. Failing these, + there remained for him only the streets and the beggar's rôle. + </p> + <p> + His pay was far from princely. From 3d. a day in the reign of King John it + rose by grudging increments to 20s. a month in 1626, and 24s. in 1797. + Years sometimes elapsed before he touched a penny of his earnings, except + in the form of "slop" clothing and tobacco. Amongst the instances of + deferred wages in which the Admiralty records abound, there may be cited + the case of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, whose men in 1711 had four years' pay + due; and of the <i>Dunkirk</i>, to whose company, in the year following, + six and a half years' was owing. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1470—Capt. Bennett, 8 March 1710-11. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1471—Capt. Butler, 19 March, 1711-12,] And at the time of the Nore + Mutiny it was authoritatively stated that there were ships then in the + fleet which had not been paid off for eight, ten, twelve and in one + instance even fifteen years. "Keep the pay, keep the man," was the policy + of the century—a sadly mistaken policy, as we shall presently see. + </p> + <p> + In another important article of contentment the sailor was hardly better + off. The system of deferred pay amounted practically to a stoppage of all + leave for the period, however protracted, during which the pay was + withheld. Thus the <i>Monmouth's</i> men had in 1706 been in the ship + "almost six years, and had never had the opportunity of seeing their + families but once." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1468-Capt. + Baker, 3 Nov. 1706.] In Boscawen's ship, the <i>Dreadnought</i>, there + were in 1744 two hundred and fifty men who "had not set foot on shore near + two year." Admiral Penrose once paid off in a seventy-four at Plymouth, + many of whose crew had "never set foot on land for six or seven years"; + [Footnote: Penrose (Sir V. C., Vice-Admiral of the Blue), <i>Observations + on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc.,</i> 1824.] and Brenton, in his + <i>Naval History</i>, instances the case of a ship whose company, after + having been eleven years in the East Indies, on returning to England were + drafted straightway into another ship and sent back to that quarter of the + globe without so much as an hour's leave ashore. + </p> + <p> + What was true of pay and leave was also true of prize-money. The sailor + was systematically kept out of it, and hence out of the means of enjoyment + and carousal it afforded him, for inconscionable periods. From a moral + point of view the check was hardly to his detriment. But the Navy was not + a school of morals, and withholding the sailor's hard-earned prize-money + over an indefinite term of years neither made for a contented heart nor + enhanced his love for a service that first absorbed him against his will, + and then, having got him in its clutches, imposed upon and bested him at + every turn. + </p> + <p> + Although the prime object in withholding his pay was to prevent his + running from his ship, so far from compassing that desirable end it had + exactly the contrary effect. Both the preventive and the disease were of + long standing. With De Ruyter in the Thames in 1667, menacing London and + the kingdom, the seamen of the fleet flocked to town in hundreds, + clamouring for their wages, whilst their wives besieged the Navy Office in + Seething Lane, shrieking: "This is what comes of not paying our husbands!" + </p> + <p> + Essentially a creature of contradictions, the sailor rarely, if he could + avoid it, steered the course laid down for him, and in nothing perhaps was + this idiosyncrasy so glaringly apparent as in his behaviour as his + country's creditor. He "would get to London if he could." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. Young, 12 Dec. 1742.] "An unaccountable + humour" impelled him "to quit His Majesty's service without leave." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 480—Shirley, Governor of + Massachusetts, 12 Sept. 1746.] Once the whim seized him, no ties of + deferred pay or prize-money had power to hold him back. The one he could + obtain on conditions; the other he could dispose of at a discount which, + though ruinously heavy, still left him enough to frolic on. + </p> + <p> + The weapon of deferred pay was thus a two-edged one. If it hurt the + sailor, it also cut the fingers of those who employed it against him. So + exigent were the needs of the service, he could "run" with impunity. For + if he ran whilst his pay was in arrears, he did so with the full knowledge + that, barring untimely recapture by the press-gang, he would receive a + free pardon, together with payment of all dues, on the sole condition, + which he never kept if he could help it, of returning to his ship when his + money was gone. He therefore deserted for two reasons: First, to obtain + his pay; second, to spend it. + </p> + <p> + The penalty for desertion, under a well-known statute of George I., + [Footnote: 13 George I., art. 7.] was death by hanging. As time went on, + however, discipline in this respect suffered a grave relapse, and fear of + the halter no longer served to check the continual exodus from the fleet. + If the runaway sailor were taken, "it would only be a whipping bout." So + he openly boasted. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1479—Capt. + Boscawen, 26 April 1743.] The "bout," it is true, at times ran to six, or + even seven hundred lashes—the latter being the heaviest dose of the + cat ever administered in the British navy; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 482—Admiral Lord Colvill, 12 Nov. 1765.] but even this terrible + ordeal had no power to hold the sailor to his duty, and although Admiral + Lord St. Vincent, better known in his day as "hanging Jervis," did his + utmost to revive the ancient custom of stretching the sailor's neck, the + trend of the times was against him, and within twenty-five years of the + reaffirming of the penalty, in the 22nd year of George II., hanging for + desertion had become practically obsolete. + </p> + <p> + In the declining days of the practice a grim game at life and death was + played upon the deck of a king's ship lying in the River St. Lawrence. The + year was 1760. Quebec had only recently fallen before the British + onslaught. A few days before that event, at a juncture when every man in + the squadron was counted upon to play his part in the coming struggle, and + to play it well, three seamen, James Mike, Thomas Wilkinson and William + M'Millard by name, deserted from the <i>Vanguard</i>. Retaken some months + later, they were brought to trial; but as men were not easy to replace in + that latitude, the court, whilst sentencing all three to suffer the + extreme penalty of the law, added to their verdict a rider to the effect + that it would be good policy to spare two of them. Admiral Lord Colvill, + then Commander-in-Chief, issued his orders accordingly, and at eleven + o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July the condemned men, preceded to + the scaffold by two chaplains, were led to the <i>Vanguard's</i> + forecastle, where they drew lots to determine which of them should die. + The fatal lot fell to James Mike, who, in presence of the assembled boats + of the squadron, was immediately "turned off" at the foreyard-arm. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 482—Admiral Lord Colvill, 10 + July 1760; Captains' Logs, 1026—Log of H.M.S. <i>Vanguard</i>.] + </p> + <p> + Encouraged in this grim fashion, desertion assumed alarming proportions. + Nelson estimated that whenever a large convoy of merchant ships assembled + at Portsmouth, at least a thousand men deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 580—Memorandum on the State of the + Fleet, 1803.] This was a "liberty they would take," do what you could to + prevent it. + </p> + <p> + Of those who thus deserted fully one-third, according to the same high + authority, never saw the fleet again. "From loss of clothes, drinking and + other debaucheries" they were "lost by death to the country." Some few of + the remainder, after drinking His Majesty's health in a final bowl, + voluntarily returned on board and "prayed for a fair wind"; but the + majority held aloof, taking their chances and their pleasures in sailorly + fashion until, their last stiver gone, they fell an easy prey to the + press-gang or the crimp. + </p> + <p> + While the crimp was to the merchant service what the press-gang was to the + Navy, a kind of universal provider, there was in his method of preying + upon the sailor a radical difference. Like his French compeer, the + recruiting sergeant of the Pont Neuf in the days of Louis the + Well-Beloved, wherever sailors congregated the crimp might be heard + rattling his money-bags and crying: "Who wants any? Who wants any?" Where + the press-gang used the hanger or the cudgel, the crimp employed dollars. + The circumstance gave him a decided "pull" in the contest for men, for the + dollars he offered, whether in the way of pay or bounty, were invariably + fortified with rum. The two formed a contraption no sailor could resist. + "Money and liquor held out to a seaman," said Nelson, "are too much for + him." + </p> + <p> + In law the offence of enticing seamen to desert His Majesty's service, + like desertion itself, was punishable with death; [Footnote: 22 George n. + cap. 33.] but in fact the penalty was either commuted to imprisonment, or + the offender was dealt with summarily, without invoking the law. Crimps + who were caught red-handed had short shrift. Two of the fraternity, named + respectively Henry Nathan and Sampson Samuel, were once taken in the + Downs. "Send Nathan and Samuel," ran the Admiralty order in their case, + "to Plymouth by the first conveyance. Admiral Young is to order them on + board a ship going on foreign service as soon as possible." Another time + an officer, boarding a boat filled with men as it was making for an + Indiaman at Gravesend, found in her six crimps, all of whom suffered the + same fate. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1542—Capt. + Bazeley, 7 Feb. 1808. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1513—Capt. + Bowater, 12 June 1796.] + </p> + <p> + Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver cooped," + and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, it was + world-wide. In whatever waters a British man-o'-war cast anchor, there the + crimp appeared, plying his crafty trade. His assiduity paid a high + compliment to the sterling qualities of the British seaman, but for the + Navy it spelt wholesale depletion. + </p> + <p> + In home ports he was everywhere in evidence. No ship of war could lie in + Leith Roads but she lost a good part of her crew through his seductions. + "M'Kirdy & M'Lean, petty-fogging writers," were the chief crimps at + Greenock. Sheerness crimps gave "great advance money." Liverpool was + infested with them, all the leading merchant shippers at Bristol, London + and other great ports having "agents" there, who offered the + man-o'-war's-man tempting bounties and substantial wages to induce him to + desert his ship. A specially active agent of Bristol shipowners was one + Vernon Ley, who plied his trade chiefly at Exeter and Plymouth, whence he + was known to send to Bristol, in the space of six months, as many as + seventy or eighty men, whom he provided with postchaises for the journey + and 8 Pounds per man as bounty. James White, a publican who kept the "Pail + of Barm" at Bedminster, made a close second in his activity and success. + Spithead had its regular contingent of crimps, and many an East India ship + sailing from that famous anchorage was "entirely manned" by their efforts, + of course at the expense of the ships of war lying there. At Chatham, + crimpage bounty varied from fifteen to twenty guineas per head; and at + Cork, a favourite recruiting ground for both merchantmen and privateers, + the same sum could be had any day, with high wages to boot. + </p> + <p> + In the Crown Colonies a similar state of things prevailed. Queen's ships + visiting Jamaica in or about the year 1716 lost so heavily they scarce + dared venture the return voyage to England, their men having "gone + a-wrecking" in the Gulf of Florida, where one armed sloop was reputed to + have recovered Spanish treasure to the value of a hundred thousand + dollars. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1471—Capt. Balchen, + 13 May 1716.] Time did not lessen desertion in the island, though it + wrought a change in the cause. When Admiral Vernon was Commander-in-Chief + there in the forties, he lost five hundred men within a comparatively + short time—"seduced out," to use his own words, "through the + temptations of high wages and thirty gallons of rum, and conveyed drunk on + board from the punch-houses where they are seduced." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 233—Admiral Vernon, 5 Sept. 1742. A rare recruiting + sheet of 1780, which has for its headpiece a volunteer shouting: "Rum for + nothing!" describes Jamaica as "that delightful Island, abounding in Rum, + Sugar and Spanish Dollars, where there is delicious living and plenty of + GROGG and PUNCH."] + </p> + <p> + At Louisberg, in the Island of Cape Breton, the North American Squadron in + 1746 lost so many men through the seductions practised by New England + skippers frequenting that port, that Townsend, the admiral in command, + indited a strongly worded protest to Shirley, then Governor of + Massachusetts; but the latter, though deploring the "vile behaviour" of + the skippers in question, could do nothing to put a stop to it. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 480—Townsend, 17 Aug.; Shirley, 12 Sept. + 1746.] As a matter of fact he did not try. + </p> + <p> + On the coast of Carolina many of the English merchantmen in 1743 paid from + seventeen to twenty guineas for the run home, and in addition "as many + pounds of Sugar, Gallons of Rum and pounds of Tobacco as pounds in Money." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1 1479-Capt. Bladwell, 1 July 1743.] + </p> + <p> + The lust for privateering had much to answer for in this respect. So + possessed were the Virginians by the desire to get rich at the expense of + their enemies that they quite "forgot their allegiance to the King." By + the offer of inordinately high wages and rich prizes they did their utmost + to seduce carpenters, gunners, sailmakers and able seamen from His + Majesty's ships. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1480—Capt. + Lord Alexander Banff, 21 Oct. 1744.] Any ship forced to winter at Rhode + Island, again, always counted upon losing enough men to "disable her from + putting to sea" when the spring came. Here, too, the privateering spirit + was to blame, Rhode Island being notorious for its enterprise in that form + of piracy. Another impenitent sinner in her inroads upon the companies of + king's ships was Boston, where "a sett of people made it their Business" + to entice them away. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1440—Capt. + Askew, 27 Aug. 1748.] No ship could clean, refit, victual or winter there + without "the loss of all her men." Capt. Young, of the <i>Jason</i>, was + in 1753 left there with never a soul on board except "officers and + servants, widows' men, the quarter-deck gentlemen and those called + idlers." The rest had been seduced at 30 Pounds per head. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. Young, 6 Oct. 1753. The "widows' men" here + humorously alluded to would not add much to the effectiveness of the + depleted company. They were imaginary sailors, borne on the ship's books + for pay and prize-money which went to Greenwich Hospital.] + </p> + <p> + So it went on. Day in, day out, at home and abroad, this ceaseless drain + of men, linking hands in the decimation of the fleet with those able + adjutants Disease and Death, accentuated progressively and enormously the + naval needs of the country. For the apprehension and return of deserters + from ships in home ports a drag-net system of rewards and conduct-money + sprang into being; but this the sailor to some extent contrived to elude. + He "stuck a cockade in his hat" and made shift to pass for a soldier on + leave; or he laid furtive hands on a horse and set up for an equestrian + traveller. In the neighbourhood of all great seaport towns, as on all main + roads leading to that paradise and ultimate goal of the deserter, the + metropolis, horse-stealing by sailors "on the run" prevailed to an + alarming extent; and although there was a time when the law strung him up + for the crime of borrowing horses to help him on his way, as it had once + hanged him for deserting, the naval needs of the country eventually + changed all that and brought him a permanent reprieve. Thenceforth, + instead of sending the happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care felon to the + gallows, they turned him over to the press-gang and so re-consigned him, + penniless and protesting, to the duty he detested. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. — WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + </h2> + <p> + From the standpoint of a systematic supply of men to the fleet, the + press-gang was a legitimate means to an imperative end. This was the + official view. In how different a light the people came to regard the + petty man-trap of power, we shall presently see. + </p> + <p> + Designed as it was for the taking up of able-bodied adults, the main idea + in the formation of the gang was strength and efficiency. It was + accordingly composed of the stoutest men procurable, dare-devil fellows + capable of giving a good account of themselves in fight, or of carrying + off their unwilling prey against long odds. Brute strength combined with + animal courage being thus the first requisite of the ganger, it followed—not + perhaps as a matter of course so much as a matter of fact—that his + other qualities were seldom such as to endear him to the people. Wilkes + denounced him for a "lawless ruffian," and one of the newspapers of his + time describes him, with commendable candour and undeniable truth, as a + "profligate and abandoned wretch, perpetually lounging about the streets + and incessantly vomiting out oaths and horrid curses." [Footnote: <i>London + Chronicle,</i> 16 March 1762.] + </p> + <p> + The getting of a gang together presented little difficulty. The first + business of the officer charged with its formation was to find suitable + quarters, rent not to exceed twenty shillings a week, inclusive of fire + and candle. Here he hung out a flag as the sign of authority and a bait + for volunteers. As a rule, they were easily procurable. All the roughs of + the town were at his disposal, and when these did not yield material + enough recourse was had to beat of drum, that instrument, together with + the man who thumped it, being either hired at half-a-crown a day or + "loaned" from the nearest barracks. Selected members of the crowd thus + assembled were then plied with drink "to invite them to enter"—an + invitation they seldom refused. + </p> + <p> + It goes without saying that gangs raised in this manner were of an + exceedingly mixed character. On the principle of setting a thief to catch + a thief, seafaring men of course had first preference, but landsmen were + by no means excluded. The gang operating at Godalming in 1782 may be cited + as typical of the average inland gang. It consisted of three farmers, one + weaver, one bricklayer, one labourer, and two others whose regular + occupations are not divulged. They were probably sailors. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1502—Capt. Boston, Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] + </p> + <p> + Landsmen entered on the express understanding that they should not be + pressed when the gang broke up. Sailor gangsmen, on the contrary, enjoyed + no such immunity. The most they could hope for, when their arduous duties + came to an end, was permission to "choose their ship." The concession was + no mean one. By choosing his ship discreetly the gangsman avoided + encounters with men he had pressed, thus preserving his head unbroken and + his skin intact. + </p> + <p> + Ship-gangs, unlike those operating on land, were composed entirely of + seamen. For dash, courage and efficiency, they had no equal and few + rivals. + </p> + <p> + Apart from the officers commanding it, the number of men that went to the + making of a gang varied from two to twenty or more according to the + urgency of the occasion that called it into being and the importance or + ill-repute of the centre selected as the scene of its operations. For + Edinburgh and Leith twenty-one men, directed by a captain, two lieutenants + and four midshipmen, were considered none too many. Greenock kept the same + number of officers and twenty men fully employed, for here there was much + visiting of ships on the water, a fast cutter being retained for that + purpose. The Liverpool gang numbered eighteen men, directed by seven + officers and backed by a flotilla of three tenders, each under the command + of a special lieutenant. Towns such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great + Yarmouth, Cowes and Haverfordwest also had gangs of at least twenty men + each, with boats as required; and Deal, Dover and Folkstone five gangs + between them, totalling fifty men and fifteen officers, and employing as + many boats as gangs for pressing in the Downs. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +In the case of ship-gangs, operating directly from a ship of war in +harbour or at sea, the officers in charge were as a matter of course +selected from the available ward or gun-room contingent. Few, if any, of +the naval men whose names at one time or another spring into prominence +during the century, escaped this unpleasant but necessary duty in their +younger days. But on shore an altogether different order of things +prevailed. + + [Illustration: MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a +rare print in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley.] +</pre> + <p> + The impress service ashore was essentially the grave of promotion. Whether + through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high places, the + officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, service + derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or of again + commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat spoke of + them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the fictitious rank + denoting a kind of service quarantine that knew no pratique. + </p> + <p> + Like the salt junk of the foremast—man, the Yellow Admiral got + fearfully "out of character" through over-keeping. With the service he + lost all touch save in one degrading particular. His pay was better than + his reputation, but his position was isolated, his duties and his actions + subject to little official supervision. With opportunity came peculiar + temptations to bribery and peculation, and to these he often succumbed. + The absence of congenial society frequently weighed heavy upon him and + drove him to immoderate drinking. Had he lived a generation or so later + the average impress officer ashore could have echoed with perfect truth, + and almost nightly iteration, the crapulous sentiment in which Byron is + said to have toasted his hosts when dining on board H.M.S. <i>Hector</i> + at Malta:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, + Was ever mortal drunk as I am!" +</pre> + <p> + [Footnote: The authenticity of the anecdote, notwithstanding the fact that + it was long current in naval circles, is more than doubtful. When Bryon + visited Malta in 1808 the <i>Hector</i> was doing duty at Plymouth as a + prison-ship, and naval records disclose no other ship of that name till + 1864.] + </p> + <p> + A lieutenant attached to the gang at Chester is responsible for a piece of + descriptive writing, of a biographical nature, which perhaps depicts the + impress officer of the century at his worst. Addressing a brother + lieutenant at Waterford, to which station his superior was on the point of + being transferred, "I think but right," says he, "to give you a character + of Capt. P., who is to be your Regulating Captain. I have been with him + six months here, and if it had not been that he is leaving the place, I + should have wrote to the Board of Admiralty to have been removed from + under his command. At first you'll think him a Fine old Fellow, but if + it's possible he will make you Quarrel with all your Acquaintance. Be very + Careful not to Introduce him to any Family that you have a regard for, for + although he is near Seventy Years of Age, he is the greatest Debauchee you + ever met with—a Man of No Religion, a Man who is Capable of any + Meanness, Arbitrary and Tyrannicall in his Disposition. This City has been + several times just on the point of writing against him to the Board of + Admiralty. He has a wife, and Children grown up to Man's Estate. The Woman + he brings over with him is Bird the Builder's Daughter. To Conclude, there + is not a House in Chester that he can go into but his own and the + Rendezvous, after having been Six Months in one of the agreeablest Cities + in England." [Footnote: <i>Ad,</i> 1. 1500—Lieut. Shuckford, 7 March + 1780.] + </p> + <p> + Ignorant of the fact that his reputation had thus preceded him, Capt. P. + found himself assailed, on his arrival at Waterford, by a "most Infamous + Epitaph," emanating none knew whence, nor cared. This circumstance, + accentuated by certain indiscretions of which the hectoring old officer + was guilty shortly after his arrival, aroused strong hostility against + him. A mob of fishwives, attacking his house at Passage, smashed the + windows and were with difficulty restrained from levelling the place with + the ground. His junior officers conspired against him. Piqued by the loss + of certain perquisites which the newcomer remorselessly swept away, they + denounced him to the Admiralty, who ordered an inquiry into his conduct. + After a hearing of ten days it went heavily against him, practically every + charge being proved. He was immediately superseded and never again + employed—a sad ending to a career of forty years under such men as + Anson, Boscawen, Hawke and Vernon. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1500—Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780, and enclosures constituting the + inquiry.] Yet such was the ultimate fate of many an impress officer. A + stronger light focussed him ashore, and habits, proclivities and + weaknesses that escaped censure at sea, were here projected odiously upon + the sensitive retina of public opinion. + </p> + <p> + Of the younger men who drifted into the shore service there were some, it + need scarcely be said, who for obvious reasons escaped, or, rather, did + not succumb to the common odium. A notable example of this type of officer + was Capt. Jahleel Brenton, who for some years commanded the gangs at Leith + and Greenock. Though a man of blunt sensibilities and speech, he possessed + qualities which carried him out of the stagnant back-water of pressing + into the swim of service afloat, where he eventually secured a baronetcy + and the rank of Vice-Admiral. Singularly enough, he was American-born. + </p> + <p> + The senior officer in charge of a gang, commonly known as the Regulating + Captain, might in rank be either captain or lieutenant. It was his duty to + hire, but not to "keep" the official headquarters of the gang, to organise + that body, to direct its operations, to account for all moneys expended + and men pressed, and to "regulate" or inspect the latter and certify them + fit for service or otherwise. In this last-named duty a surgeon often + assisted him, usually a local practitioner, who received a shilling a head + for his pains. One or more lieutenants, each of whom had one or more + midshipmen at his beck and call, served under the Regulating Captain. They + "kept" the headquarters and led the gang, or contingents of the gang, on + pressing forays, thus coming in for much of the hard work, and many of the + harder knocks, that unpopular body was liable to. Sometimes, as in the + case of Dover, Deal and Folkestone, several gangs were grouped under a single + regulating officer. + </p> + <p> + The pay of the Regulating Captain was 1 Pound a day, with an additional + 5s. subsistence money. Lieutenants received their usual service pay, and + for subsistence 3s. 6d. In special cases grants were made for coach-hire + [Footnote: Capt. William Bennett's bill for the double journey between + Waterford and Cork, on the occasion of the inquiry into the conduct of the + Regulating Officer at the former place, over which he presided, amounted + to forty-three guineas—a sum he considered "as moderate as any + gentleman's could have been, laying aside the wearing of my uniform every + day." Half the amount went in chaise and horse hire, "there being," we are + told, "no chaises upon the road as in England," and "only one to be had at + Cork, all the rest being gone to Dublin with the Lawyers and the Players, + the Sessions being just ended and the Play House broke up" (<i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1503—Capt. Bennett, 24 March 1782). Nelson's bill for + posting from Burnham, Norfolk, to London and back, 260 miles, in the year + 1789, amounted to 19 Pounds, 55. 2d. (<i>Admiralty Records</i> Victualling + Dept, Miscellanea, No. 26).] and such purposes as "entertainments to the + Mayor and Corporation, the Magistrates and the Officers of the Regulars + and the Militia, by way of return for their civilities and for their + assistance in carrying on the impress." The grant to the Newcastle + officers, under this head, in 1763 amounted to upwards of 93 Pounds. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1493—Capt. Bover, 6 March + 1763, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + "Road-money" was generally allowed at the rate of 3d. a mile for officers + and 1d. a mile for gangers when on the press; but as a matter of fact + these modest figures were often largely exceeded—to the no small + emolument of the regulating officer. Lieut. Gaydon, commanding at + Ilfracombe, in 1795 debited the Navy Board with a sum of 148 Pounds for + 1776 miles of travel; Capt. Gibbs, of Swansea, with 190 Pounds for 1561 + miles; and Capt. Longcroft, of Haverfordwest, with 524 Pounds for 8388 + miles—a charge characterised by Admiral M'Bride, who that year + reported upon the working of the impress, as "immense." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] He might well + have used a stronger term. + </p> + <p> + An item which it was at one time permissible to charge, possesses a + special interest. This was a bonus of 1s. a head on all men pressed—a + bonus that was in reality nothing more than the historic prest shilling of + other days, now no longer paid to pressed men, diverted into the pockets + of those who did the pressing. The practice, however, was short-lived. + Tending as it did to fill the ships with unserviceable men, it was + speedily discontinued and the historic shilling made over to the + certifying surgeon. + </p> + <p> + The shore midshipman could boast but little affinity with his namesake of + the quarter-deck. John Richards, midshipman of the Godalming gang, had + never in his life set foot on board a man-of-war or been to sea. His age + was forty. The case of James Good, of Hull, is even more remarkable. He + had served as "Midshipman of the Impress" for thirty years out of + sixty-three. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1455—Capt. + Acklom, 6 Oct. 1814. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1.1502—Capt. Boston, + Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] The pay of these elderly youths at no time + exceeded a guinea a week. + </p> + <p> + The gangsman was more variously, if not more generously remunerated. At + Deal, in 1743, he had 1s. per day for his boat, and "found himself," or, + in the alternative, "ten shillings for every good seaman procured, in full + for his trouble and the hire of the boat." At Dover, in 1776, he received + 2s. 6d. a day; at Godalming, six years later, 10s. 6d. a week; and at + Exeter, during the American War of Independence, when the demand for + seamen was phenomenal, 14s. a week, 5s. for every man pressed, and + clothing and shoes "when he deserved it." Pay and allowances were thus far + from uniform. Both depended largely upon the scarcity or abundance of + suitable gangsmen, the demand for seamen, and the astuteness of the + officer organising the gang. Some gangs not on regular wages received as + much as "twenty shillings for each man impressed, and six-pence a mile for + as many miles as they could make it appear each man had travelled, not + exceeding twenty, besides (a noteworthy addition) the twelve-pence + press-money "; but if a man pressed under these conditions were found to + be unserviceable after his appearance on shipboard, all money + considerations for his capture were either withheld or recalled. On the + whole, considering the arduous and disagreeable nature of the gangsman's + calling, the Navy Board cannot be accused of dealing any too generously by + him. + </p> + <p> + "If ever you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the captains + and pursers," Charles II. is credited with having once said to his + council, "you may go to bed." What in this sense was true of the service + afloat was certainly not less true of that loosely organised and laxly + supervised naval department, the impress ashore. Considering the repute of + the officers engaged in it, and the opportunities they enjoyed for + peculation and the taking of bribes—considering, above all, the + extreme difficulty of keeping a watchful eye upon officers scattered + throughout the length and breadth of the land, the wonder is, not that + irregularities crept in, but that they should have been, upon the whole, + so few and so venial. + </p> + <p> + To allow the gangsmen to go fishing for sea-fish or dredging for oysters, + as was commonly done when there was little prospect of a catch on land, + was no more heinous than the custom prevailing—to everybody's + knowledge—at King's Lynn in Norfolk, where the gang had no need to + go a-fishing because, regularly as the cobbles came in, the midshipman + attached to the gang appeared on the quay and had the "insolence to demand + Three of the Best Fysh for the Regulating Captain, the Lieutenant and + himself." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1546—Petition of + the Owners of the Fishing Cobbles of Lynn, 3 March 1809.] And if, again, + rating a gangsman in choicest quarterdeck language were no serious + offence, why should not the Regulating Captain rate his son as midshipman, + even though "not proper to be employed as such." And similarly, granting + it to be right to earn half a sovereign by pressing a man contrary to law, + where was the wrong in "clearing him of the impress" for the same amount, + as was commonly done by the middies at Sunderland and Shields. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1557—Capt. Bell, 27 June 1806, + enclosure.] These were works of supererogation rather than sins against + the service, and little official notice was taken of them unless, as in + the case of Liverpool, they were carried to such lengths as to create a + public scandal. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral + Child, 30 Jan. 1800.] + </p> + <p> + There were, as a matter of course, some officers in the service who went + far beyond the limits of such venial irregularities and, like Falstaff, + "misused the king's press damnably." Though according to the terms of + their warrant they were "to take care not to demand or receive any money, + gratuity, reward, or any other consideration whatsoever for the sparing, + exchanging or discharging any person or persons impressed or to be + impressed," the taking of "gratifications" for these express purposes + prevailed to a notorious extent. The difficulty was to fasten the offence + upon the offenders. "Bailed men," as they were called, did not "peach." + Their immunity from the press was too dearly bought to admit of their + indulging personal animus against the officer who had taken their money. + It was only through some tangle of circumstance over which the delinquent + had no control that the truth leaked out. Such a case was that of the + officer in command of the <i>Mary</i> tender at Sunderland, a lieutenant + of over thirty years' standing. Having pressed one Michael Dryden, a + master's mate whom he ought never to have pressed at all, he so far + "forgot" himself as to accept a bribe of 15 Pounds for the man's release, + and then, "having that day been dining with a party of military officers," + forgot to release the man. The double lapse of memory proved his ruin. + Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the unfortunately + constituted lieutenant was "broke" and black-listed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2740—Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June 1798, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + Another species of fraud upon which the Admiralty was equally severe, was + that long practised with impunity by a certain regulating officer at + Poole. Not only did he habitually put back the dates on which men were + pressed, thus "bearing" them for subsistence money they never received, he + made it a further practice to enter on his books the names of fictitious + pressed men who opportunely "escaped" after adding their quota to his + dishonest perquisites. So general was misappropriation of funds by means + of this ingenious fraud that detection was deservedly visited with instant + dismissal. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1526—Capt. Boyle, + 2 Oct. 1801, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + Though to the gangsman all things were reputedly lawful, some things were + by no means expedient. He could with impunity deprive almost any + ablebodied adult of his freedom, and he could sometimes, with equal + impunity, add to his scanty earnings by restoring that freedom for a + consideration in coin of the realm; but when, like Josh Cooper, sometime + gangsman at Hull, he extended his prerogative to the occupants of + hen-roosts, he was apt to find himself at cross-purposes with the law as + interpreted by the sitting magistrates. + </p> + <p> + Amongst less questionable perquisites accruing to the gangsman two only + need be mentioned here. One was the "straggling-money" paid to him for the + apprehension of deserters—20s. for every deserter taken, with + "conduct" money to boot; the other, the anker of brandy designedly thrown + overboard by smugglers when chased by a gang engaged in pressing afloat. + Occasionally the brandy checked the pursuit; but more often it gave an + added zest to the chase and so hastened the capture of the fugitive + donors. + </p> + <p> + To the unscrupulous outsider the opportunities for illicit gain afforded + by the service made an irresistible appeal. Sham gangs and make-believe + press-masters abounded, thriving exceedingly upon the fears and credulity + of the people until capture put a term to their activities and sent them + to the pillory, the prison or the fleet they pretended to cater for. + </p> + <p> + Their mode of operation seldom varied. They pressed a man, and then took + money for "discharging" him; or they threatened to press and were bought + off. One Philpot was in 1709 fined ten nobles and sentenced to the pillory + for this fraud. He had many imitators, amongst them John Love, who posed + as a midshipman, and William Moore, his gangsman, both of whom were + eventually brought to justice and turned over to His Majesty's ships. + </p> + <p> + The rôle adopted by these last-named pretenders was a favourite one with + men engaged in crimping for the merchant service. Shrewsbury in 1780 + received a visit from one of these individuals—"a Person named + Hopkins, who appeared in a Lieutenant's Uniform and committed many + fraudulant Actions and Scandalous Abuses in raising Men," as he said, "for + the Navy." Two months later another impostor of the same type appeared at + Birmingham, where he scattered broadcast a leaflet, headed with the royal + arms and couched in the following seductive terms: "Eleven Pounds for + every Able Seaman, Five Pounds for every ordinary Seaman, and Three Pounds + for every Able-bodied Landsman, exclusive of a compleat set of Sea + Clothing, given by the Marine Society. All Good Seamen, and other hearty + young Fellows of Spirit, that are willing to serve on board any of His + Majesty's Vessels or Ships of War, Let them with Chearfulness repair to + the Sailors' Head Rendezvous in this Town, where a proper Officer attends, + who will give them every encouragement they can desire. Now my Jolly Lads + is the time to fill your Pockets with Dollars, Double Doubloon's & + Luidores. Conduct Money allowed, Chest and Bedding sent Carriage Free." + Soon after, the two united forces at Coventry, whither Capt. Beecher + desired to "send a party to take them," but to this request the Admiralty + turned a deaf ear. In their opinion the game was not worth the candle. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1500—Letters of Capt. + Beecher, 1780] + </p> + <p> + Ex-midshipman Rookhad, who when dismissed the service took to boarding + vessels in the Thames and extorting money and liquor from the masters as a + consideration for not pressing their men, did not escape so lightly. Him + the Admiralty prosecuted. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 12. Process was by information in the + Court of King's Bench, for a misdemeanour.] + </p> + <p> + It was in companies, however, that the sham ganger most frequently took + the road, for numbers not only enhanced his chances of obtaining money, + they materially diminished the risk of capture. One such gang was composed + of "eighteen desperate villians," who were nevertheless taken. Another, a + "parcel of fellows armed with cutlasses like a pressgang," appeared at + Dublin in 1743, where they boldly entered public-houses on pretence of + looking for sailors, and there extorted money and drink. What became of + them we are not told; but in the case of the pretended gang whose victim, + after handing over two guineas as the price of his release, was pressed by + a regularly constituted gang, we learn the gratifying sequel. The real + gang gave chase to the sham gang and pressed every man of them. + </p> + <p> + According to the "Humble Petition of Grace Blackmore of Stratford le Bow, + widow," on Friday the 29th of May, in an unknown year of Queen Anne's + reign, "there came to Bow ffaire severall pretended pressmasters, + endeavouring to impress." A tumult ensued. Murder was freely "cryed out," + apparently with good reason, for in the mêlée petitioner's husband, then + constable of Bow, was "wounded soe that he shortly after dyed." [Footnote: + <i>State Papers Domestic,</i> Anne, xxxvi. No. 17.] + </p> + <p> + There were occasions when the sham gang operated under cover of a real + press-warrant, and for this the Admiralty was directly to blame. It had + become customary at the Navy Office to send out warrants, whether to + commanders of ships or to Regulating Captains, in blank, the person to + whom the warrant was directed filling in the name for himself. Such + warrants were frequently stolen and put to irregular uses, and of this a + remarkable instance occurred in 1755. + </p> + <p> + In that year one Nicholas Cooke, having by some means obtained possession + of such a warrant, "filled up the blank thereof by directing it to + himself, by the name and description of Lieutenant Nicholas Cooke, tho' in + truth not a Lieutenant nor an Officer in His Majesty's Navy," hired a + vessel—the <i>Providence</i> snow of Dublin—and in her cruised + the coasts of Ireland, pressing men. After thus raising as many as he + could carry, he shaped his course for Liverpool, no doubt intending, on + his arrival at that port, to sell his unsuspecting victims to the merchant + ships in the Mersey at so much a head. Through bad seamanship, however, + the vessel was run aground at Seacombe, opposite to Liverpool, and Capt. + Darby, of H.M.S. <i>Seahorse</i>, perceiving her plight, and thinking to + render assistance in return for perhaps a man or two, took boat and rowed + across to her. To his astonishment he found her full of Irishmen to the + number of seventy-three, whom he immediately pressed and removed to his + own ship. The circumstance of the false warrant now came to light, and + with it another, of worse omen for the mock lieutenant. In the hold a + quantity of undeclared spirits was discovered, and this fact afforded the + Admiralty a handle they were not slow to avail themselves of. They put the + Excise Officers on the scent, and Cooke was prosecuted for smuggling. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law Officers' Opinions, + 1733-56, No. 101.] + </p> + <p> + The most successful sham gang ever organised was perhaps that said to have + been got together by a trio of mischievous Somerset girls. The scene of + the exploit was the Denny-Bowl quarry, near Taunton. The quarrymen there + were a hard-bitten set and great braggarts, openly boasting that no gang + dare attack them, and threatening, in the event of so unlikely a + contingency, to knock the gangsmen on the head and bury them in the + rubbish of the pit. There happened to be in the neighbouring town "three + merry maids," who heard of this tall talk and secretly determined to put + the vaunted courage of the quarrymen to the test. They accordingly dressed + themselves in men's clothing, stuck cockades in their hats, and with + hangers under their arms stealthily approached the pit. Sixty men were at + work there; but no sooner did they catch sight of the supposed gang than + they one and all threw down their tools and ran for their lives. + </p> + <p> + Officially known as the Rendezvous, a French term long associated with + English recruiting, the headquarters of the gang were more familiarly, and + for brevity's sake, called the "rondy." Publicans were partial to having + the rondy on their premises because of the trade it brought them. Hence it + was usually an alehouse, frequently one of the shadiest description, + situated in the lowest slum of the town; but on occasions, as when the + gang was of uncommon strength and the number of pressed men dealt with + proportionately large, a private house or other suitable building was + taken for the exclusive use of the service. It was distinguished by a flag—a + Jack—displayed upon a pole. The cost of the two was 27s., and in + theory they were supposed to last a year; but in towns where the populace + evinced their love for the press by hewing down the pole and tearing the + flag in ribbons, these emblems of national liberty had frequently to be + renewed. At King's Lynn as much as 13 Pounds was spent upon them in four + years—an outlay regarded by the Navy Board with absolute dismay. It + would have been not less dismayed, perhaps, could it have seen the bunting + displayed by rendezvous whose surroundings were friendly. There the same + old Jack did duty year after year until, grimy and bedraggled, it more + resembled the black flag than anything else that flew, wanting only the + skull and cross-bones to make it a fitting emblem of authorised piracy. + </p> + <p> + The rondy was hardly a spot to which one would have resorted for a + rest-cure. When not engaged in pressing, the gangsmen were a roistering, + drinking crew, under lax control and never averse from a row, either + amongst themselves or with outsiders. Sometimes the commanding officer + made the place his residence, and when this was the case some sort of + order prevailed. The floors were regularly swept, the beds made, the + frowsy "general" gratified by a weekly "tip" on pay-day. But when, on the + other hand, the gangsmen who did not "find themselves" occupied the rondy + to the exclusion of the officer, eating and sleeping there, tramping in + and out at all hours of the day and night, dragging pressed men in to be + "regulated" and locked up, and diverting such infrequent intervals of + leisure as they enjoyed by pastimes in which fear of the "gent overhead" + played no part—when this was the case the rondy became a veritable + bear-garden, a place of unspeakable confusion wherein papers and pistols, + boots and blankets, cutlasses, hats, beer-pots and staves cumbered the + floors, the lockers and the beds with a medley of articles torn, rusty, + mud-stained, dirt-begrimed and unkept. + </p> + <p> + Amongst accessories essential to the efficient activity of gangs stationed + at coast or river towns the boat had first place. Sometimes both sail and + row-boats were employed. Luggers of the old type, fast boats carrying a + great press of sail, served best for overhauling ships; but on inland + waterways, such as the Thames, the Humber or the Tyne, a "sort of wherry, + constructed for rowing fast," was the favourite vehicle of pursuit. The + rate of hire varied from 1s. a day to two or more guineas a week, + according to the size and class of boat. At Cork it was "five shillings + Irish" per day. + </p> + <p> + Accessories of a less indispensable nature, occasionally allowed, were, at + Dartmouth and a few other places, cockades for the gangsmen's hats, + supplied at a cost of 1s. each; at Tower Hill a messenger, pay 20s. a + week; and at Appledore an umbrella for use in rainy weather, price 12s. + 6d. + </p> + <p> + The arms of the gang comprised, first, a press-warrant, and, second, such + weapons as were necessary to enforce it. + </p> + <p> + In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably + associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as the + cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the gangsmen + are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's "good oak + plant." Apart from this artistic evidence, however, there is no valid + reason for believing that the bludgeon ever came into general use as the + ganger's weapon. As early as the reign of Anne he went armed with the + "Queen's broad cutlash," and for most gangs, certainly for all called upon + to operate in rough neighbourhoods, the hanger remained the stock weapon + throughout the century. In expeditions involving special risk or danger, + the musket and the pistol supplemented what must have been in itself no + mean weapon. + </p> + <p> + As we have already seen, the earliest recorded press-warrants emanated + from the king in person, whilst later ones were issued by the king in + council and endorsed by the naval authorities. As the need of men became + more and more imperative, however, this mode of issue was found to be too + cumbersome and inexpeditious. Hence, by the time the eighteenth century + came in, with its tremendously enhanced demands on behalf of the Navy, the + royal prerogative in respect to warrants had been virtually delegated to + the Admiralty, who issued them on their own initiative, though ostensibly + in pursuance of His Majesty's Orders in Council. + </p> + <p> + An Admiralty warrant empowered the person to whom it was directed to + "impress" as many "seamen" as possibly he could procure, giving to each + man so impressed 1s. "for prest money." He was to impress none but such as + "were strong bodies and capable to serve the king"; and, having so + impressed such persons, he was to deliver them up to the officer + regulating the nearest rendezvous. All civil authorities were to be + "aiding and assisting" to him in the discharge of this duty. + </p> + <p> + Now this document, the stereotyped press-warrant of the century, here + concisely summarised in its own phraseology, was not at all what it + purported to be. It was in fact a warrant out of time, an official + anachronism, a red-tape survival of that bygone period when pressing still + meant "presting" and force went no further than a threat. For men were now + no longer "prested." They were pressed, and that, too, in the most drastic + sense of the term. The king's shilling no longer changed hands. Even in + Pepys' time men were pressed "without money," and in none of the accounts + of expenses incurred in pressing during the century which followed, + excepting only a very few of the earlier ones, can any such item as the + king's shilling or prest-money be discovered. Its abolition was a logical + sequence of the change from presting to pressing. + </p> + <p> + The seaman, moreover, so far from being the sole quarry of the + warrant-holder, now sought concealment amongst a people almost without + exception equally liable with himself to the capture he endeavoured to + elude. Retained merely as a matter of form, and totally out of keeping + with altered conditions, the warrant was in effect obsolete save as an + instrument authorising one man to deprive another of his liberty in the + king's name. Even the standard of "able bodies and capable" had + deteriorated to such an extent that the officers of the fleet were kept + nearly as busy weeding out and rejecting men as were the officers of the + impress in taking them. + </p> + <p> + Still, the warrant served. Stripped of its obsolete injunctions, it read: + "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and water-ways, and compel them + to come in"—enough, surely, for any officer imbued with zeal for His + Majesty's service. + </p> + <p> + Though according to the strict letter of the law as defined by various + decisions of the courts a press-warrant was legally executable only by the + officer to whom it was addressed, in practice the limitation was very + widely departed from, if not altogether ignored; for just as a constable + or sheriff may call upon bystanders to assist him in the execution of his + office, so the holder of a press-warrant, though legally unable to + delegate his authority by other means, could call upon others to aid him + in the execution of his duty. Naturally, the gangsmen being at hand, and + being at hand for that very purpose, he gave them first preference. Hence, + the gangsman pressed on the strength of a warrant which in reality gave + him no power to press. + </p> + <p> + While the law relating to the intensive force of warrants was thus + deliberately set at naught, an extraordinary punctiliousness for legal + formality was displayed in another direction. According to tradition and + custom no warrant was valid until it had received the sanction of the + civil power. Solicitor-General Yorke could find no statutory authority for + such procedure. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] He accordingly pronounced it to be + non-essential to the validity of warrants. Nevertheless, save in cases + where the civil power refused its endorsement, it was universally adhered + to. What was bad law was notoriously good policy, for a disaffected mayor, + or an unfriendly Justice of the Peace, had it in his power to make the + path of the impress officer a thorny one indeed. "Make unto yourselves + friends," was therefore one of the first injunctions laid upon officers + whose duties unavoidably made them many enemies. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. — WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + </h2> + <p> + In theory an authority for the taking of seafaring men only, the + press-warrant was in practice invested with all the force of a Writ of Quo + Warranto requiring every able-bodied male adult to show by what right he + remained at large. The difference between the theory and the practice of + pressing was consequently as wide as the poles. + </p> + <p> + While the primary and ostensible objective of the impress remained always + what it had been from the outset, the seaman who had few if any land-ties + except those of blood or sex, from this root principle there sprang up a + very Upas tree of pretension, whose noxious branches overspread + practically every section of the community. Hence the press-gang, the + embodiment of this pretension, eventually threw aside ostence and took its + pick of all who came its way, let their occupation or position be what it + might. It was no duty of the gangsman to employ his hanger in splitting + hairs. "First catch your man," was for him the greatest of all the + commandments. Discrimination was for his masters. The weeding out could be + done when the pressing was over. + </p> + <p> + The classes hardest hit by this lamentable want of discrimination were the + classes engaged in trade. "Mr. Coventry," wrote Pepys some four years + after the Restoration, "showed how the medium of the men the King hath one + year with another employed in his navy since his coming, hath not been + above 3000 men, or at most 4000; and now having occasion for 30,000, the + remaining 26,000 <i>must be found out of the Trade of the Nation</i>." + Naturally. Where a nation of shopkeepers was concerned it could hardly + have been otherwise. They who go down to the sea in ships and do business + in great waters, returning laden with the spoils of the commercial world, + have perforce to render tribute unto Caesar; but Mr. Commissioner Coventry + little guessed, when he enunciated his corollary with such nice precision, + to what it was destined to lead in the next hundred years or so. + </p> + <p> + Under the merciless exactions of the press-gang Trade did not, however, + prove the submissive thing that was wont to stand at its doors and cry: + "Will you buy? will you buy?" or to bow prospective customers into its + rich emporiums with unctuous rubbing of hands and sauve words. Trade knew + its power and determined to use it. "Look you! my Lords Commissioners," + cried Trade, truculently cocking its hat in the face of Admiralty, "I have + had enough. You have taken my butcher, my baker, my candlestick-maker, nor + have you spared that worthy youth, the 'prentice who was to have wed my + daughter. My coachman, the driver of my gilded chariot, goes in fear of + you, and as for my sedan-chair man, he is no more found. My colliers, + draymen, watermen, the carpenters who build my ships and the mariners who + sail them, the ablest of these my necessary helpers sling their hammocks + in your fleet. You have crippled the printing of my Bible and the brewing + of my Beer, and I can bear no more. Protect me from my arch-enemy the + foreigner if you must and will, but not, my Lords Commissioners, by such + monstrous personal methods as these." "Your servant!" said Admiralty, + obsequious before the only power it feared—"your servant to + command!" and straightway set about finding a remedy for the evils Trade + complained of. + </p> + <p> + Now, to attain this end, so desirable if Trade were to be placated, it was + necessary to define with precision either whom the gang might take, or + whom it might not take; and here Admiralty, though notoriously a body + without a brain, achieved a stroke of genius, for it brought down both + birds with a single stone. Postulating first of all the old <i>lex sine + lege</i> fiction that every native-born Briton and every British male + subject born abroad was legally pressable, it laid it down as a logical + sequence that no man, whatever his vocation or station in life, was + lawfully exempt; that exemption was in consequence an official indulgence + and not a right; and that apart from such indulgence every man, unless + idiotic, blind, lame, maimed or otherwise physically unfit, was not only + liable to be pressed, but could be legally pressed for the king's service + at sea. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law Officers' + Opinions, 1778-83, No. 26; and <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Berkeley, 14 Feb. 1805, well express the official view.] Having thus + cleared the ground root and branch, Admiralty magnanimously proceeded to + frame a category of persons whom, as an act of grace and a concession to + Trade, it was willing to protect from assault and capture by its emissary + the press-gang. + </p> + <p> + These exemptions from the wholesale incidence of the impress were not + granted all at once. Embodied from time to time in Acts of Parliament and + so-called acts of official grace—slowly and painfully wrung from a + reluctant Admiralty by the persistent demands and ever-growing power of + Trade—they spread themselves over the entire century of struggle for + the mastery of the sea, from which they were a reaction, and, touching the + lives of the common people in a hundred and one intimate points and + interests, culminated at length in the abolition of that most odious + system of oppression from which they had sprung, and in a charter of + liberties before which the famous charter of King John sinks into + insignificance. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM.] +</pre> + <p> + As a matter of policy the foreigner had first place in the list of + exemptions. He could volunteer if he chose, [Footnote: Strenuous efforts + were made in 1709 to induce the "Poor Palatines"—seven thousand of + them encamped at Blackheath, and two thousand in Sir John Parson's + brewhouse at Camberwell—to enter for the navy. But the "thing was + New to them to go aboard a Man of Warr," so they declined the invitation, + "having the Notion of being sent to Carolina."—<i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1437—Letters of Capt. Aston.] but he must not be pressed. + [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] To deprive him of his right in this + respect was to invite unpleasant diplomatic complications, of which + England had already too many on her hands. Trade, too, looked upon the + foreigner as her perquisite, and Trade must be indulged. Moreover, he + fostered mutiny in the fleet, where he was prone to "fly in the face" of + authority and to refuse to work, much less fight, for an alien people. If, + however, he served on board British merchant ships for two years, or if he + married in England, he at once lost caste, since he then became a + naturalised British subject and was liable to have even his honeymoon + curtailed by a visit from the press-gang. Such, in fact, was the fate of + one William Castle of Bristol in 1806. Pressed there in that year on his + return from the West Indies, he was discharged as a person of alien birth; + but having immediately afterwards committed the indiscretion of taking a + Bristol woman to wife, he was again pressed, this time within three weeks + of his wedding-day, and kept by express order of Admiralty. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1537—Capt. Barker, 23 July 1806.] + </p> + <p> + For some years after the passing of the Act exempting the foreigner, his + rights appear to have been generally, though by no means universally + respected. "Discharge him if not married or settled in England," was the + usual order when he chanced to be taken by the gang. With the turn of the + century, however, a reaction set in. Pressed men claiming to be of alien + birth were thenceforth only liberated "if unfit for service." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2733—Capt. Young, 11 March 1756, + endorsement, and numerous instances.] For this untoward change the + foreigner could blame none but himself. When taxed with having an English + wife, he could seldom or never be induced to admit the soft impeachment. + Consequently, whenever he was taken by the gang he was assumed, in the + absence of proof to the contrary, to have committed the fatal act of + naturalisation. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Phillip, 26 Feb. 1805.] Alien seamen in distress through shipwreck or + other accidental causes, formed a humane exception to this unwritten law. + </p> + <p> + The negro was never reckoned an alien. Looked upon as a proprietary + subject of the Crown, and having no one in particular to speak up for or + defend him, he "shared the same fate as the free-born white man." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 482—Admiral Lord Colvill, 29 + Oct. 1762.] Many blacks, picked up in the West Indies or on the American + coast "without hurting commerce," were to be found on board our ships of + war, where, when not incapacitated by climatic conditions, they made + active, alert seamen and "generally imagined themselves free." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 585—Admiral Donnelly, 22 Feb. 1815.] + Their point of view, poor fellows, was doubtless a strictly comparative + one. + </p> + <p> + Theoretically exempt by virtue of his calling, whatever that might be, the + landsman was in reality scarcely less marked down by the gang than his + unfortunate brother the seafaring man; for notwithstanding all its + professions to the contrary, Admiralty could not afford to ignore the + potentialities of the reserve the landsman represented. Hence no + occupation, no property qualification, could or did protect him. As early + as 1705 old Justice, in his treatise on sea law, deplores bitterly the + "barbarous custom of pressing promiscuously landsmen and seamen," and + declares that the gang, in its purblind zeal, "hurried away tradesmen from + their houses, 'prentices and journeymen from their masters' shops, and + even housekeepers (householders) too." By 1744 the practice had become + confirmed. In that year Capt. Innes, of His Majesty's armed sloop the <i>Hind</i>, + applied to the Lords Commissioners for "Twenty Landsmen from Twenty to + Twenty-five years of Age." The Admiralty order, "Let the Regulating + Captains send them as he desires," [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1983—Capt. Innes, 3 May 1744, and endorsement.] leaves no room for + doubt as to the class of men provided. They were pressed men, not + volunteers. + </p> + <p> + Nor is this a solitary instance of a practice that was rapidly growing to + large proportions. Many a landsman, in the years that followed, shared the + fate of the Irish "country farmer" who went into Waterford to sell his + corn, and was there pressed and sent on board the tender; of James + Whitefoot, the Bristol glover, "a timid, unformed young man, the comfort + and support of his parents," who, although he had "never seen a ship in + his life," was yet pressed whilst "passing to follow his business," which + knew him no more; and of Winstanley, the London butcher, who served for + upwards of sixteen years as a pressed man. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1501—Capt. Bligh, 16 May 1781. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1531—Duchess + of Gordon, 14 Feb. 1804. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 584—Humble + Petition of Betsey Winstanley, 2 Sept. 1814.] Wilkes' historic barber + would have entered upon the same enforced career had not that astute + Alderman discovered, to the astonishment of the nation at large, that a + warrant which authorised the pressing of seamen did not necessarily + authorise the pressing of a city tonsor. + </p> + <p> + Amongst landsmen the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the + country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress officers + had particular instructions concerning him. They were to delete him from + the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a certificate from + the minister and churchwardens of his parish, this migratory farm-hand, + provided always he were not a sailor masquerading in that disguise, could + traverse the length and breadth of the land to all intents and purposes a + free man. To him, as well as to the grower of corn who depended so largely + upon his aid in getting his crop, the concession proved an inestimable + boon. There were violations of the harvester's status, it is true; + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Memorial of Sir William + Oglander, Bart., July 1796.] but these were too infrequent to affect + seriously the industry he represented. + </p> + <p> + So far as the press was concerned, the harvester was better off than the + gentleman, for while the former could dress as he pleased, the latter was + often obliged to dress as he could, and in this lay an element of danger. + So long as his clothes were as good as the blood he boasted, and he wore + them with an aplomb suggestive of position and influence, the gentleman + was safe; but let his pretensions to gentility lie more in the past than + in the suit on his back, and woe betide him! In spite of his protestations + the gang took him, and he was lucky indeed if, like the gentleman who + narrates his experience in the <i>Review</i> for the both of February + 1706, he was able to convince his captors that he was foreign born by + "talking Latin and Greek." + </p> + <p> + To the people at large, whether landsmen or seafarers, the Act exempting + from the press every male under eighteen and over fifty-five years of age + would have brought a sorely needed relief had not Admiralty been a + past-master in the subtle art of outwitting the law. In this instance a + simple regulation did the trick. Every man or boy who claimed the benefit + of the age-limit when pressed, was required to prove his claim ere he + could obtain his discharge. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 43: "It is incumbent on those who claim + to be exempted to prove the facts."] The impossibility of any general + compliance with such a demand on the part of persons often as ignorant of + birth certificates as they were of the sea, practically wiped the + exemption off the slate. + </p> + <p> + In the eyes of the Regulating Captain no man was older than he looked, no + lad as young as he avowed. Hence thousands of pressed men over fifty-five, + who did not look the age they could not prove, figured on the books of the + fleet with boys whose precocity of appearance gave the lie to their + assertions. George Stephens, son of a clerk in the Transport Office, + suffered impressment when barely thirteen; and the son of a corporal in + Lord Elkinton's regiment, one Alexander M'Donald, was listed in the same + manner while still "under the age of twelve." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 583—Vice-Admiral Hunter, 10 May 1813. <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1503—Capt. Butchart, 22 Jan. 1782, and enclosure.] + The gang did not pause by the way to discuss such questions. + </p> + <p> + Apprentices fell into a double category—those bound to the sea, + those apprenticed on land. Nominally, the sea apprentice was protected + from the impress for a term of three years from the date of his + indentures, provided he had not used the sea before; [Footnote: 2 & 3 + Anne, cap. 6, re-affirmed 13 George II. cap. 17.] while the land + apprentice enjoyed immunity under the minimum age-limit of eighteen years. + The proviso in the first case, however, left open a loop-hole the impress + officer was never slow to take advantage of; and the minimum age-limit, as + we have just seen, had little if any existence in fact. Apprentices + pressed after the three years' exemption had expired were never given up, + nor could their masters successfully claim them in law. They dropped like + ripe fruit into the lap of Admiralty. On the other hand, apprentices + pressed within the three years' exemption period were generally + discharged, for if they were not, they could be freed by a writ of Habeas + Corpus, or else the masters could maintain an action for damages against + the Admiralty. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 25.] 'Prentices who "eloped" or ran away + from their masters, and then entered voluntarily, could not be reclaimed + by any known process at law if they were over eighteen years of age. On + the whole, the position of the apprentice, whether by land or sea, was + highly anomalous and uncertain. Often taken by the gang in the hurry of + visiting a ship, or in the scurry of a hot press on shore, he was in + effect the shuttlecock of the service, to-day singing merrily at his + capstan or bench, to-morrow bewailing his hard fate on board a man-o'-war. + </p> + <p> + When it came to the exemption of seamen, Admiralty found itself on the + horns of a dilemma. Both the Navy and the merchant service depended in a + very large degree upon the seaman who knew the ropes—who could take + his turn at the wheel, scud aloft without going through the lubber-hole, + and act promptly and sailorly in emergency. To take wholesale such men as + these, while it would enormously enhance the effectiveness of His + Majesty's ships of war, must inevitably cripple sea-borne trade. It was + therefore necessary, for the well-being of both services, to discover the + golden mean. According to statute law [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] + every person using the sea, of what age soever he might be, was exempt + from the impress for two years from the time of his first making the + venture. The concession did not greatly improve the situation from a trade + point of view. It merely touched the fringe of the problem, and Trade was + insistent. + </p> + <p> + A further concession was accordingly made. All masters, mates, boatswains + and carpenters of vessels of fifty tons and upwards were exempted from the + impress on condition of their going before a Justice of the Peace and + making oath to their several qualifications. This affidavit, coupled with + a succinct description of the deponent, constituted the holder's + "protection" and shielded him, or was supposed to shield him, from + molestation by the gang. Masters and mates of colliers, and of vessels + laid up for the winter, came under this head; but masters or mates of + vessels detected in running dutiable goods, or caught harbouring deserters + from the fleet, could be summarily dealt with notwithstanding their + protections. The same fate befell the mate or apprentice who was lent by + one ship to another. + </p> + <p> + In addition to the executive of the vessel, as defined in the foregoing + paragraph, it was of course necessary to extend protection to as many of + her "hands", as were essential to her safe and efficient working. How many + were really required for this purpose was, however, a moot point on which + ship-masters and naval officers rarely saw eye to eye; and since the + arbiter in all such disputes was the "quarter-deck gentlemen," the + decision seldom if ever went in favour of the master. + </p> + <p> + The importance of the coal trade won for colliers an early concession, + which left no room for differences of opinion. Every vessel employed in + that trade was entitled to carry one exempt able-bodied man for each + hundred units of her registered tonnage, provided it did not exceed three + hundred. The penalty for pressing such men was 10 Pounds for each man + taken. [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6.] + </p> + <p> + On the coasts of Scotland commanders of warships whose carpenters had run + or broken their leave, and who perhaps were left, like Capt. Gage of the + <i>Otter</i> sloop, "without so much as a Gimblett on board," [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1829-Capt. Gage, 29 Sept. 1742.] might press + shipwrights from the yards on shore to fill the vacancy, and suffer no + untoward consequences; but south of the Tweed this mode of collecting + "chips" was viewed with disfavour. There, although ship-carpenters, + sailmakers and men employed in rope-walks were by a stretch of the + official imagination reckoned as persons using the sea, and although they + were generally acknowledged to be no less indispensable to the complete + economy of a ship than the able-bodied seaman, legal questions of an + extremely embarrassing nature nevertheless cropped up when the scene of + their activities underwent too sudden and violent a change. The pressing + of such artificers consequently met with little official encouragement. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law Officers' Opinions, + 1778-83, No. 2.] + </p> + <p> + Where the Admiralty scored, in the matter of ship protections, and scored + heavily, was when the protected person went ashore. For when on shore the + protected master, mate, boatswain, carpenter, apprentice or seaman no + longer enjoyed protection unless he was there "on ship's duty." The rule + was most rigorously, not to say arbitrarily, enforced. Thus at Plymouth, + in the year 1746, a seaman who protested in broken English that he had + come ashore to "look after his master's <i>sheep</i>" was pressed because + the naval officer who met and questioned him "imagined sheep to have no + affinity with a ship!" [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2381—Capt. + John Roberts, 11 July 1746. Capt. Roberts was a very downright individual, + and years before the characteristic had got him into hot water. The + occasion was when, in 1712, an Admiralty letter, addressed to him at + Harwich and containing important instructions, by some mischance went + astray and Roberts accused the Clerk of the Check of having appropriated + it. The latter called him a liar, whereupon Roberts "gave him a slap in + the face and bid him learn more manners." For this exhibition of temper he + was superseded and kept on the half-pay list for some six years. <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1471—Capt. Brand, 8 March 1711-12. <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2378, section 11, Admiralty note.] + </p> + <p> + Any mate who failed to register his name at the rendezvous, as soon as his + ship arrived in port, did so at his peril. Without that formality he was + "not entitled to liberty." So strict was the rule that when William + Tassell, mate of the <i>Elizabeth</i> ketch, was caught drinking in a Lynn + alehouse one night at ten o'clock, after having obtained "leave to run + about the town" until eight only, he was immediately pressed and kept, the + Admiralty refusing to declare the act irregular. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1546—Capt. Bowyer, 25 July 1809, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + In many ports it was customary for sailors to sleep ashore while their + ships lay at the quay or at moorings. The proceeding was highly dangerous. + No sailor ever courted sleep in such circumstances, even though armed with + a "line from the master setting forth his business," without grave risk of + waking to find himself in the bilboes. The Mayor of Poole once refused to + "back" press-warrants for local use unless protected men belonging to + trading vessels of the port were granted the privilege of lodging ashore. + "Certainly not!" retorted the Admiralty. "We cannot grant Poole an + indulgence <i>that other towns do not enjoy</i>." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2485—Capt. Scott, 4 Jan. 1780, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + In spite of the risk involved, the sailor slept ashore and—if he + survived the night—tried to steal back to his ship in the grey of + the morning. Now and then, by a run of luck, he made his offing in safety; + but more frequently he met the fate of John White of Bristol, who was + taken by the gang when only "about ninety yards from his vessel." + </p> + <p> + The only exceptions to this stringent rule were certain classes of men + engaged in the Greenland and South Seas whale fisheries. Skilled + harpooners, linesmen and boat-steerers, on their return from a whaling + cruise, could obtain from any Collector of Customs, for sufficient bond + put in, a protection from the impress which no Admiralty regulation, + however sweeping, could invalidate or override. Safeguarded by this + document, they were at liberty to live and work ashore, or to sail in the + coal trade, until such time as they should be required to proceed on + another whaling voyage. If, however, they took service on board any vessel + other than a collier, they forfeited their protections and could be + "legally detained." [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 28. <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 2732—Capt. Young, 14 March 1756. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 42.] + </p> + <p> + In one ironic respect the gang strongly resembled a boomerang. So + thoroughly and impartially did it do its work that it recoiled upon those + who used it. The evil was one of long standing. Pepys complained of it + bitterly in his day, asserting that owing to its prevalence letters could + neither be received nor sent, and that the departmental machinery for + victualling and arming the fleet was like to be undone. With the growth of + pressing the imposition was carried to absurd lengths. The crews of the + impress tenders, engaged in conveying pressed men to the fleet, could not + "proceed down" without falling victims to the very service they were + employed in. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1486—Capt. + Baird, 27 Feb. 1755, and numerous instances.] To check this egregious + robbing of Peter to pay Paul, both the Navy Board and the Government were + obliged to "protect" their own sea-going hirelings, and even then the + protections were not always effective. + </p> + <p> + Between the extremes represented by the landsman who enjoyed nominal + exemption and the seaman who enjoyed none, there existed a middle or + amphibious class of persons who lived exclusively on neither land nor + water, but habitually used both in the pursuit of their various callings. + These were the wherry or watermen, the lightermen, bargemen, keelmen, + trowmen and canal-boat dwellers frequenting mainly the inland waterways of + the country. + </p> + <p> + In the reign of Richard II. the jurisdiction of Admirals was denned as + extending, in a certain particular, to the "main stream of great rivers + nigh the sea." [Footnote: 15 Richard II. cap. 2.] Had the same line of + demarcation been observed in the pressing of those whose occupations lay + upon rivers, there would have been little cause for outcry or complaint. + But the Admiralty, the successors of the ancient "Guardians of the Sea" + whose powers were so clearly limited by the Ricardian statute, gradually + extended the old-time jurisdiction until, for the purposes of the impress, + it included all waterways, whether "nigh the sea" or inland, natural or + artificial, whereon it was possible for craft to navigate. All persons + working upon or habitually using such waterways were regarded as "using + the sea," and later warrants expressly authorised the gangs to take as + many of them as they should be able, not excepting even the ferryman. The + extension was one of tremendous consequence, since it swept into the Navy + thousands of men who, like the Ely and Cambridge bargemen, were "hardy, + strong fellows, who never failed to make good seamen." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1486—Capt. Baird, 29 April 1755.] + </p> + <p> + Amongst these denizens of the country's waterways the position of the + Thames wherryman was peculiar in that from very early times he had been + exempt from the ordinary incidence of the press on condition of his + periodically supplying from his own numbers a certain quota of able-bodied + men for the use of the fleet. The rule applied to all watermen using the + river between Gravesend and Windsor, and members of the fraternity who + "withdrew and hid themselves" at the time of the making of such levies, + were liable to be imprisoned for two years and "banished any more to row + for a year and a day." [Footnote: 2 & 3 Philip and Mary, cap. 16.] The + exemption he otherwise enjoyed appears to have conduced not a little to + the waterman's proverbial joviality. As a youth he spent his leisure in + "dancing and carolling," thus earning the familiar sobriquet of "the jolly + young waterman." Even so, his tenure of happiness was anything but secure. + With the naval officer and the gang he was no favourite, and few + opportunities of dashing his happiness were allowed to pass unimproved. In + the person of John Golden, however, they caught a Tartar. To the dismay of + the Admiralty and the officer responsible for pressing him, he proved to + be one of my Lord Mayor's bargemen. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 2733-Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] + </p> + <p> + Apart from the watermen of the Thames, the purchase of immunity from the + press by periodic levies met with little favour, and though the levy was + in many cases reluctantly adopted, it was only because it entailed the + lesser of two evils. The basis of such levies varied from one man in ten + to one in five—a percentage which the Admiralty considered a "matter + of no distress"; and the penalty for refusing to entertain them was + wholesale pressing. + </p> + <p> + The Tyne keelmen, while ostensibly consenting to buy immunity on this + basis, seldom levied the quota upon themselves. By offering bounties they + drew the price of their freedom to work in the keels from outside sources. + Lord Thurlow confessed that he did not know what "working in the keels" + meant. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 299—Law Officers' + Opinions, 1752-77, No. 70.] There were' few in the fleet who could have + enlightened him of their own experience. The keelmen kept their ranks as + far as possible intact. In this they were materially aided by the Mayor + and Corporation of Newcastle, who held a "Grand Protection" of the + Admiralty, and in return for this exceptional mark of their Lordships' + favour did all they could to further the pressing of persons less + essential to the trade of the town and river than were their own keelmen. + </p> + <p> + On the rivers Severn and Wye there was plying in 1806 a flotilla of + ninety-eight trows, ranging in capacity from sixty to one hundred and + thirty tons, and employing five hundred and eighty-eight men, of whom + practically all enjoyed exemption from the press. It being a time of + exceptional stress for men, the Admiralty considered this proportion + excessive, and Capt. Barker, at that time regulating the press at Bristol, + was ordered to negotiate terms. He proposed a contribution of trowmen on + the basis of one in every ten, coupling the suggestion with a thinly + veiled threat that if it were not complied with he would set his gangs to + work and take all he could get. The Association of Severn Traders, finding + themselves thus placed between the devil and the deep sea, agreed to the + proposal with a reluctance they in vain endeavoured to hide under ardent + protestations of loyalty. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1537—Capt. + Barker, 24 April and 9 May 1806, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + In the three hundred "flats" engaged in carrying salt, coals and other + commodities between Nantwich and Liverpool there were employed, in 1795, + some nine hundred men who had up to that time largely escaped the + attentions of the gang. In that year, however, an arrangement was entered + into, under duress of the usual threat, to the effect that they should + contribute one man in six, or at the least one man in nine, in return for + exemption to be granted to the remainder. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 578—Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795.] + </p> + <p> + Turf-boats plying on the Blackwater and the Shannon seem to have enjoyed + no special concessions. The men working them were pressed when-ever they + could be laid hold of, and if they were not always kept, their discharge + was due to reasons of physical unfitness rather than to any acknowledged + right to labour unmolested. Ireland's contribution to the fleet, apart + from the notoriously disaffected, was of too much consequence to be played + with; for the Irishman was essentially a good-natured soul, and when his + native indolence and slowness of movement had been duly corrected by a + judicious use of the rattan and the rope's-end, his services were highly + esteemed in His Majesty's ships of war. + </p> + <p> + In the category of exemptions the fisheries occupied a place entirely + their own. They were carefully fostered, but indifferently protected. + </p> + <p> + Previous to the year 1729 the most important concession granted to those + engaged in the taking of fish was the establishing of two extra "Fishe + Dayes" in the week. The provision was embodied in a statute of 1563, + whereby the people were required, under a penalty of, 3 Pounds for each + omission, "or els three monethes close Imprisonment without Baile or + Maineprise," to eat fish, to the total exclusion of meat, on Fridays and + Saturdays, and to content themselves with "one dish of flesh to three + dishes of fish" on Wednesdays. [Footnote: 5 Elizabeth, cap. 5.] The + enactment had no religious significance whatever; but in order to avoid + any suspicion of Popish tendencies it was deemed advisable, by those + responsible for the measure, to saddle it with a rider to the effect that + all persons teaching, preaching or proclaiming the eating of fish, as + enjoined by the Act, to be of "necessitee for the saving of the soule of + man," should be punished as "spreaders of fause newes." The true + significance of the measure lay in this. The abolition of Romish fast-days + had resulted, since the Reformation, in an enormous falling off in the + consumption of fish, and this decrease had in turn played havoc with the + fisheries. Now the fisheries were in reality the national incubator for + seamen, and Cecil, Elizabeth's astute Secretary of State, perceiving in + their decadence a grave menace to the manning of prospective fleets, + determined, for that reason if for no other, to reanimate the dying + industry. The Act in question was the practical outcome of his + deliberations. [Footnote: <i>State Papers Domestic</i>, Elizabeth, vol. + xxvii. Nos. 71 and 72, comprising Cecil's original memoranda.] + </p> + <p> + An enactment which combined so happily the interests of the fisher classes + with those of national defence could not but be productive of far-reaching + consequences. The fishing industry not only throve exceedingly because of + it, it in time became, as Cecil clearly foresaw it would become, a nursery + for seamen and a feeder of the fleet as unrivalled for the excellence of + its material as it was inexhaustible in its resources. Its prosperity was + in fact its curse. Few exemptions were granted it. Adventurers after whale + and cod had special concessions, suited to the peculiar conditions of + their calling; but with these exceptions craft of every description + employed in the taking or the carrying of fish, for a very protracted + period enjoyed only such exemptions as were grudgingly extended to + sea-going craft in general. The source of supply represented by the + leviathan industry was too valuable to be lightly restricted. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, it was too important to be lightly depleted. Therefore + under Cecil's Act establishing extra "Fishe Dayes," no fisherman "using or + haunting the sea" could be pressed off-hand to serve in the Queen's Navy. + The "taker," as the press-master was at that time called, was obliged to + carry his warrant to the Justices inhabiting the place or places where it + was proposed that the fishermen should be pressed, and of these Justices + any two were empowered to "choose out such nomber of hable men" as the + warrant specified. In this way originated the "backing" or endorsing of + warrants by the civil power. At first obligatory only as regards the + pressing of fishermen, it came to be regarded in time as an essential + preliminary to all pressing done on land. + </p> + <p> + No further provision of a special nature would appear to have been made + for the protecting of fisher folk from the press until the year 1729, when + an exemption was granted which covered the master, one apprentice, one + seaman and one landsman for each vessel. [Footnote: 2 George n. cap. 15.] + In 1801, however, a sweeping change was inaugurated. A statute of that + date provided that no person engaged in the taking, curing or selling of + fish should be impressed. [Footnote: 41 George in. cap. 21.] The exemption + came too late to prove substantially beneficial to an industry which had + suffered incalculable injury from the then recent wars. The press-gang was + already nearing its last days. + </p> + <p> + Prior to the Act of 1801 persons whose sole occupation was "to pick + oysters and mussels at low water" were accounted fishermen and habitually + pressed as "using the sea." + </p> + <p> + The position of the smaller fry of fishermen is thrown into vivid relief + by an official communique of 1709 as opposed to an incident of later date. + "These poor people," runs the note, which was addressed to a naval + commander who had pressed a fisherman out of a boat of less than three + tons, "have been always protected for the support of their indigent + families, and therefore they must not Be taken into the service unless + there is a pressing occasion, <i>and then they will be all forced + thereinto</i>." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1.2377—Capt. + Robinson, 4 Feb. 1708-9, and endorsement.] Captain Boscawen, writing from + the Nore in 1745, supplies the antithesis. He had been instructed to + procure half a dozen fishing smacks, each of not less than sixty tons + burden, for transport purposes. None were to be had. "The reason the + fishermen give for not employing vessels of that size," he states, in + explanation of the fact, "is that all the young men are pressed, and that + the old men and boys are not able to work them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1481—Capt. Boscawen, 23 Dec. 1745.] + </p> + <p> + Conditions such as these in time taught the fisherman wisdom, and he awoke + to the fact that exemption for a consideration, as in the case of workers + on rivers and canals, was preferable to paying through the nose. The + Admiralty was never averse from driving a bargain of this description. It + saved much distress, much bad blood, much good money. In this way Worthing + fishermen bought exemption in 1780. The fishery of that town was then in + its infancy, the people engaged in it "very poor and needy." They employed + only sixteen boats. Yet they found it cheaper to contribute five men to + the Navy, at a cost of 40 Pounds in bounties, than to entertain the gang. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1446—Capt. Alms, 2 Jan. + 1780.] + </p> + <p> + The Orkney fisherman bought his freedom, both on his fishing-grounds and + when carrying his catch to market, on similar terms; but being a person of + frugal turn of mind, he gradually developed the habit of withholding his + stipulated quota. The unexpected arrival in his midst of an armed smack, + followed by a spell of vigorous pressing, taught him that to be penny-wise + is sometimes to be pound-foolish. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 2740—Lieut. Abbs, 11 May 1798, and Admiralty note.] + </p> + <p> + On the Scottish coasts fishermen and ferrymen—the latter a numerous + class on that deeply indented seaboard—offered up one man in every + five or six on the altar of protection. The sacrifice distressed them less + than indiscriminate pressing. A prosperous people, they chose out those of + their number who could best be spared, supporting the families thus left + destitute by common subscription. Buss fishermen, who followed the + migratory herring; from fishing-ground to fishing-ground, were in another + category. Their contribution, when on the Scottish coast, figured out at a + man per buss, but as they were for some inscrutable reason called upon to + pay similar tribute on other parts of the coast, they cannot be said to + have escaped any too lightly. Neither did the four hundred fishing-boats + composing the Isle of Man fleet. Their crews were obliged to surrender one + man in every seven. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral + Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795; Admiral Philip, Report on + Rendezvous, 1 Aug. 1801.] + </p> + <p> + Opinions as to the value of material drawn from these sources differed + widely. The buss fisherman was on all hands acknowledged to be a seasoned + sailor; but when it came to those employed in smaller craft, it was held + that heaving at the capstan for a matter of only six or seven weeks in the + year could never convert raw lads into useful seamen, even though they + continued that healthful form of exercise all their lives. This was the + view entertained by the masters of fishing-smacks smarting from loss of + "hands." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1497—Thomas Hurry, + master, 3 March 1777.] + </p> + <p> + Admiralty saw things in quite another light. "What you admit," said their + Lordships, expressing the counter-view, "it is our business to prevent. We + will therefore take these lads, who are admittedly of no service to you + save for hauling in your nets or getting your anchors, and will make of + them what you, on your own showing, can never make—able seamen.": + The argument, backed as it was by the strong arm of the press-gang, was + unanswerable. + </p> + <p> + The fact that the fisherman passed much of his time on shore did not free + him from the press any more than it freed the waterman, or the worker in + keel or trow. In his main vocation he "used the sea," and that was enough. + For the use of the sea was the rule and standard by which every man's + liability to the press was supposed to be measured and determined. + </p> + <p> + Except in the case of masters, mates and apprentices to the sea, whose + affidavits or indentures constituted their respective safeguards against + the press, every person exempt from that infliction, whether by statute + law or Admiralty indulgence, was required to have in his possession an + official voucher setting forth the fact and ground of his exemption. This + document was ironically termed his "protection." + </p> + <p> + Admiralty protections were issued under the hand of the Lord High Admiral; + ordinary protections, by departments and persons who possessed either + delegated or vested powers of issue. Thus each Trinity House protected its + own pilots; the Customs protected whale fishermen and apprentices to the + sea; impress officers protected seamen temporarily lent to ships in lieu + of men taken out of them by the gangs. Some protections were issued for a + limited period and lapsed when that period expired; others were of + perpetual "force," unless invalidated by some irregular acton the part of + the holder. No protection was good unless it bore a minute description of + the person to whom it applied, and all protections had to be carried on + the person and produced upon demand. Thomas Moverty was pressed out of a + wherry in the Thames owing to his having changed his clothes and left his + protection at home; and John Scott of Mistley, in Suffolk, was taken + whilst working in his shirtsleeves, though his protection lay in the + pocket of his jacket, only a few yards away. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1479—Capt. Bridges, 11 August 1743. <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1531—Capt. Ballard, 15 March 1804, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + The most trifling irregularity in the protection itself, or the slightest + discrepancy between the personal appearance of the bearer and the written + description of him, was enough to convert the protection into so much + waste paper and the bearer into a naval seaman. North-country apprentices, + whose indentures bore a 14s. stamp in accordance with Scottish law, were + pressed because that document did not bear a 15s. stamp according to + English law. A seaman was in one instance described in his protection as + "smooth-faced," that is, beardless. The impress officer scrutinised him + closely. "Aha!" said he, "you are not smooth-faced. You are pockmarked"; + and he pressed the poor fellow for that reason. + </p> + <p> + To be over-protected was as bad as having no protection at all. Thomas + Letting, a collier's man, and John Anthony of the merchant ship <i>Providence</i>, + learnt this fact to their cost when they were taken out of their + respective ships for having each two protections. In short, the slightest + pretext served. If a protection had but a few more days to run; if the + name, date, place or other essential particular showed signs of "coaxing," + that is, of having been "on purpose rubbed out" or altered; if a man's + description did not figure in his protection, or if it figured on the back + instead of in the margin, or in the margin instead of on the back; if his + face wore a ruddy rather than a pale look, if his hair were red when it + ought to have been brown, if he proved to be "tall and remarkable thin" + when he should have been middle-sized and thick-set—in any of these, + as in a hundred and one similar cases, the bearer of the protection paid + the penalty for what the impress officer regarded as a "hoodwinking + attempt" to cheat the King's service of an eligible man. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the fact that the impress officer regarded every pressable + man as a person who made it his chief business in life to defraud the Navy + of his services on the "miserable plea of a protection," it by no means + followed that his zeal in pressing him on that account had in every case + the countenance or met with the unqualified approval of the Admiralty. + Thousands of men and boys taken in this irresponsible fashion obtained + their discharge, though with more or less difficulty and delay, when the + facts of the case were laid before the naval authorities; and in general + it may be said, that although the Lords Commissioners were only too ready + to wink at any colourable excuse whereby another physical unit might be + added to the fleet, they nevertheless laid it down as a rule, inviolable + at least on paper, "never to press any man from protections," since it + brought "great trouble and clamour upon them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 3. 50—Admiralty Minutes, 26 Feb. 1744-5.] To assert that + the rule was generally obeyed would be to turn the truth into a lie. On + the contrary, it was almost universally disregarded. Both officers and + gangs traversed it on every possible occasion, leaving the justice or + injustice of the act to the arbitrament of the higher tribunal. Zeal for + the service was no crime, and to release a man was always so much easier + than to catch him. + </p> + <p> + "Pressing from protections," as the phrase ran in the service, did not + therefore mean that the Admiralty over-rode its own protections at + pleasure. It merely signified that on occasion more than ordinarily + stringent measures were adopted for the holding-up and examining of all + protected persons, or of as many of them as could be got at by the gangs, + to the end that all false or fraudulent vouchers might be weeded out and + the dishonest bearers of them consigned to another place. And yet there + were times when "pressing from protections" had its plenary significance + too. + </p> + <p> + Lovers of prints who are familiar with Hogarth's "Stage Coach; or, a + Country Inn Yard," date 1747, will readily recall the two "outsides"—the + one a down-in-the-mouth soldier, the other a jolly Jack-tar on whose + bundle may be read the word "Centurion." Now the <i>Centurion</i> was + Anson's flag-ship, and in this print Hogarth has incidentally recorded the + fact that her crew, on their return from that famous voyage round the + world, were awarded life-protections from the press. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1440—Capt. Anson, 24 July 1744.] + </p> + <p> + The life-protection was an indulgence extended to few. Samuel Davidson of + Newcastle, sailor, aged fifty, who had "served for nine years during the + late wars," in 1777 made bold to plead that fact as a reason why he should + be freed from the attentions of the press-gang for the rest of his life. + But the Lords Commissioners refused to admit the plea "unless he was in a + position not inferior to that of chief mate." On the other hand, Henry + Love of Hastings, who had merely served in a single Dutch expedition, but + had the promise of Pitt and Dundas that both he and those who volunteered + with him should never be pressed, was immediately discharged when that + calamity befell him. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1449—Capt. + Columbine, 21 July 1800.] + </p> + <p> + The granting of extraordinary protections was thus something entirely + erratic and not to be counted upon. Captain Balchen in 1708 had special + protections for ten of his ship's company whom he desired to bring to + London as witnesses in a suit then pending against him; but the building + of the three earlier Eddystone lighthouses was allowed to be seriously + impeded by the pressing of the unprotected workmen when on shore at + Plymouth, and the keepers of the first erection of that name were once + carried off bag and baggage by the gang. + </p> + <p> + Smeaton, who built the third Eddystone, protected his men by means of + silver badges, and his storeboat enjoyed similar immunity—presumably + with the consent of Admiralty—by reason of a picture of the + lighthouse painted on her sail. Other great constructors, as well as rich + mercantile firms, bought protection at a price. They supplied a stipulated + number of men for the fleet, and found the arrangement a highly convenient + one for ridding themselves of those who were useless to them or had + incurred their displeasure. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 583—Admiral + Thornborough, 30 Nov. 1813.] + </p> + <p> + Private protections, of which great numbers saw the light, were in no case + worth the paper they were written on. Joseph Bettesworth of Ryde, Isle of + Wight, Attorney-at-Law and Lord of the Manor of Ashey and Ryde, by virtue + of an ancient privilege pertaining to that Manor and confirmed by royal + Letters Patent, in 1790 protected some twenty seafaring men to work his + "Antient Ferry or Passage for the Wafting of Passengers to and from Ride, + Portsmouth and Gosport, in a smack of about 14 tons, and a wherry." The + regulating captain at the last-named place asked what he should do about + it. "Press every man as soon as possible," replied their Lordships. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1506—Capt. John Bligh, June + 1790, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. — WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + </h2> + <p> + "A man we want, and a man we must have," was the naval cry of the century. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1531—Deposition of John + Swinburn, 28 July 1804.] + </p> + <p> + Nowhere was the cry so loud or so insistent as on the sea, where every + ship of war added to its volume. In times of peace, when the demand for + men was gauged by those every-day factors, sickness, death and desertion, + it dwindled, if it did not altogether die away; but given a war-cloud on + the near horizon and the cry for men swelled, as many-voiced as there were + keels in the fleet, to a sudden clamour of formidable proportions—a + clamour that only the most strenuous and unremitting exertions could in + any measure appease. + </p> + <p> + Every navy is argus-eyed, and in crises such as these, when the very + existence of the nation was perhaps at stake, it was first and principally + towards the crews of the country's merchant ships that the eyes of the + Navy were directed; for, shipboard life and shipboard duty being largely + identical in both services, no elaborate training was required to convert + the merchant sailor into a first-rate man-o'-war's-man. The ships of both + services were sailing ships. Both, as a rule, went armed. Hence, not only + was the merchant sailor an able seaman, he was also trained in the + handling of great guns, and in the use of the cutlass, the musket and the + boarding-pike. In a word, he was that most valuable of all assets to a + people seeking to dominate the sea—a man-o'-war's-man ready-made, + needing only to be called in in order to become immediately effective. + </p> + <p> + The problem was how to catch him—how to take him fresh and vigorous + from his deep-sea voyaging—how to enroll him in the King's Navy ere + he got ashore with a pocketful of money and relaxed his hardened muscles + in the uncontrolled debauchery he was so partial to after long abstention. + </p> + <p> + A device of the simplest yet of the most elaborate description met the + difficulty. It was based upon the fact that to take the sailor afloat was + a much easier piece of strategy than to ferret him out of his + hiding-places after he got ashore. The impress trap was therefore set in + such a way as to catch him before he reached the land. + </p> + <p> + With infinite ingenuity and foresight sea-gangs were picketed from harbour + to harbour, from headland to headland, until they formed an almost + unbroken chain around the coasts and guarded the sailor's every point of + accustomed approach from overseas: This was the outer cordon of the + system, the beginning of the gauntlet the returning sailor had to run, and + he was a smart seaman indeed who could successfully negotiate the + uncharted rocks and shoals with which the coast was everywhere strewn in + his despite. + </p> + <p> + The composition of this chain of sea-gangs was mixed to a degree, yet + singularly homogeneous. + </p> + <p> + First of all, on its extreme outer confines, perhaps as far down Channel + as the Scillies, or as far north as the thirteen-mile stretch of sea + running between the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast, where the trade + for Liverpool, Whitehaven, Dublin and the Clyde commonly came in, the + homing sailor would suddenly descry, bearing down upon him under press of + sail, the trim figure of one of His Majesty's frigates, or the clean, + swift lines of an armed sloop. The meeting was no chance one. Both the + frigate and the sloop were there by design, the former cruising to + complete her own complement, the latter to complete that of some + ship-of-the-line at Plymouth, Spithead or the Nore, to which she stood in + the relation of tender. + </p> + <p> + Tenders were vessels taken into the king's service "at the time of + Impressing Seamen." Hired at certain rates per month, they continued in + the service as long as they were required, often most unwillingly, and + were principally employed in obtaining men for the king's ships or in + matters relative thereto. In burden they varied from thirty or forty to + one hundred tons, [Footnote: This was the maximum tonnage for which the + Navy Board paid, but when trade was slack larger vessels could be had, and + were as a matter of fact frequently employed, at the nominal tonnage + rate.] the smaller craft hugging the coast and dropping in from port to + port, the larger cruising far beyond shore limits. For deep-sea or + trade-route cruising the smaller craft were of little use. No ship of + force would bring-to for them. + </p> + <p> + While press-warrants were supplied regularly to every warship, no matter + what her rating, the supply of tenders was less general and much more + erratic. It was only when occasion demanded it, and then only to ships of + the first, second and third rate, that tenders were assigned for the + purpose of bringing their crews up to full strength. The urgency of the + occasion, the men to be "rose," the diplomacy of the commander determined + the number. A tender to each ship was the rule, but however parsimonious + the Navy Board might be on such occasions, a carefully worded appeal to + its prejudices seldom failed to produce a second, or even a third + attendant vessel. Boscawen once had recourse to this ingenious ruse in + order to obtain tender number two. The Navy Board detested straggling + seamen, so he suggested that, with several tenders lying idle in the + Thames, his men might be far more profitably employed than in straggling + about town. "Most reprehensible practice!" assented the Board, and placed + a second vessel at his disposal without more ado. Lieut. Upton was + immediately put in charge of her and ordered seawards. He returned within + a week with twenty-seven men, pressed out of merchantmen in Margate Roads. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1478—Letters of Capt. + Boscawen, July and August 1743.] + </p> + <p> + The tender assigned to Boscawen on this occasion was the <i>Galloper</i>, + an American-built vessel, "rigged in the manner the West Indians do their + sloops." Her armament consisted of six 9-pounders and threescore + small-arms, but as a sea-boat she belied her name, for she was hopelessly + sluggish under sail, and the great depth of her waist, and her consequent + liability to ship seas in rough weather, rendered her "very improper" for + cruising in the Channel. + </p> + <p> + For her company she had a master, a mate and six hands supplied by the + owners, in addition to thirty-four seamen temporarily drafted into her + from Boscawen's ship, the <i>Dreadnought</i>. It was the duty of the + former to work the vessel, of the latter to do the pressing; but these + duties were largely interchangeable. All were under the command of the + lieutenant, who with forty-two men at his beck and call could organise, on + a pinch, five gangs of formidable strength and yet leave sufficient hands, + given fair weather, to mind the tender in their temporary absence. + Tender's men were generally the flower of a ship's company, old hands of + tried fidelity, equal to any emergency and reputedly proof against + bribery, rum and petticoats. Yet the temptation to give duty the slip and + enjoy the pleasures of town for a season sometimes proved too strong, even + for them, and we read of one boat's-crew of eight, who, overcome in this + way, were discovered after many days in a French prison. Instead of going + pressing in the Downs, they had gone to Boulogne. + </p> + <p> + On the commanders of His Majesty's ships the onus of raising men fell with + intolerable insistence. Nelson's greatest pleasure in his promotion to + Admiral's rank is said to have been derived from the fact that with it + there came a blessed cessation to the scurvy business of pressing; and + there were in the service few captains, whether before or after Nelson's + day, who could not echo with hearty approval the sentiment of Capt. Brett + of the <i>Roebuck</i>, when he said: "I can solemnly declare that the + getting and taking care of my men has given me more trouble and uneasiness + than all the rest of my duty." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1478—Capt. + Brett, 27 Oct. 1742.] + </p> + <p> + Commanders of smaller and less effective ships found themselves on the + horns of a cruel dilemma did they dare to ask for tenders. Beg and pray as + they would, these were rarely allowed them save as a special indulgence or + a crying necessity. To most applications from this source the Admiralty + opposed a front well calculated "to encourage the others." "If he has not + men enough to proceed on service," ran its dictum, "their Lordships will + lay up the ship." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1471—Capt. + Boyle, 1 March 1715-6, endorsement, and numerous instances.] Faced with + the summary loss of his command, their Lordships' high displeasure, and + consequent inactivity and half-pay for an indefinite period, the captain + whose complement was short, and who could obtain neither men nor tender + from the constituted authority, had no option but to put to sea with such + hands as he already bore and there beat up for others. This, with their + Lordships' gracious permission, he accordingly did, thus adding another + unit to the fleet of armed vessels already prowling the Narrow Seas on a + similar errand. It can be readily imagined that such commanders were not + out for pleasure. + </p> + <p> + To the great and incessantly active flotilla got together in this way, the + regulating captains on shore contributed a further large contingent. Every + seaport of consequence had its rendezvous, every seaport rendezvous its + amphibious gang or gangs who ranged the adjacent coast for many leagues in + swift bottoms whose character and mission often remained wholly + unsuspected until some skilful manoeuvre laid them aboard their intended + victim and brought the gang swarming over her decks, armed to the teeth + and resolute to press her crew. + </p> + <p> + We have now three classes of vessels, of varying build, rig, tonnage and + armament, engaged in a common endeavour to intercept and take the homing + sailor. Let us next see how they were disposed upon the coast. + </p> + <p> + Tenders from Greenwich and Blackwall ransacked the Thames below bridge as + far as Blackstakes in the river Medway, the Nore and the Swin channel. + Tenders from Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover watched the lower Thames + estuary, swept the Downs, and kept a sharp lookout along the coasts of + Kent and Sussex, of Essex and of Norfolk. To these tenders from Lynn + dipped their colours off Wells-on-Sea or Cromer, whence they bore away for + the mouth of Humber, where Hull tenders took up the running till met by + those belonging to Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shields, which in + turn joined up the cordon with others hailing from Leith and the Firth of + Forth. Northward of the Forth, away to the extreme Orkneys, and all down + the west coast of Scotland through the two Minches and amongst the + Hebrides, specially armed sloops from Leith and Greenock made periodic + cruises. Greenock tenders, again, united with tenders from Belfast and + Whitehaven in a lurking watch for ships making home ports by way of the + North Channel; or circled the Isle of Man, ran thence across to Morecambe + Bay, and so down the Lancashire coast the length of Formby Head, where the + Mersey tenders, alert for the Jamaica trade, relieved them of their vigil. + Dublin tenders guarded St. George's Channel, aided by others from Milford + Haven and Haverfordwest. Bristol tenders cruised the channel of that names + keeping a sharp eye on Lundy Island and the Holmes, where shipmasters were + wont to play them tricks if they were not watchful. Falmouth and Plymouth + tenders guarded the coast from Land's End to Portland Bill, Portsmouth + tenders from Portland Bill to Beachy Head, and Folkestone and Dover + tenders from Beachy Head to the North Foreland, thus completing the + encircling chain. Nor was Ireland forgotten in the general sea-rummage. As + a converging point for the great overseas trade-routes it was of prime + importance, and tenders hailing from Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and + Limerick, or making those places their chief ports of call, exercised + unceasing vigilance over all the coast. + </p> + <p> + In this general scouring of the coastal waters of the kingdom certain + points were of necessity subjected to a much closer surveillance than + others. Particularly was this true of the sea routes followed by the East + and West India, and the Baltic, Virginia, Newfoundland, Dutch and + Greenland trades, where these converged upon such centres of + world-commerce as London, Poole, Bristol, Liverpool and the great northern + entrepôts on the Forth and Clyde, the Humber and the Tyne. A tender + stationed off Poole, when a Newfoundland fish-convoy was expected in, + never failed to reap a rich harvest. At Highlake, near the mouth of the + Mersey, many a fine haul was made from the sugar and rum-laden Jamaica + ships, the privateers and slavers from which Liverpool drew her wealth. + Early in the century sloops of war had orders "to cruise between Beechy + and the Downs to Impress men out of homeward-bound Merchant Ships," and in + 1755 Rodney's lieutenants found the Channel "full of tenders." Except in + times of profound peace—few and brief in the century under review—it + was rarely or never in any other state. An ocean highway so congested with + the winged vehicles of commerce could not escape the constant vigilance of + those whose business it was to waylay the inward-bound sailor. + </p> + <p> + A favourite station in the Channel was "at ye west end of ye Isle of + Wight, near Hurst Castle," where the watchful tender, having under her eye + all ships coming from the westward, as well as all passing through the + Needles, could press at pleasure by the simple expedient of sending gangs + aboard of them. At certain times of the year such ports as Grimsby, Great + Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Brixham came in for similar attention. When the + fleets were due back from the "Great Fishery" on the Dogger Banks, tenders + cruising off those ports netted more men than they could find room for; + and so heavy was the tribute paid in this way by the fishermen of the + last-named port in 1805, that "not a single man was to be found in Brixham + liable to the impress." Every unprotected man, out of a total of + ninety-six fishing-smacks then belonging to the place, had been snapped up + by the tenders and ships of war cruising off the bay or further + up-Channel. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 Sept.] + </p> + <p> + The double cordon composed of ships and tenders on the cruise by no means + exhausted the resources called into play for the intercepting of the + sailor afloat. Still nearer the land was a third or innermost line + composed of boat-gangs operating, like so many of the tenders, from + rendezvous on shore, or from ships of war lying in dock or riding at + anchor. Less continuous than the outer cordon, it was not less effective, + and many a sailor who by strategy or good luck had all but won through, + struck his flag to the gang when perhaps only the cast of a line separated + him from shore and liberty. + </p> + <p> + It was across the entrance to harbours and navigable estuaries that this + innermost line was most frequently and most successfully drawn. Pill, the + pilot station for the port of Bristol, threw out such a line to the + further bank of Avon and thereby caught many an able seaman who had evaded + the tenders below King Road. On Southampton Water it was generally so + impassable that few men who could in the slightest degree be considered + liable to the press escaped its toils. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] Dublin + Bay knew it well. A press "on float" there, carried out silently and + swiftly in the grey of a September morning, 1801, whilst the mists still + hung thick over the water, resulted in the seizure of seventy-four seamen + who had eluded the press-smacks cruising without the bay; but of this + number two proving to be protected apprentices, the Lord Mayor sent the + Water Bailiff of the city, "with a detachment of the army," and took them + by force out of the hands of the gang. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1526—Capt. Brabazon, 16 Sept. 1801.] On the Thames, + notwithstanding the ceaseless activity of the outer cordons, the innermost + line of capture yielded enormously. The night of October the 28th, 1776, + saw three hundred and ninety-nine men, the greater part of them good + seamen, pressed by the boats of a single ship—the <i>Princess + Augusta</i>, Captain Sir Richard Bickerton commander, then fitting out at + Woolwich. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1497—Capt. + Bickerton, 29 Oct. 1776.] Such a raid was very properly termed a "hot + press." + </p> + <p> + The amazing feature of this exploit is, that it should have been possible + at all, in view of what was going on in the Thames estuary below a line + drawn across the river's mouth from Foulness to Sheerness-reach. Seawards + of this line lay the two most famous anchorages in the world, where ships + foregathered from every quarter of the navigable globe. Than the Nore and + the Downs no finer recruiting-ground could anywhere be found, and here the + shore-gangs afloat, and the boat-gangs from ships of war, were for ever on + the alert. No ship, whether inward or outward bound, could pass the Nore + without being visited. Nothing went by unsearched. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2733—Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] The wonder is that + any unprotected sailor ever found his way to London. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Between the Nore and the North Foreland the conditions were equally +rigorous. Through all the channels leading to the sea, channels +affording anchorage to innumerable ships of every conceivable rig and +tonnage, the gangs roamed at will, exacting toll of everything that +carried canvas. Even the smaller craft left high and dry upon the +flats, or awaiting the tide in some sand-girt pool, did not escape their +hawk-like vigilance. + + [Illustration: SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS +WEDDING DAY.] +</pre> + <p> + In the Downs these conditions reached their climax, for thither, in + never-ending procession, came the larger ships which were so fruitful of + good hauls. With the wind at north, or between north and east, few ships + came in and little could be done. But when the wind veered and came piping + out of the west or sou'-west, in they came in such numbers that the gangs, + however numerous they might be, had all their work cut out to board them. + A special tender, swift and exceedingly well-found, was accordingly + stationed here, whose duty it was to be "very watchful that no vessel + passed without a visit from the impress boats." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2733—Orders of Vice-Admiral Buckle to Capt. Yates, 29 + April 1778.] In such work as this man-o'-war boats were of little use. + Just as they could not negotiate Deal beach without danger of being + reduced to matchwood, so they could not live in the choppy sea kicked up + in the Downs by a westerly gale. Folkstone market boats and Deal cutters + had to be requisitioned for pressing in those waters. Their seaworthiness + and speed made the Downs the crux of inward-bound ships, whose only means + of escaping their attentions was to incur another danger by "going back of + the Goodwins." + </p> + <p> + The procedure of boat-gangs pressing in harbour or on rivers seldom + varied, unless it were by accident. As a rule, night was the time + selected, for to catch the sailor asleep conduced greatly to the success + and safety of the venture. The hour chosen was consequently either close + upon midnight, some little time after he had turned in, or in the early + morning before he turned out. The darker the night and the dirtier the + weather the better. Surprise, swiftly and silently carried out, was half + the battle. + </p> + <p> + A case in point is the attempt made by Lieut. Rudsdale, of H.M.S. <i>Licorne</i>, + "to impress all men (without exception) from the ships and vessels lying + at Cheek Point above Passage of Waterford," in the year '79. Putting-off + in the pinnace with a picked crew at eleven o'clock on a dark and + tempestuous October night, he had scarcely left the ship astern ere he + overtook a boatload of men, how many he could not well discern in the + darkness, pulling in the direction he himself was bound. Fearful lest they + should suspect the nature of his errand and alarm the ships at Passage, he + ran alongside of them and pressed the entire number, sending the boat + adrift. Putting back, he set his capture on board the <i>Licorne</i> and + once more turned the nose of the pinnace towards Passage. There, dropping + noiselessly aboard the <i>Triton</i> brig, he caught the hands asleep, + pressed as many of them as he had room for, and with them returned to the + ship. Meanwhile, the master of the <i>Triton</i> armed what hands he had + left and met Rudsdale's second attempt to board him with a formidable + array of handspikes, hatchets and crowbars. A fusillade of bottles and + billets of wood further evinced his determination to protect the brig + against all comers, and lest there should be any doubt on that point he + swore roundly that he would be the death of every man in the pinnace if + they did not immediately sheer off and leave him in peace. This the + lieutenant wisely did. No further surprises were possible that night, for + by this time the alarm had spread, the pinnace was half-full of missiles, + and one of his men lay in the bottom of her severely wounded. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 471—Deposition of Lieut. Rudsdale, 24 + Oct. 1779.] As it was, he had a very fair night's work to his credit. + Between the occupants of the boat and those of the brig he had obtained + close upon a score of men. + </p> + <p> + The expedients resorted to by commanders of ships of war temporarily in + port and short of their tale of men are vividly depicted in a report made + to the Admiralty in 1711. "Three days ago, very privately," writes Capt. + Billingsley, whose ship, the <i>Vanguard</i>, was then lying at + Blackstakes, "I Sent two fishing Smacks with a Lieutenant and some Men, + with orders to proceede along the Essex Coast, and downe as far as the + Wallet, to the Naze, with directions to take all the men out of Oyster + Vessels and others that were not Exempted. The project succeeded, and they + are return'd with fourteen men, all fit, and but one has ever been in the + Service. The coast was Alarm'd, and the country people came downe and + fir'd from the Shore upon the Smacks, and no doubt but they doe still take + 'em to be privateers." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1470—Capt. + Billingsley, 5 May 1711.] + </p> + <p> + Pressing at sea differed materially in many of its aspects from pressing + on the more sheltered waters of rivers and harbours. Carried out as a rule + in the broad light of day, it was for that very reason accompanied with a + more open and determined display of force than those quieter ventures + which depended so largely for their success upon the element of surprise. + Situated as we are in these latter days, when anyone who chooses may drive + his craft from Land's End to John o' Groats without hindrance, it is + difficult to conceive that there was ever a time when the whole extent of + the coastal waters of the kingdom, as ranged by the impress tender, was + under rigorous martial law. Yet such was unquestionably the case. + Throughout the eighteenth century the flag was everywhere in armed + evidence in those waters, and no sailing master of the time could make + even so much as a day's run with any certainty that the peremptory + summons: "Bring to! I'm coming aboard of you," would not be bawled at him + from the mouth of a gun. + </p> + <p> + The retention of the command of a tender depended entirely upon her + success in procuring men. As a rule, she was out for no other purpose, and + this being so, it is not to be supposed that the officer in charge of her + would do otherwise than employ the means ordained for that end. + Accordingly, as soon as a sail was sighted by the tender's lookout man, a + gun was loaded, shotted with roundshot, and run out ready for the moment + when the vessel should come within range. + </p> + <p> + The first intimation the intended victim had of the fate in store for her + was the shriek of the roundshot athwart her bows. This was the signal, + universally known as such, for her to back her topsails and await the + coming of the gang, already tumbling in ordered haste into the armed boat + prepared for them under the tender's quarter. And yet it was not always + easy for the sprat to catch the whale. A variety of factors entered into + the problem and made for failure as often as for success. Sometimes the + tender's powder was bad—so bad that in spite of an extra pound or so + added to the charge, the shot could not be got to carry as far as a common + musket ball. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2485—Capt. + Shirley, 5 Nov. 1780, and numerous instances.] When this was the case her + commander suffered a double mortification. His shot, the symbol of + authority and coercion, took the water far short of its destined goal, + whilst the vessel it was intended to check and intimidate surged by amid + the derisive cat-calls and laughter of her crew. + </p> + <p> + Even with the powder beyond reproach, ships did not always obey the + summons, peremptory though it was. One pretended not to hear it, or to + misunderstand it, or to believe it was meant for some other craft, and so + held stolidly on her course, vouchsafing no sign till a second shot, fired + point-blank, but at a safe elevation, hurtled across her decks and brought + her to her senses. Another, perhaps some well-armed Levantine trader or + tall Indiaman whose crew had little mind to strike their colours + submissively at the behest of a midget press-smack, would pipe to quarters + and put up a stiff fight for liberty and the dear delights of London town—a + fight from which the tender, supposing her to have accepted the gage of + battle, rarely came off victor. Or the challenged ship, believing herself + to be the faster craft of the two, clapped on all sail, caught an + opportune "slatch of wind," and showed her pursuer a clean pair of heels, + the tender's guns meanwhile barking away at her until she passed out of + range. These were incidents in the chapter of pressing afloat which every + tender's commander was familiar with. Back of them all lay a substantial + fact, and on that he relied for his supply of men. There was somehow a + magic in the boom of a naval gun that had its due effect upon most + ship-masters. They brought-to, however reluctantly, and awaited the + pleasure of the gang. But the sailor had still to be reckoned with. + </p> + <p> + In order to invest the business of taking the sailor with some semblance + of legality, it was necessary that the commander of the tender, in whose + name the press-warrant was made out, or one of his two midshipmen, each of + whom usually held a similar warrant, should conduct the proceedings in + person; and the first duty of this officer, on setting foot upon the deck + of the vessel held up in the manner just described, was to order her + entire company to be mustered for his inspection. If the master proved + civil, this preliminary passed off quickly and with no more confusion than + was incidental to a general and hasty rummaging of sea-chests and lockers + in search of those magic protections on which hung the immediate destiny + of every man in the ship, excepting only the skipper, his mate and that + privileged person, the boatswain. The muster effected, the officer next + subjected each protection to the closest possible scrutiny, for none who + knew the innate trickery of seamen would ever "take their words for it." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1482—Capt. Boscawen, 20 March + 1745-6.] Men who had no protections, men whose papers bore evident traces + of "coaxing" or falsification, men whose appearance and persons failed to + tally exactly with the description there written down—these were set + apart from their more fortunate messmates, to be dealt with presently. To + their ranks were added others whose protections had either expired or were + on the point of expiry, as well as skulkers who sought to evade His + Majesty's press by stowing themselves away between or below decks, and who + had been by this time more or less thoroughly routed out by members of the + gang armed with hangers. The two contingents now lined up, and their total + was checked by reference to the ship's articles, the officer never + omitting to make affectionate inquiries after men marked down as "run," + "drowned," or "discharged"; for none knew better than he, if an old hand + at the game, how often the "run" man ran no further afield than some + secure hiding-place overlooked by his gangers, or how miraculously the + "drowned" bobbed up once more to the surface of things when the gang had + ceased from troubling. If the ship happened to be an inward-bound, and to + possess a general protection exempting her from the press only for the + voyage then just ending, that fact greatly simplified and abbreviated the + proceedings, for then her whole company was looked upon as the ganger's + lawful prey. In the case of an outward-bound ship, the gang-officer's duty + was confined to seeing that she carried no more hands than her protection + and tonnage permitted her to carry. All others were pressed. Cowed by + armed authority, or wounded and bleeding in a lost cause as hereafter to + be related, the men were hustled into the boat with "no more violence than + was necessary for securing them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1437—Capt. Aldred, 12 June 1708.] Their chests and bedding followed, + making a full boat; and so, having cleared the ship of all her pressable + hands, the gang prepared to return to the tender. But first there was a + last stroke of business to be done. The gunner must have his bit. + </p> + <p> + Up to this point, beyond producing the ship's papers for inspection and + gruffly answering such questions as were put to, him, the master of the + vessel had taken little part in what was going on. His turn now came. By + virtue of his position he could not be pressed, but there existed a very + ancient naval usage according to which he could be, and was, required to + pay for the powder and shot expended in inducing him to receive the gang + on board. In law the exaction was indefensible. Litigation often followed + it, and as the century grew old the practice for that reason fell into + gradual desuetude, a circumstance almost universally deplored by naval + commanders of the old school, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1511—Capt. + Bowen, 13 Oct. 1795, and Admiralty endorsement.] who were ever sticklers + for respect to the flag; but during the first five or six decades of the + century the shipmaster who had to be fired upon rarely escaped paying the + shot. The money accruing from his compliance with the demand, 6s. 8d., + went to the gunner, whose perquisite it was, and as several shots were + frequently necessary to reduce a crew to becoming submissiveness, the + gunners must have done very well out of it. Refusal to "pay the shot" + could be visited upon the skipper only indirectly. Another man or two were + taken out of him by way of reprisals, and the press-boat shoved off—to + return a second, or even a third time, if the pressed men numbered more + than she could stow. + </p> + <p> + From this summary mode of depriving a ship of a part or the whole of her + crew two serious complications arose, the first of which had to do with + the wages of the men pressed, the second with what was technically called + "carrying the ship up," that is to say, sailing her to her destination. + </p> + <p> + According to the law of the land, the sailor who was pressed out of a ship + was entitled to his wages in full till the day he was pressed, and not + only was every shipmaster bound to provide such men with tickets good for + the sums severally due to them, tickets drawn upon the owners and payable + upon demand, but it was the duty of every impress officer to see that such + tickets were duly made out and delivered to the men. Refusal to comply + with the law in this respect led to legal proceedings, in which, except in + the case of foreign ships, the Admiralty invariably won. Eminently fair to + the sailor, the provision was desperately hard on masters and owners, for + they, after having shipped their crews for the run or voyage, now found + themselves left either with insufficient hands to carry the ship up, or + with no hands at all. As a concession to the necessity of the moment a + gang was sometimes put on board a ship for the avowed purpose of pressing + her hands when she arrived in port; but such concessions were not always + possible, [Footnote: Nor were they always effective, as witness the + following: "Tuesday the 15th, the <i>Shandois</i> sloop from Holland came + by this place (the Nore). I put 15 men on board her to secure her Company + till their Protection was expired. Soon after came from Sheerness the + Master Attendant's boat to assist me on that service. I immediately sent + her away with more Men and Armes for the better Securing of the Sloop's + Company, but that night, in Longreach, the Vessel being near the Shore, + and almost Calme, they hoisted the boat out to tow the Sloop about, and + all the Sloop's men, being 18, got into her and Run ashore, bidding + defiance to my people's fireing."—<i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1473—Capt. + Bouler, H.M.S. <i>Argyle</i>, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] and common equity demanded + that in their absence ample provision should be made for the safety of + vessels suddenly disabled by the gang. This the Admiralty undertook to do, + and hence there grew up that appendage to the impress afloat generally + known as "men in lieu" or "ticket men." + </p> + <p> + The vocation of the better type "man in lieu" was a vicarious sort of + employment, entailing any but disagreeable consequences upon him who + followed it. At every point on the coast where a gang was stationed, and + at many where they were not, great numbers of these men were retained for + service afloat whenever required. The three ports of Dover, Deal and + Folkestone alone at one time boasted no less than four hundred and fifty + of them, and when a hot press was in full swing in the Downs even this + number was found insufficient to meet the demand. Mostly fishermen, + Sea-Fencibles and others of a quasi-seafaring type, they enjoyed complete + exemption from the impress as a consideration for "going in pressed men's + rooms," received a shilling, and in some cases eighteen-pence a day while + so employed, and had a penny a mile road-money for their return to the + place of their abode, where they were free, in the intervals between + carrying ships up, to follow any longshore occupation they found + agreeable, save only smuggling. The enjoyment of these privileges, and + particularly the privilege of exemption from the press, made them, as a + class, notorious for their independence and insolence—characteristics + which still survive in not a few of their descendants. Tenders going + a-pressing often bore a score or two of these privileged individuals as + supers, who were drafted into ships, as the crews were taken out, to + assist the master, mate and few remaining hands, were any of the latter + left, in carrying them up. Or, if no supers of this class were borne by + the tender, she "loaned" the master a sufficient number of her own + company, duly protected by tickets from the commanding officer, and + invariably the most unserviceable people on board, to work the ship into + the nearest port where regular "men in lieu" could be obtained. + </p> + <p> + Had all "men in lieu" conformed to the standard of the better class + substitute of that name, the system would have been laudable in the + extreme and trade would have suffered little inconvenience from the + depredations of the gangs; but there was in the system a flaw that + generally reduced the aid lent to ships to something little better than a + mere travesty of assistance. That flaw lay in the fact that Admiralty + never gave as good as it took. Clearly, it could not. True, it supplied + substitutes to go in "pressed men's rooms," but to call them "men in lieu" + was a gross abuse of language. In reality the substitutes supplied were in + the great majority of cases mere scum in lieu, the unpressable residuum of + the population, consisting of men too old or lads too young to appeal to + the cupidity of the gangs, poor creatures whom the regulating captains had + refused, useless on land and worse than useless at sea. + </p> + <p> + In the general character of the persons sent in pressed men's rooms + Admiralty thus had Trade on the hip, and Trade suffered much in + consequence. More than one rich merchantman, rusty from long voyaging, + strewed the coast with her cargo and timbers because all the able seamen + had been taken out of her, and none better than old men and boys could be + found to sail her. Few seaport towns were as wise as Sunderland, where + they had a Society of Shipowners for mutual insurance against the risks + arising from the pressing of their men. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1541—Capt. Bligh, 8 Jan. 1807, enclosure.] Elsewhere masters, + owners and underwriters groaned under the galling imposition; but the + wrecker rejoiced exceedingly, thanking the gangs whose ceaseless + activities rendered such an outrageous state of things possible. + </p> + <p> + Whichever of these two classes the ticket man belonged to, he was an + incorrigible deserter. "Thirteen out of the fifteen men in lieu that I + sent up in the <i>Beaufort</i> East-Indiaman," writes the disgusted + commander of the <i>Comet</i> bombship, from the Downs, "have never + returned. As they are not worth inquiring for, I have made them run." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1478—Capt. Burvill, 4 Sept. + 1742. A man-o'-war's-man was "made run" when he failed to return to his + ship after a reasonable absence and an R was written over against his name + on the ship's books.] Such instances might be multiplied indefinitely. + Once the ticket man had drawn his money for the trip, there was no such + thing as holding him. The temptation to spend his earnings in town proved + too strong, and he went on the spree with great consistency and enjoyment + till his money was gone and his protection worthless, when the inevitable + overtook him. The ubiquitous gang deprived him of his only remaining + possession, his worthless liberty, and sent him to the fleet, a ragged but + shameless derelict, as a punishment for his breach of privilege. + </p> + <p> + The protecting ticket carried by the man in lieu dated from 1702, when it + appears to have been first instituted; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1433—Capt. Anderson, 5 April 1702.] but even when the bearer was + no deserter in fact or intention, it had little power to protect him. No + ticket man could count upon remaining unmolested by the gangs except the + undoubted foreigner and the marine, both of whom were much used as men in + lieu. The former escaped because his alien tongue provided him with a + natural protection; the latter because he was reputedly useless on + shipboard. In the person of the marine, indeed, the man in lieu achieved + the climax of ineptitude. It was an ironical rule of the service that + persons refusing to act as men in lieu should suffer the very fate they + stood in so much danger of in the event of their consenting. Broadstairs + fishermen in 1803 objected to serving in that capacity, though tendered + the exceptional wage of 27s. for the run to London. "If not compelled to + go in that way," they alleged, "they could make their own terms with + shipmasters and have as many guineas as they were now offered shillings." + Orders to press them for their contumacy were immediately sent down. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1450—Capt. Carter, 16 Aug. + 1803.] + </p> + <p> + By the year 1811 the halcyon days of the man in lieu were at an end. As a + class he was then practically extinct. Inveterate and long-continued + pressing had drained the merchant service of all able-bodied British + seamen except those who were absolutely essential to its existence. These + were fully protected, and when their number fell short of the requirements + of the service the deficiency was supplied by foreigners and apprentices + similarly exempt. So few pressable men were to be found in any one ship + that it was no longer considered necessary to send ticket men in their + stead when they were taken out, and as a matter of fact less than a dozen + such men were that year put on board ships passing the Downs. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1453—Capt. Anderson, 31 Aug. 1811.] + Pressing itself was in its decline, and as for the vocation of the man in + lieu, it had gone never to return. + </p> + <p> + Ships and tenders out for men met with varied fortunes. In the winter + season the length of the nights, the tempestuous weather and the cold told + heavily against success, as did at all times that factor in the problem + which one old sea-dog so picturesquely describes as "the room there is for + missing you." Capt. Barker, of the <i>Thetis</i>, in 1748 made a haul of + thirty men off the Old-Head of Kinsale, but lost his barge in doing so, + "it blowed so hard." Byng, of the <i>Sutherland</i>, grumbled atrociously + because in the course of his run up-Channel in '42 he was able to press + "no more than seventeen." Anson, looking quite casually into Falmouth on + his way down-Channel, found there in '46 the <i>Betsey</i> tender, then + just recently condemned, and took out of her every man she possessed at + the cost of a mere hour's work, ignorant of the fact that when pressing + eight of those men the commander of the <i>Betsey</i> had been "eight + hours about it." It was all a game of chance, and when you played it the + only thing you could count upon was the certainty of having both the + sailor and the elements dead against you. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the painting by Morland.] +</pre> + <p> + But if the "room there is for missing you," conspiring with other + unfavourable conditions, rendered pressing afloat an uncertain and + vexatious business, the chances of making a haul were on the other hand + augmented by every ship that entered or left the Narrow Seas, not even + excepting the foreigner. The foreign sailor could not be pressed unless, + as we have seen, he had naturalised himself by marrying an English wife, + but the foreign ship was fair game for every hunter of British seamen.—An + ancient assumption of right made it so. + </p> + <p> + From the British point of view the "Right of Search" was an eminently + reasonable thing. Here was an island people to whose keeping Heaven had by + special dispensation committed the dominion of the seas. To defend that + dominion they needed every seaman they possessed or could produce. They + could spare none to other nations; and when their sailors, who enjoyed no + rights under their own flag, had the temerity to seek refuge under + another, there was nothing for it but to fire on that flag if necessary, + and to take the refugee by armed force from under its protection. This in + effect constituted the time-honoured "Right of Search," and none were so + reluctant to forego the prerogative, or so keen to enforce it, as those + naval officers who saw in it a certain prospect of adding to their ships' + companies. The right of search was always good for another man or two. + </p> + <p> + It was often good for a great many more, for the foreign skipper was at + the best an arrant man-stealing rogue. If a Yankee, he hated the British + because he had beaten them; if a Frenchman or a Hollander, because they + had beaten him. His animus was all against the British Navy, his + sympathies all in favour of the British sailor, in whom he recognised as + good, if not a better seaman than himself. He accordingly enticed him with + the greatest pertinacity and hid him away with the greatest cunning. + </p> + <p> + Every impress officer worth his salt was fully alive to these facts, and + on all the coast no ship was so thoroughly ransacked as the ship whose + skipper affected a bland ignorance of the English tongue or called Heaven + to witness the blamelessness of his conduct with many gesticulations and + strange oaths. Lieut. Oakley, regulating officer at Deal, once boarded an + outward-bound Dutch East-Indiaman in the Downs. The master strenuously + denied having any English sailors on board, but the lieutenant, being + suspicious, sent his men below with instructions to leave no part of the + ship unsearched. They speedily routed out three, "who discovered that + there were in all thirteen on board, most of them good and able seamen." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 3363—Lieut. Oakley, 8 Dec. + 1743.] The case is a typical one. + </p> + <p> + Another source of joy and profit to the gangs afloat were the great annual + convoys from overseas. For safety's sake merchantmen in times of + hostilities sailed in fleets, protected by ships of war, and when a fleet + of this description was due back from Jamaica, Newfoundland or the Baltic, + that part of the coast where it might be expected to make its land-fall + literally swarmed with tenders, all on the <i>qui vive</i> for human + plunder. They were seldom disappointed. The Admiralty protections under + which the ships had put to sea in the first instance expired with the home + voyage, leaving the crews at the mercy of the gangs. If, that is to say, + the commanders of the convoying men-o'-war had not forestalled them, or + the ships' companies were not composed, as in one case we read of, of men + who were all "either sick or Dutchmen." + </p> + <p> + The privateer had to be approached more warily than the merchantman, since + the number of men and the weight of metal she carried made her an ugly + customer to deal with. She was in consequence notorious for being the + sauciest craft afloat, and though "sauce" was to the naval officer what a + red rag is to a bull, there were few in the service who did not think + twice before attempting to violate the armed sanctity of the privateer. At + the same time the hands who crowded her deck were the flower of British + seamen, and in this fact lay a tremendous incentive to dare all risks and + press her men. Her commission or letter of marque of course protected her, + but when she was inward-bound that circumstance carried no weight. + </p> + <p> + Against such an adversary the tender stood little chance. When she hailed + the privateer, the latter laughed at her, threatening to sink her out of + hand, or, if ordered to bring to, answered with all the insolent contempt + of the Spanish grandee: "Mariana!" Accident sometimes stood the tender in + better stead, where the pressing of privateer's-men was concerned, than + all the guns she carried. Capt. Adams, cruising for men in the Bristol + Channel, one day fell in with the Princess Augusta, a letter of marque + whose crew had risen upon their officers and tried to take the ship. After + hard fighting the mutiny was quelled and the mutineers confined to + quarters, in which condition Adams found them. The whole batch, + twenty-nine in number, was handed over to him, "though 'twas only with + great threats" that he could induce them to submit, "they all swearing to + die to a man rather than surrender." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1440—Capt. Adams, 28 June 1745.] + </p> + <p> + A year or two prior to this event this same ship, the Princess Augusta, + had a remarkable adventure whilst sailing under the merchant flag of + England. On the homeward run from Barbadoes, some fifty leagues to the + westward of the Scillies, she fell in with a Spanish privateer, who at + once engaged and would undoubtedly have taken her but for an extraordinary + occurrence. Just as the trader's assailants were on the point of boarding + her the Spaniard blew up, strewing the sea with his wreckage, but leaving + the merchantman providentially unharmed. Capt. Dansays, of H.M.S. the <i>Fubbs</i> + yacht, who happened to be out for men at the time in the chops of the + Channel, brought the news to England. Meeting with the trader a few days + after her miraculous escape, he had boarded her and pressed nine of her + crew. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. Ambrose, 7 + Feb. 1741-2.] + </p> + <p> + From the smuggling vessels infesting the coasts the sea-going gangs drew + sure returns and rich booty. In the south and east of England people who + were "in the know" could always buy tobacco, wines and silks for a mere + song; and in Cumberland, in the coast towns there, and inland too, the + very beggars are said to have regaled themselves on tea at sixpence or a + shilling the pound. These commodities, as well as others dealt in by + runners of contrabrand, were worth far more on the water than on land, and + none was so keenly alive to the fact as the gangsman who prowled the + coast. Animated by the prospect of double booty, he was by all odds the + best "preventive man" the country ever had. + </p> + <p> + There was a certainty, too, about the pressing of a smuggler that was + wanting in other cases. The sailor taken out of a merchant ship, or the + fisherman out of a smack, might at the eleventh hour spring upon you a + protection good for his discharge. Not so the smuggler. There was in his + case no room for the unexpected. No form of protection could save him from + the consequences of his trade. Once caught, his fate was a foregone + conclusion, for he carried with him evidence enough to make him a pressed + man twenty times over. Hence the gangsman and the naval officer loved the + smuggler and lost no opportunity of showing their affection. + </p> + <p> + "Strong Breezes and Cloudy," records the officer in command of H.M.S. <i>Stag</i>, + a twenty-eight gun frigate, in his log. "Having made the Signal for Two + Strange Sail in the West, proceeded on under Courses & Double Reeft + Topsails. At 1 sett the Jibb and Driver, at 3 boarded a Smugling Cutter, + but having papers proving she was from Guernsey, and being out limits, + pressed one Man and let her go." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 2734—Log of H.M.S. <i>Stag</i>, Capt. Yorke commander, 5 Oct. 1794.] + </p> + <p> + "Friday last," says the captain of the <i>Spy</i> sloop of war, "I sail'd + out of Yarmouth Roads with a Fleet of Colliers in order to press Men, + & in my way fell in with Two Dutch Built Scoots sail'd by Englishmen, + bound for Holland, one belonging to Hull, call'd the <i>Mary</i>, the + other to Lyn, call'd the <i>Willing Traveller</i>. I search'd 'em and took + out of the former 64 Pounds 14. and out of the latter 300 Pounds 6, all + English Money, which I've deliver'd to the Collector of Custome at + Yarmouth. I likewise Imprest out of the Two Vessells seven men." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1438—Capt. Arnold, 29 May + 1727. The exporting of coin was illegal.] + </p> + <p> + "In the execution of my orders for pressing," reports Capt. Young, from on + board the Bonetta sloop under his command, "I lately met with two + Smuglers, & landing my boats into a Rocky Bay where they were running + of Goods, the Weather came on so Violent I had my pinnace Stove so much as + to be rendered unservisable. They threw overboard all their Brandy, Tea + and Tobacco, of which last wee recover'd about 14 Baggs and put it to the + Custom house. In Endeavouring to bring one of them to Sail, my Boatswain, + who is a very Brisk and Deserving Man, had his arm broke, so that tho' wee + got no more of their Cargo, it has broke their Voyage and Trade this + bout." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. Young, 6 + April 1739.] + </p> + <p> + On the 13th of December 1703, George Messenger, boatswain of the <i>Wolf</i> + armed sloop, whilst pressing on the Humber descried a "keel" lying high + and dry apart from the other shipping in the river, where it was then low + water. Boarding her with the intention of pressing her men, he found her + deserted save for the master, and thinking that some of the hands might be + in hiding below—where the master assured him he would find nothing + but ballast—he "did order one of his Boat's crew to goe down in the + Hold and see what was therein"; who presently returned and reported "a + quantity of wool conceal'd under some Coales a foot thik." The exportation + of wool being at that time forbidden under heavy penalties, the vessel was + seized and the master pressed—a course frequently adopted in such + circumstances, and uniformly approved. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1465—Deposition of George Messenger, 20 Dec. 1703. Owling, ooling + or wooling, as the exportation of wool contrary to law was variously + termed, was a felony punishable, according to an enactment of Edward III., + with "forfeiture of life and member." So serious was the offence + considered that in 1565 a further enactment was formulated against it. + Thereafter any person convicted of exporting a live ram, lamb or sheep, + was not only liable to forfeit all his goods, but to suffer imprisonment + for a year, and at the end of the year "in some open market town, in the + fulness of the market on the market day, to have his right hand cut off + and nailed up in the openest place of such market." The first of these + Acts remained in nominal force till 1863.] + </p> + <p> + While the gangs afloat in this way lent their aid in the suppression of + smuggling, they themselves were sometimes subjected to disagreeable + espionage on the part of those whose duty it was to keep a special lookout + for runners of contraband goods. An amusing instance of this once occurred + in the Downs. The commanding officer of H.M.S. <i>Orford</i>, discovering + his complement to be short, sent one of his lieutenants, Richardson by + name, in quest of men to make up the deficiency. In the course of his + visits from ship to ship there somehow found their way into the + lieutenant's boat a fifteen-gallon keg of rum and ten bottles of white + wine. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening he boarded an + Indiaman and went below with the master. Scarcely had he done so, however, + when an uproar alongside brought him hurriedly on deck—to find his + boat full of strange faces. A Customs cutter, in some unaccountable way + getting wind of what was in the boat, had unexpectedly "clapt them + aboard," collared the man-o'-war's-men for a set of rascally smugglers, + and confiscated the unexplainable rum and wine, becoming so fuddled on the + latter, which they lost no time in consigning to bond, that one of their + number fell into the sea and was with difficulty fished out by + Richardson's disgusted gangsmen. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1473—Capt. Brown, 30 July 1727, and enclosures.] + </p> + <p> + The only inward-bound ship the gangsmen were forbidden to press from was + the "sick ship" or vessel undergoing quarantine because of the presence, + or the suspected presence, on board of her of some "catching" disease, and + more particularly of that terrible scourge the plague. Dread of the plague + in those days rode the country like a nightmare, and just as the earliest + quarantine precautions had their origin in that fact, so those precautions + were never more rigorously enforced than in the case of ships trading to + countries known to be subject to plague or reported to be in the grip of + it. The Levantine trader suffered most severely in this respect. In 1721 + two vessels from Cyprus, where plague was then prevalent, were burned to + the water's edge by order of the authorities, and as late as 1800 two + others from Morocco, suspected of carrying the dread disease in the hides + composing their cargo, were scuttled and sent to the bottom at the Nore. + This was quarantine <i>in excelsis</i>. Ordinary preventive measures went + no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," as communication with the + shore was called, for a period varying usually from ten to sixty-five + days, and during this period no gang was allowed to board the ship. + </p> + <p> + The seamen belonging to such ships always got ashore if they could; for + though the penalty for deserting a ship in quarantine was death, + [Footnote: 26 George II. cap. 6.] it might be death to remain, and the + sailor was ever an opportunist careless of consequences. So, for that + matter, was the gangsman. Knowing well that Jack would make a break for it + the first chance he got, he hovered about the ship both day and night, + alert for every movement on board, watchful of every ripple on the water, + taunting the woebegone sailors with the irksomeness of their captivity or + the certainty of their capture, and awaiting with what patience he could + the hour that should see pratique restored and the crew at his mercy. + Whether the ship had "catching" disease on board or not might be an open + question. There was no mistaking its symptoms in the gangsman. + </p> + <p> + Stangate Creek, on the river Medway, was the great quarantine station for + the port of London, and here, in the year 1744, was enacted one of the + most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in connection with pressing afloat. + The previous year had seen a recrudescence of plague in the Levant and + consequent panic in England, where extraordinary precautions were adopted + against possible infection. In December of that year there lay in Stangate + Creek a fleet of not less than a dozen Levantine ships, in which were + cooped up, under the most exacting conditions imaginable, more than two + hundred sailors. At Sheerness, only a few miles distant, a number of ships + of war, amongst them Rodney's, were at the same time fitting out and + wanting men. The situation was thus charged with possibilities. + </p> + <p> + It was estimated that in order to press the two hundred sailors from the + quarantine ships, when the period of detention should come to an end, a + force of not less than one hundred and fifty men would be required. These + were accordingly got together from the various ships of war and sent into + the Creek on board a tender belonging to the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>. This + was on the 15th of December, and quarantine expired on the 22nd. + </p> + <p> + The arrival of the tender threw the Creek into a state of consternation + bordering on panic, and that very day a number of sailors broke bounds and + fell a prey to the gangs in attempting to steal ashore. Seymour, the + lieutenant in command of the tender, did not improve matters by his + idiotic and unofficerlike behaviour. Every day be rowed up and down the + Creek, in and out amongst the ships, taunting the men with what he would + do unless they volunteered, when the 22nd arrived, and he was free to work + his will upon them. He would have them all, he assured them, if he had to + "shoot them like small birds." + </p> + <p> + By the 22nd the sailors were in a state of "mutinous insolence." When the + tender's boats approached the ships they were welcomed "with presented + arms," and obliged to sheer off in order to obtain "more force," so + menacing did the situation appear. Seeing this, and either mistaking or + guessing the import of the move, the desperate seamen rushed the cabins, + secured all the arms and ammunition they could lay hands on, hoisted out + the ship's boats, and in these reached the shore in safety ere the + tender's men, by this time out in strength, could prevent or come up with + them. The fugitives, to the number of a hundred or more, made off into the + country to the accompaniment, we are told, of "smart firing on both + sides." With this exchange of shots the curtain falls on the "Fray at + Stangate Creek." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1480—Capt. + Berkeley, 30 Dec. 1744, and enclosure.] In the engagement two of the + seamen were wounded, but all escaped the snare of the fowler, and in that + happy denouement our sympathies are with them. + </p> + <p> + Returning transports paid immediate and heavy tribute to the gangs afloat. + Out of a fleet of such vessels arriving at the Nore in 1756 two hundred + and thirty men, "a parcel of as fine fellows as were ever pressed," fell + to the gangs. Not a man escaped from any of the ships, and the boats were + kept busy all next day shifting chests and bedding and putting in ticket + men to navigate the depleted vessels to London. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1487—Capt. Boys, 6, 7 and 8 July 1756.] A similar + press at the Cove of Cork, on the return of the transports from America in + '79, proved equally productive. Hundreds of sailors were secured, to the + unspeakable grief of the local crimps, who were then offering long prices + in order to recruit Paul Jones, at that time cruising off the Irish coast. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1499—Letters of Capt. + Bennett, 1779.] + </p> + <p> + The cartel ship was an object of peculiar solicitude to the sea-going + gangsman. In her, after weary months passed in French, Spanish or Dutch + prisons, hundreds of able-bodied British seamen returned to their native + land in more or less prime condition for His Majesty's Navy. The warmest + welcome they received was from the waiting gangsman. Often they got no + other. Few cartels had the extraordinary luck of the ship of that + description that crept into Rye harbour one night in March 1800, and in + bright moonlight landed three hundred lusty sailor-men fresh from French + prisons, under the very nose of the battery, the guard at the port head + and the <i>Clinker</i> gun-brig. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1449—Capt. Aylmer, 9 March 1800.] + </p> + <p> + Of all the seafaring men the gangsman took, there was perhaps none whom he + pressed with greater relish than the pilot. The every-day pilot of the old + school was a curious compound. When he knew his business, which was only + too seldom, he was frequently too many sheets in the wind to embody his + knowledge in intelligent orders; and when he happened to be sober enough + to issue intelligent orders, he not infrequently showed his ignorance of + what he was supposed to know by issuing wrong ones. The upshot of these + contradictions was, that instead of piloting His Majesty's ships in a + becoming seamanly manner, he was for ever running them aground. + Fortunately for the service, an error of this description incapacitated + him and made him fair game for the gangs, who lost no time in transferring + him to those foremast regions where ship's grog was strictly limited and + the captain's quite unknown. William Cook, impressed upon an occasion at + Lynn, with unconscious humour styled himself a landsman. He was really a + pilot who had qualified for that distinction by running vessels ashore. + </p> + <p> + In the aggregate this unremitting and practically unbroken surveillance of + the coast was tremendously effective. Like Van Tromp, the vessels and + gangs engaged in it rode the seas with a broom at their masthead, sweeping + into the service, not every man, it is true, but enormous numbers of them. + As for their quality, "One man out of a merchant ship is better than three + the lieutenants get in town." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2379—Capt. + Roberts, 27 June 1732.] This was the general opinion early in the century; + but as the century wore on the quality of the man pressed in town steadily + deteriorated, till at length the sailor taken fresh from the sea was + reckoned to be worth six of him. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. — EVADING THE GANG. + </h2> + <p> + As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that the British + sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into Falstaff's famous + commodity, "food for powder." + </p> + <p> + Outward bound, the ship's protection—that "sweet little cherub" + which, contrary to all Dibdinic precedent, lay down below—had spread + its kindly aegis over him, and, generally speaking, saved him harmless + from the warrant and the hanger. But now the run for which he has signed + on is almost finished, and as the Channel opens before him the magic + Admiralty paper ceases to be of "force" for his protection. No sooner, + therefore, does he make his land-fall off the fair green hills or + shimmering cliffs than his troubles begin. He is now within the outer zone + of danger, and all about him hover those dreaded sharks of the Narrow + Seas, the rapacious press-smacks, seeking whom they may devour. Conning + the compass-card of his chances as they bear down upon him and send their + shot whizzing across his bows, the sailor, in his fixed resolve to evade + the gang at any cost, resorted first of all to the most simple and + sailorly expedient imaginable. He "let go all" and made a run for it. That + way lay the line of least resistance, and, with luck on his side, of + surest escape. + </p> + <p> + Three modes of flight were his to choose between—three modes + involving as many nice distinctions, plus a possible difference with the + master. He could run away in his ship, run away with her, or as a last + resort he could sacrifice his slops, his bedding, his pet monkey and the + gaudy parrot that was just beginning to swear, and run from her. Which + should it be? It was all a toss-up. The chance of the moment, instantly + detected and as instantly acted upon, determined his choice. + </p> + <p> + The sailor's flight in his ship depended mainly upon her sailing qualities + and the master's willingness to risk being dismasted or hulled by the + pursuer's shot. Granted a capful of wind on his beam, a fleet keel under + foot, and a complacent skipper aft, the flight direct was perhaps the + means of escape the sailor loved above all others. The spice of danger it + involved, the dash and frolic of the chase, the joy of seeing his leaping + "barky" draw slowly away from her pursuer in the contest of speed, and of + watching the stretch of water lying between him and capture surely widen + out, were sensations dear to his heart. + </p> + <p> + Running away <i>with</i> his ship was a more serious business, since the + adoption of such a course meant depriving the master of his command, and + this again meant mutiny. Happily, masters took a lenient view of mutinies + begotten of such conditions. Not infrequently, indeed, they were + consenting parties, winking at what they could not prevent, and assuming + the command again when the safety of ship and crew was assured by + successful flight, with never a hint of the irons, indictment or death + decreed by law as the mutineer's portion. + </p> + <p> + These modes of flight did not in every instance follow the hard-and-fast + lines here laid down. Under stress of circumstance each was liable to + become merged in the other; or both, perhaps, had to be abandoned in + favour of fresh tactics rendered necessary by the accident or the exigency + of the moment. The <i>Triton</i> and <i>Norfolk</i> Indiamen, after + successfully running the gauntlet of the Channel tenders, in the Downs + fell in with the <i>Falmouth</i> man-o'-war. The meeting was entirely + accidental. Both merchantmen were congratulating themselves on having + negotiated the Channel without the loss of a man. The <i>Triton</i> had + all furled except her fore and mizen topsails, preparatory to coming to an + anchor; but as the wind was strong southerly, with a lee tide running, the + <i>Falmouth's</i> boats could not forge ahead to board her before the set + of the tide carried her astern of the warship's guns, whereupon her crew + mutinied, threw shot into the man-o'-war's boats, which had by this time + drawn alongside, and so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear + away. Meantime a shot had brought the <i>Norfolk</i> to on the <i>Falmouth's</i> + starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On her decks an ominous + state of things prevailed. Her crew would not assist to clew up the sails, + the anchor had been seized to the chain-plates and could not be let go, + and when the gang from the <i>Falmouth</i> attempted to cut the buoy ropes + with which it was secured, the "crew attacked them with hatchets and + treenails, made sail and obliged them to quit the ship." Being by that, + time astern of the <i>Falmouth's</i> guns, they too made their escape. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1485—Capt. Brett, 25 June + 1755.] + </p> + <p> + Never, perhaps, did the sailor adopt the expedient of running away, ship + and all, with so malicious a goodwill or so bright a prospect of success, + as when sailing under convoy. In those days he seldom ventured to "risk + the run," even to Dutch ports and back, without the protection of one or + more ships of war, and in this precaution there was danger as well as + safety; for although the king's ships safeguarded him against the enemy if + hostilities were in progress, as well as against the "little rogues" of + privateers infesting the coasts and the adjacent seas, no sooner did the + voyage near its end than the captains of the convoying ships took out of + him, by force if necessary, as many men as they happened to require. This + was a <i>quid pro quo</i> of which the sailor could see neither the force + nor the fairness, and he therefore let slip no opportunity of evading it. + </p> + <p> + "Their Lordships," writes a commander who had been thus cheated, "need not + be surprised that I pressed so few men out of so large a Convoy, for the + Wind taking me Short before I got the length of Leostaff (Lowestoft), the + Pilot would not take Charge of the Shipp to turn her out over the Stamford + in the Night, which Oblig'd me to come to an Anchor in Corton Road. This I + did by Signal, but the Convoy took no Notice of it, and all of them Run + away and Left me, my Bottom being like a Rock for Roughness, so that I + could not Follow them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2732—Letters + of Capt. Young, 1742.] + </p> + <p> + Supposing, however, that all these manoeuvres failed him and the gang + after a hot chase appeared in force on deck, the game was not yet up so + far as the sailor was concerned. A ship, it is true, had neither the + length of the Great North Road nor yet the depth of the Forest of Dean, + but all the same there was within the narrow compass of her timbers many a + lurking place wherein the artful sailor, by a judicious exercise of + forethought and tools, might contrive to lie undetected until the gang had + gone over the side. + </p> + <p> + About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of June 1756, Capt. + William Boys, from the quarter-deck of his ship the <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, + then riding at anchor at the Nore, observed a snow on fire in the + five-fathom channel, a little below the Spoil Buoy. He immediately sent + his cutter to her assistance, but in spite of all efforts to save her she + ran aground and burnt to the water's edge. Her cargo consisted of wine, + and the loss of the vessel was occasioned by one of her crew, who was + fearful of being pressed, hiding himself in the hold with a lighted + candle. He was burnt with the ship. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1487—Capt. Boys, 26 June 1756. Oddly enough, a somewhat similar + accident was indirectly the cause of Capt. Boys' entering the Navy. In + 1727, whilst the merchantman of which he was then mate was on the voyage + home from Jamaica, two mischievous imps of black boys, inquisitive to know + whether some liquor spilt on deck was rum or water, applied a lighted + candle to it. It proved to be rum, and when the officers and crew, who + were obliged to take to the boats in consequence, were eventually picked + up by a Newfoundland fishing vessel, unspeakable sufferings had reduced + their number from twenty-three to seven, and these had only survived by + feeding on the bodies of their dead shipmates. In memory of that harrowing + time Boys adopted as his seal the device of a burning ship and the motto: + "From Fire, Water and Famine by Providence Preserved."] + </p> + <p> + Barring the lighted candle and the lamentable accident which followed its + use, the means of evading the gang resorted to in this instance was of a + piece with many adopted by the sailor. He contrived cunning hiding-places + in the cargo, where the gangsmen systematically "pricked" for him with + their cutlasses when the nature of the vessel's lading admitted of it, or + he stowed himself away in seachests, lockers and empty "harness" casks + with an ingenuity and thoroughness that often baffled the astutest + gangsman and the most protracted search. The spare sails forward, the + readily accessible hiding-hole of the green-hand, afforded less secure + concealment. Pierre Flountinherre, routed out of hiding there, endeavoured + to save his face by declaring that he had "left France on purpose to get + on board an English man-of-war." Frenchman though he was, the gang obliged + him. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1510—Capt. Baskerville, + 5 Aug. 1795.] + </p> + <p> + In his endeavours to best the impress officers and gangsmen the sailor + found a willing backer in his skipper, who systematically falsified the + ship's articles by writing "run," "drowned," "discharged" or "dead" + against the names of such men as he particularly desired to save harmless + from the press. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1525—Capt. + Berry, 31 March 1801.] This done, the men were industriously coached in + the various parts they were to play at the critical moment. In the + skipper's stead, supposing him to be for some reason unfit for naval + service, some specially valuable hand was dubbed master. Failing this + substitution, which was of course intended to save the man and not the + skipper, the ablest seaman in the ship figured as mate, whilst others + became putative boatswain or carpenter and apprentices—privileged + persons whom no gang could lawfully take, but who, to render their + position doubly secure, were furnished with spurious papers, of which + every provident skipper kept a supply at hand for use in emergencies. When + all hands were finally mustered to quarters, so to speak, there remained + on deck only a "master" who could not navigate the ship, a "mate" unable + to figure out the day's run, a "carpenter" who did not know how to handle + an adze, and some make-believe apprentices "bound" only to outwit the + gang. And if in spite of all these precautions an able seaman were + pressed, the real master immediately came forward and swore he was the + mate. + </p> + <p> + Such thoroughly organised preparedness as this, however, was the exception + rather than the rule, for though often attempted, it rarely reached + perfection or stood the actual test. The sailor was too childlike by + nature to play the fraud successfully, and as for the impress officer and + the gangsman, neither was easily gulled. Supposing the sailor, then, to + have nothing to hope for from deception or concealment, and supposing, + too, that it was he who had the rough bottom beneath him and the fleet + keel in pursuit, how was he to outwit the gang and evade the pinch? + Nothing remained for him but to heave duty by the board and abandon his + ship to the doubtful mercies of wind and wave. He accordingly went over + the side with all the haste he could, appropriating the boats in defiance + of authority, and leaving only the master and his mate, the protected + carpenter and the apprentices to work the ship. Many a trader from + overseas, summarily abandoned in this way, crawled into some outlying + port, far from her destination, in quest—since a rigorous press + often left no others available—of "old men and boys to carry her + up." There is even on record the case of a ship that passed the Nore + "without a man belonging to her but the master, the passengers helping him + to sail her." Her people had "all got ashore by Harwich." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1473—Capt. Bouler, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] + </p> + <p> + Few shipowners were so foolhardy as to incur the risk of being thus hit in + the pocket by the sailor's well-known predilection for French leave when + in danger of the press. Nor were the masters, for they, even when not part + owners, had still an appreciable stake in the safety of the ships they + sailed. As between masters, owners and men there consequently sprang up a + sort of triangular sympathy, having for its base a common dread of the + gangs, and for its apex their circumvention. This apex necessarily touched + the coast at a point contiguous to the ocean tracks of the respective + trades in which the ships sailed; and here, in some spot far removed from + the regular haunts of the gangsman, an emergency crew was mustered by + those indefatigable purveyors, the crimps, and held in readiness against + the expected arrival. + </p> + <p> + Composed of seafaring men too old, too feeble, or too diseased to excite + the cupidity of the most zealous lieutenant who eked out his pay on + impress perquisites; of lads but recently embarked on the adventurous + voyage of their teens; of pilots willing, for a consideration, to forego + the pleasure of running ships aground; of fishermen who evaded His + Majesty's press under colour of Sea-Fencible, Militia, or Admiralty + protections; and of unpressable foreigners whose wives bewailed them more + or less beyond the seas, this scratch crew—the Preventive Men of the + merchant service—here awaited the preconcerted signal which should + apprise them that their employer's ship was ready for a change of hands. + </p> + <p> + For safety's sake the transfer was generally effected by night, when that + course was possible; but the untimely appearance of a press-smack on the + scene not infrequently necessitated the shifting of the crews in the broad + light of day and the hottest of haste. On shore all had been in readiness + perhaps for days. At the signal off dashed the deeply laden boats to the + frantic ship, the scratch crew scrambled aboard, and the regular hands, + thus released from duty, tumbled pell-mell into the empty boats and pulled + for shore with a will mightily heartened by a running fire of round-shot + from the smack and of musketry from her cutter, already out to intercept + the fugitives. Then it was:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard to wind'ard; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard a-lee; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! else 'tis farewell home and kindred, + And the bosun's mate a-raisin' hell in the King's Navee. + Cheerily, lads, cheerily ho! the warrant's out, the hanger's drawn! + Cheerily, lads, so cheerily! we'll leave 'em an <i>R</i> in pawn!" +</pre> + <p> + [Footnote: When Jack deserted his ship under other conditions than those + here described, an <i>R</i> was written against his name to denote that he + had "run." So, when he shirked an obligation, monetary or moral, by + running away from it, he was said to "leave an <i>R</i> in pawn."] + </p> + <p> + The place of muster of the emergency men thus became in turn the + landing-place of the fugitive crew. Its whereabouts depended as a matter + of course upon the trade in which the ship sailed. The spot chosen for the + relief of the Holland, Baltic and Greenland traders of the East Coast was + generally some wild, inaccessible part abutting directly on the German + Ocean or the North Sea. London skippers in those trades favoured the + neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, where the maze of inland waterways + constituting the Broads enabled the shifty sailor to lead the gangs a + merry game at hide and seek. King's Lynners affected Skegness and the + Norfolk lip of the Wash. Of the men who sailed out of Hull not one in ten + could be picked up, on their return, by the gangs haunting the Humber. + They went ashore at Dimlington on the coast of Holderness, or at the + Spurn. The homing sailors of Leith, as of the ports on the upper reaches + of the Firth of Forth, enjoyed an immunity from the press scarcely less + absolute than that of the Orkney Islanders, who for upwards of forty years + contributed not a single man to the Navy. Having on either hand an easily + accessible coast, inhabited by a people upon whose hospitality the gangs + were chary of intruding, and abounding in lurking-places as secure as they + were snug, the Mother Firth held on to her sailor sons with a pertinacity + and success that excited the envy of the merchant seaman at large and + drove impress officers to despair. The towns and villages to the north of + the Firth were "full of men." On no part of the north coast, indeed, from + St. Abb's Head clear round to Annan Water, was it an easy matter to + circumvent the canny Scot who went a-sailoring. He had a trick of stopping + short of his destination, when homeward bound, that proved as baffling to + the gangs as it was in seeming contradiction to all the traditions of a + race who pride themselves on "getting there." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April + 1795, and Captains' Letters, <i>passim</i>.] + </p> + <p> + In the case of outward-bound ships, the disposition of the two crews was + of course reversed. The scratch crew carried the ship down to the + stipulated point of exchange, where they vacated her in favour of the + actual crew, who had been secretly conveyed to that point by land. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 580—Admiral Lord Nelson, + Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Whichever way the trick was + worked, it proved highly effective, for, except from the sea, no gang + durst venture near such points of debarkation and departure without strong + military support. + </p> + <p> + There still remained the emergency crew itself. The most decrepit, + crippled or youthful were of course out of the question. But the foreigner + and our shifty friend the man in lieu were fair game. Entering largely as + they did into the make-up of almost every scratch crew, they were pressed + without compunction whenever and wherever caught abusing their privileges + by playing the emergency man. To keep such persons always and in all + circumstances was a point of honour with the Navy Board. It had no other + means of squaring accounts with the scratch crew. + </p> + <p> + The emergency man who plied "on his own" was more difficult to deal with. + Keepers of the Eddystone made a "great deal of money" by putting + inward-bound ships' crews ashore; but when one of their number, Matthew + Dolon by name, was pressed as a punishment for that offence, the + Admiralty, having the fear of outraged Trade before its eyes, ordered his + immediate discharge. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. + Yeo, 25 July 1727.] + </p> + <p> + The pilot, the fisherman and the longshoreman were notorious offenders in + this respect. Whenever they saw a vessel bound in, they were in the habit + of putting off to her and of first inciting the crew to escape and then + hiring themselves at exorbitant rates to work the vessel into port. On + such mischievous interlopers the gangsman had no mercy. He took them + whenever he could, confident that when their respective cases were stated + to the Board, that body would "tumble" to the occasion. + </p> + <p> + Any attempt at estimating the number of seafaring men who evaded the gangs + and the call of the State by means of the devices and subterfuges here + roughly sketched into the broad canvas of our picture would prove a task + as profitless as it is impossible of accomplishment. One thing only is + certain. The number fluctuated greatly from time to time with the activity + or inactivity of the gangs. When the press was lax, there arose no + question as there existed no need of escape; when it was hot, it was + evaded systematically and with a degree of success extremely gratifying to + the sailor. Taking the sea-borne coal trade of the port of London alone, + it is estimated that in the single month of September 1770, at a time when + an exceptionally severe press from protections was in full swing, not less + than three thousand collier seamen got ashore between Yarmouth Roads and + Foulness Point. As the coal trade was only one of many, and as the stretch + of coast concerned comprised but a few miles out of hundreds equally well + if not better adapted to the sailor's furtive habits, the total of escapes + must have been little short of enormous. It could not have been otherwise. + In this grand battue of the sea it was clearly impossible to round-up and + capture every skittish son of Neptune. + </p> + <p> + On shore, as at sea, the sailor's course, when the gang was on his track, + followed the lines of least resistance, only here he became a skulk as + well as a fugitive. It was not that he was a less stout-hearted fellow + than when at sea. He was merely the victim of a type of land neurosis. + Drink and his recent escape from the gang got on his nerves and rendered + him singularly liable to panic. The faintest hint of a press was enough to + make his hair rise. At the first alarm he scuttled into hiding in the + towns, or broke cover like a frightened hare. + </p> + <p> + The great press of 1755 affords many instances of such panic flights. + Abounding in "lurking holes" where a man might lie perdue in comparative + safety, King's Lynn nevertheless emptied itself of seamen in a few hours' + time, and when the gang hurried to Wells by water, intending to intercept + the fugitives there, the "idle fishermen on shore" sounded a fresh alarm + and again they stampeded, going off to the eastward in great numbers and + burying themselves in the thickly wooded dells and hills of that bit of + Devon in Norfolk which lies between Clay-next-the-Sea and Sheringham. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1486—Capt. Baird, 29 March + and 21 April 1755.] + </p> + <p> + A similar exodus occurred at Ipswich. The day the warrants came down, as + for many days previous, the ancient borough was full of seamen; but no + sooner did it become known that the press was out than they vanished like + the dew of the morning. For weeks the face of but one sailor was seen in + the town, and he was only ferreted out, with the assistance of a dozen + constables, after prolonged and none too legal search. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1486—Capt. Brand, 26 Feb. 1755.] + </p> + <p> + How effectually the sailor could hide when dread of the press had him in + its grip is strikingly illustrated by the hot London press of 1740. On + that occasion the docks, the riverside slums and dens, the river itself + both above and below bridge, were scoured by gangs who left no stratagem + untried for unearthing and taking the hidden sailor. When the rigour of + the press was past not a seaman, it is said, was to be found at large in + London; yet within four-and-twenty hours sixteen thousand emerged from + their retreats. [Footnote: Griffiths, <i>Impressment Fully Considered</i>.] + </p> + <p> + The secret of such effectual concealment lay in the fact that the nature + of his hiding-place mattered little to the sailor so long as it was + secure. Accustomed to quarters of the most cramped description on + shipboard, he required little room for his stowing. The roughest bed, the + worst ventilated hole, the most insanitary surroundings and conditions + were all one to him. He could thus hide himself away in places and + receptacles from which the average landsman would have turned in fear or + disgust. In quarry, clay-pit, cellar or well; in holt, hill or cave; in + chimney, hayloft or secret cell behind some old-time oven; in shady + alehouse or malodorous slum where a man's life was worth nothing unless he + had the smell of tar upon him, and not much then; on isolated farmsteads + and eyots, or in towns too remote or too hostile for the gangsman to + penetrate—somewhere, somehow and of some sort the sailor found his + lurking-place, and in it, by good providence, lay safe and snug throughout + the hottest press. + </p> + <p> + Many of the seamen employed in the Newfoundland trade of Poole, gaining + the shore at Chapman's Pool or Lulworth, whiled away their stolen leisure + either in the clay-pits of the Isle of Purbeck, where they defied + intrusion by posting armed sentries at every point of access to their + stronghold, or—their favourite haunt—on Portland Island, which + the number and ill-repute of the labourers employed in its stone quarries + rendered well-nigh impregnable. To search for, let alone to take the + seamen frequenting that natural fortress—who of course "squared" the + hard-bitten quarrymen—was more than any gang durst undertake unless, + as was seldom the case, it consisted of some "very superior force." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Report + on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +With the solitary exception of Falmouth town, the Cornish coast was +merely another Portland Neck enormously extended. From Rame Head to the +Lizard and Land's End, and in a minor sense from Land's End away to Bude +Haven in the far nor'-east, the entire littoral of this remote part of +the kingdom was forbidden ground whereon no gangsman's life was worth +a moment's purchase. The two hundred seins and twice two hundred +drift-boats belonging to that coast employed at least six thousand +fishermen, and of these the greater part, as soon as the fishing season +was at an end, either turned "tinners" and went into the mines, where +they were unassailable, + + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 28 Sept. 1805.] or betook themselves to their strongholds +at Newquay, St. Ives, Newland, Mousehole, Coversack, Polpero, Cawsand +and other places where, in common with smugglers, deserters from the +king's ships at Hamoaze, and an endless succession of fugitive merchant +seamen, they were as safe from intrusion or capture as they would have +been on the coast of Labrador. It was impossible either to hunt them +down or to take them on a coast so "completely perforated." A thousand +"stout, able young fellows" could have been drawn from this source +without being missed; but the gangs fought shy of the task, and only +when they carried vessels in distress into Falmouth were the redoubtable +sons of the coves ever molested. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. +579—Admiral M'Bride, 9 March 1795. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 578—Petition +of the Inhabitants of the Village of Coversack, 31 Jan. 1778.] +</pre> + <p> + On the Bristol Channel side Lundy Island offered unrivalled facilities for + evasion, and many were the crews marooned there by far-sighted skippers + who calculated on thus securing them against their return from Bristol, + outward bound. The gangs as a rule gave this little Heligoland a wide + berth, and when carried thither against their will they had a + disconcerting habit of running away with the press-boat, and of thus + marooning their commanding officer, that contributed not a little to the + immunity the island enjoyed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. + Aylmer, 22 Dec. 1743.] + </p> + <p> + The sailor's objection to Lundy was as strong as the gangsman's. From his + point of view it was no ideal place to hide in, and the effect upon him of + enforced sojourn there was to make him sulky and mutinous. Rather the + shore with all its dangers than an island that produced neither tobacco, + rum, nor women! He therefore preferred sticking to his ship, even though + he thereby ran the risk of impressment, until she arrived the length of + the Holmes. + </p> + <p> + These islands are two in number, Steep Holme and Flat Holme, and so + closely can vessels approach the latter, given favourable weather + conditions, that a stone may be cast on shore from the deck. The business + of landing and embarking was consequently easy, and though the islands + themselves were as barren as Lundy of the three commodities the sailor + loved, he was nevertheless content to terminate his voyage there for the + following reasons. Under the lee of one or other of the islands there was + generally to be found a boat-load of men who were willing, for a suitable + return in coin of the realm, to work the ship into King Road, the + anchorage of the port of Bristol. The sailor was thus left free to gain + the shore in the neighbourhood of Uphill, Weston, or Clevedon Bay, whence + it was an easy tramp, not to Bristol, of which he steered clear because of + its gangs, but to Bath, or, did he prefer a place nearer at hand, to the + little town of Pill, near Avon-mouth. + </p> + <p> + A favourite haunt of seafaring men, fishermen, pilots and pilots' + assistants, with a liberal sprinkling of that class of female known in + sailor lingo as "brutes," this lively little town was a place after Jack's + own heart. The gangsmen gave it a wide berth. It offered an abundance of + material for him to work upon, but that material was a trifle too rough + even for his infastidious taste. The majority of the permanent indwellers + of Pill, as well as the casual ones, not only protected themselves from + the press, when such a course was necessary, by a ready use of the fist + and the club, but, when this means of exemption failed them, pleaded the + special nature of their calling with great plausibility and success. They + were "pilots' assistants," and as such they enjoyed for many years the + unqualified indulgence of the naval authorities. The appellation they bore + was nevertheless purely euphemistic. As a matter of fact they were + sailors' assistants who, under cover of an ostensible vocation, made it + their real business, at the instigation and expense of Bristol shipowners, + to save crews harmless from the gangs by boarding ships at the Holmes and + working them from thence into the roadstead or to the quays. They are said + to have been "very fine young men," and many a longing look did the + impress officers at Bristol cast their way whilst struggling to swell + their monthly returns. So essentially necessary to the trade of the place + were they considered to be, however, that they were allowed to checkmate + the gangs, practically without molestation or hindrance, till about the + beginning of the last century, when the Admiralty, suddenly awaking to the + unpatriotic nature of a practice that so effectually deprived the Navy of + its due, caused them to be served with a notice to the effect that "for + the future all who navigated ships from the Holmes should be pressed as + belonging to those ships." At this threat the Pill men jeered. Relying on + the length of pilotage water between King Road and Bristol, they took a + leaf from the sailor's log and ran before the press-boats could reach the + ships in which they were temporarily employed. For four years this state + of things continued. Then there was struck at the practice a blow which + not even the Admiralty had foreseen. Tow-paths were constructed along the + river-bank, and the pilots' assistants, ousted by horses, fell an easy + prey to the gangs. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + </p> + <p> + Bath had no gang, and was in consequence much frequented by sailors of the + better class. In 1803—taking that as a normal year—the number + within its limits was estimated at three hundred—enough to man a + ship-of-the-line. The fact being duly reported to the Admiralty, a + lieutenant and gang were ordered over from Bristol to do some pressing. + The civic authorities—mayor, magistrates, constables and watchmen—fired + with sudden zeal for the service, all came forward "in the most handsome + manner" with offers of countenance and support. In the purlieus of the + town, however, the advent of the gang created panic. The seamen went into + prompt hiding, the mob turned out in force, angry and threatening, + resolved that no gang should violate the sanctuary of a cathedral city. + Seeing how the wind set, the mayor and magistrates, having begun by + backing the warrant, continued backing until they backed out of the affair + altogether. The zealous watchmen could not be found, the eager constables + ran away. Dismayed by these untimely defections, the lieutenant hurriedly + resolved "to drop the business." So the gang marched back to Bristol + empty-handed, followed by the hearty execrations of the rabble and the + heartier good wishes of the mayor, who assured them that as soon as he + should be able to clap the skulking seamen in jail "on suspicion of + various misdemeanours," he would send for them again. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1528—Capt. Barker, 3 and 11 July 1803.] We do not + learn that he ever did. + </p> + <p> + To Bristol no unprotected sailor ever repaired of his own free will, for + early in the century of pressing the chickens of the most notorious + kidnapping city in England began to come home to roost. The mantle of the + Bristol mayor whom Jeffreys tried for a "kidnapping knave" fell upon a + succession of regulating captains whose doings put their civic prototype + to open shame, and more petitions and protests against the lawlessness of + the gangs emanated from Bristol than from any other city in the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + The trowmen who navigated the Severn and the Wye, belonging as they did + mainly to extra-parochial spots in the Forest of Dean, were exempt from + the Militia ballot and the Army of Reserve. On the ground that they came + under the protection of inland navigation, they likewise considered + themselves exempt from the sea service, but this contention the Court of + Exchequer in 1798 completely overset by deciding that the "passage of the + River Severn between Gloucester and Bristol is open sea." A press-gang was + immediately let loose upon the numerous tribe frequenting it, whereupon + the whole body of newly created sailors deserted their trows and fled to + the Forest, where they remained in hiding till the disappointed gang + sought other and more fruitful fields. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + </p> + <p> + Within Chester gates the sailor for many years slept as securely as upon + the high seas. No householder would admit the gangsmen beneath his roof; + and when at length they succeeded in gaining a foothold within the city, + all who were liable to the press immediately deserted it—"as they do + every town where there is a gang"—and went "to reside at Parkgate." + Parkgate in this way became a resort of sea-faring men without parallel in + the kingdom—a "nest" whose hornet bands were long, and with good + reason, notorious for their ferocity and aggressiveness. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1446—Capt. Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] An attempt to + establish a rendezvous here in 1804 proved a failure. The seamen fled, no + "business" could be done, and officer and gang were soon withdrawn. + </p> + <p> + In comparison with the seething Deeside hamlet, Liverpool was tameness + itself. Now and then, as in 1745, the sailor element rose in arms, + demanding who was master; but as a rule it suffered the gang, if not + gladly, at least with exemplary patience. Homing seamen who desired to + evade the press in that city—and they were many—fled ashore + from their ships at Highlake, a spot so well adapted to their purpose that + it required "strict care to catch them." From Highlake they made their way + to Parkgate, swelling still further the sailor population of that + far-famed nest of skulkers. + </p> + <p> + Cork was a minor Parkgate. A graphic account of the conditions obtaining + in that city has been left to us by Capt. Bennett, of H.M.S. <i>Lennox</i>, + who did port duty there from May 1779 till March 1783. "Many hundreds of + the best Seamen in this Province," he tells us, "resort in Bodys in + Country Villages round about here, where they are maintained by the + Crimps, who dispose of them to Bristol, Liverpool and other Privateers, + who appoint what part of the Coast to take them on Board. They go in + Bodys, even in the Town of Cork, and bid defiance to the Press-gangs, and + resort in houses armed, and laugh at both civil and military Power. This + they did at Kinsale, where they threatened to pull the Jail down in a + garrison'd Town." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1502—Capt. + Bennett, 12 and 26 April 1782.] These tactics rendered the costly + press-gangs all but useless. A hot press at Cork, in 1796, yielded only + sixteen men fit for the service. + </p> + <p> + Space fails us to tell of how, owing to a three days' delay in the London + post that brought the warrants to Newhaven in the spring of '78, the + "alarm of soon pressing" spread like wildfire along that coast and drove + every vessel to sea; of how "three or four hundred young fellows" + belonging to Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, who had no families and could + well have been spared without hindrance to the seafaring business of those + towns, thought otherwise and took a little trip of "thirty or forty miles + in the country to hide from the service"; or of how Capt. Routh, of the + rendezvous at Leeds, happened upon a great concourse of skulkers at + Castleford, whither they had been drawn by reasons of safety and the + alleged fact that + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Castleford woman must needs be fair, + Because they wash both in Calder and Aire," +</pre> + <p> + and after two unsuccessful attempts at surprise, at length took them with + the aid of the military. These were everyday incidents which were accepted + as matters of course and surprised nobody. Nevertheless the vagaries of + the wayward children of the State, who chose to run away and hide instead + of remaining to play the game, cost the naval authorities many an anxious + moment. <i>They</i> had to face both evasion and invasion, and the + prevalence of the one did not help to repel the other. + </p> + <p> + His country's fear of invasion by the French afforded the seafaring man + the chance of the century. Pitt's Quota Bill put good money in his pocket + at the expense of his liberty, but in Admiral Sir Home Popham's great + scheme for the defence of the coasts against Boney and his flat-bottomed + boats he scented something far more to his advantage and taste. + </p> + <p> + From the day in 1796 when Capt. Moriarty, press-gang-officer at Cork, + reported the arrival of the long-expected Brest fleet off the Irish coast, + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1621—Capt. Crosby, 30 Dec. + 1796.] the question how best to defend from sudden attack so enormously + extended and highly vulnerable a seaboard as that of the United Kingdom, + became one of feverish moment. At least a hundred different projects for + compassing that desirable end at one time or another claimed the attention + of the Navy Board. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Knowles, 25 Jan. 1805.] One of these was decidedly ingenious. It aimed at + destroying the French flotilla by means of logs of wood bored hollow and + charged with gunpowder and ball. These were to be launched against the + invaders somewhat after the manner of the modern torpedo, of which they + were, in fact, the primitive type and original. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 580—Rear-Admiral Young, 14 Aug. 1803, and secret + enclosure, as in the Appendix. The Admiral's "machine," as he termed it, + though embodying the true torpedo idea of an explosive device to be + propelled against an enemy's ship, was not designed to be so propelled on + its own buoyancy, but by means of a fishing-boat, in which it lay + concealed. Had his inventive genius taken a bolder flight and given us a + more finished product in place of this crudity, the Whitehead torpedo + would have been anticipated, in something more than mere principle, by + upwards of half a century.] + </p> + <p> + Meantime, however, the Admiralty had adopted another plan—Admiral + Popham, already famous for his improved code of signals, its originator. + On paper it possessed the merits of all Haldanic substitutes for the real + thing. It was patriotic, cheap, simple as kissing your hand. All you had + to do was to take the fisherman, the longshoreman and other stalwarts who + lived "one foot in sea and one on shore," enroll them in corps under the + command (as distinguished from the control) of naval officers, and + practise them (on Sundays, since it was a work of strict necessity) in the + use of the pike and the cannon, and, hey presto! the country was as safe + from invasion as if the meddlesome French had never been. The expense + would be trivial. Granting that the French did not take alarm and + incontinently drop their hostile designs upon the tight little island, + there would be a small outlay for pay, a trifle of a shilling a day on + exercise days, but nothing more—except for martello towers. The + boats it was proposed to enroll and arm would cost nothing. Their + patriotic owners were to provide them free of charge. + </p> + <p> + Such was the Popham scheme on paper. On a working basis it proved quite + another thing. The pikes provided were old ship-pikes, rotten and + worthless. The only occasion on which they appear to have served any good + purpose was when, at Gerrans and St. Mawes, the Fencibles joined the mob + and terrified the farmers, who were ignorant of the actual condition of + the pikes, into selling their corn at something less than famine prices. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Capt. Spry, 14 April + 1801.] Guns hoary with age, requisitioned from country churchyards and + village greens where they had rusted, some of them, ever since the days of + Drake and Raleigh, were dragged forth and proudly grouped as "parks of + artillery." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1513—Capt. + Bradley, 21 Aug. 1796.] Signal stations could not be seen one from the + other, or, if visible, perpetrated signals no one could read. The armed + smacks were equally unreliable. In Ireland they could not be "trusted out + of sight with a gun." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1529—Capt. + Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] In England they left the guns behind them. The + weight, the patriotic owners discovered, seriously hampered the carrying + capacity and seaworthiness of their boats; so to abate the nuisance they + hove the guns overboard on to the beach, where they were speedily buried + in sand or shingle, while the appliances were carried off by those who had + other uses for them than their country's defence. The vessels thus armed, + moreover, were always at sea, the men never at home. When it was desired + to practise them in the raising of the sluice-gates which, in the event of + invasion, were to convert Romney Marsh into an inland sea, no efforts + availed to get together sufficient men for the purpose. Immune from the + press by reason of their newly created status of Sea-Fencibles, they were + all elsewhere, following their time-honoured vocations of fishing and + smuggling with industry and gladness of heart. As a means of repelling + invasion the Popham scheme was farcical and worthless; as a means of + evading the press it was the finest thing ever invented. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Reports on Sea-Fencibles, 1805; + Admiral Lord Keith, Sentiments upon the Sea-Fencible System, 7 Jan. 1805.] + The only benefits the country ever drew from it, apart from this, were + two. It provided the Admiralty with an incomparable register of seafaring + men, and some modern artists with secluded summer retreats. + </p> + <p> + It goes without saying that a document of such vital consequence to the + seafaring man as an Admiralty protection did not escape the attention of + those who, from various motives, sought to aid and abet the sailor in his + evasion of the press. Protections were freely lent and exchanged, bought + and sold, "coaxed," concocted and stolen. Skilful predecessors of Jim the + Penman imitated to the life the signatures of Pembroke and Sandwich, Lord + High Admirals, and of the lesser fry who put the official hand to those + magic papers. "Great abuses" were "committed that way." Bogus protections + could be obtained at Sunderland for 8s. 6d., Stephenson and Collins, the + disreputable schoolmasters who made a business of faking them, coining + money by the "infamous practice." In London "one Broucher, living in St. + Michael's Lane," supplied them to all comers at 3 Pounds apiece. Even the + Navy Office was not above suspicion in this respect, for in '98 a clerk + there, whose name does not transpire, was accused of adding to his income + by the sale of bogus protections at a guinea a head. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2740—Lieut. Abbs, 5 Oct. 1798.] + </p> + <p> + American protections were the Admiralty's pet bugbear. For many years + after the successful issue of the War of Independence a bitter animosity + characterised the attitude of the British naval officer towards the + American sailor. Whenever he could be laid hold of he was pressed, and no + matter what documents he produced in evidence of his American birth and + citizenship, those documents were almost invariably pronounced false and + fraudulent. There were weighty reasons, however, for refusing to accept + the claim of the alleged American sailor at its face value. No class of + protection was so generally forged, so extensively bought and sold, as the + American. Practically every British seaman who made the run to an American + port took the precaution, during his sojourn in that land of liberty, to + provide himself with spurious papers against his return to England, where + he hoped, by means of them, to checkmate the gang. The process of + obtaining such papers was simplicity itself. All the sailor had to do, at, + say, New York, was to apply himself to one Riley, whose other name was + Paddy. The sum of three dollars having changed hands, Riley and his client + betook themselves to the retreat of some shady Notary Public, where the + Irishman made ready oath that the British seaman was as much American born + as himself. The business was now as good as done, for on the strength of + this lying affidavit any Collector of Customs on the Atlantic coast would + for a trifling fee grant the sailor a certificate of citizenship. Riley + created American citizens in this way at the rate, it is said, of a dozen + a day, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1523-Deposition of Zacharias + Pasco, 20 Jan. 1800.] and as he was only one of many plying the same + lucrative trade, the effect of such wholesale creations upon the impress + service in England, had they been allowed to pass unchallenged, may be + readily conceived. + </p> + <p> + The fraud, worse luck for the service, was by no means confined to + America. Almost every home seaport had its recognised perveyor of "false + American passes." At Liverpool a former clerk to the Collector of Customs + for Pembroke, Pilsbury by name, grew rich on them, whilst at Greenock, + Shields and other north-country shipping centres they were for many years + readily procurable of one Walter Gilly and his confederates, whose + transactions in this kind of paper drove the Navy Board to desperation. + They accordingly instructed Capt. Brown, gang-officer at Greenock, to take + Gilly at all hazards, but the fabricator of passes fled the town ere the + gang could be put on his track. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1549—Capt. Brown, 22 Aug. 1809.] + </p> + <p> + Considering that every naval officer, from the Lord High Admiral + downwards, had these facts and circumstances at his fingers' end, it is + hardly suprising that protections having, or purporting to have, an + American origin, should have been viewed with profound distrust—distrust + too often justified, and more than justified, by the very nature of the + documents themselves. Thus a gentleman of colour, Cato Martin by name, + when taken out of the <i>Dolly</i> West-Indiaman at Bristol, had the + assurance to produce a white man's pass certifying his eyes, which were + undeniably yellow, to be a soft sky-blue, and his hair, which was + hopelessly black and woolly, to be of that well-known hue most commonly + associated with hair grown north of the Tweed. It was reserved, however, + for an able seaman bearing the distinguished name of Oliver Cromwell to + break all known records in this respect. When pressed, he unblushingly + produced a pass dated in America the 29th of May and viséd by the American + Consul in London on the 6th of June immediately following, thus conferring + on its bearer the unique distinction of having crossed the Atlantic in + eight days at a time when the voyage occupied honester men nearly as many + weeks. To press such frauds was a public benefit. On the other hand, one + confesses to a certain sympathy with the American sailor who was pressed + because he "spoke English very well." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 2734—Capt. Yorke, 8 March 1798.] + </p> + <p> + Believing in the simplicity of his heart that others were as gullible as + himself, the fugitive sailor sought habitually to hide his identity + beneath some temporary disguise of greater or less transparency. That of + farm labourer was perhaps his favourite choice. The number of seamen so + disguised, and employed on farms within ten miles of the coast between + Hull and Whitby prior to the sailing of the Greenland and Baltic ships in + 1803, was estimated at more than a thousand able-bodied men. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 580—Admiral Phillip, Report on Rendezvous, 25 April + 1804.] Seamen using the Newfoundland trade of Dartmouth were "half-farmer, + half-sailor." When the call of the sea no longer lured them, they returned + to the land in an agricultural sense, resorting in hundreds to the + farmsteads in the Southams, where they were far out of reach of the gangs. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral M'Bride, Report + on Rendezvous, 28 Feb. 1795] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. — WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + </h2> + <p> + In his endeavours to escape the gang the sailor resembled nothing so much + as that hopelessly impotent fugitive the flying-fish. For both the sea + swarmed with enemies bent on catching them. Both sought to evade those + enemies by flight, and both, their ineffectual flight ended, returned to + the sea again whether they would or not. It was their fate, a deep-sea + kismet as unavoidable as death. + </p> + <p> + The ultimate destination of the sailor who by strategy or accident + succeeded in eluding the triple line of sea-gangs so placed as to head him + off from the coast, was thus never in doubt. His longest flights were + those he made on land, for here the broad horizon that stood the gangs in + such good stead at sea was measurably narrower, while hiding-places + abounded and were never far to seek. All the same, in spite of these + adventitious aids to self-effacement, the predestined end of the seafaring + man sooner or later overtook him. The gang met him at the turning of the + ways and wiped him off the face of the land. In the expressive words of a + naval officer who knew the conditions thoroughly well, the sailor's + chances of obtaining a good run for his money "were not worth a chaw of + tobacco." + </p> + <p> + For this inevitable finish to all the sailor's attempts at flight on shore + there existed in the main two reasons. The first of these lay in the + sailor himself, making of him an unconscious aider and abettor in his own + capture. Just as love and a cough cannot be hid, so there was no + disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by + characteristics that infallibly betrayed him. His bandy legs and rolling + gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea, and no "soaking" in + alehouse or tavern could eliminate the salt from the peculiar oaths that + were as natural to him as the breath of life. Assume what disguise he + would, he fell under suspicion at sight, and he had only to open his mouth + to turn that suspicion into certainty. It needed no Sherlock Holmes of a + gangsman to divine what he was or whence he came. + </p> + <p> + The second reason why the sailor could never long escape the gangs was + because the gangs were numerically too many for him. It was no question of + a chance gang here and there. The country swarmed with them. + </p> + <p> + Take the coast. Here every seaport of any pretensions in the way of trade, + together with every spot between such ports known to be favoured or + habitually used by the homing sailor as a landing-place, with certain + exceptions already noted, either had its own particular gang or was + closely watched by some gang stationed within easy access of the spot. In + this way the whole island was ringed in by gangs on shore, just as it was + similarly ringed in by other gangs afloat. + </p> + <p> + "If their Lordships would give me authority to press here," says Lieut. + Oakley, writing to the Sea Lords from Deal in 1743, "I could frequently + pick up good seamen ashoar. I mean seamen <i>who by some means escape + being prest by the men of war and tenders</i>." + </p> + <p> + In this modest request the lieutenant states the whole case for the + land-gang, at once demonstrating its utility and defining its functions. + Unconsciously he does more. He echoes a cry that incessantly assailed the + ears of Admiralty: "The sailor has escaped! Send us warrants and give us + gangs, and we will catch him yet." + </p> + <p> + It was this call, the call of the fleet, that dominated the situation and + forced order out of chaos. The men must be "rose," and only method could + do it. The demand was a heavy one to make upon the most unsystematic + system ever known, yet it survived the ordeal. The coast was mapped out, + warrants were dispatched to this point and that, rendezvous were opened, + gangs formed. No effort or outlay was spared to take the sailor the moment + he got ashore, or very soon after. + </p> + <p> + In this systematic setting of land-traps that vast head-centre of the + nation's overseas trade, the metropolis, naturally had first place. The + streets, and especially the waterside streets, were infested with gangs. + At times it was unsafe for any able-bodied man to venture abroad unless he + had on him an undeniable protection or wore a dress that unmistakeably + proclaimed the gentleman. The general rendezvous was on Tower Hill; but as + ships completing their complement nearly always sent a gang or two to + London, minor rendezvous abounded. St. Katherine's by the Tower was + specially favoured by them. The "Rotterdam Arms" and the "Two Dutch + Skippers," well-known taverns within that precinct, were seldom without + the bit of bunting that proclaimed the headquarters of the gang. At + Westminster the "White Swan" in King's Street usually bore a similar + decoration, as did also the "Ship" in Holborn. + </p> + <p> + A characteristic case of pressing by a gang using the last-named house + occurred in 1706. Ransacking the town in quest of pressable subjects of + Her Majesty, they came one day to the "Cock and Rummer" in Bow Street, + where a big dinner was in progress. Here nothing would suit their tooth + but mine host's apprentice, and as ill-luck would have it the apprentice + was cook to the establishment and responsible for the dinner. Him they + nevertheless seized and would have hurried away in spite of his master's + supplications, protests and offers of free drinks, had it not been for the + fact that a mob collected and forcibly prevented them. Other gangs + hurrying to the assistance of their hard-pressed comrades—to the + number, it is said, of sixty men—a free fight ensued, in the course + of which a burly constable, armed with a formidable longstaff, was singled + out by the original gang, doubtless on account of the prominent part he + took in the fray, as a fitting substitute for the apprentice. By dint of + beating the poor fellow till he was past resistance they at length got him + to the "Ship," where they were in the very act of bundling him into a + coach, with the intention of carrying him to the waterside below bridge, + and of their putting him on board the press-smack, when in the general + confusion he somehow effected his escape. [Footnote: "A Horrible + Relation," <i>Review</i>, 17 March 1705-6.] Such incidents were common + enough not only at that time but long after. + </p> + <p> + At Gravesend sailors came ashore in such numbers from East India and other + ships as to keep a brace of gangs busy. Another found enough to do at + Broadstairs, whence a large number of vessels sailed in the Iceland cod + fishery and similar industries. Faversham was a port and had its gang, and + from Margate right away to Portsmouth, and from Portsmouth to Plymouth, + nearly every town of any size that offered ready hiding to the fugitive + sailor from the Channel was similarly favoured. Brighton formed a notable + exception, and this circumstance gave rise to an episode about which we + shall have more to say presently. + </p> + <p> + To record in these pages the local of all the gangs that were stationed in + this manner upon the seaboard of the kingdom would be as undesirable as it + is foreign to the scope of this chapter. Enough to repeat that the land, + always the sailor's objective in eluding the triple cordon of sea-borne + gangs, was ringed in and surrounded by a circle of land-gangs in every + respect identical with that described as hedging the southern coast, and + in its continuity almost as unbroken as the shore itself. Both sea-gangs + and coast-gangs were amphibious, using either land or sea at pleasure. + </p> + <p> + Inland the conditions were the same, yet materially different. What was on + the coast an encircling line assumed here the form of a vast net, to which + the principal towns, the great cross-roads and the arterial bridges of the + country stood in the relation of reticular knots, while the constant + "ranging" of the gangs, now in this direction, now in that, supplied the + connecting filaments or threads. The gangs composing this great inland net + were not amphibious. Their most desperate aquatic ventures were confined + to rivers and canals. Ability to do their twenty miles a day on foot + counted for more with them than a knowledge of how to handle an oar or + distinguish the "cheeks" of a gaff from its "jaw." + </p> + <p> + Just as the sea-gangs in their raids upon the land were the Danes and + "creekmen" of their time, so the land-gangsman was the true highwayman of + the century that begot him. He kept every strategic point of every main + thoroughfare, held all the bridges, watched all the ferries, haunted all + the fairs. No place where likely men were to be found escaped his + calculating eye. + </p> + <p> + He was an inveterate early riser, and sailors sauntering to the fair for + want of better employment ran grave risks. In this way a large number were + taken on the road to Croydon fair one morning in September 1743. For + actual pressing the fair itself was unsafe because of the great concourse + of people; but it formed one of the best possible hunting-grounds and was + kept under close observation for that reason. Here the gangsman marked his + victim, whose steps he dogged into the country when his business was done + or his pleasure ended, never for a moment losing sight of him until he + walked into the trap all ready set in some wayside spinny or beneath some + sheltering bridge. + </p> + <p> + Bridges were the inland gangsman's favourite haunt. They not only afforded + ready concealment, they had to be crossed. Thus Lodden Bridge, near + Reading, accounted one of the "likeliest places in the country for + straggling seamen," was seldom without its gang. Nor was the great bridge + at Gloucester, since, as the first bridge over the Severn, it drew to + itself all the highroads and their users from Wales and the north. To + sailors making for the south coast from those parts it was a point of + approach as dangerous as it was unavoidable. Great numbers were taken here + in consequence. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 58l—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + </p> + <p> + So of ferries. The passage boats at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, + watched by gangs from Inverkeithing, yielded almost as many men in the + course of a year as the costly rendezvous at Leith. Greenock ferries + proved scarcely less productive. But there was here an exception. The + ferry between Glenfinart and Greenock plied only twice a week, and as both + occasions coincided with market-days the boat was invariably crowded with + women. Only once did it yield a man. Peter Weir, the hand in charge, one + day overset the boat, drowning every soul on board except himself. + Thereupon the gang pressed him, arguing that one who used the sea so + effectively could not fail to make a valuable addition to the fleet. + </p> + <p> + Inland towns traversed by the great highroads leading from north to south, + or from east to west, were much frequented by the gangs. Amongst these + Stourbridge perhaps ranked first. Situated midway between the great ports + of Liverpool and Bristol, it easily and effectually commanded Birmingham, + Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, Kidderminster and other populous + towns, while it was too small to afford secure hiding within itself. The + gangs operating from Stourbridge brought in an endless procession of + ragged and travel-stained seamen. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1500—Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + </p> + <p> + From ports on the Bristol Channel to ports on the English Channel, and the + reverse, many seamen crossed the country by stage-coach or wagon, and to + intercept them gangs were stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and Exeter. + Taunton and Salisbury also, as "great thoroughfares to and from the west," + had each its gang, and a sufficient number of sailors escaped the press at + the latter place to justify the presence of another at Romsey. Andover had + a gang as early as 1756, on the recommendation of no less a man than + Rodney. + </p> + <p> + Shore gangs were of necessity ambulatory. To sit down before the + rendezvous pipe in hand, and expect the evasive sailor to come of his own + accord and beg the favour of being pressed, would have been a futile waste + of time and tobacco. The very essence of the gangman's duty lay in the + leg-work he did. To that end he ate the king's victuals and wore the + king's shoe-leather. Consequently he was early afoot and late to bed. Ten + miles out and ten home made up his daily constitutional, and if he saw fit + to exceed that distance he did not incur his captain's displeasure. The + gang at Reading, a strategic point of great importance on the Bath and + Bristol road, traversed all the country round about within a radius of + twenty miles—double the regulation distance. That at King's Lynn, + another centre of unmeasured possibilities, trudged as far afield as + Boston, Ely, Peterborough and Wells-on-Sea. And the Isle of Wight gang, + stationed at Cowes or Ryde, now and then co-operated with a gang from + Portsmouth or Gosport and ranged the whole length and breadth of the + island, which was a noted nest of deserters and skulkers. "Range," by the + way, was a word much favoured by the officers who led such expeditions. + Its use is happy. It suggests the object well in view, the nicely + calculated distance, the steady aim that seldom missed its mark. The gang + that "ranged" rarely returned empty-handed. + </p> + <p> + On these excursions the favourite resting-place was some secluded nook + overlooking the point of crossing of two or more highroads; the favourite + place of refreshment, some busy wayside alehouse. Both were good to rest + or refresh in, for at both the chances of effecting a capture were far + more numerous than on the open road. + </p> + <p> + The object of the gang in taking the road was not, however, so much what + could be picked up by chance in the course of a day's march, as the + execution of some preconcerted design upon a particular person or place. + This brings us to the methods of pressing commonly adopted, which may be + roughly summarised under the three heads of surprise, violence and the + hunt. Frequently all three were combined; but as in the case of gangs + operating on the waters of rivers or harbours, the essential element in + all pre-arranged raids, attacks and predatory expeditions was the + first-named element, surprise. In this respect the gangsmen were genuine + "Peep-o'-Day Boys." The siege of Brighton is a notable case in point. + </p> + <p> + The inhabitants of Brighton, better known in the days of the press-gang as + Brighthelmstone, consisted largely of fisher-folk in respect to whom the + Admiralty had been guilty of one of its rare oversights. For generations + no call was made upon them to serve the king at sea. This accidental + immunity in course of time came to be regarded by the Brighton fisherman + as his birthright, and the misconception bred consequences. For one thing, + it made him intolerably saucy. He boasted that no impress officer had + power to take him, and he backed up the boast by openly insulting, and on + more than one occasion violently assaulting the king's uniform. With all + this he was a hardy, long-lived, lusty fellow, and as his numbers were + never thinned by that active corrector of an excessive birth-rate, the + press-gang, he speedily overstocked the town. An energetic worker while + his two great harvests of herring and mackerel held out, he was at other + times indolent, lazy and careless of the fact that his numerous progeny + burdened the rates. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 580—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 31 Dec. 1804.] These unpleasing + circumstances having been duly reported to the Admiralty, their Lordships + decided that what the Brighton fisherman required to correct his lax + principles and stiffen his backbone was a good hot press. They accordingly + issued orders for an early raid to be made upon that promising nursery of + man-o'-war's-men. + </p> + <p> + The orders, which were of course secret, bore date the 3rd of July 1779, + and were directed to Capt. Alms, who, as regulating officer at Shoreham, + was likewise in charge of the gang at Newhaven under Lieut. Bradley, and + of the gang at Littlehampton under Lieut. Breedon. At Shoreham there was + also a tender, manned by an able crew. With these three gangs and the + tender's crew at his back, Alms determined to lay siege to Brighton and + teach the fishermen there a lesson they should not soon forget. But first, + in order to render the success of the project doubly sure, he enlisted the + aid of Major-General Sloper, Commandant at Lewes, who readily consented to + lend a company of soldiers to assist in the execution of the design. + </p> + <p> + These preparations were some little time in the making, and it was not + until the Thursday immediately preceding the 24th of July that all was in + readiness. On the night of that day, by preconcerted arrangement, the + allied forces took the road—for the Littlehampton gang, a matter of + some twenty miles—and at the first flush of dawn united on the + outskirts of the sleeping town, where the soldiers were without loss of + time so disposed as to cut off every avenue of escape. This done, the + gangs split up and by devious ways, but with all expedition, concentrated + their strength upon the quay, expecting to find there a large number of + men making ready for the day's fishing. To their intense chagrin the quay + was deserted. The night had been a tempestuous one, with heavy rain, and + though the unfortunate gangsmen were soaked to the skin, the fishermen all + lay dry in bed. Hearing the wind and rain, not a man turned out. + </p> + <p> + By this time the few people who were abroad on necessary occasions had + raised the alarm, and on every hand were heard loud cries of "Press-gang!" + and the hurried barricading of doors. For ten hours "every man kept + himself locked up and bolted." For ten hours Alms waited in vain upon the + local Justice of the Peace for power to break and enter the fishermen's + cottages. His repeated requests being refused, he was at length "under the + necessity of quitting the town with only one man." So ended the siege of + Brighton; but Bradley, on his way back to Newhaven, fell in with a gang of + smugglers, of whom he pressed five. Brighton did not soon forget the + terrors of that rain-swept morning. For many a long day her people were + "very shy, and cautious of appearing in public." The salutary effects of + the raid, however, did not extend to the fishermen it was intended to + benefit. They became more insolent than ever, and a few years later marked + their resentment of the attempt to press them by administering a sound + thrashing to Mr. Midshipman Sealy, of the Shoreham rendezvous, whom they + one day caught unawares. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1445-46—Letters + of Capt. Alms.] + </p> + <p> + The surprise tactics of the gang of course varied according to + circumstances, and the form they took was sometimes highly ingenious. A + not uncommon stratagem was the impersonation of a recruiting party beating + up for volunteers. With cockades in their hats, drums rolling and fifes + shrilling, the gangsmen, who of course had their arms concealed, marched + ostentatiously through the high-street of some sizable country town and so + into the market-place. Since nobody had anything to fear from a harmless + recruiting party, people turned out in strength to see the sight and + listen to the music. When they had in this way drawn as many as they could + into the open, the gangsmen suddenly threw off their disguise and seized + every pressable person they could lay hands on. Market-day was ill-adapted + to these tactics. It brought too big a crowd together. + </p> + <p> + A similar ruse was once practised with great success upon the inhabitants + of Portsmouth by Capt. Bowen of the <i>Dreadnought</i>, in connection with + a general press which the Admiralty had secretly ordered to be made in and + about that town. Dockyard towns were not as a rule considered good + pressing-grounds because of the drain of men set up by the ships of war + fitting out there; but Bowen had certainly no reason to subscribe to that + opinion. Late on the night of the 8th of March 1803, he landed a company + of marines at Gosport for the purpose, as it was given out, of suppressing + a mutiny at Fort Monckton. The news spread rapidly, drawing crowds of + people from their homes in anticipation of an exciting scrimmage. This + gave Bowen the opportunity he counted upon. When the throngs had crossed + Haslar Bridge he posted marines at the bridge-end, and as the disappointed + people came pouring back the "jollies" pressed every man in the crowd. + Five hundred are said to have been taken on this occasion, but as the + nature of the service forbade discrimination at the moment of pressing, + nearly one-half were next day discharged as unfit or exempt. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1057—Admiral Milbanke, 9 March 1803.] + </p> + <p> + Sometimes, though not often, it was the gang that was surprised. All hands + would perhaps be snug in bed after a long and trying day, when suddenly a + thunderous knocking at the rendezvous door, and stentorian cries of: "Turn + out! turn out there!" coupled with epithets here unproducible, would bring + every man of them into the street in the turn of a handspike, half-dressed + but fully armed and awake to the fact that a party of belated seamen was + coming down the road. The sailors were perhaps more road-weary than the + gangsmen, and provided none of them succeeded in slipping away in the + darkness, or made a successful resistance, in half-an-hour's time or less + the whole party would be safe under lock and key, cursing luck for a + scurvy trickster in delivering them over to the gang. + </p> + <p> + The sailor's well-known partiality for drink was constantly turned to + account by the astute gangsman. If a sailor himself, he laid aside his + hanger or cudgel and played the game of "What ho! shipmate" at the cost of + a can or two of flip, gently guiding his boon companion to the rendezvous + when he had got him sufficiently corned. Failing these tactics, he adopted + others equally effective. At Liverpool, where the seafaring element was + always a large one, it was a common practice for the gangs to lie low for + a time, thus inducing the sailor to believe himself safe from molestation. + He immediately indulged in a desperate drinking bout and so put himself + entirely in their power. Whether rolling about the town "very much in + liquor," or "snugly moored in Sot's Bay," he was an easy victim. + </p> + <p> + Another ineradicable weakness that often landed the sailor in the + press-room was his propensity to indulge in "swank." Two jolly tars, who + were fully protected and consequently believed themselves immune from the + press, once bought a four-wheeled post-chaise and hired a painter in Long + Acre to ornament it with anchors, masts, cannon and a variety of other + objects emblematic of the sea. In this ornate vehicle they set out, behind + six horses, with the intention of posting down to Alnwick, where their + sweethearts lived. So impatient were they to get over the road that they + could not be prevailed upon, at any of the numerous inns where they pulled + up for refreshment, to stop long enough to have the wheels properly + greased, crying out at the delay: "Avast there! she's had tar enough," and + so on again. Just as they were making a triumphal entry into + Newcastle-upon-Tyne the wheels took fire, and the chaise, saturated with + the liquor they had spilt in the course of their mad drive, burst into + flames fore and aft. The sailors bellowed lustily for help, whereupon the + spectators ran to their assistance and by swamping the ship with buckets + of water succeeded in putting out the fire. Now it happened that in the + crowd drawn together by such an unusual occurrence there was an impress + officer who was greatly shocked by the exhibition. He considered that the + sailors had been guilty of unseemly behaviour, and on that ground had them + pressed. Notwithstanding their protections they were kept. + </p> + <p> + In his efforts to swell the returns of pressed men the gangsman was + supposed—we may even go so far as to say enjoined—to use no + more violence than was absolutely necessary to attain his end. The + question of force thus resolved itself into one of the degree of + resistance he encountered. Needless to say, he did not always knock a man + down before bidding him stand in the king's name. Recourse to measures so + extreme was not always necessary. Every sailor had not the pluck to fight, + and even when he had both the pluck and the good-will, hard drinking, + weary days of tramping, or long abstinence from food had perhaps sapped + his strength, leaving him in no fit condition to hold his own in a scrap + with the well-fed gangsman. The latter consequently had it pretty much his + own way. A firm hand on the shoulder, or at the most a short, sharp + tussle, and the man was his. But there were exceptions to this easy rule, + as we shall see in our next chapter. + </p> + <p> + Hunting the sailor was largely a matter of information, and unfortunately + for his chances of escape informers were seldom wanting. Everywhere it was + a game at hide-and-seek. Constables had orders to report him. Chapmen, + drovers and soldiers, persons who were much on the road, kept a bright + lookout for him. The crimp, habitually given to underhand practices, + turned informer when prices for seamen ruled low in the service he usually + catered for. His mistress loved him as long as his money lasted; when he + had no more to throw away upon her she perfidiously betrayed him. And for + all this there was a reason as simple as casting up the number of + shillings in the pound. No matter how penniless the sailor himself might + be, he was always worth that sum at the rendezvous. Twenty shillings was + the reward paid for information leading to his apprehension as a straggler + or a skulker, and it was largely on the strength of such informations, and + often under the personal guidance of such detestable informers, that the + gang went a-hunting. + </p> + <p> + Apart from greed of gain, the motive most commonly underlying informations + was either jealousy or spite. Women were the greatest sinners in the first + respect. Let the sailorman concealed by a woman only so much as look with + favour upon another, and his fate was sealed. She gave him away, or, what + was more profitable, sold him without regret. There were as good fish in + the sea as ever came out. Perhaps better. + </p> + <p> + On the wings of spite and malice the escapades of youth often came home to + roost after many years. Men who had run away to sea as lads, but had + afterwards married and settled down, were informed on by evil-disposed + persons who bore them some grudge, and torn from their families as having + used the sea. Stephen Kemp, of Warbelton in Sussex, one of the many who + suffered this fate, had indeed used the sea, but only for a single night + on board a fishing-boat. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1445—Capt. + Alms, 9 June 1777.] + </p> + <p> + In face of these infamies it is good to read of how they dealt with + informers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There the role was one fraught with + peculiar danger. Rewards were paid by the Collector of Customs, and when a + Newcastle man went to the Customs-House to claim the price of some + sailor's betrayal, the people set upon him and incontinently broke his + head. One notorious receiver of such rewards was "nearly murther'd." + Thereafter informers had to be paid in private places for fear of the mob, + and so many persons fell under suspicion of playing the dastardly game + that the regulating captain was besieged by applicants for "certificates + of innocency." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1497—Letters + of Capt. Bover, 1777.] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. +A play-bill announcing the suspension of the Gang's operations on +"Play Nights"; in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley, by whose kind +permission it is reproduced.] +</pre> + <p> + Informations not infrequently took the form of anonymous communications + addressed by the same hand to two different gangs at one and the same + time, and when this was the case, and both gangs sallied forth in quest of + the skulker, a collision was pretty sure to follow. Sometimes the + encounter resolved itself into a running fight, in the course of which the + poor sailor, who formed the bone of contention, was pressed and re-pressed + several times over between his hiding-place and one or other of the + rendezvous. + </p> + <p> + Rivalry between gangs engaged in ordinary pressing led to many a stirring + encounter and bloody fracas. A gang sent out by H.M.S. <i>Thetis</i> was + once attacked, while prowling about the waterside slums of Deptford, by + "three or four different gangs, to the number of thirty men." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1502—Capt. Butcher, 29 Oct. 1782.] There + was a greater demand for bandages than for sailors in Deptford during the + rest of the night. + </p> + <p> + The most extraordinary affair of this description to be met with in the + annals of pressing is perhaps one that occurred early in the reign of + Queen Anne. Amongst the men-of-war then lying at Spithead were the <i>Dorsetshire</i>, + Capt. Butler commander, and the <i>Medway</i>. Hearing that some sailors + were in hiding at a place a little distance beyond Gosport, Capt. Butler + dispatched his 1st and 2nd lieutenants, in charge of thirty of his best + men, with instructions to take them and bring them on board. It so + happened that a strong gang was at the same time on shore from the <i>Medway</i>, + presumably on the same errand, and this party the Dorsetshires, returning + to their ship with the seamen they had taken, found posted in the Gosport + road for the avowed purpose of re-pressing the pressed men. By a timely + detour, however, they reached the waterside "without any mischief done." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, a rumour had somehow reached the ears of Capt. Butler to the + effect that a fight was in progress and his 1st lieutenant killed. He + immediately took boat and hurried over to Gosport, where, to his relief, + he found his people all safe in their boats, but on the Point, to use his + own graphic words, "severall hundred People, some with drawn Swords, some + with Spitts, others with Clubbs, Staves & Stretchers. Some cry'd 'One + & All!' others cry'd 'Medways!' and some again swearing, cursing & + banning that they would knock my People's Brains out. Off I went with my + Barge to the Longboat," continues the gallant captain, "commanding them to + weigh their grappling & goe with me aboard. In the meantime off came + about twelve Boats full with the <i>Medway's</i> men to lay my Longboat + aboard, who surrounded us with Swords, Clubbs, Staves & divers + Instruments, & nothing would do but all our Brains must be Knock't + out. Finding how I defended the Longboat, they then undertook to attack + myselfe and people, One of their Boats came upon the stern and made + severall Blows at my Coxwain, and if it had not been for the Resolution I + had taken to endure all these Abuses, I had Kill'd all those men with my + own Hand; but this Boat in particular stuck close to me with only six men, + and I kept a very good Eye upon her. All this time we were rowing out of + the Harbour with these Boats about us as far as Portsmouth Point, my + Coxwain wounded, myselfe and People dangerously assaulted with Stones + which they brought from the Beech & threw at us, and as their Boats + drop'd off I took my opportunity & seized ye Boat with the Six Men + that had so attack'd me, and have secured them in Irons." With this the + incident practically ended; for although the Medways retaliated by seizing + and carrying off the <i>Dorsetshire's</i> coxwain and a crew who ventured + ashore next day with letters, the latter were speedily released; but for a + week Capt. Butler—fiery old Trojan! who could have slain a whole + boat's-crew with his own hand—remained a close prisoner on board his + ship. "Should I but put my foot ashoar," we hear him growl, "I am + murther'd that minute." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1467—Capt. + Butler, 1 June 1705.] + </p> + <p> + With certain exceptions presently to be noted, every man's hand was + against the fugitive sailor, and this being so it followed as a matter of + course that in his inveterate pursuit of him the gangsman found more + honourable allies than that nefarious person, the man-selling informer. + The class whom the sailor himself, in his contempt of the good feeding he + never shared, nicknamed "big-bellied placemen"—the pompous mayors, + the portly aldermen and the county magistrate who knew a good horse or + hound but precious little law, were almost to a man the gangsman's + coadjutors. Lavishly wined and dined at Admiralty expense, they urbanely + "backed" the regulating captain's warrants, consistently winked at his + glaring infractions of law and order, and with the most commendable + loyalty imaginable did all in their power to forward His Majesty's + service. Even the military, if rightly approached on their pinnacle of + lofty superiority, now and then condescended to lend the gangsman a hand. + Did not Sloper, Major-General and Commandant at Lewes, throw a whole + company into the siege of Brighton? + </p> + <p> + These post-prandial concessions on the part of bigwigs desirous of + currying favour in high places on the whole told heavily against the + sorely harassed object of the gangsman's quest, rendering it, amongst + other things, extremely unsafe for him to indulge in those unconventional + outbursts which, under happier conditions, so uniformly marked his jovial + moods. At the playhouse, for example, he could not heave empty bottles or + similar tokens of appreciation upon the stage without grave risk of + incurring the fate that overtook Steven David, Samuel Jenkins and Thomas + Williams, three sailors of Falmouth town who, merely because they adopted + so unusual a mode of applauding a favourite, were by magisterial order + handed over to Lieut. Box of H.M.S. <i>Blonde</i>, with a peremptory + request that they should be transferred forthwith to that floating stage + where the only recognised "turns" were those of the cat and the capstan. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1537—Capt. Ballard, 13 Dec. + 1806.] + </p> + <p> + Luckily for the sailor and those of other callings who shared his + liability to the press, the civil authorities did not range themselves on + the gangsman's side with complete unanimity. Local considerations of + trade, coupled with some faint conception of the hideous injustice the + seafaring classes groaned under, and groaned in vain, here and there + outweighed patriotism and dinners. Little by little a cantankerous spirit + of opposition got abroad, and every now and then, at this point or at + that, some mayor or alderman, obsessed by this spirit beyond his fellows + and his time, seized such opportunities as office threw in his way to mark + his disapproval of the wrongs the sailor suffered. Had this attitude been + more general, or more consistent in itself, the press-gang would not have + endured for a day. + </p> + <p> + The role of Richard Yea and Nay was, however, the favourite one with urban + authorities. Towns at first not "inclinable to allow a pressing," + afterwards relented and took the gang to their bosom, or entertained it + gladly for a time, only to cast it out with contumely. A lieutenant who + was sent to Newcastle to press in 1702 found "no manner of encouragement + there"; yet seventy-five years later the Tyneside city, thanks to the + loyal co-operation of a long succession of mayors, and of such men as + George Stephenson, sometime Deputy-Master of the Trinity House, had become + one of the riskiest in the kingdom for the seafaring man who was a + stranger within her gates. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1498—Capt. + Bover, 11 Aug. 1778.] + </p> + <p> + The attitude of Poole differed in some respects from that of other towns. + Her mayors and magistrates, while they did not actually oppose the + pressing of seamen within the borough, would neither back the warrants nor + lend the gangs their countenance. The reason advanced for this disloyal + attitude was of the absurdest nature. Poole held that in order to press + twenty men you were not at liberty to kill the twenty-first. That, in + fact, was what had happened on board the <i>Maria</i> brig as she came + into port there, deeply laden with fish from the Banks, and the + corporation very foolishly never forgot the trivial incident. + </p> + <p> + It did not, of course, follow that the Poole sailor enjoyed freedom from + the press. Far from it. What he did enjoy was a reputation that, if not + all his own, was yet sufficiently so to be shared by few. Bred in that + roughest of all schools, the Newfoundland cod fishery, he was an + exceptionally tough nut to crack. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "If Poole were a fish pool + And the men of Poole fish, + There'd be a pool for the devil + And fish for his dish," +</pre> + <p> + was how the old jibe ran, and in this estimate of the Poole man's + character the gangs fully concurred. They knew him well and liked him + little, so when bent on pressing him they adopted no squeamish measures, + but very wisely "trusted to the strength of their right arms for it." Some + of their attempts to take him make strange reading. + </p> + <p> + About eight o'clock on a certain winter's evening, Regulating Captain + Walbeoff, accompanied by Lieut. Osmer, a midshipman and eight gangsmen, + broke into the house of William Trim, a seafaring native of the place whom + they knew to be at home and had resolved to press. Alarmed by the forcing + of the door, and only too well aware of what it portended, Trim made for + the stairs, where, turning upon his pursuers, he struck repeatedly and + savagely at the midshipman, who headed them, with a red-hot poker which he + had snatched out of the fire at the moment of his flight. He was, however, + quickly overpowered, disarmed and dragged back into the lower room, where + his captors threw him violently to the floor and with their hangers took + effective measures to prevent his escape or further opposition. His sister + happened to be in the house, and whilst this was going on the lieutenant + brutally assaulted her, presumably because she wished to go to her + brother's assistance. Meanwhile Trim's father, a man near seventy years of + age, who lived only a stone's-throw away, hearing the uproar, and being + told the gang had come for his son, ran to the house with the intention, + as he afterwards declared, of persuading him to go quietly. Seeing him + stretched upon the floor, he stooped to lift him to his feet, when one of + the gang attacked him and stabbed him in the back. He fell bleeding beside + the younger man, and was there beaten by a number of the gangsmen whilst + the remainder dragged his son off to the press-room, whence he was in due + course dispatched to the fleet at Spithead. The date of this brutal + episode is 1804; the manner of it, "nothing more than what usually + happened on such occasions" in the town of Poole. [Footnote <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 580—Admiral Phillip, Inquiry into the Conduct of the + Impress Officers at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + </p> + <p> + For this deplorable state of things Poole had none but herself to thank. + Had she, instead of merely refusing to back the warrants, taken effective + measures to rid herself of the gang, that mischievous body would have soon + left her in peace. Rochester wore the jewel of consistency in this + respect. When Lieut. Brenton pressed a youth there who "appeared to be a + seafaring man," but turned out to be an exempt city apprentice, he was + promptly arrested and deprived of his sword, the mayor making no bones of + telling him that his warrant was "useless in Rochester." With this broad + hint he was discharged; but the people proved less lenient than the mayor, + for they set about him and beat him unmercifully. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 7. 301—Law Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, No. 42: + Deposition of Lieut. Brenton.] + </p> + <p> + Save on a single occasion, already incidentally referred to, civic + Liverpool treated the gang with uniform kindness. In 1745, at a time when + the rebels were reported to be within only four miles of the city, the + mayor refused to back warrants for the pressing of sailors to protect the + shipping in the river. His reason was a cogent one. The captains of the <i>Southsea + Castle</i>, the <i>Mercury</i> and the <i>Loo</i>, three ships of war then + in the Mersey, had just recently "manned their boats with marines and + impressed from the shore near fifty men," and the seafaring element of the + town, always a formidable one, was up in arms because of it. This so + intimidated the mayor that he dared not sanction further raids "for fear + of being murder'd." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1440—Letters + of Capt. Amherst, Dec. 1745.] His dread of the armed sailor was not shared + by Henry Alcock, sometime mayor of Waterford. That gentleman "often headed + the press-gangs" in person. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1500—Capt. + Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780.] + </p> + <p> + Deal objected to the press for reasons extending back to the reign of King + John. As a member of the Cinque Ports that town had constantly supplied + the kings and queens of the realm, from the time of Magna Charta + downwards, with great numbers of able and sufficient seamen who, according + to the ancient custom of the Five Ports, had been impressed and raised by + the mayor and magistrates of the town, acting under orders from the Lord + Warden, and not by irresponsible gangs from without. It was to these, and + not to the press as such, that Deal objected. The introduction of gangs in + her opinion bred disorder. Great disturbances, breaches of the peace, + riots, tumults and even bloodshed attended their steps and made their + presence in any peaceably disposed community highly undesirable. Within + the memory of living man even, Deal had obliged no less than four hundred + seamen to go on board the ships of the fleet, and she desired no more of + those strangers who recently, incited by Admiral the Marquis of + Carmarthen, had gone a-pressing in her streets and grievously wounded + divers persons. [Footnote: <i>State Papers Domestic</i>, Anne, xxxvi: No. + 24: Petition of the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of the Free Town and + Borough of Deal.] + </p> + <p> + In this commonsense view of the case Deal was ably supported by Dover, the + premier Cinque Port. Dover, it is true, so far as we know never embodied + her objections to the press in any humble petition to the Queen's Majesty. + She chose instead a directer method, for when the lieutenant of the <i>Devonshire</i> + impressed six men belonging to a brigantine from Carolina in her streets, + and attempted to carry them beyond the limits of the borough, "many people + of Dover, in company with the Mayor thereof, assembled themselves together + and would not permit the lieutenant to bring them away." The action + angered the Lords Commissioners, who resolved to teach Dover a lesson. + Orders were accordingly sent down to Capt. Dent, whose ship the <i>Shrewsbury</i> + man-o'-war was then in the Downs, directing him to send a gang ashore and + press the first six good seamen they should meet with, taking care, + however, since their Lordships did not wish to be too hard upon the town, + that the men so pressed were bachelors and not householders. Lieut. + O'Brien was entrusted with this delicate punitive mission. He returned on + board after a campaign of only a few hours' duration, triumphantly bearing + with him the stipulated hostages for Dover's future good behaviour—"six + very good seamen, natives and inhabitants, and five of them bachelors." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1696—Capt. Dent, 24 Aug. + 1743.] The sixth was of course a householder, a circumstance that made the + town's punishment all the severer. + </p> + <p> + Its effects were less salutary than the Admiralty had anticipated. True, + both Dover and Deal thereafter withdrew their opposition to the press so + far as to admit the gang within their borders; but they kept a watchful + eye upon its doings, and every now and then the old spirit flamed out + again at white heat, consuming the bonds of some poor devil who, like + Alexander Hart, freeman of Dover, had been irregularly taken. On this + occasion the mayor, backed by a posse of constables, himself broke open + the press-room door. A similar incident, occurring a little later in the + same year, so incensed Capt. Ball, who aptly enough was at the time in + command of the <i>Nemesis</i>, that he roundly swore "to impress every + seafaring man in Dover and make them repent of their impudence." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 301—Law Officers' Opinions, + 1784-92, No. 44; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1507—Capt. Ball, 15 + April 1791.] + </p> + <p> + Where the magistrate had it most in his power to make or mar the fugitive + sailor's chances was in connection with the familiar fiction that the + Englishman's house is his castle. To hide a sailor was to steal the king's + chattel—penalty, 5 Pounds forfeited to the parish; and if you were + guilty of such a theft, or were with good reason suspected of being + guilty, you found yourself in much the same case as the ordinary thief or + the receiver of stolen goods. A search warrant could be sworn out before a + magistrate, and your house ransacked from cellar to garret. Without such + warrant, however, it could not be lawfully entered. In the heat of + pressing forcible entry was nevertheless not unusual, and many an impress + officer found himself involved in actions for trespass or damages in + consequence of his own indiscretion or the excessive zeal of his gang. The + defence set up by Lieut. Doyle, of Dublin, that the "Panel of the Door was + Broke by Accident," would not go down in a court of law, however avidly it + might be swallowed by the Board of Admiralty. + </p> + <p> + More than this. The magistrate was by law empowered to seize all + straggling seamen and landsmen and hand them over to the gangs for + consignment to the fleet. The vagabond, as the unfortunate tramp of those + days was commonly called, had thus a bad time of it. For him all roads led + to Spithead. The same was true of persons who made themselves a public + nuisance in other ways. By express magisterial order many answering to + that description followed Francis Juniper of Cuckfield, "a very drunken, + troublesome fellow, without a coat to his back," who was sent away lest he + should become "chargeable to the parish." The magistrate in this way + conferred a double benefit upon his country. He defended it against itself + whilst helping it to defend itself against the French. Still, the latter + benefit was not always above suspicion. The "ignorant zeal of simple + justices," we are told, often impelled them to hand over to the gangs men + whom "any old woman could see with half an eye to be properer objects of + pity and charity than fit to serve His Majesty." + </p> + <p> + "Send your myrmidons," was a form of summons familiar to every gang + officer. As its tone implies, its source was magisterial, and when the + officer received it he hastened with his gang to the Petty Sessions, the + Assizes or the prison, and there took over, as an unearned increment of + His Majesty's fleet, the person of some misdemeanant willing to exchange + bridewell for the briny, or the manacled body of some convicted felon who + preferred to swing in a hammock at sea rather than on the gallows ashore. + </p> + <p> + A strangely assorted crew it was, this overflow of the jails that clanked + slowly seawards, marshalled by the gang. Reprieves and commutations, if by + no means universal in a confirmed hanging age, were yet common enough to + invest it with an appalling sameness that was nevertheless an appalling + variety. Able seamen sentenced for horse-stealing or rioting, town + dwellers raided out of night-houses, impostors who simulated fits or + played the maimed soldier, fishermen in the illicit brandy and tobacco + line, gentlemen of the road, makers of "flash" notes and false coin, + stealers of sheep, assaulters of women, pickpockets and murderers in one + unmitigated throng went the way of the fleet and there sank their vices, + their roguery, their crimes and their identity in the number of a mess. + </p> + <p> + Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too—youths barely in their + teens, guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people who + passed in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine service on + Sunday" and remaining impenitent and obdurate when confronted with all the + "terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and dark cells" pertaining to a + well-equipped city jail. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1534, 1545—Capt. + Barker, 1 March 1805, 20 Aug. 1809, and numerous instances.] The turning + over of such young reprobates to the gang was one of the pleasing duties + of the magistrate. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. — AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + </h2> + <p> + When all avenues of escape were cut off and the sailor found himself face + to face with the gang and imminent capture, he either surrendered his + liberty at the word of command or staked it on the issue of a fight. + </p> + <p> + His choice of the latter alternative was the proverbial turning of the + worm, but of a worm that was no mean adversary. Fear of the gang, + supposing him to entertain any, was thrown to the winds. Fear of the + consequences—the clink, or maybe the gallows for a last land-fall—which + had restrained him in less critical moments when he had both room to run + and opportunity, sat lightly on him now. In red realism there flashed + through his brain the example of some doughty sailor, the hero of many an + anchor-watch and forecastle yarn, who had fought the gang to its last man + and yet come off victor. The swift vision fired his blood and nerved his + arm, and under its obsession he stood up to his would-be captors with all + the dogged pluck for which he was famous when facing the enemy at sea. + </p> + <p> + In contests of this description the weapon perhaps counted for as much as + the man who wielded it, and as its nature depended largely upon + circumstances and surroundings, the range of choice was generally wide + enough to please the most elective taste. Pressing consequently introduced + the gangsman to some strange weapons. + </p> + <p> + Trim, the Poole sailor whose capture is narrated in the foregoing chapter, + defended himself with a red-hot poker. In what may be termed domestic as + opposed to public pressing, the use of this homely utensil as an impromptu + liberty-preserver was not at all uncommon. Hot or cold, it proved a + formidable weapon in the hands of a determined man, more especially when, + as was at that time very commonly the case, it belonged to the ponderous + cobiron or knobbed variety. + </p> + <p> + Another weapon of recognised utility, particularly in the vicinity of + docks, careening-stations and ship-yards, was the humble tar-mop. + Consisting of a wooden handle some five or six feet in length, though of + no great diameter, terminating in a ball of spun-yarn forming the actual + mop, this implement, when new, was comparatively harmless. No serious blow + could then be dealt with it; but once it had been used for "paying" a + vessel's bottom and sides it underwent a change that rendered it truly + formidable. The ball of ravellings forming the mop became then thoroughly, + charged with tar or pitch and dried in a rough mass scarcely less heavy + than lead. In this condition it was capable of inflicting a terrible blow, + and many were the tussels decided by it. A remarkable instance of its + effective use occurred at Ipswich in 1703, when a gang from the <i>Solebay</i>, + rowing up the Orwell from Harwich, attempted to press the men engaged in + re-paying a collier. They were immediately "struck down with Pitch-Mopps, + to the great Peril of their Lives." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1436—Capt. Aldred, 6 Jan. 1702-3.] + </p> + <p> + The weapon to which the sailor was most partial, however, was the familiar + capstan-bar. In it, as in its fellow the handspike, he found a whole + armament. Its availability, whether on shipboard or at the waterside, its + rough-and-ready nature, and above all its heft and general capacity for + dealing a knock-down blow without inflicting necessarily fatal injuries, + adapted it exactly to the sailor's requirements, defensive or the reverse. + It was with a capstan-bar that Paul Jones, when hard pressed by a gang on + board his ship at Liverpool, was reputed to have stretched three of his + assailants dead on deck. Every sailor had heard of that glorious + achievement and applauded it, the killing perhaps grudgingly excepted. + </p> + <p> + So, too, did he applaud the hardihood of William Bingham, that far-famed + north-country sailor who, adopting pistols as his weapon, negligently + stuck a brace of them in his belt and walked the streets of Newcastle in + open defiance of the gangs, none of which durst lay a hand on him till the + unlucky day when, in a moment of criminal carelessness that could never be + forgiven, he left his weapons at home and was haled to the press-room + fighting, all too late, like a fiend incarnate. + </p> + <p> + Not to enlarge on the endless variety of chance weapons, there remained + those good old-standers the musket, the cutlass and the knife, each of + which, in the sailor's grasp, played its part in the rough-and-tumble of + pressing, and played it well. A case in point, familiar to every seaman, + was the last fight put up by that famous Plymouth sailor, Emanuel Herbert, + another fatalist who, like Bingham, believed in having two strings to his + bow. He accordingly provided himself with both fuzee and hanger, and with + these comforting bed-fellows retired to rest in an upper chamber of the + public-house where he lodged, easy in the knowledge that whatever happened + the door of his crib commanded the stairs. From this stronghold the gang + invited him to come down. He returned the compliment by inviting them up, + assuring them that he had a warm welcome in store for the first who should + favour him with a visit. The ambiguity of the invitation appears to have + been thrown away upon the gang, for "three of my people," says the officer + who led them, "rushed up, and the gun missing fire, he immediately run one + of them through the body with the hanger"—a mode of welcoming his + visitors which resulted in Herbert's shifting his lodgings to Exeter jail, + and in the wounded man's speedy death. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1473—Capt. Brown, 4 July 1727.] + </p> + <p> + Here was a serious contingency indeed; but whatever deterrent effect the + fatal issue of this affair, as of many similar ones, may have had upon the + sailor's use of lethal weapons when attacked by the gang, that effect was + largely, if not altogether, neutralised by the upshot of the famous + Broadfoot case, which, occurring some sixteen years later, gave the scales + of justice a decided turn in the sailor's favour and robbed the killing of + a gangsman of its only terror, the shadow of the gallows. The incident in + question opened in Bristol river, with the boarding of a merchant-man by a + tender's gang. As they came over the side Broadfoot met them, blunderbuss + in hand. Being there to guard the ship, he bade them begone, and upon + their disregarding the order, and closing in upon him with evident intent + to take him, he clapped the blunderbuss, which was heavily charged with + swanshot, to his shoulder and let fly into the midst of them. One of their + number, Calahan by name, fell mortally wounded, and Broadfoot was in due + course indicted for wilful murder. [Footnote: <i>Westminster Journal</i>, + 30 April 1743.] How he was found not guilty on the ground that a warrant + directed to the lieutenant gave the gang no power to take him, and that he + was therefore justified in defending himself, was well known to every + sailor in the kingdom. No jury thereafter ever found him guilty of a + capital felony if by chance he killed a gangsman in self-defence. The + worst he had to fear was a verdict of manslaughter—a circumstance + that proved highly inspiriting to him in his frequent scraps with the + gang. + </p> + <p> + There was another aspect of the case, however, that came home to the + sailor rather more intimately than the risk of being called upon to "do + time" under conditions scarcely worse than those he habitually endured at + sea. Suppose, instead of his killing the gangsman, the gangsman killed + him? He recalled a case he had heard much palaver about. An able seaman, a + perfect Tom Bowling of a fellow, brought to at an alehouse in the Borough—the + old "Bull's Head" it was—having a mind to lie snug for a while, + 'tween voyages. However, one day, being three sheets in the wind or + thereabouts, he risked a run and was made a prize of, worse luck, by a + press-gang that engaged him. Their boat lay at Battle Bridge in the Narrow + Passage, and while they were bearing down upon her, with the sailor-chap + in tow, what should Jack do but out with his knife and slip it into one of + the gangers. 'Twas nothing much, a waistcoat wound at most, but the ganger + resented the liberty, and swearing that no man should tap his claret for + nix, he ups with his cudgel and fetches Jack a clip beside the head that + lost him the number of his mess, for soon after he was discharged dead + along of having his head broke. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1486—Lieut. Slyford, 24 Nov. 1755. "Discharged dead," abbreviated to + "DD," the regulation entry in the muster books against the names of + persons deceased.] + </p> + <p> + Risks of this sort raised grave issues for the sailor—issues to be + well considered of in those serious moments that came to the most reckless + on the wings of the wind or the lift of the waves at sea, what time drink + and the gang were remote factors in the problem of life. But ashore! Ah! + that was another matter. Life ashore was far too crowded, far too sweet + for serious reflections. The absorbing business of pleasure left little + room for thought, and the thoughts that came to the sailor later, when he + had had his fling and was again afoot in search of a ship, decidedly + favoured the killing of a gangsman, if need be, rather than the loss of + his own life or of a berth. The prevalence of these sentiments rendered + the taking of the sailor a dangerous business, particularly when he + consorted in bands. + </p> + <p> + In that part of the west country traversed by the great roads from Bristol + to Liverpool, and having Stourbridge as its approximate centre, ambulatory + bands proved very formidable. The presence of the rendezvous at + Stourbridge accounted for this. Seamen travelled in strength because they + feared it. Two gangs were stationed there under Capt. Beecher, and news of + the approach of a large party of seamen from the south having one day been + brought in, he at once made preparations for intercepting them. Lieut. + Barnsley and his gang marched direct to Hoobrook, a couple of miles south + of Kidderminster, a point the seamen had perforce to pass. His + instructions were to wait there, picking up in the meantime such of the + sailor party as lagged behind from footsoreness or fatigue, till joined by + Lieut. Birchall and the other gang, when the two were to unite forces and + press the main body. Through unforeseen circumstances, however, the plan + miscarried. Birchall, who had taken a circuitous route, arrived late, + whilst the band of sailors arrived early. They numbered, moreover, + forty-six as against eleven gangsmen and two officers. Four to one was a + temptation the sailors could not resist. They attacked the gangs with such + ferocity that out of the thirteen only one man returned to the rendezvous + with a whole skin. Luckily, there were no casualties on this occasion; but + a few days later, while two of Barnsley's gangsmen were out on duty some + little distance from the town, they were suddenly attacked by a couple of + sailors, presumably members of the same band, who left one of them dead in + the road. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1501—Capt. Beecher, + 12 July and 4 Aug. 1781.] + </p> + <p> + Owing to its close proximity to the Thames, that remote suburb of + eighteenth century London known as Stepney Fields was much frequented by + armed bands of the above description, who successfully resisted all + attempts to take them. The master-at-arms of the <i>Chatham</i> + man-o'-war, chancing once to pass that way, came in for exceedingly rough + usage at their hands, and when next day a lieutenant from the same ship + appeared upon the scene with a gang at his back and tried to press the + ringleaders in that affair, they "swore by God he should not, and if he + offered to lay hands on them, they would cut him down." With this threat + they drew their cutlasses, slashed savagely at the lieutenant, and "made + off through the Mobb which had gathered round them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2579—Capt. Townshend, 21 April 1743.] + </p> + <p> + A spot not many miles distant from Stepney Fields was the scene of a + singular fray many years later. His Majesty's ship <i>Squirrel</i> + happened at the time to be lying in Longreach, and her commander, Capt. + Brawn, one day received intelligence that a number of sailors were to be + met with in the town of Barking. He at once dispatched his 1st and 2nd + lieutenants with a contingent of twenty-five men and several petty + officers, to rout them out and take them. They reached Barking about nine + o'clock in the evening, the month being July, and were not long in + securing several of the skulkers, who with many of the male inhabitants of + the place were at that hour congregated in public-houses, unsuspicious of + danger. The sudden appearance in their midst of so large an armed force, + however, coupled with the outcry and confusion inseparable from the + pressing of a number of men, alarmed the townsfolk, who poured into the + streets, rescued the pressed men, and would have inflicted summary + punishment upon the intruders had not the senior officer, seeing his party + hopelessly outnumbered, tactfully drawn off his force. This he did in good + order and without serious hurt; but just as he and his men were + congratulating themselves upon their escape, they were suddenly ambushed, + at a point where their road ran between high banks, by a "large concourse + of Irish haymakers, to the number of at least five hundred men, all armed + with sabres [Footnote: So in the original, but "sabres" is perhaps an + error for "scythes."] and pitchforks," who with wild cries and all the + Irishman's native love of a shindy fell upon the unfortunate gangsmen and + gave them a "most severe beating." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1529—Capt. Brawn, 3 July 1803.] + </p> + <p> + Attacks on the gang, made with deliberate intent to rescue pressed men + from its custody, were by no means confined to Barking. The informer + throve in the land, but notwithstanding his hostile activity the sailor + everywhere had friends who possessed at least one cardinal virtue. They + seldom hung back when he was in danger, or hesitated to strike a blow in + his defence. + </p> + <p> + There came into Limehouse Hole, on a certain day in the summer of 1709, a + vessel called the <i>Martin</i> galley. How many men were in her we do not + learn; but whatever their number, there was amongst them one man who had + either a special dread of the press or some more than usually urgent + occasion for wishing to avoid it. Watching his opportunity, he slipped + into one of the galley's boats, sculled her rapidly to land, and there + leapt out—just as a press-gang hove in sight ahead! It was a + dramatic moment. The sailor, tacking at sight of the enemy, ran swiftly + along the river-bank, but was almost immediately overtaken, knocked down, + and thrown into the press-boat, which lay near by. "This gather'd a Mob," + says the narrator of the incident, "who Pelted the Boat and Gang by + throwing Stones and Dirt from the Shoar, and being Pursued also by the + Galley's men, who brought Cutlasses in the Boat with them to rescue their + Prest Man, the Gang was at last forc'd to betake themselves to a + Corn-lighter, where they might stand upon their Defence. The Galley's men + could not get aboard, but lay with their Boat along the side of the + Lighter, where they endeavouring to force in, and the Gang to keep them + out, the Boat of a sudden oversett and some of the Men therein were + Drown'd. Three of the Press-Gang were forc'd likewise into the Water, + whereof 'tis said one is Drown'd and the other two in Irons in the New + Prison. The remaining part of the Gang leapt into a Wherry, the Galley's + men pursuing them, but, not gaining upon them, they gave over the + Pursuit." The pressed man all this while was laughing in his sleeve. "He + lay on the other side of the Lighter, in the Tender's boat, whence he made + his escape." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1437—Capt. + Aston, 10 Aug. 1709.] + </p> + <p> + In their efforts to restore the freedom of the pressed man, the sailor's + friends did not confine their attention exclusively to the gang. When they + turned out in vindication of those rights which the sailor did not + possess, they not infrequently found their diversion in wrecking the + gang's headquarters or in making a determined, though generally futile, + onslaught upon the tender. Respectable people, who had no particular + reason to favour the sailor's cause, viewed these ebullitions of mingled + rage and mischief with dismay, stigmatising those who so lightheartedly + participated in them as the "lower classes" and the "mob." + </p> + <p> + Few towns in the kingdom boasted—or reprobated, as the case might be—a + more erratically festive mob than Leith. As far back as 1709 Bailie + Cockburn had advised the inhabitants of that burgh to "oppose any + impressor," and seizing the occasion of the "Impressure of an Apprentice + Boy," had set them an example by arresting the pinnace of Her Majesty's + ship <i>Rye</i>, together with her whole crew, thirteen in number, and + keeping them in close confinement till the lad was given up. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2448—Capt. Shale, 4 Jan. 1708-9.] The worthy Bailie + was in due time gathered unto his fathers, and with the growth of the + century gangs came and went in endless succession, but neither the precept + nor the example was ever forgotten in Leith. Much pressing was done there, + but it was done almost entirely upon the water. To transfer the scene of + action to the strand meant certain tumult, for there the whim of the mob + was law. Now it pulled the gang-officer's house about his ears because he + dared to press a shipwright; again, it stoned the gang viciously because + they rescued some seamen from a wreck—and kept them. Between whiles + it amused itself by cutting down the rendezvous flag-staff; and if nothing + better offered, it split up into component parts, each of which became a + greater terror than the whole. One night, when the watch had been set and + all was quiet, a party of this description, only three in number, + approached the rendezvous and respectfully requested leave to drink a last + dram with some newly pressed men who were then in the cage, their quondam + shipmates. Suspecting no ulterior design, the guard incautiously admitted + them, whereupon they dashed a quantity of spirits on the fire, set the + place in a blaze, and carried off the pressed men amid the hullabaloo that + followed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1516-9—Letters of + Capt. Brenton, 1797-8; Lieut. Pierie, 2 Feb. 1798.] + </p> + <p> + If Leith did this sort of thing well, Greenock, her commercial rival on + the Clyde, did it very much better; for where the Leith mob was but a + sporadic thing, erupting from its slummy fastnesses only in response to + rumour of chance amusement to be had or mischief to be done, Greenock held + her mob always in hand, a perpetual menace to the gangsman did he dare to + disregard the Clydeside ordinance in respect to pressing. That ordinance + restricted pressing exclusively to the water; but it went further, for it + laid it down as an inviolable rule that members of certain trades should + not be pressed at all. + </p> + <p> + It was with the Trades that the ordinance originated. There was little or + no Greenock apart from the Trades. The will of the Trades was supreme. The + coopers, carpenters, riggers, caulkers and seamen of the town ruled the + burgh. Assembled in public meeting, they resolved unanimously "to stand by + and support each other" in the event of a press; and having come to this + decision they indited a trite letter to the magistrates, intimating in + unequivocal terms that "if they countenanced the press, they must abide by + the consequences," for once the Trades took the matter in hand "they could + not say where they would stop." With the worthy burgesses laying down the + law in this fashion, it is little wonder that the gangs "seldom dared to + press ashore," or that they should have been able to take "only two + coopers in ten months." + </p> + <p> + For the Trades were as good as their word. The moment a case of prohibited + pressing became known they took action. Alexander Weir, member of the + Shipwrights' Society, was taken whilst returning from his "lawful employ," + and immediately his mates, to the number of between three and four + hundred, downed tools and marched to the rendezvous, where they + peremptorily demanded his release. Have him they would, and if the + gang-officer did not see fit to comply with their demand, not only should + he never press another man in Greenock, but they would seize one of the + armed vessels in the river, lay her alongside the tender, where Weir was + confined, and take him out of her by force. Brenton was regulating captain + there at the time, and to pacify the mob he promised to release the man—and + broke his word. Thereupon the people "became very riotous and proceeded to + burn everything that came in their way. About twelve o'clock they hauled + one of the boats belonging to the rendezvous upon the Square and put her + into the fire, but by the timely assistance of the officers and gangs, + supported by the magistrates and a body of the Fencibles, the boat was + recovered, though much damaged, and several of the ringleaders taken up + and sent to prison." The affair did not end without bloodshed. "Lieut. + Harrison, in defending himself, was under the necessity of running one of + the rioters through the ribs." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1508—Letters + of Capt. Brenton, 1793.] + </p> + <p> + Though Bailie Cockburn once "arrested" the pinnace of a man-o'-war at + Leith, the attempted burning of the Greenock press-boat is worthy of more + than passing note as the only instance of that form of retaliation to be + met with in the history of home pressing. In the American colonies, on the + other hand, it was a common feature of demonstrations against the gang. + Boston was specially notorious for that form of reprisal, and Governor + Shirley, in one of his masterly dispatches, narrates at length, and with + no little humour, how the mob on one occasion burnt with great éclat what + they believed to be the press-boat, only to discover, when it was reduced + to ashes, that it belonged to one of their own ringleaders. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 38l8—Shirley to the Admiralty, 1 Dec. 1747.] + </p> + <p> + The threat of the Greenock artificers to lay alongside the tender and take + out their man by force of arms was one for which there existed abundant, + if by no means encouraging precedent. Long before, as early, indeed, as + 1742, the keelmen frequenting Sunderland had set them an example in that + respect by endeavouring, some hundreds strong, to haul the tender ashore—an + attempt coupled with threats so dire that the officer in command trembled + in his shoes lest he and his men should all "be made sacrifices of." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. Allen, 13 March + 1741-2.] Nothing so dreadful happened, however, for the attempt, like that + made at Shoreham a few years later, when there "appear'd in Sight, from + towards Brighthelmstone, about two or three Hundred Men arm'd with + different Weapons, who came with an Intent to Attack the <i>Dispatch</i> + sloop," failed ignominiously, the attackers being routed on both occasions + by a timely use of swivel guns and musketry. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1482—Lieut. Barnsley, 25 March 1746.] + </p> + <p> + Similar disaster overtook the organisers of the Tooley Street affair, of + which one Taylor, lieutenant to Capt. William Boys of the <i>Royal + Sovereign</i>, was the active cause. At the "Spread-Eagle" in Tooley + Street he and his gang one evening pressed a privateersman—an insult + keenly resented by the master of the ship. He accordingly sent off to the + tender, whither the pressed man had been conveyed for security's sake, two + wherries filled with armed seamen of the most piratical type. The fierce + fight that ensued had a dramatic finish. "Two Pistols we took from them," + says the narrator of the incident, in his quaint old style, "and three + Cutlasses, and Six Men; but one of the Men took the Red Hott Poker out of + the Fire, and our Men, having the Cutlasses, Cutt him and Kill'd him in + Defence of themselves." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1488—Lieut. + Taylor, 1 April 1757.] + </p> + <p> + In attacks of this nature the fact that the tender was afloat told heavily + in her favour, for unless temporarily hung up upon a mud-bank by the fall + of the tide, she could only be got at by means of boats. With the + rendezvous ashore the case was altogether different. Here you had a + building in a public street, flaunting its purpose provocatively in your + very face, and having a rear to guard as well as a front. For these + reasons attacks on the rendezvous were generally attended with a greater + measure of success than similar attempts directed against the tenders. The + face of a pressed man had only to show itself at one of the stoutly barred + windows, and immediately a crowd gathered. To the prisoner behind the bars + this crowd was friendly, commiserating or chaffing him by turns; but to + the gangsmen responsible for his being there it was invariably and + uncompromisingly hostile, so much so that it needed only a carelessly + uttered threat, or a thoughtlessly lifted hand, to fan the smouldering + fires of hatred into a blaze. When this occurred, as it often did, things + happened. Paving-stones hurtled through the curse-laden air, the windows + flew in fragments, the door, assailed by overwhelming numbers, crashed in, + and despite the stoutest resistance the gang could offer the pressed man + was hustled out and carried off in triumph. + </p> + <p> + The year 1755 witnessed a remarkable attack of this description upon the + rendezvous at Deal, where a band of twenty-seven armed men made a sudden + descent upon that obnoxious centre of activity and cut up the gang most + grievously. As all wore masks and had their faces blackened, + identification was out of the question. A reward of 200 Pounds, offered + for proof of complicity in the outrage, elicited no information, and as a + matter of fact its perpetrators were never discovered. + </p> + <p> + In Capt. McCleverty's time the gang at Waterford was once very roughly + handled whilst taking in a pressed man, and Mr. Mayor Alcock came hurrying + down to learn what was amiss. He found the rendezvous beset by an angry + and dangerous gathering. "Sir," said he to the captain, "have you no + powder or shot in the house?" McCleverty assured him that he had. "Then, + sir," cried the mayor, raising his voice so that all might hear, "do you + make use of it, and I will support you." The crowd understood that + argument and immediately dispersed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1500—Deposition of Lieut. M Kellop, 1780.] + </p> + <p> + Had the Admiralty reasoned in similar terms with those who beat its + gangsmen, converted its rendezvous into match-wood and carried off its + pressed men, it would have quickly made itself as heartily feared as it + was already hated; but in seeking to shore up an odious cause by pacific + methods it laid its motives open to the gravest misconstruction. Prudence + was construed into timidity, and with every abstention from lead the + sailor's mobbish friends grew more daring and outrageous. + </p> + <p> + One night in the winter of 1780, whilst Capt. Worth of the Liverpool + rendezvous sat lamenting the temporary dearth of seamen, Lieut. Haygarth + came rushing in with a rare piece of news. On the road from Lancaster, it + was reported, there was a whole coach-load of sailors. The chance was too + good to be lost, and instant steps were taken to intercept the travellers. + The gangs turned out, fully armed, and took up their position at a + strategic point, just outside the town, commanding the road by which the + sailors had to pass. By and by along came the coach, the horses weary, the + occupants nodding or asleep. In a trice they were surrounded. Some of the + gangsmen sprang at the horses' heads, others threw themselves upon the + drowsy passengers. Shouts, curses and the thud of blows broke the silence + of the night. Then the coach rumbled on again, empty. Its late occupants, + fifteen in number, sulkily followed on foot, surrounded by their captors, + who, as soon as the town was reached, locked them into the press-room for + the rest of the night, it being the captain's intention to put them on + board the tender in the Mersey at break of day. + </p> + <p> + In this, however, he was frustrated by a remarkable development in the + situation. Unknown to him, the coach-load of seamen had been designed for + the <i>Stag</i> privateer, a vessel just on the point of sailing. News of + their capture reaching the ship soon after their arrival in the town, + Spence, her 1st lieutenant, at once roused out all his available men, + armed them, to the number of eighty, with cutlass and pistol, and led them + ashore. There all was quiet, favouring their design. The hour was still + early, and the silent, swift march through the deserted streets attracted + no attention and excited no alarm. At the rendezvous the opposition of the + weary sentinels counted for little. It was quickly brushed aside, the + strong-room door gave way beneath a few well-directed blows, and by the + time Liverpool went to breakfast the <i>Stag</i> privateer was standing + out to sea, her crew not only complete, but ably supplemented by eight + additional occupants of the press-room who had never, so far as is known, + travelled in that commodious vehicle, the Lancaster coach. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 7, 300—Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 19.] + </p> + <p> + The neighbouring city of Chester in 1803 matched this exploit by another + of great audacity. Chester had long been noted for its hostility to the + gang, and the fact that the local volunteer corps—the Royal Chester + Artillery—was composed mainly of ropemakers, riggers, shipwrights + and sailmakers who had enlisted for the sole purpose of evading the press, + did not tend to allay existing friction. Hence, when Capt. Birchall + brought over a gang from Liverpool because he could not form one in + Chester itself, and when he further signalised his arrival by pressing + Daniel Jackson, a well-known volunteer, matters at once came to an ugly + head. The day happened to be a field-day, and as Birchall crossed the + market square to wait upon the magistrates at the City Hall, he was "given + to understand what might be expected in the evening," for one of the + artillerymen, striking his piece, called out to his fellows: "Now for a + running ball! There he goes!" with hissing, booing and execrations. At + seven o'clock one of the gang rushed into the captain's lodgings with + disquieting news. The volunteers were attacking the rendezvous. He hurried + out, but by the time he arrived on the scene the mischief was already + done. The enraged volunteers, after first driving the gang into the City + Hall, had torn down the rendezvous colours and staff, and broken open the + city jail and rescued their comrade, whom they were then in the act of + carrying shoulder-high through the streets, the centre of a howling mob + that even the magistrates feared to face. By request Birchall and his gang + returned to Liverpool, counting themselves lucky to have escaped the + "running ball" they had been threatened with earlier in the day. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1529—Capt. Birchall, 29 Dec. + 1803.] + </p> + <p> + Another town that gave the gang a hot reception was Whitby. As in the case + of Chester the gang there was an importation, having been brought in from + Tyneside by Lieuts. Atkinson and Oakes. As at Chester, too, a place of + rendezvous had been procured with difficulty, for at first no landlord + could be found courageous enough to let a house for so dangerous a + purpose. At length, however, one Cooper was prevailed upon to take the + risk, and the flag was hung out. This would seem to have been the only + provocative act of which the gang was guilty. It sufficed. Anticipation + did the rest; for just as in some individuals gratitude consists in a + lively sense of favours to come, so the resentment of mobs sometimes + avenges a wrong before it has been inflicted. + </p> + <p> + On Saturday the 23rd of February 1793, at the hour of half-past seven in + the evening, a mob of a thousand persons, of whom many were women, + suddenly appeared before the rendezvous. The first intimation of what was + about to happen came in the shape of a furious volley of brickbats and + stones, which instantly demolished every window in the house, to the utter + consternation of its inmates. Worse, however, was in store for them. An + attempt to rush the place was temporarily frustrated by the determined + opposition of the gang, who, fearing that all in the house would be + murdered, succeeded in holding the mob at bay for an hour and a half; but + at nine o'clock, several of the gangsmen having been in the meantime + struck down and incapacitated by stones, which were rained upon the + devoted building without cessation, the door at length gave way before an + onslaught with capstan-bars, and the mob swarmed in unchecked. A scene of + indescribable confusion and fury ensued. Savagely assaulted and + mercilessly beaten, the gangsmen and the unfortunate landlord were thrown + into the street more dead than alive, every article of furniture on the + premises was reduced to fragments, and when the mob at length drew off, + hoarsely jubilant over the destruction it had wrought, nothing remained of + His Majesty's rendezvous save bare walls and gaping windows. Even these + were more than the townsfolk could endure the sight of. Next evening they + reappeared upon the scene, intending to finish what they had begun by + pulling the house down or burning it to ashes; but the timely arrival of + troops frustrating their design, they regretfully dispersed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2739—Lieut. Atkinson, 26 Feb. and 27 June 1793.] + </p> + <p> + Out at sea the sailor, if he could not set the tune by running away from + the gang, played up to it with great heartiness. To sink the press-boat + was his first aim. With this end in view he held stolidly on his course, + if under weigh, betraying his intention by no sign till the boat, + manoeuvring to get alongside of him, was in the right position for him to + strike. Then, all of a sudden, he showed his hand. Clapping his helm hard + over, he dexterously ran the boat down, leaving the struggling gangsmen to + make what shift they could for their lives. Many a knight of the hanger + was sent to Davy Jones in this summary fashion, unloved in life and cursed + in the article of death. + </p> + <p> + The attempt to best the gang by a master-stroke of this description was + not, it need hardly be said, attended with uniform success. A miss of an + inch or two, and the boat was safe astern, pulling like mad to recover + lost ground. In these circumstances the sailor recalled how he had once + seen a block fall from aloft and smash a shipmate's head, and from this he + argued that if a suitable object such as a heavy round-shot, or, better + still, the ship's grindstone, were deftly dropped over the side at the + psychological moment, it must either have a somewhat similar effect upon + the gangsmen below or sink the boat by knocking a hole in her bottom. The + case of the <i>John and Elizabeth</i> of Sunderland, that redoubtable + Holland pink whose people were "resolved sooner to dye than to be + impressed," affords an admirable example of the successful application of + this theory. + </p> + <p> + As the <i>John and Elizabeth</i> was running into Sunderland harbour one + afternoon in February 1742, three press-boats, hidden under cover of the + pier-head, suddenly darted out as she surged past that point and attempted + to board her. They met with a remarkable repulse. For ten minutes, + according to the official account of the affair, the air was filled with + grindstones, four-pound shot, iron crows, handspikes, capstan-bars, + boat-hooks, billets of wood and imprecations, and when it cleared there + was not in any of the boats a man who did not bear upon his person some + bloody trace of that terrible fusillade. They sheered off, but in the + excitement of the moment and the mortification of defeat Midshipmen Clapp + and Danton drew their pistols and fired into the jeering crew ranged along + the vessel's gunwhale, "not knowing," as they afterwards pleaded, "that + there was any balls in the pistols." Evidence to the contrary was quickly + forthcoming. A man fell dead on the pink's deck, and before morning the + two middies were safe under lock and key in that "dismal hole," Durham + jail. It was a notable victory for the sailor and applied mechanics. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. Allen, 13 March + 1741-2, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + The affair of the <i>King William</i> Indiaman, a ship whose people kept + the united boats'-crews of two men-of-war at bay for nearly twenty-four + hours, carried the sailor's resistance to the press an appreciable step + further and developed some surprising tactics. Between three and four + o'clock in the afternoon of a day in September 1742, two ships came into + the Downs in close order. They had been expected earlier in the day, and + both the <i>Shrewsbury</i> frigate and the <i>Shark</i> sloop were on the + lookout for them. A shot from the former brought the headmost to an + anchor, but the second, the <i>King William</i>, hauled her wind and stood + away close to the Goodwins, out of range of the frigate's guns. Here, the + tide being spent and the wind veering ahead, she was obliged to anchor, + and the warships' boats were at once manned and dispatched to press her + men. Against this eventuality the latter appear to have been primed "with + Dutch courage," as the saying went, the manner of which was to broach a + cask of rum and drink your fill. On the approach of the press-boats + pandemonium broke loose. The maddened crew, brandishing their cutlasses + and shouting defiance, assailed the on-coming boats with every description + of missile they could lay hands on, not excepting that most dangerous of + all casual ammunition, broken bottles. The <i>Shrewsbury's</i> mate fell, + seriously wounded, and finding themselves unable to face the terrible hail + of missiles, the boats drew off. Night now came on, rendering further + attempts temporarily impossible—a respite of which the Indiaman's + crew availed themselves to confine the master and break open the + arms-chest, which he had taken the precaution to nail down. With morning + the boats returned to the attack. Three times they attempted to board, and + as often were they repulsed by pistol and musketry fire. Upon this the <i>Shark</i>, + acting under peremptory orders from the <i>Shrewsbury</i>, ran down to + within half-gunshot of the Indiaman and fired a broadside into her, + immediately afterwards repeating the dose on finding her still defiant. + The ship then submitted and all her men were pressed save two. They had + been killed by the <i>Shark's</i> gun-fire. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1829—Capt. Goddard, 22 Sept. and 16 Oct., and his + Deposition, 19 Oct. 1742.] + </p> + <p> + With the appearance of the gang on the deck of his ship there was ushered + in the last stage but one of the sailor's resistance to the press afloat. + How, when this happened, all hands were mustered and the protected sheep + separated from the unprotected goats, has been fully described in a + previous chapter. These preliminaries at an end, "Now, my lads," said the + gang officer, addressing the pressable contingent in the terms of his + instructions, "I must tell you that you are at liberty, if you so choose, + to enter His Majesty's service as volunteers. If you come in in that way, + you will each receive the bounty now being paid, together with two months' + advance wages before you go to sea. But if you don't choose to enter + volunteerly, then I must take you against your wills" + </p> + <p> + It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback—ay! and young one + too—spat viciously when he heard it. Conceive the situation! Here + were these poor fellows returning from a voyage which perhaps had cut them + off from home and kindred, from all the ordinary comforts and pleasures of + life, for months or maybe years; here were they, with the familiar cliffs + and downs under their hungry eyes, suddenly confronted with an alternative + of the cruellest description, a Hobson's choice that left them no option + but to submit or fight. It was a heartbreaking predicament for men, and + more especially for sailor-men, to be placed in, and if they sometimes + rose to the occasion like men and did their best to heave the gang bodily + into the sea, or to drive them out of the ship with such weapons as their + hard situation and the sailor's Providence threw in their way—if + they did these things in the gang's despite, they must surely be judged as + outraged husbands, fathers and lovers rather than as disloyal subjects of + an exacting king. They would have made but sorry man-o'-war's-men had they + entertained the gang in any other way. + </p> + <p> + Opposed to the service cutlass, the sailor's emergency weapon was but a + poor tool to stake his liberty upon, and even though the numerical odds + chanced to be in his favour he often learnt, in the course of his pitched + battles with the gang, that the edge of a hanger is sharper than the + corresponding part of a handspike. Lucky for him if, with his shipmates, + he could then retreat to close quarters below or between decks, there to + make a final stand for his brief spell of liberty ashore. This was his + last ditch. Beyond it lay only surrender or death. + </p> + <p> + The death of the sailor at the hands of the gang introduces us to a phase + of pressing technically known as the accidental, wherein the accidents + were of three kinds—casual, unavoidable, and "disagreeable." + </p> + <p> + The casual accident was one that could be neither foreseen nor averted, as + when Capt. Argles, returning to England on the breaking up of the Limerick + rendezvous in 1814, was captured by an American privateer "well up the + Bristol Channel," a place where no one ever dreamed of falling in with + such an enemy. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1455—Capt. + Argles, 17 Aug. 1814.] + </p> + <p> + To the unavoidable accident every impress officer and agent was liable in + the execution of his duty. It could thus be foreseen in the abstract, + though not in the instance. Hence it could not be avoided. Wounds given + and received in the heat and turmoil of pressing came under this head, + provided they did not prove fatal. + </p> + <p> + The accident "disagreeable" was peculiar to pressing. It consisted in the + killing of a man, by whatever means and in whatever manner, whilst + endeavouring to press him, and the immediate effect of the act, which was + common enough, was to set up a remarkable contradiction in terms. The man + killed was not the victim of the accident. The victim was the officer or + gangsman who was responsible for striking him off the roll of His + Majesty's pressable subjects, and who thus let himself in for the + consequences, more or less disagreeable, which inevitably followed. + </p> + <p> + While it was naturally the ambition of every officer engaged in pressing + "to do the business without any disagreeable accident ensuing," he + preferred, did fate ordain it otherwise, that the accident should happen + at sea rather than on land, since it was on land that the most + disagreeable consequences accrued to the unfortunate victim. These + embraced flight and prolonged expatriation, or, in the alternative, + arrest, preliminary detention in one of His Majesty's prisons, and + subsequent trial at the Assizes. What the ultimate punishment might be was + a minor, though still ponderable consideration, since, where naval + officers or agents were concerned, the law was singularly capricious. + [Footnote: As in Lacie's case, 25 Elizabeth, where a mortal wound having + been inflicted at sea, whereof the party died on land, the prisoner was + acquitted because neither the Admiralty nor a jury could inquire of it.] + At sea, on the other hand, the conditions which on land rendered accidents + of this nature so uniformly disagreeable, were almost entirely reversed. + How and why this was so can be best explained by stating a case. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The accident in point occurred in the year 1755, and is associated with +the illustrious name of Rodney. The Seven Years War was at the time +looming in the near future, and England's secret complicity in the +causes of that tremendous struggle rendered necessary the placing of her +Navy upon a footing adequate to the demands which it was foreseen would +be very shortly made upon it. In common with a hundred other naval +officers, Rodney, who was then in command of the <i>Prince George</i> +guardship at Portsmouth, had orders to proceed without loss of time +to the raising of men. One of his lieutenants was accordingly sent to +London, that happy hunting-ground of the impress officer, while two +others, with picked crews at their backs, were put in charge of tenders +to intercept homeward-bounds. This was near the end of May. + + [Illustration: ANNE MILLS. Who served on board the <i>Maidstone</i> +in 1740.] +</pre> + <p> + On the 1st of June, in the early morning, one of these tenders—the + <i>Princess Augusta</i>, Lieut. Sax commander—fell in, off Portland + Bill, with the <i>Britannia</i>, a Leghorn trader of considerable force. + In response to a shot fired as an intimation that she was expected to + lay-to and receive a gang on board, the master, hailing, desired + permission to retain his crew intact till he should have passed that + dangerous piece of navigation known as the Race. To this reasonable + request Sax acceded and the ship held on her course, closely followed by + the tender. By the time the Race was passed, however, the merchant-man's + crew had come to a resolution. They should not be pressed by "such a + pimping vessel" as the <i>Princess Augusta</i>. Accordingly, they first + deprived the master of the command, and then, when again hailed by the + tender, "swore they would lose their lives sooner than bring too." The + Channel at this time swarmed with tenders, and to Sax's hint that they + might just as well give in then and there as be pressed later on, they + replied with defiant huzzas and the discharge of one of their maindeck + guns. The tender was immediately laid alongside, but on the gang's + attempting to board they encountered a resistance so fierce that Sax, + thinking to bring the infuriated crew to their senses, ordered his people + to fire upon them. Ralph Sturdy and John Debusk, armed with harpoons, and + John Wilson, who had requisitioned the cook's spit as a weapon, fell dead + before that volley. The rest, submitting without further ado, were at once + confined below. + </p> + <p> + Now, three questions of moment are raised by this accident: What became of + the ship? what was done with the dead men? and what punishment was meted + out to the lieutenant and his gang? The crew once secured under hatches, + the safety of the ship became of course the first consideration. It was + assured by a simple expedient. The gang remained on board and worked the + vessel into Portsmouth harbour, where, after her hands had been taken out—Rodney + the receiver—"men in lieu" were put on board, as explained in our + chapter on pressing afloat, and with this make-shift crew she was + navigated to her destination, in this instance the port of London. + </p> + <p> + As persons killed at sea, the three sailors who lay dead on the ship's + deck did not come within the jurisdiction of the coroner. That official's + cognisance of such matters extended only to high-water mark when the tide + was at flood, or to low-water mark when it was at ebb. Beyond those + limits, seawards, all acts of violence done in great ships, and resulting + in mayhem or the death of a man, fell within the sole purview and + jurisdiction of the Station Admiral, who on this occasion happened to be + Sir Edward Hawke, commander of the White Squadron at Portsmouth. Now Sir + Edward was not less keenly alive to the importance of keeping such cases + hidden from the public eye than were the Lords Commissioners. Hence he + immediately gave orders that the bodies of the dead men should be taken + "without St. Helens" and there committed to the deep. Instead of going to + feed the Navy, the three sailors thus went to feed the fishes, and another + stain on the service was washed out with a commendable absence of + publicity and fuss. + </p> + <p> + There still remained the lieutenant and his gang to be dealt with and + brought to what, by another singular perversion of terms, was called + justice. On shore, notwithstanding the lenient view taken of such + accidents, an indictment of manslaughter, if not of murder, would have + assuredly followed the offence; and though in the circumstances it is + doubtful whether any jury would have found the culprits guilty of the + capital crime, yet the alternative verdict, with its consequent + imprisonment and disgrace, held out anything but a rosy prospect to the + young officer who had still his second "swab" to win. That was where the + advantage of accidents at sea came in. On shore the judiciary, however + kindly disposed to the naval service, were painfully disinterested. At sea + the scales of justice were held, none too meticulously, by brother + officers who had the service at heart. Under the judicious direction of + Admiral Osborn, who in the meantime had succeeded Sir Edward Hawke in the + Portsmouth command, Lieut. Sax and his gang were consequently called upon + to face no ordeal more terrible than an "inquiry into their proceedings + and behaviour." Needless to say, they were unanimously exonerated, the + court holding that the discharge of their duty fully justified them in the + discharge of their muskets. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5925—Minutes + at a Court-Martial held on board H.M.S. <i>Prince George</i> at + Portsmouth, 14 Nov. 1755. Precedent for the procedure in this case is + found in <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law Officers' Opinions, + 1733-56, No. 27.] When such disagreeable accidents had to be investigated, + the disagreeable business was done—to purloin an apt phrase of + Coke's—"without prying into them with eagles' eyes." + </p> + <p> + But it is time to leave the trail of blood and turn to a more agreeable + phase of pressing. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. — THE GANG AT PLAY. + </h2> + <p> + The reasons assigned for the pressing of men who ought never to have made + the acquaintance of the warrant or the hanger were often as far-fetched as + they are amusing. "You have no right to press a person of my distinction!" + warmly protested an individual of the superior type when pounced upon by + the gang. "Lor love yer! that's the wery reason we're a-pressin' of your + worship," replied the grinning minions of the service. "We've such a set + of black-guards aboard the tender yonder, we wants a toff like you to + learn 'em manners." + </p> + <p> + The quixotic idea of inculcating manners by means of the press infected + others besides the gangsman. In a Navy whose officers not only plumed + themselves on representing the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of etiquette, but + demanded that all who approached them should do so without sin either of + omission or commission, the idea was universal. Pride of service and pride + of self entered into its composition in about equal proportions; hence the + sailing-master who neglected to salute the flag, or who through ignorance, + crass stupidity, or malice aforethought flew prohibited colours, was no + more liable to be taught an exemplary lesson than the bum-boatman who + sauced the officer of the watch when detected in the act of smuggling + spirits or women into one of His Majesty's ships. + </p> + <p> + For all such offenders the autocracy of the quarter-deck, from the rigid + commander down to the very young gentleman newly joined, kept a jealous + lookout, and many are the instances of punishment, swift and implacable, + following the offence. Insulted dignity could of course take it out of the + disrespectful fore-mastman with the rattan, the cat or the irons; but for + the ill-mannered outsider, whether pertaining to sea or land, the + recognised corrective was His Majesty's press. A solitary exception is + found in the case of Henry Crabb of Chatham, a boatman who rejoiced in + incurable lameness; rejoiced because, although there were many cripples on + board the Queen's ships in his day, his infirmity was such as to leave him + at liberty to ply for hire "when other men durst not for feare of being + Imprest." He was an impudent, over-reaching knave, and Capt. Balchen, of + the <i>Adventure</i> man-o'-war, whose wife had suffered much from the + fellow's abusive tongue and extortionate propensities, finding himself + unable to press him, brought him to the capstan and there gave him "eleven + lashes with a Catt of Nine Tailes." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1466—Capt. Balchen, 10 March 1703-4.] + </p> + <p> + A letter written in the early forties-a letter as breezy as the sea from + which it was penned—gives us a striking picture of the old-time + naval officer as a teacher of deportment. Cruising far down-Channel, Capt. + Brett, of the <i>Anglesea</i> man-o'-war, there fell in with a ship whose + character puzzled him sorely. He consequently gave chase, but the wind + falling light and night coming on, he lost her. Early next morning, as + luck would have it, he picked her up again, and having now a "pretty + breeze," he succeeded in drawing within range of her about two o'clock in + the afternoon, when he fired a shot to bring her to. The strange sail + doubtless feared that she was about to lose her hands, for instead of + obeying the summons she trained her stern-chasers on the <i>Anglesea</i> + and for an hour and a half blazed away at her as fast as she could load. + "They put a large marlinespike into one of their guns," the indignant + captain tells us, "which struck the carriage of the chase gun upon our + forecastle, dented it near two inches, then broke asunder and wounded one + of the men in the leg, and had it come a yard higher, must infallibly have + killed two or three. By all this behaviour I concluded she must be an + English vessel taken by the Spaniards. However, when we came within a + cable's length of him he brought to, so we run close under his stern in + order to shoot a little berth to leeward of him, and at the same time bid + them hoist their boats out. Our people, as is customary upon such + occasions, were then all up upon the gunhill and in the shrouds, looking + at him. Just as we came under his quarter he pointed a gun that was + sticking out a little abaft his main-shrouds right at us, and put the + match to it, but it happened very luckily that the gun blew. A fellow that + was standing on the quarter-deck then took up a blunderbuss and presented + it, which by its not going off must have missed fire. As it was almost + impossible, they being stripp'd and bareheaded, besides having their faces + besmeared with powder, for us to judge them by their looks, I concluded + they must be a Parcell of Light-headed Frenchmen run mad, and thinking it + by no means prudent to let them kill my men in such a ridiculous manner, I + ordered the marines, who were standing upon the quarter-deck with their + musquets shoulder'd, to fire upon them. As soon as they saw the musquets + presented they fell flat upon the decks and by that means saved themselves + from being kill'd. Some of our people at the same time fired a 9-pounder + right into his quarter, upon which they immediately submitted. I own I + never was more surprised in all my life to find that she was an English + vessel, tho' my surprise was lessened a good deal when I came to see the + master and all his fighting men so drunk as to be scarce capable of giving + a rational answer to any question that was asked them. I was very glad to + find that none of them were hurt; <i>but I found out the man who presented + the blunderbuss, and upon his behaving saucily when I taxed him with it, I + took him out of the vessel.</i>" [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1479—Capt. Brett, 17 April 1743. The captain's use of gender is + philologically instructive. Not till later times, it seems, did ships lose + the character of a "strong man armed" and take on, uniformly, the + attributes of the skittish female.] + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: SAILORS CAROUSING. From the mezzotint after J. Ibbetson.] +</pre> + <p> + So abhorrent a condiment was "sauce" to the naval palate, whether of + officer or impress agent, that its use invariably brought its own + punishment with it. "You are no gentleman!" said Gangsman Dibell to one + Hartnell, a currier who accidentally jostled him whilst he was drinking in + a Poole taproom. "No, nor you neither!" replied Hartnell. The retort cost + him a most disagreeable experience. Dibell and his comrades collared him + and dragged him off to the rendezvous, where he was locked up in the + black-hole till the next day. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 580—Inquiry + into the Conduct of the Impress Officers at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + </p> + <p> + At Waterford Capt. Price went one better than this, for a man who was + totally unfit for the service having one day shown him some trifling + disrespect, the choleric old martinet promptly set the gang upon him and + had him conveyed on board the tender, "where," says Lieut. Collingwood, + writing a month later, "he has been eating the king's victuals ever + since." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1501—Lieut. + Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] Punishment enough, surely! + </p> + <p> + One night at Londonderry, as Lieut. Watson was making his way down to the + quay for the purpose of boarding the <i>Hope</i> tender, of which he was + commander, he accidentally ran against a couple of strangers. + </p> + <p> + "Hallo! my lads," cried he, "who and what are you?" + </p> + <p> + "I am what I am," replied one of them, insolently. + </p> + <p> + The lieutenant, who had been dining, fired up at this and demanded to know + if language such as that was proper to be addressed to a king's officer. + </p> + <p> + "As you please," said he of the insolent tongue. "If you like it better, + I'll say I'm a piece of a man." + </p> + <p> + "So I see by your want of manners," retorted the lieutenant. "Come along + with me, my brave piece! I know those who will make a whole man of you + before they're done." + </p> + <p> + With that he seized the fellow, meaning to take him to his boat, which lay + near by, but the pressed man, watching his chance, tripped him up and made + off. Next day there was a sequel. The lieutenant "was taken possession of + by the Civil Power" on a charge of assault. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1531—Lieut. Watson, 27 Oct. 1804.] + </p> + <p> + Another officer who met with base ingratitude from a pressed man whose + manners he attempted to reform was Capt. Bethel of the <i>Phoenix</i>. At + the Nore he was once grossly abused by the crew of a Customs-House boat, + and in retaliation took one of their number and carried him to sea. + Peremptory orders reaching him at one of the Scottish ports, however, he + discharged the man and paid his passage south. He was immediately sued for + false imprisonment and cast in heavy damages. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1493—Capt. Bethel, 29 Aug. 1762.] + </p> + <p> + Capt. Brereton, of the <i>Falmouth</i>, was "had" in similar fashion by + the master of an East-Indiaman whom he pressed at Manilla because of his + insolence, and who afterwards, by a successful suit at law, let him in for + 400 Pounds damages and costs. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1494—Capt. + Brereton, 18 Oct. 1765.] + </p> + <p> + This was turning the tables of etiquette on its professors with a + vengeance. + </p> + <p> + Such costly lessons in the art of politeness, however, did not in the + least abash the naval officer or deter him from the continued inculcation + of manners. Young fellows idly roystering on the river could not be + permitted to miscall with impunity the gorgeous admiral passing in his + twelve-oared barge, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 577—Admiral + the Marquis of Carmarthen, 24 June 1710.] nor irate shipmasters who + flouted the impress service of the Crown as a "pitiful" thing and its + officers as "little scandalous creatures," be allowed to go scot-free. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2379—Capt. Robinson, 21 Feb. + 1725-6.] At whatever cost, the dignity of the service must be maintained. + </p> + <p> + Nowhere did the use of invective attain such extraordinary perfection as + amongst those who plied their vocations on the country's busy waterways. + Here "sauce" was reduced to a science and vituperation to a fine art. + Thames watermen and Tyne keelmen in particular acquired an astounding + proficiency in the choice and application of abusive epithets, but of the + two the keelman carried off the palm. The wherryman, it is true, possessed + a ripe vocabulary, but the fact that it embraced only a single dialect + seriously handicapped him in his race with the keelman, who had no less + than three to draw upon, all equally prolific. Between "keelish," + "coblish" and "sheelish," the respective dialects of the north-country + keelman, pilot and tradesman, he had at his command a source of supply + unrivalled in vituperative richness, abundance and variety. With these at + his tongue's end none could touch, much less outdo him in power and scope + of abusive description. He became in consequence of these superior + advantages so "insupportably impudent" that the only known cure for his + complaint was to follow the prescription of Capt. Atkins of the <i>Panther</i>, + and "take him as fast as you could ketch him"; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1438—Capt. Atkins, 23 Dec. 1720.] but even this + drastic method of curbing his tongue was robbed of much of its efficacy by + the jealous care with which he was "protected." + </p> + <p> + Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours when + you meet with a ship of war—the marine equivalent for raising one's + hat—constituted a gross contempt of the king's service. The custom + was very ancient, King John having instituted it in the second year of his + reign. At that time, and indeed for long after, the salute was obligatory, + its omission entailing heavy penalties; [Footnote: A copy of the original + proclamation may be seen in Lansdowne MSS., clxxi, f. 218, where it is + also summarised in the following terms: <i>"Anno 2 regni Johannis regis: + Frends not amaining at the j sumons but resisting the King his lieutenant, + the L. Admirall or his lieutenant, to lose the ship and goods, & + theire bodies to be imprisoned."</i>] but with the advent of the century + of pressing another means of inspiring respect for the flag, now exacted + as a courtesy rather than a right, came into vogue. The offending vessel + paid for its omission in men. + </p> + <p> + If you were anything but a king's ship, and flew a flag that only king's + ships were entitled to fly, you were guilty, in the eyes of every + right-seeing naval officer, of another piece of ill manners so gross as to + be deserving of the severest punishment the press was capable of + inflicting upon you. You might fly the "flag and Jack white, with a red + cross (commonly called St. George's cross) passing quite through the + same"; likewise the "ensign red, with the cross in a canton of white at + the upper corner thereof, next to the staff"; but if you presumed to + display His Majesty's Jack, commonly called the Union Jack, or any other + of the various flags of command flown by ships of war or vessels employed + in the naval service, swift retribution overtook you. Similarly, the + inadvertent hoisting of your colours "wrong end uppermost," or in any + other manner deemed inconsistent with the dignity of the service which + permitted you to fly them, laid you open to reprisals of the most summary + nature. Before you realised the heinousness of your offence, a gang + boarded you and your best man or men were gone beyond recall. The joy of + waterside weddings—occasions prolific in the display of wrong + colours—was often turned into sorrow in this way. + </p> + <p> + Inability to do the things you professed to do involved grave risk of + making intimate acquaintance with the gang. If, for example, you were a + skipper and navigated your vessel more like a 'prentice than a master + hand, some one belonging to you was bound, in waters swarming with ships + of war, to pay the piper sooner or later. "A few days ago," writes Capt. + Archer of the <i>Isis</i>, "a ship called the <i>Jane</i>, Stewart master, + ran on board of us in a most lubberly manner—for which, as is + customary on such occasions, I took four of his people." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1448—Capt. Archer, 17 May 1795.] + </p> + <p> + Ability to handle a musical instrument sometimes proved as fatal to one's + liberty as inability to handle a ship. Queen Anne was directly responsible + for this. Almost immediately after her accession she signed a warrant + authorising the pressing of "drummers, fife and haut boys for sea and + land." [Footnote: <i>Home Office Military Entry Books</i>, clxviii, f. + 406.] Though the authorisation was only temporary, the practice thus set + up continued long after its origin had been relegated to the scrap-heap of + memory, and not only continued, but was interpreted in a sense much + broader than its royal originator ever intended it should be. This + tendency to take an ell in lieu of the stipulated inch was illustrated as + early as 1705, when Lieut. Thomson, belonging to the <i>Lickfield</i>, + chancing to meet one Richard Bullard, fiddler, "persuaded him to go as far + as Woolwich with him, to play a tune or two to him and some friends who + had a mind to dance, saying he would pay him for it"—which he did, + when tired of dancing, by handing him over to the press-gang. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1467—Capt. Byron, 13 July 1705.] + </p> + <p> + In 1781, again, a "stout lad of 17" was pressed at Waterford because, as a + piper, he was considered likely to be "useful in amusing the new-raised + men"; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1501—Lieut. + Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] and as late as 1807 a gang at Portsmouth, + acting under orders from Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, took one Madden, a + blind man, because of his "qualification of playing on the Irish + bagpipes." His affliction saved him. He was discharged, and the amount of + his pay and victualling was deducted from Sir Robert's wages as a caution + to him to be more careful in future. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1544—Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, 1 Dec. 1808.] + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the oddest reasons ever adduced in justification of specific acts + of pressing were those put forward in the cases of James Baily, a Gosport + ferry-man who was pressed on account of his "great inactivity," and of + John Conyear, exempt passenger on the packet-boat plying between Dartmouth + and Poole, subjected to the same process because, as the officer + responsible ingenuously put it when called to book for the act, if Conyear + had not been on board, "another would, who might have been a proper person + to serve His Majesty." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1451—Capt. + Argles, 4 May 1807; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2485—Capt. Scott, 13 + March 1780.] + </p> + <p> + An ironical interest attaches to the pressing of John Hagin, a youth of + nineteen who cherished an ambition to go a-whaling. Tramping the riverside + at Hull one day in search of a ship, he accidentally met one of the + lieutenants employed in the local impress service, and mistaking him for + the master of a Greenland ship, stepped up to him and asked him for a + berth. "Berth?" said the obliging officer. "Come this way;" and he + conducted the unsuspecting youth to the rendezvous. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1455—Capt. Ackton, 23 March 1814.] + </p> + <p> + Before you took a voyage for the benefit of your health in those days it + was always advisable to satisfy yourself as to the nature of the cargo the + vessel carried or intended to carry, otherwise you were liable to be let + in for a longer voyage than health demanded. Richard Gooding of Bawdsey, + in the county of Suffolk, a twenty-one-year-old yeoman who knew nothing of + the iniquities practised in ships, in an evil hour acted on the advice of + his apothecary and ran across to Holland for the sake of his health, which + the infirmities of youth appear to have undermined. All went well until, + on the return trip, just before Bawdsey Ferry hove in sight, down swooped + a revenue cutter's boat with an urgent request that the master should open + up his hatches and disclose what his hold contained. He demurred, alleging + that it held nothing of interest to revenue men; but on their going below + to see for themselves they discovered an appreciable quantity of gin. + Thereupon the master wickedly declared Gooding to be the culprit, and he + was pressed on suspicion of attempting to run a cargo of spirits. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1530—Capt. Broughton, 20 + April 1803, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + Into the operations of the gang this element of suspicion entered very + largely, especially in the pressing of supposed sailors. To carry about on + your person any of the well-known marks of the seafaring man was to invite + certain disaster. When pressed, like so many others, because he was "in + appearance very much like a sailor," John Teede protested vehemently that + he had never been to sea in his life, and that all who said he had were + unmitigated liars. "Strip him," said the officer, who had a short way with + such cases. In a twinkling Teede's shirt was over his head and the sailor + stood revealed. Devices emblematic of love and the sea covered both arms + from shoulder to wrist. "You and I will lovers die, eh?" said the officer, + with a twinkle, as he spelt out one of the amatory inscriptions. "Just so, + John! I'll see to that. Next man!" [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1522—Description of a Person calling himself John Teede, 28 Dec. + 1799.] + </p> + <p> + Bow-legged men ran the gravest of risks in this respect, and the goose of + many a tailor was effectually cooked because of the damning fact, which no + protestations of innocence of the sea could mitigate, that long + confinement to the board had warped his legs into a fatal resemblance to + those of a typical Jack-tar. Harwich once had a mayor who, after vowing + that he would "never be guilty of saying there was no law for pressing + sailors," as a convincing proof that he knew what was what, and was + willing to provide it to the best of his ability, straightway sent out and + pressed—a tailor! [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1436—Capt. + Allen, 26 March 1706.] + </p> + <p> + The itinerant Jewish peddler who hawked his wares about the country + suffered grievously on this account. However indisputably Hebraic his + name, his accent and his nose might be, those evidences of nationality + were Anglicised, so to speak, by the fact that his legs were the legs of a + sailor, and the bandy appendages so characteristic of his race sooner or + later brought the gang down upon him in full cry and landed him in the + fleet. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of + acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger—a great, + bearded man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, resorted + daily to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water mark," now + writing with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating wildly to the + sea and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, then all unused to + "visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his antics in wonder and + consternation. The principal inhabitants of the place, alarmed by his + vagaries, constituted themselves a committee of safety, and with the + parson at their head went down to interview him; and when, in response to + their none too polite inquiries, he flatly refused to give any account of + himself, they by common consent voted him a spy and a public menace, + telling each other that he was undoubtedly engaged in drawing plans of the + coast in order to facilitate' the landing of some enemy; for did not the + legend run:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He who would Old England win, + Must at Weybourn Hope begin?" +</pre> + <p> + and was not the "Hoop," as it was called locally, only a few miles to the + northward? No time was to be lost. Post-haste they dispatched a messenger + to Lieut. Brace at Yarmouth, begging him, if he would save his country + from imminent danger, to lose not a moment in sending his gang to seize + the suspect and nip his fell design in the bud. With this alarming request + Brace promptly complied, and the stranger was dragged away to Yarmouth. + Arraigned before the mayor, he with difficulty succeeded in convincing + that functionary that he was nothing more dangerous than a stray + agriculturist whom the Empress Catherine had sent over from Russia to + study the English method of growing-turnips! [Footnote: <i>State Papers</i>, + Russia, cv.—Lieut. Brace, 18 Aug. 1780.] + </p> + <p> + The unhandsome treatment meted out to the inoffensive Russian is of a + piece with the whole aspect of pressing by instigation, of which it is at + once a specimen and a phase. The incentive here was suspicion; but in the + fertile field of instigation motives flourished in forms as varied as the + weaknesses of human nature. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Onions, respectable burgess of Bridgnorth, engaged in working a + trow from that place to Bristol, fell under suspicion owing to the + mysterious disappearance of a portion of the cargo, which consisted of + china. The rest of the crew being metaphorically as well as literally in + the same boat, the consignee's agent, on the trow's arrival at Bristol, + hinted at a more than alliterative connection between china and chests, + which he was proceeding to search when Onions objected, very rightly + urging that he had no warrant. "Is it a warrant you're wanting?" demanded + the baffled agent. "Very well, we'll see if we cannot find one." With that + he stepped ashore and hurried to the rendezvous, where he knew the + officers, and within the hour the gang added Onions to the impress + stock-pot. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1542—Memorial of + the Inhabitants and Burgesses of Bridgnorth, 12 March 1808.] + </p> + <p> + Much the same motive led to the pressing of Charles M'Donald, a + north-country youth of education and property. His mother wished him to + enter the army, but his guardians, piqued by her insistence, "had him + kidnapped on board the impress tender at Shields, under pretence of + sending him on a visit." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1537—Capt. + Bland, 29 Nov. 1806, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + An "independent fortune of fourteen hundred pounds," bequeathed to him by + his "Aunt Elizabeth," was instrumental in launching John Stillwell of + Clerkenwell upon a similar career. His step-mother and uncle desired to + retain possession of the money, of which they were trustees; so they + suborned the gang and the young man disappeared. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1539—Capt. Burton, 25 April 1806, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + A more legitimate pastime of the gang was the pressing of incorrigible + sons. George Clark of Birmingham and William Barnicle of Margate, the one + a notorious thief, the other the despair of his family because of his + drunken habits, were two out of many shipped abroad by this cheap but + effectual means, the instigator of the gang being in each case the lad's + own father. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1537—Jeremiah + Clark, 30 July 1806; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1547—Lieut. Dawe, 4 + Sept. 1809.] The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in + this way amazingly simplified. + </p> + <p> + In thus utilising the gang as a means of retaliating upon those who + incurred their displeasure, both naval officers and private individuals, + had they been arraigned for the offence, could have pleaded in + justification of their conduct the example of no less exalted a body than + the Admiralty itself. The case of the bachelor seamen of Dover, pressed + because of an official animus against that town, was as notorious as their + Lordships' futile attempt to teach the Brighton fishermen respect for + their betters, or their later orders to Capt. Culverhouse, of the + Liverpool rendezvous, instructing him "to take all opportunities of + impressing seafaring men belonging to the Isle of Man," as a punishment + for the "extreme ill-conduct of the people of that Island to His Majesty's + Officers on the Impress Service." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 3. + 148—Admiralty Minutes, 11 Oct. 1803.] The Admiralty method of paying + out anyone against whom you cherished a grudge possessed advantages which + strongly commended it to the splenetic and the vindictive. For suppose you + lay in wait for your enemy and beat or otherwise maltreated him: the + chances were that he would either punish you himself or invoke the law to + do it for him; while if you removed him by means of the garrot, the knife + or the poisoned glass, no matter how discreetly the deed was done the + hangman was pretty sure to get you sooner or later. But the gang—it + was as safe as an epidemic! The fact was not lost upon the community. + People in almost every station of life appreciated it at its true worth, + and, encouraged by the example of the Admiralty, availed themselves of the + gang as the handiest, speediest and safest of mediums for wiping out old + scores. + </p> + <p> + On shipboard, where life was more cramped and men consequently came into + sharper contact than on shore, resentments were struck from daily + intercourse like sparks from steel. Like sparks some died, impotent to + harm their object; but others, cherished in bitterness of spirit through + many a lonely watch, flashed into malicious action with that hoped-for + opportunity, the coming of the gang. John Gray, carpenter of a merchant + ship, in a moment of anger threatened to cut the skipper down with an axe. + This happened under a West-Indian sun. Months afterwards, as the ship + swung lazily into Bristol river and the gang came aboard, the skipper + found his opportunity. Beckoning to the impress officer, he pointed to + John Gray and said: "Take that man!" [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1542—Capt. Barker, 22 June 1808, and enclosure.] Gray never again + lifted an axe on board a merchant vessel. + </p> + <p> + Certain amenities which once passed between the master and the mate of the + <i>Lady Shore</i> serve to throw an even broader light upon the origin of + quarrels at sea and the methods of settling them then in vogue. The <i>Lady + Shore</i> was on the passage home from Quebec when the master one day gave + certain sailing directions which the mate, who was a sober, careful + seaman, thought fit to disregard on the ground that the safety of the ship + would be endangered if he followed them. The master, an irascible, drunken + brute, at this flew into a passion and sought to ingraft his ideas of + seamanship upon the mate through the medium of a handspike, with which he + caught him a savage blow "just above the eye, cutting him about three + inches in length." It was in mid-ocean that this lesson in navigation was + administered. By the time Scilly shoved its nose above the horizon the + skipper's "down" on the mate had reached an acute stage. His resentment of + the latter's being the better seaman had now deepened into hatred, and to + this, as the voyage neared its end, was added growing fear of prosecution. + At this juncture a man-o'-war hove in sight and signalled an inspection of + hands. "Get your chest on deck, Mr. Mate," cried the exultant skipper. + "You are too much master here. It is time for us to part." Taken out of + the ship as a pressed man, the mate was ultimately discharged by order of + the Admiralty; but the skipper had his revenge. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 583—Matthew Gill to Admiral Moorsom, 15 Jan. 1813.] + </p> + <p> + A riot that occurred at King's Lynn in the year '55 affords a striking + instance of the retaliatory use of the gang on shore. In the course of the + disturbance mud and stones were thrown at the magistrates, who had come + out to do what they could to quell it. Angered by so gross an indignity, + they supplied the gang with information that led to the pressing of some + sixty persons concerned in the tumult, but as these consisted mainly of + "vagrants, gipsies, parish charges, maimed, halt and idiots," the + magisterial resentment caused greater rejoicings at Lynn than it did at + Spithead, where the sweepings of the borough were eventually deposited. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 920—Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, + 8 June 1755.] + </p> + <p> + There is a decided smack of the modern about the use the gang was put to + by the journeymen coopers of Bristol. Considering themselves underpaid, + they threatened to go on strike unless the masters raised their wages. In + this they were not entirely unanimous, however. One of their number stood + out, refusing to join the combine; whereupon the rest summoned the gang + and had the "blackleg" pressed for his contumacy. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1542—Capt. Barker, 20 Aug. 1808, and enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + In pressing William Taylor of Broadstairs the gang nipped in the bud as + tender a romance as ever flourished in the shelter of the Kentish cliffs, + which is saying not a little. Taylor was only a poor fisherman, and when + he dared to make love to the pretty daughter of the Ramsgate + Harbour-Master, that exalted individual, who entertained for the girl + social ambitions in which fishermen's shacks had no place, resented his + advances as insufferable impertinence. A word to Lieut. Leary, his friend + at the local rendezvous, did the rest. Taylor disappeared, and though he + was afterwards discharged from His Majesty's ship Utrecht on the score of + his holding a Sea-Fencible's ticket, the remedy had worked its cure and + the Harbour-Master was thenceforth free to marry his daughter where he + would. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1450—Capt. Austen, 23 + Sept. 1803.] + </p> + <p> + So natural is the transition from love to hate that no apology is needed + for introducing here the story of Sam Burrows, the ex-beadle of Chester + who fell a victim to the harsher in much the same manner as Taylor did to + the gentler passion. Burrows' evil genius was one Rev. Lucius Carey, an + Irish clergyman—whether Anglican or Roman we know not, nor does it + matter—who had contracted the unclerical habit of carrying pistols + and too much liquor. In this condition he was found late one night + knocking in a very violent manner at the door of the "Pied Bull," and + swearing that, while none should keep him out, any who refused to assist + him in breaking in should be shot down forthwith. Burrows, the ex-beadle, + happened to be passing at the moment. He seized the drunken cleric and + with the assistance of James Howell, one of the city watchmen, forcibly + removed him to the watch-house, whence he was next day taken before the + mayor and bound over to appear at the Sessions. Now it happened that + certain members of the local press-gang were Carey's boon companions, so + no sooner did he leave the presence of the mayor than he looked them up. + That same evening Burrows was missing. Carey had found him a "hard bed," + otherwise a berth on board a man-o'-war. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1532—Capt Birchall, 17 July 1804, and enclosures.] + </p> + <p> + In the columns of the <i>Westminster Journal</i>, under date of both May + 1743, we read of a sailor who, dying at Ringsend, was brought to Irishtown + church-yard, near Dublin, for burial. "When they laid him on the ground," + the narrative continues, "the coffin was observed to stir, on which he was + taken up, and by giving him some nourishment he came to himself, and is + likely to do well." Whether this sailor was ever pressed, either before or + after his abortive decease, we are not informed; but there is on record at + least one well-authenticated instance of that calamity overtaking a person + who had passed the bourne whence none is supposed to return. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1723 a young lad whose name has not been preserved, but who + was at the time apprentice to a master sailmaker in London, set out from + that city to visit his people, living at Sandwich. He appears to have + travelled afoot, for, getting a "lift" on the road, he was carried into + Deal, where he arrived late at night, and having no money was glad to + share a bed with a seafaring man, the boatswain of an Indiaman then in the + Downs. From this circumstance sprang the events which here follow. Along + in the small hours of the night the lad awoke, and finding the room stuffy + and day on the point of breaking, he rose and dressed, purposing to see + the town in the cool of the morning. The catch of the door, however, + refused to yield under his hand, and while he was endeavouring to undo it + the noise he made awakened the boatswain, who told him that if he looked + in his breeches pocket he would find a knife there with which he could + lift the latch. Acting on this hint, the lad succeeded in opening the + door, and thereupon went downstairs in accordance with his original + intention. When he returned some half-hour later, as he did for the + purpose of restoring the knife, which he had thoughtlessly slipped into + his pocket, the bed was empty and the boatswain gone. Of this he thought + nothing. The boatswain had talked, he remembered, of going off to his ship + at an early hour, in order, as he had said, to call the hands for the + washing down of the decks. The lad accordingly left the house and went his + way to Sandwich, where, as already stated, his people lived. + </p> + <p> + Meantime the old inn at Deal, and indeed the whole town, was thrown into a + state of violent commotion by a most shocking discovery. Going about their + morning duties at the inn, the maids had come to the bed in which the + boatswain and the apprentice had slept, and to their horror found it + saturated with blood. Drops of blood, together with marks of blood-stained + hands and feet, were further discovered on the floor and the door of the + chamber, down the stairs, and along the passage leading to the street, + whence they could be distinctly traced to the waterside, not so very far + away. Imagination, working upon these ghastly survivals of the hours of + darkness, quickly reconstructed the crime which it was evident had been + committed. The boatswain was known to have had money on him; but the + youth, it was recalled, had begged his bed. It was therefore plain to the + meanest understanding that the youth had murdered the boatswain for his + money and thrown the body into the sea. + </p> + <p> + At once that terrible precursor of judgment to come, the hue and cry was + raised, and that night the footsore apprentice lay in Sandwich jail, a + more than suspected felon, for his speedy capture had supplied what was + taken to be conclusive evidence of his guilt. In his pocket they + discovered the boatswain's knife, and both it and the lad's clothing were + stained with blood. Asked whose blood it was, and how it came there, he + made no answer. Asked was it the boatswain's knife, he answered, "Yes, it + was," and therewith held his peace. In face of such evidence, and such an + admission, he stood prejudged. His trial at the Assizes was a mere + formality. The jury quickly found him guilty, and sentence of death was + passed upon him. + </p> + <p> + The day of execution came. Up to this point Fate had set her face + steadfastly against our apprentice lad; but now, in the very hour and + article of death, she suddenly relented and smiled upon him. The + dislocating "drop" was in those days unknown. When you were hanged, you + were hanged from a cart, which was suddenly whisked from under you, + leaving you dangling in mid-air like a kind of death-fruit nearly, but not + quite, ready to fall. Much depended on the executioner, and that grim + functionary was in this case a raw hand, unused to his work, who bungled + the job. The knot was ill-adjusted, the rope too long, the convict tall + and lank. This last circumstance was no fault of the executioner's, but it + helped. When they turned him off, the lad's feet swept the ground, and his + friends, gathering round him like guardian angels, bore him up. Cut down + at the end of a tense half-hour, he was hurried away to a surgeon's and + there copiously bled. And being young and virile, he revived. + </p> + <p> + Trudging to Portsmouth some little time after, with the intention of for + ever leaving a country to which he was legally dead, he fell in with one + of the numerous press-gangs frequenting that road, and was sent on board a + man-o'-war. There, in course of time, he rose to be master's mate, and in + that capacity, whilst on the West-India station, was transferred to + another ship. On this ship he met the surprise of his life—if life + can be said to hold further surprises for one who has died and lived + again. As he stepped on deck the first person he met was his old + bed-fellow, the boatswain. + </p> + <p> + The explanation of the amazing series of events which led up to this + amazing meeting is very simple. On the evening of that fateful night at + Deal the boatswain, who had been ailing, was let blood. In his sleep the + bandage slipped and the wound reopened. Discovering his condition when + awakened by the apprentice, he rose and left the house, intending to have + the wound re-dressed by the barber-surgeon who had inflicted it, with more + effect than discretion, some hours earlier. At the very door of the inn, + however, he ran into the arms of a press-gang, by whom he was instantly + seized and hurried on board ship. [Footnote: Watts, <i>Remarkable Events + in the History of Man</i>, 1825.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. — WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + </h2> + <p> + The medieval writer who declared women to be "capable of disturbing the + air and exciting tempests" was not indulging a mere quip at the expense of + that limited storm area, his own domestic circle. He expressed what in his + day, and indeed for long after, was a cardinal article of belief—that + if you were so ill-advised as to take a woman to sea, she would surely + upset the weather and play the mischief with the ship. + </p> + <p> + To this ungallant superstition none subscribed more heartily than the + sailor, though always, be it understood, with a mental reservation. Unlike + many landsmen who held a similar belief, he limited the malign influence + of the sex strictly to the high-seas, where, for that reason, he vastly + preferred woman's room to her company; but once he was safe in port, woman + in his opinion ceased to be dangerous, and he then vastly preferred her + company to her room. + </p> + <p> + For her companionship he had neither far to seek nor long to wait. It was + a case of + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Deal, Dover and Harwich, + The devil gave his daughter in marriage." +</pre> + <p> + All naval seaports were full of women, and to prevent the supply from + running short thoughtful parish officials—church-wardens and other + well-meaning but sadly misguided people—added constantly to the + number by consigning to such doubtful reformatories the undesirable + females of their respective petty jurisdictions. The practice of admitting + women on board the ships of the fleet, too—a practice as old as the + Navy itself—though always forbidden, was universally connived at and + tacitly sanctioned. Before the anchor of the returning man-of-war was let + go a flotilla of boats surrounded her, deeply laden with pitiful creatures + ready to sell themselves for a song and the chance of robbing their sailor + lovers. No sooner did the boats lay alongside than the last vestige of + Jack's superstitious dread of the malevolent sex went by the board, and + discipline with it. Like monkeys the sailors swarmed into the boats, where + each selected a mate, redeemed her from the grasping boatman's hands with + money or blows according to the state of his finances or temper, and so + brought his prize, save the mark! in triumph to the gangway. It was a + point of honour, not to say of policy, with these poor creatures to supply + their respective "husbands," as they termed them, with a drop of + good-cheer; so at the gangway they were searched for concealed liquor. + This was the only formality observed on such occasions, and as it was + enforced in the most perfunctory manner imaginable, there was always + plenty of drink going. Decency there was none. The couples passed below + and the hell of the besotted broke loose between decks, where the orgies + indulged in would have beggared the pen of a Balzac. [Footnote: Statement + of Certain Immoral Practices, 1822.] + </p> + <p> + During the earlier decades of the century these conditions, monstrous + though they were, passed almost unchallenged, but as time wore on and + their pernicious effects upon the <i>morale</i> of the fleet became more + and more appalling, the service produced men who contended strenuously, + and in the end successfully, with a custom that, to say the least of it, + did violence to every notion of decency and clean living. In 1746 the + ship's company of the <i>Sunderland</i> complained bitterly because not + even their wives were "suffer'd to come aboard to see them." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1482—Capt. Brett, 22 Feb. 1745-6.] It was a sign of + the times. By the year '78 the practice had been fined down to a point + where, if a wherry with a woman in it were seen hovering in a suspicious + manner about a ship of war, the boatman was immediately pressed and the + woman turned on shore. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1498—Capt. + Boteler, 18 April 1778.] Another twenty years, and the example of such men + as Jervis, Nelson and Collingwood laid the evil for good and all. The + seamen of the fleet themselves pronounced its requiescat when, drawing up + certain "Rules and Orders" for their own guidance during the mutiny of + '97, they ordained that "no woman shall be permitted to go on shore from + any ship, but as many come in as pleases." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 5125—A Detail of the Proceedings on Board the <i>Queen Charlotte</i> + in the Year 1797.] + </p> + <p> + An unforeseen consequence of thus suppressing the sailor's impromptu + liaisons was an alarming increase in the number of desertions. On shore + love laughs at locksmiths; on shipboard it derided the boatswain's mate. + To run and get caught meant at the worst "only a whipping bout," and, the + sailor's hide being as tough as his heart was tender, he ran and took the + consequences with all a sailor's stoicism. In this respect he was perhaps + not singular. The woman in the case so often counts for more than the + punishment she brings. + </p> + <p> + Few of those who deserted their ships for amatory reasons had the luck—viewing + the escapade from the sailor's standpoint—that attended the + schoolmaster of the <i>Princess Louisa</i>. Going ashore at Plymouth to + fetch his chest from the London wagon, he succumbed to the blandishments + of an itinerant fiddler's wife, whom he chanced to meet in the husband's + temporary absence, and was in consequence "no more heard of." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1478—Capt. Boys, 5 April 1742.] + </p> + <p> + Had it always been a case of the travelling woman, the sailor's flight in + response to the voice of the charmer would seldom have landed him in the + cells or exposed his back to the caress of the ship's cat. Where he was + handicapped in his love flights was this. The haunt or home of his seducer + was generally known to one or other of his officers, and when this was not + the case there were often other women who gladly gave him away. "Captain + Barrington, Sir," writes "Nancy of Deptford" to the commander of a + man-o'-war in the Thames, "there is a Desarter of yours at the upper water + Gate. Lives at the sine of the mantion house. He is an Irishman, gose by + the name of Youe (Hugh) MackMullins, and is trying to Ruing a Wido and + three Children, for he has Insenuated into the Old Woman's faver so far + that she must Sartingly come to poverty, and you by Sarching the Cook's + will find what I have related to be true and much oblidge the hole parrish + of St. Pickles Deptford." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1495—Capt. + Barrington, 22 Oct. 1771, enclosure.] + </p> + <p> + A favourite resort of the amatory tar was that extra-parochial spot known + as the Liberty of the Fleet, where the nuptial knot could be tied without + the irksome formalities of banns or licence. The fact strongly commended + it to the sailor and brought him to the precinct in great numbers. + </p> + <p> + "I remember once on a time," says Keith, the notorious Fleet parson, "I + was at a public-house at Ratcliffe, which was then full of Sailors and + their Girls. There was fiddling, piping, jigging and eating. At length one + of the Tars starts up and says: 'Damn ye, Jack! I'll be married just now; + I will have my partner.' The joke took, and in less than two hours Ten + Couples set out for the Flete. They returned in Coaches, five Women in + each Coach; the Tars, some running before, some riding on the Coach Box, + and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, the Couples went up into an + upper Room, where they concluded the evening with great Jollity. The + landlord said it was a common thing, when a Fleet comes in, to have 2 or 3 + Hundred Marriages in a week's time among the Sailors." [Footnote: Keith, + Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages, 1753.] + </p> + <p> + In the "Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life," a play produced at Covent Garden + Theatre in 1755, Trueblue is pressed, not in, but out of the arms of his + tearful Nancy. The situation is distressingly typical. The sailor's + happiness was the gangsman's opportunity, however Nancy might suffer in + consequence. + </p> + <p> + For the average gangsman was as void of sentiment as an Admiralty warrant, + pressing you with equal avidity and absence of feeling whether he caught + you returning from a festival or a funeral. To this callosity of nature it + was due that William Castle, a foreign denizen of Bristol who had the + hardihood to incur the marital tie there, was called upon, as related + elsewhere, to serve at sea in the very heyday of his honeymoon. Similarly, + if four seamen belonging to the <i>Dundee</i> Greenland whaler had not + stolen ashore one night at Shields "to see some women," they would + probably have gone down to their graves, seawards or landwards, under the + pleasing illusion that the ganger was a man of like indulgent passions + with themselves. The negation of love, as exemplified in that + unsentimental individual, was thus brought home to many a seafaring man, + long debarred from the society of the gentler sex, with startling + abruptness and force. The pitiful case of the "Maidens Pressed," whose + names are enrolled in the pages of Camden Hotten, [Footnote: Hotten, List + of Persons of Quality, etc., who Went from England to the American + Plantations.] is in no way connected with pressing for naval purposes. + Those unfortunates were not victims of the gangsman's notorious hardness + of heart, but of their own misdeeds. Like the female disciples of the + "diving hand" stated by Lutterell [Footnote: Lutterell, Historical + Relation of State Affairs, 12 March 1706.] to have been "sent away to + follow the army," they were one and all criminals of the Moll Flanders + type who "left their country for their country's good" under compulsion + that differed widely, both in form and purpose, from that described in + these pages. + </p> + <p> + To assert, however, that women were never pressed, in the enigmatic sense + of their being taken by the gang for the manning of the fleet, would be to + do violence to the truth as we find it in naval and other records. As a + matter of fact, the direct contrary was the case, and there were in the + kingdom few gangs of which, at one time or another in their career, it + could not be said, as Southey said of the gang at Bristol, that "they + pressed a woman." + </p> + <p> + The incident alluded to will be familiar to all who know the poet as + distinguished from the Bard of Avon. It is found in the second "English + Eclogue," under the caption of the "Grandmother's Tale," and has to do + with the escapade, long famous in the more humorous annals of Southey's + native city, of blear-eyed Moll, a collier's wife, a great, ugly creature + whose voice was as gruff as a mastiff's bark, and who wore habitually a + man's hat and coat, so that at a few yards' distance you were at a loss to + know whether she was man or woman. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "There was a merry story told of her, + How when the press-gang came to take her husband + As they were both in bed, she heard them coming, + Drest John up in her nightcap, and herself + Put on his clothes and went before the captain." +</pre> + <p> + A case of pressing on all-fours with this is said to have once occurred at + Portsmouth. A number of sailors, alarmed by the rumoured approach of a + gang while they were a-fairing, took it into their heads, so the story + goes, to effect a partial exchange of clothing with their sweethearts, in + the hope that the hasty shifting of garments would deceive the gang and so + protect them from the press. It did. In their parti-garb make-up the women + looked more sailorly than the sailors themselves. The gang consequently + pressed them, and there were hilarious scenes at the rendezvous when the + fair recruits were "regulated" and the ludicrous mistake brought to light. + </p> + <p> + It was not only on shore, however, or on special occasions such as this, + that women played the sailor. A naval commander, accounting to the + Admiralty for his shortness of complement, attributes it mainly to + sickness, partly to desertion, and incidentally to the discharge of one of + the ship's company, "who was discovered to be a woman." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1503—Capt. Burney, 15 Feb. 1782.] + </p> + <p> + His experience is capped by that of the master of the <i>Edmund and Mary</i>, + a vessel engaged in carrying coals to Ipswich. Shrewdly suspecting one of + his apprentices, a clever, active lad, to be other than what he seemed, he + taxed him with the deception. Taken unawares, the lad burst into womanly + tears and confessed himself to be the runaway daughter of a north-country + widow. Disgrace had driven her to sea. [Footnote: <i>Naval Chronicle</i>, + vol. xxx. 1813, p. 184.] + </p> + <p> + These instances are far from being unique, for both in the navy and the + mercantile marine the masquerading of women in male attire was a not + uncommon occurrence. The incentives to the adoption of a mode of life so + foreign to all the gentler traditions of the sex were various, though not + inadequate to so surprising a change. Amongst them unhappiness at home, + blighted virtue, the secret love of a sailor and an abnormal craving for + adventure and the romantic life were perhaps the most common and the most + powerful. The question of clothing presented little difficulty. Sailors' + slops could be procured almost anywhere, and no questions asked. The + effectual concealment of sex was not so easy, and when we consider the + necessarily intimate relations subsisting between the members of a ship's + crew, the narrowness of their environment, the danger of unconscious + betrayal and the risks of accidental discovery, the wonder is that any + woman, however masculine in appearance or skilled in the arts of + deception, could ever have played so unnatural a part for any length of + time without detection. The secret of her success perhaps lay mainly in + two assisting circumstances. In theory there were no women at sea, and + despite his occasional vices the sailor was of all men the most + unsophisticated and simple-minded. + </p> + <p> + Conspicuous among women who threw the dust of successful deception in the + eyes of masters and shipmates is Mary Anne Talbot. Taking to the sea as a + girl in order to "follow the fortunes" of a young naval officer for whom + she had conceived a violent but unrequited affection, she was known afloat + as John Taylor. In stature tall, angular and singularly lacking in the + physical graces so characteristic of the average woman, she passed for + years as a true shellback, her sex unsuspected and unquestioned. Accident + at length revealed her secret. Wounded in an engagement, she was admitted + to hospital in consequence of a shattered knee, and under the operating + knife the identity of John Taylor merged into that of Mary Anne Talbot. + [Footnote: Times, 4 Nov. 1799.] + </p> + <p> + It is said, perhaps none too kindly or truthfully, that the lady doctor of + the present day no sooner sets up in practice than she incontinently + marries the medical man around the corner, and in many instances the + sailor-girl of former days brought her career on the ocean wave to an + equally romantic conclusion. However skilled in the art of navigation she + might become, she experienced a constitutional difficulty in steering + clear of matrimony. Maybe she steered for it. + </p> + <p> + A romance of this description that occasioned no little stir in its day is + associated with a name at one time famous in the West-India trade. Through + bankruptcy the name suffered eclipse, and the unfortunate possessor of it + retired to a remote neighbourhood, taking with him his two daughters, his + sole remaining family. There he presently sank under his misfortunes. Left + alone in the world, with scarce a penny-piece to call their own, the + daughters resolved on a daring departure from the conventional paths of + poverty. + </p> + <p> + Making their way to Portsmouth, they there dressed themselves as sailors + and in that capacity entered on board a man-o'-war bound for the West + Indies. At the first reduction of Curaçoa, in 1798, as in subsequent naval + engagements, both acquitted themselves like men. No suspicion of the part + they were playing, and playing with such success, appears to have been + aroused till a year or two later, when one of them, in a brush with the + enemy, was wounded in the side. The surgeon's report terminated her career + as a seaman. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT.] +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Meanwhile the other sister contracted tropical fever, and whilst +lying ill was visited by one of the junior officers of the ship. +Believing herself to be dying, she told him her secret, doubtless with +a view to averting its discovery after death. He confessed that the news +was no surprise to him. In fact, not only had he suspected her sex, he +had so far persuaded himself of the truth of his suspicions as to fall +in love with one of his own crew. The tonic effect of such avowals is +well known. The fever-stricken patient recovered, and on the return of +the ship to home waters the officer in question made his late foremast +hand his wife. [Footnote: Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. 1802, p. 60.] +</pre> + <p> + Of all the veracious yarns that are told of girl-sailors, there is perhaps + none more remarkable than the story of Rebecca Anne Johnson, the + girl-sailor of Whitby. One night a hundred and some odd years ago a Mrs. + Lesley, who kept the "Bull" inn in Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate Street, + found at her door a handsome sailor-lad begging for food. He had eaten + nothing for four and twenty hours, he declared, and when plied with supper + and questions by the kind-hearted but inquisitive old lady, he explained + that he was an apprentice to the sea, and had run from his ship at + Woolwich because of the mate's unduly basting him with a rope's-end. + "What! you a 'prentice?" cried the landlady; and turning his face to the + light, she subjected him to a scrutiny that read him through and through. + </p> + <p> + Next day, at his own request, he was taken before the Lord Mayor, to whom + he told his story. That he was a girl he freely admitted, and he accounted + for his appearing in sailor rig by asserting that a brutal father had + apprenticed him to the sea in his thirteenth year. More astounding still, + the same unnatural parent had actually bound her, the sailor-girl's, + mother, apprentice to the sea, and in that capacity she was not only + pressed into the navy, but killed at the battle of Copenhagen, up to which + time, though she had followed the sea for many years and borne this child + in the meantime, her sex had never once been called in question. + [Footnote: <i>Naval Chronicle</i>, vol. xx. 1808, p. 293.] + </p> + <p> + While woman was thus invading man's province at sea, that universal feeder + of the Navy, the pressgang, made little or no appeal to her as a sphere of + activity. On Portland Island, it is true, Lieut. McKey, who commanded both + the Sea-Fencibles and the press-gang there, rated his daughter as a + midshipman; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 April 1805] but with this exception no + woman is known to have added the hanger to her adornment. The three merry + maids of Taunton, who as gangsmen put the Denny Bowl quarrymen to rout, + were of course impostors. + </p> + <p> + But if the ganger's life was not for woman, there was ample compensation + for its loss in the wider activities the gang opened up for her. The + gangsman was nothing if not practical. He took the poetic dictum that "men + must work and women must weep"—a conception in his opinion too + sentimentally onesided to be tolerated as one of the eternal verities of + human existence—and improved upon it. By virtue of the + rough-and-ready authority vested in him he abolished the distinction + between toil and tears, decreeing instead that women should suffer both. + </p> + <p> + "M'Gugan's wife?" growled Capt. Brenton, gang-master at Greenock, when the + corporation of that town ventured to point out to him that M'Gugan's wife + and children must inevitably come to want unless their bread-winner, + recently pressed, were forthwith restored to them,—"<i>M'Gugan's + wife is as able to get her bread as any woman in the town!</i>" [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1511—Capt. Brenton, 15 Jan. 1795.] + </p> + <p> + For two hundred and fifty years, off and on—ever since, in fact, the + press-masters of bluff King Hal denuded the Dorset coast of fishermen and + drove the starving women of that region to sea in quest of food [Footnote: + <i>State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII</i>.: Lord Russell to the Privy + Council, 22 Aug. 1545.]—the press-gang had been laboriously teaching + English housewives this very lesson, the simple economic truth that if + they wanted bread for themselves and their families while their husbands + were fagging for their country at sea, they must turn to and work for it. + Yet in face of this fact here was M'Gugan's wife trying to shirk the + common lot. It was monstrous! + </p> + <p> + M'Gugan's wife ought really to have known better. The simplest + calculation, had she cared to make it, would have shown her the utter + futility of hoping to live on the munificent wage which a grateful country + allowed to M'Gugan, less certain deductions for M'Gugan's slops and + contingent sick-benefit, in return for his aid in protecting it from its + enemies; and almost any parish official could have told her, what she + ought in reason to have known already, that she was no longer merely + M'Gugan's wife, dependent upon his exertions for the bread she ate, but a + Daughter of the State and own sister to thousands of women to whom the + gang in its passage brought toil and poverty, tears and shame—not, + mark you, the shame of labour, if there be such a thing, but the + bedraggled, gin-sodden shame of the street, or, in the scarce less + dreadful alternative, the shame of the goodwife of the ballad who lamented + her husband's absence because, worse luck, sundry of her bairns "were + gotten quhan he was awa'." + </p> + <p> + Lamentable as this state of things undoubtedly was, it was nevertheless + one of the inevitables of pressing. You could not take forcibly one + hundred husbands and fathers out of a community of five hundred souls, and + pay that hundred husbands and fathers the barest pittance instead of a + living wage, without condemning one hundred wives and mothers to hard + labour on behalf of the three hundred children who hungered. Out of this + hundred wives and mothers a certain percentage, again, lacked the ability + to work, while a certain other percentage lacked the will. These recruited + the ranks of the outcast, or with their families burdened the parish. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Memorial of the + Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Portsmouth, 3 Dec + 1793, and numerous instances.] The direct social and economic outcome of + this mode of manning the Navy, coupled with the payment of a starvation + wage, was thus threefold. It reversed the natural sex-incidence of labour; + it fostered vice; it bred paupers. The first was a calamity personal to + those who suffered it. The other two were national in their calamitous + effects. + </p> + <p> + In that great diurnal of the eighteenth-century navy, the Captains' + Letters and Admirals' Dispatches, no volume can be opened without striking + the broad trail of destitution, misery and heart-break, to mention no + worse consequences, left by the gang. At nearly every turn of the page, + indeed, we come upon recitals or petitions recalling vividly the + exclamation involuntarily let fall by Pepys the tender-hearted when, + standing over against the Tower late one summer's night, he watched by + moonlight the pressed men sent away: "Lord! how some poor women did cry." + </p> + <p> + A hundred years later and their heritors in sorrow are crying still. Now + it is a bed-ridden mother bewailing her only son, "the principal prop and + stay of her old age"; again a wife, left destitute "with three hopeful + babes, and pregnant." And here, bringing up the rear of the sad procession—lending + to it, moreover, a touch of humour in itself not far removed from tears—comes + Lachlan M'Quarry. The gang have him, and amid the Stirling hills, where he + was late an indweller, a motley gathering of kinsfolk mourn his loss—"me, + his wife, two Small helpless Children, an Aged Mother who is Blind, an + Aged Man who is lame and unfit for work, his father in Law, and a sister + Insane, with his Mother in Law who is Infirm." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1454—The Humble Petition of Jullions Thomson, Spouse + to Lachlan M'Quarry, 2 May 1812.] The fact is attested by the minister and + elders of the parish, being otherwise unbelievable; and Lachlan is + doubtless proportionately grieved to find himself at sea. Men whose wives + "divorced" them through the medium of the gang—a not uncommon + practice—experienced a similar grief. + </p> + <p> + Besides the regular employment it so generously provided for wives bereft + of their lawful support, the press-gang found for the women of the land + many an odd job that bore no direct relation to the earning of their + bread. When the mob demolished the Whitby rendezvous in '93, it was the + industrious fishwives of the town who collected the stones used as + ammunition on that occasion; and when, again, Lieut. M'Kenzie unwisely + impressed an able seaman in the house of Joseph Hook, inn-keeper at Pill, + it was none other than "Mrs. Hook, her daughter and female servant" who + fell upon him and tore his uniform in shreds, thus facilitating the + pressed man's escape "through a back way." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1534—Lieut. M'Kenzie, 20 Oct. 1805.] + </p> + <p> + The good people of Sunderland at one time indulged themselves in the use + of a peculiar catch-phrase. Whenever any feat of more than ordinary daring + came under their observation, they spoke of it as "a case of Dryden's + sister." The saying originated in this way. The Sunderland gang pressed + the mate of a vessel, one Michael Dryden, and confined him in the tender's + hold. One night Dryden's sister, having in vain bribed the lieutenant in + command to let him go, at the risk of her life smuggled some carpenter's + tools on board under the very muzzles of the sentinel's muskets, and with + these her brother and fifteen other men cut their way to freedom. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2740—Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June + and 10 July 1798.] + </p> + <p> + A tender lying in King Road, at the entrance to Bristol River, was the + scene of another episode of the "Dryden's sister" type. Going ashore one + morning, the lieutenant in command fell from the bank and broke his sword. + It was an ill omen, for in his absence the hard fate of the twenty pressed + men who lay in the tender's hold, "all handcuft to each other," made an + irresistible appeal to two women, pressed men's wives, who had been with + singular lack of caution admitted on board. Whilst the younger and + prettier of the two cajoled the sentinel from his post, the elder and + uglier secured an axe and a hatchet and passed them unobserved through the + scuttle to the prisoners below, who on their part made such good use of + them that when at length the lieutenant returned he found the cage empty + and the birds flown. The shackles strewing the press-room bore eloquent + testimony to the manner of their flight. The irons had been hacked + asunder, some of them with as many as "six or seven Cutts." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1490—Capt. Brown, 12 May 1759.] + </p> + <p> + Never, surely, did the gang provide an odder job for any woman than the + one it threw in the way of Richard Parker's wife. The story of his part in + the historic mutiny at the Nore is common knowledge. Her's, being less + familiar, will bear retelling. But first certain incidents in the life of + the man himself, some of them hitherto unknown, call for brief narration. + </p> + <p> + Born at Exeter in or about the year 1764, it is not till some nineteen + years later, or, to be precise, the 5th of May 1783, that Richard Parker + makes his debut in naval records. On that date he appears on board the <i>Mediator</i> + tender at Plymouth, in the capacity of a pressed man. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> Ships' Musters, 1. 9307—Muster Book of H.M. Tender the + <i>Mediator</i>.] + </p> + <p> + The tender carried him to London, where in due course he was delivered up + to the regulating officers, and by them turned over to the <i>Ganges</i>, + Captain the Honourable James Lutterell. This was prior to the 30th of June + 1783, the date of his official "appearance" on board that ship. On the <i>Ganges</i> + he served as a midshipman—a noteworthy fact [Footnote: Though one of + rare occurrence, Parker's case was not altogether unique; for now and then + a pressed man by some lucky chance "got his foot on the ladder," as Nelson + put it, and succeeded in bettering himself. Admiral Sir David Mitchell, + pressed as the master of a merchantman, is a notable example. Admiral + Campbell, "Hawke's right hand at Quiberon," who entered the service as a + substitute for a pressed man, is another; and James Clephen, pressed as a + sea-going apprentice, became master's-mate of the Doris, and taking part + in the cutting out of the Chevrette, a corvette of twenty guns, from + Cameret Bay, in 1801, was for his gallantry on that occasion made a + lieutenant, fought at Trafalgar and died a captain. On the other hand, + John Norris, pressed at Gallions Reach out of a collier and "ordered to + walk the quarter-deck as a midshipman," proved such a "laisie, sculking, + idle fellow," and so "filled the sloop and men with vermin," that his + promoter had serious thoughts of "turning him ashore."—<i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1477—Capt. Bruce, undated letter, 1741.]—till + the 4th of September following, when he was discharged to the <i>Bull-Dog</i> + sloop by order of Admiral Montagu. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + Ships' Musters, 1. 10614—Muster Book of H.M.S. <i>Ganges</i>.] + </p> + <p> + His transfer from the <i>Bull-Dog</i> banished him from the quarter-deck + and sowed within him the seeds of that discontent which fourteen years + later made of him, as he himself expressed it, "a scape-goat for the sins + of many." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5339—Dying + Declaration of the Late Unfortunate Richard Parker, 28 June 1797.] He was + now, for what reason we do not learn, rated as an ordinary seaman, and in + that capacity he served till the 15th of June 1784, when he was discharged + sick to Haslar Hospital. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> Ships' + Musters, 1. 10420, 10421—Muster Books of H.M. Sloop <i>Bull-Dog</i>.] + </p> + <p> + At this point we lose track of him for a matter of nearly fourteen years, + but on the 31st of March 1797, the year which brought his period of + service to so tragic a conclusion, he suddenly reappears at the Leith + rendezvous as a Quota Man for the county of Perth. Questioned as to his + past, he told Brenton, then in charge of that rendezvous, "that he had + been a petty officer or acting lieutenant on board the <i>Mediator</i>, + Capt. James Lutterell, at the taking of five prizes in 1783, when he + received a very large proportion of prize-money." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1517—Capt. Brenton, 10 June 1797.] The inaccuracies + evident on the face of this statement are unquestionably due to Brenton's + defective recollection rather than to Parker's untruthfulness. Brenton + wrote his report nearly two and a half months after the event. + </p> + <p> + After a period of detention on board the tender at Leith, Parker, in + company with other Quota and pressed men, was conveyed to the Nore in one + of the revenue vessels occasionally utilised for that purpose, and there + put on board the <i>Sandwich</i>, the flag-ship for that division of the + fleet. At half-past nine on the morning of the 12th of May, upon the 2nd + lieutenant's giving orders to "clear hawse," the ship's company got on the + booms and gave three cheers, which were at once answered from the <i>Director</i>. + They then reeved yard-ropes as a menace to those of the crew who would not + join them, and trained the forecastle guns on the quarter-deck as a hint + to the officers. The latter were presently put on shore, and that same day + the mutineers unanimously chose Parker to be their "President" or leader. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5339—Court-Martial on Richard + Parker: Deposition of Lieut. Justice.] The fact that he had been pressed + in the first instance, and that after having served for a time in the + capacity of a "quarter-deck young gentleman" he had been unceremoniously + derated, singled him out for this distinction. There was amongst the + mutineers, moreover, no other so eligible; for whatever Parker's faults, + he was unquestionably a man of superior ability and far from inferior + attainments. + </p> + <p> + The reeving of yard-ropes was his idea, though he disclaimed it. An + extraordinary mixture of tenderness and savagery, he wept when it was + proposed to fire upon a runaway ship, the <i>Repulse</i>, but the next + moment drove a crowbar into the muzzle of the already heavily shotted gun + and bade the gunner "send her to hell where she belonged." "I'll make a + beefsteak of you at the yard-arm" was his favourite threat. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 5339—Court-Martial on Richard Parker: Depositions of + Capt. John Wood, of H.M. Sloop <i>Hound</i>, William Livingston, + boat-swain of the <i>Director</i>, and Thomas Barry, seaman on board the + <i>Monmouth.</i>] It was prophetic, for that way, as events quickly + proved, lay the finish of his own career. + </p> + <p> + At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June Parker, convicted and + sentenced to death after a fair trial, stood on the scaffold awaiting his + now imminent end. The halter, greased to facilitate his passing, was + already about his neck, and in one of his hands, which had been freed at + his own request, he held a handkerchief borrowed for the occasion from one + of the officers of the ship. This he suddenly dropped. It was the + preconcerted signal, and as the fatal gun boomed out in response to it he + thrust his hands into his pockets with great rapidity and jumped into + mid-air, meeting his death without a tremor and with scarce a convulsion. + Thanks to the clearness of the atmosphere and the facility with which the + semaphores did their work that morning, the Admiralty learnt the news + within seven minutes. [Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, + Manchester, 1797.] Now comes the woman's part in the drama on which the + curtain rose with the pressing of Parker in '83, and fell, not with his + execution at the yard-arm of the <i>Sandwich</i>, as one would suppose, + but four days after that event. + </p> + <p> + In one of his spells of idleness ashore Parker had married a Scotch girl, + the daughter of an Aberdeenshire farmer—a tragic figure of a woman + whose fate it was to be always too late. Hearing that her husband had + taken the bounty, she set out with all speed for Leith, only to learn, + upon her arrival there, that he was already on his way to the fleet. At + Leith she tarried till rumours of his pending trial reached the north + country. The magistrates would then have put her under arrest, designing + to examine her, but the Admiralty, to whom Brenton reported their + intention, vetoed the proceeding as superfluous. The case against Parker + was already complete. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1517—Capt. + Brenton, 15 June 1797, and endorsement.] Left free to follow the dictates + of her tortured heart, the distracted woman posted south. + </p> + <p> + Eating his last breakfast in the gun-room of the <i>Sandwich</i>, Parker + talked affectionately of his wife, saying that he had made his will and + left her a small estate he was heir to. Little did he dream that she was + then within a few miles of him. + </p> + <p> + The <i>Sandwich</i> lay that morning above Blackstakes, the headmost ship + of the fleet, and at the moment when Parker leapt from her cathead + scaffold a boat containing his wife shot out into the stream. He was run + up to the yard-arm before her very eyes. She was again too late. + </p> + <p> + He hung there for an hour. Meantime, with a tenacity of purpose as + touching as her devotion, the unhappy woman applied to the Admiral for the + body of her husband. She was denied, and Parker's remains were committed + to the new naval burial ground, beyond the Red-Barrier Gate leading to + Minster. The burial took place at noon. By nightfall the grief-stricken + woman had come to an amazing resolution. <i>She would steal the body</i>. + </p> + <p> + Ten o'clock that night found her at the place of interment. Save for the + presence of the sentinel at the adjoining Barrier Gate, the loneliness of + the spot favoured her design, but a ten-foot palisade surrounded the + grounds, and she had neither tools nor helpers. Unexpectedly three women + came that way. To them she disclosed her purpose, praying them for the + love of God to help her. Perhaps they were sailors' wives. Anyhow, they + assented, and the four body-snatchers scaled the fence. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT. Dressed as a sailor.] +</pre> + <p> + The absence of tools, as it happened, presented no serious impediment to + the execution of their design. The grave was a shallow one, the freshly + turned mould loose and friable. Digging with their hands, they soon + uncovered the coffin, which they then contrived to raise and hoist over + the cemetery gates into the roadway, where they sat upon it to conceal it + from chance passers-by till four o'clock in the morning. It was then + daylight. The neighbouring drawbridge was let down, and, a fish-cart + opportunely passing on its way to Rochester, the driver was prevailed upon + to carry the "lady's box" into that town. A guinea served to allay his + suspicions. + </p> + <p> + Three days later a caravan drew up before the "Hoop and Horseshoe" tavern, + in Queen Street, Little Tower Hill. A woman alighted—furtively, for + it was now broad daylight, whereas she had planned to arrive while it was + still dark. A watchman chanced to pass at the moment, and the woman's + strange behaviour aroused his suspicions. Pulling aside the covering of + the van, he looked in and saw there the rough coffin containing the body + of Parker, which the driver of the caravan had carried up from Rochester + for the sum of six guineas. Later in the day the magistrates sitting at + Lambeth Street Police Court ordered its removal, and it was deposited in + the vaults of Whitechapel church. [Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard + Parker, Manchester, 1797.] + </p> + <p> + Full confirmation of this extraordinary story, should any doubt it, may be + found in the registers of the church in question. Amongst the burials + there we read this entry: "<i>July, 1797, Richard Parker, Sheerness, Kent, + age 33. Cause of death, execution. This was Parker, the President of the + Mutinous Delegates on board the fleet at the Nore. He was hanged on board + H.M.S.</i> Sandwich <i>on the 30th day of June</i>." [Footnote: Burial + Registers of St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, 1797.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. — IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + </h2> + <p> + Once the gang had a man in its power, his immediate destination was either + the rendezvous press-room or the tender employed as a substitute for that + indispensable place of detention. + </p> + <p> + The press-room, lock-up or "shut-up house," as it was variously termed, + must not be confounded with the press-room at Newgate, where persons + indicted for felony, and perversely refusing to plead, were pressed + beneath weights till they complied with that necessary legal formality. + From that historic cell the rendezvous press-room differed widely, both in + nature and in use. Here the pressed men were confined pending their + dispatch to His Majesty's ships. As a matter of course the place was + strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, being in these + respects merely a commonplace replica of the average bridewell. Where it + differed from the bridewell was in its walls. Theoretically these were + elastic. No matter how many they held, there was always room within them + for more. As late as 1806 the press-room at Bristol consisted of a cell + only eight feet square, and into this confined space sixteen men were + frequently packed. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral + Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 March 1806.] + </p> + <p> + Nearly everywhere it was the same gruesome story. The sufferings of the + pressed man went for nothing so long as the pressed man was kept. Provided + only the bars were dependable and the bolts staunch, anything would do to + "clap him up in." The town "cage" came in handy for the purpose; and when + no other means of securing him could be found, he was thrust into the + local prison like a common felon, often amidst surroundings unspeakably + awful. + </p> + <p> + According to the elder Wesley, no "seat of woe" on this side of the + Bottomless Pit outrivalled Newgate except one. [Footnote: London + Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1761.] The exception was Bristol jail. A filthy, + evil-smelling hole, crowded with distempered prisoners without medical + care, it was deservedly held in such dread as to "make all seamen fly the + river" for fear of being pressed and committed to it. For when the + eight-foot cell at the rendezvous would hold no more, Bristol pressed men + were turned in here—to come out, if they survived the pestilential + atmosphere of the place, either fever-stricken or pitiful, vermin-covered + objects from whom even the hardened gangsman shrank with fear and + loathing. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1490—Capt. Brown, 4 + Aug. 1759.] Putting humane considerations entirely aside, it is well-nigh + inconceivable that so costly an asset as the pressed man should ever have + been exposed to such sanitary risks. The explanation doubtless lies in the + enormous amount of pressing that was done. The number of men taken was in + the aggregate so great that a life more or less was hardly worth + considering. + </p> + <p> + Of ancient use as a county jail, Gloucester Castle stood far higher in the + pressed man's esteem as a place of detention than did its sister prison on + the Avon. The reason is noteworthy. Richard Evans, for many years keeper + there, possessed a magic palm. Rub it with silver in sufficient quantity, + and the "street door of the gaol" opened before you at noonday, or, when + at night all was as quiet as the keeper's conscience, a plank vanished + from the roof of your cell, and as you stood lost in wonder at its + disappearance there came snaking down through the hole thus providentially + formed a rope by the aid of which, if you were a sailor or possessed of a + sailor's agility and daring, it was feasible to make your escape over the + ramparts of the castle, though they towered "most as high as the + Monument." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1490—Capt. Brown, + 28 April and 26 May 1759.] + </p> + <p> + In the absence of the gang on road or other extraneous duty the + precautions taken for the safety of pressed men were often very + inadequate, and this circumstance gave rise to many an impromptu rescue. + Sometimes the local constable was commandeered as a temporary guard, and a + story is told of how, the gang having once locked three pressed men into + the cage at Isleworth and stationed the borough watchman over them, one + Thomas Purser raised a mob, demolished the door of the cage, and set its + delighted occupants free amid frenzied shouts of: "Pay away within, my + lads! and we'll pay away without. Damn the constable! He has no warrant." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law Officers' Opinions, + 1733-56, No. 99.] + </p> + <p> + In strict accordance with the regulations governing, or supposed to + govern, the keeping of rendezvous, the duration of the pressed man's + confinement ought never to have exceeded four-and-twenty hours from the + time of his capture; but as a matter of fact it often extended far beyond + that limit. Everything depended on the gang. If men were brought in + quickly, they were as quickly got rid of; but when they dribbled in in + one's and two's, with perhaps intervals of days when nothing at all was + doing, weeks sometimes elapsed before a batch of suitable size could be + made ready and started on its journey to the ships. + </p> + <p> + All this time the pressed man had to be fed, or, as they said in the + service, subsisted or victualled, and for this purpose a sum varying from + sixpence to ninepence a day, according to the cost of provisions, was + allowed him. On this generous basis he was nourished for a hundred years + or more, till one day early in the nineteenth century some half-score of + gaunt, hungry wretches, cooped up for eight weary weeks in an East-coast + press-room during the rigours of a severe winter, made the startling + discovery that the time-honoured allowance was insufficient to keep soul + and body together. They accordingly addressed a petition to the Admiralty, + setting forth the cause and nature of their sufferings, and asking for a + "rise." A dozen years earlier the petition would have been tossed aside as + insolent and unworthy of consideration; but the sharp lesson of the Nore + mutiny happened to be still fresh in their Lordships' memories, so with + unprecedented generosity and haste they at once augmented the allowance, + and that too for the whole kingdom, to fifteen-pence a day. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1546—Petition of the Pressed Men at King's Lynn, 27 + Jan. 1809, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + It was a red-letter day for the pressed man. A single stroke of the + official pen had raised him from starvation to opulence, and + thenceforward, when food was cheap and the purchasing power of the penny + high, he regaled himself daily, as at Limerick in 1814, on such abundant + fare as a pound of beef, seven and a half pounds of potatoes, a pint of + milk, a quart of porter, a boiling of greens and a mess of oatmeal; or, if + he happened to be a Catholic, on fish and butter twice a week instead of + beef. The quantity of potatoes is worthy of remark. It was peculiar to + Ireland, where the lower classes never used bread. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1455—Capt. Argles, 1 March 1814.] + </p> + <p> + Though faring thus sumptuously at his country's expense, the pressed man + did not always pass the days of his detention in unprofitable idleness. + There were certain eventualities to be thought of and provided against. + Sooner or later he must go before the "gent with the swabs" and be + "regulated," that is to say, stripped to the waist, or further if that + exacting officer deemed it advisable, and be critically examined for + physical ailments and bodily defects. In this examination the local + "saw-bones" would doubtless lend a hand, and to outwit the combined skill + of both captain and surgeon was a point of honour with the pressed man if + by any possibility it could be done. With this laudable end in view he + devoted much of his enforced leisure to the rehearsal of such symptoms and + the fabrication of such defects as were best calculated to make him a free + man. + </p> + <p> + For the sailor to deny his vocation was worse than useless. The ganger's + shrewd code—"All as says they be land-lubbers when I says they + baint, be liars, and all liars be seamen"—effectually shut that door + in his face. There were other openings, it is true, whereby a knowing chap + might wriggle free, but officers and medicoes were extremely "fly." He had + not practised his many deceptions upon them through long years for + nothing. They well knew that on principle he "endeavoured by every + stratagem in his power to impose"—that he was, in short, a cunning + cheat whose most serious ailments were to be regarded with the least + sympathy and the utmost suspicion. Yet in spite of this disquieting fact + the old hand, whom long practice had made an adept at deception, and who, + when he was so inclined, could simulate "complaints of a nature to baffle + the skill of any professional man," [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1540—Capt. Barker, 5 Nov. 1807.] rarely if ever faced the ordeal of + regulating without "trying it on." Often, indeed, he anticipated it. There + was nothing like keeping his hand in. + </p> + <p> + Fits were his great stand-by, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1534—Capt. + Barker, 11 Jan. 1805, and many instances.] and the time he chose for these + convulsive turns was generally night, when he could count upon a full + house and nothing to detract from the impressiveness of the show. + Suddenly, at night, then, a weird, horribly inarticulate cry is heard + issuing from the press-room, and at once all is uproar and confusion. + Unable to make himself heard, much less to restore order, and fearing that + murder is being done amongst the pressed men, the sentry hastily summons + the officer, who rushes down, half-dressed, and hails the press-room. + </p> + <p> + "Hullo! within there. What's wrong?" + </p> + <p> + Swift silence. Then, "Man in a fit, sir," replies a quavering voice. + </p> + <p> + "Out with him!" cries the officer. + </p> + <p> + Immediately, the door being hurriedly unbarred, the "case" is handed out + by his terrified companions, who are only too glad to be rid of him. To + all appearances he is in a true epileptic state. In the light of the + lantern, held conveniently near by one of the gangsmen, who have by this + time turned out in various stages of undress, his features are seen to be + strongly convulsed. His breathing is laboured and noisy, his head rolls + incessantly from side to side. Foam tinged with blood oozes from between + his gnashing teeth, flecking his lips and beard, and when his limbs are + raised they fall back as rigid as iron. [Footnote: Almost the only symptom + of <i>le grand mal</i> which the sailor could not successfully counterfeit + was the abnormal dilation of the pupils so characteristic of that + complaint, and this difficulty he overcame by rolling his eyes up till the + pupils were invisible.] + </p> + <p> + After surveying him critically for a moment the officer, if he too is an + old hand, quietly removes the candle from the lantern and with a deft turn + of his wrist tips the boiling-hot contents of the tallow cup surrounding + the flaming wick out upon the bare arm or exposed chest of the "case." + When the fit was genuine, as of course it sometimes was, the test had no + particular reviving effect; but if the man were shamming, as he probably + was in spite of the great consistency of his symptoms, the chances were + that, with all his nerve and foreknowledge of what was in store for him, + the sudden biting of the fiery liquid into his naked flesh would bring him + to his feet dancing with pain and cursing and banning to the utmost extent + of his elastic vocabulary. + </p> + <p> + When this happened, "Put him back," said the officer. "He'll do, alow or + aloft." + </p> + <p> + Going aloft at sea was the true epileptic's chief dread. And with good + reason, for sooner or later it meant a fall, and death. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime other enterprising members of the press-room community + made ready for the scrutiny of the official eye in various ways, + practising many devices for procuring a temporary disability and a + permanent discharge. Some, horrible thought! "rubbed themselves with Cow + Itch and Whipped themselves with Nettles to appear in Scabbs"; others + "burnt themselves with oil of vitriol" to induce symptoms with difficulty + distinguishable from those of scurvy, that disease of such dread omen to + the fleet; whilst others emulated the passing of the poor consumptive of + the canting epitaph, whose "legs it was that carried her off." Bad legs, + indeed, ran a close race with fits in the pressed man's sprint for + liberty. They were so easily induced, and so cheaply. The industrious + application of the smallest copper coin procurable, the humble farthing or + the halfpenny, speedily converted the most insignificant abrasion of the + skin into a festering sore. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. + Ambrose, 20 June 1741; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1544—Capt. + Bowyer, 18 Dec. 1808; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1451—A. Clarke, + Examining Surgeon at Dublin, 18 May 1807; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1517—Letters + of Capt. Brenton, March and April 1797, and many instances.] + </p> + <p> + Here and there a man of iron nerve, acting on the common belief that if + you had lost a finger the Navy would have none of you, adopted a more + heroic method of shaking off the clutch of the gang. Such a man was Samuel + Caradine, some time inhabitant of Kendal. Committed to the House of + Correction there as a preliminary to his being turned over to the fleet + for crimes that he had done, he expressed a desire to bid farewell to his + wife. She was sent for, and came, apparently not unprepared; for after she + had greeted her man through the iron door of his cell, "he put his hand + underneath, and she, with a mallet and chisel concealed for the purpose, + struck off a finger and thumb to render him unfit for His Majesty's + service." [Footnote: <i>Times</i>, 3 Nov. 1795.] + </p> + <p> + A stout-hearted fellow named Browne, who hailed from Chester, would have + made Caradine a fitting mate. "Being impressed into the sea service, he + very violently determined, in order to extricate himself therefrom, to + mutilate the thumb and a finger of his left hand; which he accomplished by + repeatedly maiming them with an old hatchet that he had obtained for that + purpose. He was immediately discharged." [Footnote: <i>Liverpool + Advertiser</i>, 6 June 1777.] Such men as these were a substantial loss to + the service. Fighting a gun shoulder to shoulder, what fearful execution + would they not have wrought upon the "hereditary enemy"! + </p> + <p> + It did not always do, however, to presume upon the loss of a forefinger, + particularly if it were missing from the left hand. Capt. Barker, while he + was regulating the press at Bristol, once had occasion to send into + Ilchester for a couple of brace of convicts who had received the royal + pardon on condition of their serving at sea. Near Shepton Mallet, on the + return tramp, his gangsmen fell in with a party armed with sticks and + knives, who "beat and cut them in a very cruel manner." They succeeded, + however, in taking the ringleader, one Charles Biggen, and brought him in; + but when Barker would have discharged the fellow because his left + forefinger was wanting, the Admiralty brushed the customary rule aside and + ordered him to be kept. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1528—Capt. + Barker, 28 July 1803, and endorsement.] + </p> + <p> + The main considerations entering into the dispatch of pressed men to the + fleet, when at length their period of detention at headquarters came to an + end, were economy, speed and safety. Transport was necessarily either by + land or water, and in the case of seaport, river or canal towns, both + modes were of course available. Gangs operating at a distance from the + sea, or remote from a navigable river or canal, were from their very + situation obliged to send their catch to market either wholly by land, or + by land and water successively. Land transport, though always healthier, + and in many instances speedier and cheaper than transport by water, was + nevertheless much more risky. Pressed men therefore preferred it. The + risks—rescue and desertion—were all in their favour. Hence, + when they "offered chearfully to walk up," or down, as the case might be, + the seeming magnanimity of the offer was never permitted to blind those in + charge of them to the need for a strong attendant guard. [Footnote: In the + spring of 1795 a body of Quota Men, some 130 strong, voluntarily marched + from Liverpool to London, a distance of 182 miles, instead of travelling + by coach as at first proposed. Though all had received the bounty and + squandered it in debauchery, not a man deserted; and in their case the + danger of rescue was of course absent. <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1511—Capt. + Bowen, 21 April 1795.] The men would have had to walk in any case, for + transport by coach, though occasionally sanctioned, was an event of rare + occurrence. A number procured in Berkshire were in 1756 forwarded to + London "by the Reading machines," but this was an exceptional indulgence + due to the state of their feet, which were already "blistered with + travelling." + </p> + <p> + Even with the precaution of a strong guard, there were parts of the + country through which it was highly imprudent, if not altogether + impracticable, to venture a party on foot. Of these the thirty-mile + stretch of road between Kilkenny and Waterford, the nearest seaport, + perhaps enjoyed the most unenviable reputation. No gang durst traverse it; + and no body of pressed men, and more particularly of pressed Catholics, + could ever have been conveyed even for so short a distance through a + country inhabited by a fanatical and strongly disaffected people without + courting certain bloodshed. The naval authorities in consequence left + Kilkenny severely alone. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1529—Capt. + Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] + </p> + <p> + The sending of men overland from Appledore to Plymouth, a course + frequently adopted to avoid the circuitous sea-route, was attended with + similar risks. The hardy miners and quarrymen of the intervening moorlands + loved nothing so much as knocking the gangsman on the head. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 22 Sept. + 1805.] + </p> + <p> + The attenuated neck of land between the Mersey and the Dee had an evil + reputation for affairs of this description. Men pressed at Chester, and + sent across the neck to the tenders or ships of war in the Mersey, seldom + reached their destination unless attended by an exceptionally strong + escort. The reason is briefly but graphically set forth by Capt. Ayscough, + who dispatched three such men from Chester, under convoy of his entire + gang, in 1780. "On the road thither," says he, "about seven miles from + hence, at a village called Sutton, they were met by upwards of one Hundred + Arm'd Seamen from Parkgate, belonging to different privateers at + Liverpool. An Affray ensued, and the three Impress'd men were rescued by + the Mobb, who Shot one of my Gang through the Body and wounded two + others." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1446—Capt. Ayscough, + 17 Nov. 1780.] Parkgate, it will be recalled, was a notorious "nest of + seamen." The alternative route to Liverpool, by passage-boat down the Dee, + was both safer and cheaper. To send a pressed man that way, accompanied by + two of the gang, cost only twelve-and-six. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 580—Admiral Phillip, 14 Sept. 1804.] + </p> + <p> + Mr. Midshipman Goodave and party, convoying pressed men from Lymington to + Southampton, once met with an adventure in traversing the New Forest + which, notwithstanding its tragic sequel, is not without its humorous + side. They had left the little fishing village of Lepe some miles behind, + and were just getting well into the Forest, when a cavalcade of mounted + men, some thirty strong, all muffled in greatgoats and armed to the teeth, + unexpectedly emerged from the wood and opened fire upon them. Believing it + to be an attempt at rescue, the gang closed in about their prisoners, but + when one of these was the first to fall, his arm shattered and an ear shot + off, the gangsmen, perceiving their mistake, broke and fled in all + directions. Not far, however. The smugglers, for such they were, quickly + rounded them up and proceeded, not to shoot them, as the would-be + fugitives anticipated, but to administer to them the "smugglers' oath." + This they did by forcing them on their knees and compelling them, at the + point of the pistol and with horrible execrations, to "wish their eyes + might drop out if they told their officers which way they, the smugglers, + were gone." Having extorted this unique pledge of secrecy as to their + movements, they rode away into the Forest, unaware that Mr. Midshipman + Goodave, snugly ensconced in the neighbouring ditch, had seen and heard + all that passed—a piece of discretion on his part that later on + brought at least one of the smugglers into distressing contact with the + law. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law Officers' + Opinions, 1778-83, No. 18: Informations of Shepherd Goodave, 1 Oct. 1779.] + </p> + <p> + Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch + pressed men from seaport towns by land—as at Exmouth, where the + entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle all + shipping up, or shut it out, for days together—so the dangers + peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them from + inland towns by water. This was the case at Stourbridge. Handed over to + contractors responsible for their safe-keeping, the numerous seamen taken + by the gangs in that town and vicinity were delivered on board the tenders + in King Road, below Bristol—conveyed thither by water, at a cost of + half a guinea per head. This sum included subsistence, which would appear + to have been mainly by water also. To Liverpool, the alternative port of + delivery, carriage could only be had by land, and the risks of land + transit in that direction were so great as to be considered insuperable, + to say nothing of the cost. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1500—Letters + of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + </p> + <p> + At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships + made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men was of + course to put them immediately on ship-board; but when no ship was thus + available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign or on other + prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case of rendezvous + lying so far afield as to render land transport impracticable, but to + forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In this way there grew up a + system of sea transport that centred from many distant and widely + separated points of the kingdom upon those great entrepôts for pressed + men, the Hamoaze, Spithead and the Nore. + </p> + <p> + Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped to + these destinations as "passengers" on colliers and merchant vessels, their + escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more gangsmen, according + to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they had no escort at all, + the masters being simply bound over to make good all losses arising from + any cause save death, capture by an enemy's ship or the act of God. From + King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per head, by this means of transport, was + 2 Pounds, 15s., including victualling; from Hull, 2 Pounds 12s. 6d.; from + Newcastle, 10s. 6d. The lower rates for the longer runs are explained by + the fact that, shipping facilities being so much more numerous on the + Humber and the Tyne, competition reduced the cost of carriage in + proportion to its activity. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral + Phillip, 3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] + </p> + <p> + In spite of every precaution, such serious loss attended the shipping of + men in this manner as to force the Admiralty back upon its own resources. + Recourse was accordingly had, in the great majority of cases, to that + handy auxiliary of the fleet, the hired tender. Tenders fell into two + categories—cruising tenders, employed exclusively, or almost + exclusively, in pressing afloat after the manner described in an earlier + chapter, and tenders used for the double purpose of "keeping" men pressed + on land and of conveying them to the fleet when their numbers grew to such + proportions as to make a full and consequently dangerous ship. In theory, + "any old unmasted hulk, unfit to send to sea, would answer to keep pressed + men in." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral Pringle, + 2 April 1795.] In practice, the contrary was the case. Fitness for sea, + combined with readiness to slip at short notice, was more essential than + mere cubic capacity, since transhipment was thus avoided and the pressed + man deprived of another chance of taking French leave. + </p> + <p> + One all-important consideration, in the case of tenders employed for the + storing and detention of pressed men prior to their dispatch to the fleet, + was that the vessel should be able to lie afloat at low water; for if the + fall of the tide left her high and dry, the risk of desertion, as well as + of attack from the shore, was enormously increased. Whitehaven could make + no use of man-storing tenders for this reason; and at the important centre + of King's Lynn, which was really a receiving station for three counties, + it was found "requisite to have always a vessel below the Deeps to keep + pressed men aboard," since their escape or rescue by way of the flats was + in any anchorage nearer the town a foregone conclusion. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1486—Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755.] + </p> + <p> + On board the tenders the comfort and health of the pressed man were no + more studied than in the strong-rooms and prisons ashore. A part of the + hold was required to be roughly but substantially partitioned off for his + security, and on rare occasions this space was fitted with bunks; but as + the men usually arrived "all very bare of necessaries"—except when + pressed afloat, a case we are not now considering—any provision for + the slinging of hammocks, or the spreading of bedding they did not + possess, came to be looked upon as a superfluous and uncalled-for + proceeding. Even the press-room was a rarity, save in tenders that had + been long in the service. Down in the hold of the vessel, whither the men + were turned like so many sheep as soon as they arrived on board, they + perhaps found a rough platform of deal planks provided for them to lie on, + and from this they were at liberty to extract such sorry comfort as they + could during the weary days and nights of their incarceration. Other + conveniences they had none. When this too was absent, as not infrequently + happened, they were reduced to the necessity of "laying about on the + Cables and Cask," suffering in consequence "more than can well be + expressed." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. + A'Court, 22 April 1741; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1497—Capt. + Bover, 11 Feb. 1777, and Captains' Letters, <i>passim</i>.] It is not too + much to say that transported convicts had better treatment. + </p> + <p> + Cooped up for weeks at a stretch in a space invariably crowded to excess, + deprived almost entirely of light, exercise and fresh air, and poisoned + with bad water and what Roderick Random so truthfully called the "noisome + stench of the place," it is hardly surprising that on protracted voyages + from such distant ports as Limerick or Leith the men should have "fallen + sick very fast." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1444—Capt. + Allen, 4 March 1771, and Captains' Letters, <i>passim</i>.] Officers were, + indeed, charged "to be very careful of the healths of the seamen" + entrusted to their keeping; yet in spite of this most salutary regulation, + so hopelessly bad were the conditions under which the men were habitually + carried, and so slight was the effort made to ameliorate them, that few + tenders reached their destination without a more or less serious outbreak + of fever, small-pox or some other equally malignant distemper. Upon the + fleet the effect was appalling. Sickly tenders could not but make sickly + ships. + </p> + <p> + If the material atmosphere of the tender's hold was bad, its moral + atmosphere was unquestionably worse. Dark deeds were done here at times, + and no man "peached" upon his fellows. Out of this deplorable state of + things a remarkable legal proceeding once grew. Murder having been + committed in the night, and none coming forward to implicate the offender, + the coroner's jury, instead of returning their verdict against some person + or persons unknown, found the entire occupants of the tender's hold, + seventy-two in number, guilty of that crime. A warrant was actually issued + for their apprehension, though never executed. To put the men on their + trial was a useless step, since, in the circumstances, they would have + been most assuredly acquitted. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 300—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 20.] Just as assuredly any informer in + their midst would have been murdered. + </p> + <p> + The scale of victualling on board the tenders was supposed to be the same + as on shore. "Full allowance daily" was the rule; and if the copper proved + too small to serve all at one boiling, there were to be as many boilings + as should be required to go round. Unhappily for the pressed man, there + was a weevil in his daily bread. While it was the bounden duty of the + master of the vessel to feed him properly, and of the officers to see that + he was properly fed, "officers and masters generally understood each other + too well in the pursery line." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral + M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] Rations were consequently short, boilings + deficient, and though the cabin went well content, the hold was the scene + of bitter grumblings. + </p> + <p> + Nor were these the only disabilities the pressed man laboured under. His + officers proved a sore trial to him. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord High + Admiral, foreseeing that this would be the case, directed that he should + be "used with all possible tenderness and humanity." The order was little + regarded. The callosity of Smollett's midshipman, who spat in the pressed + man's face when he dared to complain of his sufferings, and roughly bade + him die for aught he cared, was characteristic of the service. Hence a + later regulation, with grim irony, gave directions for his burial. He was + to be put out of the way, as soon as might be after the fatal conditions + prevailing on board His Majesty's tenders had done their work, with as + great a show of decency as could be extracted from the sum of ten + shillings. + </p> + <p> + Strictly speaking, it was not in the power of the tender's officers to + mitigate the hardships of the pressed man's lot to any appreciable extent, + let them be as humane as they might. For this the pressed man himself was + largely to blame. An ungrateful rogue, his hide was as impervious to + kindness as a duck's back to water. Supply him with slops [Footnote: The + regulations stipulated that slops should be served out to all who needed + them; but as their acceptance was held to set up a contract between the + recipient and the Crown, the pressed man was not unnaturally averse from + drawing upon such a source of supply as long as any chance of escape + remained to him.] wherewith to cover his nakedness or shield him from the + cold, and before the Sunday muster came round the garments had vanished—not + into thin air, indeed, but in tobacco and rum, for which forbidden + luxuries he invariably bartered them with the bumboat women who had the + run of the vessel while she remained in harbour. Or allow him on deck to + take the air and such exercise as could be got there, and the moment your + back was turned he was away <i>sans congé</i>. Few of these runaways were + as considerate as that Scotch humorist, William Ramsay, who was pressed at + Leith for beating an informer and there put on board the tender. Seizing + the first opportunity of absconding, "Sir," he wrote to the lieutenant in + command, "I am so much attached to you for the good usage I have received + at your hands, that I cannot think of venturing on board your ship again + in the present state of affairs. I therefore leave this letter at my + father's to inform you that I intend to slip out of the way." [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1524.—Capt. Brenton, 20 Oct. 1800.] + </p> + <p> + When that clever adventuress, Moll Flanders, found herself booked for + transportation beyond the seas, her one desire, it will be recalled, was + "to come back before she went." So it was with the pressed man. The idea + of escape obsessed him—escape before he should be rated on shipboard + and sent away to heaven only knew what remote quarter of the globe. It was + for this reason that irons were so frequently added to his comforts. "Safe + bind, safe find" was the golden rule on board His Majesty's tenders. + </p> + <p> + How difficult it was for him to carry his cherished design into execution, + and yet how easy, is brought home to us with surprising force by the + catastrophe that befell the <i>Tasker</i> tender. On the 23rd of May 1755 + the <i>Tasker</i> sailed out of the Mersey with a full cargo of pressed + men designed for Spithead. She possessed no press-room, and as the men for + that reason had the run of the hold, all hatches were securely battened + down with the exception of the maindeck scuttle, an opening so small as to + admit of the passage of but one man at a time. Her crew numbered + thirty-eight, and elaborate precautions were taken for the safe-keeping of + her restless human freight. So much is evident from the disposition of her + guard, which was as follows:— + </p> + <p> + <i>(a)</i> At the open scuttle two sentries, armed with pistol and + cutlass. Orders, not to let too many men up at once. + </p> + <p> + <i>(b)</i> On the forecastle two sentries, armed with musket and bayonet. + Orders, to fire on any pressed man who should attempt to swim away. + </p> + <p> + <i>(c)</i> On the poop one sentry, similarly armed, and having similar + orders. + </p> + <p> + <i>(d)</i> On the quarter-deck, at the entrance to the great cabin, where + the remaining arms were kept, one sentry, armed with cutlass and pistol. + Orders, to let no pressed man come upon the quarter-deck. + </p> + <p> + There were thus six armed sentinels stationed about the ship—ample + to have nipped in the bud any attempt to seize the vessel, but for two + serious errors of judgment on the part of the officer responsible for + their disposition. These were, first, the discretionary power vested in + the sentries at the scuttle; and, second, the inadequate guard, a solitary + man, set for the defence of the great cabin and the arms it contained. Now + let us see how these errors of judgment affected the situation. + </p> + <p> + Either through stupidity, bribery or because they were rapidly making an + offing, the sentries at the scuttle, as the day wore on, admitted a larger + number of pressed men to the comparative freedom of the deck than was + consistent with prudence. The number eventually swelled to fourteen—sturdy, + determined fellows, the pick of the hold. One of them, having a fiddle, + struck up a merry tune, the rest fell to dancing, the tender's crew who + were off duty caught the infection and joined in, while the officers stood + looking on, tolerantly amused and wholly unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly, + just when the fun was at its height, a splash was heard, a cry of "Man + overboard!" ran from lip to lip, and officers and crew rushed to the + vessel's side. They were there, gazing into the sea, for only a minute or + two, but by the time they turned their faces inboard again the fourteen + determined men were masters of the ship. In the brief disciplinary + interval they had overpowered the guard and looted the cabin of its store + of arms. That night they carried the tender into Redwharf Bay and there + bade her adieu. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 920—Admiral + Sir Edward Hawke, 3 June 1755, and enclosures.] To pursue them in so + mountainous a country would have been useless; to punish them, even had + they been retaken, impossible. As unrated men they were neither mutineers + nor deserters, [Footnote: By 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6, pressed men could be + apprehended and tried for desertion by virtue of the Queen's shilling + having been forced upon them at the time they were pressed, but as the use + of that coin fell into abeyance, so the Act in question became gradually a + dead-letter. Hay, Murray, Lloyd, Pinfold and Jervis, Law Officers of the + Crown, giving an opinion on this important point in 1756, held that + "pressed men are not subject to the Articles (of War) until they are + actually rated on board some of His Majesty's ships."—<i>Admiralty + Records</i> 7. 299—Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 3, Case 2.] + and the seizure of the tender was at the worst a bloodless crime in which + no one was hurt save an obdurate sentry, who was slashed over the head + with a cutlass. + </p> + <p> + The boldness of its inception and the anticlimaxical nature of its finish + invest another exploit of this description with an interest all its own. + This was the cutting out of the <i>Union</i> tender from the river Tyne on + the 12th April 1777. The commander, Lieut. Colville, having that day gone + on shore for the "benefit of the air," and young Barker, the midshipman + who was left in charge in his absence, having surreptitiously followed + suit, the pressed men and volunteers, to the number of about forty, taking + advantage of the opportunity thus presented, rose and seized the vessel, + loaded the great guns, and by dint of threatening to sink any boat that + should attempt to board them kept all comers, including the commander + himself, at bay till nine o'clock in the evening. By that time night had + fallen, so, with the wind blowing strong off-shore and an ebb-tide + running, they cut the cables and stood out to sea. For three days nothing + was heard of them, and North Shields, the scene of the exploit and the + home of most of the runaways, was just on the point of giving the vessel + up for lost when news came that she was safe. Influenced by one Benjamin + Lamb, a pressed man of more than ordinary character, the rest had + relinquished their original purpose of either crossing over to Holland or + running the vessel ashore on some unfrequented part of the coast, and had + instead carried her into Scarborough Bay, doubtless hoping to land there + without interference and so make their way to Whitby or Hull. In this + design, however, they were partly frustrated, for, a force having been + hastily organised for their apprehension, they were waylaid as they came + ashore and retaken to the number of twenty-two, the rest escaping. Lamb, + discharged for his good offices in saving the tender, was offered a + boatswain's place if he would re-enter; but for poor Colville the affair + proved disastrous. Becoming demented, he attempted to shoot himself and + had to be superseded. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1497—Capt. + Bover, 13 April 1777, and enclosures.] + </p> + <p> + All down through the century similar incidents, crowding thick and fast + one upon another, relieved the humdrum routine of the pressed man's + passage to the fleet, and either made his miserable life in a measure + worth living or brought it to a summary conclusion. Of minor incidents, + all tending to the same happy or unhappy end, there was no lack. Now he + sweltered beneath a sun so hot as to cause the pitch to boil in the seams + of the deck above his head; again, as when the <i>Boneta</i> sloop, + conveying pressed men from Liverpool to the Hamoaze in 1740, encountered + "Bedds of two or three Acres bigg of Ice & of five or Six foot + thicknesse, which struck her with such force 'twas enough to drive her + bows well out," he "almost perished" from cold. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 2732—Capt. Young, 8 Feb. 1739-40.] To-day it was + broad farce. He held his sides with laughter to see the lieutenant of the + tender he was in, mad with rage and drink, chase the steward round and + round the mainmast with a loaded pistol, whilst the terrified hands, + fearing for their lives, fled for refuge to the coalhole, the roundtops + and the shore. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1498—Complaint + of the Master and Company of H. M. Hired Tender <i>Speedwell</i>, 21 Dec. + 1778.] To-morrow it was tragedy. Some "little dirty privateer" swooped + down upon him, as in the case of the <i>Admiral Spry</i> tender from + Waterford to Plymouth, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1500—Dickson, + Surveyor of Customs at the Cove of Cork, April 1780.] and consigned him to + what he dreaded infinitely more than any man-o'-war—a French prison; + or contrary winds, swelling into a sudden gale, drove him a helpless wreck + on to some treacherous coast, as they drove the <i>Rich Charlotte</i> upon + the Formby Sands in 1745, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1440—Capt. + Amherst, 4 Oct. 1745.] and there remorselessly drowned him. + </p> + <p> + Provided he escaped such untoward accidents as death or capture by the + enemy, sooner or later the pressed man arrived at the receiving station. + Here another ordeal awaited him, and here also he made his last bid for + freedom. + </p> + <p> + Taking the form of a final survey or regulating, the ordeal the pressed + man had now to face was no less thoroughgoing than its precursor at the + rendezvous had in all probability been superficial and ineffective. Eyes + saw deeper here, wits were sharper, and in this lay at once the pressed + man's bane and salvation. For if genuinely unfit, the fact was speedily + demonstrated; whereas if merely shamming, discovery overtook him with a + certainty that wrote "finis" to his last hope. Nevertheless, for this + ordeal, as for his earlier regulating at the rendezvous, the sailor who + knew his book prepared himself with exacting care during the tedium of his + voyage. + </p> + <p> + No sooner was he mustered for survey, then, than the most extraordinary, + impudent and in many instances transparent impostures were sprung upon his + examiners. Deafness prevailed to an alarming extent, dumbness was by no + means unknown. Men who fought desperately when the gang took them, or who + played cards with great assiduity in the tender's hold, developed sudden + paralysis of the arms. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1464—Capt. + Bloyes, Jan. 1702-3; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1470—Capt. Bennett, + 26 Sept. 1711. An extraordinary instance of this form of malingering is + cited in the "Naval Sketch-Book," 1826.] Legs which had been soundness + itself at the rendezvous were now a putrefying mass of sores. The itch + broke out again, virulent and from all accounts incurable. Fits returned + with redoubled frequency and violence, the sane became demented or + idiotic, and the most obviously British, losing the use of their mother + tongue, swore with many gesticulatory <i>sacrés</i> that they had no + English, as indeed they had none for naval purposes. Looking at the + miserable, disease-ridden crew, the uninitiated spectator was moved to + tears of pity. Not so the naval officer. In France, when a prisoner of + war, learning French there without a master, he had heard a saying that he + now recalled to some purpose: <i>Vin de grain est plus doux que n'est pas + vin de presse</i>—"Willing duties are sweeter than those that are + extorted." The punning allusion to the press had tickled his fancy and + fixed the significant truism in his memory. From it he now took his cue + and proceeded to man his ship. + </p> + <p> + So at length the pressed man, in spite of all his ruses and protestations, + was rated and absorbed into that vast agglomeration of men and ships known + as the fleet. Here he underwent a speedy metamorphosis. It was not that he + lost his individuality and became a mere unit amongst thousands. Quite the + contrary. Friends, creditors or next-of-kin, concocting petitions on his + behalf, set forth in heart-rending terms the many disabilities he suffered + from, together with many he did not, and prayed, with a fervour often + reaching no deeper than their pockets, that he might be restored without + delay to his bereaved and destitute family. Across the bottom right-hand + corner of these petitions, conveniently upturned for that purpose, the + Admiralty scrawled its initial order: "Let his case be stated." The + immediate effect of this expenditure of Admiralty ink was magical. It + promoted the subject of the petition from the ranks, so to speak, and + raised him to the dignity of a "State the Case Man." + </p> + <p> + He now became a person of consequence. The kindliest inquiries were made + after his health. The state of his eyes, the state of his limbs, the state + of his digestion were all stated with the utmost minuteness and prolixity. + Reams of gilt-edged paper were squandered upon him; and by the time his + case had been duly stated, restated, considered, reconsidered and finally + decided, the poor fellow had perhaps voyaged round the world or by some + mischance gone to the next. + </p> + <p> + In the matter of exacting their pound of flesh the Lords Commissioners + were veritable Shylocks. Neither supplications nor tears had power to move + them, and though they sometimes relented, it was invariably for reasons of + policy and in the best interests of the service. Men clearly shown to be + protected they released. They could not go back upon their word unless + some lucky quibble rendered it possible to traverse the obligation with + honour. Unprotected subjects who were clearly unfit to eat the king's + victuals they discharged—for substitutes. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: The Press Gang, or English Liberty Displayed.] +</pre> + <p> + The principle underlying their Lordships' gracious acceptance of + substitutes for pressed men was beautifully simple. If as a pressed man + you were fit to serve, but unwilling, you were worth at least two + able-bodied men; if you were unfit, and hence unable to serve, you were + worth at least one. This simple rule proved a source of great + encouragement to the gangs, for however bad a man might be he was always + worth a better. + </p> + <p> + The extortions to which the Lords Commissioners lent themselves in this + connection—three, and, as in the case of Joseph Sanders of Bristol, + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1534—Capt. Barker, 4 Jan. + 1805, and endorsement.] even four able-bodied men being exacted as + substitutes—could only be termed iniquitous did we not know the + duplicity, roguery and deep cunning with which they had to cope. Upon the + poor, indeed, the practice entailed great hardship, particularly when the + home had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the discharge of the + bread-winner who had been instrumental in getting it together; but to the + unscrupulous crimp and the shady attorney the sailor's misfortune brought + only gain. Buying up "raw boys," or Irishmen who "came over for reasons + they did not wish known"—rascally persons who could be had for a + song—they substituted these for seasoned men who had been pressed, + and immediately, having got the latter in their power, turned them over to + merchant ships at a handsome profit. At Hull, on the other hand, + substitutes were sought in open market. The bell-man there cried a reward + for men to go in that capacity. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1439—George Crowle, Esq., M.P. for Hull, 28 Dec. 1739.] + </p> + <p> + Even when the pressed man had procured his substitutes and obtained his + coveted discharge, his liberty was far from assured. In theory exempt from + the press for a period of at least twelve months, he was in reality not + only liable to be re-pressed at any moment, but to be subjected to that + process as often as he chose to free himself and the gang to take him. A + Liverpool youth named William Crick a lad with expectations to the amount + of "near 4000 Pounds," was in this way pressed and discharged by + substitute three times in quick succession. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 579—Rear-Admiral Child, 8 Aug. 1799.] Intending + substitutes themselves not infrequently suffered the same fate ere they + could carry out their intention. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1439—Lieut. Leaver, 5 Jan. 1739-40, and numerous instances.] + </p> + <p> + The discharging of a pressed man whose petition finally succeeded did not + always prove to be the eminently simple matter it would seem. Time and + tide waited for no man, least of all for the man who had the misfortune to + be pressed, and in the interval between his appeal and the order for his + release his ship, as already hinted, had perhaps put half the + circumference of the globe between him and home; or when the crucial + moment arrived, and he was summoned before his commander to learn the + gratifying Admiralty decision, he made his salute in batches of two, three + or even four men, each of whom protested vehemently that he was the + original and only person to whom the order applied. An amusing attempt at + "coming Cripplegate" in this manner occurred on board the <i>Lennox</i> in + 1711. A woman, who gave her name as Alice Williams, having petitioned for + the release of her "brother," one John Williams, a pressed man then on + board that ship, succeeded in her petition, and orders were sent down to + the commander, Capt. Bennett, to give the man his discharge. He proceeded + to do so, but to his amazement discovered, first, that he had no less than + four John Williamses on board, all pressed men; second, that while each of + the four claimed to be the man in question, three of the number had no + sister, while the fourth confessed to one whose name was not Alice but + "Percilly"; and, after long and patient investigation, third, that one of + them had a wife named Alice, who, he being a foreigner domiciled by + marriage, had "tould him she would gett him cleare" should he chance to + fall into the hands of the press-gang. In this she failed, for he was + kept. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1470—Capt. Bennett, 2 + Dec. 1711.] + </p> + <p> + Of the pressed man's smiling arrest for debts which he did not owe, and of + his jocular seizure by sheriffs armed with writs of Habeas Corpus, the + annals of his incorporation in the fleet furnish many instances. Arrest + for fictitious debt was specially common. In every seaport town attorneys + were to be found who made it their regular practice. Particularly was this + true of Bristol. Good seamen were rarely pressed there for whom writs were + not immediately issued on the score of debts of which they had never + heard. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Admiral Philip, 5 + Dec. 1801.] To warrant such arrest the debt had to exceed twenty pounds, + and service, when the pressed man was already on shipboard, was by the + hands of the Water Bailiff. + </p> + <p> + The writ of Habeas Corpus was, in effect, the only legal check it was + possible to oppose to the impudent pretensions and high-handed proceedings + of the gang. While H.M.S. <i>Amaranth</i> lay in dock in 1804 and her + company were temporarily quartered on a hulk in Long Reach, two sheriff's + officers, accompanied by a man named Cumberland, a tailor of Deptford, + boarded the latter and served a writ on a seaman for debt. The first + lieutenant, who was in charge at the time, refused to let the man go, + saying he would first send to his captain, then at the dock, for orders, + which he accordingly did. The intruders thereupon went over the side, + Cumberland "speaking very insultingly." Just as the messenger returned + with the captain's answer, however, they again put in an appearance, and + the lieutenant hailed them and bade them come aboard. Cumberland complied. + "I have orders from my captain," said the lieutenant, stepping up to him, + "to press you." He did so, and had it not been that a writ of Habeas + Corpus was immediately sworn out, the Deptford tailor would most certainly + have exchanged his needle for a marlinespike. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1532—Lieut. Collett, 13 Feb. 1804.] + </p> + <p> + Provocative as such redemptive measures were, and designedly so, they were + as a rule allowed to pass unchallenged. The Lords Commissioners regretted + the loss of the men, but thought "perhaps it would be as well to let them + go." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 302—Law Officers' + Opinions, 1783-95, No. 24.] For this complacent attitude on the part of + his captors the pressed man had reason to hold the Law Officers of the + Crown in grateful remembrance. As early as 1755 they gave it as their + opinion—too little heeded—that to bring any matter connected + with pressing to judicial trial would be "very imprudent." Later, with the + lesson of twenty-two years' hard pressing before their eyes, they went + still further, for they then advised that a subject so contentious, not to + say so ill-defined in law, should be kept, if not altogether, at least as + much as possible out of court. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 298—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 99; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 7. 299—Law + Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 70.] + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. — HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + </h2> + <p> + Not until the year 1833 did belated Nemesis overtake the press-gang. It + died the unmourned victim of its own enormities, and the manner of its + passing forms the by no means least interesting chapter in its + extraordinary career. + </p> + <p> + Summarising the causes, direct and indirect, which led to the final + scrapping of an engine that had been mainly instrumental in manning the + fleet for a hundred years and more, and without which, whatever its + imperfections, that fleet could in all human probability never have been + manned at all, we find them to be substantially these:— + </p> + <p> + <i>(a)</i> The demoralising effects of long-continued, violent and + indiscriminate pressing upon the Fleet; + </p> + <p> + <i>(b)</i> Its injurious and exasperating effects upon Trade; + </p> + <p> + <i>(c)</i> Its antagonising effect upon the Nation; and + </p> + <p> + <i>(d)</i> Its enormous cost as compared with recruiting by the good-will + of the People. + </p> + <p> + Frederick the Great, it is related, being in one of his grim humours after + the dearly bought victory of Czaslaw, invited the neighbouring peasantry + to come and share the spoil of the carcases on the field of battle. They + responded in great numbers; whereupon he, surrounding them, pressed three + hundred of the most promising and "cloathed them immediately from the + dead." [Footnote: <i>State Papers Foreign, Germany,</i> vol. cccxl.—Robinson + to Hyndford, 31 May 1742.] In this way, Ezekiel-like, he retrieved his + losses; but to the regiments so completed the addition of these + resurrection recruits proved demoralising to a degree, notwithstanding the + Draconic nature of the Prussian discipline. In like manner the discipline + used in the British fleet, while not less drastic, failed conspicuously to + counteract the dry-rot introduced and fostered by the press-gang. In its + efforts to maintain the Navy, indeed, that agency came near to proving its + ruin. + </p> + <p> + On the most lenient survey of the recruits it furnished, it cannot be + denied that they were in the aggregate a desperately poor lot, unfitted + both physically and morally for the tremendous task of protecting an + island people from the attacks of powerful sea-going rivals. How bad they + were, the epithets spontaneously applied to them by the outraged + commanders upon whom they were foisted abundantly prove. Witness the + following, taken at random from naval captains' letters extending over a + hundred years:— + </p> + <p> + "Blackguards." + </p> + <p> + "Sorry poor creatures that don't earn half the victuals they eat." + </p> + <p> + "Sad, thievish creatures." + </p> + <p> + "Not a rag left but what was of such a nature as had to be destroyed." + </p> + <p> + "150 on board, the greatest part of them sorry fellows." + </p> + <p> + "Poor ragged souls, and very small." + </p> + <p> + "Miserable poor creatures, not a seaman amongst them, and the fleet in the + same condition." + </p> + <p> + "Unfit for service, and a nuisance to the ship." + </p> + <p> + "Never so ill-manned a ship since I have been at sea. The worst set I ever + saw." + </p> + <p> + "Twenty-six poor souls, but three of them seamen. Ragged and half dead." + </p> + <p> + "Landsmen, boys, incurables and cripples. Sad wretches great part of them + are." + </p> + <p> + "More fit for an hospital than the sea." + </p> + <p> + "All the ragg-tagg that can be picked up." + </p> + <p> + In this last phrase, "All the rag-tag that can be picked up," we have the + key to the situation; for though orders to press "no aged, diseased or + infirm persons, nor boys," were sufficiently explicit, yet in order to + swell the returns, and to appease in some degree the fleet's insatiable + greed for men, the gangs raked in recruits with a lack of discrimination + that for the better part of a century made that fleet the most gigantic + collection of human freaks and derelicts under the sun. + </p> + <p> + Billingsley, commander of the <i>Ferme</i>, receiving seventy pressed men + to complete his complement in 1708, discovers to his chagrin that thirteen + are lame in the legs, five lame in the hands, and three almost blind. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1469—Capt. Billingsley, 5 May + 1708.] Latham, commanding the <i>Bristol</i>, on the eve of sailing for + the West Indies can muster only eighteen seamen amongst sixty-eight + pressed men that day put on board of him. As for the rest, they are either + sick, or too old or too young to be of service—"ragged wretches, bad + of the itch, who have not the least pretensions to eat His Majesty's + bread." Forty of the number had to be put ashore. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 161—Admiral Watson, 26 Feb. 1754.] Admiral Mostyn, + boarding his flagship, the <i>Monarch</i>, "never in his life saw such a + crew," though the <i>Monarch</i> had an already sufficiently evil + reputation in that respect, insomuch that whenever a scarecrow + man-o'-war's man was seen ashore the derisive cry instantly went up: + "There goes a <i>Monarch</i>!" So hopelessly bad was the company in this + instance, it was found impossible to carry the ship to sea. "I don't know + where they come from," observes the Admiral, hot with indignation, "but + whoever was the officer who received them, he ought to be ashamed, for I + never saw such except in the condemned hole at Newgate. I was three hours + and a half mustering this scabby crew, and I should have imagined that the + Scum of the Earth had been picked up for this ship." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 480—Admiral Mostyn, 1 and 6 April 1755.] The vigorous + protest prepares us for what Capt. Baird found on board the <i>Duke</i> a + few years later. The pressed men there exhibited such qualifications for + sea duty as "fractured thigh-bone, idiocy, strained back and sickly, a + discharged soldier, gout and sixty years old, rupture, deaf and foolish, + fits, lame, rheumatic and incontinence of urine." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1490—Capt. Baird, 22 May 1759.] + </p> + <p> + That most reprehensible practice, the pressing of cripples for naval + purposes, would appear to have had its origin in the unauthorised + extension of an order issued by the Lord High Admiral, in 1704, to the + effect that in the appointment of cooks to the Navy the Board should give + preference to persons so afflicted. For the pressing of boys there existed + even less warrant. Yet the practice was common, so much so that when, + during the great famine of 1800, large numbers of youths flocked into + Poole in search of the bread they could not obtain in the country, the + gangs waylaid them and reaped a rich harvest. Two hundred was the toll on + this occasion. As all were in a "very starving, ragged, filthy condition," + the gangsmen stripped them, washed them thoroughly in the sea, clad them + in second-hand clothing from the quay-side shops, and giving each one a + knife, a spoon, a comb and a bit of soap, sent them on board the tenders + contented and happy. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Capt. + Boyle, 2 June 1801.] These lads were of course a cut above the "scum of + the earth" so vigorously denounced by Admiral Mostyn. Beginning their + career as powder-monkeys, a few years' licking into shape transformed + them, as a rule, into splendid fighting material. + </p> + <p> + The utter incapacity of the human refuse dumped into the fleet is justly + stigmatised by one indignant commander, himself a patient long-sufferer in + that respect, as a "scandalous abuse of the service." Six of these poor + wretches had not the strength of one man. They could not be got upon deck + in the night, or if by dint of the rope's-end they were at length routed + out of their hammocks, they immediately developed the worst symptoms of + the "waister"—seasickness and fear of that which is high. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1471—Capt. Billop, 26 Oct. 1712.] Bruce, + encountering dirty weather on the Irish coast, when in command of the <i>Hawke</i>, + out of thirty-two pressed men "could not get above seven to go upon a yard + to reef his courses," but was obliged to order his warrant officers and + master aloft on that duty. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1477—Capt. + Bruce, 6 Oct. 1741.] Belitha, of the <i>Scipio</i>, had but one man aboard + him, out of a crew of forty-one, who was competent to stand his trick at + the wheel; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1482—Capt. + Belitha, 15 July 1746.] Bethell, of the <i>Phoenix</i>, had many who had + "never seen a gun fired in their lives"; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 1490—Capt. Bethell, 21 Aug. 1759.] and Adams, of the <i>Bird-in-hand</i>, + learnt the fallacy of the assertion that that <i>rara avis</i> is worth + two in the bush. Mustered for drill in small-arms, his men "knew no more + how to handle them than a child." [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. + 1440—Capt. Adams, 7 Oct. 1744.] For all their knowledge of that + useful exercise they might have been Sea-Fencibles. + </p> + <p> + Yet while ships were again and again prevented from putting to sea + because, though their complements were numerically complete, they had only + one or no seaman on board, and hence were unable to get their anchors or + make sail; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1478—Capt. Boys, + 14 April 1742; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1512—Capt. Bayly, 21 July + 1796, and Captains' Letters, <i>passim</i>.] while Bennett, of the <i>Lennox</i>, + when applied to by the masters of eight outward-bound East-India ships for + the loan of two hundred and fifty men to enable them to engage the French + privateers by whom they were held up in the river of Shannon, dared not + lend a single hand lest the pressed men, who formed the greater part of + his crew, should rise and run away with the ship; [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1499—Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1779.] Ambrose, of the + <i>Rupert</i>, cruising off Cape Machichaco with a crew of "miserable poor + wretches" whom he feared could be of "no manner of use or service" to him, + after a short but sharp engagement of only an hour's duration captured, + with the loss of but a single man, the largest privateer sailing out of + San Sebastian—the <i>Duke of Vandome</i>, of twenty-six carriage + guns and two hundred and two men, of whom twenty-nine were killed; + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. Ambrose, 7 July + and 26 Sept. 1741.] and Capt. Amherst, encountering a heavy gale in + Barnstable Pool, off Appledore, would have lost his ship, the low-waisted, + over-masted <i>Mortar</i> sloop, had it not been for the nine men he was + so lucky as to impress shortly before the gale. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty + Records</i> 1. 1440—Capt. Amherst, 12 Dec. 1744.] Anson regarded + pressed men with suspicion. When he sailed on his famous voyage round the + world his ships contained only sixty-seven; but with his complement of + five hundred reduced by sickness to two hundred and one, he was glad to + add forty of those undesirables to their number out of the India-men at + Wampoo. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1439—Capt. Anson, 18 + Sept. 1740, and 7 Dec. 1742.] These, however, were seamen such as the + gangs did not often pick up in England, where, as we have seen, the able + seaman who was not fully protected avoided the press as he would a lee + shore. + </p> + <p> + In addition to the sweepings of the roads and slums, there were in His + Majesty's ships many who trod the decks "wide betwixt the legs, as if they + had the gyves on." Peculiar to the seafaring man, the tailor and the + huckstering Jew, the gait of these individuals, who belonged mostly to the + sailor class, was strongly accentuated by an adventitious circumstance + having no necessary connection with Israelitish descent, the sartorial + board or the rolling deep. They were in fact convicts who had but recently + shed their irons, and who walked wide from force of habit. Reasons of + policy rather than of mercy explained their presence in the fleet. The + prisons of the country, numerous and insanitary though they were, could + neither hold them all nor kill them; America would have no more of them; + and penal settlements, those later garden cities of a harassed government, + were as yet undreamt of. In these circumstances reprieved and pardoned + convicts were bestowed in about equal proportions, according to their + calling and election, upon the army and the navy. + </p> + <p> + The practice was one of very respectable antiquity and antecedents. By a + certain provision of the Feudal System a freeman who had committed a + felony, or become hopelessly involved in debt, might purge himself of + either by becoming a serf. So, at a later date, persons in the like + predicament were permitted to exchange their fetters, whether of debt or + iron, for the dear privilege of "spilling every drop of blood in their + bodies" [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Petition of the + Convicts on board the <i>Stanislaus</i> hulk, Woolwich, 18 May 1797.] on + behalf of the sovereign whose clemency they enjoyed. Broken on the wheel + of naval discipline, they "did very well in deep water." Nearer land they + were given, like the jailbirds they were, to "hopping the twig." + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 2733—Capt. Young, 21 March + 1776.] + </p> + <p> + The insolvent debtor, who in the majority of cases had studied his + pleasures more than his constitution, was perhaps an even less desirable + recruit than his cousin the emancipated convict. In his letters to the + Navy Board, Capt. Aston, R.N., relates how, immediately after the passing + of the later Act [Footnote: 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6.] for the freeing of + such persons from their financial fetters, he "gave constant attendance + for almost two years at the sittings of the Courts of Sessions in London + and Surrey," lying in wait there for such debtors as should choose the + sea. From the Queen's Bench Prison, the Clink, Marshalsea, Borough + Compter, Poultry Compter, Wood Street Compter, Ludgate Prison and the + Fleet, he obtained in that time a total of one hundred and thirty-two, to + whom in every case the prest-shilling was paid. They were dear at the + price. Bankrupt in pocket, stamina and health, they cumbered the ships to + the despair of commanders and were never so welcome as when they ran away. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1436—Letters of Capt. Aston, + 1704-5.] + </p> + <p> + The responsibility for jail-bird recruiting did not of course rest with + the gangs. They saw the shady crew safe on board ship, that was all. Yet + the odium of the thing was theirs. For not only did association with + criminals lower the standard of pressing as the gangs practised it, it + heightened the general disrepute in which they were held. For an + institution whose hold upon the affections of the people was at the best + positively negative, this was a serious matter. Every convict whom the + gang safeguarded consequently drove another nail in the coffin preparing + for it. The first and most lasting effect of the wholesale pumping of + sewage into the fleet was to taint the ships with a taint far more deadly + than mere ineptitude. A spirit of ominous restlessness prevailed. + Slackness was everywhere observable, coupled with incipient + insubordination which no discipline, however severe, could eradicate or + correct. At critical moments the men could with difficulty be held to + their duty. To hold them to quarters in '97, when engaging the enemy off + Brest, the rattan and the rope's-end had to be unsparingly used. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 5125—Petition of the Company + of H.M.S. <i>Nymph</i>, 1797.] In no circumstances were they to be + trusted. Given the slightest opening, they "ran" like water from a sieve. + To counteract these dangerous tendencies the Marines were instituted. + Drafted into the ships in thousands, they checked in a measure the surface + symptoms of disaffection, but left the disease itself untouched. The fact + was generally recognised, and it was no uncommon circumstance, when the + number of pressed men present in a ship was large in proportion to the + unpressed element, for both officers and marines to walk the deck day and + night armed, fearful lest worse things should come upon them. [Footnote: + <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 1499—Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1799, and + Captains' Letters, <i>passim</i>.] What they anticipated was the mutiny of + individual crews. But a greater calamity than this was in store for them. + </p> + <p> + In the wholesale mutinies at Spithead and the Nore the blow fell with + appalling suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that in one form or another + it had been long foreseen. Fifty-five years had elapsed since Vernon, + scenting danger from the existing mode of manning the fleet, had first + sounded the alarm. He dreaded, he told the Lords Commissioners in so many + words, the consequences that must sooner or later ensue from adherence to + the press. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 578—Vice-Admiral + Vernon, 27 Jan. 1742-3.] Though the utterance of one gifted with + singularly clear prevision, the warning passed unheeded. Had it been made + public, it would doubtless have met with the derision with which the voice + of the national prophet is always hailed. Veiled as it was in service + privacy, it moved their Lordships to neither comment nor action. Action, + indeed, was out of the question. The Commissioners were helpless in the + grip of a system from which, so far as human sagacity could then perceive, + there was no way of escape. Let its issue be what it might, they could no + more replace or reconstruct it than they could build ships of tinsel. + </p> + <p> + Other warnings were not wanting. For some years before the catastrophic + happenings of '97 there flowed in upon the Admiralty a thin but steady + stream of petitions from the seamen of the fleet, each of them a rude echo + of Vernon's sapient warning. To these, coming as they did from an + unconsidered source, little if any significance was attached. Beyond the + most perfunctory inquiry, in no case to be made public, they received + scant attention. The sailor, it was thought, must have his grievances if + he would be happy; and petitions were the recognised line for him to air + them on. They were accordingly relegated to that limbo of distasteful and + quickly forgotten things, their Lordships' pigeon-holes. + </p> + <p> + Yet there was amongst these documents at least one which should have given + the Heads of the Navy pause for serious thought. It was the petition of + the seamen of H.M.S. <i>Shannon</i>, [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 5125—Petition of the Ship's Company of the <i>Shannon</i>, 16 + June 1796.] in which there was conveyed a threat that afterwards, when the + mutiny at the Nore was at its height, under the leadership of a pressed + man whose coadjutors were mainly pressed men, came within an ace of + resolving itself in action. That threat concerned the desperate expedient + of carrying the revolted ships into an enemy's port, and of there + delivering them up. Had this been done—and only the Providence that + watches over the destinies of nations prevented it—the act would + have brought England to her knees. + </p> + <p> + At a time like this, when England's worst enemies were emphatically the + press-gangs which manned her fleet with the riff-raff of the nation and + thus made national disaster not only possible but hourly imminent, the + "old stander" and the volunteer were to her Navy what salt is to the sea, + its perpetual salvation. Such men inculcated an example, created an <i>esprit + de corps</i>, that infected even the vagrant and the jail-bird, to say + nothing of the better-class seaman, taken mainly by gangs operating on the + water, who was often content, when brought into contact with loyal men, to + settle down and do his best for king and country. Amongst the pressed men, + again, desertion and death made for the survival of the fittest, and in + this residuum there was not wanting a certain savour. Subdued and + quickened by man-o'-war discipline, they developed a dogged resolution, a + super-capacity not altogether incompatible with degeneracy; and to crown + all, the men who officered the resolute if disreputable crew were men in + whose blood the salt of centuries tingled, men unrivalled for + sea-sagacity, initiative and pluck. If they could not uphold the honour of + the flag with the pressed man's unqualified aid, they did what was + immeasurably greater. They upheld it in spite of him. + </p> + <p> + Upon the trade of the nation the injury inflicted by the press-gang is + rightly summed up in littles. Every able seaman, every callow apprentice + taken out of or forcibly detained from a merchant vessel was, <i>ipso + facto,</i> a minute yet irretrievably substantial loss to commerce of one + kind or another. Trade, it is true, did not succumb in consequence. + Possessed of marvellous recuperative powers, she did not even languish to + any perceptible degree. Nevertheless, the detriment was there, a steadily + cumulative factor, and at the end of any given period of pressing the + commerce of the nation, emasculated by these continuous if infinitesimal + abstractions from its vitality, was substantially less in bulk, + substantially less in pounds sterling, than if it had been allowed to run + its course unhindered. + </p> + <p> + British in name, but Teutonic in its resentments, trade came to regard + these continual "pin-pricks" as an intolerable nuisance. It was not so + much the loss that aroused her anger as the constant irritation she was + subjected to. This she keenly resented, and the stream of her resentment, + joining forces with its confluents the demoralisation of the Navy through + pressing, the excessive cost of pressing and the antagonising effects of + pressing upon the nation at large, contributed in no small degree to that + final supersession of the press-gang which was in essence, if not in name, + the beginning of Free Trade. + </p> + <p> + To the people the impress was as an axe laid at the root of the tree. + There was here no question, as with trade, of the mere loss of hands who + could be replaced. Attacking the family in the person of its natural + supporter and protector, the octopus system of which the gangs were the + tentacles struck at the very foundations of domestic life and brought to + thousands of households a poverty as bitter and a grief as poignant as + death. + </p> + <p> + If the people were slow to anger under the infliction it was because, in + the first place, the gang had its advocates who, though they could not + extol its virtues, since it had none, were yet able, and that with no + small measure of success, to demonstrate to a people as insular in their + prejudices as in their habitat that, but for the invincible Navy which the + gang maintained for their protection, the hereditary enemy, the detested + French, would most surely come and compel them one and all to subsist upon + a diet of frogs. What could be seriously urged against the gang in face of + an argument such as that? + </p> + <p> + Patriotism, moreover, glowed with ardent flame. Fanned to twofold heat by + natural hatred of the foreigner and his insolent challenge of insular + superiority, it blinded the people to the truth that liberty of the + subject is in reality nothing more than freedom from oppression. So, with + the gang at their very doors, waiting to snatch away their husbands, their + fathers and their sons, they carolled "Rule Britannia" and congratulated + themselves on being a free people. The situation was unparalleled in its + sardonic humour; and, as if this were not enough, the "Noodle of + Newcastle," perceiving vacuously that something was still wanting, + supplied the bathetic touch by giving out that the king, God bless him! + could never prevail upon himself to break through the sacred liberties of + his people save on the most urgent occasions. [Footnote: <i>Newcastle + Papers</i>—Newcastle to Yorke, 27 Feb. 1749-50.] + </p> + <p> + The process of correcting the defective vision of the nation was as + gradual as the acquisition of the sea-power the nation had set as its + goal, and as painful. In both processes the gang participated largely. To + the fleet it acted as a rude feeder; to the people as a ruder specialist. + Wielding the cutlass as its instrument, it slowly and painfully hewed away + the scales from their eyes until it stood visualised for what it really + was—the most atrocious agent of oppression the world has ever seen. + For the operation the people should have been grateful. The nature of the + thing they had cherished so blindly filled them with rage and incited them + to violence. + </p> + <p> + Two events now occurred to seal the fate of the gang and render its final + supersession a mere matter of time rather than of debate or uncertainty. + The mutiny at the Nore brought the people face to face with the appalling + risks attendant on wholesale pressing, while the war with America, + incurred for the sole purpose of upholding the right to press, taught them + the lengths to which their rulers were still prepared to go in order to + enslave them. In the former case their sympathies, though with the + mutineers, were frozen at the fountain-head by fear of invasion and that + supposititious diet of frogs. In the latter, as in the ancient quarrel + between Admiralty and Trade, they went out to the party who not only + abstained from pressing but paid the higher wages. + </p> + <p> + While the average cost of 'listing a man "volunteerly" rarely exceeded the + modest sum of 30s., the expense entailed through recruiting him by means + of the press-gang ranged from 3s. 9d. per head in 1570 [Footnote: <i>State + Papers Domestic, Elizabeth</i>, vol. lxxiii. f. 38: Estimate of Charge for + Pressing 400 Mariners, 1570.] to 114 Pounds in 1756. Between these + extremes his cost fluctuated in the most extraordinary manner. At + Weymouth, in 1762, it was at least 100 Pounds; at Deal, in 1805, 32 Pounds + odd; at Poole, in the same year, 80 Pounds. [Footnote: <i>London Chronicle</i>, + 16-18 March, 1762; <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 581—Admiral Berkeley, + 14 Feb. and 5 Aug. 1805.] From 1756 the average steadily declined until in + 1795 it touched its eighteenth century minimum of about 6 Pounds. + [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> 1. 579—Average based on + Admirals' Reports on Rendezvous, 1791-5.] A sharp upward tendency then + developed, and in the short space of eight years it soared again to 20 + Pounds. It was at this figure that Nelson, perhaps the greatest naval + authority of his time, put it in 1803. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 580—Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] + </p> + <p> + Up to this point we have considered only the prime cost of the pressed + man. A secondary factor must now be introduced, for when you had got your + man at an initial cost of 20 Pounds—a cost in itself out of all + proportion to his value—you could never be sure of keeping him. + Nelson calculated that during the war immediately preceding 1803 forty-two + thousand seamen deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: <i>Admiralty Records</i> + 1. 580—Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Assuming, with + him, that every man of this enormous total was either a pressed man or had + been procured at the cost of a pressed man, the loss entailed upon the + nation by their desertion represented an outlay of 840,000 Pounds for + raising them in the first instance, and, in the second, a further outlay + of 840,000 Pounds for replacing them. + </p> + <p> + In this estimate there is, however, a substantial error; for, approaching + the question from another point of view, let us suppose, as we may safely + do without overstraining the probabilities of the case, that out of every + three men pressed at least one ran from his rating. Now the primary cost + of pressing three men on the 20 Pound basis being 60 Pounds, it follows + that in order to obtain their ultimate cost to the country we must add to + that sum the outlay incurred in pressing another man in lieu of the one + who ran. The total cost of the three men who ultimately remain to the + fleet consequently works out at 80 Pounds; the cost of each at 26 Pounds, + 13s. 4d. Hence Nelson's forty-two thousand deserters entailed upon the + nation an actual expenditure, not of 1,680,000 Pounds, but of nearly two + and a quarter millions. + </p> + <p> + Another fact that emerges from a scrutiny of these remarkable figures is + this. Whenever the number of volunteer additions to the fleet increased, + the cost of pressing increased in like ratio; whenever the number of + volunteers declined, the pressed man became proportionally cheaper. + Periods in which the pressed man was scarce and dear thus synchronise with + periods when the volunteer was plentiful; but scarcity of volunteers, + reacting upon the gangs, and conducing to their greater activity, brought + in pressed men in greater numbers in proportion to expenditure and so + reduced the cost per head. In this logical though at first sight + bewildering interrelation of the laws of supply and demand, we have in a + nutshell the whole case for the cost of pressing as against the gang. + Taking one year with another the century through, the impress service, on + a moderate estimate, employed enough able-bodied men to man a first-rate + ship of the line, and absorbed at least enough money to maintain her, + while the average number of men raised, taking again one year with + another, rarely if ever exceeded the number of men engaged in obtaining + them. With tranquillity at length assured to the country, with trade in a + state of high prosperity, the shipping tonnage of the nation rising by + leaps and bounds and the fleet reduced to an inexigent peace footing, why + incur the ruinous expense of pressing the seaman when, as was now the + case, he could be had for the asking or the making? + </p> + <p> + For Peace brought in her train both change and opportunity. The frantic + dumping of all sorts and conditions of men into the fleet ceased. + Necessity no longer called for it. No enemy hovered in the offing, to be + perpetually outmanoeuvred or instantly engaged. Until that enemy could + renew its strength, or time should call another into being, the mastery of + the seas, the dear prize of a hundred years of strenuous struggle, + remained secure. Our ships, maintained nevertheless as efficient + fighting-machines, became schools of leisure wherein—a thing + impossible amid the perpetual storm and stress of war—the young + blood of the nation could be more gradually inured to the sea and tuned to + fighting-pitch. Science had not yet linked hands with warfare. Steam, + steel, the ironclad, the super-Dreadnought and the devastating cordite gun + were still in the womb of the future; but the keels of a newer fleet were + nevertheless already on the slips, and with the old order the press-gang, + now for ever obsolete, went the way of all things useless. + </p> + <p> + Its memory still survives. Those who despair of our military system, or of + our lack of it, talk of conscription. They alone forget. A people who for + a hundred years patiently endured conscription in its most cruel form will + never again suffer it to be lightly inflicted upon them. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX + </h2> + <h3> + ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO + </h3> + <p> + DEAR NEPEAN,—I enclose a little project for destroying the Enemy's + Flatboats if they venture over to our Coast, which you may shew, if you + please, to your Sea Lords as coming from some anonymous correspondent. If + they can improve upon it so as to make it useful, I shall be glad of it; + and if they think it good for nothing, and throw it in the fire, there is + no harm done. As the conveying an Army must require a very great number of + Boats, which must be very near each other, if many such vessels as I + propose should get among them, they must necessarily commit great havoc. I + cannot ascertain whether the blocks or logs of wood would be strong enough + to throw the shot without bursting, or whether they would not throw the + shot though they should burst. I think they would not burst, and so do + some Officers of Artillery here; but that might be ascertained by + experiment at any time. This sort of Fire-vessel will have the advantage + of costing very little; and of being of no service to the Enemy should it + fall into their hands. + </p> + <p> + W. YOUNG. LEWES, 14 <i>Aug</i>. 1803. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Illustration: Admiral Young's Torpedo. From the Original Drawing at +the Public Record Office.] +</pre> + <p> + <i>Secret</i> + </p> + <p> + "The success of an attempt to land an Army on an Enemy's Coast, whose Army + is prepared to prevent it, will depend in a great degree on the regularity + of the order in which the Boats, or Vessels, are arranged, that carry the + Troops on Shore; everything therefore which contributes to the breaking of + that order will so far contribute to render success more doubtful; + especially if, in breaking the order, some of the Boats or Vessels are + destroyed. For this purpose Fireships well managed will be found very + useful; I should therefore think that, at all the King's Ports, and at all + places where the Enemy may be expected to attempt a landing with Ships of + War or other large Vessels, considerable quantities of materials for + fitting Fireships according to the latest method should be kept ready to + be put on board any small Vessels on the Enemy's approach; but, as such + Vessels would have little or no effect on Gunboats or Flatboats, machines + might be made for the purpose of destroying them, by shot, and by + explosion. The Shot should be large, but as they will require to be thrown + but a short distance, and will have only thin-sided Vessels to penetrate, + Machines strong enough to resist the effort of the small quantity of + Powder necessary to throw them may probably be made of wood; either by + making several chambers in one thick Block, as No. 1, or one chamber at + each end of a log as No. 2, which may be used either separately, or + fastened together. The Vents should communicate with each other by means + of quick Match, which should be very carefully covered to prevent its + sustaining damage, or being moved by things carried about. Such Machines, + properly loaded, may be kept in Fishing boats or other small vessels near + the parts of the Coast where the Enemy may be expected to land; or in + secure places, ready to be put on board when the Enemy are expected. The + Chambers should be cut horizontally, and the Machine should be so placed + in the Vessel as to have them about level with the surface of the water; + under the Machine should be placed a considerable quantity of Gunpowder; + and over it, large Stones, and bags of heavy shingle, and the whole may be + covered with fishing nets, or any articles that may happen to be on board. + Several fuses, or trains of Match, should communicate with the Machine, + and with the powder under it, so managed as to ensure those which + communicate with the Machine taking effect upon the others, that the shot + may be thrown before the Vessel is blown up. The Match, or Fuses, should + be carefully concealed to prevent their being seen if the Vessel should be + boarded.... If these Vessels are placed in the front of the Enemy's Line, + and not near the extremities of it, it would be scarcely possible for them + to avoid the effects of the explosion unless, from some of them exploding + too soon, the whole armament should stop. Every Machine would probably + sink the Boat on each side of it, and so do considerable damage to others + with the shot; and would kill and wound many men by the explosion and the + fall of the stones.... As the success of these Vessels will depend + entirely upon their not being suspected by the Enemy, the utmost secrecy + must be observed in preparing the Machines and sending them to the places + where they are to be kept. A few confidential men only should be employed + to make them, and they should be so covered as to prevent any suspicion of + their use, or of what they contain." + </p> + <h3> + INDEX + </h3> + <p> + Adams, Capt., + </p> + <p> + <i>Admiral Spry</i> tender, + </p> + <p> + <i>Adventure</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Ages below eighteen and over fifty-five exempt, + </p> + <p> + Alcock, Henry, Mayor of Waterford, + </p> + <p> + Alms, Capt., + </p> + <p> + <i>Amaranth</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Ambrose, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Amherst, Capt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Amphitrite</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Andover, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Anglesea</i>, H.M.S., + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Anne, Queen, impresses foreign seamen, + arms of press-gang under, + drummers and fifers pressed for navy in her reign, + sailors unwilling to serve, +</pre> + <p> + Anson, Admiral Lord, + </p> + <p> + Anthony, John, pressed with two protections on him, + </p> + <p> + Appledore, press-gang at, 72, + </p> + <p> + Apprentices, exempt from impressment only in some circumstances, in + North-country pressed because their indentures bore Scotch 14s. stamp + instead of English 15s., + </p> + <p> + Archer, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Arms of the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + <i>Assurance</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Aston, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Atkinson, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Ayscough, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Baily, James, a ferryman, pressed for his inactivity, + </p> + <p> + Baird, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Balchen, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Ball, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Banyan days, + </p> + <p> + Bargemen impressed in thousands, + </p> + <p> + Barker, Capt., regulating officer at Bristol, midshipman. + </p> + <p> + Barking, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Barnicle, William, + </p> + <p> + Barnsley, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Barrington, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Bath, Bristol gang's fruitless attempt at, + </p> + <p> + Bawdsey, + </p> + <p> + <i>Beaufort</i>, East Indiaman, + </p> + <p> + Beecher, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Bennett, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Bertie, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Bethell, Capt, paid damages for wrongfully impressing, + </p> + <p> + Bettesworth, John, claims privilege of granting private protections to + Ryde and Portsmouth ferrymen, + </p> + <p> + Biggen, Charles, + </p> + <p> + Billingsley, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Bingham, William, + </p> + <p> + Birchall, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + <i>Bird-in-hand</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Birmingham, sham gangs at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Black Book</i> of the Admiralty, + </p> + <p> + Blackstone, Sir W., + </p> + <p> + Blackwater, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Blanche</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Blear-eyed Moll, + </p> + <p> + <i>Blonde</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Boats for the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Boat steerers on whalers exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + Boatswains, conditions of exemption, + </p> + <p> + <i>Bonetta</i> sloop, + </p> + <p> + Boscawen, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Boston, Mass., + </p> + <p> + Bounty system, the, + </p> + <p> + Bowen, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Box, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Boys, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Brace, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Bradley, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Brawn, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Breedon, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Brenton, Capt. Jahleel, afterwards Vice-Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Brenton, E. P., <i>Naval History</i>, + </p> + <p> + Brenton, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Brereton, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Brett, Capt, 110, + </p> + <p> + Bridges a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Brighton, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Bristol, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Bristol jail as press-room, + </p> + <p> + <i>Bristol</i>, H.M.S., + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +<i>Britannia</i> trading vessel, + three of the crew shot in resisting the + press-gang, the ship captured and taken to port, + the affair not within the coroner's purview, the bodies + buried at sea, court-martial acquits officers, +</pre> + <p> + Brixham, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Broadfoot case, the, + </p> + <p> + Broadstairs fishermen, the press-gang at, Bromley, Capt. Sir Robert, + </p> + <p> + Bullard, Richard, a fiddler persuaded to go to Woolwich to play and for + payment was handed to the gang, + </p> + <p> + <i>Bull-Dog</i> sloop, + </p> + <p> + Burchett, Josiah, <i>Observations on the Navy</i>, + </p> + <p> + Burrows, Sam, + </p> + <p> + Butler, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Byron, Lord, + </p> + <p> + Calahan, a gangsman, killed in attempting an arrest, + </p> + <p> + Cambridge bargemen, press-gang among, + </p> + <p> + Campbell, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Cape Breton, + </p> + <p> + Caradine, Samuel, + </p> + <p> + Carey, Rev. Lucius, + </p> + <p> + Carmarthen, Admiral the Marquis of, + </p> + <p> + Carolina, + </p> + <p> + Carpenters, conditions of exemption, on warships on coast of Scotland + could be replaced by shipwrights pressed from the yards, + </p> + <p> + Carrying the ship up, + </p> + <p> + Cartel ships, + </p> + <p> + Castle, William, an alien, impressed on his honeymoon, + </p> + <p> + Castleford, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Cawsand safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Cecil, William, Lord Burleigh, + </p> + <p> + <i>Centurion</i>, H.M.S., Anson's flagship, whose crew on their return had + life-protection from the press, + </p> + <p> + Chaplains, + </p> + <p> + Charles II., + </p> + <p> + Chatham, crimpage at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Chatham</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Chester, the press-gang at + </p> + <p> + <i>Chevrette</i> corvette, + </p> + <p> + Clapp, Midshipman, + </p> + <p> + Clark, George, + </p> + <p> + Clephen, James, + </p> + <p> + <i>Clincher</i> gun-brig, + </p> + <p> + Cockburn, Bailie, of Leith, + </p> + <p> + Cogbourne's electuary, + </p> + <p> + Coke, Sir E., + </p> + <p> + Collingwood, Admiral Lord, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Colvill, Admiral Lord, + </p> + <p> + Colville, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Convoys, + </p> + <p> + Conyear, John, + </p> + <p> + Cooper, Josh, + </p> + <p> + Cork, crimpage at, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Comet bomb ship, + </p> + <p> + Cornwall, the press-gang in, + </p> + <p> + Coversack, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Coventry, Mr. Commissioner, + </p> + <p> + Coventry, sham gangs at, + </p> + <p> + Cowes, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Crabb, Henry, + </p> + <p> + Crews depleted by the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Crick, William, + </p> + <p> + Crimps, as sham gangsmen, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Cromer, the suspicions of the inhabitants, + bring the press-gang, to take a noted Russian, +</pre> + <p> + Crown Colonies, desertions in, + </p> + <p> + Croydon, the press-gang around, + </p> + <p> + Cruickshank, John, chaplain, + </p> + <p> + Culverhouse, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Customs, Board of, + </p> + <p> + Dansays, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Danton, Midshipman, + </p> + <p> + Darby, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Dartmouth, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Dartmouth, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Davidson, Samuel, of Newcastle, applies for life protection + </p> + <p> + "DD," discharged dead, in muster books against names of persons deceased, + </p> + <p> + Deal, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + cutters, + </p> + <p> + Death of sailor in resisting impress, "accidental", + </p> + <p> + Debusk, John, shot by the press-gang, on the Britannia, + </p> + <p> + Dent, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Deptford, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Desertion from the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Devonshire, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Dipping the flag, + </p> + <p> + Director, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Discipline in the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Disinfecting a ship, + </p> + <p> + Dispatch sloop, + </p> + <p> + Dolan, Edward, + </p> + <p> + Dominion and Laws of the Sea., See Justice, A., + </p> + <p> + Dorsetshire, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Douglas, Capt. Andrew, + </p> + <p> + Dover, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Downs, crimpage in the, + </p> + <p> + press-gang in, + </p> + <p> + Doyle, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Dreadnought, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Drummers pressed for the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Dryden, Michael, illegally pressed, + </p> + <p> + Dryden's sister, + </p> + <p> + Dublin, sham gangs at, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Duke, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Duke of Vandome, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Duncan case, the, + </p> + <p> + Dundas, Henry, + </p> + <p> + Dundonald, Lord, Autobiography, + </p> + <p> + Dunkirk, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Eccentricity leads to impressment, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Eddystone lighthouse, building delayed through impressment of workmen, +builders of the third, protected, keepers at, put inward-bound, + ships' crews ashore, +</pre> + <p> + Edinburgh, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Edmund and Mary Collier, + </p> + <p> + Edward III. on the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth, Queen, + </p> + <p> + Elizabeth ketch, + </p> + <p> + Ely bargemen, press-gang among, + </p> + <p> + Emergency crews of men unfit for pressing supplied to merchant-men by the + crimps, + </p> + <p> + Emergency men working on their own account, places of muster for, + </p> + <p> + English Eclogues. See Southey, R., + </p> + <p> + Evading the press-gang. See under Press-gang, How it was evaded., + </p> + <p> + Evans, Richard, keeper of Gloucester Castle, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Exemption from impressment, + not a right, of foreigners, negroes not included, + of landsmen only theoretical, + property no qualification for exemption, + of harvesters, + of gentlemen, judged by appearances, + below 18 and over 55 years, + of apprentices dependent on circumstances, + of merchant seamen dependent on circumstances, + of masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters dependent on + circumstances, + of some of crew of whalers, + of Thames wherrymen by quota system, + of Tyne keelman by the same, + of Severn and Wye trow-men by 10% levy, + did not extend to turf boats on Shannon and Blackwater, + special for four on each fishing vessel, and later for all engaged + in taking, curing, and selling fish, + of Worthing fishermen for a levy, + of Scottish and Manx fishermen, on similar terms, + worthless without a document of protection, +</pre> + <p> + Exeter, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Falmouth</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Falmouth, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Faversham, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Ferme</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Ferries, a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + <i>Feversham</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Fifers pressed for the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Fire on ship board, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Fisheries, carefully fostered, + three fish days made compulsory, became a great nursery for seamen, + few exemptions granted, at first special concessions only to the + whale and cod fisheries, + later only such number as the warrant specified might be taken, and + these the Justices chose; in 1801 no person employed in taking, + curing, or selling fish could be impressed, + with their best men impressed, only small smacks could be worked, + a quota system preferred by the fishermen of some ports, + in Cornwall, the men turned tinners in the off-season, +</pre> + <p> + Flags, flying without authority, omission to dip, + </p> + <p> + Fleet, Liberty of, + </p> + <p> + Folkstone market-boats, + </p> + <p> + Folkstone, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Forcible entry by the press-gang illegal, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Foreigners impressed, theoretically exempt, married to English wives considered naturalised, + in emergency crews, +</pre> + <p> + Frederick the Great, + </p> + <p> + Freeholders at one time exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + <i>Fubbs</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Gage, Capt., + </p> + <p> + <i>Galloper</i>, tender to the <i>Dreadnought</i>, + </p> + <p> + <i>Ganges</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Garth, Dr., + </p> + <p> + Gaydon, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Gentlemen exempt from the impress, but judged by appearance and manner, + </p> + <p> + Gibbs, Capt., + </p> + <p> + <i>Glory</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Gloucester, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Gloucester Castle used as press-room, the keeper's magic palm, + </p> + <p> + Godalming, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Golden, John, Lord Mayor's bargeman, wrongfully impressed, + </p> + <p> + Good, James, midshipman, + </p> + <p> + Goodave, Midshipman, + </p> + <p> + Gooding, Richard, + </p> + <p> + Gosport, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Gravesend, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Gray, John, + </p> + <p> + Great Yarmouth, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Greenock, crimpage at, press-gang at, Trades Guild, + </p> + <p> + Greenock ferries, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Greenwich Hospital, + </p> + <p> + Grimsby, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Habeas Corpus, writs of, as means of arresting, and so freeing, pressed + men for debts not owing, + </p> + <p> + Half-pay officers, their projects and inventions, + </p> + <p> + Hamoaze, the, an entrepôt for pressed men, + </p> + <p> + Harpooners exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + Harrison, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Hart, Alexander, + </p> + <p> + <i>Harwich</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Haverfordwest, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward, + </p> + <p> + <i>Hawke</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Haygarth, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Health and illness, + </p> + <p> + <i>Hector</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Herbert, Emanuel, + </p> + <p> + <i>Hind</i> armed sloop, + </p> + <p> + <i>Historical Relation of State Affairs</i>. See Lutterell, N., + </p> + <p> + Hogarth's "Stage Coach," + </p> + <p> + Hook, Joseph, + </p> + <p> + <i>Hope</i> tender, + </p> + <p> + Hotten, J. C., <i>List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England + to the American Plantations</i>, + </p> + <p> + Hull, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Humber, the press-gang on, + </p> + <p> + Hurst Castle, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Ilfracombe, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Impressment. See Pressed labour., + </p> + <p> + Informers, + </p> + <p> + Inland waterways and the gang at one time without the jurisdiction of the + admirals, + </p> + <p> + Innes, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Ipswich, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Isis</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Isle of Man fishermen, + </p> + <p> + Jackson, Daniel, pressed from the Chester Volunteers, + </p> + <p> + Jamaica, + </p> + <p> + <i>Jason</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Jervis, John, Earl of St. Vincent, + </p> + <p> + Jews, pressed on account of bandy legs, + </p> + <p> + <i>John and Elizabeth</i> pink, + </p> + <p> + John, King, impressment under, + </p> + <p> + Johnson, Rebecca Anne, + </p> + <p> + Jones, Paul, + </p> + <p> + Justice, A., <i>Dominion and Laws of the Sea</i>, + </p> + <p> + Keith, A., parson of the Fleet, <i>Observations on the Act for Preventing + Clandestine Marriages</i>, + </p> + <p> + Kilkenny, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + King's Lynn, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Kingston, William, case of, + </p> + <p> + <i>King William</i>, Indiaman, + </p> + <p> + <i>Lady Shore</i>, the, + </p> + <p> + Landsmen exempt only in theory, + </p> + <p> + Latham, Capt., + </p> + <p> + Law officers' opinions on pressing, + </p> + <p> + Leave, stoppage of, + </p> + <p> + Leeds, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Leith, crimpage at, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Lennox</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Letting, John, pressed with two protections on him, + </p> + <p> + Lewis, Edward, chaplain, + </p> + <p> + Libraries, ships', + </p> + <p> + <i>Lichfield</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Licorne, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Limehouse Hole, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Lindsay, Admiral the Earl of, <i>Instructions</i>, + </p> + <p> + Linesmen on whalers exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + Liskeard, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England to the American + Plantations</i>. See Hotten, J. C., + </p> + <p> + <i>Litchfield</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Littlehampton, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Liverpool, crimpage at, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Lodden Bridge, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + London, the press-gang in, + </p> + <p> + Londonderry, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Longcroft, Capt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Loo</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Love, Henry, gets life protection as promised by Pitt and Dundas, + </p> + <p> + Lowestoft, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Lulworth, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Lundy Island, safe from the press-gang, + but not to the sailors' liking, + crews marooned on, +</pre> + <p> + Lutterell, N., <i>Historical Relation of State Affairs</i>, Capt. Hon. + Jas., + </p> + <p> + Lymington, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + M'Bride, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + M'Cleverty, Capt., + </p> + <p> + M'Donald, Alexander, impressed under the age of twelve, Charles, + </p> + <p> + M'Gugan's wife, + </p> + <p> + M'Kenzie, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + M'Quarry, Lachlan, + </p> + <p> + Magna Carta, its provisions contrary to impressment, + </p> + <p> + Mansfield, Lord, + </p> + <p> + Margate, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Maria</i> brig, + </p> + <p> + Marines, + </p> + <p> + Marooned crews on Lundy Island, + </p> + <p> + <i>Martin</i> galley, + </p> + <p> + <i>Mary</i> smuggler, + </p> + <p> + Masters, conditions of exemption, + </p> + <p> + Mastery of the sea, a necessity for England, + </p> + <p> + Mates, conditions of exemption, + </p> + <p> + Medway, press-gang on, + </p> + <p> + <i>Medway</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Men in lieu, + </p> + <p> + Merchant seamen, conditions of exemption, unprotected when sleeping + ashore, the most valuable asset to the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Merchant service, hard conditions of crews, + </p> + <p> + <i>Mercury</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Messenger, George, + </p> + <p> + Mike, James, hanged for desertion, + </p> + <p> + Moll Flanders, + </p> + <p> + <i>Monarch</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Monmouth</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Monumenta Juridica</i>, + </p> + <p> + Morals in the Navy, improved by Jervis, Nelson, and Collingwood, + </p> + <p> + Moriarty, Capt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Mortar</i> sloop, + </p> + <p> + Mostyn, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + <i>Mediator</i> tender, + </p> + <p> + Mitchell, Admiral Sir D., + </p> + <p> + Montagu, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Mousehole, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Moverty, Thomas, pressed, not having protection on him, + </p> + <p> + Nancy of Deptford, + </p> + <p> + <i>Naseby</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Nassau</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Naval History</i>. See Brenton, E. P., + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Navy, the growth of, in 18th century, natural sources of supply of +crews, hard conditions of service in, + discipline in, + provisions in, + comforts in, +</pre> + <p> + Negroes not exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + Nelson, Admiral Lord, + </p> + <p> + <i>Nemesis</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Newcastle-upon-Tyne, press-gang at, grand protection enjoyed by, + </p> + <p> + New England, + </p> + <p> + Newgate compared with the press-room, + </p> + <p> + Newhaven, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Newland, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Newquay, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Nore, the press-gang at the, the mutiny at, an entrepôt for pressed-men, + </p> + <p> + <i>Norfolk</i>, Indiaman, + </p> + <p> + Norris, John, + </p> + <p> + North Forland, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Nymph</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Oakley, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Oaks, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + O'Brien, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + <i>Observations on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc.</i> See + Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., + </p> + <p> + <i>Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages.</i> See + Keith, A., + </p> + <p> + <i>Observations on the Navy.</i> See Burchett, J., + </p> + <p> + Okehampton, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Onions, Thomas, + </p> + <p> + <i>Orford</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Orkney fishermen, + </p> + <p> + Osborne, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Osmer, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + <i>Otter</i> sloop, + </p> + <p> + Oyster vessels, + </p> + <p> + <i>Pallas</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Parker, Richard, president of the mutineers at the Nore, + </p> + <p> + Parkgate, a resort of seamen, + </p> + <p> + Paying off discharged entire crews, + </p> + <p> + Paying the shot, + </p> + <p> + Pay of sailors, deferred, + </p> + <p> + Pembroke, Earl of, Lord High Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., <i>Observations on Corporeal Punishment, + Impressment, etc.</i>, + </p> + <p> + Pepys, S., + </p> + <p> + Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, + </p> + <p> + Petitions of seamen of the Fleet and others, + </p> + <p> + <i>Phoenix</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Pill, a favourite haunt of sailors, and shunned by gangsmen, + </p> + <p> + Pilots, + </p> + <p> + Pitt, William, + </p> + <p> + Plymouth, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Polpero, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Poole, press-gang at, mayor refuses to back press-warrants, + </p> + <p> + Popham, Admiral Sir Home, his scheme for coast defence, + </p> + <p> + Portland Bill, press-gang off, + </p> + <p> + Portland Island, + </p> + <p> + Portsmouth, desertions at, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Post-chaise, sailors in, + </p> + <p> + Press-boats sunk at sea, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Pressed labour (see also Press-gang), antiquity of, for civil occupations, + for warfare, + means of enforcing, + contrary to the spirit of Magna Carta, + penalties for resistance, + derivation of the term, + the classes from which drawn, + exemptions from, + necessity of, in English Navy, + its crippling effect on trade, +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Press-gang, the why it was a necessity for the Navy, + its services not needed by some captains, + what it was, + the official and the popular views, + the class of men it was composed of, + its quarters, landsmen joining the land force not to be pressed + for sea service, + ship-gangs entirely seamen, varying numbers in gang, + the officers, + the shore service the grave of promotion, + general character of officers ashore, + duties of the Regulating Captain, + pay and road money, etc., + perquisites, peculation, and bribery in the service, + sham-gangs, + the rendezvous, + boat's arms, + press warrant, + whom the gang might take, + primarily those who used the sea, + later on trade suffers from the gang, + exemption granted as an indulgence, + the foreigner first exempted, + but not if he had an English wife, and was soon assumed to have + one, + negroes not exempt, landsmen theoretically only, + harvesters were exempt if holding a certificate, + gentlemen exempt if dressed as such, + only those proved to be between eighteen and fifty-five, + the position of apprentices was uncertain, + to press merchant seamen was resented by trade, + masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters were exempt, + colliers were exempt up to a certain proportion, + ship protections did not count on shore, + mate was not entitled to liberty unless registered at the + rendezvous, + harpooners were protected out of season on land or on colliers, + the press-gang preyed upon its fellows, + watermen, bargemen, and canal boat-dwellers were considered to use + the see, + Thames watermen and some others exempt if certain quota of men + supplied, + large numbers pressed from Ireland, + fishermen indifferently protected, but fisheries fostered, + all protected persons bound to carry their protection on them, + an error in protection invalidated it, + protections often disregarded, + special protections, + its activities afloat, + the merchant seamen the principal quest, + the chain of sea-gangs, + the outer rings, frigates pressing for their own crews and armed + sloops as tenders to ships of the line, and the vessels employed + by regulating captains at the large ports, + the inner ring of boat-gangs in harbour or on rivers; + their methods., + methods of pressing at sea, + complications arising from pressing at sea, + their varied success., + and the right to search foreign vessels for English seamen, + and convoys, + and privateers, + and smugglers, + smuggling by, + and ships in quarantine, + and transports, + and cartel ships, + and pilots, + how it was evaded, + in the ship, with her or from her, + or a combination, + hiding on board from, + evasions assisted by the skipper, + and men in lieu and foreigners in emergency crews, + pilots and fisherman taken by, when acting as emergency men, + evaded by desertion from the ship, + evaded by hiding on land and changing quarters, + Cornwall dangerous for, + safe retreats from, + empowered to take Severn and Wye trow-men, + unsuccessful efforts of, + evaded by borrowed, forged, and American protections and by + disguises, + what it did ashore, + the sailor betrayed by marked characteristics; + sailors outnumbered on shore by the gang, + its object the pressing of sailors who escaped the seagangs, + its London rendezvous and taverns used. + the inland distribution of, + the class of places selected for operations of, + the land-gangs necessarily ambulatory, + its resting and refreshment places chosen for purposes of capture, + the methods adopted, + a hot press at Brighton, + a ruse at Portsmouth, + how the sailors' liking for drink was turned to account, + the amount of violence used, + outside assistance to, + rivalry between gangs, + assisted by mayors and county magistrates, + assisted by the military, + townsmen who sided with the sailors against, + brutal behaviour of, at Poole, + resisted at Deal and Dover, + forcible entry by, illegal, + magistrates consign vagabonds and disorderly persons to, + how it was resisted, + various weapons used against, + gangs-men killed by sailors resisting them, + sailors killed by gangsmen, + by armed bands of seamen, + by the populace in attempting to impress, + pressed-men recaptured from, + tenders attacked, + rendezvous attacked, + press-boats attacked and sunk, + resistance when the press-gang had come abroad, + the hardship of impressment on arrival from long voyage, + the only means of resistance, + a sailor's death in such case "accidental," casual, unavoidable, + or disagreeable, + a case in point, + at play, + humorous reason given for impressing a person, + inculcating manners by means of the press, + the respect due to naval officers, + the outsider liable to be pressed for breach of naval etiquette, + rudeness to the press-gang treated the same way, + damages from officers for wrongful impressment, failure to dip the + flag, or flying an unauthorised flag, might lead to pressing + from that crew, + unseamanlike management of a ship laid the crew open to pressing, + pipers and fiddlers, etc., impressed, + ridiculous reasons given for impressing, + unsuspecting passenger in a smuggler declared owner of contraband + and pressed, + tattoo marks and bandy legs lead to pressing, + any eccentricity sufficient to ensure the attention of the + press-gang, + used by trustees to keep heirs from their money, and by parents to + rid them of incorrigible sons, + used for purposes of retaliation, + used by strikers to get rid of a "blackleg." + used by stern parent to part his daughter and her lover, + a drunken cleric's revenge by means of, + by pressing a sailor, causes his late bedfellow to be hanged as + his murderer, + and women, + of women and sailors in general, + lack of sentiment in gangsmen, + women impressed by, + women masquerading as men to go to sea, + women in the gang, + the hardship brought on women by the gang, + fostered vice and bred paupers, + women who released sailors from the press-gang, + the devotion of Richard Parker's wife, + In the clutch of, + the press-room, what it was; strongly built and small as it might + be, could hold any number, + Bristol gaol and Gloucester Castle used as press-rooms, + inadequate precautions for retaining pressed men on the road, + regulations for rendezvous, + victualling in the press-room, + regulating or examining for fitness for service, + fabricated ailments and defects, + dispatching pressed men to the fleet, + tenders hired for transport of pressed men, + comfort and health of pressed men on tenders, + the victualling of pressed men on tenders, + prevention of escape, + an attempt to escape-with the Tasker tender escapes from, + The Union tender cut out from the Tyne by the pressed men, + various excitements aboard + a final examination, + petitions, + substitutes, + How the gang went out, + causes of withdrawal of press-gang, + the increasingly bad quality of the product, + the spirit of restlessness and mutiny engendered, + the injury to trade, + only continued so long by the apathy of the people, + the cost of impressing, +</pre> + <p> + Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life, The, + </p> + <p> + Press warrants, forged, + </p> + <p> + Presting, the original term and its meaning, + </p> + <p> + Prest money, + </p> + <p> + Price, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Prince George guardship at Portsmouth, + </p> + <p> + Princess Augusta, a letter of marque, + </p> + <p> + Princess Augusta tender, + </p> + <p> + Princess Louisa, H.M.S, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Privateers, loss of seamen by, pressing from, + recapture of pressed crew of, +</pre> + <p> + Prize money, + </p> + <p> + Profane abuse of crews by officers, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Protections, for masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters, worthless, +if the holder were ashore, bound to be always carried, + slightest error in description invalidated, + were often disregarded, + special, + for men in lieu, + for crews of convoys and privateers expired on arrival in home waters, + lent, bought, and exchanged, + American, +</pre> + <p> + Provisions in the Navy, + </p> + <p> + Quarantine, + </p> + <p> + Queensferry, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Quota men, + </p> + <p> + "R" for "run" in ships' books to denote deserter, + </p> + <p> + Raleigh, Sir Walter, + </p> + <p> + Ramsgate, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Reading, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Registration of seamen, + </p> + <p> + Regulating, i.e. examination of pressed-men for fitness, ailments and + defects fabricated or assumed, + </p> + <p> + Regulating captains, character of a, + </p> + <p> + Repulse, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Rendezvous, attacked, regulations of, + </p> + <p> + Rescue of pressed men from the gang, + </p> + <p> + Reunion, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Rhode Island, + </p> + <p> + Rice, + </p> + <p> + Richard II, + </p> + <p> + Richards, John, midshipman, + </p> + <p> + Richardson, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Right of search, + </p> + <p> + Roberts, Capt. John, + </p> + <p> + Rochester, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Rodney, Admiral Lord, + </p> + <p> + Roebuck, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Romsey, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Routh, Capt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Royal Sovereign</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Ruby</i> gunship, + </p> + <p> + Rudsdale, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Rum, + </p> + <p> + <i>Rupert</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Russia, impressment in, + </p> + <p> + Russian Navy, + </p> + <p> + Ryde, the Lord of the Manor, claimed the privilege of private protections + for his ferrymen to Portsmouth and Gosport, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Rye</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Rye, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Sailor, the word disfavoured by Navy Board, a creature of contradictions, + </p> + <p> + St. Ives, safe from the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + St. Lawrence River, deserters in, + </p> + <p> + St. Vincent, Earl of. See Jervis, J, + </p> + <p> + Salisbury, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Sanders, Joseph, + </p> + <p> + <i>Sandwich</i>, H.M.S., flag-ship at the Nore, + </p> + <p> + Sax, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + <i>Scipio</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Scott, John, pressed when his protection was lying in his coat beside him, + </p> + <p> + Scottish fishermen, + </p> + <p> + <i>Seahorse</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + "Serving out slops," + </p> + <p> + Severn trow-men, exempted from impress by 10% levy, Court of Exchequer + rules the reverse, + </p> + <p> + Seymour, Lieut., + </p> + <p> + Sham gangs, + </p> + <p> + <i>Shandois</i> sloop, + </p> + <p> + <i>Shannon</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Shannon, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + </p> + <p> + <i>Shark</i>, sloop, + </p> + <p> + "She" applied to a ship, a recent use, + </p> + <p> + Sheerness, crimpage at, + </p> + <p> + Shields, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Ships, impressment of, + </p> + <p> + Shipwrights in Scotch yards could be pressed as carpenters on warships, + </p> + <p> + Shirley, Governor, + </p> + <p> + Shoreham, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + <i>Shrewsbury</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Shrewsbury, sham gangs at, + </p> + <p> + Sloper, Major-General, + </p> + <p> + Smeaton, John, + </p> + <p> + Smugglers, crew of, pressed, unsuspecting passenger declared owner and + pressed, + </p> + <p> + <i>Solebay</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Southampton, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Southey, Robt, <i>English Eclogues</i>, + </p> + <p> + <i>Southsea Castle</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Spithead, crimpage at, an entrepôt for pressed men, + </p> + <p> + <i>Spy</i> sloop of war, + </p> + <p> + <i>Squirrel</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Stag</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + <i>Stag</i> privateer, + </p> + <p> + Stangate Creek, the fray at, + </p> + <p> + Stephens, George, impressed at thirteen, + </p> + <p> + Stephenson, George, + </p> + <p> + Stepney Fields, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Stillwell, John, + </p> + <p> + Stourbridge, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Strike-me-blind. See Rice, + </p> + <p> + Sturdy, Ralph, shot by the pressgang on the <i>Britannia</i>, + </p> + <p> + Sunderland, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Surgeons, + </p> + <p> + Swansea, + </p> + <p> + Tailors pressed on account of bandy legs, + </p> + <p> + Talbot, Mary Anne, + </p> + <p> + <i>Tasker</i> tender, + </p> + <p> + Tassell, William, a protected mate, pressed ashore, + </p> + <p> + Taunton, Denny-Bowl quarry, near—three girls as sham gang, the + press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Taylor, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Taylor, William, + </p> + <p> + Teede, John, undone by tattoo marks, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Tenders, attacked, hired for transport of pressed men, + the health and comfort of pressed men on, + their victualling, + attempts to escape from and with, +</pre> + <p> + Thames, press-gang on the, wherrymen exempted by levy of one in five, + </p> + <p> + <i>Thetis</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Thomson, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Thurlow, Lord, + </p> + <p> + Ticket men. See Men in lieu, + </p> + <p> + Tobacco, + </p> + <p> + Trading classes the greatest sufferers from impressment, not without + resentment, various trades gradually exempted, + </p> + <p> + Tramps. See Vagabonds, + </p> + <p> + Transports, + </p> + <p> + Travelling, cost of, + </p> + <p> + <i>Trial and Life of Richard Parker</i>, + </p> + <p> + Trim, William, + </p> + <p> + Trinity House, + </p> + <p> + <i>Triton</i> brig, + </p> + <p> + <i>Triton</i>, Indiaman, + </p> + <p> + Turning over of crews, + </p> + <p> + Tyne keelman exempt from impress by levy—the men supplied being + obtained by them by bounties, + </p> + <p> + <i>Union</i> tender, + </p> + <p> + <i>Utrecht</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Vagabonds handed over to the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + <i>Vanguard</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Vernon, Admiral, + </p> + <p> + Victualling in the press-room, + </p> + <p> + Virginia, + </p> + <p> + Wages due to sailors to date of impressment, + </p> + <p> + Walbeoff, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Ward, Ned, <i>Wooden World Dissected</i>, + </p> + <p> + Waterford, press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + Watermen's language, + </p> + <p> + Watson, Lieut, + </p> + <p> + Watts, John, punished with 170 lashes, + </p> + <p> + Weapons used against the press-gang, + </p> + <p> + Weir, Alexander, + </p> + <p> + Wellington, Duke of, + </p> + <p> + Whalers, some of crew of, exempt from impressment, + </p> + <p> + Whitby, the press-gang at, + </p> + <p> + White, John, pressed at Bristol ninety yards from his vessel, + </p> + <p> + Whitefoot, James, impressed at Bristol, + </p> + <p> + Whitworth, Charles, Envoy to Russia, + </p> + <p> + "Widows' men." + </p> + <p> + Williams, John, + </p> + <p> + <i>Willing Traveller</i> smuggler, + </p> + <p> + Wilson, John, shot by the press-gang on the <i>Britannia</i>, + </p> + <p> + <i>Winchelsea</i>, H.M.S., + </p> + <p> + Winstanley, London butcher, served as pressed man 16 years, + </p> + <p> + <i>Wolf</i> armed sloop, + </p> + <p> + Women and the Press-gang, See also under Press-gang, "The Press-gang and + Women." + </p> + <p> + <i>Wooden World Dissected</i>. See Ward, Ned, + </p> + <p> + Wool, illegal export of, + </p> + <p> + Worth, Capt, + </p> + <p> + Worthing fishermen, + </p> + <p> + Wye trow-men exempted from impress by 10% levy, + </p> + <p> + Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + </p> + <p> + Yarmouth Roads, the press-gang in, + </p> + <p> + "Yellow Admirals." + </p> + <p> + Yorke, Sol. Gen, + </p> + <p> + Young, Admiral, his torpedo, + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore, by +John R. Hutchinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + +***** This file should be named 6766-h.htm or 6766-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/6/6766/ + + +Text file produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore + +Author: John R. Hutchinson + + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6766] +This file was first posted on January 24, 2003 +Last Updated: June 14, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + + + + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from +images generously made available by the CWRU Preservation +Department Digital Library. + + + + + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE + +By J. R. Hutchinson + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + +II. WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + +III. WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + +IV. WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + +V. WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + +VI. EVADING THE GANG. + +VII. WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + +VIII. AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + +IX. THE GANG AT PLAY. + +X. WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + +XI. IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + +XII. HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + +APPENDIX: ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: + + + +AN UNWELCOME VISIT FROM THE PRESS GANG. + +MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a rare print in the +collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY. + +THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM. + +SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS WEDDING DAY. + +JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the Painting by MORLAND. + +ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. A play-bill announcing the +suspension of the Gang's operations on "Play Nights," in the collection +of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY, by whose kind permission it is reproduced. + +SAILORS CAROUSING. From the Mezzotint after J. IBBETSON. + +ANNE MILLS WHO SERVED ON BOARD THE _MAIDSTONE_ IN 1740. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT DRESSED AS A SAILOR. + +THE PRESS GANG, OR ENGLISH LIBERTY DISPLAYED. + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. Reproduced from the Original Drawing at the +Public Record Office. + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + + + +The practice of pressing men--that is to say, of taking by intimidation +or force those who will not volunteer--would seem to have been +world-wide in its adoption. + +Wherever man desired to have a thing done, and was powerful enough +to insure the doing of it, there he attained his end by the simple +expedient of compelling others to do for him what he, unaided, could not +do for himself. + +The individual, provided he did not conspire in sufficient numbers to +impede or defeat the end in view, counted only as a food-consuming atom +in the human mass which was set to work out the purpose of the master +mind and hand. His face value in the problem was that of a living wage. +If he sought to enhance his value by opposing the master hand, the +master hand seized him and wrung his withers. + +So long as the compelling power confined the doing of the things it +desired done to works of construction, it met with little opposition +in its designs, experienced little difficulty in coercing the labour +necessary for piling its walls, excavating its tanks, raising its +pyramids and castles, or for levelling its roads and building its ships +and cities. These were the commonplace achievements of peace, at +which even the coerced might toil unafraid; for apart from the normal +incidence of death, such works entailed little danger to the lives +of the multitudes who wrought upon them. Men could in consequence be +procured for them by the exercise of the minimum of coercion--by, that +is to say, the mere threat of it. + +When peace went to the wall and the pressed man was called upon to go to +battle, the case assumed another aspect, an acuter phase. Given a state +of war, the danger to life and limb, the incidence of death, at once +jumped enormously, and in proportion as these disquieting factors in the +pressed man's lot mounted up, just in that proportion did his opposition +to the power that sought to take him become the more determined, +strenuous, and undisguised. + +Particularly was this true of warlike operations upon the sea, for to +the extraordinary and terrible risks of war were here added the ordinary +but ever-present dangers of wind and wave and storm, sufficient in +themselves to appal the unaccustomed and to antagonise the unwilling. +In face of these superlative risks the difficulty of procuring men was +accentuated a thousand-fold, and with it both the nature and the degree +of the coercive force necessary to be exercised for their procuration. + +In these circumstances the Ruling Power had no option but to resort +to more exigent means of attaining its end. In times of peace, working +through myriad hands, it had constructed a thousand monuments of +ornamental or utilitarian industry. These, with the commonweal they +represented, were now threatened and must be protected at all costs. +What more reasonable than to demand of those who had built, or of +their successors in the perpetual inheritance of toil, that they should +protect what they had reared. Hitherto, in most cases, the men required +to meet the national need had submitted at a threat. They had to live, +and coercive toil meant at least a living wage. Now, made rebellious by +a fearful looking forward to the risks they were called upon to incur, +they had to be met by more effective measures. Faced by this emergency, +Power did not mince matters. It laid violent hands upon the unwilling +subject and forced him, _nolens volens_, to sail its ships, to man its +guns, and to fight its battles by sea as he already, under less overt +compulsion, did its bidding by land. + +It is with this phase of pressing--pressing open, violent and +unashamed--that we purpose here to deal, and more particularly with +pressing as it applies to the sea and sailors, to the Navy and the +defence of an Island Kingdom. + +At what time the pressing of men for the sea service of the Crown was +first resorted to in these islands it is impossible to determine. There +is evidence, however, that the practice was not only in vogue, but +firmly established as an adjunct of power, as early as the days of the +Saxon kings. It was, in fact, coeval with feudalism, of which it may be +described as a side-issue incidental to a maritime situation; for though +it is impossible to point to any species of fee, as understood of the +tenure of land, under which the holder was liable to render service at +sea, yet it must not be forgotten that the great ports of the kingdom, +and more especially the Cinque Ports, were from time immemorial bound +to find ships for national purposes, whenever called upon to do so, in +return for the peculiar rights and privileges conferred upon them by +the Crown. The supply of ships necessarily involved the supply of men +to sail and fight them, and in this supply, or, rather, in the mode +of obtaining it, we have undoubtedly the origin of the later impress +system. + +With the reign of John the practice springs into sudden prominence. +The incessant activities of that uneasy king led to almost incessant +pressing, and at certain crises in his reign commission after commission +is directed, in feverish succession, to the sheriffs of counties and the +bailiffs of seaports throughout the kingdom, straitly enjoining them +to arrest and stay all ships within their respective jurisdictions, and +with the ships the mariners who sail them. [Footnote: By a plausible +euphemism they were said to be "hired." As a matter of fact, both +ships and men were retained during the royal pleasure at rates fixed by +custom.] No exception was taken to these edicts. Long usage rendered the +royal lien indefeasible. [Footnote: In more modern times the pressing +of ships, though still put forward as a prerogative of the Crown, was +confined in the main to unforeseen exigencies of transport. On the fall +of Louisburg in 1760, vessels were pressed at that port in order to +carry the prisoners of war to France (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1491--Capt. +Byron, 17 June 1760); and in 1764, again, we find Capt. Brereton, of the +_Falmouth_, forcibly impressing the East India ship _Revenge_ for +the purpose of transporting to Fort St. George, in British India, +the company, numbering some four hundred and twenty-one souls, of the +_Siam_, then recently condemned at Manilla as unseaworthy.--_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1498--Letters of Capt. Brereton, 1764.] + +In the carrying out of the royal commands there was consequently, at +this stage in the development of pressing, little if any resort to +direct coercion. From the very nature of the case the principle of +coercion was there, but it was there only in the bud. The king's right +to hale whom he would into his service being practically undisputed, a +threat of reprisals in the event of disobedience answered all purposes, +and even this threat was as yet more often implied than openly +expressed. King John was perhaps the first to clothe it in words. +Requisitioning the services of the mariners of Wales, a notoriously +disloyal body, he gave the warrant, issued in 1208, a severely minatory +turn. "Know ye for certain," it ran, "that if ye act contrary to this, +we will cause you and the masters of your vessels to be hanged, and all +your goods to be seized for our use." + +At this point in the gradual subjection of the seaman to the needs of +the nation, defensive or the contrary, we are confronted by an event +as remarkable in its nature as it is epoch-making in its consequences. +Magna Charta was sealed on the 13th of June 1215, and within a year of +that date, on, namely, the 14th of April then next ensuing, King John +issued his commission to the barons of twenty-two seaports, requiring +them, in terms admitting of neither misconstruction nor compromise, +to arrest all ships, and to assemble those ships, together with their +companies, in the River of Thames before a certain day. [Footnote: +Hardy, _Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum_, 1833.] This wholesale embargo upon +the shipping and seamen of the nation, imposed as it was immediately +after the ensealing of Magna Charta, raises a question of great +constitutional interest. In what sense, and to what extent, was the +Charter of English Liberties intended to apply to the seafaring man? + +Essentially a tyrant and a ruthless promise-breaker, John's natural +cruelty would in itself sufficiently account for the dire penalties +threatened under the warrant of 1208; but neither his tyranny, his +faithlessness of character, nor his very human irritation at +the concessions wrung from him by his barons, can explain to our +satisfaction why, having granted a charter affirming and safeguarding +the liberties of, ostensibly, every class of his people, he should +immediately inflict upon one of those classes, and that, too, the one +least of all concerned in his historic dispute, the pains of a most +rigorous impressment. The only rational explanation of his conduct is, +that in thus acting he was contravening no convention, doing violence to +no covenant, but was, on the contrary, merely exercising, in accordance +with time-honoured usage, an already well-recognised, clearly denned and +firmly seated prerogative which the great charter he had so recently put +his hand to was in no sense intended to limit or annul. + +This view of the case is confirmed by subsequent events. Press warrants, +identical in every respect save one with the historic warrant of 1216, +continued to emanate from the Crown long after King John had gone to his +account, and, what is more to the point, to emanate unchallenged. Stubbs +himself, our greatest constitutional authority, repeatedly admits as +much. Every crisis in the destinies of the Island Kingdom--and they were +many and frequent--produced its batch of these procuratory documents, +every batch its quota of pressed men. The inference is plain. The +mariner was the bondsman of the sea, and to him the _Nullus liber homo +capiatur_ clause of the Great Charter was never intended to apply. In +his case a dead-letter from the first, it so remained throughout the +entire chapter of his vicissitudes. + +The chief point wherein the warrants of later times differed from those +of King John was this: As time went on the penalties they imposed on +those who resisted the press became less and less severe. The death +penalty fell into speedy disuse, if, indeed, it was ever inflicted at +all. Imprisonment for a term of from one to two years, with forfeiture +of goods, was held to meet all the exigencies of the case. Gradually +even this modified practice underwent amelioration, until at length +it dawned upon the official intelligence that a seaman who was free +to respond to the summons of the boatswain's whistle constituted an +infinitely more valuable physical asset than one who cursed his king and +his Maker in irons. All punishment of the condign order, for contempt +or resistance of the press, now went by the board, and in its stead the +seaman was merely admonished in paternal fashion, as in a Proclamation +of 1623, to take the king's shilling "dutifully and reverently" when it +was tendered to him. + +In its apparent guilelessness the admonition was nevertheless woefully +deceptive. Like the subdued beat of drum by which, some five years +later, the seamen of London were lured to Tower Hill, there to be seized +and thrown bodily into the waiting fleet, it masked under its mild +exterior the old threat of coercion in a new form. The ancient pains and +penalties were indeed no more; but for the back of the sailor who was +so ill-advised as to defy the press there was another rod in pickle. He +could now be taken forcibly. + +For side by side with the negative change involved in the abolition +of the old punishments, there had been in progress, throughout the +intervening centuries, a positive development of far worse omen for the +hapless sailor-man. The root-principle of direct coercion, necessarily +inherent in any system that seeks to foist an arbitrary and obnoxious +status upon any considerable body of men, was slowly but surely bursting +into bud. The years that had seen the unprested seaman freed from the +dread of the yardarm and the horrors of the forepeak, had bred a new +terror for him. Centuries of usage had strengthened the arm of that +hated personage the Press-Master, and the compulsion which had once +skulked under cover of a threat now threw off its disguise and stalked +the seafaring man for what it really was--Force, open and unashamed. The +_dernier ressort_ of former days was now the first resort. The seafaring +man who refused the king's service when "admonished" thereto had short +shrift. He was "first knocked down, and then bade to stand in the king's +name." Such, literally and without undue exaggeration, was the later +system which, reaching the climax of its insolent pretensions to +justifiable violence in the eighteenth century, for upwards of a hundred +years bestrode the neck of the unfortunate sailor like some monstrous +Old Man of the Sea. + +Outbursts of violent pressing before the dawn of the eighteenth century, +though spasmodic and on the whole infrequent, were not entirely unknown. +Times of national stress were peculiarly productive of them. Thus when, +in 1545, there was reason to fear a French invasion, pressing of the +most violent and unprecedented character was openly resorted to in order +to man the fleet. The class who suffered most severely on that occasion +were the fisher folk of Devon, "the most part" of whom were "taken +as marryners to serve the king." [Footnote: _State Papers_, Henry +VIII.--Lord Russell to the Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545. Bourne, who +cites the incident in his _Tudor Seamen_, misses the essential point +that the fishermen were forcibly pressed.] + +During the Civil Wars of the next century both parties to the strife +issued press warrants which were enforced with the utmost rigour. The +Restoration saw a marked recrudescence of similar measures. How great +was the need of men at that time, and how exigent the means employed +to procure them, may be gathered from the fact, cited by Pepys, that in +1666 the fleet lay idle for a whole fortnight "without any demand for a +farthing worth of anything, but only to get men." The genial diarist +was deeply moved by the scenes of violence that followed. They were, he +roundly declares, "a shame to think of." + +The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and +"pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it +so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's +service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" +in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to a +process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by +means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being the +English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now _pret_, meaning +"ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, "prest" money stood +for what is nowadays, in both services, commonly termed the "king's +shilling," and the man who, either voluntarily or under duress, accepted +or received that shilling at the recruiter's hands, was said to be +"prested" or "prest." In other words, having taken the king's ready +money, he was thenceforth, during the king's pleasure, "ready" for the +king's service. + +By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter to +the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter and +his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more solemn or +binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. One of the +parties to the contract was more often than not, it is true, a strongly +dissenting party; but although under the common law of the land this +circumstance would have rendered any similar contract null and void, in +this amazing transaction between the king and his "prest" subject it was +held to be of no vitiating force. From the moment the king's shilling, +by whatever means, found its way into the sailor's possession, from that +moment he was the king's man, bound in heavy penalties to toe the +line of duty, and, should circumstances demand it, to fight the king's +enemies to the death, be that fate either theirs or his. + +By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the +English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in +pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, as we +have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the devious +means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea service. +"Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions precisely +connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. Hence, as +the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, "pressing," +in the mouths of the people at large, came to be synonymous with that +most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring system of recruiting +which, in the course of time, took the place of its milder and more +humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man disappeared, [Footnote: +The Law Officers of the Crown retained him, on paper, until the close +of the eighteenth century--an example in which they were followed by +the Admiralty. To admit his disappearance would have been to knock the +bottom out of their case.] and in his stead there came upon the +scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, "forced," as Pepys so +graphically describes his condition, "against all law to be gone." +An odder coincidence than this gradual substitution of "pressed" for +_prest,_ or one more grimly appropriate in its application, it would +surely be impossible to discover in the whose history of nomenclature. + +With the growth of the power and violence of the impress there was +gradually inaugurated another change, which perhaps played a larger part +than any other feature of the system in making it finally obnoxious to +the nation at large--finally, because, as we shall see, the nation +long endured its exactions with pathetic submission and lamentable +indifference. The incidence of pressing was no longer confined, as in +its earlier stages, to the overflow of the populace upon the country's +rivers, and bays, and seas. Gradually, as naval needs grew in volume and +urgency, the press net was cast wider and wider, until at length, during +the great century of struggle, when the system was almost constantly +working at its highest pressure and greatest efficiency, practically +every class of the population of these islands was subjected to its +merciless inroads, if not decimated by its indiscriminate exactions. + +On the very threshold of the century we stumble upon an episode +curiously indicative of the set of the tide. Czar Peter of Russia had +been recently in England, acquiring a knowledge of English customs +which, on his return home, he immediately began to put in practice. His +navy, such as it was, was wretchedly manned. [Footnote: The navy got +together by Czar Peter had all but disappeared by the time Catherine II. +came to the throne. "Ichabod" was written over the doors of the +Russian Admiralty. Their ships of war were few in number, unseaworthy, +ill-found, ill-manned. Two thousand able-bodied seamen could with +difficulty be got together in an emergency. The nominal fighting +strength of the fleet stood high, but that strength in reality consisted +of men "one half of whom had never sailed out of the Gulf of Finland, +whilst the other half had never sailed anywhere at all." When the fleet +was ordered to sea, the Admiralty "put soldiers on board, and by calling +them sailors persuaded themselves that they really were so."--_State +Papers, Russia,_ vol. lxxvii.--Macartney, Nov. 16-27, 1766.] Russian +serfs made bad sailors and worse seamen. In the English ships thronging +the quays at Archangel there was, however, plenty of good stuff-men who +could use the sea without being sick, men capable of carrying a ship to +her destination without piling her up on the rocks or seeking nightly +shelter under the land. He accordingly pressed every ninth man out of +those ships. + +When news of this high-handed proceeding reached England, it roused the +Queen and her advisers to indignation. Winter though it was, they lost +no time in dispatching Charles Whitworth, a rising diplomat of the +suavest type, as "Envoy Extraordinary to our Good (but naughty) Brother +the Czar of Muscovy," with instructions to demand the release, immediate +and unconditional, of the pressed men. Whitworth found the Czar at +Moscow. The Autocrat of All the Russias listened affably enough to what +he had to say, but refused his demand in terms that left scant room +for doubt as to his sincerity of purpose, and none for protracted +"conversations." "Every Prince," he declared for sole answer, "can take +what he likes out of his own havens." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1436--Capt. J. Anderson's letters and enclosures; _State Papers, +Russia_, vol. iv.--Whitworth to Secretary Harley.] The position thus +taken up was unassailable. Centuries of usage hedged the prerogative in, +and Queen Anne herself, in the few years she had been on the throne, had +not only exercised it with a free hand, but had laid that hand without +scruple upon many a foreign seaman. + +The lengths to which the system had gone by the end of the third quarter +of the century is thrown into vivid relief by two incidents, one of +which occurred in 1726, the other fifty years later. + +In the former year one William Kingston, pressed in the Downs--a man +who hailed from Lyme Regis and habitually "used the sea"--was, +notwithstanding that fact, discharged by express Admiralty order +because he was a "substantial man and had a landed estate." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt Charles Browne, 25 March 1726, and +endorsement.] + +The incident of 1776, known as the Duncan case, occurred, or rather +began, at North Shields. Lieutenant Oaks, captain of the press-gang in +that town, one day met in the streets a man who, unfortunately for his +future, "had the appearance of a seaman." He accordingly pressed him; +whereupon the man, whose name was Duncan, produced the title-deeds +of certain house property in London, down Wapping way, worth some six +pounds per annum, and claimed his discharge on the ground that as a +freeholder and a voter he was immune from the press. The lieutenant +laughed the suggestion to scorn, and Duncan was shipped south to the +fleet. + +The matter did not end there. Duncan's friends espoused his cause and +took energetic steps for his release. Threatened with an action at law, +and averse from incurring either unnecessary risks or opprobrium where +pressed men were concerned, the Admiralty referred the case to Mr. +Attorney-General (afterwards Lord) Thurlow for his opinion. + +The point of law Thurlow was called upon to resolve was, "Whether being +a freeholder is an exception from being pressed;" and as Duncan was +represented in counsel's instructions--on what ground, other than his +"appearance," is not clear--to be a man Who habitually used the sea, it +is hardly matter for surprise that the great jurist's opinion, biassed +as it obviously was by that alleged fact, should have been altogether +inimical to the pressed man and favourable to the Admiralty. + +"I see no reason," he writes, in his crabbed hand and nervous diction, +"why men using the sea, and being otherwise fit objects to be impressed +into His Majesty's service, should be exempted only because they +are Freeholders. Nor did I ever read or hear of such an exemption. +Therefore, unless some use or practice, which I am ignorant of, gives +occasion to this doubt, I see no reason for a Mariner being discharged, +seriously, because he is a Freeholder. It's a qualification easily +attained: a single house at Wapping would ship a first-rate man-of-war. +If a Freeholder is exempt, _eo nomine_, it will be impossible to go +on with the pressing service. [Footnote: It would have been equally +impossible to go on with the naval service had the fleet contained many +freeholders like John Barnes. Granted leave of absence from his ship, +the _Neptune,_ early in May, "in order to give his vote in the city," +he "return'd not till the 8th of August."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. +2653--Capt. Whorwood, 23 Aug. 1741.] There is no knowing a Freeholder +by sight: and if claiming that character, or even showing deeds is +sufficient, few Sailors will be without it." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 64.] + +Backed by this opinion, so nicely in keeping with its own inclinations, +the Admiralty kept the man. Its views, like its practice, had undergone +an antipodal change since the Kingston incident of fifty years before. +And possession, commonly reputed to be nine points of the law, more +than made up for the lack of that element in Mr. Attorney-General's +sophistical reasoning. + +In this respect Thurlow was in good company, for although Coke, who +lived before violent pressing became the rule, had given it as his +opinion that the king could not lawfully press men to serve him in his +wars, the legal luminaries who came after him, and more particularly +those of the eighteenth century, differed from him almost to a man. +Blackstone, whilst admitting that no statute expressly legalised +pressing, reminded the nation--with a leer, we might almost say--that +many statutes strongly implied, and hence--so he put it--amply justified +it. In thus begging the question he had in mind the so-called Statutes +of Exemption which, in protecting from impressment certain persons or +classes of persons, proceeded on the assumption, so dear to the Sea +Lords, that the Crown possessed the right to press all. This also +was the view taken by Yorke, Solicitor-General in 1757. "I take the +prerogative," he declares, "to be most clearly legal." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] + +Another group of lawyers took similar, though less exalted ground. Of +these the most eminent was that "great oracle of law," Lord Mansfield. +"The power of pressing," he contends, "is founded upon immemorial usage +allowed for ages. If not, it can have no ground to stand upon. The +practice is deduced from that trite maxim of the Constitutional Law +of England, that private mischief had better be submitted to than that +public detriment should ensue." + +The sea-lawyer had yet to be heard. With him "private mischief" counted +for much, the usage of past ages for very little. He lived and suffered +in the present. Of common law he knew nothing, but he possessed a fine +appreciation of common justice, and this forced from him an indictment +of the system that held him in thrall as scathing in its truth, its +simplicity and its logic as it is spontaneous and untutored in its +diction. + +"You confidently tell us," said he, dipping his pen in the gall of +bitterness, "that our King is a father to us and our officers friends. +They are so, we must confess, in some respects, for Indeed they use us +like Children in Whiping us into Obedience. As for English Tars to +be the Legitimate Sons of Liberty, it is an Old Cry which we have +Experienced and Knows it to be False. God knows, the Constitution is +admirable well Callculated for the Safety and Happiness of His Majesty's +Subjects who live by Employments on Shore; but alass, we are not +Considered as Subjects of the same Sovereign, unless it be to Drag us by +Force from our Families to Fight the Battles of a Country which Refuses +us Protection." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions of the +Seamen of the Fleet, 1797.] + +Such, in rough outline, was the Impress System of the eighteenth +century. In its inception, its development, and more especially in its +extraordinary culmination, it perhaps constitutes the greatest anomaly, +as it undoubtedly constitutes the grossest imposition, any free +people ever submitted to. Although unlawful in the sense of having no +foundation in law, and oppressive and unjust in that it yearly enslaved, +under the most noxious conditions, thousands against their will, it was +nevertheless for more than a hundred years tolerated and fostered as the +readiest, speediest and most effective means humanly devisable for the +manning of a fleet whose toll upon a free people, in the same period +of time, swelled to more than thrice its original bulk. Standing as a +bulwark against aggression and conquest, it ground under its heel the +very people it protected, and made them slaves in order to keep them +free. Masquerading as a protector, it dragged the wage-earner from +his home and cast his starving family upon the doubtful mercies of the +parish. And as if this were not enough, whilst justifying its existence +on the score of public benefit it played havoc with the fisheries, +clipped the wings of the merchant service, and sucked the life-blood out +of trade. + +It was on the rising tide of such egregious contradictions as these that +the press-gang came in; for the press-gang was at once the embodiment +and the active exponent of all that was anomalous or bad in the Impress +System. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + + + +The root of the necessity that seized the British sailor and made of him +what he in time became, the most abject creature and the most efficient +fighting unit the world has ever produced, lay in the fact that he was +island-born. + +In that island a great and vigorous people had sprung into being--a +people great in their ambitions, commerce and dominion; vigorous in +holding what they had won against the assaults, meditated or actual, of +those who envied their greatness and coveted their possessions. Of this +island people, as of their world-wide interests, the "chiefest defence" +was a "good fleet at sea." [Footnote: This famous phrase is used, +perhaps for the first time, by Josiah Burchett, sometime Secretary to +the Admiralty, in his _Observations on the Navy_, 1700.] + +The Peace of Utrecht, marking though it did the close of the protracted +war of the Spanish Succession, brought to the Island Kingdom not peace, +but a sword; for although its Navy was now as unrivalled as its commerce +and empire, the supreme struggle for existence, under the guise of the +mastery of the sea, was only just begun. Decade after decade, as that +struggle waxed and waned but went remorselessly on, the Navy grew in +ships, the ships in tonnage and weight of metal, and with their growth +the demand for men, imperative as the very existence of the nation, +mounted ever higher and higher. In 1756 fifty thousand sufficed for the +nation's needs. By 1780 the number had reached ninety-two thousand; and +with 1802 it touched high-water mark in the unprecedented total of +one hundred and twenty-nine thousand men in actual sea pay. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 567-Navy Progress, 1756-1805. These figures are +below rather than above the mark, since the official returns on which +they are based are admittedly deficient.] + +Beset by this enormous and steadily growing demand, the Admiralty, the +defensive proxy of the nation, had perforce to face the question as to +where and how the men were to be obtained. + +The source of supply was never at any time in doubt. Here, ready to +hand, were some hundreds of thousands of persons using the sea, or +following vocations merging into the sea in the capacity of colliers, +bargemen, boatmen, longshoremen, fishermen and deep-sea sailors or +merchantmen, who constituted the natural Naval Reserve of an Island +Kingdom--a reserve ample, if judiciously drawn upon, to meet, and more +than meet, the Navy's every need. + +The question of means was one more complicated, more delicate, and hence +incomparably more difficult of solution. To draw largely upon these +seafaring classes, numerous and fit though they were, meant detriment +to trade, and if the Navy was the fist, trade was the backbone of the +nation. The sufferings of trade, moreover, reacted unpleasantly upon +those in power at Whitehall. Methods of procuration must therefore be +devised of a nature such as to insure that neither trade nor Admiralty +should suffer--that they should, in fact, enjoy what the unfortunate +sailor never knew, some reasonable measure of ease. + +In its efforts to extricate itself and trade from the complex +difficulties of the situation, Admiralty had at its back what an +eighteenth century Beresford would doubtless have regarded as the finest +talent of the service. Neither the unemployed admiral nor the half-pay +captain had at that time, in his enforced retirement at Bath or +Cheltenham, taken seriously to parliamenteering, company promoting, +or the concocting of pedigrees as a substitute for walking the +quarter-deck. His occupation was indeed gone, but in its stead there +had come to him what he had rarely enjoyed whilst on the active service +list--opportunity. Carried away by the stimulus of so unprecedented +a situation as that afforded by the chance to make himself heard, +he rushed into print with projects and suggestions which would have +revolutionised the naval policy and defence of the country at a stroke +had they been carried into effect. Or he devoted his leisure to the +invention of signal codes, semaphore systems, embryo torpedoes, gun +carriages, and--what is more to our point--methods ostensibly calculated +to man the fleet in the easiest, least oppressive and most expeditious +manner possible for a free people. Armed with these schemes, he +bombarded the Admiralty with all the pertinacity he had shown in his +quarter-deck days in applying for leave or seeking promotion. Many, +perhaps most, of the inventions which it was thus sought to father upon +the Sea Lords, were happily never more heard of; but here and there one, +commending itself by its seeming practicability, was selected for trial +and duly put to the test. + +Fair to look upon while still in the air, these fruits of leisured +superannuation proved deceptively unsound when plucked by the hand of +experiment. Registration, first adopted in 1696, held out undeniable +advantages to the seaman. Under its provisions he drew a yearly +allowance when not required at sea, and extra prize-money when on +active service. Yet the bait did not tempt him, and the system was +soon discarded as useless and inoperative. Bounty, defined by some +sentimentalist as a "bribe to Neptune," for a while made a stronger +appeal; but, ranging as it did from five to almost any number of pounds +under one hundred per head, it proved a bribe indeed, and by putting an +irresistible premium on desertion threatened to decimate the very ships +it was intended to man. In 1795 what was commonly known as the Quota +Scheme superseded it. This was a plan of Pitt's devising, under which +each county contributed to the fleet according to its population, the +quota varying from one thousand and eighty-one men for Yorkshire to +twenty-three for Rutland, whilst a minor Act levied special toll on +seaports, London leading the way with five thousand seven hundred and +four men. Like its predecessor Bounty, however, this mode of recruiting +drained the Navy in order to feed it. Both systems, moreover, possessed +another and more serious defect. When their initial enthusiasm had +cooled, the counties, perhaps from force of habit as component parts of +a country whose backbone was trade, bought in the cheapest market. Hence +the Quota Man, consisting as he generally did of the offscourings of the +merchant service, was seldom or never worth the money paid for him. An +old man-o'-war's-man, picking up a miserable specimen of this class of +recruit by the slack of his ragged breeches, remarked to his grinning +messmates as he dangled the disreputable object before their eyes: +"'Ere's a lubber as cost a guinea a pound!" He was not far out in his +estimate. + +As in the case of the good old method of recruiting by beat of drum and +the lure of the king's shilling, system after system thus failed to draw +into its net, however speciously that net was spread, either the class +or the number of men whose services it was desired to requisition. And +whilst these futilities were working out their own condemnation the +stormcloud of necessity grew bigger and bigger on the national horizon. +Let trade suffer as it might, there was nothing for it but to discard +all new-fangled notions and to revert to the system which the usage +of ages had sanctioned. The return was imperative. Failing what Junius +stigmatised as the "spur of the Press," the right men in the right +numbers were not to be procured. The wisdom of the nation was at fault. +It could find no other way. + +There were, moreover, other reasons why the press-gang was to the Navy +an indispensable appendage--reasons perhaps of little moment singly, +but of tremendous weight in the scale of naval necessity when lumped +together and taken in the aggregate. + +Of these the most prominent was that fatal flaw in naval administration +which Nelson was in the habit of anathematising as the "Infernal +System." Due partly to lack of foresight and false economy at Whitehall, +partly to the character of the sailor himself, it resolved itself into +this, that whenever a ship was paid off and put out of commission, all +on board of her, excepting only her captain and her lieutenants, ceased +to be officially connected with the Navy. Now, as ships were for various +reasons constantly going out of commission, and as the paying off of a +first-second-or third-rate automatically discharged from their country's +employ a body of men many hundreds in number, the "lowering" effects of +such a system, working year in, year out, upon a fleet always in chronic +difficulties for men, may be more readily imagined than described. + +To a certain limited extent the loss to the service was minimised by +a process called "turning over"; that is to say, the company of a +ship paying off was turned over bodily, or as nearly intact as it was +possible to preserve it, to another ship which at the moment chanced to +be ready, or making ready, for sea. Or it might be that the commander of +a ship paying off, transferred to another ship fitting out, carried the +best men of his late command, commonly known as "old standers," along +with him. + +Unfortunately, the occasion of fitting out did not always coincide with +the occasion of paying off; and although turnovers were frequently made +by Admiralty order, there were serious obstacles in the way of their +becoming general. Once the men were paid off, the Admiralty had no +further hold upon them. By a stretch of authority they might, it is +true, be confined to quarters or on board a guardship; but if in these +circumstances they rose in a body and got ashore, they could neither +be retaken nor punished as deserters, but--to use the good old service +term--had to be "rose" again by means of the press-gang. Turnovers, +accordingly, depended mainly upon two closely related circumstances: the +goodwill of the men, and the popularity of commanders. A captain who +was notorious for his use of the lash or the irons, or who was reputed +unlucky, rarely if ever got a turnover except by the adoption of the +most stringent measures. One who, on the other hand, treated his men +with common humanity, who bested the enemy in fair fight and sent rich +prizes into port, never wanted for "followers," and rarely, if ever, +had recourse to the gang. [Footnote: In his Autobiography Lord Dundonald +asserts that he was only once obliged to resort to pressing--a statement +so remarkable, considering the times he lived in, as to call for +explanation. The occasion was when, returning from a year's "exile in a +tub," a converted collier that "sailed like a hay-stack," he fitted out +the _Pallas_ at Portsmouth and could obtain no volunteers. Setting +his gangs to work, he got together a scratch crew of the wretchedest +description; yet so marvellous were the personality and disciplinary +ability of the man, that with only this unpromising material ready +to his hand he intercepted the Spanish trade off Cape Finisterre and +captured four successive prizes of very great value. The _Pallas_ +returned to Portsmouth with "three large golden candlesticks, each about +five feet high, placed upon the mast-heads," and from that time onward +Dundonald's reputation as a "lucky" commander was made. He never again +had occasion to invoke the aid of the gang.] Under such men the seaman +would gladly serve "even in a dung barge." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 28 Sept. 1776.] Unhappily for the +service, such commanders were comparatively few, and in their absence +the Infernal System drained the Navy of its best blood and accentuated a +hundred-fold the already overwhelming need for the impress. + +The old-time sailor, [Footnote: The use of the word "sailor" was +long regarded with disfavour by the Navy Board, who saw in it only a +colourless substitute for the good old terms "seaman" and "mariner." +Capt. Bertie, of the _Ruby_ gunship, once reported the pressing of a +"sailor," Thomas Letting by name, out of a collier in Yarmouth Roads, +and was called upon by My Lords to define the new-fangled term. This +he did with admirable circumlocution. "As for explaining the word +'sailor,'" said he, "I can doe it no otherwise than (by) letting of +you know that Thomas Letting is a Sailor."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. +1468--Capt. Bertie, 6 May 1706.] again, was essentially a creature of +contradictions. Notorious for a "swearing rogue," who punctuated his +strange sea-lingo with horrid oaths and appalling blasphemies, he +made the responses required by the services of his Church with all the +superstitious awe and tender piety of a child. Inconspicuous for his +thrift or "forehandedness," it was nevertheless a common circumstance +with him to have hundreds of pounds, in pay and prize-money, to his +credit at his bankers, the Navy Pay-Office; and though during a voyage +he earned his money as hardly as a horse, and was as poor as a church +mouse, yet the moment he stepped ashore he made it fly by the handful +and squandered it, as the saying went, like an ass. When he was sober, +which was seldom enough provided he could obtain drink, he possessed +scarcely a rag to his back; but when he was drunk he was himself +the first to acknowledge that he had "too many cloths in the wind." +According to his own showing, his wishes in life were limited to three: +"An island of tobacco, a river of rum, and--more rum;" but according +to those who knew him better than he knew himself, he would at any time +sacrifice all three, together with everything else he possessed, for the +gratification of a fourth and unconfessed desire, the dearest wish of +his life, woman. Ward's description of him, slightly paraphrased, fits +him to a hair: "A salt-water vagabond, who is never at home but when +he is at sea, and never contented but when he is ashore; never at ease +until he has drawn his pay, and never satisfied until he has spent +it; and when his pocket is empty he is just as much respected as a +father-in-law is when he has beggared himself to give a good portion +with his daughter." [Footnote: Ward, _Wooden World Dissected_, 1744.] +With all this he was brave beyond belief on the deck of a ship, timid to +the point of cowardice on the back of a horse; and although he fought to +a victorious finish many of his country's most desperate fights, and +did more than any other man of his time to make her the great nation +she became, yet his roving life robbed him of his patriotism and made it +necessary to wring from him by violent means the allegiance he shirked. +It was at this point that he came in contact with what he hated most in +life, yet dearly loved to dodge--the press-gang. + +That such a creature of contradictions should be averse from serving the +country he loved is perhaps the most consistent trait in his +character; for here at least the sailor had substantial grounds for his +inconsistency. + +For one thing, his aversion to naval service was as old as the Navy +itself, having grown with its growth. We have seen in what manner King +John was obliged to admonish the sailor in order to induce him to take +his prest-money; and Edward III., referring to his attitude in the +fourteenth century, is said to have summed up the situation in the +pregnant words: "There is navy enough in England, were there only +the will." Raleigh, recalling with bitterness of soul those glorious +Elizabethan days when no adventurer ever dreamt of pressing, scoffed +at the seamen of King James's time as degenerates who went on board a +man-of-war "with as great a grudging as if it were to be slaves in the +galleys." A hundred years did not improve matters. The sailors of Queen +Anne entered her ships like men "dragged to execution." [Footnote: +Justice, _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 1705, Appendix on Pressing.] + +In the merchant service, where the sailor received his initiation into +the art and mystery of the sea, life during the period under review, and +indeed for long after, was hard enough in all conscience. Systematic +and unspeakably inhuman brutality made the merchant seaman's lot a daily +inferno. Traders sailing out of Liverpool, Bristol and a score of other +British ports depended almost entirely for their crews upon drugged rum, +so evil was their reputation in this respect amongst seafaring men. In +the East India Company's ships, even, the conditions were little short +of unendurable. Men had rather be hanged than sail to the Indies in +them. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1463, 1472--Letters of Captains +Bouler and Billingsley, and numerous instances.] + +Of all these bitternesses the sailor tasted freely. Cosmopolite that +he was, he wandered far a-sea and incurred the blows and curses of many +masters, happy if, amid his manifold tribulations, he could still call +his soul his own. Just here, indeed, was where the shoe of naval service +pinched him most sorely; for though upon the whole life on board a +man-of-war was not many shades worse than life aboard a trader, it yet +introduced into his already sadly circumscribed vista of happiness the +additional element of absolute loss of free-will, and the additional +dangers of being shot as an enemy or hanged as a deserter. These +additional things, the littles that yet meant so much, bred in him a +hatred of the service so implacable that nothing less drastic than the +warrant and the hanger could cope with or subdue it. Eradicated it never +was. + +The keynote to the sailor's treatment in the Navy may be said to have +been profane abuse. Officers of all ranks kept the Recording Angel +fearfully busy. With scarcely an exception they were men of blunt speech +and rough tongue who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, and the +ordinary seaman something many degrees worse. These were technicalities +of the service which had neither use nor meaning elsewhere. But to the +navigation of the ship, to daily routine and the maintenance of that +exact discipline on which the Navy prided itself, they were as essential +as is milk to the making of cheese. Nothing could be done without them. +Decent language was thrown away upon a set of fellows who had been bred +in that very shambles of language, the merchant marine. To them "'twas +just all the same as High Dutch." They neither understood it nor +appreciated its force. But a volley of thumping oaths, bellowed at them +from the brazen throat of a speaking-trumpet, and freely interlarded +with adjectives expressive of the foulness of their persons, and the +ultimate state and destination of their eyes and limbs, saved the +situation and sometimes the ship. Officers addicted to this necessary +flow of language were sensible of only one restraint. Visiting parties +caused them embarrassment, and when this was the case they fell back +upon the tactics of the commander who, unable to express himself with +his usual fluency because of the presence of ladies on the quarter-deck, +hailed the foreyard-arm in some such terms as these: "Foreyard-arm +there! God bless you! God bless you! God bless you! _You know what I +mean!_" + +Hard words break no bones, and to quarter-deck language, as such, the +sailor entertained no rooted objection. What he did object to, and +object to with all the dogged insistence of his nature, was the fact +that this habitual flow of profane scurrility was only the prelude to +what, with grim pleasantry, he was accustomed to describe as "serving +out slops." Anything intended to cover his back was "slops" to the +sailor, and the punishments meted out to him covered him like a garment. + +The old code of naval laws, the _Monumenta Juridica_ or _Black Book_ of +the Admiralty, contained many curious disciplinary methods, not a few +of which too long survived the age they originated in. If, for instance, +one sailor robbed another and was found guilty of the crime, boiling +pitch was poured over his head and he was powdered with feathers "to +mark him," after which he was marooned on the first island the ship fell +in with. Seamen guilty of undressing themselves while at sea were ducked +three times from the yard-arm--a more humane use of that spar than +converting it into a gallows. On this code were based Admiral the +Earl of Lindsay's "Instructions" of 1695. These included ducking, +keel-hauling, fasting, flogging, weighting until the "heart or back be +ready to break," and "gogging" or scraping the tongue with hoop-iron +for obscene or profane swearing; for although the "gentlemen of the +quarter-deck" might swear to their heart's content, that form of +recreation was strictly taboo in other parts of the ship. Here we have +the origin of the brutal discipline of the next century, summed up in +the Consolidation Act of George II. [Footnote: 22 George II. c. 33.]--an +Act wherein ten out of thirty-six articles awarded capital punishment +without option, and twelve death or minor penalties. + +Of the latter, the one most commonly in use was flogging at the gangway +or jears. This duty fell to the lot of the boatswain's mate. [Footnote: +"As it is the Custom of the Army to punish with the Drums, so it is +the known Practice of the Navy to punish with the Boatswain's +Mate."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. (afterwards Admiral) +Boscawen, 25 Feb. 1746-7.] The instrument employed was the +cat-o'-nine-tails, the regulation dose twelve lashes; but since the +actual number was left to the captain's discretion or malice, as the +case might be, it not infrequently ran into three figures. Thus John +Watts, able seaman on board H.M.S. _Harwich,_ Capt. Andrew Douglas +commander, in 1704 received one hundred and seventy lashes for striking +a shipmate in self-defence, his captain meanwhile standing by and +exhorting the boatswain's mate to "Swinge the Dog, for hee has a Tough +Hide"--and that, too, with a cat waxed to make it bite the harder. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5.] + +It was just this unearned increment of blows--this dash of bitter added +to the regulation cup--that made Jack's gorge rise. He was not the sort +of chap, it must be confessed, to be ruled with a feather. "An impudent +rascal" at the best of times, he often "deserved a great deal and had +but little." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1472--Capt. Balchen, 26 +Jan. 1716-7.] But unmerited punishment, too often devilishly devised, +maliciously inflicted and inhumanly carried out, broke the back of his +sense of justice, already sadly overstrained, and inspired him with a +mortal hatred of all things naval. + +For the slightest offence he was "drubbed at the gears"; for serious +offences, from ship to ship. If, when reefing topsails on a dark night +or in the teeth of a sudden squall, he did not handle the canvas with +all the celerity desired by the officer of the watch, he and his fellow +yardsmen were flogged _en bloc_. He was made to run the gauntlet, often +with the blood gushing from nose and ears as the result of a previous +dose of the cat, until he fell to the deck comatose and at the point of +death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1466--Complaint of ye Abuse of +a Sayler in the _Litchfield_, 1704. In this case the man actually died.] +Logs of wood were bound to his legs as shackles, and whatever the nature +of his offence, he invariably began his expiation of it, the preliminary +canter, so to speak, in irons. If he had a lame leg or a bad foot, he +was "started" with a rope's-end as a "slacker." If he happened to be +the last to tumble up when his watch was called, the rattan [Footnote: +Carried at one time by both commissioned and warrant officers.] raised +weals on his back or drew blood from his head; and, as if to add insult +to injury, for any of these, and a hundred and one other offences, he +was liable to be black-listed and to lose his allowance of grog. + +Some things, too, were reckoned sins aboard ship which, unhappily for +the sailor, could not well be avoided. Laughing, or even permitting the +features to relax in a smile in the official presence, was such a sin. +"He beats us for laughing," declare the company of the _Solebay_, in +a complaint against their commander, "more like Doggs than Men." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1435--Capt. Aldred, 29 Feb. 1703-4.] +One of the _Nymph's_ company, in or about the year 1797, received three +dozen for what was officially termed "Silent Contempt"--"which was +nothing more than this, that when flogged by the boatswain's mate the +man smiled." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions, 1793-7.] +This was the "Unpardonable Crime" of the service. + +Contrariwise, a man was beaten if he sulked. And as a rule the sailor +was sulky enough. Works of supererogation, such as polishing everything +polishable--the shot for the guns, in extreme cases, not even +excepted--until it shone like the tropical sun at noonday, left him +little leisure or inclination for mirth. "Very pretty to look at," +said Wellington, when confronted with these glaring evidences of +hyper-discipline, "but there is one thing wanting. I have not seen a +bright face in the ship." + +A painful tale of discipline run mad, or nearly so, is unfolded by that +fascinating series of sailor-records, the Admiralty Petitions. Many of +them, it must in justice be owned, bear unqualified testimony to the +kindness and humanity of officers; but in the great majority of cases +the evidence they adduce is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And if their +language is sometimes bombastic, if their style is almost uniformly +illiterate, if they are the productions of a band of mutinous dogs +standing out for rights which they never possessed and deserving of a +halter rather than a hearing, these are circumstances that do not in +the least detract from the veracity of the allegations they advance. The +sailor appealed to his king, or to the Admiralty, "the same as a child +to its father"; and no one who peruses the story of his wrongs, as set +forth in these documents, can doubt for a moment that he speaks the +truth with all a child's simplicity. + +The seamen of the _Reunion_ open the tale of oppression and ill-usage. +"Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in Salt Water +and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look as Clean as +if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's Grog which has +the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not Tyd to please +him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the _Amphitrite_ "flogging is +their portion." The men of the _Winchelsea_ "wold sooner be Shot at like +a Targaite than to Remain." The treatment systematically meted out +to the _Shannon's_ crew is more than the heart "can Cleaverly +Bear"--enough, in short, to make them "rise and Steer the Ship into an +Enemies Port." The seamen of the _Glory_ are made wretched by "beating, +blacking, tarring, putting our heads in Bags," and by being forced to +"drink half a Gallon of Salt Water" for the most trivial breaches of +discipline or decorum. On the _Blanch,_ if they get wet and hang or +spread their clothes to dry, the captain "thros them overboard." The +_Nassau's_ company find it impossible to put the abuse they receive on +paper. It is "above Humanity." Though put on board to fight for king and +country, they are used worse than dogs. They have no encouragement to +"face the Enemy with a chearful Heart." Besides being kept "more +like Convicts than free-born Britons," the _Nymph's_ company have an +unspeakable grievance. "When Engaged with the Enemy off Brest, March +the 9th, 1797, they even Beat us at our Quarters, though on the Verge of +Eternity." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5l25--Petitions, 1793-7.] + +On the principle advanced by Rochefoucault, that there is something +not displeasing to us in the misfortunes of our friends, the sailor +doubtless derived a sort of negative satisfaction from the fact that he +was not the only one on shipboard liable to the pains and penalties of +irascibility, brutality and excessive disciplinary zeal. Particularly +was this true of his special friend the "sky-pilot" or chaplain, that +super-person who perhaps most often fell a victim to quarter-deck +ebullitions. Notably there is on record the case of one John +Cruickshank, chaplain of H.M.S. _Assurance,_ who was clapped in irons, +court-martialled and dismissed the service merely because he happened +to take--what no sailor could ever condemn him for-a drop too much, and +whilst in that condition insisted on preaching to the ship's company +when they were on the very point of going into action. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5. His zeal was +unusual. Most naval chaplains thought "of nothing more than making His +Majesty's ships sinecures"] There is also that other case of the "saucy +Surgeon of the _Seahorse_" who incurred his captain's dire displeasure +all on account of candles, of which necessary articles he, having his +wife on board, thought himself entitled to a more liberal share than +was consistent with strict naval economy; and who was, moreover, so +"troblesome about his Provisions, that if he did not always Chuse out +of ye best in ye whole Ship," he straightway got his back up and +"threatened to Murder the Steward." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Blowers, 3 Jan. 1710-11.] Such interludes as these would +assuredly have proved highly diverting to the foremast-man had it not +been for the cat and that savage litter of minor punishments awaiting +the man who smiled. + +In the matter of provisions, there can be little doubt that the sailor +shared to the full the desire evinced by the surgeon of the _Seahorse_ +to take blood-vengeance upon someone on account of them. His +"belly-timber," as old Misson so aptly if indelicately describes it, was +mostly worm-eaten or rotten, his drink indescribably nasty. + +Charles II. is said to have made his breakfast off ship's diet the +morning he left the _Naseby,_ and to have pronounced it good; and Nelson +in 1803 declared it "could not possibly be improved upon." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580-Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] +Such, however, was not the opinion of the chaplain of the _Dartmouth,_ +for after dining with his captain on an occasion which deserves to +become historic, he swore that "although he liked that Sort of Living +very well, as for the King's Allowance there was but a Sheat of +Browne Paper between it and Hell." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1464--Misdemenors Comited by Mr Edward Lewis, Chapling on Board H. M. +Shipp Dartmouth, 1 Oct. 1702.] Which of these opinions came nearest to +the truth, the sequel will serve to show. + +On the face of it the sailor's dietary was not so bad. A ship's stores, +in 1719, included ostensibly such items as bread, wine, beef, pork, +peas, oatmeal, butter, cheese, water and beer, and if Jack had but had +his fair share of these commodities, and had it in decent condition, +he would have had little reason to grumble about the king's allowance. +Unhappily for him, the humanities of diet were little studied by the +Victualling Board. + +Taking the beef, the staple article of consumption on shipboard, cooking +caused it to shrink as much as 45 per cent., thus reducing the sailor's +allowance by nearly one-half. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1495--Capt. Barrington, 23 Dec. 1770.] The residuum was often "mere +carrion," totally unfit for human consumption. "Junk," the sailor +contemptuously called it, likening it, in point of texture, +digestibility and nutritive properties, to the product of picked oakum, +which it in many respects strongly resembled. The pork, though it lost +less in the cooking, was rancid, putrid stuff, repellent in odour and +colour-particulars in which it found close competitors in the butter and +cheese, which had often to be thrown overboard because they "stunk +the ship." [Footnote: To disinfect a ship after she had been fouled by +putrid rations or disease, burning sulphur and vinegar were commonly +employed. Their use was preferable to the means adopted by the carpenter +of the _Feversham_, who in order to "sweeten ship" once "turn'd on +the cock in the hould" and through forgetfulness "left it running for +eighteen howers," thereby not only endangering the vessel's safety, +but incidentally spoiling twenty-one barrels of powder in the +magazine.--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. Watson, 18 April 1741.] +The peas "would not break." Boiled for eight hours on end, they came +through the ordeal "almost as hard as shott." Only the biscuit, apart +from the butter and cheese, possessed the quality of softness. Damp, +sea-water, mildew and weevil converted "hard" into "soft tack" and added +another horror to the sailor's mess. The water he washed these varied +abominations down with was frequently "stuff that beasts would cough +at." His beer was no better. It would not keep, and was in consequence +both "stinking and sour." [Footnote: According to Raleigh, old oil +and fish casks were used for the storing of ship's beer in Elizabeth's +reign.] Although the contractor was obliged to make oath that he had +used both malt and hops in the brewing, it often consisted of nothing +more stimulating than "water coloured and bittered," and sometimes the +"stingy dog of a brewer" even went so far as to omit the "wormwood." + +Such a dietary as this made a meal only an unavoidable part of the day's +punishment and inspired the sailor with profound loathing. "Good +Eating is an infallible Antidote against murmuring, as many a Big-Belly +Place-Man can instance," he says in one of his petitions. Poor fellow! +his opportunities of putting it to the test were few enough. On Mondays, +Wednesdays and Fridays, the so-called Banyan days of the service, when +his hateful ration of meat was withheld and in its stead he regaled +himself on plum-duff--the "plums," according to an old regulation, "not +worse than Malaga"--he had a taste of it. Hence the banyan day, though +in reality a fast-day, became indelibly associated in his simple mind +and vocabulary with occasions of feasting and plenty, and so remains to +this day. + +If the sailor's only delicacy was duff, his only comforts were rum and +tobacco, and to explore some unknown island, and discover therein a +goodly river of the famous Jamaica spirit, flowing deep and fragrant +between towering mountains of "pig tail," is commonly reputed to have +been the cherished wish of his heart. With tobacco the Navy Board did +not provide him, nor afford dishonest pursers opportunity to "make dead +men chew," [Footnote: Said of pursers who manipulated the Muster Books, +which it was part of their duty to keep, in such a way as to make it +appear that men "discharged dead" had drawn a larger quantity of tobacco +than was actually the case, the difference in value of course going +into their own pockets.] until 1798; but rum they allowed him at a +comparatively early date. When sickness prevailed on board, when beer +ran short or had to be turned over the side to preserve a sweet ship, +rum or wine was issued, and although the Admiralty at first looked +askance at the innovation, and at times left commanders of ships to foot +the bill for spirits thus served out, the practice made gradual headway, +until at length it ousted beer altogether and received the stamp of +official approval. Half a pint, dealt out each morning and evening in +equal portions, was the regular allowance--a quantity often doubled were +the weather unusually severe or the men engaged in the arduous duty +of watering ship. At first the ration of rum was served neat and +appreciated accordingly; but about 1740 the practice of adding water was +introduced. This was Admiral Vernon's doing. Vernon was best known to +his men as "Old Grog," a nickname originating in a famous grogram coat +he affected in dirty weather; and as the rum and water now served out +to them was little to their liking, they marked their disapproval of the +mixture, as well as of the man who invented it, by dubbing it "grog." +The sailor was not without his sense of humour. + +The worst feature of rum, from the sailor's point of view, worse by far +than dilution, was the fact that it could be so easily stopped. Here his +partiality for the spirit told heavily against him. His grog was stopped +because he liked it, rather than because he deserved to lose it. The +malice of the thing did not make for a contented ship. + +The life of the man-o'-war's-man, according to Lord Nelson, was on an +average "finished at forty-five years." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Bad food and +strenuous labour under exceptionally trying conditions sapped his +vitals, made him prematurely old, and exposed him to a host of ills +peculiar to his vocation. He "fell down daily," to employ the old +formula, in spotted or putrid fevers. He was racked by agues, distorted +by rheumatic pains, ruptured or double-ruptured by the strain of +pulling, hauling and lifting heavy weights. He ate no meal without +incurring the pangs of acute indigestion, to which he was fearfully +subject. He was liable to a "prodigious inflammation of the head, nose +and eyes," occasioned by exposure. Scurvy, his most inveterate and +merciless enemy, "beat up" for him on every voyage and dragged his +brine-sodden body down to a lingering death. Or, did he escape these +dangers and a watery grave, protracted disease sooner or later rendered +him helpless, or a brush with the enemy disabled him for ever from +earning his bread. + +His surgeons were, as a rule, a sorry lot. Not only were they deficient +in numbers, they commonly lacked both professional training and skill. +Their methods were consequently of the crudest description, and long +continued so. The approved treatment for rupture, to which the sailor +was painfully liable, was to hang the patient up by the heels until the +prolapsus was reduced. Pepys relates how he met a seaman returning from +fighting the Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped with oakum," and as late +at least as the Battle of Trafalgar it was customary, in amputations, +to treat the bleeding stump with boiling pitch as a cauterant. In his +general attitude towards the sick and wounded the old-time naval surgeon +was not unlike Garth, Queen Anne's famous physician. At the Kit Cat Club +he one day sat so long over his wine that Steele ventured to remind +him of his patients. "No matter," said Garth. "Nine have such bad +constitutions that no physician can save them, and the other six such +good ones that all the physicans in the world could not kill them." + +Many were the devices resorted to in order to keep the man-o'-war's-man +healthy and fit. As early as 1602 a magic electuary, invented by one +"Doctor Cogbourne, famous for fluxes," was by direction of the Navy +Commissioners supplied for his use in the West Indies. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Barker, 14 Oct. 1702.] By Admiral +Vernon and his commanders he was dosed freely with "Elixir of Vitriol," +which they not only "reckoned the best general medicine next to +rhubarb," but pinned their faith to as a sovereign specific for scurvy +and fevers. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 161--Admiral Vernon, 31 +Oct. 1741.] Lime-juice, known as a valuable anti-scorbutic as early as +the days of Drake and Raleigh, was not added to his rations till 1795. +He did not find it very palatable. The secret of fortifying it was +unknown, and oil had to be floated on its surface to make it keep. +Sour-crout was much more to his taste as a preventive of scurvy, and +in 1777, at the request of Admiral Montagu, then Governor and +Commander-in-Chief over the Island of Newfoundland, the Admiralty caused +to be sent out, for the use of the squadron on that station, where +vegetables were unprocurable, a sufficient quantity of that succulent +preparation to supply twelve hundred men for a period of two months. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 471--Admiral Montagu, 28 Feb. 1777, +and endorsement.] + +Rice the sailor detested. Of all species of "soft tack" it was least to +his liking. He nicknamed it "strike-me-blind," being firmly convinced +that its continued use would rob him of his eyesight. Tea was not added +to his dietary till 1824, but as early as 1795 he could regale himself +on cocoa. For the rest, sugar, essence of malt, essence of spruce, +mustard, cloves, opium and "Jesuits'" or Peruvian bark were considered +essential to his well-being on shipboard. He was further allowed a +barber-one to every hundred men-without whose attentions it was found +impossible to keep him "clean and healthy." + +With books he was for many years "very scantily supplied." It was not +till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that he +had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association with +the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies of +literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his leisure +with such books as the _Old Chaplains Farewell Letter_, Wilson's +_Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man_, Seeker's _Duties of the Sick_, and, +lest returning health should dissipate the piety begotten of his +ailments, Gibson's _Advice after Sickness_. Thousands of pounds were +spent upon this improving literature, which was distributed to the fleet +in strict accordance with the amount of storage room available at the +various dockyards. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Accountant-General, +Misc. (Various), No. l06--Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, +Chaplain-General to the Fleet, 1812-7.] + +A fundamental principle of man-o'-war routine was that the sailor formed +no part of it for hospital purposes. Hence sickness was not encouraged. +If the sailor-patient did not recover within a reasonable time, he was +"put on shore sick," sometimes to the great terror of the populace, who, +were he supposed to be afflicted with an infectious disease, fled +from him "as if he had the plague." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2732--Capt. Young, 24 June 1740.] On shore he was treated for thirty +days at his country's charges. If incurable, or permanently disabled, he +was then turned adrift and left to shift for himself. A clean record +and a sufficiently serious wound entitled him to a small pension or +admission to Greenwich Hospital, an institution which had religiously +docked his small pay of sixpence a month throughout his entire service. +Failing these, there remained for him only the streets and the beggar's +role. + +His pay was far from princely. From 3d. a day in the reign of King John +it rose by grudging increments to 20s. a month in 1626, and 24s. in +1797. Years sometimes elapsed before he touched a penny of his earnings, +except in the form of "slop" clothing and tobacco. Amongst the instances +of deferred wages in which the Admiralty records abound, there may be +cited the case of the _Dreadnought_, whose men in 1711 had four years' +pay due; and of the _Dunkirk_, to whose company, in the year following, +six and a half years' was owing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Bennett, 8 March 1710-11. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Butler, 19 March, 1711-12,] And at the time of the Nore Mutiny it was +authoritatively stated that there were ships then in the fleet which +had not been paid off for eight, ten, twelve and in one instance even +fifteen years. "Keep the pay, keep the man," was the policy of the +century--a sadly mistaken policy, as we shall presently see. + +In another important article of contentment the sailor was hardly better +off. The system of deferred pay amounted practically to a stoppage of +all leave for the period, however protracted, during which the pay was +withheld. Thus the _Monmouth's_ men had in 1706 been in the ship "almost +six years, and had never had the opportunity of seeing their families +but once." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1468-Capt. Baker, 3 Nov. +1706.] In Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_, there were in 1744 two +hundred and fifty men who "had not set foot on shore near two year." +Admiral Penrose once paid off in a seventy-four at Plymouth, many +of whose crew had "never set foot on land for six or seven years"; +[Footnote: Penrose (Sir V. C., Vice-Admiral of the Blue), _Observations +on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc.,_ 1824.] and Brenton, in +his _Naval History_, instances the case of a ship whose company, after +having been eleven years in the East Indies, on returning to England +were drafted straightway into another ship and sent back to that quarter +of the globe without so much as an hour's leave ashore. + +What was true of pay and leave was also true of prize-money. The +sailor was systematically kept out of it, and hence out of the means of +enjoyment and carousal it afforded him, for inconscionable periods. From +a moral point of view the check was hardly to his detriment. But +the Navy was not a school of morals, and withholding the sailor's +hard-earned prize-money over an indefinite term of years neither made +for a contented heart nor enhanced his love for a service that first +absorbed him against his will, and then, having got him in its clutches, +imposed upon and bested him at every turn. + +Although the prime object in withholding his pay was to prevent his +running from his ship, so far from compassing that desirable end it had +exactly the contrary effect. Both the preventive and the disease were of +long standing. With De Ruyter in the Thames in 1667, menacing London +and the kingdom, the seamen of the fleet flocked to town in hundreds, +clamouring for their wages, whilst their wives besieged the Navy Office +in Seething Lane, shrieking: "This is what comes of not paying our +husbands!" + +Essentially a creature of contradictions, the sailor rarely, if he could +avoid it, steered the course laid down for him, and in nothing perhaps +was this idiosyncrasy so glaringly apparent as in his behaviour as his +country's creditor. He "would get to London if he could." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 12 Dec. 1742.] "An +unaccountable humour" impelled him "to quit His Majesty's service +without leave." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Shirley, Governor +of Massachusetts, 12 Sept. 1746.] Once the whim seized him, no ties of +deferred pay or prize-money had power to hold him back. The one he could +obtain on conditions; the other he could dispose of at a discount which, +though ruinously heavy, still left him enough to frolic on. + +The weapon of deferred pay was thus a two-edged one. If it hurt the +sailor, it also cut the fingers of those who employed it against him. So +exigent were the needs of the service, he could "run" with impunity. +For if he ran whilst his pay was in arrears, he did so with the full +knowledge that, barring untimely recapture by the press-gang, he would +receive a free pardon, together with payment of all dues, on the sole +condition, which he never kept if he could help it, of returning to his +ship when his money was gone. He therefore deserted for two reasons: +First, to obtain his pay; second, to spend it. + +The penalty for desertion, under a well-known statute of George I., +[Footnote: 13 George I., art. 7.] was death by hanging. As time went on, +however, discipline in this respect suffered a grave relapse, and fear +of the halter no longer served to check the continual exodus from the +fleet. If the runaway sailor were taken, "it would only be a whipping +bout." So he openly boasted. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1479--Capt. Boscawen, 26 April 1743.] The "bout," it is true, at times +ran to six, or even seven hundred lashes--the latter being the heaviest +dose of the cat ever administered in the British navy; [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 12 Nov. 1765.] but +even this terrible ordeal had no power to hold the sailor to his duty, +and although Admiral Lord St. Vincent, better known in his day as +"hanging Jervis," did his utmost to revive the ancient custom of +stretching the sailor's neck, the trend of the times was against him, +and within twenty-five years of the reaffirming of the penalty, in the +22nd year of George II., hanging for desertion had become practically +obsolete. + +In the declining days of the practice a grim game at life and death was +played upon the deck of a king's ship lying in the River St. Lawrence. +The year was 1760. Quebec had only recently fallen before the British +onslaught. A few days before that event, at a juncture when every man in +the squadron was counted upon to play his part in the coming struggle, +and to play it well, three seamen, James Mike, Thomas Wilkinson and +William M'Millard by name, deserted from the _Vanguard_. Retaken some +months later, they were brought to trial; but as men were not easy to +replace in that latitude, the court, whilst sentencing all three to +suffer the extreme penalty of the law, added to their verdict a rider +to the effect that it would be good policy to spare two of them. Admiral +Lord Colvill, then Commander-in-Chief, issued his orders accordingly, +and at eleven o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July the condemned +men, preceded to the scaffold by two chaplains, were led to the +_Vanguard's_ forecastle, where they drew lots to determine which of them +should die. The fatal lot fell to James Mike, who, in presence of the +assembled boats of the squadron, was immediately "turned off" at the +foreyard-arm. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 10 July 1760; Captains' Logs, 1026--Log of H.M.S. _Vanguard_.] + +Encouraged in this grim fashion, desertion assumed alarming proportions. +Nelson estimated that whenever a large convoy of merchant ships +assembled at Portsmouth, at least a thousand men deserted from the +fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State +of the Fleet, 1803.] This was a "liberty they would take," do what you +could to prevent it. + +Of those who thus deserted fully one-third, according to the same high +authority, never saw the fleet again. "From loss of clothes, drinking +and other debaucheries" they were "lost by death to the country." Some +few of the remainder, after drinking His Majesty's health in a final +bowl, voluntarily returned on board and "prayed for a fair wind"; but +the majority held aloof, taking their chances and their pleasures in +sailorly fashion until, their last stiver gone, they fell an easy prey +to the press-gang or the crimp. + +While the crimp was to the merchant service what the press-gang was +to the Navy, a kind of universal provider, there was in his method of +preying upon the sailor a radical difference. Like his French compeer, +the recruiting sergeant of the Pont Neuf in the days of Louis the +Well-Beloved, wherever sailors congregated the crimp might be heard +rattling his money-bags and crying: "Who wants any? Who wants any?" +Where the press-gang used the hanger or the cudgel, the crimp employed +dollars. The circumstance gave him a decided "pull" in the contest for +men, for the dollars he offered, whether in the way of pay or bounty, +were invariably fortified with rum. The two formed a contraption no +sailor could resist. "Money and liquor held out to a seaman," said +Nelson, "are too much for him." + +In law the offence of enticing seamen to desert His Majesty's service, +like desertion itself, was punishable with death; [Footnote: 22 +George n. cap. 33.] but in fact the penalty was either commuted to +imprisonment, or the offender was dealt with summarily, without invoking +the law. Crimps who were caught red-handed had short shrift. Two of the +fraternity, named respectively Henry Nathan and Sampson Samuel, were +once taken in the Downs. "Send Nathan and Samuel," ran the Admiralty +order in their case, "to Plymouth by the first conveyance. Admiral Young +is to order them on board a ship going on foreign service as soon as +possible." Another time an officer, boarding a boat filled with men as +it was making for an Indiaman at Gravesend, found in her six crimps, +all of whom suffered the same fate. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1542--Capt. Bazeley, 7 Feb. 1808. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. +Bowater, 12 June 1796.] + +Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver cooped," +and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, it was +world-wide. In whatever waters a British man-o'-war cast anchor, there +the crimp appeared, plying his crafty trade. His assiduity paid a high +compliment to the sterling qualities of the British seaman, but for the +Navy it spelt wholesale depletion. + +In home ports he was everywhere in evidence. No ship of war could lie in +Leith Roads but she lost a good part of her crew through his seductions. +"M'Kirdy & M'Lean, petty-fogging writers," were the chief crimps at +Greenock. Sheerness crimps gave "great advance money." Liverpool was +infested with them, all the leading merchant shippers at Bristol, +London and other great ports having "agents" there, who offered the +man-o'-war's-man tempting bounties and substantial wages to induce him +to desert his ship. A specially active agent of Bristol shipowners was +one Vernon Ley, who plied his trade chiefly at Exeter and Plymouth, +whence he was known to send to Bristol, in the space of six months, as +many as seventy or eighty men, whom he provided with postchaises for the +journey and 8 Pounds per man as bounty. James White, a publican who kept +the "Pail of Barm" at Bedminster, made a close second in his activity +and success. Spithead had its regular contingent of crimps, and many an +East India ship sailing from that famous anchorage was "entirely manned" +by their efforts, of course at the expense of the ships of war lying +there. At Chatham, crimpage bounty varied from fifteen to twenty +guineas per head; and at Cork, a favourite recruiting ground for both +merchantmen and privateers, the same sum could be had any day, with high +wages to boot. + +In the Crown Colonies a similar state of things prevailed. Queen's ships +visiting Jamaica in or about the year 1716 lost so heavily they scarce +dared venture the return voyage to England, their men having "gone +a-wrecking" in the Gulf of Florida, where one armed sloop was reputed +to have recovered Spanish treasure to the value of a hundred thousand +dollars. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Balchen, 13 May +1716.] Time did not lessen desertion in the island, though it wrought a +change in the cause. When Admiral Vernon was Commander-in-Chief there +in the forties, he lost five hundred men within a comparatively short +time--"seduced out," to use his own words, "through the temptations of +high wages and thirty gallons of rum, and conveyed drunk on board from +the punch-houses where they are seduced." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 233--Admiral Vernon, 5 Sept. 1742. A rare recruiting sheet of 1780, +which has for its headpiece a volunteer shouting: "Rum for nothing!" +describes Jamaica as "that delightful Island, abounding in Rum, Sugar +and Spanish Dollars, where there is delicious living and plenty of GROGG +and PUNCH."] + +At Louisberg, in the Island of Cape Breton, the North American Squadron +in 1746 lost so many men through the seductions practised by New England +skippers frequenting that port, that Townsend, the admiral in command, +indited a strongly worded protest to Shirley, then Governor of +Massachusetts; but the latter, though deploring the "vile behaviour" +of the skippers in question, could do nothing to put a stop to it. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Townsend, 17 Aug.; Shirley, 12 +Sept. 1746.] As a matter of fact he did not try. + +On the coast of Carolina many of the English merchantmen in 1743 paid +from seventeen to twenty guineas for the run home, and in addition "as +many pounds of Sugar, Gallons of Rum and pounds of Tobacco as pounds +in Money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1 1479-Capt. Bladwell, 1 July +1743.] + +The lust for privateering had much to answer for in this respect. So +possessed were the Virginians by the desire to get rich at the expense +of their enemies that they quite "forgot their allegiance to the King." +By the offer of inordinately high wages and rich prizes they did their +utmost to seduce carpenters, gunners, sailmakers and able seamen from +His Majesty's ships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1480--Capt. +Lord Alexander Banff, 21 Oct. 1744.] Any ship forced to winter at Rhode +Island, again, always counted upon losing enough men to "disable her +from putting to sea" when the spring came. Here, too, the privateering +spirit was to blame, Rhode Island being notorious for its enterprise in +that form of piracy. Another impenitent sinner in her inroads upon the +companies of king's ships was Boston, where "a sett of people made it +their Business" to entice them away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1440--Capt. Askew, 27 Aug. 1748.] No ship could clean, refit, victual +or winter there without "the loss of all her men." Capt. Young, of +the _Jason_, was in 1753 left there with never a soul on board except +"officers and servants, widows' men, the quarter-deck gentlemen and +those called idlers." The rest had been seduced at 30 Pounds per head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 Oct. 1753. The +"widows' men" here humorously alluded to would not add much to the +effectiveness of the depleted company. They were imaginary sailors, +borne on the ship's books for pay and prize-money which went to +Greenwich Hospital.] + +So it went on. Day in, day out, at home and abroad, this ceaseless drain +of men, linking hands in the decimation of the fleet with those able +adjutants Disease and Death, accentuated progressively and enormously +the naval needs of the country. For the apprehension and return of +deserters from ships in home ports a drag-net system of rewards and +conduct-money sprang into being; but this the sailor to some extent +contrived to elude. He "stuck a cockade in his hat" and made shift to +pass for a soldier on leave; or he laid furtive hands on a horse and +set up for an equestrian traveller. In the neighbourhood of all great +seaport towns, as on all main roads leading to that paradise and +ultimate goal of the deserter, the metropolis, horse-stealing by sailors +"on the run" prevailed to an alarming extent; and although there was +a time when the law strung him up for the crime of borrowing horses to +help him on his way, as it had once hanged him for deserting, the naval +needs of the country eventually changed all that and brought him a +permanent reprieve. Thenceforth, instead of sending the happy-go-lucky, +devil-may-care felon to the gallows, they turned him over to the +press-gang and so re-consigned him, penniless and protesting, to the +duty he detested. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + + + +From the standpoint of a systematic supply of men to the fleet, the +press-gang was a legitimate means to an imperative end. This was the +official view. In how different a light the people came to regard the +petty man-trap of power, we shall presently see. + +Designed as it was for the taking up of able-bodied adults, the main +idea in the formation of the gang was strength and efficiency. It was +accordingly composed of the stoutest men procurable, dare-devil fellows +capable of giving a good account of themselves in fight, or of carrying +off their unwilling prey against long odds. Brute strength combined +with animal courage being thus the first requisite of the ganger, it +followed--not perhaps as a matter of course so much as a matter of +fact--that his other qualities were seldom such as to endear him to the +people. Wilkes denounced him for a "lawless ruffian," and one of the +newspapers of his time describes him, with commendable candour and +undeniable truth, as a "profligate and abandoned wretch, perpetually +lounging about the streets and incessantly vomiting out oaths and horrid +curses." [Footnote: _London Chronicle,_ 16 March 1762.] + +The getting of a gang together presented little difficulty. The first +business of the officer charged with its formation was to find suitable +quarters, rent not to exceed twenty shillings a week, inclusive of fire +and candle. Here he hung out a flag as the sign of authority and a bait +for volunteers. As a rule, they were easily procurable. All the roughs +of the town were at his disposal, and when these did not yield material +enough recourse was had to beat of drum, that instrument, together with +the man who thumped it, being either hired at half-a-crown a day or +"loaned" from the nearest barracks. Selected members of the crowd thus +assembled were then plied with drink "to invite them to enter"--an +invitation they seldom refused. + +It goes without saying that gangs raised in this manner were of an +exceedingly mixed character. On the principle of setting a thief +to catch a thief, seafaring men of course had first preference, but +landsmen were by no means excluded. The gang operating at Godalming in +1782 may be cited as typical of the average inland gang. It consisted of +three farmers, one weaver, one bricklayer, one labourer, and two others +whose regular occupations are not divulged. They were probably sailors. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Boston, Report on +Rendezvous, 1782.] + +Landsmen entered on the express understanding that they should not +be pressed when the gang broke up. Sailor gangsmen, on the contrary, +enjoyed no such immunity. The most they could hope for, when their +arduous duties came to an end, was permission to "choose their ship." +The concession was no mean one. By choosing his ship discreetly the +gangsman avoided encounters with men he had pressed, thus preserving his +head unbroken and his skin intact. + +Ship-gangs, unlike those operating on land, were composed entirely of +seamen. For dash, courage and efficiency, they had no equal and few +rivals. + +Apart from the officers commanding it, the number of men that went to +the making of a gang varied from two to twenty or more according to the +urgency of the occasion that called it into being and the importance or +ill-repute of the centre selected as the scene of its operations. +For Edinburgh and Leith twenty-one men, directed by a captain, two +lieutenants and four midshipmen, were considered none too many. Greenock +kept the same number of officers and twenty men fully employed, for +here there was much visiting of ships on the water, a fast cutter being +retained for that purpose. The Liverpool gang numbered eighteen men, +directed by seven officers and backed by a flotilla of three tenders, +each under the command of a special lieutenant. Towns such as +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great Yarmouth, Cowes and Haverfordwest also had +gangs of at least twenty men each, with boats as required; and Deal, +Dover and Folkstone five gangs between them, totalling fifty men and +fifteen officers, and employing as many boats as gangs for pressing in +the Downs. + +In the case of ship-gangs, operating directly from a ship of war in +harbour or at sea, the officers in charge were as a matter of course +selected from the available ward or gun-room contingent. Few, if any, of +the naval men whose names at one time or another spring into prominence +during the century, escaped this unpleasant but necessary duty in their +younger days. But on shore an altogether different order of things +prevailed. + + [Illustration: MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a +rare print in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley.] + +The impress service ashore was essentially the grave of promotion. +Whether through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high +places, the officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, +service derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or +of again commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat +spoke of them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the +fictitious rank denoting a kind of service quarantine that knew no +pratique. + +Like the salt junk of the foremast--man, the Yellow Admiral got +fearfully "out of character" through over-keeping. With the service he +lost all touch save in one degrading particular. His pay was better +than his reputation, but his position was isolated, his duties and his +actions subject to little official supervision. With opportunity came +peculiar temptations to bribery and peculation, and to these he often +succumbed. The absence of congenial society frequently weighed heavy +upon him and drove him to immoderate drinking. Had he lived a generation +or so later the average impress officer ashore could have echoed with +perfect truth, and almost nightly iteration, the crapulous sentiment +in which Byron is said to have toasted his hosts when dining on board +H.M.S. _Hector_ at Malta:-- + + "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, + Was ever mortal drunk as I am!" + +[Footnote: The authenticity of the anecdote, notwithstanding the fact +that it was long current in naval circles, is more than doubtful. When +Bryon visited Malta in 1808 the _Hector_ was doing duty at Plymouth as a +prison-ship, and naval records disclose no other ship of that name till +1864.] + +A lieutenant attached to the gang at Chester is responsible for a piece +of descriptive writing, of a biographical nature, which perhaps depicts +the impress officer of the century at his worst. Addressing a brother +lieutenant at Waterford, to which station his superior was on the point +of being transferred, "I think but right," says he, "to give you a +character of Capt. P., who is to be your Regulating Captain. I have been +with him six months here, and if it had not been that he is leaving +the place, I should have wrote to the Board of Admiralty to have been +removed from under his command. At first you'll think him a Fine old +Fellow, but if it's possible he will make you Quarrel with all your +Acquaintance. Be very Careful not to Introduce him to any Family that +you have a regard for, for although he is near Seventy Years of Age, he +is the greatest Debauchee you ever met with--a Man of No Religion, a +Man who is Capable of any Meanness, Arbitrary and Tyrannicall in his +Disposition. This City has been several times just on the point of +writing against him to the Board of Admiralty. He has a wife, and +Children grown up to Man's Estate. The Woman he brings over with him +is Bird the Builder's Daughter. To Conclude, there is not a House in +Chester that he can go into but his own and the Rendezvous, after having +been Six Months in one of the agreeablest Cities in England." [Footnote: +_Ad,_ 1. 1500--Lieut. Shuckford, 7 March 1780.] + +Ignorant of the fact that his reputation had thus preceded him, Capt. P. +found himself assailed, on his arrival at Waterford, by a "most Infamous +Epitaph," emanating none knew whence, nor cared. This circumstance, +accentuated by certain indiscretions of which the hectoring old officer +was guilty shortly after his arrival, aroused strong hostility against +him. A mob of fishwives, attacking his house at Passage, smashed the +windows and were with difficulty restrained from levelling the place +with the ground. His junior officers conspired against him. Piqued by +the loss of certain perquisites which the newcomer remorselessly swept +away, they denounced him to the Admiralty, who ordered an inquiry into +his conduct. After a hearing of ten days it went heavily against him, +practically every charge being proved. He was immediately superseded and +never again employed--a sad ending to a career of forty years under such +men as Anson, Boscawen, Hawke and Vernon. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780, and enclosures constituting the +inquiry.] Yet such was the ultimate fate of many an impress officer. +A stronger light focussed him ashore, and habits, proclivities and +weaknesses that escaped censure at sea, were here projected odiously +upon the sensitive retina of public opinion. + +Of the younger men who drifted into the shore service there were some, +it need scarcely be said, who for obvious reasons escaped, or, rather, +did not succumb to the common odium. A notable example of this type +of officer was Capt. Jahleel Brenton, who for some years commanded the +gangs at Leith and Greenock. Though a man of blunt sensibilities and +speech, he possessed qualities which carried him out of the stagnant +back-water of pressing into the swim of service afloat, where he +eventually secured a baronetcy and the rank of Vice-Admiral. Singularly +enough, he was American-born. + +The senior officer in charge of a gang, commonly known as the Regulating +Captain, might in rank be either captain or lieutenant. It was his duty +to hire, but not to "keep" the official headquarters of the gang, to +organise that body, to direct its operations, to account for all moneys +expended and men pressed, and to "regulate" or inspect the latter and +certify them fit for service or otherwise. In this last-named duty a +surgeon often assisted him, usually a local practitioner, who received a +shilling a head for his pains. One or more lieutenants, each of whom had +one or more midshipmen at his beck and call, served under the Regulating +Captain. They "kept" the headquarters and led the gang, or contingents +of the gang, on pressing forays, thus coming in for much of the hard +work, and many of the harder knocks, that unpopular body was liable to. +Sometimes, as in the case of Dover, Deal and Folkestone, several gangs +were grouped under a single regulating officer. + +The pay of the Regulating Captain was 1 Pound a day, with an additional +5s. subsistence money. Lieutenants received their usual service pay, and +for subsistence 3s. 6d. In special cases grants were made for coach-hire +[Footnote: Capt. William Bennett's bill for the double journey between +Waterford and Cork, on the occasion of the inquiry into the conduct +of the Regulating Officer at the former place, over which he presided, +amounted to forty-three guineas--a sum he considered "as moderate as +any gentleman's could have been, laying aside the wearing of my uniform +every day." Half the amount went in chaise and horse hire, "there +being," we are told, "no chaises upon the road as in England," and +"only one to be had at Cork, all the rest being gone to Dublin with +the Lawyers and the Players, the Sessions being just ended and the Play +House broke up" (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Bennett, 24 March +1782). Nelson's bill for posting from Burnham, Norfolk, to London +and back, 260 miles, in the year 1789, amounted to 19 Pounds, 55. 2d. +(_Admiralty Records_ Victualling Dept, Miscellanea, No. 26).] and +such purposes as "entertainments to the Mayor and Corporation, the +Magistrates and the Officers of the Regulars and the Militia, by way of +return for their civilities and for their assistance in carrying on the +impress." The grant to the Newcastle officers, under this head, in 1763 +amounted to upwards of 93 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1493--Capt. Bover, 6 March 1763, and endorsement.] + +"Road-money" was generally allowed at the rate of 3d. a mile for +officers and 1d. a mile for gangers when on the press; but as a matter +of fact these modest figures were often largely exceeded--to the no +small emolument of the regulating officer. Lieut. Gaydon, commanding at +Ilfracombe, in 1795 debited the Navy Board with a sum of 148 Pounds for +1776 miles of travel; Capt. Gibbs, of Swansea, with 190 Pounds for 1561 +miles; and Capt. Longcroft, of Haverfordwest, with 524 Pounds for 8388 +miles--a charge characterised by Admiral M'Bride, who that year reported +upon the working of the impress, as "immense." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] He might well have +used a stronger term. + +An item which it was at one time permissible to charge, possesses a +special interest. This was a bonus of 1s. a head on all men pressed--a +bonus that was in reality nothing more than the historic prest shilling +of other days, now no longer paid to pressed men, diverted into the +pockets of those who did the pressing. The practice, however, was +short-lived. Tending as it did to fill the ships with unserviceable men, +it was speedily discontinued and the historic shilling made over to the +certifying surgeon. + +The shore midshipman could boast but little affinity with his namesake +of the quarter-deck. John Richards, midshipman of the Godalming gang, +had never in his life set foot on board a man-of-war or been to sea. His +age was forty. The case of James Good, of Hull, is even more remarkable. +He had served as "Midshipman of the Impress" for thirty years out of +sixty-three. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Acklom, +6 Oct. 1814. _Admiralty Records_ 1.1502--Capt. Boston, Report on +Rendezvous, 1782.] The pay of these elderly youths at no time exceeded a +guinea a week. + +The gangsman was more variously, if not more generously remunerated. At +Deal, in 1743, he had 1s. per day for his boat, and "found himself," or, +in the alternative, "ten shillings for every good seaman procured, in +full for his trouble and the hire of the boat." At Dover, in 1776, he +received 2s. 6d. a day; at Godalming, six years later, 10s. 6d. a week; +and at Exeter, during the American War of Independence, when the demand +for seamen was phenomenal, 14s. a week, 5s. for every man pressed, and +clothing and shoes "when he deserved it." Pay and allowances were thus +far from uniform. Both depended largely upon the scarcity or abundance +of suitable gangsmen, the demand for seamen, and the astuteness of the +officer organising the gang. Some gangs not on regular wages received as +much as "twenty shillings for each man impressed, and six-pence a mile +for as many miles as they could make it appear each man had travelled, +not exceeding twenty, besides (a noteworthy addition) the twelve-pence +press-money "; but if a man pressed under these conditions were found +to be unserviceable after his appearance on shipboard, all money +considerations for his capture were either withheld or recalled. On the +whole, considering the arduous and disagreeable nature of the gangsman's +calling, the Navy Board cannot be accused of dealing any too generously +by him. + +"If ever you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the +captains and pursers," Charles II. is credited with having once said +to his council, "you may go to bed." What in this sense was true of the +service afloat was certainly not less true of that loosely organised and +laxly supervised naval department, the impress ashore. Considering the +repute of the officers engaged in it, and the opportunities they enjoyed +for peculation and the taking of bribes--considering, above all, the +extreme difficulty of keeping a watchful eye upon officers scattered +throughout the length and breadth of the land, the wonder is, not that +irregularities crept in, but that they should have been, upon the whole, +so few and so venial. + +To allow the gangsmen to go fishing for sea-fish or dredging for +oysters, as was commonly done when there was little prospect of a catch +on land, was no more heinous than the custom prevailing--to everybody's +knowledge--at King's Lynn in Norfolk, where the gang had no need to +go a-fishing because, regularly as the cobbles came in, the midshipman +attached to the gang appeared on the quay and had the "insolence to +demand Three of the Best Fysh for the Regulating Captain, the Lieutenant +and himself." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the +Owners of the Fishing Cobbles of Lynn, 3 March 1809.] And if, again, +rating a gangsman in choicest quarterdeck language were no serious +offence, why should not the Regulating Captain rate his son as +midshipman, even though "not proper to be employed as such." And +similarly, granting it to be right to earn half a sovereign by pressing +a man contrary to law, where was the wrong in "clearing him of the +impress" for the same amount, as was commonly done by the middies at +Sunderland and Shields. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1557--Capt. +Bell, 27 June 1806, enclosure.] These were works of supererogation +rather than sins against the service, and little official notice was +taken of them unless, as in the case of Liverpool, they were carried +to such lengths as to create a public scandal. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Child, 30 Jan. 1800.] + +There were, as a matter of course, some officers in the service who went +far beyond the limits of such venial irregularities and, like Falstaff, +"misused the king's press damnably." Though according to the terms +of their warrant they were "to take care not to demand or receive any +money, gratuity, reward, or any other consideration whatsoever for the +sparing, exchanging or discharging any person or persons impressed or to +be impressed," the taking of "gratifications" for these express purposes +prevailed to a notorious extent. The difficulty was to fasten the +offence upon the offenders. "Bailed men," as they were called, did not +"peach." Their immunity from the press was too dearly bought to admit of +their indulging personal animus against the officer who had taken their +money. It was only through some tangle of circumstance over which the +delinquent had no control that the truth leaked out. Such a case was +that of the officer in command of the _Mary_ tender at Sunderland, a +lieutenant of over thirty years' standing. Having pressed one Michael +Dryden, a master's mate whom he ought never to have pressed at all, he +so far "forgot" himself as to accept a bribe of 15 Pounds for the man's +release, and then, "having that day been dining with a party of military +officers," forgot to release the man. The double lapse of memory +proved his ruin. Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the +unfortunately constituted lieutenant was "broke" and black-listed. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June 1798, +and endorsement.] + +Another species of fraud upon which the Admiralty was equally severe, +was that long practised with impunity by a certain regulating officer at +Poole. Not only did he habitually put back the dates on which men were +pressed, thus "bearing" them for subsistence money they never received, +he made it a further practice to enter on his books the names of +fictitious pressed men who opportunely "escaped" after adding their +quota to his dishonest perquisites. So general was misappropriation of +funds by means of this ingenious fraud that detection was deservedly +visited with instant dismissal. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1526--Capt. Boyle, 2 Oct. 1801, and endorsement.] + +Though to the gangsman all things were reputedly lawful, some things +were by no means expedient. He could with impunity deprive almost any +ablebodied adult of his freedom, and he could sometimes, with equal +impunity, add to his scanty earnings by restoring that freedom for a +consideration in coin of the realm; but when, like Josh Cooper, sometime +gangsman at Hull, he extended his prerogative to the occupants of +hen-roosts, he was apt to find himself at cross-purposes with the law as +interpreted by the sitting magistrates. + +Amongst less questionable perquisites accruing to the gangsman two only +need be mentioned here. One was the "straggling-money" paid to him +for the apprehension of deserters--20s. for every deserter taken, with +"conduct" money to boot; the other, the anker of brandy designedly +thrown overboard by smugglers when chased by a gang engaged in pressing +afloat. Occasionally the brandy checked the pursuit; but more often +it gave an added zest to the chase and so hastened the capture of the +fugitive donors. + +To the unscrupulous outsider the opportunities for illicit gain afforded +by the service made an irresistible appeal. Sham gangs and make-believe +press-masters abounded, thriving exceedingly upon the fears and +credulity of the people until capture put a term to their activities +and sent them to the pillory, the prison or the fleet they pretended to +cater for. + +Their mode of operation seldom varied. They pressed a man, and then took +money for "discharging" him; or they threatened to press and were bought +off. One Philpot was in 1709 fined ten nobles and sentenced to the +pillory for this fraud. He had many imitators, amongst them John Love, +who posed as a midshipman, and William Moore, his gangsman, both of +whom were eventually brought to justice and turned over to His Majesty's +ships. + +The role adopted by these last-named pretenders was a favourite one with +men engaged in crimping for the merchant service. Shrewsbury in 1780 +received a visit from one of these individuals--"a Person named Hopkins, +who appeared in a Lieutenant's Uniform and committed many fraudulant +Actions and Scandalous Abuses in raising Men," as he said, "for the +Navy." Two months later another impostor of the same type appeared at +Birmingham, where he scattered broadcast a leaflet, headed with the +royal arms and couched in the following seductive terms: "Eleven Pounds +for every Able Seaman, Five Pounds for every ordinary Seaman, and Three +Pounds for every Able-bodied Landsman, exclusive of a compleat set of +Sea Clothing, given by the Marine Society. All Good Seamen, and other +hearty young Fellows of Spirit, that are willing to serve on board any +of His Majesty's Vessels or Ships of War, Let them with Chearfulness +repair to the Sailors' Head Rendezvous in this Town, where a proper +Officer attends, who will give them every encouragement they can desire. +Now my Jolly Lads is the time to fill your Pockets with Dollars, Double +Doubloon's & Luidores. Conduct Money allowed, Chest and Bedding sent +Carriage Free." Soon after, the two united forces at Coventry, whither +Capt. Beecher desired to "send a party to take them," but to this +request the Admiralty turned a deaf ear. In their opinion the game was +not worth the candle. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of +Capt. Beecher, 1780] + +Ex-midshipman Rookhad, who when dismissed the service took to boarding +vessels in the Thames and extorting money and liquor from the masters as +a consideration for not pressing their men, did not escape so lightly. +Him the Admiralty prosecuted. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 12. Process was by information in the +Court of King's Bench, for a misdemeanour.] + +It was in companies, however, that the sham ganger most frequently took +the road, for numbers not only enhanced his chances of obtaining money, +they materially diminished the risk of capture. One such gang was +composed of "eighteen desperate villians," who were nevertheless taken. +Another, a "parcel of fellows armed with cutlasses like a pressgang," +appeared at Dublin in 1743, where they boldly entered public-houses on +pretence of looking for sailors, and there extorted money and drink. +What became of them we are not told; but in the case of the pretended +gang whose victim, after handing over two guineas as the price of his +release, was pressed by a regularly constituted gang, we learn the +gratifying sequel. The real gang gave chase to the sham gang and pressed +every man of them. + +According to the "Humble Petition of Grace Blackmore of Stratford le +Bow, widow," on Friday the 29th of May, in an unknown year of Queen +Anne's reign, "there came to Bow ffaire severall pretended pressmasters, +endeavouring to impress." A tumult ensued. Murder was freely "cryed +out," apparently with good reason, for in the melee petitioner's +husband, then constable of Bow, was "wounded soe that he shortly after +dyed." [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic,_ Anne, xxxvi. No. 17.] + +There were occasions when the sham gang operated under cover of a real +press-warrant, and for this the Admiralty was directly to blame. It had +become customary at the Navy Office to send out warrants, whether to +commanders of ships or to Regulating Captains, in blank, the person +to whom the warrant was directed filling in the name for himself. Such +warrants were frequently stolen and put to irregular uses, and of this a +remarkable instance occurred in 1755. + +In that year one Nicholas Cooke, having by some means obtained +possession of such a warrant, "filled up the blank thereof by directing +it to himself, by the name and description of Lieutenant Nicholas Cooke, +tho' in truth not a Lieutenant nor an Officer in His Majesty's Navy," +hired a vessel--the _Providence_ snow of Dublin--and in her cruised the +coasts of Ireland, pressing men. After thus raising as many as he could +carry, he shaped his course for Liverpool, no doubt intending, on his +arrival at that port, to sell his unsuspecting victims to the merchant +ships in the Mersey at so much a head. Through bad seamanship, however, +the vessel was run aground at Seacombe, opposite to Liverpool, and Capt. +Darby, of H.M.S. _Seahorse_, perceiving her plight, and thinking to +render assistance in return for perhaps a man or two, took boat and +rowed across to her. To his astonishment he found her full of Irishmen +to the number of seventy-three, whom he immediately pressed and removed +to his own ship. The circumstance of the false warrant now came to +light, and with it another, of worse omen for the mock lieutenant. In +the hold a quantity of undeclared spirits was discovered, and this fact +afforded the Admiralty a handle they were not slow to avail themselves +of. They put the Excise Officers on the scent, and Cooke was prosecuted +for smuggling. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 101.] + +The most successful sham gang ever organised was perhaps that said to +have been got together by a trio of mischievous Somerset girls. The +scene of the exploit was the Denny-Bowl quarry, near Taunton. The +quarrymen there were a hard-bitten set and great braggarts, openly +boasting that no gang dare attack them, and threatening, in the event +of so unlikely a contingency, to knock the gangsmen on the head and bury +them in the rubbish of the pit. There happened to be in the neighbouring +town "three merry maids," who heard of this tall talk and secretly +determined to put the vaunted courage of the quarrymen to the test. +They accordingly dressed themselves in men's clothing, stuck cockades in +their hats, and with hangers under their arms stealthily approached the +pit. Sixty men were at work there; but no sooner did they catch sight of +the supposed gang than they one and all threw down their tools and ran +for their lives. + +Officially known as the Rendezvous, a French term long associated with +English recruiting, the headquarters of the gang were more familiarly, +and for brevity's sake, called the "rondy." Publicans were partial to +having the rondy on their premises because of the trade it brought +them. Hence it was usually an alehouse, frequently one of the shadiest +description, situated in the lowest slum of the town; but on occasions, +as when the gang was of uncommon strength and the number of pressed +men dealt with proportionately large, a private house or other suitable +building was taken for the exclusive use of the service. It was +distinguished by a flag--a Jack--displayed upon a pole. The cost of the +two was 27s., and in theory they were supposed to last a year; but in +towns where the populace evinced their love for the press by hewing +down the pole and tearing the flag in ribbons, these emblems of national +liberty had frequently to be renewed. At King's Lynn as much as 13 +Pounds was spent upon them in four years--an outlay regarded by the +Navy Board with absolute dismay. It would have been not less dismayed, +perhaps, could it have seen the bunting displayed by rendezvous whose +surroundings were friendly. There the same old Jack did duty year after +year until, grimy and bedraggled, it more resembled the black flag than +anything else that flew, wanting only the skull and cross-bones to make +it a fitting emblem of authorised piracy. + +The rondy was hardly a spot to which one would have resorted for a +rest-cure. When not engaged in pressing, the gangsmen were a roistering, +drinking crew, under lax control and never averse from a row, either +amongst themselves or with outsiders. Sometimes the commanding officer +made the place his residence, and when this was the case some sort of +order prevailed. The floors were regularly swept, the beds made, the +frowsy "general" gratified by a weekly "tip" on pay-day. But when, on +the other hand, the gangsmen who did not "find themselves" occupied +the rondy to the exclusion of the officer, eating and sleeping there, +tramping in and out at all hours of the day and night, dragging pressed +men in to be "regulated" and locked up, and diverting such infrequent +intervals of leisure as they enjoyed by pastimes in which fear of the +"gent overhead" played no part--when this was the case the rondy became +a veritable bear-garden, a place of unspeakable confusion wherein papers +and pistols, boots and blankets, cutlasses, hats, beer-pots and staves +cumbered the floors, the lockers and the beds with a medley of articles +torn, rusty, mud-stained, dirt-begrimed and unkept. + +Amongst accessories essential to the efficient activity of gangs +stationed at coast or river towns the boat had first place. Sometimes +both sail and row-boats were employed. Luggers of the old type, fast +boats carrying a great press of sail, served best for overhauling ships; +but on inland waterways, such as the Thames, the Humber or the Tyne, a +"sort of wherry, constructed for rowing fast," was the favourite vehicle +of pursuit. The rate of hire varied from 1s. a day to two or more +guineas a week, according to the size and class of boat. At Cork it was +"five shillings Irish" per day. + +Accessories of a less indispensable nature, occasionally allowed, were, +at Dartmouth and a few other places, cockades for the gangsmen's hats, +supplied at a cost of 1s. each; at Tower Hill a messenger, pay 20s. a +week; and at Appledore an umbrella for use in rainy weather, price 12s. +6d. + +The arms of the gang comprised, first, a press-warrant, and, second, +such weapons as were necessary to enforce it. + +In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably +associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as +the cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the +gangsmen are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's +"good oak plant." Apart from this artistic evidence, however, there is +no valid reason for believing that the bludgeon ever came into general +use as the ganger's weapon. As early as the reign of Anne he went armed +with the "Queen's broad cutlash," and for most gangs, certainly for all +called upon to operate in rough neighbourhoods, the hanger remained the +stock weapon throughout the century. In expeditions involving special +risk or danger, the musket and the pistol supplemented what must have +been in itself no mean weapon. + +As we have already seen, the earliest recorded press-warrants emanated +from the king in person, whilst later ones were issued by the king in +council and endorsed by the naval authorities. As the need of men became +more and more imperative, however, this mode of issue was found to be +too cumbersome and inexpeditious. Hence, by the time the eighteenth +century came in, with its tremendously enhanced demands on behalf of the +Navy, the royal prerogative in respect to warrants had been virtually +delegated to the Admiralty, who issued them on their own initiative, +though ostensibly in pursuance of His Majesty's Orders in Council. + +An Admiralty warrant empowered the person to whom it was directed to +"impress" as many "seamen" as possibly he could procure, giving to each +man so impressed 1s. "for prest money." He was to impress none but such +as "were strong bodies and capable to serve the king"; and, having +so impressed such persons, he was to deliver them up to the officer +regulating the nearest rendezvous. All civil authorities were to be +"aiding and assisting" to him in the discharge of this duty. + +Now this document, the stereotyped press-warrant of the century, here +concisely summarised in its own phraseology, was not at all what it +purported to be. It was in fact a warrant out of time, an official +anachronism, a red-tape survival of that bygone period when pressing +still meant "presting" and force went no further than a threat. For men +were now no longer "prested." They were pressed, and that, too, in the +most drastic sense of the term. The king's shilling no longer changed +hands. Even in Pepys' time men were pressed "without money," and in +none of the accounts of expenses incurred in pressing during the century +which followed, excepting only a very few of the earlier ones, can +any such item as the king's shilling or prest-money be discovered. +Its abolition was a logical sequence of the change from presting to +pressing. + +The seaman, moreover, so far from being the sole quarry of the +warrant-holder, now sought concealment amongst a people almost without +exception equally liable with himself to the capture he endeavoured to +elude. Retained merely as a matter of form, and totally out of keeping +with altered conditions, the warrant was in effect obsolete save as an +instrument authorising one man to deprive another of his liberty in +the king's name. Even the standard of "able bodies and capable" had +deteriorated to such an extent that the officers of the fleet were kept +nearly as busy weeding out and rejecting men as were the officers of the +impress in taking them. + +Still, the warrant served. Stripped of its obsolete injunctions, it +read: "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and water-ways, and +compel them to come in"--enough, surely, for any officer imbued with +zeal for His Majesty's service. + +Though according to the strict letter of the law as defined by various +decisions of the courts a press-warrant was legally executable only by +the officer to whom it was addressed, in practice the limitation was +very widely departed from, if not altogether ignored; for just as a +constable or sheriff may call upon bystanders to assist him in the +execution of his office, so the holder of a press-warrant, though +legally unable to delegate his authority by other means, could call upon +others to aid him in the execution of his duty. Naturally, the gangsmen +being at hand, and being at hand for that very purpose, he gave them +first preference. Hence, the gangsman pressed on the strength of a +warrant which in reality gave him no power to press. + +While the law relating to the intensive force of warrants was thus +deliberately set at naught, an extraordinary punctiliousness for legal +formality was displayed in another direction. According to tradition and +custom no warrant was valid until it had received the sanction of the +civil power. Solicitor-General Yorke could find no statutory authority +for such procedure. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] He accordingly pronounced it to be +non-essential to the validity of warrants. Nevertheless, save in cases +where the civil power refused its endorsement, it was universally +adhered to. What was bad law was notoriously good policy, for a +disaffected mayor, or an unfriendly Justice of the Peace, had it in his +power to make the path of the impress officer a thorny one indeed. "Make +unto yourselves friends," was therefore one of the first injunctions +laid upon officers whose duties unavoidably made them many enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + + + +In theory an authority for the taking of seafaring men only, the +press-warrant was in practice invested with all the force of a Writ +of Quo Warranto requiring every able-bodied male adult to show by what +right he remained at large. The difference between the theory and the +practice of pressing was consequently as wide as the poles. + +While the primary and ostensible objective of the impress remained +always what it had been from the outset, the seaman who had few if any +land-ties except those of blood or sex, from this root principle +there sprang up a very Upas tree of pretension, whose noxious branches +overspread practically every section of the community. Hence the +press-gang, the embodiment of this pretension, eventually threw aside +ostence and took its pick of all who came its way, let their occupation +or position be what it might. It was no duty of the gangsman to employ +his hanger in splitting hairs. "First catch your man," was for him the +greatest of all the commandments. Discrimination was for his masters. +The weeding out could be done when the pressing was over. + +The classes hardest hit by this lamentable want of discrimination were +the classes engaged in trade. "Mr. Coventry," wrote Pepys some four +years after the Restoration, "showed how the medium of the men the King +hath one year with another employed in his navy since his coming, hath +not been above 3000 men, or at most 4000; and now having occasion for +30,000, the remaining 26,000 _must be found out of the Trade of the +Nation_." Naturally. Where a nation of shopkeepers was concerned it +could hardly have been otherwise. They who go down to the sea in ships +and do business in great waters, returning laden with the spoils of the +commercial world, have perforce to render tribute unto Caesar; but Mr. +Commissioner Coventry little guessed, when he enunciated his corollary +with such nice precision, to what it was destined to lead in the next +hundred years or so. + +Under the merciless exactions of the press-gang Trade did not, however, +prove the submissive thing that was wont to stand at its doors and cry: +"Will you buy? will you buy?" or to bow prospective customers into its +rich emporiums with unctuous rubbing of hands and sauve words. +Trade knew its power and determined to use it. "Look you! my Lords +Commissioners," cried Trade, truculently cocking its hat in the face of +Admiralty, "I have had enough. You have taken my butcher, my baker, my +candlestick-maker, nor have you spared that worthy youth, the 'prentice +who was to have wed my daughter. My coachman, the driver of my gilded +chariot, goes in fear of you, and as for my sedan-chair man, he is no +more found. My colliers, draymen, watermen, the carpenters who build my +ships and the mariners who sail them, the ablest of these my necessary +helpers sling their hammocks in your fleet. You have crippled the +printing of my Bible and the brewing of my Beer, and I can bear no more. +Protect me from my arch-enemy the foreigner if you must and will, but +not, my Lords Commissioners, by such monstrous personal methods as +these." "Your servant!" said Admiralty, obsequious before the only power +it feared--"your servant to command!" and straightway set about finding +a remedy for the evils Trade complained of. + +Now, to attain this end, so desirable if Trade were to be placated, it +was necessary to define with precision either whom the gang might take, +or whom it might not take; and here Admiralty, though notoriously a body +without a brain, achieved a stroke of genius, for it brought down both +birds with a single stone. Postulating first of all the old _lex sine +lege_ fiction that every native-born Briton and every British male +subject born abroad was legally pressable, it laid it down as a logical +sequence that no man, whatever his vocation or station in life, +was lawfully exempt; that exemption was in consequence an official +indulgence and not a right; and that apart from such indulgence every +man, unless idiotic, blind, lame, maimed or otherwise physically unfit, +was not only liable to be pressed, but could be legally pressed for +the king's service at sea. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 26; and _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. 1805, well express the official view.] +Having thus cleared the ground root and branch, Admiralty magnanimously +proceeded to frame a category of persons whom, as an act of grace and a +concession to Trade, it was willing to protect from assault and capture +by its emissary the press-gang. + +These exemptions from the wholesale incidence of the impress were not +granted all at once. Embodied from time to time in Acts of Parliament +and so-called acts of official grace--slowly and painfully wrung from a +reluctant Admiralty by the persistent demands and ever-growing power of +Trade--they spread themselves over the entire century of struggle for +the mastery of the sea, from which they were a reaction, and, touching +the lives of the common people in a hundred and one intimate points and +interests, culminated at length in the abolition of that most odious +system of oppression from which they had sprung, and in a charter +of liberties before which the famous charter of King John sinks into +insignificance. + + [Illustration: THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM.] + +As a matter of policy the foreigner had first place in the list of +exemptions. He could volunteer if he chose, [Footnote: Strenuous efforts +were made in 1709 to induce the "Poor Palatines"--seven thousand of them +encamped at Blackheath, and two thousand in Sir John Parson's brewhouse +at Camberwell--to enter for the navy. But the "thing was New to them to +go aboard a Man of Warr," so they declined the invitation, "having the +Notion of being sent to Carolina."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Letters +of Capt. Aston.] but he must not be pressed. [Footnote: 13 George II. +cap. 17.] To deprive him of his right in this respect was to invite +unpleasant diplomatic complications, of which England had already +too many on her hands. Trade, too, looked upon the foreigner as her +perquisite, and Trade must be indulged. Moreover, he fostered mutiny in +the fleet, where he was prone to "fly in the face" of authority and to +refuse to work, much less fight, for an alien people. If, however, he +served on board British merchant ships for two years, or if he married +in England, he at once lost caste, since he then became a naturalised +British subject and was liable to have even his honeymoon curtailed by +a visit from the press-gang. Such, in fact, was the fate of one William +Castle of Bristol in 1806. Pressed there in that year on his return +from the West Indies, he was discharged as a person of alien birth; but +having immediately afterwards committed the indiscretion of taking a +Bristol woman to wife, he was again pressed, this time within three +weeks of his wedding-day, and kept by express order of Admiralty. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 23 July 1806.] + +For some years after the passing of the Act exempting the foreigner, +his rights appear to have been generally, though by no means universally +respected. "Discharge him if not married or settled in England," was the +usual order when he chanced to be taken by the gang. With the turn of +the century, however, a reaction set in. Pressed men claiming to be +of alien birth were thenceforth only liberated "if unfit for service." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 11 March 1756, +endorsement, and numerous instances.] For this untoward change the +foreigner could blame none but himself. When taxed with having an +English wife, he could seldom or never be induced to admit the soft +impeachment. Consequently, whenever he was taken by the gang he was +assumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have committed +the fatal act of naturalisation. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Phillip, 26 Feb. 1805.] Alien seamen in distress through +shipwreck or other accidental causes, formed a humane exception to this +unwritten law. + +The negro was never reckoned an alien. Looked upon as a proprietary +subject of the Crown, and having no one in particular to speak up for +or defend him, he "shared the same fate as the free-born white man." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 29 Oct. +1762.] Many blacks, picked up in the West Indies or on the American +coast "without hurting commerce," were to be found on board our ships +of war, where, when not incapacitated by climatic conditions, they +made active, alert seamen and "generally imagined themselves free." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 585--Admiral Donnelly, 22 Feb. 1815.] +Their point of view, poor fellows, was doubtless a strictly comparative +one. + +Theoretically exempt by virtue of his calling, whatever that might be, +the landsman was in reality scarcely less marked down by the gang than +his unfortunate brother the seafaring man; for notwithstanding all its +professions to the contrary, Admiralty could not afford to ignore +the potentialities of the reserve the landsman represented. Hence no +occupation, no property qualification, could or did protect him. As +early as 1705 old Justice, in his treatise on sea law, deplores bitterly +the "barbarous custom of pressing promiscuously landsmen and seamen," +and declares that the gang, in its purblind zeal, "hurried away +tradesmen from their houses, 'prentices and journeymen from their +masters' shops, and even housekeepers (householders) too." By 1744 +the practice had become confirmed. In that year Capt. Innes, of His +Majesty's armed sloop the _Hind_, applied to the Lords Commissioners for +"Twenty Landsmen from Twenty to Twenty-five years of Age." The Admiralty +order, "Let the Regulating Captains send them as he desires," [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1983--Capt. Innes, 3 May 1744, and endorsement.] +leaves no room for doubt as to the class of men provided. They were +pressed men, not volunteers. + +Nor is this a solitary instance of a practice that was rapidly growing +to large proportions. Many a landsman, in the years that followed, +shared the fate of the Irish "country farmer" who went into Waterford +to sell his corn, and was there pressed and sent on board the tender; of +James Whitefoot, the Bristol glover, "a timid, unformed young man, the +comfort and support of his parents," who, although he had "never seen +a ship in his life," was yet pressed whilst "passing to follow his +business," which knew him no more; and of Winstanley, the London +butcher, who served for upwards of sixteen years as a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Bligh, 16 May 1781. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Duchess of Gordon, 14 Feb. 1804. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 584--Humble Petition of Betsey Winstanley, 2 Sept. 1814.] +Wilkes' historic barber would have entered upon the same enforced career +had not that astute Alderman discovered, to the astonishment of the +nation at large, that a warrant which authorised the pressing of seamen +did not necessarily authorise the pressing of a city tonsor. + +Amongst landsmen the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the +country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress officers +had particular instructions concerning him. They were to delete him from +the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a certificate from +the minister and churchwardens of his parish, this migratory farm-hand, +provided always he were not a sailor masquerading in that disguise, +could traverse the length and breadth of the land to all intents and +purposes a free man. To him, as well as to the grower of corn who +depended so largely upon his aid in getting his crop, the concession +proved an inestimable boon. There were violations of the harvester's +status, it is true; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of +Sir William Oglander, Bart., July 1796.] but these were too infrequent +to affect seriously the industry he represented. + +So far as the press was concerned, the harvester was better off than the +gentleman, for while the former could dress as he pleased, the latter +was often obliged to dress as he could, and in this lay an element of +danger. So long as his clothes were as good as the blood he boasted, and +he wore them with an aplomb suggestive of position and influence, the +gentleman was safe; but let his pretensions to gentility lie more in the +past than in the suit on his back, and woe betide him! In spite of his +protestations the gang took him, and he was lucky indeed if, like the +gentleman who narrates his experience in the _Review_ for the both of +February 1706, he was able to convince his captors that he was foreign +born by "talking Latin and Greek." + +To the people at large, whether landsmen or seafarers, the Act exempting +from the press every male under eighteen and over fifty-five years of +age would have brought a sorely needed relief had not Admiralty been a +past-master in the subtle art of outwitting the law. In this instance +a simple regulation did the trick. Every man or boy who claimed the +benefit of the age-limit when pressed, was required to prove his claim +ere he could obtain his discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 43: "It is incumbent on those +who claim to be exempted to prove the facts."] The impossibility of any +general compliance with such a demand on the part of persons often as +ignorant of birth certificates as they were of the sea, practically +wiped the exemption off the slate. + +In the eyes of the Regulating Captain no man was older than he looked, +no lad as young as he avowed. Hence thousands of pressed men over +fifty-five, who did not look the age they could not prove, figured on +the books of the fleet with boys whose precocity of appearance gave +the lie to their assertions. George Stephens, son of a clerk in the +Transport Office, suffered impressment when barely thirteen; and the son +of a corporal in Lord Elkinton's regiment, one Alexander M'Donald, +was listed in the same manner while still "under the age of twelve." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Vice-Admiral Hunter, 10 May +1813. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Butchart, 22 Jan. 1782, and +enclosure.] The gang did not pause by the way to discuss such questions. + +Apprentices fell into a double category--those bound to the sea, those +apprenticed on land. Nominally, the sea apprentice was protected from +the impress for a term of three years from the date of his indentures, +provided he had not used the sea before; [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6, +re-affirmed 13 George II. cap. 17.] while the land apprentice enjoyed +immunity under the minimum age-limit of eighteen years. The proviso in +the first case, however, left open a loop-hole the impress officer was +never slow to take advantage of; and the minimum age-limit, as we have +just seen, had little if any existence in fact. Apprentices pressed +after the three years' exemption had expired were never given up, nor +could their masters successfully claim them in law. They dropped like +ripe fruit into the lap of Admiralty. On the other hand, apprentices +pressed within the three years' exemption period were generally +discharged, for if they were not, they could be freed by a writ of +Habeas Corpus, or else the masters could maintain an action for damages +against the Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 25.] 'Prentices who "eloped" or ran +away from their masters, and then entered voluntarily, could not be +reclaimed by any known process at law if they were over eighteen years +of age. On the whole, the position of the apprentice, whether by land or +sea, was highly anomalous and uncertain. Often taken by the gang in the +hurry of visiting a ship, or in the scurry of a hot press on shore, he +was in effect the shuttlecock of the service, to-day singing merrily +at his capstan or bench, to-morrow bewailing his hard fate on board a +man-o'-war. + +When it came to the exemption of seamen, Admiralty found itself on the +horns of a dilemma. Both the Navy and the merchant service depended in a +very large degree upon the seaman who knew the ropes--who could take his +turn at the wheel, scud aloft without going through the lubber-hole, and +act promptly and sailorly in emergency. To take wholesale such men +as these, while it would enormously enhance the effectiveness of His +Majesty's ships of war, must inevitably cripple sea-borne trade. It was +therefore necessary, for the well-being of both services, to discover +the golden mean. According to statute law [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. +17.] every person using the sea, of what age soever he might be, was +exempt from the impress for two years from the time of his first making +the venture. The concession did not greatly improve the situation from +a trade point of view. It merely touched the fringe of the problem, and +Trade was insistent. + +A further concession was accordingly made. All masters, mates, +boatswains and carpenters of vessels of fifty tons and upwards were +exempted from the impress on condition of their going before a Justice +of the Peace and making oath to their several qualifications. This +affidavit, coupled with a succinct description of the deponent, +constituted the holder's "protection" and shielded him, or was supposed +to shield him, from molestation by the gang. Masters and mates of +colliers, and of vessels laid up for the winter, came under this head; +but masters or mates of vessels detected in running dutiable goods, or +caught harbouring deserters from the fleet, could be summarily dealt +with notwithstanding their protections. The same fate befell the mate or +apprentice who was lent by one ship to another. + +In addition to the executive of the vessel, as defined in the foregoing +paragraph, it was of course necessary to extend protection to as many +of her "hands", as were essential to her safe and efficient working. How +many were really required for this purpose was, however, a moot point on +which ship-masters and naval officers rarely saw eye to eye; and since +the arbiter in all such disputes was the "quarter-deck gentlemen," the +decision seldom if ever went in favour of the master. + +The importance of the coal trade won for colliers an early concession, +which left no room for differences of opinion. Every vessel employed +in that trade was entitled to carry one exempt able-bodied man for each +hundred units of her registered tonnage, provided it did not exceed +three hundred. The penalty for pressing such men was 10 Pounds for each +man taken. [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6.] + +On the coasts of Scotland commanders of warships whose carpenters had +run or broken their leave, and who perhaps were left, like Capt. Gage of +the _Otter_ sloop, "without so much as a Gimblett on board," [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829-Capt. Gage, 29 Sept. 1742.] might press +shipwrights from the yards on shore to fill the vacancy, and suffer no +untoward consequences; but south of the Tweed this mode of collecting +"chips" was viewed with disfavour. There, although ship-carpenters, +sailmakers and men employed in rope-walks were by a stretch of the +official imagination reckoned as persons using the sea, and although +they were generally acknowledged to be no less indispensable to the +complete economy of a ship than the able-bodied seaman, legal questions +of an extremely embarrassing nature nevertheless cropped up when the +scene of their activities underwent too sudden and violent a change. +The pressing of such artificers consequently met with little official +encouragement. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1778-83, No. 2.] + +Where the Admiralty scored, in the matter of ship protections, and +scored heavily, was when the protected person went ashore. For when on +shore the protected master, mate, boatswain, carpenter, apprentice +or seaman no longer enjoyed protection unless he was there "on ship's +duty." The rule was most rigorously, not to say arbitrarily, enforced. +Thus at Plymouth, in the year 1746, a seaman who protested in broken +English that he had come ashore to "look after his master's _sheep_" was +pressed because the naval officer who met and questioned him "imagined +sheep to have no affinity with a ship!" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2381--Capt. John Roberts, 11 July 1746. Capt. Roberts was a very +downright individual, and years before the characteristic had got him +into hot water. The occasion was when, in 1712, an Admiralty letter, +addressed to him at Harwich and containing important instructions, by +some mischance went astray and Roberts accused the Clerk of the Check of +having appropriated it. The latter called him a liar, whereupon Roberts +"gave him a slap in the face and bid him learn more manners." For this +exhibition of temper he was superseded and kept on the half-pay list +for some six years. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Brand, 8 March +1711-12. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2378, section 11, Admiralty note.] + +Any mate who failed to register his name at the rendezvous, as soon as +his ship arrived in port, did so at his peril. Without that formality he +was "not entitled to liberty." So strict was the rule that when William +Tassell, mate of the _Elizabeth_ ketch, was caught drinking in a Lynn +alehouse one night at ten o'clock, after having obtained "leave to run +about the town" until eight only, he was immediately pressed and +kept, the Admiralty refusing to declare the act irregular. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Capt. Bowyer, 25 July 1809, and enclosure.] + +In many ports it was customary for sailors to sleep ashore while +their ships lay at the quay or at moorings. The proceeding was highly +dangerous. No sailor ever courted sleep in such circumstances, even +though armed with a "line from the master setting forth his business," +without grave risk of waking to find himself in the bilboes. The Mayor +of Poole once refused to "back" press-warrants for local use unless +protected men belonging to trading vessels of the port were granted the +privilege of lodging ashore. "Certainly not!" retorted the Admiralty. +"We cannot grant Poole an indulgence _that other towns do not enjoy_." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Scott, 4 Jan. 1780, and +endorsement.] + +In spite of the risk involved, the sailor slept ashore and--if he +survived the night--tried to steal back to his ship in the grey of the +morning. Now and then, by a run of luck, he made his offing in safety; +but more frequently he met the fate of John White of Bristol, who was +taken by the gang when only "about ninety yards from his vessel." + +The only exceptions to this stringent rule were certain classes of +men engaged in the Greenland and South Seas whale fisheries. Skilled +harpooners, linesmen and boat-steerers, on their return from a whaling +cruise, could obtain from any Collector of Customs, for sufficient bond +put in, a protection from the impress which no Admiralty regulation, +however sweeping, could invalidate or override. Safeguarded by this +document, they were at liberty to live and work ashore, or to sail in +the coal trade, until such time as they should be required to proceed +on another whaling voyage. If, however, they took service on board any +vessel other than a collier, they forfeited their protections and could +be "legally detained." [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 28. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 14 March 1756. _Admiralty Records_ 7. +300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 42.] + +In one ironic respect the gang strongly resembled a boomerang. So +thoroughly and impartially did it do its work that it recoiled upon +those who used it. The evil was one of long standing. Pepys complained +of it bitterly in his day, asserting that owing to its prevalence +letters could neither be received nor sent, and that the departmental +machinery for victualling and arming the fleet was like to be undone. +With the growth of pressing the imposition was carried to absurd +lengths. The crews of the impress tenders, engaged in conveying pressed +men to the fleet, could not "proceed down" without falling victims to +the very service they were employed in. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755, and numerous instances.] To check +this egregious robbing of Peter to pay Paul, both the Navy Board and the +Government were obliged to "protect" their own sea-going hirelings, and +even then the protections were not always effective. + +Between the extremes represented by the landsman who enjoyed nominal +exemption and the seaman who enjoyed none, there existed a middle or +amphibious class of persons who lived exclusively on neither land +nor water, but habitually used both in the pursuit of their various +callings. These were the wherry or watermen, the lightermen, bargemen, +keelmen, trowmen and canal-boat dwellers frequenting mainly the inland +waterways of the country. + +In the reign of Richard II. the jurisdiction of Admirals was denned as +extending, in a certain particular, to the "main stream of great rivers +nigh the sea." [Footnote: 15 Richard II. cap. 2.] Had the same line of +demarcation been observed in the pressing of those whose occupations lay +upon rivers, there would have been little cause for outcry or complaint. +But the Admiralty, the successors of the ancient "Guardians of the Sea" +whose powers were so clearly limited by the Ricardian statute, gradually +extended the old-time jurisdiction until, for the purposes of the +impress, it included all waterways, whether "nigh the sea" or inland, +natural or artificial, whereon it was possible for craft to navigate. +All persons working upon or habitually using such waterways were +regarded as "using the sea," and later warrants expressly authorised the +gangs to take as many of them as they should be able, not excepting even +the ferryman. The extension was one of tremendous consequence, since +it swept into the Navy thousands of men who, like the Ely and Cambridge +bargemen, were "hardy, strong fellows, who never failed to make good +seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 April +1755.] + +Amongst these denizens of the country's waterways the position of the +Thames wherryman was peculiar in that from very early times he had been +exempt from the ordinary incidence of the press on condition of +his periodically supplying from his own numbers a certain quota of +able-bodied men for the use of the fleet. The rule applied to all +watermen using the river between Gravesend and Windsor, and members +of the fraternity who "withdrew and hid themselves" at the time of the +making of such levies, were liable to be imprisoned for two years and +"banished any more to row for a year and a day." [Footnote: 2 & 3 Philip +and Mary, cap. 16.] The exemption he otherwise enjoyed appears to have +conduced not a little to the waterman's proverbial joviality. As a +youth he spent his leisure in "dancing and carolling," thus earning the +familiar sobriquet of "the jolly young waterman." Even so, his tenure of +happiness was anything but secure. With the naval officer and the gang +he was no favourite, and few opportunities of dashing his happiness were +allowed to pass unimproved. In the person of John Golden, however, +they caught a Tartar. To the dismay of the Admiralty and the officer +responsible for pressing him, he proved to be one of my Lord Mayor's +bargemen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733-Capt. Young, 7 March +1756.] + +Apart from the watermen of the Thames, the purchase of immunity from the +press by periodic levies met with little favour, and though the levy was +in many cases reluctantly adopted, it was only because it entailed the +lesser of two evils. The basis of such levies varied from one man in ten +to one in five--a percentage which the Admiralty considered a "matter +of no distress"; and the penalty for refusing to entertain them was +wholesale pressing. + +The Tyne keelmen, while ostensibly consenting to buy immunity on this +basis, seldom levied the quota upon themselves. By offering bounties +they drew the price of their freedom to work in the keels from outside +sources. Lord Thurlow confessed that he did not know what "working in +the keels" meant. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1752-77, No. 70.] There were' few in the fleet who could have +enlightened him of their own experience. The keelmen kept their ranks as +far as possible intact. In this they were materially aided by the Mayor +and Corporation of Newcastle, who held a "Grand Protection" of the +Admiralty, and in return for this exceptional mark of their Lordships' +favour did all they could to further the pressing of persons less +essential to the trade of the town and river than were their own +keelmen. + +On the rivers Severn and Wye there was plying in 1806 a flotilla of +ninety-eight trows, ranging in capacity from sixty to one hundred and +thirty tons, and employing five hundred and eighty-eight men, of whom +practically all enjoyed exemption from the press. It being a time of +exceptional stress for men, the Admiralty considered this proportion +excessive, and Capt. Barker, at that time regulating the press at +Bristol, was ordered to negotiate terms. He proposed a contribution of +trowmen on the basis of one in every ten, coupling the suggestion with a +thinly veiled threat that if it were not complied with he would set +his gangs to work and take all he could get. The Association of Severn +Traders, finding themselves thus placed between the devil and the deep +sea, agreed to the proposal with a reluctance they in vain endeavoured +to hide under ardent protestations of loyalty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 24 April and 9 May 1806, and enclosure.] + +In the three hundred "flats" engaged in carrying salt, coals and other +commodities between Nantwich and Liverpool there were employed, in +1795, some nine hundred men who had up to that time largely escaped +the attentions of the gang. In that year, however, an arrangement was +entered into, under duress of the usual threat, to the effect that they +should contribute one man in six, or at the least one man in nine, +in return for exemption to be granted to the remainder. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 +April 1795.] + +Turf-boats plying on the Blackwater and the Shannon seem to have enjoyed +no special concessions. The men working them were pressed when-ever they +could be laid hold of, and if they were not always kept, their discharge +was due to reasons of physical unfitness rather than to any acknowledged +right to labour unmolested. Ireland's contribution to the fleet, apart +from the notoriously disaffected, was of too much consequence to be +played with; for the Irishman was essentially a good-natured soul, +and when his native indolence and slowness of movement had been duly +corrected by a judicious use of the rattan and the rope's-end, his +services were highly esteemed in His Majesty's ships of war. + +In the category of exemptions the fisheries occupied a place entirely +their own. They were carefully fostered, but indifferently protected. + +Previous to the year 1729 the most important concession granted to those +engaged in the taking of fish was the establishing of two extra "Fishe +Dayes" in the week. The provision was embodied in a statute of 1563, +whereby the people were required, under a penalty of, 3 Pounds for each +omission, "or els three monethes close Imprisonment without Baile or +Maineprise," to eat fish, to the total exclusion of meat, on Fridays and +Saturdays, and to content themselves with "one dish of flesh to three +dishes of fish" on Wednesdays. [Footnote: 5 Elizabeth, cap. 5.] The +enactment had no religious significance whatever; but in order to avoid +any suspicion of Popish tendencies it was deemed advisable, by those +responsible for the measure, to saddle it with a rider to the effect +that all persons teaching, preaching or proclaiming the eating of fish, +as enjoined by the Act, to be of "necessitee for the saving of the soule +of man," should be punished as "spreaders of fause newes." The true +significance of the measure lay in this. The abolition of Romish +fast-days had resulted, since the Reformation, in an enormous falling +off in the consumption of fish, and this decrease had in turn played +havoc with the fisheries. Now the fisheries were in reality the national +incubator for seamen, and Cecil, Elizabeth's astute Secretary of +State, perceiving in their decadence a grave menace to the manning of +prospective fleets, determined, for that reason if for no other, to +reanimate the dying industry. The Act in question was the practical +outcome of his deliberations. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, +Elizabeth, vol. xxvii. Nos. 71 and 72, comprising Cecil's original +memoranda.] + +An enactment which combined so happily the interests of the fisher +classes with those of national defence could not but be productive +of far-reaching consequences. The fishing industry not only throve +exceedingly because of it, it in time became, as Cecil clearly foresaw +it would become, a nursery for seamen and a feeder of the fleet as +unrivalled for the excellence of its material as it was inexhaustible in +its resources. Its prosperity was in fact its curse. Few exemptions were +granted it. Adventurers after whale and cod had special concessions, +suited to the peculiar conditions of their calling; but with these +exceptions craft of every description employed in the taking or the +carrying of fish, for a very protracted period enjoyed only such +exemptions as were grudgingly extended to sea-going craft in general. +The source of supply represented by the leviathan industry was too +valuable to be lightly restricted. + +On the other hand, it was too important to be lightly depleted. +Therefore under Cecil's Act establishing extra "Fishe Dayes," no +fisherman "using or haunting the sea" could be pressed off-hand to serve +in the Queen's Navy. The "taker," as the press-master was at that time +called, was obliged to carry his warrant to the Justices inhabiting +the place or places where it was proposed that the fishermen should be +pressed, and of these Justices any two were empowered to "choose +out such nomber of hable men" as the warrant specified. In this way +originated the "backing" or endorsing of warrants by the civil power. At +first obligatory only as regards the pressing of fishermen, it came to +be regarded in time as an essential preliminary to all pressing done on +land. + +No further provision of a special nature would appear to have been made +for the protecting of fisher folk from the press until the year 1729, +when an exemption was granted which covered the master, one apprentice, +one seaman and one landsman for each vessel. [Footnote: 2 George n. cap. +15.] In 1801, however, a sweeping change was inaugurated. A statute +of that date provided that no person engaged in the taking, curing or +selling of fish should be impressed. [Footnote: 41 George in. cap. 21.] +The exemption came too late to prove substantially beneficial to an +industry which had suffered incalculable injury from the then recent +wars. The press-gang was already nearing its last days. + +Prior to the Act of 1801 persons whose sole occupation was "to +pick oysters and mussels at low water" were accounted fishermen and +habitually pressed as "using the sea." + +The position of the smaller fry of fishermen is thrown into vivid relief +by an official communique of 1709 as opposed to an incident of later +date. "These poor people," runs the note, which was addressed to a naval +commander who had pressed a fisherman out of a boat of less than three +tons, "have been always protected for the support of their indigent +families, and therefore they must not Be taken into the service +unless there is a pressing occasion, _and then they will be all forced +thereinto_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1.2377--Capt. Robinson, 4 +Feb. 1708-9, and endorsement.] Captain Boscawen, writing from the Nore +in 1745, supplies the antithesis. He had been instructed to procure half +a dozen fishing smacks, each of not less than sixty tons burden, for +transport purposes. None were to be had. "The reason the fishermen give +for not employing vessels of that size," he states, in explanation of +the fact, "is that all the young men are pressed, and that the old men +and boys are not able to work them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1481--Capt. Boscawen, 23 Dec. 1745.] + +Conditions such as these in time taught the fisherman wisdom, and he +awoke to the fact that exemption for a consideration, as in the case of +workers on rivers and canals, was preferable to paying through the +nose. The Admiralty was never averse from driving a bargain of this +description. It saved much distress, much bad blood, much good money. +In this way Worthing fishermen bought exemption in 1780. The fishery of +that town was then in its infancy, the people engaged in it "very poor +and needy." They employed only sixteen boats. Yet they found it cheaper +to contribute five men to the Navy, at a cost of 40 Pounds in +bounties, than to entertain the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1446--Capt. Alms, 2 Jan. 1780.] + +The Orkney fisherman bought his freedom, both on his fishing-grounds and +when carrying his catch to market, on similar terms; but being a person +of frugal turn of mind, he gradually developed the habit of withholding +his stipulated quota. The unexpected arrival in his midst of an armed +smack, followed by a spell of vigorous pressing, taught him that to +be penny-wise is sometimes to be pound-foolish. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 11 May 1798, and Admiralty note.] + +On the Scottish coasts fishermen and ferrymen--the latter a numerous +class on that deeply indented seaboard--offered up one man in every five +or six on the altar of protection. The sacrifice distressed them less +than indiscriminate pressing. A prosperous people, they chose out those +of their number who could best be spared, supporting the families thus +left destitute by common subscription. Buss fishermen, who followed +the migratory herring; from fishing-ground to fishing-ground, were +in another category. Their contribution, when on the Scottish coast, +figured out at a man per buss, but as they were for some inscrutable +reason called upon to pay similar tribute on other parts of the coast, +they cannot be said to have escaped any too lightly. Neither did the +four hundred fishing-boats composing the Isle of Man fleet. Their crews +were obliged to surrender one man in every seven. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795; +Admiral Philip, Report on Rendezvous, 1 Aug. 1801.] + +Opinions as to the value of material drawn from these sources differed +widely. The buss fisherman was on all hands acknowledged to be a +seasoned sailor; but when it came to those employed in smaller craft, it +was held that heaving at the capstan for a matter of only six or seven +weeks in the year could never convert raw lads into useful seamen, even +though they continued that healthful form of exercise all their lives. +This was the view entertained by the masters of fishing-smacks smarting +from loss of "hands." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Thomas +Hurry, master, 3 March 1777.] + +Admiralty saw things in quite another light. "What you admit," said +their Lordships, expressing the counter-view, "it is our business to +prevent. We will therefore take these lads, who are admittedly of no +service to you save for hauling in your nets or getting your anchors, +and will make of them what you, on your own showing, can never +make--able seamen.": The argument, backed as it was by the strong arm of +the press-gang, was unanswerable. + +The fact that the fisherman passed much of his time on shore did not +free him from the press any more than it freed the waterman, or the +worker in keel or trow. In his main vocation he "used the sea," and that +was enough. For the use of the sea was the rule and standard by which +every man's liability to the press was supposed to be measured and +determined. + +Except in the case of masters, mates and apprentices to the sea, whose +affidavits or indentures constituted their respective safeguards against +the press, every person exempt from that infliction, whether by statute +law or Admiralty indulgence, was required to have in his possession an +official voucher setting forth the fact and ground of his exemption. +This document was ironically termed his "protection." + +Admiralty protections were issued under the hand of the Lord High +Admiral; ordinary protections, by departments and persons who possessed +either delegated or vested powers of issue. Thus each Trinity House +protected its own pilots; the Customs protected whale fishermen and +apprentices to the sea; impress officers protected seamen temporarily +lent to ships in lieu of men taken out of them by the gangs. Some +protections were issued for a limited period and lapsed when that period +expired; others were of perpetual "force," unless invalidated by some +irregular acton the part of the holder. No protection was good unless +it bore a minute description of the person to whom it applied, and all +protections had to be carried on the person and produced upon demand. +Thomas Moverty was pressed out of a wherry in the Thames owing to his +having changed his clothes and left his protection at home; and +John Scott of Mistley, in Suffolk, was taken whilst working in his +shirtsleeves, though his protection lay in the pocket of his jacket, +only a few yards away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. +Bridges, 11 August 1743. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Capt. Ballard, 15 +March 1804, and enclosure.] + +The most trifling irregularity in the protection itself, or the +slightest discrepancy between the personal appearance of the bearer and +the written description of him, was enough to convert the protection +into so much waste paper and the bearer into a naval seaman. +North-country apprentices, whose indentures bore a 14s. stamp in +accordance with Scottish law, were pressed because that document did not +bear a 15s. stamp according to English law. A seaman was in one instance +described in his protection as "smooth-faced," that is, beardless. The +impress officer scrutinised him closely. "Aha!" said he, "you are not +smooth-faced. You are pockmarked"; and he pressed the poor fellow for +that reason. + +To be over-protected was as bad as having no protection at all. +Thomas Letting, a collier's man, and John Anthony of the merchant ship +_Providence_, learnt this fact to their cost when they were taken out +of their respective ships for having each two protections. In short, +the slightest pretext served. If a protection had but a few more days to +run; if the name, date, place or other essential particular showed +signs of "coaxing," that is, of having been "on purpose rubbed out" or +altered; if a man's description did not figure in his protection, or +if it figured on the back instead of in the margin, or in the margin +instead of on the back; if his face wore a ruddy rather than a pale +look, if his hair were red when it ought to have been brown, if he +proved to be "tall and remarkable thin" when he should have been +middle-sized and thick-set--in any of these, as in a hundred and one +similar cases, the bearer of the protection paid the penalty for what +the impress officer regarded as a "hoodwinking attempt" to cheat the +King's service of an eligible man. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the impress officer regarded every +pressable man as a person who made it his chief business in life +to defraud the Navy of his services on the "miserable plea of a +protection," it by no means followed that his zeal in pressing him +on that account had in every case the countenance or met with the +unqualified approval of the Admiralty. Thousands of men and boys taken +in this irresponsible fashion obtained their discharge, though with +more or less difficulty and delay, when the facts of the case were +laid before the naval authorities; and in general it may be said, that +although the Lords Commissioners were only too ready to wink at any +colourable excuse whereby another physical unit might be added to the +fleet, they nevertheless laid it down as a rule, inviolable at least +on paper, "never to press any man from protections," since it brought +"great trouble and clamour upon them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +3. 50--Admiralty Minutes, 26 Feb. 1744-5.] To assert that the rule was +generally obeyed would be to turn the truth into a lie. On the contrary, +it was almost universally disregarded. Both officers and gangs traversed +it on every possible occasion, leaving the justice or injustice of the +act to the arbitrament of the higher tribunal. Zeal for the service was +no crime, and to release a man was always so much easier than to catch +him. + +"Pressing from protections," as the phrase ran in the service, did +not therefore mean that the Admiralty over-rode its own protections +at pleasure. It merely signified that on occasion more than ordinarily +stringent measures were adopted for the holding-up and examining of +all protected persons, or of as many of them as could be got at by the +gangs, to the end that all false or fraudulent vouchers might be weeded +out and the dishonest bearers of them consigned to another place. And +yet there were times when "pressing from protections" had its plenary +significance too. + +Lovers of prints who are familiar with Hogarth's "Stage Coach; or, +a Country Inn Yard," date 1747, will readily recall the two +"outsides"--the one a down-in-the-mouth soldier, the other a jolly +Jack-tar on whose bundle may be read the word "Centurion." Now the +_Centurion_ was Anson's flag-ship, and in this print Hogarth has +incidentally recorded the fact that her crew, on their return from that +famous voyage round the world, were awarded life-protections from the +press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Anson, 24 July +1744.] + +The life-protection was an indulgence extended to few. Samuel Davidson +of Newcastle, sailor, aged fifty, who had "served for nine years during +the late wars," in 1777 made bold to plead that fact as a reason why he +should be freed from the attentions of the press-gang for the rest of +his life. But the Lords Commissioners refused to admit the plea "unless +he was in a position not inferior to that of chief mate." On the other +hand, Henry Love of Hastings, who had merely served in a single Dutch +expedition, but had the promise of Pitt and Dundas that both he and +those who volunteered with him should never be pressed, was immediately +discharged when that calamity befell him. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1449--Capt. Columbine, 21 July 1800.] + +The granting of extraordinary protections was thus something entirely +erratic and not to be counted upon. Captain Balchen in 1708 had special +protections for ten of his ship's company whom he desired to bring to +London as witnesses in a suit then pending against him; but the building +of the three earlier Eddystone lighthouses was allowed to be seriously +impeded by the pressing of the unprotected workmen when on shore at +Plymouth, and the keepers of the first erection of that name were once +carried off bag and baggage by the gang. + +Smeaton, who built the third Eddystone, protected his men by means of +silver badges, and his storeboat enjoyed similar immunity--presumably +with the consent of Admiralty--by reason of a picture of the lighthouse +painted on her sail. Other great constructors, as well as rich +mercantile firms, bought protection at a price. They supplied a +stipulated number of men for the fleet, and found the arrangement a +highly convenient one for ridding themselves of those who were useless +to them or had incurred their displeasure. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 583--Admiral Thornborough, 30 Nov. 1813.] + +Private protections, of which great numbers saw the light, were in no +case worth the paper they were written on. Joseph Bettesworth of Ryde, +Isle of Wight, Attorney-at-Law and Lord of the Manor of Ashey and Ryde, +by virtue of an ancient privilege pertaining to that Manor and confirmed +by royal Letters Patent, in 1790 protected some twenty seafaring men to +work his "Antient Ferry or Passage for the Wafting of Passengers to and +from Ride, Portsmouth and Gosport, in a smack of about 14 tons, and a +wherry." The regulating captain at the last-named place asked what he +should do about it. "Press every man as soon as possible," replied their +Lordships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1506--Capt. John Bligh, +June 1790, and enclosure.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + + + +"A man we want, and a man we must have," was the naval cry of the +century. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Deposition of John +Swinburn, 28 July 1804.] + +Nowhere was the cry so loud or so insistent as on the sea, where every +ship of war added to its volume. In times of peace, when the demand +for men was gauged by those every-day factors, sickness, death and +desertion, it dwindled, if it did not altogether die away; but given +a war-cloud on the near horizon and the cry for men swelled, as +many-voiced as there were keels in the fleet, to a sudden clamour of +formidable proportions--a clamour that only the most strenuous and +unremitting exertions could in any measure appease. + +Every navy is argus-eyed, and in crises such as these, when the +very existence of the nation was perhaps at stake, it was first and +principally towards the crews of the country's merchant ships that the +eyes of the Navy were directed; for, shipboard life and shipboard duty +being largely identical in both services, no elaborate training +was required to convert the merchant sailor into a first-rate +man-o'-war's-man. The ships of both services were sailing ships. Both, +as a rule, went armed. Hence, not only was the merchant sailor an able +seaman, he was also trained in the handling of great guns, and in the +use of the cutlass, the musket and the boarding-pike. In a word, he was +that most valuable of all assets to a people seeking to dominate the +sea--a man-o'-war's-man ready-made, needing only to be called in in +order to become immediately effective. + +The problem was how to catch him--how to take him fresh and vigorous +from his deep-sea voyaging--how to enroll him in the King's Navy ere he +got ashore with a pocketful of money and relaxed his hardened muscles in +the uncontrolled debauchery he was so partial to after long abstention. + +A device of the simplest yet of the most elaborate description met the +difficulty. It was based upon the fact that to take the sailor afloat +was a much easier piece of strategy than to ferret him out of his +hiding-places after he got ashore. The impress trap was therefore set in +such a way as to catch him before he reached the land. + +With infinite ingenuity and foresight sea-gangs were picketed from +harbour to harbour, from headland to headland, until they formed an +almost unbroken chain around the coasts and guarded the sailor's every +point of accustomed approach from overseas: This was the outer cordon +of the system, the beginning of the gauntlet the returning sailor had to +run, and he was a smart seaman indeed who could successfully negotiate +the uncharted rocks and shoals with which the coast was everywhere +strewn in his despite. + +The composition of this chain of sea-gangs was mixed to a degree, yet +singularly homogeneous. + +First of all, on its extreme outer confines, perhaps as far down Channel +as the Scillies, or as far north as the thirteen-mile stretch of sea +running between the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast, where the trade +for Liverpool, Whitehaven, Dublin and the Clyde commonly came in, the +homing sailor would suddenly descry, bearing down upon him under press +of sail, the trim figure of one of His Majesty's frigates, or the clean, +swift lines of an armed sloop. The meeting was no chance one. Both +the frigate and the sloop were there by design, the former cruising +to complete her own complement, the latter to complete that of some +ship-of-the-line at Plymouth, Spithead or the Nore, to which she stood +in the relation of tender. + +Tenders were vessels taken into the king's service "at the time of +Impressing Seamen." Hired at certain rates per month, they continued in +the service as long as they were required, often most unwillingly, and +were principally employed in obtaining men for the king's ships or in +matters relative thereto. In burden they varied from thirty or forty to +one hundred tons, [Footnote: This was the maximum tonnage for which the +Navy Board paid, but when trade was slack larger vessels could be had, +and were as a matter of fact frequently employed, at the nominal tonnage +rate.] the smaller craft hugging the coast and dropping in from port +to port, the larger cruising far beyond shore limits. For deep-sea or +trade-route cruising the smaller craft were of little use. No ship of +force would bring-to for them. + +While press-warrants were supplied regularly to every warship, no matter +what her rating, the supply of tenders was less general and much more +erratic. It was only when occasion demanded it, and then only to ships +of the first, second and third rate, that tenders were assigned for the +purpose of bringing their crews up to full strength. The urgency of +the occasion, the men to be "rose," the diplomacy of the commander +determined the number. A tender to each ship was the rule, but however +parsimonious the Navy Board might be on such occasions, a carefully +worded appeal to its prejudices seldom failed to produce a second, +or even a third attendant vessel. Boscawen once had recourse to this +ingenious ruse in order to obtain tender number two. The Navy Board +detested straggling seamen, so he suggested that, with several tenders +lying idle in the Thames, his men might be far more profitably employed +than in straggling about town. "Most reprehensible practice!" assented +the Board, and placed a second vessel at his disposal without more ado. +Lieut. Upton was immediately put in charge of her and ordered seawards. +He returned within a week with twenty-seven men, pressed out of +merchantmen in Margate Roads. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1478--Letters of Capt. Boscawen, July and August 1743.] + +The tender assigned to Boscawen on this occasion was the _Galloper_, an +American-built vessel, "rigged in the manner the West Indians do +their sloops." Her armament consisted of six 9-pounders and threescore +small-arms, but as a sea-boat she belied her name, for she was +hopelessly sluggish under sail, and the great depth of her waist, and +her consequent liability to ship seas in rough weather, rendered her +"very improper" for cruising in the Channel. + +For her company she had a master, a mate and six hands supplied by the +owners, in addition to thirty-four seamen temporarily drafted into her +from Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_. It was the duty of the former +to work the vessel, of the latter to do the pressing; but these +duties were largely interchangeable. All were under the command of the +lieutenant, who with forty-two men at his beck and call could organise, +on a pinch, five gangs of formidable strength and yet leave sufficient +hands, given fair weather, to mind the tender in their temporary +absence. Tender's men were generally the flower of a ship's company, +old hands of tried fidelity, equal to any emergency and reputedly proof +against bribery, rum and petticoats. Yet the temptation to give duty the +slip and enjoy the pleasures of town for a season sometimes proved too +strong, even for them, and we read of one boat's-crew of eight, who, +overcome in this way, were discovered after many days in a French +prison. Instead of going pressing in the Downs, they had gone to +Boulogne. + +On the commanders of His Majesty's ships the onus of raising men fell +with intolerable insistence. Nelson's greatest pleasure in his promotion +to Admiral's rank is said to have been derived from the fact that with +it there came a blessed cessation to the scurvy business of pressing; +and there were in the service few captains, whether before or after +Nelson's day, who could not echo with hearty approval the sentiment of +Capt. Brett of the _Roebuck_, when he said: "I can solemnly declare +that the getting and taking care of my men has given me more trouble and +uneasiness than all the rest of my duty." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1478--Capt. Brett, 27 Oct. 1742.] + +Commanders of smaller and less effective ships found themselves on the +horns of a cruel dilemma did they dare to ask for tenders. Beg and +pray as they would, these were rarely allowed them save as a special +indulgence or a crying necessity. To most applications from this source +the Admiralty opposed a front well calculated "to encourage the others." +"If he has not men enough to proceed on service," ran its dictum, "their +Lordships will lay up the ship." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1471--Capt. Boyle, 1 March 1715-6, endorsement, and numerous instances.] +Faced with the summary loss of his command, their Lordships' high +displeasure, and consequent inactivity and half-pay for an indefinite +period, the captain whose complement was short, and who could obtain +neither men nor tender from the constituted authority, had no option but +to put to sea with such hands as he already bore and there beat up for +others. This, with their Lordships' gracious permission, he accordingly +did, thus adding another unit to the fleet of armed vessels already +prowling the Narrow Seas on a similar errand. It can be readily imagined +that such commanders were not out for pleasure. + +To the great and incessantly active flotilla got together in this way, +the regulating captains on shore contributed a further large contingent. +Every seaport of consequence had its rendezvous, every seaport +rendezvous its amphibious gang or gangs who ranged the adjacent coast +for many leagues in swift bottoms whose character and mission often +remained wholly unsuspected until some skilful manoeuvre laid them +aboard their intended victim and brought the gang swarming over her +decks, armed to the teeth and resolute to press her crew. + +We have now three classes of vessels, of varying build, rig, tonnage and +armament, engaged in a common endeavour to intercept and take the homing +sailor. Let us next see how they were disposed upon the coast. + +Tenders from Greenwich and Blackwall ransacked the Thames below bridge +as far as Blackstakes in the river Medway, the Nore and the Swin +channel. Tenders from Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover watched the +lower Thames estuary, swept the Downs, and kept a sharp lookout along +the coasts of Kent and Sussex, of Essex and of Norfolk. To these tenders +from Lynn dipped their colours off Wells-on-Sea or Cromer, whence +they bore away for the mouth of Humber, where Hull tenders took up the +running till met by those belonging to Sunderland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne +and Shields, which in turn joined up the cordon with others hailing +from Leith and the Firth of Forth. Northward of the Forth, away to the +extreme Orkneys, and all down the west coast of Scotland through the two +Minches and amongst the Hebrides, specially armed sloops from Leith and +Greenock made periodic cruises. Greenock tenders, again, united with +tenders from Belfast and Whitehaven in a lurking watch for ships making +home ports by way of the North Channel; or circled the Isle of Man, ran +thence across to Morecambe Bay, and so down the Lancashire coast the +length of Formby Head, where the Mersey tenders, alert for the Jamaica +trade, relieved them of their vigil. Dublin tenders guarded St. George's +Channel, aided by others from Milford Haven and Haverfordwest. Bristol +tenders cruised the channel of that names keeping a sharp eye on Lundy +Island and the Holmes, where shipmasters were wont to play them tricks +if they were not watchful. Falmouth and Plymouth tenders guarded the +coast from Land's End to Portland Bill, Portsmouth tenders from Portland +Bill to Beachy Head, and Folkestone and Dover tenders from Beachy Head +to the North Foreland, thus completing the encircling chain. Nor was +Ireland forgotten in the general sea-rummage. As a converging point for +the great overseas trade-routes it was of prime importance, and tenders +hailing from Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, or making +those places their chief ports of call, exercised unceasing vigilance +over all the coast. + +In this general scouring of the coastal waters of the kingdom certain +points were of necessity subjected to a much closer surveillance than +others. Particularly was this true of the sea routes followed by the +East and West India, and the Baltic, Virginia, Newfoundland, Dutch +and Greenland trades, where these converged upon such centres of +world-commerce as London, Poole, Bristol, Liverpool and the great +northern entrepots on the Forth and Clyde, the Humber and the Tyne. A +tender stationed off Poole, when a Newfoundland fish-convoy was expected +in, never failed to reap a rich harvest. At Highlake, near the mouth +of the Mersey, many a fine haul was made from the sugar and rum-laden +Jamaica ships, the privateers and slavers from which Liverpool drew her +wealth. Early in the century sloops of war had orders "to cruise between +Beechy and the Downs to Impress men out of homeward-bound Merchant +Ships," and in 1755 Rodney's lieutenants found the Channel "full of +tenders." Except in times of profound peace--few and brief in the +century under review--it was rarely or never in any other state. An +ocean highway so congested with the winged vehicles of commerce could +not escape the constant vigilance of those whose business it was to +waylay the inward-bound sailor. + +A favourite station in the Channel was "at ye west end of ye Isle of +Wight, near Hurst Castle," where the watchful tender, having under her +eye all ships coming from the westward, as well as all passing through +the Needles, could press at pleasure by the simple expedient of sending +gangs aboard of them. At certain times of the year such ports as +Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Brixham came in for similar +attention. When the fleets were due back from the "Great Fishery" on the +Dogger Banks, tenders cruising off those ports netted more men than they +could find room for; and so heavy was the tribute paid in this way by +the fishermen of the last-named port in 1805, that "not a single man was +to be found in Brixham liable to the impress." Every unprotected man, +out of a total of ninety-six fishing-smacks then belonging to the place, +had been snapped up by the tenders and ships of war cruising off the bay +or further up-Channel. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 Sept.] + +The double cordon composed of ships and tenders on the cruise by no +means exhausted the resources called into play for the intercepting of +the sailor afloat. Still nearer the land was a third or innermost line +composed of boat-gangs operating, like so many of the tenders, from +rendezvous on shore, or from ships of war lying in dock or riding +at anchor. Less continuous than the outer cordon, it was not less +effective, and many a sailor who by strategy or good luck had all but +won through, struck his flag to the gang when perhaps only the cast of a +line separated him from shore and liberty. + +It was across the entrance to harbours and navigable estuaries that this +innermost line was most frequently and most successfully drawn. Pill, +the pilot station for the port of Bristol, threw out such a line to +the further bank of Avon and thereby caught many an able seaman who +had evaded the tenders below King Road. On Southampton Water it was +generally so impassable that few men who could in the slightest +degree be considered liable to the press escaped its toils. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 +Aug. 1805.] Dublin Bay knew it well. A press "on float" there, carried +out silently and swiftly in the grey of a September morning, 1801, +whilst the mists still hung thick over the water, resulted in the +seizure of seventy-four seamen who had eluded the press-smacks cruising +without the bay; but of this number two proving to be protected +apprentices, the Lord Mayor sent the Water Bailiff of the city, "with a +detachment of the army," and took them by force out of the hands of the +gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1526--Capt. Brabazon, 16 Sept. +1801.] On the Thames, notwithstanding the ceaseless activity of the +outer cordons, the innermost line of capture yielded enormously. The +night of October the 28th, 1776, saw three hundred and ninety-nine men, +the greater part of them good seamen, pressed by the boats of a single +ship--the _Princess Augusta_, Captain Sir Richard Bickerton commander, +then fitting out at Woolwich. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1497--Capt. Bickerton, 29 Oct. 1776.] Such a raid was very properly +termed a "hot press." + +The amazing feature of this exploit is, that it should have been +possible at all, in view of what was going on in the Thames estuary +below a line drawn across the river's mouth from Foulness to +Sheerness-reach. Seawards of this line lay the two most famous +anchorages in the world, where ships foregathered from every quarter +of the navigable globe. Than the Nore and the Downs no finer +recruiting-ground could anywhere be found, and here the shore-gangs +afloat, and the boat-gangs from ships of war, were for ever on the +alert. No ship, whether inward or outward bound, could pass the Nore +without being visited. Nothing went by unsearched. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] The wonder is that any +unprotected sailor ever found his way to London. + +Between the Nore and the North Foreland the conditions were equally +rigorous. Through all the channels leading to the sea, channels +affording anchorage to innumerable ships of every conceivable rig and +tonnage, the gangs roamed at will, exacting toll of everything that +carried canvas. Even the smaller craft left high and dry upon the +flats, or awaiting the tide in some sand-girt pool, did not escape their +hawk-like vigilance. + + [Illustration: SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS +WEDDING DAY.] + +In the Downs these conditions reached their climax, for thither, in +never-ending procession, came the larger ships which were so fruitful of +good hauls. With the wind at north, or between north and east, few ships +came in and little could be done. But when the wind veered and came +piping out of the west or sou'-west, in they came in such numbers that +the gangs, however numerous they might be, had all their work cut out +to board them. A special tender, swift and exceedingly well-found, was +accordingly stationed here, whose duty it was to be "very watchful that +no vessel passed without a visit from the impress boats." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Orders of Vice-Admiral Buckle to Capt. +Yates, 29 April 1778.] In such work as this man-o'-war boats were of +little use. Just as they could not negotiate Deal beach without danger +of being reduced to matchwood, so they could not live in the choppy sea +kicked up in the Downs by a westerly gale. Folkstone market boats and +Deal cutters had to be requisitioned for pressing in those waters. Their +seaworthiness and speed made the Downs the crux of inward-bound ships, +whose only means of escaping their attentions was to incur another +danger by "going back of the Goodwins." + +The procedure of boat-gangs pressing in harbour or on rivers seldom +varied, unless it were by accident. As a rule, night was the time +selected, for to catch the sailor asleep conduced greatly to the success +and safety of the venture. The hour chosen was consequently either close +upon midnight, some little time after he had turned in, or in the early +morning before he turned out. The darker the night and the dirtier the +weather the better. Surprise, swiftly and silently carried out, was half +the battle. + +A case in point is the attempt made by Lieut. Rudsdale, of H.M.S. +_Licorne_, "to impress all men (without exception) from the ships and +vessels lying at Cheek Point above Passage of Waterford," in the year +'79. Putting-off in the pinnace with a picked crew at eleven o'clock +on a dark and tempestuous October night, he had scarcely left the ship +astern ere he overtook a boatload of men, how many he could not well +discern in the darkness, pulling in the direction he himself was bound. +Fearful lest they should suspect the nature of his errand and alarm +the ships at Passage, he ran alongside of them and pressed the entire +number, sending the boat adrift. Putting back, he set his capture on +board the _Licorne_ and once more turned the nose of the pinnace towards +Passage. There, dropping noiselessly aboard the _Triton_ brig, he caught +the hands asleep, pressed as many of them as he had room for, and with +them returned to the ship. Meanwhile, the master of the _Triton_ armed +what hands he had left and met Rudsdale's second attempt to board +him with a formidable array of handspikes, hatchets and crowbars. +A fusillade of bottles and billets of wood further evinced his +determination to protect the brig against all comers, and lest there +should be any doubt on that point he swore roundly that he would be the +death of every man in the pinnace if they did not immediately sheer +off and leave him in peace. This the lieutenant wisely did. No further +surprises were possible that night, for by this time the alarm had +spread, the pinnace was half-full of missiles, and one of his men lay +in the bottom of her severely wounded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +471--Deposition of Lieut. Rudsdale, 24 Oct. 1779.] As it was, he had a +very fair night's work to his credit. Between the occupants of the boat +and those of the brig he had obtained close upon a score of men. + +The expedients resorted to by commanders of ships of war temporarily +in port and short of their tale of men are vividly depicted in a report +made to the Admiralty in 1711. "Three days ago, very privately," +writes Capt. Billingsley, whose ship, the _Vanguard_, was then lying at +Blackstakes, "I Sent two fishing Smacks with a Lieutenant and some Men, +with orders to proceede along the Essex Coast, and downe as far as the +Wallet, to the Naze, with directions to take all the men out of Oyster +Vessels and others that were not Exempted. The project succeeded, and +they are return'd with fourteen men, all fit, and but one has ever been +in the Service. The coast was Alarm'd, and the country people came downe +and fir'd from the Shore upon the Smacks, and no doubt but they doe +still take 'em to be privateers." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1470--Capt. Billingsley, 5 May 1711.] + +Pressing at sea differed materially in many of its aspects from pressing +on the more sheltered waters of rivers and harbours. Carried out as a +rule in the broad light of day, it was for that very reason accompanied +with a more open and determined display of force than those quieter +ventures which depended so largely for their success upon the element +of surprise. Situated as we are in these latter days, when anyone who +chooses may drive his craft from Land's End to John o' Groats without +hindrance, it is difficult to conceive that there was ever a time when +the whole extent of the coastal waters of the kingdom, as ranged by +the impress tender, was under rigorous martial law. Yet such was +unquestionably the case. Throughout the eighteenth century the flag was +everywhere in armed evidence in those waters, and no sailing master of +the time could make even so much as a day's run with any certainty that +the peremptory summons: "Bring to! I'm coming aboard of you," would not +be bawled at him from the mouth of a gun. + +The retention of the command of a tender depended entirely upon her +success in procuring men. As a rule, she was out for no other purpose, +and this being so, it is not to be supposed that the officer in charge +of her would do otherwise than employ the means ordained for that end. +Accordingly, as soon as a sail was sighted by the tender's lookout man, +a gun was loaded, shotted with roundshot, and run out ready for the +moment when the vessel should come within range. + +The first intimation the intended victim had of the fate in store for +her was the shriek of the roundshot athwart her bows. This was the +signal, universally known as such, for her to back her topsails and +await the coming of the gang, already tumbling in ordered haste into the +armed boat prepared for them under the tender's quarter. And yet it was +not always easy for the sprat to catch the whale. A variety of factors +entered into the problem and made for failure as often as for success. +Sometimes the tender's powder was bad--so bad that in spite of an extra +pound or so added to the charge, the shot could not be got to carry +as far as a common musket ball. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2485--Capt. Shirley, 5 Nov. 1780, and numerous instances.] When this was +the case her commander suffered a double mortification. His shot, +the symbol of authority and coercion, took the water far short of its +destined goal, whilst the vessel it was intended to check and intimidate +surged by amid the derisive cat-calls and laughter of her crew. + +Even with the powder beyond reproach, ships did not always obey the +summons, peremptory though it was. One pretended not to hear it, or to +misunderstand it, or to believe it was meant for some other craft, and +so held stolidly on her course, vouchsafing no sign till a second shot, +fired point-blank, but at a safe elevation, hurtled across her decks and +brought her to her senses. Another, perhaps some well-armed Levantine +trader or tall Indiaman whose crew had little mind to strike their +colours submissively at the behest of a midget press-smack, would pipe +to quarters and put up a stiff fight for liberty and the dear delights +of London town--a fight from which the tender, supposing her to have +accepted the gage of battle, rarely came off victor. Or the challenged +ship, believing herself to be the faster craft of the two, clapped on +all sail, caught an opportune "slatch of wind," and showed her pursuer +a clean pair of heels, the tender's guns meanwhile barking away at her +until she passed out of range. These were incidents in the chapter of +pressing afloat which every tender's commander was familiar with. Back +of them all lay a substantial fact, and on that he relied for his supply +of men. There was somehow a magic in the boom of a naval gun that +had its due effect upon most ship-masters. They brought-to, however +reluctantly, and awaited the pleasure of the gang. But the sailor had +still to be reckoned with. + +In order to invest the business of taking the sailor with some semblance +of legality, it was necessary that the commander of the tender, in whose +name the press-warrant was made out, or one of his two midshipmen, each +of whom usually held a similar warrant, should conduct the proceedings +in person; and the first duty of this officer, on setting foot upon the +deck of the vessel held up in the manner just described, was to order +her entire company to be mustered for his inspection. If the master +proved civil, this preliminary passed off quickly and with no more +confusion than was incidental to a general and hasty rummaging of +sea-chests and lockers in search of those magic protections on which +hung the immediate destiny of every man in the ship, excepting only the +skipper, his mate and that privileged person, the boatswain. The muster +effected, the officer next subjected each protection to the closest +possible scrutiny, for none who knew the innate trickery of seamen +would ever "take their words for it." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1482--Capt. Boscawen, 20 March 1745-6.] Men who had no protections, +men whose papers bore evident traces of "coaxing" or falsification, +men whose appearance and persons failed to tally exactly with the +description there written down--these were set apart from their more +fortunate messmates, to be dealt with presently. To their ranks were +added others whose protections had either expired or were on the point +of expiry, as well as skulkers who sought to evade His Majesty's press +by stowing themselves away between or below decks, and who had been +by this time more or less thoroughly routed out by members of the gang +armed with hangers. The two contingents now lined up, and their total +was checked by reference to the ship's articles, the officer never +omitting to make affectionate inquiries after men marked down as "run," +"drowned," or "discharged"; for none knew better than he, if an old hand +at the game, how often the "run" man ran no further afield than some +secure hiding-place overlooked by his gangers, or how miraculously the +"drowned" bobbed up once more to the surface of things when the gang had +ceased from troubling. If the ship happened to be an inward-bound, and +to possess a general protection exempting her from the press only +for the voyage then just ending, that fact greatly simplified and +abbreviated the proceedings, for then her whole company was looked upon +as the ganger's lawful prey. In the case of an outward-bound ship, the +gang-officer's duty was confined to seeing that she carried no more +hands than her protection and tonnage permitted her to carry. All others +were pressed. Cowed by armed authority, or wounded and bleeding in a +lost cause as hereafter to be related, the men were hustled into the +boat with "no more violence than was necessary for securing them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aldred, 12 June 1708.] +Their chests and bedding followed, making a full boat; and so, having +cleared the ship of all her pressable hands, the gang prepared to return +to the tender. But first there was a last stroke of business to be done. +The gunner must have his bit. + +Up to this point, beyond producing the ship's papers for inspection and +gruffly answering such questions as were put to, him, the master of the +vessel had taken little part in what was going on. His turn now came. By +virtue of his position he could not be pressed, but there existed a very +ancient naval usage according to which he could be, and was, required to +pay for the powder and shot expended in inducing him to receive the +gang on board. In law the exaction was indefensible. Litigation often +followed it, and as the century grew old the practice for that reason +fell into gradual desuetude, a circumstance almost universally deplored +by naval commanders of the old school, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 13 Oct. 1795, and Admiralty endorsement.] who were +ever sticklers for respect to the flag; but during the first five or six +decades of the century the shipmaster who had to be fired upon rarely +escaped paying the shot. The money accruing from his compliance with +the demand, 6s. 8d., went to the gunner, whose perquisite it was, and +as several shots were frequently necessary to reduce a crew to becoming +submissiveness, the gunners must have done very well out of it. Refusal +to "pay the shot" could be visited upon the skipper only indirectly. +Another man or two were taken out of him by way of reprisals, and the +press-boat shoved off--to return a second, or even a third time, if the +pressed men numbered more than she could stow. + +From this summary mode of depriving a ship of a part or the whole of her +crew two serious complications arose, the first of which had to do +with the wages of the men pressed, the second with what was technically +called "carrying the ship up," that is to say, sailing her to her +destination. + +According to the law of the land, the sailor who was pressed out of a +ship was entitled to his wages in full till the day he was pressed, and +not only was every shipmaster bound to provide such men with tickets +good for the sums severally due to them, tickets drawn upon the owners +and payable upon demand, but it was the duty of every impress officer +to see that such tickets were duly made out and delivered to the men. +Refusal to comply with the law in this respect led to legal proceedings, +in which, except in the case of foreign ships, the Admiralty invariably +won. Eminently fair to the sailor, the provision was desperately hard on +masters and owners, for they, after having shipped their crews for the +run or voyage, now found themselves left either with insufficient hands +to carry the ship up, or with no hands at all. As a concession to the +necessity of the moment a gang was sometimes put on board a ship for the +avowed purpose of pressing her hands when she arrived in port; but such +concessions were not always possible, [Footnote: Nor were they always +effective, as witness the following: "Tuesday the 15th, the _Shandois_ +sloop from Holland came by this place (the Nore). I put 15 men on board +her to secure her Company till their Protection was expired. Soon after +came from Sheerness the Master Attendant's boat to assist me on that +service. I immediately sent her away with more Men and Armes for the +better Securing of the Sloop's Company, but that night, in Longreach, +the Vessel being near the Shore, and almost Calme, they hoisted the boat +out to tow the Sloop about, and all the Sloop's men, being 18, got +into her and Run ashore, bidding defiance to my people's +fireing."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, H.M.S. _Argyle_, +18 Feb. 1725-6.] and common equity demanded that in their absence ample +provision should be made for the safety of vessels suddenly disabled by +the gang. This the Admiralty undertook to do, and hence there grew up +that appendage to the impress afloat generally known as "men in lieu" or +"ticket men." + +The vocation of the better type "man in lieu" was a vicarious sort of +employment, entailing any but disagreeable consequences upon him who +followed it. At every point on the coast where a gang was stationed, and +at many where they were not, great numbers of these men were retained +for service afloat whenever required. The three ports of Dover, Deal and +Folkestone alone at one time boasted no less than four hundred and fifty +of them, and when a hot press was in full swing in the Downs even this +number was found insufficient to meet the demand. Mostly fishermen, +Sea-Fencibles and others of a quasi-seafaring type, they enjoyed +complete exemption from the impress as a consideration for "going +in pressed men's rooms," received a shilling, and in some cases +eighteen-pence a day while so employed, and had a penny a mile +road-money for their return to the place of their abode, where they +were free, in the intervals between carrying ships up, to follow any +longshore occupation they found agreeable, save only smuggling. The +enjoyment of these privileges, and particularly the privilege of +exemption from the press, made them, as a class, notorious for their +independence and insolence--characteristics which still survive in not a +few of their descendants. Tenders going a-pressing often bore a score +or two of these privileged individuals as supers, who were drafted into +ships, as the crews were taken out, to assist the master, mate and few +remaining hands, were any of the latter left, in carrying them up. Or, +if no supers of this class were borne by the tender, she "loaned" the +master a sufficient number of her own company, duly protected by tickets +from the commanding officer, and invariably the most unserviceable +people on board, to work the ship into the nearest port where regular +"men in lieu" could be obtained. + +Had all "men in lieu" conformed to the standard of the better class +substitute of that name, the system would have been laudable in the +extreme and trade would have suffered little inconvenience from the +depredations of the gangs; but there was in the system a flaw that +generally reduced the aid lent to ships to something little better than +a mere travesty of assistance. That flaw lay in the fact that Admiralty +never gave as good as it took. Clearly, it could not. True, it supplied +substitutes to go in "pressed men's rooms," but to call them "men in +lieu" was a gross abuse of language. In reality the substitutes supplied +were in the great majority of cases mere scum in lieu, the unpressable +residuum of the population, consisting of men too old or lads too +young to appeal to the cupidity of the gangs, poor creatures whom the +regulating captains had refused, useless on land and worse than useless +at sea. + +In the general character of the persons sent in pressed men's rooms +Admiralty thus had Trade on the hip, and Trade suffered much in +consequence. More than one rich merchantman, rusty from long voyaging, +strewed the coast with her cargo and timbers because all the able seamen +had been taken out of her, and none better than old men and boys could +be found to sail her. Few seaport towns were as wise as Sunderland, +where they had a Society of Shipowners for mutual insurance against +the risks arising from the pressing of their men. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1541--Capt. Bligh, 8 Jan. 1807, enclosure.] Elsewhere +masters, owners and underwriters groaned under the galling imposition; +but the wrecker rejoiced exceedingly, thanking the gangs whose ceaseless +activities rendered such an outrageous state of things possible. + +Whichever of these two classes the ticket man belonged to, he was an +incorrigible deserter. "Thirteen out of the fifteen men in lieu that I +sent up in the _Beaufort_ East-Indiaman," writes the disgusted commander +of the _Comet_ bombship, from the Downs, "have never returned. As +they are not worth inquiring for, I have made them run." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Burvill, 4 Sept. 1742. A +man-o'-war's-man was "made run" when he failed to return to his ship +after a reasonable absence and an R was written over against his name on +the ship's books.] Such instances might be multiplied indefinitely. Once +the ticket man had drawn his money for the trip, there was no such thing +as holding him. The temptation to spend his earnings in town proved too +strong, and he went on the spree with great consistency and enjoyment +till his money was gone and his protection worthless, when the +inevitable overtook him. The ubiquitous gang deprived him of his only +remaining possession, his worthless liberty, and sent him to the fleet, +a ragged but shameless derelict, as a punishment for his breach of +privilege. + +The protecting ticket carried by the man in lieu dated from 1702, when +it appears to have been first instituted; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1433--Capt. Anderson, 5 April 1702.] but even when the bearer was no +deserter in fact or intention, it had little power to protect him. No +ticket man could count upon remaining unmolested by the gangs except the +undoubted foreigner and the marine, both of whom were much used as men +in lieu. The former escaped because his alien tongue provided him with +a natural protection; the latter because he was reputedly useless on +shipboard. In the person of the marine, indeed, the man in lieu achieved +the climax of ineptitude. It was an ironical rule of the service that +persons refusing to act as men in lieu should suffer the very fate they +stood in so much danger of in the event of their consenting. Broadstairs +fishermen in 1803 objected to serving in that capacity, though tendered +the exceptional wage of 27s. for the run to London. "If not compelled +to go in that way," they alleged, "they could make their own terms +with shipmasters and have as many guineas as they were now offered +shillings." Orders to press them for their contumacy were immediately +sent down. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Carter, 16 Aug. +1803.] + +By the year 1811 the halcyon days of the man in lieu were at an end. As +a class he was then practically extinct. Inveterate and long-continued +pressing had drained the merchant service of all able-bodied British +seamen except those who were absolutely essential to its existence. +These were fully protected, and when their number fell short of the +requirements of the service the deficiency was supplied by foreigners +and apprentices similarly exempt. So few pressable men were to be found +in any one ship that it was no longer considered necessary to send +ticket men in their stead when they were taken out, and as a matter +of fact less than a dozen such men were that year put on board ships +passing the Downs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1453--Capt. +Anderson, 31 Aug. 1811.] Pressing itself was in its decline, and as for +the vocation of the man in lieu, it had gone never to return. + +Ships and tenders out for men met with varied fortunes. In the winter +season the length of the nights, the tempestuous weather and the cold +told heavily against success, as did at all times that factor in the +problem which one old sea-dog so picturesquely describes as "the room +there is for missing you." Capt. Barker, of the _Thetis_, in 1748 made +a haul of thirty men off the Old-Head of Kinsale, but lost his barge +in doing so, "it blowed so hard." Byng, of the _Sutherland_, grumbled +atrociously because in the course of his run up-Channel in '42 he was +able to press "no more than seventeen." Anson, looking quite casually +into Falmouth on his way down-Channel, found there in '46 the _Betsey_ +tender, then just recently condemned, and took out of her every man she +possessed at the cost of a mere hour's work, ignorant of the fact that +when pressing eight of those men the commander of the _Betsey_ had been +"eight hours about it." It was all a game of chance, and when you played +it the only thing you could count upon was the certainty of having both +the sailor and the elements dead against you. + + [Illustration: JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the painting by Morland.] + +But if the "room there is for missing you," conspiring with other +unfavourable conditions, rendered pressing afloat an uncertain and +vexatious business, the chances of making a haul were on the other hand +augmented by every ship that entered or left the Narrow Seas, not even +excepting the foreigner. The foreign sailor could not be pressed unless, +as we have seen, he had naturalised himself by marrying an English +wife, but the foreign ship was fair game for every hunter of British +seamen.--An ancient assumption of right made it so. + +From the British point of view the "Right of Search" was an eminently +reasonable thing. Here was an island people to whose keeping Heaven had +by special dispensation committed the dominion of the seas. To defend +that dominion they needed every seaman they possessed or could produce. +They could spare none to other nations; and when their sailors, who +enjoyed no rights under their own flag, had the temerity to seek refuge +under another, there was nothing for it but to fire on that flag +if necessary, and to take the refugee by armed force from under its +protection. This in effect constituted the time-honoured "Right of +Search," and none were so reluctant to forego the prerogative, or so +keen to enforce it, as those naval officers who saw in it a certain +prospect of adding to their ships' companies. The right of search was +always good for another man or two. + +It was often good for a great many more, for the foreign skipper was at +the best an arrant man-stealing rogue. If a Yankee, he hated the British +because he had beaten them; if a Frenchman or a Hollander, because +they had beaten him. His animus was all against the British Navy, his +sympathies all in favour of the British sailor, in whom he recognised +as good, if not a better seaman than himself. He accordingly enticed +him with the greatest pertinacity and hid him away with the greatest +cunning. + +Every impress officer worth his salt was fully alive to these facts, and +on all the coast no ship was so thoroughly ransacked as the ship whose +skipper affected a bland ignorance of the English tongue or called +Heaven to witness the blamelessness of his conduct with many +gesticulations and strange oaths. Lieut. Oakley, regulating officer at +Deal, once boarded an outward-bound Dutch East-Indiaman in the Downs. +The master strenuously denied having any English sailors on board, but +the lieutenant, being suspicious, sent his men below with instructions +to leave no part of the ship unsearched. They speedily routed out three, +"who discovered that there were in all thirteen on board, most of them +good and able seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 3363--Lieut. +Oakley, 8 Dec. 1743.] The case is a typical one. + +Another source of joy and profit to the gangs afloat were the great +annual convoys from overseas. For safety's sake merchantmen in times +of hostilities sailed in fleets, protected by ships of war, and when a +fleet of this description was due back from Jamaica, Newfoundland or the +Baltic, that part of the coast where it might be expected to make its +land-fall literally swarmed with tenders, all on the _qui vive_ for +human plunder. They were seldom disappointed. The Admiralty protections +under which the ships had put to sea in the first instance expired with +the home voyage, leaving the crews at the mercy of the gangs. If, +that is to say, the commanders of the convoying men-o'-war had not +forestalled them, or the ships' companies were not composed, as in one +case we read of, of men who were all "either sick or Dutchmen." + +The privateer had to be approached more warily than the merchantman, +since the number of men and the weight of metal she carried made her an +ugly customer to deal with. She was in consequence notorious for being +the sauciest craft afloat, and though "sauce" was to the naval officer +what a red rag is to a bull, there were few in the service who did +not think twice before attempting to violate the armed sanctity of the +privateer. At the same time the hands who crowded her deck were the +flower of British seamen, and in this fact lay a tremendous incentive to +dare all risks and press her men. Her commission or letter of marque of +course protected her, but when she was inward-bound that circumstance +carried no weight. + +Against such an adversary the tender stood little chance. When she +hailed the privateer, the latter laughed at her, threatening to sink her +out of hand, or, if ordered to bring to, answered with all the insolent +contempt of the Spanish grandee: "Mariana!" Accident sometimes stood +the tender in better stead, where the pressing of privateer's-men was +concerned, than all the guns she carried. Capt. Adams, cruising for men +in the Bristol Channel, one day fell in with the Princess Augusta, a +letter of marque whose crew had risen upon their officers and tried +to take the ship. After hard fighting the mutiny was quelled and the +mutineers confined to quarters, in which condition Adams found them. +The whole batch, twenty-nine in number, was handed over to him, "though +'twas only with great threats" that he could induce them to submit, +"they all swearing to die to a man rather than surrender." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 28 June 1745.] + +A year or two prior to this event this same ship, the Princess Augusta, +had a remarkable adventure whilst sailing under the merchant flag of +England. On the homeward run from Barbadoes, some fifty leagues to the +westward of the Scillies, she fell in with a Spanish privateer, who +at once engaged and would undoubtedly have taken her but for an +extraordinary occurrence. Just as the trader's assailants were on the +point of boarding her the Spaniard blew up, strewing the sea with his +wreckage, but leaving the merchantman providentially unharmed. Capt. +Dansays, of H.M.S. the _Fubbs_ yacht, who happened to be out for men +at the time in the chops of the Channel, brought the news to England. +Meeting with the trader a few days after her miraculous escape, he had +boarded her and pressed nine of her crew. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 Feb. 1741-2.] + +From the smuggling vessels infesting the coasts the sea-going gangs drew +sure returns and rich booty. In the south and east of England people who +were "in the know" could always buy tobacco, wines and silks for a mere +song; and in Cumberland, in the coast towns there, and inland too, the +very beggars are said to have regaled themselves on tea at sixpence or +a shilling the pound. These commodities, as well as others dealt in by +runners of contrabrand, were worth far more on the water than on land, +and none was so keenly alive to the fact as the gangsman who prowled the +coast. Animated by the prospect of double booty, he was by all odds the +best "preventive man" the country ever had. + +There was a certainty, too, about the pressing of a smuggler that was +wanting in other cases. The sailor taken out of a merchant ship, or the +fisherman out of a smack, might at the eleventh hour spring upon you a +protection good for his discharge. Not so the smuggler. There was in his +case no room for the unexpected. No form of protection could save him +from the consequences of his trade. Once caught, his fate was a foregone +conclusion, for he carried with him evidence enough to make him a +pressed man twenty times over. Hence the gangsman and the naval officer +loved the smuggler and lost no opportunity of showing their affection. + +"Strong Breezes and Cloudy," records the officer in command of H.M.S. +_Stag_, a twenty-eight gun frigate, in his log. "Having made the Signal +for Two Strange Sail in the West, proceeded on under Courses & Double +Reeft Topsails. At 1 sett the Jibb and Driver, at 3 boarded a Smugling +Cutter, but having papers proving she was from Guernsey, and being out +limits, pressed one Man and let her go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2734--Log of H.M.S. _Stag_, Capt. Yorke commander, 5 Oct. 1794.] + +"Friday last," says the captain of the _Spy_ sloop of war, "I sail'd out +of Yarmouth Roads with a Fleet of Colliers in order to press Men, & in +my way fell in with Two Dutch Built Scoots sail'd by Englishmen, bound +for Holland, one belonging to Hull, call'd the _Mary_, the other to +Lyn, call'd the _Willing Traveller_. I search'd 'em and took out of the +former 64 Pounds 14. and out of the latter 300 Pounds 6, all English +Money, which I've deliver'd to the Collector of Custome at Yarmouth. +I likewise Imprest out of the Two Vessells seven men." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. Arnold, 29 May 1727. The exporting of +coin was illegal.] + +"In the execution of my orders for pressing," reports Capt. Young, from +on board the Bonetta sloop under his command, "I lately met with two +Smuglers, & landing my boats into a Rocky Bay where they were running of +Goods, the Weather came on so Violent I had my pinnace Stove so much as +to be rendered unservisable. They threw overboard all their Brandy, Tea +and Tobacco, of which last wee recover'd about 14 Baggs and put it +to the Custom house. In Endeavouring to bring one of them to Sail, my +Boatswain, who is a very Brisk and Deserving Man, had his arm broke, so +that tho' wee got no more of their Cargo, it has broke their Voyage and +Trade this bout." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 +April 1739.] + +On the 13th of December 1703, George Messenger, boatswain of the _Wolf_ +armed sloop, whilst pressing on the Humber descried a "keel" lying high +and dry apart from the other shipping in the river, where it was then +low water. Boarding her with the intention of pressing her men, he found +her deserted save for the master, and thinking that some of the hands +might be in hiding below--where the master assured him he would find +nothing but ballast--he "did order one of his Boat's crew to goe down in +the Hold and see what was therein"; who presently returned and reported +"a quantity of wool conceal'd under some Coales a foot thik." The +exportation of wool being at that time forbidden under heavy penalties, +the vessel was seized and the master pressed--a course frequently +adopted in such circumstances, and uniformly approved. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1465--Deposition of George Messenger, 20 Dec. +1703. Owling, ooling or wooling, as the exportation of wool contrary +to law was variously termed, was a felony punishable, according to +an enactment of Edward III., with "forfeiture of life and member." So +serious was the offence considered that in 1565 a further enactment was +formulated against it. Thereafter any person convicted of exporting a +live ram, lamb or sheep, was not only liable to forfeit all his goods, +but to suffer imprisonment for a year, and at the end of the year "in +some open market town, in the fulness of the market on the market day, +to have his right hand cut off and nailed up in the openest place of +such market." The first of these Acts remained in nominal force till +1863.] + +While the gangs afloat in this way lent their aid in the suppression +of smuggling, they themselves were sometimes subjected to disagreeable +espionage on the part of those whose duty it was to keep a special +lookout for runners of contraband goods. An amusing instance of this +once occurred in the Downs. The commanding officer of H.M.S. _Orford_, +discovering his complement to be short, sent one of his lieutenants, +Richardson by name, in quest of men to make up the deficiency. In the +course of his visits from ship to ship there somehow found their way +into the lieutenant's boat a fifteen-gallon keg of rum and ten bottles +of white wine. Between seven and eight o'clock in the evening he boarded +an Indiaman and went below with the master. Scarcely had he done so, +however, when an uproar alongside brought him hurriedly on deck--to find +his boat full of strange faces. A Customs cutter, in some unaccountable +way getting wind of what was in the boat, had unexpectedly "clapt them +aboard," collared the man-o'-war's-men for a set of rascally smugglers, +and confiscated the unexplainable rum and wine, becoming so fuddled on +the latter, which they lost no time in consigning to bond, that one of +their number fell into the sea and was with difficulty fished out by +Richardson's disgusted gangsmen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1473--Capt. Brown, 30 July 1727, and enclosures.] + +The only inward-bound ship the gangsmen were forbidden to press from was +the "sick ship" or vessel undergoing quarantine because of the presence, +or the suspected presence, on board of her of some "catching" disease, +and more particularly of that terrible scourge the plague. Dread of the +plague in those days rode the country like a nightmare, and just as the +earliest quarantine precautions had their origin in that fact, so those +precautions were never more rigorously enforced than in the case of +ships trading to countries known to be subject to plague or reported +to be in the grip of it. The Levantine trader suffered most severely +in this respect. In 1721 two vessels from Cyprus, where plague was then +prevalent, were burned to the water's edge by order of the authorities, +and as late as 1800 two others from Morocco, suspected of carrying the +dread disease in the hides composing their cargo, were scuttled and sent +to the bottom at the Nore. This was quarantine _in excelsis_. Ordinary +preventive measures went no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," +as communication with the shore was called, for a period varying usually +from ten to sixty-five days, and during this period no gang was allowed +to board the ship. + +The seamen belonging to such ships always got ashore if they could; +for though the penalty for deserting a ship in quarantine was death, +[Footnote: 26 George II. cap. 6.] it might be death to remain, and the +sailor was ever an opportunist careless of consequences. So, for that +matter, was the gangsman. Knowing well that Jack would make a break +for it the first chance he got, he hovered about the ship both day and +night, alert for every movement on board, watchful of every ripple on +the water, taunting the woebegone sailors with the irksomeness of their +captivity or the certainty of their capture, and awaiting with what +patience he could the hour that should see pratique restored and the +crew at his mercy. Whether the ship had "catching" disease on board or +not might be an open question. There was no mistaking its symptoms in +the gangsman. + +Stangate Creek, on the river Medway, was the great quarantine station +for the port of London, and here, in the year 1744, was enacted one of +the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in connection with pressing +afloat. The previous year had seen a recrudescence of plague in the +Levant and consequent panic in England, where extraordinary precautions +were adopted against possible infection. In December of that year there +lay in Stangate Creek a fleet of not less than a dozen Levantine ships, +in which were cooped up, under the most exacting conditions imaginable, +more than two hundred sailors. At Sheerness, only a few miles distant, +a number of ships of war, amongst them Rodney's, were at the same +time fitting out and wanting men. The situation was thus charged with +possibilities. + +It was estimated that in order to press the two hundred sailors from the +quarantine ships, when the period of detention should come to an end, +a force of not less than one hundred and fifty men would be required. +These were accordingly got together from the various ships of war +and sent into the Creek on board a tender belonging to the _Royal +Sovereign_. This was on the 15th of December, and quarantine expired on +the 22nd. + +The arrival of the tender threw the Creek into a state of consternation +bordering on panic, and that very day a number of sailors broke bounds +and fell a prey to the gangs in attempting to steal ashore. Seymour, +the lieutenant in command of the tender, did not improve matters by his +idiotic and unofficerlike behaviour. Every day be rowed up and down the +Creek, in and out amongst the ships, taunting the men with what he would +do unless they volunteered, when the 22nd arrived, and he was free to +work his will upon them. He would have them all, he assured them, if he +had to "shoot them like small birds." + +By the 22nd the sailors were in a state of "mutinous insolence." +When the tender's boats approached the ships they were welcomed "with +presented arms," and obliged to sheer off in order to obtain "more +force," so menacing did the situation appear. Seeing this, and either +mistaking or guessing the import of the move, the desperate seamen +rushed the cabins, secured all the arms and ammunition they could lay +hands on, hoisted out the ship's boats, and in these reached the shore +in safety ere the tender's men, by this time out in strength, could +prevent or come up with them. The fugitives, to the number of a hundred +or more, made off into the country to the accompaniment, we are told, +of "smart firing on both sides." With this exchange of shots the curtain +falls on the "Fray at Stangate Creek." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1480--Capt. Berkeley, 30 Dec. 1744, and enclosure.] In the engagement +two of the seamen were wounded, but all escaped the snare of the fowler, +and in that happy denouement our sympathies are with them. + +Returning transports paid immediate and heavy tribute to the gangs +afloat. Out of a fleet of such vessels arriving at the Nore in 1756 +two hundred and thirty men, "a parcel of as fine fellows as were ever +pressed," fell to the gangs. Not a man escaped from any of the ships, +and the boats were kept busy all next day shifting chests and bedding +and putting in ticket men to navigate the depleted vessels to London. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 6, 7 and 8 July +1756.] A similar press at the Cove of Cork, on the return of the +transports from America in '79, proved equally productive. Hundreds of +sailors were secured, to the unspeakable grief of the local crimps, who +were then offering long prices in order to recruit Paul Jones, at that +time cruising off the Irish coast. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1499--Letters of Capt. Bennett, 1779.] + +The cartel ship was an object of peculiar solicitude to the sea-going +gangsman. In her, after weary months passed in French, Spanish or Dutch +prisons, hundreds of able-bodied British seamen returned to their native +land in more or less prime condition for His Majesty's Navy. The warmest +welcome they received was from the waiting gangsman. Often they got +no other. Few cartels had the extraordinary luck of the ship of that +description that crept into Rye harbour one night in March 1800, and in +bright moonlight landed three hundred lusty sailor-men fresh from French +prisons, under the very nose of the battery, the guard at the port +head and the _Clinker_ gun-brig. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1449--Capt. Aylmer, 9 March 1800.] + +Of all the seafaring men the gangsman took, there was perhaps none whom +he pressed with greater relish than the pilot. The every-day pilot of +the old school was a curious compound. When he knew his business, which +was only too seldom, he was frequently too many sheets in the wind to +embody his knowledge in intelligent orders; and when he happened to be +sober enough to issue intelligent orders, he not infrequently showed +his ignorance of what he was supposed to know by issuing wrong ones. +The upshot of these contradictions was, that instead of piloting His +Majesty's ships in a becoming seamanly manner, he was for ever running +them aground. Fortunately for the service, an error of this description +incapacitated him and made him fair game for the gangs, who lost no +time in transferring him to those foremast regions where ship's grog +was strictly limited and the captain's quite unknown. William Cook, +impressed upon an occasion at Lynn, with unconscious humour styled +himself a landsman. He was really a pilot who had qualified for that +distinction by running vessels ashore. + +In the aggregate this unremitting and practically unbroken surveillance +of the coast was tremendously effective. Like Van Tromp, the vessels +and gangs engaged in it rode the seas with a broom at their masthead, +sweeping into the service, not every man, it is true, but enormous +numbers of them. As for their quality, "One man out of a merchant ship +is better than three the lieutenants get in town." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Roberts, 27 June 1732.] This was the general +opinion early in the century; but as the century wore on the quality of +the man pressed in town steadily deteriorated, till at length the sailor +taken fresh from the sea was reckoned to be worth six of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +EVADING THE GANG. + + + +As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that +the British sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into +Falstaff's famous commodity, "food for powder." + +Outward bound, the ship's protection--that "sweet little cherub" which, +contrary to all Dibdinic precedent, lay down below--had spread its +kindly aegis over him, and, generally speaking, saved him harmless from +the warrant and the hanger. But now the run for which he has signed +on is almost finished, and as the Channel opens before him the magic +Admiralty paper ceases to be of "force" for his protection. No sooner, +therefore, does he make his land-fall off the fair green hills or +shimmering cliffs than his troubles begin. He is now within the outer +zone of danger, and all about him hover those dreaded sharks of the +Narrow Seas, the rapacious press-smacks, seeking whom they may devour. +Conning the compass-card of his chances as they bear down upon him +and send their shot whizzing across his bows, the sailor, in his fixed +resolve to evade the gang at any cost, resorted first of all to the most +simple and sailorly expedient imaginable. He "let go all" and made a run +for it. That way lay the line of least resistance, and, with luck on his +side, of surest escape. + +Three modes of flight were his to choose between--three modes involving +as many nice distinctions, plus a possible difference with the master. +He could run away in his ship, run away with her, or as a last resort +he could sacrifice his slops, his bedding, his pet monkey and the gaudy +parrot that was just beginning to swear, and run from her. Which +should it be? It was all a toss-up. The chance of the moment, instantly +detected and as instantly acted upon, determined his choice. + +The sailor's flight in his ship depended mainly upon her sailing +qualities and the master's willingness to risk being dismasted or hulled +by the pursuer's shot. Granted a capful of wind on his beam, a fleet +keel under foot, and a complacent skipper aft, the flight direct was +perhaps the means of escape the sailor loved above all others. The spice +of danger it involved, the dash and frolic of the chase, the joy of +seeing his leaping "barky" draw slowly away from her pursuer in the +contest of speed, and of watching the stretch of water lying between him +and capture surely widen out, were sensations dear to his heart. + +Running away _with_ his ship was a more serious business, since the +adoption of such a course meant depriving the master of his command, +and this again meant mutiny. Happily, masters took a lenient view of +mutinies begotten of such conditions. Not infrequently, indeed, they +were consenting parties, winking at what they could not prevent, and +assuming the command again when the safety of ship and crew was assured +by successful flight, with never a hint of the irons, indictment or +death decreed by law as the mutineer's portion. + +These modes of flight did not in every instance follow the hard-and-fast +lines here laid down. Under stress of circumstance each was liable to +become merged in the other; or both, perhaps, had to be abandoned +in favour of fresh tactics rendered necessary by the accident or the +exigency of the moment. The _Triton_ and _Norfolk_ Indiamen, after +successfully running the gauntlet of the Channel tenders, in the +Downs fell in with the _Falmouth_ man-o'-war. The meeting was entirely +accidental. Both merchantmen were congratulating themselves on having +negotiated the Channel without the loss of a man. The _Triton_ had all +furled except her fore and mizen topsails, preparatory to coming to an +anchor; but as the wind was strong southerly, with a lee tide running, +the _Falmouth's_ boats could not forge ahead to board her before the set +of the tide carried her astern of the warship's guns, whereupon her crew +mutinied, threw shot into the man-o'-war's boats, which had by this time +drawn alongside, and so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear +away. Meantime a shot had brought the _Norfolk_ to on the _Falmouth's_ +starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On her decks an +ominous state of things prevailed. Her crew would not assist to clew up +the sails, the anchor had been seized to the chain-plates and could not +be let go, and when the gang from the _Falmouth_ attempted to cut the +buoy ropes with which it was secured, the "crew attacked them with +hatchets and treenails, made sail and obliged them to quit the ship." +Being by that, time astern of the _Falmouth's_ guns, they too made their +escape. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1485--Capt. Brett, 25 June +1755.] + +Never, perhaps, did the sailor adopt the expedient of running away, +ship and all, with so malicious a goodwill or so bright a prospect of +success, as when sailing under convoy. In those days he seldom ventured +to "risk the run," even to Dutch ports and back, without the protection +of one or more ships of war, and in this precaution there was danger as +well as safety; for although the king's ships safeguarded him against +the enemy if hostilities were in progress, as well as against the +"little rogues" of privateers infesting the coasts and the adjacent +seas, no sooner did the voyage near its end than the captains of the +convoying ships took out of him, by force if necessary, as many men as +they happened to require. This was a _quid pro quo_ of which the sailor +could see neither the force nor the fairness, and he therefore let slip +no opportunity of evading it. + +"Their Lordships," writes a commander who had been thus cheated, "need +not be surprised that I pressed so few men out of so large a Convoy, +for the Wind taking me Short before I got the length of Leostaff +(Lowestoft), the Pilot would not take Charge of the Shipp to turn her +out over the Stamford in the Night, which Oblig'd me to come to an +Anchor in Corton Road. This I did by Signal, but the Convoy took no +Notice of it, and all of them Run away and Left me, my Bottom being +like a Rock for Roughness, so that I could not Follow them." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Letters of Capt. Young, 1742.] + +Supposing, however, that all these manoeuvres failed him and the gang +after a hot chase appeared in force on deck, the game was not yet up +so far as the sailor was concerned. A ship, it is true, had neither the +length of the Great North Road nor yet the depth of the Forest of Dean, +but all the same there was within the narrow compass of her timbers many +a lurking place wherein the artful sailor, by a judicious exercise of +forethought and tools, might contrive to lie undetected until the gang +had gone over the side. + +About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of June 1756, Capt. +William Boys, from the quarter-deck of his ship the _Royal Sovereign_, +then riding at anchor at the Nore, observed a snow on fire in the +five-fathom channel, a little below the Spoil Buoy. He immediately sent +his cutter to her assistance, but in spite of all efforts to save her +she ran aground and burnt to the water's edge. Her cargo consisted of +wine, and the loss of the vessel was occasioned by one of her crew, who +was fearful of being pressed, hiding himself in the hold with a lighted +candle. He was burnt with the ship. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 26 June 1756. Oddly enough, a somewhat similar +accident was indirectly the cause of Capt. Boys' entering the Navy. In +1727, whilst the merchantman of which he was then mate was on the voyage +home from Jamaica, two mischievous imps of black boys, inquisitive +to know whether some liquor spilt on deck was rum or water, applied a +lighted candle to it. It proved to be rum, and when the officers +and crew, who were obliged to take to the boats in consequence, were +eventually picked up by a Newfoundland fishing vessel, unspeakable +sufferings had reduced their number from twenty-three to seven, +and these had only survived by feeding on the bodies of their dead +shipmates. In memory of that harrowing time Boys adopted as his seal the +device of a burning ship and the motto: "From Fire, Water and Famine by +Providence Preserved."] + +Barring the lighted candle and the lamentable accident which followed +its use, the means of evading the gang resorted to in this instance +was of a piece with many adopted by the sailor. He contrived cunning +hiding-places in the cargo, where the gangsmen systematically "pricked" +for him with their cutlasses when the nature of the vessel's lading +admitted of it, or he stowed himself away in seachests, lockers and +empty "harness" casks with an ingenuity and thoroughness that often +baffled the astutest gangsman and the most protracted search. The spare +sails forward, the readily accessible hiding-hole of the green-hand, +afforded less secure concealment. Pierre Flountinherre, routed out of +hiding there, endeavoured to save his face by declaring that he +had "left France on purpose to get on board an English man-of-war." +Frenchman though he was, the gang obliged him. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1510--Capt. Baskerville, 5 Aug. 1795.] + +In his endeavours to best the impress officers and gangsmen the sailor +found a willing backer in his skipper, who systematically falsified +the ship's articles by writing "run," "drowned," "discharged" or +"dead" against the names of such men as he particularly desired to save +harmless from the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1525--Capt. +Berry, 31 March 1801.] This done, the men were industriously coached +in the various parts they were to play at the critical moment. In the +skipper's stead, supposing him to be for some reason unfit for naval +service, some specially valuable hand was dubbed master. Failing this +substitution, which was of course intended to save the man and not the +skipper, the ablest seaman in the ship figured as mate, whilst others +became putative boatswain or carpenter and apprentices--privileged +persons whom no gang could lawfully take, but who, to render their +position doubly secure, were furnished with spurious papers, of which +every provident skipper kept a supply at hand for use in emergencies. +When all hands were finally mustered to quarters, so to speak, there +remained on deck only a "master" who could not navigate the ship, a +"mate" unable to figure out the day's run, a "carpenter" who did not +know how to handle an adze, and some make-believe apprentices "bound" +only to outwit the gang. And if in spite of all these precautions an +able seaman were pressed, the real master immediately came forward and +swore he was the mate. + +Such thoroughly organised preparedness as this, however, was the +exception rather than the rule, for though often attempted, it rarely +reached perfection or stood the actual test. The sailor was too +childlike by nature to play the fraud successfully, and as for the +impress officer and the gangsman, neither was easily gulled. Supposing +the sailor, then, to have nothing to hope for from deception or +concealment, and supposing, too, that it was he who had the rough bottom +beneath him and the fleet keel in pursuit, how was he to outwit the gang +and evade the pinch? Nothing remained for him but to heave duty by the +board and abandon his ship to the doubtful mercies of wind and wave. +He accordingly went over the side with all the haste he could, +appropriating the boats in defiance of authority, and leaving only the +master and his mate, the protected carpenter and the apprentices to work +the ship. Many a trader from overseas, summarily abandoned in this +way, crawled into some outlying port, far from her destination, in +quest--since a rigorous press often left no others available--of "old +men and boys to carry her up." There is even on record the case of +a ship that passed the Nore "without a man belonging to her but the +master, the passengers helping him to sail her." Her people had "all +got ashore by Harwich." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. +Bouler, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] + +Few shipowners were so foolhardy as to incur the risk of being thus hit +in the pocket by the sailor's well-known predilection for French leave +when in danger of the press. Nor were the masters, for they, even when +not part owners, had still an appreciable stake in the safety of the +ships they sailed. As between masters, owners and men there consequently +sprang up a sort of triangular sympathy, having for its base a common +dread of the gangs, and for its apex their circumvention. This apex +necessarily touched the coast at a point contiguous to the ocean tracks +of the respective trades in which the ships sailed; and here, in some +spot far removed from the regular haunts of the gangsman, an emergency +crew was mustered by those indefatigable purveyors, the crimps, and held +in readiness against the expected arrival. + +Composed of seafaring men too old, too feeble, or too diseased to excite +the cupidity of the most zealous lieutenant who eked out his pay on +impress perquisites; of lads but recently embarked on the adventurous +voyage of their teens; of pilots willing, for a consideration, to forego +the pleasure of running ships aground; of fishermen who evaded His +Majesty's press under colour of Sea-Fencible, Militia, or Admiralty +protections; and of unpressable foreigners whose wives bewailed them +more or less beyond the seas, this scratch crew--the Preventive Men of +the merchant service--here awaited the preconcerted signal which should +apprise them that their employer's ship was ready for a change of hands. + +For safety's sake the transfer was generally effected by night, when +that course was possible; but the untimely appearance of a press-smack +on the scene not infrequently necessitated the shifting of the crews in +the broad light of day and the hottest of haste. On shore all had been +in readiness perhaps for days. At the signal off dashed the deeply laden +boats to the frantic ship, the scratch crew scrambled aboard, and the +regular hands, thus released from duty, tumbled pell-mell into the empty +boats and pulled for shore with a will mightily heartened by a running +fire of round-shot from the smack and of musketry from her cutter, +already out to intercept the fugitives. Then it was:-- + + "Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard to wind'ard; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard a-lee; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! else 'tis farewell home and kindred, + And the bosun's mate a-raisin' hell in the King's Navee. + Cheerily, lads, cheerily ho! the warrant's out, the hanger's drawn! + Cheerily, lads, so cheerily! we'll leave 'em an _R_ in pawn!" + +[Footnote: When Jack deserted his ship under other conditions than those +here described, an _R_ was written against his name to denote that he +had "run." So, when he shirked an obligation, monetary or moral, by +running away from it, he was said to "leave an _R_ in pawn."] + +The place of muster of the emergency men thus became in turn the +landing-place of the fugitive crew. Its whereabouts depended as a matter +of course upon the trade in which the ship sailed. The spot chosen for +the relief of the Holland, Baltic and Greenland traders of the East +Coast was generally some wild, inaccessible part abutting directly +on the German Ocean or the North Sea. London skippers in those trades +favoured the neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, where the maze of inland +waterways constituting the Broads enabled the shifty sailor to lead the +gangs a merry game at hide and seek. King's Lynners affected Skegness +and the Norfolk lip of the Wash. Of the men who sailed out of Hull not +one in ten could be picked up, on their return, by the gangs haunting +the Humber. They went ashore at Dimlington on the coast of Holderness, +or at the Spurn. The homing sailors of Leith, as of the ports on the +upper reaches of the Firth of Forth, enjoyed an immunity from the +press scarcely less absolute than that of the Orkney Islanders, who for +upwards of forty years contributed not a single man to the Navy. Having +on either hand an easily accessible coast, inhabited by a people upon +whose hospitality the gangs were chary of intruding, and abounding in +lurking-places as secure as they were snug, the Mother Firth held on to +her sailor sons with a pertinacity and success that excited the envy of +the merchant seaman at large and drove impress officers to despair. The +towns and villages to the north of the Firth were "full of men." On +no part of the north coast, indeed, from St. Abb's Head clear round to +Annan Water, was it an easy matter to circumvent the canny Scot who went +a-sailoring. He had a trick of stopping short of his destination, +when homeward bound, that proved as baffling to the gangs as it was +in seeming contradiction to all the traditions of a race who pride +themselves on "getting there." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Pringle, Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795, and Captains' +Letters, _passim_.] + +In the case of outward-bound ships, the disposition of the two crews +was of course reversed. The scratch crew carried the ship down to the +stipulated point of exchange, where they vacated her in favour of the +actual crew, who had been secretly conveyed to that point by land. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Lord Nelson, Memorandum +on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Whichever way the trick was worked, it +proved highly effective, for, except from the sea, no gang durst venture +near such points of debarkation and departure without strong military +support. + +There still remained the emergency crew itself. The most decrepit, +crippled or youthful were of course out of the question. But the +foreigner and our shifty friend the man in lieu were fair game. Entering +largely as they did into the make-up of almost every scratch crew, they +were pressed without compunction whenever and wherever caught abusing +their privileges by playing the emergency man. To keep such persons +always and in all circumstances was a point of honour with the Navy +Board. It had no other means of squaring accounts with the scratch crew. + +The emergency man who plied "on his own" was more difficult to deal +with. Keepers of the Eddystone made a "great deal of money" by putting +inward-bound ships' crews ashore; but when one of their number, Matthew +Dolon by name, was pressed as a punishment for that offence, the +Admiralty, having the fear of outraged Trade before its eyes, ordered +his immediate discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. +Yeo, 25 July 1727.] + +The pilot, the fisherman and the longshoreman were notorious offenders +in this respect. Whenever they saw a vessel bound in, they were in the +habit of putting off to her and of first inciting the crew to escape and +then hiring themselves at exorbitant rates to work the vessel into port. +On such mischievous interlopers the gangsman had no mercy. He took +them whenever he could, confident that when their respective cases were +stated to the Board, that body would "tumble" to the occasion. + +Any attempt at estimating the number of seafaring men who evaded the +gangs and the call of the State by means of the devices and subterfuges +here roughly sketched into the broad canvas of our picture would prove a +task as profitless as it is impossible of accomplishment. One thing only +is certain. The number fluctuated greatly from time to time with the +activity or inactivity of the gangs. When the press was lax, there arose +no question as there existed no need of escape; when it was hot, it was +evaded systematically and with a degree of success extremely gratifying +to the sailor. Taking the sea-borne coal trade of the port of London +alone, it is estimated that in the single month of September 1770, at +a time when an exceptionally severe press from protections was in full +swing, not less than three thousand collier seamen got ashore between +Yarmouth Roads and Foulness Point. As the coal trade was only one of +many, and as the stretch of coast concerned comprised but a few miles +out of hundreds equally well if not better adapted to the sailor's +furtive habits, the total of escapes must have been little short of +enormous. It could not have been otherwise. In this grand battue of the +sea it was clearly impossible to round-up and capture every skittish son +of Neptune. + +On shore, as at sea, the sailor's course, when the gang was on his +track, followed the lines of least resistance, only here he became a +skulk as well as a fugitive. It was not that he was a less stout-hearted +fellow than when at sea. He was merely the victim of a type of land +neurosis. Drink and his recent escape from the gang got on his nerves +and rendered him singularly liable to panic. The faintest hint of a +press was enough to make his hair rise. At the first alarm he scuttled +into hiding in the towns, or broke cover like a frightened hare. + +The great press of 1755 affords many instances of such panic flights. +Abounding in "lurking holes" where a man might lie perdue in comparative +safety, King's Lynn nevertheless emptied itself of seamen in a few +hours' time, and when the gang hurried to Wells by water, intending to +intercept the fugitives there, the "idle fishermen on shore" sounded a +fresh alarm and again they stampeded, going off to the eastward in great +numbers and burying themselves in the thickly wooded dells and hills of +that bit of Devon in Norfolk which lies between Clay-next-the-Sea and +Sheringham. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 +March and 21 April 1755.] + +A similar exodus occurred at Ipswich. The day the warrants came down, as +for many days previous, the ancient borough was full of seamen; but no +sooner did it become known that the press was out than they vanished +like the dew of the morning. For weeks the face of but one sailor was +seen in the town, and he was only ferreted out, with the assistance of a +dozen constables, after prolonged and none too legal search. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Brand, 26 Feb. 1755.] + +How effectually the sailor could hide when dread of the press had him in +its grip is strikingly illustrated by the hot London press of 1740. On +that occasion the docks, the riverside slums and dens, the river itself +both above and below bridge, were scoured by gangs who left no stratagem +untried for unearthing and taking the hidden sailor. When the rigour of +the press was past not a seaman, it is said, was to be found at large in +London; yet within four-and-twenty hours sixteen thousand emerged from +their retreats. [Footnote: Griffiths, _Impressment Fully Considered_.] + +The secret of such effectual concealment lay in the fact that the nature +of his hiding-place mattered little to the sailor so long as it was +secure. Accustomed to quarters of the most cramped description on +shipboard, he required little room for his stowing. The roughest +bed, the worst ventilated hole, the most insanitary surroundings and +conditions were all one to him. He could thus hide himself away in +places and receptacles from which the average landsman would have turned +in fear or disgust. In quarry, clay-pit, cellar or well; in holt, hill +or cave; in chimney, hayloft or secret cell behind some old-time oven; +in shady alehouse or malodorous slum where a man's life was worth +nothing unless he had the smell of tar upon him, and not much then; on +isolated farmsteads and eyots, or in towns too remote or too hostile +for the gangsman to penetrate--somewhere, somehow and of some sort the +sailor found his lurking-place, and in it, by good providence, lay safe +and snug throughout the hottest press. + +Many of the seamen employed in the Newfoundland trade of Poole, gaining +the shore at Chapman's Pool or Lulworth, whiled away their stolen +leisure either in the clay-pits of the Isle of Purbeck, where they +defied intrusion by posting armed sentries at every point of access to +their stronghold, or--their favourite haunt--on Portland Island, +which the number and ill-repute of the labourers employed in its stone +quarries rendered well-nigh impregnable. To search for, let alone +to take the seamen frequenting that natural fortress--who of course +"squared" the hard-bitten quarrymen--was more than any gang durst +undertake unless, as was seldom the case, it consisted of some "very +superior force." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] + +With the solitary exception of Falmouth town, the Cornish coast was +merely another Portland Neck enormously extended. From Rame Head to the +Lizard and Land's End, and in a minor sense from Land's End away to Bude +Haven in the far nor'-east, the entire littoral of this remote part of +the kingdom was forbidden ground whereon no gangsman's life was worth +a moment's purchase. The two hundred seins and twice two hundred +drift-boats belonging to that coast employed at least six thousand +fishermen, and of these the greater part, as soon as the fishing season +was at an end, either turned "tinners" and went into the mines, where +they were unassailable, + + [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 28 Sept. 1805.] or betook themselves to their strongholds +at Newquay, St. Ives, Newland, Mousehole, Coversack, Polpero, Cawsand +and other places where, in common with smugglers, deserters from the +king's ships at Hamoaze, and an endless succession of fugitive merchant +seamen, they were as safe from intrusion or capture as they would have +been on the coast of Labrador. It was impossible either to hunt them +down or to take them on a coast so "completely perforated." A thousand +"stout, able young fellows" could have been drawn from this source +without being missed; but the gangs fought shy of the task, and only +when they carried vessels in distress into Falmouth were the redoubtable +sons of the coves ever molested. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral M'Bride, 9 March 1795. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Petition +of the Inhabitants of the Village of Coversack, 31 Jan. 1778.] + +On the Bristol Channel side Lundy Island offered unrivalled facilities +for evasion, and many were the crews marooned there by far-sighted +skippers who calculated on thus securing them against their return from +Bristol, outward bound. The gangs as a rule gave this little Heligoland +a wide berth, and when carried thither against their will they had a +disconcerting habit of running away with the press-boat, and of thus +marooning their commanding officer, that contributed not a little to +the immunity the island enjoyed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Aylmer, 22 Dec. 1743.] + +The sailor's objection to Lundy was as strong as the gangsman's. From +his point of view it was no ideal place to hide in, and the effect upon +him of enforced sojourn there was to make him sulky and mutinous. Rather +the shore with all its dangers than an island that produced neither +tobacco, rum, nor women! He therefore preferred sticking to his ship, +even though he thereby ran the risk of impressment, until she arrived +the length of the Holmes. + +These islands are two in number, Steep Holme and Flat Holme, and so +closely can vessels approach the latter, given favourable weather +conditions, that a stone may be cast on shore from the deck. The +business of landing and embarking was consequently easy, and though the +islands themselves were as barren as Lundy of the three commodities the +sailor loved, he was nevertheless content to terminate his voyage there +for the following reasons. Under the lee of one or other of the islands +there was generally to be found a boat-load of men who were willing, for +a suitable return in coin of the realm, to work the ship into King Road, +the anchorage of the port of Bristol. The sailor was thus left free to +gain the shore in the neighbourhood of Uphill, Weston, or Clevedon Bay, +whence it was an easy tramp, not to Bristol, of which he steered clear +because of its gangs, but to Bath, or, did he prefer a place nearer at +hand, to the little town of Pill, near Avon-mouth. + +A favourite haunt of seafaring men, fishermen, pilots and pilots' +assistants, with a liberal sprinkling of that class of female known +in sailor lingo as "brutes," this lively little town was a place after +Jack's own heart. The gangsmen gave it a wide berth. It offered an +abundance of material for him to work upon, but that material was a +trifle too rough even for his infastidious taste. The majority of the +permanent indwellers of Pill, as well as the casual ones, not only +protected themselves from the press, when such a course was necessary, +by a ready use of the fist and the club, but, when this means of +exemption failed them, pleaded the special nature of their calling with +great plausibility and success. They were "pilots' assistants," and as +such they enjoyed for many years the unqualified indulgence of the +naval authorities. The appellation they bore was nevertheless purely +euphemistic. As a matter of fact they were sailors' assistants who, +under cover of an ostensible vocation, made it their real business, +at the instigation and expense of Bristol shipowners, to save crews +harmless from the gangs by boarding ships at the Holmes and working them +from thence into the roadstead or to the quays. They are said to have +been "very fine young men," and many a longing look did the impress +officers at Bristol cast their way whilst struggling to swell their +monthly returns. So essentially necessary to the trade of the place were +they considered to be, however, that they were allowed to checkmate +the gangs, practically without molestation or hindrance, till about the +beginning of the last century, when the Admiralty, suddenly awaking to +the unpatriotic nature of a practice that so effectually deprived the +Navy of its due, caused them to be served with a notice to the effect +that "for the future all who navigated ships from the Holmes should +be pressed as belonging to those ships." At this threat the Pill men +jeered. Relying on the length of pilotage water between King Road and +Bristol, they took a leaf from the sailor's log and ran before the +press-boats could reach the ships in which they were temporarily +employed. For four years this state of things continued. Then there was +struck at the practice a blow which not even the Admiralty had foreseen. +Tow-paths were constructed along the river-bank, and the pilots' +assistants, ousted by horses, fell an easy prey to the gangs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 +April 1805.] + +Bath had no gang, and was in consequence much frequented by sailors +of the better class. In 1803--taking that as a normal year--the number +within its limits was estimated at three hundred--enough to man a +ship-of-the-line. The fact being duly reported to the Admiralty, a +lieutenant and gang were ordered over from Bristol to do some +pressing. The civic authorities--mayor, magistrates, constables and +watchmen--fired with sudden zeal for the service, all came forward "in +the most handsome manner" with offers of countenance and support. In the +purlieus of the town, however, the advent of the gang created panic. The +seamen went into prompt hiding, the mob turned out in force, angry and +threatening, resolved that no gang should violate the sanctuary of a +cathedral city. Seeing how the wind set, the mayor and magistrates, +having begun by backing the warrant, continued backing until they backed +out of the affair altogether. The zealous watchmen could not be found, +the eager constables ran away. Dismayed by these untimely defections, +the lieutenant hurriedly resolved "to drop the business." So the gang +marched back to Bristol empty-handed, followed by the hearty execrations +of the rabble and the heartier good wishes of the mayor, who assured +them that as soon as he should be able to clap the skulking seamen in +jail "on suspicion of various misdemeanours," he would send for them +again. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 3 and 11 +July 1803.] We do not learn that he ever did. + +To Bristol no unprotected sailor ever repaired of his own free will, +for early in the century of pressing the chickens of the most notorious +kidnapping city in England began to come home to roost. The mantle of +the Bristol mayor whom Jeffreys tried for a "kidnapping knave" fell +upon a succession of regulating captains whose doings put their civic +prototype to open shame, and more petitions and protests against the +lawlessness of the gangs emanated from Bristol than from any other city +in the kingdom. + +The trowmen who navigated the Severn and the Wye, belonging as they did +mainly to extra-parochial spots in the Forest of Dean, were exempt from +the Militia ballot and the Army of Reserve. On the ground that they +came under the protection of inland navigation, they likewise considered +themselves exempt from the sea service, but this contention the Court +of Exchequer in 1798 completely overset by deciding that the "passage +of the River Severn between Gloucester and Bristol is open sea." A +press-gang was immediately let loose upon the numerous tribe frequenting +it, whereupon the whole body of newly created sailors deserted their +trows and fled to the Forest, where they remained in hiding till the +disappointed gang sought other and more fruitful fields. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 +April 1805.] + +Within Chester gates the sailor for many years slept as securely as upon +the high seas. No householder would admit the gangsmen beneath his roof; +and when at length they succeeded in gaining a foothold within the city, +all who were liable to the press immediately deserted it--"as they do +every town where there is a gang"--and went "to reside at Parkgate." +Parkgate in this way became a resort of sea-faring men without parallel +in the kingdom--a "nest" whose hornet bands were long, and with good +reason, notorious for their ferocity and aggressiveness. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] An attempt +to establish a rendezvous here in 1804 proved a failure. The seamen +fled, no "business" could be done, and officer and gang were soon +withdrawn. + +In comparison with the seething Deeside hamlet, Liverpool was tameness +itself. Now and then, as in 1745, the sailor element rose in arms, +demanding who was master; but as a rule it suffered the gang, if not +gladly, at least with exemplary patience. Homing seamen who desired to +evade the press in that city--and they were many--fled ashore from +their ships at Highlake, a spot so well adapted to their purpose that it +required "strict care to catch them." From Highlake they made their +way to Parkgate, swelling still further the sailor population of that +far-famed nest of skulkers. + +Cork was a minor Parkgate. A graphic account of the conditions obtaining +in that city has been left to us by Capt. Bennett, of H.M.S. _Lennox_, +who did port duty there from May 1779 till March 1783. "Many hundreds +of the best Seamen in this Province," he tells us, "resort in Bodys +in Country Villages round about here, where they are maintained by the +Crimps, who dispose of them to Bristol, Liverpool and other Privateers, +who appoint what part of the Coast to take them on Board. They go in +Bodys, even in the Town of Cork, and bid defiance to the Press-gangs, +and resort in houses armed, and laugh at both civil and military Power. +This they did at Kinsale, where they threatened to pull the Jail down +in a garrison'd Town." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. +Bennett, 12 and 26 April 1782.] These tactics rendered the costly +press-gangs all but useless. A hot press at Cork, in 1796, yielded only +sixteen men fit for the service. + +Space fails us to tell of how, owing to a three days' delay in the +London post that brought the warrants to Newhaven in the spring of '78, +the "alarm of soon pressing" spread like wildfire along that coast and +drove every vessel to sea; of how "three or four hundred young fellows" +belonging to Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, who had no families and could +well have been spared without hindrance to the seafaring business of +those towns, thought otherwise and took a little trip of "thirty or +forty miles in the country to hide from the service"; or of how Capt. +Routh, of the rendezvous at Leeds, happened upon a great concourse of +skulkers at Castleford, whither they had been drawn by reasons of safety +and the alleged fact that + + "Castleford woman must needs be fair, + Because they wash both in Calder and Aire," + +and after two unsuccessful attempts at surprise, at length took them +with the aid of the military. These were everyday incidents which were +accepted as matters of course and surprised nobody. Nevertheless the +vagaries of the wayward children of the State, who chose to run away and +hide instead of remaining to play the game, cost the naval authorities +many an anxious moment. _They_ had to face both evasion and invasion, +and the prevalence of the one did not help to repel the other. + +His country's fear of invasion by the French afforded the seafaring +man the chance of the century. Pitt's Quota Bill put good money in his +pocket at the expense of his liberty, but in Admiral Sir Home Popham's +great scheme for the defence of the coasts against Boney and his +flat-bottomed boats he scented something far more to his advantage and +taste. + +From the day in 1796 when Capt. Moriarty, press-gang-officer at Cork, +reported the arrival of the long-expected Brest fleet off the Irish +coast, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1621--Capt. Crosby, 30 Dec. +1796.] the question how best to defend from sudden attack so enormously +extended and highly vulnerable a seaboard as that of the United Kingdom, +became one of feverish moment. At least a hundred different projects +for compassing that desirable end at one time or another claimed +the attention of the Navy Board. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 581--Admiral Knowles, 25 Jan. 1805.] One of these was decidedly +ingenious. It aimed at destroying the French flotilla by means of logs +of wood bored hollow and charged with gunpowder and ball. These were to +be launched against the invaders somewhat after the manner of the modern +torpedo, of which they were, in fact, the primitive type and original. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Rear-Admiral Young, 14 Aug. 1803, +and secret enclosure, as in the Appendix. The Admiral's "machine," as he +termed it, though embodying the true torpedo idea of an explosive device +to be propelled against an enemy's ship, was not designed to be so +propelled on its own buoyancy, but by means of a fishing-boat, in which +it lay concealed. Had his inventive genius taken a bolder flight and +given us a more finished product in place of this crudity, the Whitehead +torpedo would have been anticipated, in something more than mere +principle, by upwards of half a century.] + +Meantime, however, the Admiralty had adopted another plan--Admiral +Popham, already famous for his improved code of signals, its originator. +On paper it possessed the merits of all Haldanic substitutes for the +real thing. It was patriotic, cheap, simple as kissing your hand. All +you had to do was to take the fisherman, the longshoreman and other +stalwarts who lived "one foot in sea and one on shore," enroll them in +corps under the command (as distinguished from the control) of naval +officers, and practise them (on Sundays, since it was a work of strict +necessity) in the use of the pike and the cannon, and, hey presto! the +country was as safe from invasion as if the meddlesome French had never +been. The expense would be trivial. Granting that the French did not +take alarm and incontinently drop their hostile designs upon the tight +little island, there would be a small outlay for pay, a trifle of a +shilling a day on exercise days, but nothing more--except for martello +towers. The boats it was proposed to enroll and arm would cost nothing. +Their patriotic owners were to provide them free of charge. + +Such was the Popham scheme on paper. On a working basis it proved +quite another thing. The pikes provided were old ship-pikes, rotten and +worthless. The only occasion on which they appear to have served any +good purpose was when, at Gerrans and St. Mawes, the Fencibles joined +the mob and terrified the farmers, who were ignorant of the actual +condition of the pikes, into selling their corn at something less than +famine prices. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Capt. Spry, 14 +April 1801.] Guns hoary with age, requisitioned from country churchyards +and village greens where they had rusted, some of them, ever since the +days of Drake and Raleigh, were dragged forth and proudly grouped as +"parks of artillery." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. +Bradley, 21 Aug. 1796.] Signal stations could not be seen one from the +other, or, if visible, perpetrated signals no one could read. The armed +smacks were equally unreliable. In Ireland they could not be "trusted +out of sight with a gun." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. +Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] In England they left the guns behind them. The +weight, the patriotic owners discovered, seriously hampered the carrying +capacity and seaworthiness of their boats; so to abate the nuisance they +hove the guns overboard on to the beach, where they were speedily buried +in sand or shingle, while the appliances were carried off by those who +had other uses for them than their country's defence. The vessels thus +armed, moreover, were always at sea, the men never at home. When it was +desired to practise them in the raising of the sluice-gates which, in +the event of invasion, were to convert Romney Marsh into an inland +sea, no efforts availed to get together sufficient men for the purpose. +Immune from the press by reason of their newly created status of +Sea-Fencibles, they were all elsewhere, following their time-honoured +vocations of fishing and smuggling with industry and gladness of heart. +As a means of repelling invasion the Popham scheme was farcical and +worthless; as a means of evading the press it was the finest thing +ever invented. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, +Reports on Sea-Fencibles, 1805; Admiral Lord Keith, Sentiments upon the +Sea-Fencible System, 7 Jan. 1805.] The only benefits the country ever +drew from it, apart from this, were two. It provided the Admiralty with +an incomparable register of seafaring men, and some modern artists with +secluded summer retreats. + +It goes without saying that a document of such vital consequence to the +seafaring man as an Admiralty protection did not escape the attention +of those who, from various motives, sought to aid and abet the sailor +in his evasion of the press. Protections were freely lent and exchanged, +bought and sold, "coaxed," concocted and stolen. Skilful predecessors +of Jim the Penman imitated to the life the signatures of Pembroke and +Sandwich, Lord High Admirals, and of the lesser fry who put the official +hand to those magic papers. "Great abuses" were "committed that +way." Bogus protections could be obtained at Sunderland for 8s. 6d., +Stephenson and Collins, the disreputable schoolmasters who made a +business of faking them, coining money by the "infamous practice." In +London "one Broucher, living in St. Michael's Lane," supplied them +to all comers at 3 Pounds apiece. Even the Navy Office was not above +suspicion in this respect, for in '98 a clerk there, whose name does +not transpire, was accused of adding to his income by the sale of +bogus protections at a guinea a head. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2740--Lieut. Abbs, 5 Oct. 1798.] + +American protections were the Admiralty's pet bugbear. For many years +after the successful issue of the War of Independence a bitter animosity +characterised the attitude of the British naval officer towards the +American sailor. Whenever he could be laid hold of he was pressed, and +no matter what documents he produced in evidence of his American birth +and citizenship, those documents were almost invariably pronounced false +and fraudulent. There were weighty reasons, however, for refusing to +accept the claim of the alleged American sailor at its face value. No +class of protection was so generally forged, so extensively bought and +sold, as the American. Practically every British seaman who made the run +to an American port took the precaution, during his sojourn in that land +of liberty, to provide himself with spurious papers against his return +to England, where he hoped, by means of them, to checkmate the gang. The +process of obtaining such papers was simplicity itself. All the sailor +had to do, at, say, New York, was to apply himself to one Riley, whose +other name was Paddy. The sum of three dollars having changed hands, +Riley and his client betook themselves to the retreat of some shady +Notary Public, where the Irishman made ready oath that the British +seaman was as much American born as himself. The business was now as +good as done, for on the strength of this lying affidavit any Collector +of Customs on the Atlantic coast would for a trifling fee grant the +sailor a certificate of citizenship. Riley created American citizens +in this way at the rate, it is said, of a dozen a day, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1523-Deposition of Zacharias Pasco, 20 Jan. +1800.] and as he was only one of many plying the same lucrative trade, +the effect of such wholesale creations upon the impress service in +England, had they been allowed to pass unchallenged, may be readily +conceived. + +The fraud, worse luck for the service, was by no means confined to +America. Almost every home seaport had its recognised perveyor of +"false American passes." At Liverpool a former clerk to the Collector +of Customs for Pembroke, Pilsbury by name, grew rich on them, whilst at +Greenock, Shields and other north-country shipping centres they were for +many years readily procurable of one Walter Gilly and his confederates, +whose transactions in this kind of paper drove the Navy Board to +desperation. They accordingly instructed Capt. Brown, gang-officer at +Greenock, to take Gilly at all hazards, but the fabricator of passes +fled the town ere the gang could be put on his track. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1549--Capt. Brown, 22 Aug. 1809.] + +Considering that every naval officer, from the Lord High Admiral +downwards, had these facts and circumstances at his fingers' end, it +is hardly suprising that protections having, or purporting to have, +an American origin, should have been viewed with profound +distrust--distrust too often justified, and more than justified, by the +very nature of the documents themselves. Thus a gentleman of colour, +Cato Martin by name, when taken out of the _Dolly_ West-Indiaman at +Bristol, had the assurance to produce a white man's pass certifying his +eyes, which were undeniably yellow, to be a soft sky-blue, and his hair, +which was hopelessly black and woolly, to be of that well-known hue most +commonly associated with hair grown north of the Tweed. It was reserved, +however, for an able seaman bearing the distinguished name of Oliver +Cromwell to break all known records in this respect. When pressed, he +unblushingly produced a pass dated in America the 29th of May and +vised by the American Consul in London on the 6th of June immediately +following, thus conferring on its bearer the unique distinction of +having crossed the Atlantic in eight days at a time when the voyage +occupied honester men nearly as many weeks. To press such frauds was a +public benefit. On the other hand, one confesses to a certain sympathy +with the American sailor who was pressed because he "spoke English very +well." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2734--Capt. Yorke, 8 March +1798.] + +Believing in the simplicity of his heart that others were as gullible +as himself, the fugitive sailor sought habitually to hide his identity +beneath some temporary disguise of greater or less transparency. That of +farm labourer was perhaps his favourite choice. The number of seamen so +disguised, and employed on farms within ten miles of the coast between +Hull and Whitby prior to the sailing of the Greenland and Baltic +ships in 1803, was estimated at more than a thousand able-bodied men. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Phillip, Report on +Rendezvous, 25 April 1804.] Seamen using the Newfoundland trade of +Dartmouth were "half-farmer, half-sailor." When the call of the sea no +longer lured them, they returned to the land in an agricultural sense, +resorting in hundreds to the farmsteads in the Southams, where they +were far out of reach of the gangs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral M'Bride, Report on Rendezvous, 28 Feb. 1795] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + + + +In his endeavours to escape the gang the sailor resembled nothing so +much as that hopelessly impotent fugitive the flying-fish. For both the +sea swarmed with enemies bent on catching them. Both sought to evade +those enemies by flight, and both, their ineffectual flight ended, +returned to the sea again whether they would or not. It was their fate, +a deep-sea kismet as unavoidable as death. + +The ultimate destination of the sailor who by strategy or accident +succeeded in eluding the triple line of sea-gangs so placed as to head +him off from the coast, was thus never in doubt. His longest flights +were those he made on land, for here the broad horizon that stood +the gangs in such good stead at sea was measurably narrower, while +hiding-places abounded and were never far to seek. All the same, in +spite of these adventitious aids to self-effacement, the predestined end +of the seafaring man sooner or later overtook him. The gang met him at +the turning of the ways and wiped him off the face of the land. In the +expressive words of a naval officer who knew the conditions thoroughly +well, the sailor's chances of obtaining a good run for his money "were +not worth a chaw of tobacco." + +For this inevitable finish to all the sailor's attempts at flight on +shore there existed in the main two reasons. The first of these lay in +the sailor himself, making of him an unconscious aider and abettor in +his own capture. Just as love and a cough cannot be hid, so there was +no disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by +characteristics that infallibly betrayed him. His bandy legs and rolling +gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea, and no "soaking" +in alehouse or tavern could eliminate the salt from the peculiar oaths +that were as natural to him as the breath of life. Assume what disguise +he would, he fell under suspicion at sight, and he had only to open +his mouth to turn that suspicion into certainty. It needed no Sherlock +Holmes of a gangsman to divine what he was or whence he came. + +The second reason why the sailor could never long escape the gangs was +because the gangs were numerically too many for him. It was no question +of a chance gang here and there. The country swarmed with them. + +Take the coast. Here every seaport of any pretensions in the way of +trade, together with every spot between such ports known to be favoured +or habitually used by the homing sailor as a landing-place, with certain +exceptions already noted, either had its own particular gang or was +closely watched by some gang stationed within easy access of the spot. +In this way the whole island was ringed in by gangs on shore, just as it +was similarly ringed in by other gangs afloat. + +"If their Lordships would give me authority to press here," says Lieut. +Oakley, writing to the Sea Lords from Deal in 1743, "I could frequently +pick up good seamen ashoar. I mean seamen _who by some means escape +being prest by the men of war and tenders_." + +In this modest request the lieutenant states the whole case for the +land-gang, at once demonstrating its utility and defining its functions. +Unconsciously he does more. He echoes a cry that incessantly assailed +the ears of Admiralty: "The sailor has escaped! Send us warrants and +give us gangs, and we will catch him yet." + +It was this call, the call of the fleet, that dominated the situation +and forced order out of chaos. The men must be "rose," and only +method could do it. The demand was a heavy one to make upon the most +unsystematic system ever known, yet it survived the ordeal. The coast +was mapped out, warrants were dispatched to this point and that, +rendezvous were opened, gangs formed. No effort or outlay was spared to +take the sailor the moment he got ashore, or very soon after. + +In this systematic setting of land-traps that vast head-centre of the +nation's overseas trade, the metropolis, naturally had first place. The +streets, and especially the waterside streets, were infested with gangs. +At times it was unsafe for any able-bodied man to venture abroad +unless he had on him an undeniable protection or wore a dress that +unmistakeably proclaimed the gentleman. The general rendezvous was on +Tower Hill; but as ships completing their complement nearly always sent +a gang or two to London, minor rendezvous abounded. St. Katherine's by +the Tower was specially favoured by them. The "Rotterdam Arms" and the +"Two Dutch Skippers," well-known taverns within that precinct, were +seldom without the bit of bunting that proclaimed the headquarters of +the gang. At Westminster the "White Swan" in King's Street usually bore +a similar decoration, as did also the "Ship" in Holborn. + +A characteristic case of pressing by a gang using the last-named house +occurred in 1706. Ransacking the town in quest of pressable subjects of +Her Majesty, they came one day to the "Cock and Rummer" in Bow Street, +where a big dinner was in progress. Here nothing would suit their tooth +but mine host's apprentice, and as ill-luck would have it the apprentice +was cook to the establishment and responsible for the dinner. Him they +nevertheless seized and would have hurried away in spite of his master's +supplications, protests and offers of free drinks, had it not been for +the fact that a mob collected and forcibly prevented them. Other gangs +hurrying to the assistance of their hard-pressed comrades--to the +number, it is said, of sixty men--a free fight ensued, in the course of +which a burly constable, armed with a formidable longstaff, was singled +out by the original gang, doubtless on account of the prominent part he +took in the fray, as a fitting substitute for the apprentice. By dint of +beating the poor fellow till he was past resistance they at length got +him to the "Ship," where they were in the very act of bundling him +into a coach, with the intention of carrying him to the waterside below +bridge, and of their putting him on board the press-smack, when in the +general confusion he somehow effected his escape. [Footnote: "A Horrible +Relation," _Review_, 17 March 1705-6.] Such incidents were common enough +not only at that time but long after. + +At Gravesend sailors came ashore in such numbers from East India and +other ships as to keep a brace of gangs busy. Another found enough to do +at Broadstairs, whence a large number of vessels sailed in the Iceland +cod fishery and similar industries. Faversham was a port and had its +gang, and from Margate right away to Portsmouth, and from Portsmouth to +Plymouth, nearly every town of any size that offered ready hiding to the +fugitive sailor from the Channel was similarly favoured. Brighton formed +a notable exception, and this circumstance gave rise to an episode about +which we shall have more to say presently. + +To record in these pages the local of all the gangs that were stationed +in this manner upon the seaboard of the kingdom would be as undesirable +as it is foreign to the scope of this chapter. Enough to repeat that +the land, always the sailor's objective in eluding the triple cordon of +sea-borne gangs, was ringed in and surrounded by a circle of land-gangs +in every respect identical with that described as hedging the southern +coast, and in its continuity almost as unbroken as the shore itself. +Both sea-gangs and coast-gangs were amphibious, using either land or sea +at pleasure. + +Inland the conditions were the same, yet materially different. What was +on the coast an encircling line assumed here the form of a vast net, +to which the principal towns, the great cross-roads and the arterial +bridges of the country stood in the relation of reticular knots, while +the constant "ranging" of the gangs, now in this direction, now in that, +supplied the connecting filaments or threads. The gangs composing this +great inland net were not amphibious. Their most desperate aquatic +ventures were confined to rivers and canals. Ability to do their twenty +miles a day on foot counted for more with them than a knowledge of how +to handle an oar or distinguish the "cheeks" of a gaff from its "jaw." + +Just as the sea-gangs in their raids upon the land were the Danes and +"creekmen" of their time, so the land-gangsman was the true highwayman +of the century that begot him. He kept every strategic point of every +main thoroughfare, held all the bridges, watched all the ferries, +haunted all the fairs. No place where likely men were to be found +escaped his calculating eye. + +He was an inveterate early riser, and sailors sauntering to the fair for +want of better employment ran grave risks. In this way a large number +were taken on the road to Croydon fair one morning in September 1743. +For actual pressing the fair itself was unsafe because of the +great concourse of people; but it formed one of the best possible +hunting-grounds and was kept under close observation for that reason. +Here the gangsman marked his victim, whose steps he dogged into the +country when his business was done or his pleasure ended, never for a +moment losing sight of him until he walked into the trap all ready set +in some wayside spinny or beneath some sheltering bridge. + +Bridges were the inland gangsman's favourite haunt. They not only +afforded ready concealment, they had to be crossed. Thus Lodden Bridge, +near Reading, accounted one of the "likeliest places in the country +for straggling seamen," was seldom without its gang. Nor was the great +bridge at Gloucester, since, as the first bridge over the Severn, it +drew to itself all the highroads and their users from Wales and the +north. To sailors making for the south coast from those parts it was a +point of approach as dangerous as it was unavoidable. Great numbers +were taken here in consequence. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +58l--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +So of ferries. The passage boats at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, +watched by gangs from Inverkeithing, yielded almost as many men in the +course of a year as the costly rendezvous at Leith. Greenock ferries +proved scarcely less productive. But there was here an exception. The +ferry between Glenfinart and Greenock plied only twice a week, and +as both occasions coincided with market-days the boat was invariably +crowded with women. Only once did it yield a man. Peter Weir, the hand +in charge, one day overset the boat, drowning every soul on board except +himself. Thereupon the gang pressed him, arguing that one who used the +sea so effectively could not fail to make a valuable addition to the +fleet. + +Inland towns traversed by the great highroads leading from north to +south, or from east to west, were much frequented by the gangs. Amongst +these Stourbridge perhaps ranked first. Situated midway between +the great ports of Liverpool and Bristol, it easily and effectually +commanded Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, Kidderminster +and other populous towns, while it was too small to afford secure +hiding within itself. The gangs operating from Stourbridge brought in +an endless procession of ragged and travel-stained seamen. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +From ports on the Bristol Channel to ports on the English Channel, and +the reverse, many seamen crossed the country by stage-coach or wagon, +and to intercept them gangs were stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and +Exeter. Taunton and Salisbury also, as "great thoroughfares to and from +the west," had each its gang, and a sufficient number of sailors escaped +the press at the latter place to justify the presence of another at +Romsey. Andover had a gang as early as 1756, on the recommendation of no +less a man than Rodney. + +Shore gangs were of necessity ambulatory. To sit down before the +rendezvous pipe in hand, and expect the evasive sailor to come of his +own accord and beg the favour of being pressed, would have been a futile +waste of time and tobacco. The very essence of the gangman's duty lay in +the leg-work he did. To that end he ate the king's victuals and wore the +king's shoe-leather. Consequently he was early afoot and late to bed. +Ten miles out and ten home made up his daily constitutional, and if +he saw fit to exceed that distance he did not incur his captain's +displeasure. The gang at Reading, a strategic point of great importance +on the Bath and Bristol road, traversed all the country round about +within a radius of twenty miles--double the regulation distance. That at +King's Lynn, another centre of unmeasured possibilities, trudged as far +afield as Boston, Ely, Peterborough and Wells-on-Sea. And the Isle of +Wight gang, stationed at Cowes or Ryde, now and then co-operated with a +gang from Portsmouth or Gosport and ranged the whole length and breadth +of the island, which was a noted nest of deserters and skulkers. +"Range," by the way, was a word much favoured by the officers who led +such expeditions. Its use is happy. It suggests the object well in view, +the nicely calculated distance, the steady aim that seldom missed its +mark. The gang that "ranged" rarely returned empty-handed. + +On these excursions the favourite resting-place was some secluded +nook overlooking the point of crossing of two or more highroads; the +favourite place of refreshment, some busy wayside alehouse. Both were +good to rest or refresh in, for at both the chances of effecting a +capture were far more numerous than on the open road. + +The object of the gang in taking the road was not, however, so much +what could be picked up by chance in the course of a day's march, as the +execution of some preconcerted design upon a particular person or place. +This brings us to the methods of pressing commonly adopted, which may be +roughly summarised under the three heads of surprise, violence and the +hunt. Frequently all three were combined; but as in the case of gangs +operating on the waters of rivers or harbours, the essential element +in all pre-arranged raids, attacks and predatory expeditions was the +first-named element, surprise. In this respect the gangsmen were genuine +"Peep-o'-Day Boys." The siege of Brighton is a notable case in point. + +The inhabitants of Brighton, better known in the days of the press-gang +as Brighthelmstone, consisted largely of fisher-folk in respect to +whom the Admiralty had been guilty of one of its rare oversights. For +generations no call was made upon them to serve the king at sea. +This accidental immunity in course of time came to be regarded by +the Brighton fisherman as his birthright, and the misconception bred +consequences. For one thing, it made him intolerably saucy. He boasted +that no impress officer had power to take him, and he backed up the +boast by openly insulting, and on more than one occasion violently +assaulting the king's uniform. With all this he was a hardy, long-lived, +lusty fellow, and as his numbers were never thinned by that active +corrector of an excessive birth-rate, the press-gang, he speedily +overstocked the town. An energetic worker while his two great harvests +of herring and mackerel held out, he was at other times indolent, lazy +and careless of the fact that his numerous progeny burdened the rates. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Berkeley, Report on +Rendezvous, 31 Dec. 1804.] These unpleasing circumstances having been +duly reported to the Admiralty, their Lordships decided that what the +Brighton fisherman required to correct his lax principles and stiffen +his backbone was a good hot press. They accordingly issued orders for an +early raid to be made upon that promising nursery of man-o'-war's-men. + +The orders, which were of course secret, bore date the 3rd of July 1779, +and were directed to Capt. Alms, who, as regulating officer at Shoreham, +was likewise in charge of the gang at Newhaven under Lieut. Bradley, and +of the gang at Littlehampton under Lieut. Breedon. At Shoreham there was +also a tender, manned by an able crew. With these three gangs and the +tender's crew at his back, Alms determined to lay siege to Brighton +and teach the fishermen there a lesson they should not soon forget. But +first, in order to render the success of the project doubly sure, he +enlisted the aid of Major-General Sloper, Commandant at Lewes, who +readily consented to lend a company of soldiers to assist in the +execution of the design. + +These preparations were some little time in the making, and it was not +until the Thursday immediately preceding the 24th of July that all was +in readiness. On the night of that day, by preconcerted arrangement, +the allied forces took the road--for the Littlehampton gang, a matter +of some twenty miles--and at the first flush of dawn united on the +outskirts of the sleeping town, where the soldiers were without loss of +time so disposed as to cut off every avenue of escape. This done, +the gangs split up and by devious ways, but with all expedition, +concentrated their strength upon the quay, expecting to find there a +large number of men making ready for the day's fishing. To their intense +chagrin the quay was deserted. The night had been a tempestuous one, +with heavy rain, and though the unfortunate gangsmen were soaked to the +skin, the fishermen all lay dry in bed. Hearing the wind and rain, not a +man turned out. + +By this time the few people who were abroad on necessary occasions +had raised the alarm, and on every hand were heard loud cries of +"Press-gang!" and the hurried barricading of doors. For ten hours "every +man kept himself locked up and bolted." For ten hours Alms waited in +vain upon the local Justice of the Peace for power to break and enter +the fishermen's cottages. His repeated requests being refused, he was at +length "under the necessity of quitting the town with only one man." So +ended the siege of Brighton; but Bradley, on his way back to Newhaven, +fell in with a gang of smugglers, of whom he pressed five. Brighton did +not soon forget the terrors of that rain-swept morning. For many a long +day her people were "very shy, and cautious of appearing in public." The +salutary effects of the raid, however, did not extend to the fishermen +it was intended to benefit. They became more insolent than ever, and a +few years later marked their resentment of the attempt to press them by +administering a sound thrashing to Mr. Midshipman Sealy, of the Shoreham +rendezvous, whom they one day caught unawares. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1445-46--Letters of Capt. Alms.] + +The surprise tactics of the gang of course varied according to +circumstances, and the form they took was sometimes highly ingenious. +A not uncommon stratagem was the impersonation of a recruiting party +beating up for volunteers. With cockades in their hats, drums rolling +and fifes shrilling, the gangsmen, who of course had their arms +concealed, marched ostentatiously through the high-street of some +sizable country town and so into the market-place. Since nobody had +anything to fear from a harmless recruiting party, people turned out in +strength to see the sight and listen to the music. When they had in this +way drawn as many as they could into the open, the gangsmen suddenly +threw off their disguise and seized every pressable person they could +lay hands on. Market-day was ill-adapted to these tactics. It brought +too big a crowd together. + +A similar ruse was once practised with great success upon the +inhabitants of Portsmouth by Capt. Bowen of the _Dreadnought_, in +connection with a general press which the Admiralty had secretly ordered +to be made in and about that town. Dockyard towns were not as a rule +considered good pressing-grounds because of the drain of men set up by +the ships of war fitting out there; but Bowen had certainly no reason to +subscribe to that opinion. Late on the night of the 8th of March 1803, +he landed a company of marines at Gosport for the purpose, as it was +given out, of suppressing a mutiny at Fort Monckton. The news spread +rapidly, drawing crowds of people from their homes in anticipation of +an exciting scrimmage. This gave Bowen the opportunity he counted upon. +When the throngs had crossed Haslar Bridge he posted marines at the +bridge-end, and as the disappointed people came pouring back the +"jollies" pressed every man in the crowd. Five hundred are said to have +been taken on this occasion, but as the nature of the service forbade +discrimination at the moment of pressing, nearly one-half were next +day discharged as unfit or exempt. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1057--Admiral Milbanke, 9 March 1803.] + +Sometimes, though not often, it was the gang that was surprised. All +hands would perhaps be snug in bed after a long and trying day, when +suddenly a thunderous knocking at the rendezvous door, and stentorian +cries of: "Turn out! turn out there!" coupled with epithets here +unproducible, would bring every man of them into the street in the turn +of a handspike, half-dressed but fully armed and awake to the fact that +a party of belated seamen was coming down the road. The sailors were +perhaps more road-weary than the gangsmen, and provided none of them +succeeded in slipping away in the darkness, or made a successful +resistance, in half-an-hour's time or less the whole party would be safe +under lock and key, cursing luck for a scurvy trickster in delivering +them over to the gang. + +The sailor's well-known partiality for drink was constantly turned to +account by the astute gangsman. If a sailor himself, he laid aside his +hanger or cudgel and played the game of "What ho! shipmate" at the +cost of a can or two of flip, gently guiding his boon companion to +the rendezvous when he had got him sufficiently corned. Failing these +tactics, he adopted others equally effective. At Liverpool, where the +seafaring element was always a large one, it was a common practice for +the gangs to lie low for a time, thus inducing the sailor to believe +himself safe from molestation. He immediately indulged in a desperate +drinking bout and so put himself entirely in their power. Whether +rolling about the town "very much in liquor," or "snugly moored in Sot's +Bay," he was an easy victim. + +Another ineradicable weakness that often landed the sailor in the +press-room was his propensity to indulge in "swank." Two jolly tars, who +were fully protected and consequently believed themselves immune from +the press, once bought a four-wheeled post-chaise and hired a painter +in Long Acre to ornament it with anchors, masts, cannon and a variety +of other objects emblematic of the sea. In this ornate vehicle they set +out, behind six horses, with the intention of posting down to Alnwick, +where their sweethearts lived. So impatient were they to get over the +road that they could not be prevailed upon, at any of the numerous inns +where they pulled up for refreshment, to stop long enough to have the +wheels properly greased, crying out at the delay: "Avast there! she's +had tar enough," and so on again. Just as they were making a triumphal +entry into Newcastle-upon-Tyne the wheels took fire, and the chaise, +saturated with the liquor they had spilt in the course of their mad +drive, burst into flames fore and aft. The sailors bellowed lustily for +help, whereupon the spectators ran to their assistance and by swamping +the ship with buckets of water succeeded in putting out the fire. Now it +happened that in the crowd drawn together by such an unusual occurrence +there was an impress officer who was greatly shocked by the exhibition. +He considered that the sailors had been guilty of unseemly behaviour, +and on that ground had them pressed. Notwithstanding their protections +they were kept. + +In his efforts to swell the returns of pressed men the gangsman was +supposed--we may even go so far as to say enjoined--to use no more +violence than was absolutely necessary to attain his end. The question +of force thus resolved itself into one of the degree of resistance he +encountered. Needless to say, he did not always knock a man down before +bidding him stand in the king's name. Recourse to measures so extreme +was not always necessary. Every sailor had not the pluck to fight, and +even when he had both the pluck and the good-will, hard drinking, weary +days of tramping, or long abstinence from food had perhaps sapped his +strength, leaving him in no fit condition to hold his own in a scrap +with the well-fed gangsman. The latter consequently had it pretty much +his own way. A firm hand on the shoulder, or at the most a short, sharp +tussle, and the man was his. But there were exceptions to this easy +rule, as we shall see in our next chapter. + +Hunting the sailor was largely a matter of information, and +unfortunately for his chances of escape informers were seldom wanting. +Everywhere it was a game at hide-and-seek. Constables had orders to +report him. Chapmen, drovers and soldiers, persons who were much on +the road, kept a bright lookout for him. The crimp, habitually given to +underhand practices, turned informer when prices for seamen ruled low +in the service he usually catered for. His mistress loved him as long +as his money lasted; when he had no more to throw away upon her she +perfidiously betrayed him. And for all this there was a reason as +simple as casting up the number of shillings in the pound. No matter how +penniless the sailor himself might be, he was always worth that sum at +the rendezvous. Twenty shillings was the reward paid for information +leading to his apprehension as a straggler or a skulker, and it was +largely on the strength of such informations, and often under the +personal guidance of such detestable informers, that the gang went +a-hunting. + +Apart from greed of gain, the motive most commonly underlying +informations was either jealousy or spite. Women were the greatest +sinners in the first respect. Let the sailorman concealed by a woman +only so much as look with favour upon another, and his fate was sealed. +She gave him away, or, what was more profitable, sold him without +regret. There were as good fish in the sea as ever came out. Perhaps +better. + +On the wings of spite and malice the escapades of youth often came home +to roost after many years. Men who had run away to sea as lads, but had +afterwards married and settled down, were informed on by evil-disposed +persons who bore them some grudge, and torn from their families as +having used the sea. Stephen Kemp, of Warbelton in Sussex, one of the +many who suffered this fate, had indeed used the sea, but only for a +single night on board a fishing-boat. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1445--Capt. Alms, 9 June 1777.] + +In face of these infamies it is good to read of how they dealt with +informers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There the role was one fraught with +peculiar danger. Rewards were paid by the Collector of Customs, and when +a Newcastle man went to the Customs-House to claim the price of some +sailor's betrayal, the people set upon him and incontinently broke his +head. One notorious receiver of such rewards was "nearly murther'd." +Thereafter informers had to be paid in private places for fear of the +mob, and so many persons fell under suspicion of playing the dastardly +game that the regulating captain was besieged by applicants for +"certificates of innocency." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1497--Letters of Capt. Bover, 1777.] + + + [Illustration: ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. +A play-bill announcing the suspension of the Gang's operations on +"Play Nights"; in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley, by whose kind +permission it is reproduced.] + + +Informations not infrequently took the form of anonymous communications +addressed by the same hand to two different gangs at one and the same +time, and when this was the case, and both gangs sallied forth in quest +of the skulker, a collision was pretty sure to follow. Sometimes the +encounter resolved itself into a running fight, in the course of which +the poor sailor, who formed the bone of contention, was pressed and +re-pressed several times over between his hiding-place and one or other +of the rendezvous. + +Rivalry between gangs engaged in ordinary pressing led to many a +stirring encounter and bloody fracas. A gang sent out by H.M.S. _Thetis_ +was once attacked, while prowling about the waterside slums of Deptford, +by "three or four different gangs, to the number of thirty men." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Butcher, 29 Oct. 1782.] +There was a greater demand for bandages than for sailors in Deptford +during the rest of the night. + +The most extraordinary affair of this description to be met with in the +annals of pressing is perhaps one that occurred early in the reign +of Queen Anne. Amongst the men-of-war then lying at Spithead were the +_Dorsetshire_, Capt. Butler commander, and the _Medway_. Hearing that +some sailors were in hiding at a place a little distance beyond Gosport, +Capt. Butler dispatched his 1st and 2nd lieutenants, in charge of thirty +of his best men, with instructions to take them and bring them on board. +It so happened that a strong gang was at the same time on shore from +the _Medway_, presumably on the same errand, and this party the +Dorsetshires, returning to their ship with the seamen they had taken, +found posted in the Gosport road for the avowed purpose of re-pressing +the pressed men. By a timely detour, however, they reached the waterside +"without any mischief done." + +Meanwhile, a rumour had somehow reached the ears of Capt. Butler to the +effect that a fight was in progress and his 1st lieutenant killed. He +immediately took boat and hurried over to Gosport, where, to his relief, +he found his people all safe in their boats, but on the Point, to use +his own graphic words, "severall hundred People, some with drawn Swords, +some with Spitts, others with Clubbs, Staves & Stretchers. Some cry'd +'One & All!' others cry'd 'Medways!' and some again swearing, cursing & +banning that they would knock my People's Brains out. Off I went with my +Barge to the Longboat," continues the gallant captain, "commanding them +to weigh their grappling & goe with me aboard. In the meantime off +came about twelve Boats full with the _Medway's_ men to lay my +Longboat aboard, who surrounded us with Swords, Clubbs, Staves & divers +Instruments, & nothing would do but all our Brains must be Knock't +out. Finding how I defended the Longboat, they then undertook to attack +myselfe and people, One of their Boats came upon the stern and made +severall Blows at my Coxwain, and if it had not been for the Resolution +I had taken to endure all these Abuses, I had Kill'd all those men with +my own Hand; but this Boat in particular stuck close to me with only six +men, and I kept a very good Eye upon her. All this time we were rowing +out of the Harbour with these Boats about us as far as Portsmouth Point, +my Coxwain wounded, myselfe and People dangerously assaulted with Stones +which they brought from the Beech & threw at us, and as their Boats +drop'd off I took my opportunity & seized ye Boat with the Six Men +that had so attack'd me, and have secured them in Irons." With this +the incident practically ended; for although the Medways retaliated +by seizing and carrying off the _Dorsetshire's_ coxwain and a crew +who ventured ashore next day with letters, the latter were speedily +released; but for a week Capt. Butler--fiery old Trojan! who could have +slain a whole boat's-crew with his own hand--remained a close prisoner +on board his ship. "Should I but put my foot ashoar," we hear him +growl, "I am murther'd that minute." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1467--Capt. Butler, 1 June 1705.] + +With certain exceptions presently to be noted, every man's hand was +against the fugitive sailor, and this being so it followed as a matter +of course that in his inveterate pursuit of him the gangsman found more +honourable allies than that nefarious person, the man-selling informer. +The class whom the sailor himself, in his contempt of the good feeding +he never shared, nicknamed "big-bellied placemen"--the pompous mayors, +the portly aldermen and the county magistrate who knew a good horse +or hound but precious little law, were almost to a man the gangsman's +coadjutors. Lavishly wined and dined at Admiralty expense, they urbanely +"backed" the regulating captain's warrants, consistently winked at his +glaring infractions of law and order, and with the most commendable +loyalty imaginable did all in their power to forward His Majesty's +service. Even the military, if rightly approached on their pinnacle +of lofty superiority, now and then condescended to lend the gangsman +a hand. Did not Sloper, Major-General and Commandant at Lewes, throw a +whole company into the siege of Brighton? + +These post-prandial concessions on the part of bigwigs desirous of +currying favour in high places on the whole told heavily against the +sorely harassed object of the gangsman's quest, rendering it, +amongst other things, extremely unsafe for him to indulge in those +unconventional outbursts which, under happier conditions, so uniformly +marked his jovial moods. At the playhouse, for example, he could not +heave empty bottles or similar tokens of appreciation upon the stage +without grave risk of incurring the fate that overtook Steven David, +Samuel Jenkins and Thomas Williams, three sailors of Falmouth town who, +merely because they adopted so unusual a mode of applauding a favourite, +were by magisterial order handed over to Lieut. Box of H.M.S. _Blonde_, +with a peremptory request that they should be transferred forthwith to +that floating stage where the only recognised "turns" were those of +the cat and the capstan. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. +Ballard, 13 Dec. 1806.] + +Luckily for the sailor and those of other callings who shared his +liability to the press, the civil authorities did not range themselves +on the gangsman's side with complete unanimity. Local considerations of +trade, coupled with some faint conception of the hideous injustice the +seafaring classes groaned under, and groaned in vain, here and there +outweighed patriotism and dinners. Little by little a cantankerous +spirit of opposition got abroad, and every now and then, at this point +or at that, some mayor or alderman, obsessed by this spirit beyond his +fellows and his time, seized such opportunities as office threw in his +way to mark his disapproval of the wrongs the sailor suffered. Had this +attitude been more general, or more consistent in itself, the press-gang +would not have endured for a day. + +The role of Richard Yea and Nay was, however, the favourite one with +urban authorities. Towns at first not "inclinable to allow a pressing," +afterwards relented and took the gang to their bosom, or entertained it +gladly for a time, only to cast it out with contumely. A lieutenant who +was sent to Newcastle to press in 1702 found "no manner of encouragement +there"; yet seventy-five years later the Tyneside city, thanks to the +loyal co-operation of a long succession of mayors, and of such men as +George Stephenson, sometime Deputy-Master of the Trinity House, had +become one of the riskiest in the kingdom for the seafaring man who +was a stranger within her gates. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1498--Capt. Bover, 11 Aug. 1778.] + +The attitude of Poole differed in some respects from that of other +towns. Her mayors and magistrates, while they did not actually oppose +the pressing of seamen within the borough, would neither back the +warrants nor lend the gangs their countenance. The reason advanced for +this disloyal attitude was of the absurdest nature. Poole held that +in order to press twenty men you were not at liberty to kill the +twenty-first. That, in fact, was what had happened on board the _Maria_ +brig as she came into port there, deeply laden with fish from the Banks, +and the corporation very foolishly never forgot the trivial incident. + +It did not, of course, follow that the Poole sailor enjoyed freedom from +the press. Far from it. What he did enjoy was a reputation that, if not +all his own, was yet sufficiently so to be shared by few. Bred in +that roughest of all schools, the Newfoundland cod fishery, he was an +exceptionally tough nut to crack. + + "If Poole were a fish pool + And the men of Poole fish, + There'd be a pool for the devil + And fish for his dish," + +was how the old jibe ran, and in this estimate of the Poole man's +character the gangs fully concurred. They knew him well and liked him +little, so when bent on pressing him they adopted no squeamish measures, +but very wisely "trusted to the strength of their right arms for it." +Some of their attempts to take him make strange reading. + +About eight o'clock on a certain winter's evening, Regulating Captain +Walbeoff, accompanied by Lieut. Osmer, a midshipman and eight gangsmen, +broke into the house of William Trim, a seafaring native of the place +whom they knew to be at home and had resolved to press. Alarmed by the +forcing of the door, and only too well aware of what it portended, +Trim made for the stairs, where, turning upon his pursuers, he struck +repeatedly and savagely at the midshipman, who headed them, with a +red-hot poker which he had snatched out of the fire at the moment of his +flight. He was, however, quickly overpowered, disarmed and dragged back +into the lower room, where his captors threw him violently to the floor +and with their hangers took effective measures to prevent his escape or +further opposition. His sister happened to be in the house, and whilst +this was going on the lieutenant brutally assaulted her, presumably +because she wished to go to her brother's assistance. Meanwhile Trim's +father, a man near seventy years of age, who lived only a stone's-throw +away, hearing the uproar, and being told the gang had come for his +son, ran to the house with the intention, as he afterwards declared, of +persuading him to go quietly. Seeing him stretched upon the floor, he +stooped to lift him to his feet, when one of the gang attacked him and +stabbed him in the back. He fell bleeding beside the younger man, +and was there beaten by a number of the gangsmen whilst the remainder +dragged his son off to the press-room, whence he was in due course +dispatched to the fleet at Spithead. The date of this brutal episode is +1804; the manner of it, "nothing more than what usually happened on +such occasions" in the town of Poole. [Footnote _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Admiral Phillip, Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers +at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + +For this deplorable state of things Poole had none but herself to +thank. Had she, instead of merely refusing to back the warrants, taken +effective measures to rid herself of the gang, that mischievous +body would have soon left her in peace. Rochester wore the jewel of +consistency in this respect. When Lieut. Brenton pressed a youth there +who "appeared to be a seafaring man," but turned out to be an exempt +city apprentice, he was promptly arrested and deprived of his sword, the +mayor making no bones of telling him that his warrant was "useless +in Rochester." With this broad hint he was discharged; but the people +proved less lenient than the mayor, for they set about him and beat +him unmercifully. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1784-92, No. 42: Deposition of Lieut. Brenton.] + +Save on a single occasion, already incidentally referred to, civic +Liverpool treated the gang with uniform kindness. In 1745, at a time +when the rebels were reported to be within only four miles of the +city, the mayor refused to back warrants for the pressing of sailors +to protect the shipping in the river. His reason was a cogent one. The +captains of the _Southsea Castle_, the _Mercury_ and the _Loo_, three +ships of war then in the Mersey, had just recently "manned their boats +with marines and impressed from the shore near fifty men," and the +seafaring element of the town, always a formidable one, was up in arms +because of it. This so intimidated the mayor that he dared not sanction +further raids "for fear of being murder'd." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1440--Letters of Capt. Amherst, Dec. 1745.] His dread of +the armed sailor was not shared by Henry Alcock, sometime mayor of +Waterford. That gentleman "often headed the press-gangs" in person. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780.] + +Deal objected to the press for reasons extending back to the reign of +King John. As a member of the Cinque Ports that town had constantly +supplied the kings and queens of the realm, from the time of Magna +Charta downwards, with great numbers of able and sufficient seamen who, +according to the ancient custom of the Five Ports, had been impressed +and raised by the mayor and magistrates of the town, acting under orders +from the Lord Warden, and not by irresponsible gangs from without. It +was to these, and not to the press as such, that Deal objected. The +introduction of gangs in her opinion bred disorder. Great disturbances, +breaches of the peace, riots, tumults and even bloodshed attended their +steps and made their presence in any peaceably disposed community highly +undesirable. Within the memory of living man even, Deal had obliged no +less than four hundred seamen to go on board the ships of the fleet, and +she desired no more of those strangers who recently, incited by Admiral +the Marquis of Carmarthen, had gone a-pressing in her streets and +grievously wounded divers persons. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, +Anne, xxxvi: No. 24: Petition of the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of the +Free Town and Borough of Deal.] + +In this commonsense view of the case Deal was ably supported by Dover, +the premier Cinque Port. Dover, it is true, so far as we know never +embodied her objections to the press in any humble petition to the +Queen's Majesty. She chose instead a directer method, for when the +lieutenant of the _Devonshire_ impressed six men belonging to a +brigantine from Carolina in her streets, and attempted to carry them +beyond the limits of the borough, "many people of Dover, in company with +the Mayor thereof, assembled themselves together and would not permit +the lieutenant to bring them away." The action angered the Lords +Commissioners, who resolved to teach Dover a lesson. Orders were +accordingly sent down to Capt. Dent, whose ship the _Shrewsbury_ +man-o'-war was then in the Downs, directing him to send a gang ashore +and press the first six good seamen they should meet with, taking care, +however, since their Lordships did not wish to be too hard upon the +town, that the men so pressed were bachelors and not householders. +Lieut. O'Brien was entrusted with this delicate punitive mission. +He returned on board after a campaign of only a few hours' duration, +triumphantly bearing with him the stipulated hostages for Dover's future +good behaviour--"six very good seamen, natives and inhabitants, and five +of them bachelors." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1696--Capt. Dent, +24 Aug. 1743.] The sixth was of course a householder, a circumstance +that made the town's punishment all the severer. + +Its effects were less salutary than the Admiralty had anticipated. True, +both Dover and Deal thereafter withdrew their opposition to the press so +far as to admit the gang within their borders; but they kept a watchful +eye upon its doings, and every now and then the old spirit flamed out +again at white heat, consuming the bonds of some poor devil who, like +Alexander Hart, freeman of Dover, had been irregularly taken. On this +occasion the mayor, backed by a posse of constables, himself broke open +the press-room door. A similar incident, occurring a little later in the +same year, so incensed Capt. Ball, who aptly enough was at the time +in command of the _Nemesis_, that he roundly swore "to impress every +seafaring man in Dover and make them repent of their impudence." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, +No. 44; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1507--Capt. Ball, 15 April 1791.] + +Where the magistrate had it most in his power to make or mar the +fugitive sailor's chances was in connection with the familiar fiction +that the Englishman's house is his castle. To hide a sailor was to steal +the king's chattel--penalty, 5 Pounds forfeited to the parish; and if +you were guilty of such a theft, or were with good reason suspected of +being guilty, you found yourself in much the same case as the ordinary +thief or the receiver of stolen goods. A search warrant could be sworn +out before a magistrate, and your house ransacked from cellar to garret. +Without such warrant, however, it could not be lawfully entered. In the +heat of pressing forcible entry was nevertheless not unusual, and many +an impress officer found himself involved in actions for trespass or +damages in consequence of his own indiscretion or the excessive zeal of +his gang. The defence set up by Lieut. Doyle, of Dublin, that the "Panel +of the Door was Broke by Accident," would not go down in a court of law, +however avidly it might be swallowed by the Board of Admiralty. + +More than this. The magistrate was by law empowered to seize all +straggling seamen and landsmen and hand them over to the gangs for +consignment to the fleet. The vagabond, as the unfortunate tramp of +those days was commonly called, had thus a bad time of it. For him all +roads led to Spithead. The same was true of persons who made themselves +a public nuisance in other ways. By express magisterial order many +answering to that description followed Francis Juniper of Cuckfield, "a +very drunken, troublesome fellow, without a coat to his back," who +was sent away lest he should become "chargeable to the parish." The +magistrate in this way conferred a double benefit upon his country. He +defended it against itself whilst helping it to defend itself against +the French. Still, the latter benefit was not always above suspicion. +The "ignorant zeal of simple justices," we are told, often impelled them +to hand over to the gangs men whom "any old woman could see with half +an eye to be properer objects of pity and charity than fit to serve His +Majesty." + +"Send your myrmidons," was a form of summons familiar to every gang +officer. As its tone implies, its source was magisterial, and when the +officer received it he hastened with his gang to the Petty Sessions, the +Assizes or the prison, and there took over, as an unearned increment of +His Majesty's fleet, the person of some misdemeanant willing to exchange +bridewell for the briny, or the manacled body of some convicted felon +who preferred to swing in a hammock at sea rather than on the gallows +ashore. + +A strangely assorted crew it was, this overflow of the jails that +clanked slowly seawards, marshalled by the gang. Reprieves and +commutations, if by no means universal in a confirmed hanging age, +were yet common enough to invest it with an appalling sameness that +was nevertheless an appalling variety. Able seamen sentenced for +horse-stealing or rioting, town dwellers raided out of night-houses, +impostors who simulated fits or played the maimed soldier, fishermen in +the illicit brandy and tobacco line, gentlemen of the road, makers of +"flash" notes and false coin, stealers of sheep, assaulters of women, +pickpockets and murderers in one unmitigated throng went the way of the +fleet and there sank their vices, their roguery, their crimes and their +identity in the number of a mess. + +Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too--youths barely in their teens, +guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people who passed +in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine service on Sunday" +and remaining impenitent and obdurate when confronted with all the +"terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and dark cells" pertaining to +a well-equipped city jail. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534, +1545--Capt. Barker, 1 March 1805, 20 Aug. 1809, and numerous instances.] +The turning over of such young reprobates to the gang was one of the +pleasing duties of the magistrate. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + + + +When all avenues of escape were cut off and the sailor found himself +face to face with the gang and imminent capture, he either surrendered +his liberty at the word of command or staked it on the issue of a fight. + +His choice of the latter alternative was the proverbial turning of +the worm, but of a worm that was no mean adversary. Fear of the gang, +supposing him to entertain any, was thrown to the winds. Fear of +the consequences--the clink, or maybe the gallows for a last +land-fall--which had restrained him in less critical moments when he had +both room to run and opportunity, sat lightly on him now. In red realism +there flashed through his brain the example of some doughty sailor, the +hero of many an anchor-watch and forecastle yarn, who had fought the +gang to its last man and yet come off victor. The swift vision fired +his blood and nerved his arm, and under its obsession he stood up to his +would-be captors with all the dogged pluck for which he was famous when +facing the enemy at sea. + +In contests of this description the weapon perhaps counted for as much +as the man who wielded it, and as its nature depended largely upon +circumstances and surroundings, the range of choice was generally +wide enough to please the most elective taste. Pressing consequently +introduced the gangsman to some strange weapons. + +Trim, the Poole sailor whose capture is narrated in the foregoing +chapter, defended himself with a red-hot poker. In what may be termed +domestic as opposed to public pressing, the use of this homely utensil +as an impromptu liberty-preserver was not at all uncommon. Hot or cold, +it proved a formidable weapon in the hands of a determined man, more +especially when, as was at that time very commonly the case, it belonged +to the ponderous cobiron or knobbed variety. + +Another weapon of recognised utility, particularly in the vicinity +of docks, careening-stations and ship-yards, was the humble tar-mop. +Consisting of a wooden handle some five or six feet in length, though of +no great diameter, terminating in a ball of spun-yarn forming the actual +mop, this implement, when new, was comparatively harmless. No serious +blow could then be dealt with it; but once it had been used for "paying" +a vessel's bottom and sides it underwent a change that rendered it +truly formidable. The ball of ravellings forming the mop became then +thoroughly, charged with tar or pitch and dried in a rough mass scarcely +less heavy than lead. In this condition it was capable of inflicting +a terrible blow, and many were the tussels decided by it. A remarkable +instance of its effective use occurred at Ipswich in 1703, when a gang +from the _Solebay_, rowing up the Orwell from Harwich, attempted to +press the men engaged in re-paying a collier. They were immediately +"struck down with Pitch-Mopps, to the great Peril of their Lives." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. Aldred, 6 Jan. 1702-3.] + +The weapon to which the sailor was most partial, however, was the +familiar capstan-bar. In it, as in its fellow the handspike, he found +a whole armament. Its availability, whether on shipboard or at the +waterside, its rough-and-ready nature, and above all its heft and +general capacity for dealing a knock-down blow without inflicting +necessarily fatal injuries, adapted it exactly to the sailor's +requirements, defensive or the reverse. It was with a capstan-bar that +Paul Jones, when hard pressed by a gang on board his ship at Liverpool, +was reputed to have stretched three of his assailants dead on deck. +Every sailor had heard of that glorious achievement and applauded it, +the killing perhaps grudgingly excepted. + +So, too, did he applaud the hardihood of William Bingham, that far-famed +north-country sailor who, adopting pistols as his weapon, negligently +stuck a brace of them in his belt and walked the streets of Newcastle in +open defiance of the gangs, none of which durst lay a hand on him till +the unlucky day when, in a moment of criminal carelessness that could +never be forgiven, he left his weapons at home and was haled to the +press-room fighting, all too late, like a fiend incarnate. + +Not to enlarge on the endless variety of chance weapons, there remained +those good old-standers the musket, the cutlass and the knife, each of +which, in the sailor's grasp, played its part in the rough-and-tumble of +pressing, and played it well. A case in point, familiar to every seaman, +was the last fight put up by that famous Plymouth sailor, Emanuel +Herbert, another fatalist who, like Bingham, believed in having two +strings to his bow. He accordingly provided himself with both fuzee +and hanger, and with these comforting bed-fellows retired to rest in an +upper chamber of the public-house where he lodged, easy in the knowledge +that whatever happened the door of his crib commanded the stairs. From +this stronghold the gang invited him to come down. He returned the +compliment by inviting them up, assuring them that he had a warm welcome +in store for the first who should favour him with a visit. The ambiguity +of the invitation appears to have been thrown away upon the gang, for +"three of my people," says the officer who led them, "rushed up, and the +gun missing fire, he immediately run one of them through the body +with the hanger"--a mode of welcoming his visitors which resulted in +Herbert's shifting his lodgings to Exeter jail, and in the wounded man's +speedy death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Brown, 4 +July 1727.] + +Here was a serious contingency indeed; but whatever deterrent effect the +fatal issue of this affair, as of many similar ones, may have had upon +the sailor's use of lethal weapons when attacked by the gang, that +effect was largely, if not altogether, neutralised by the upshot of the +famous Broadfoot case, which, occurring some sixteen years later, gave +the scales of justice a decided turn in the sailor's favour and robbed +the killing of a gangsman of its only terror, the shadow of the gallows. +The incident in question opened in Bristol river, with the boarding of +a merchant-man by a tender's gang. As they came over the side Broadfoot +met them, blunderbuss in hand. Being there to guard the ship, he bade +them begone, and upon their disregarding the order, and closing in upon +him with evident intent to take him, he clapped the blunderbuss, which +was heavily charged with swanshot, to his shoulder and let fly into +the midst of them. One of their number, Calahan by name, fell mortally +wounded, and Broadfoot was in due course indicted for wilful murder. +[Footnote: _Westminster Journal_, 30 April 1743.] How he was found not +guilty on the ground that a warrant directed to the lieutenant gave +the gang no power to take him, and that he was therefore justified in +defending himself, was well known to every sailor in the kingdom. No +jury thereafter ever found him guilty of a capital felony if by chance +he killed a gangsman in self-defence. The worst he had to fear was a +verdict of manslaughter--a circumstance that proved highly inspiriting +to him in his frequent scraps with the gang. + +There was another aspect of the case, however, that came home to the +sailor rather more intimately than the risk of being called upon to "do +time" under conditions scarcely worse than those he habitually endured +at sea. Suppose, instead of his killing the gangsman, the gangsman +killed him? He recalled a case he had heard much palaver about. An able +seaman, a perfect Tom Bowling of a fellow, brought to at an alehouse in +the Borough--the old "Bull's Head" it was--having a mind to lie snug +for a while, 'tween voyages. However, one day, being three sheets in +the wind or thereabouts, he risked a run and was made a prize of, worse +luck, by a press-gang that engaged him. Their boat lay at Battle Bridge +in the Narrow Passage, and while they were bearing down upon her, with +the sailor-chap in tow, what should Jack do but out with his knife and +slip it into one of the gangers. 'Twas nothing much, a waistcoat wound +at most, but the ganger resented the liberty, and swearing that no man +should tap his claret for nix, he ups with his cudgel and fetches Jack +a clip beside the head that lost him the number of his mess, for soon +after he was discharged dead along of having his head broke. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Lieut. Slyford, 24 Nov. 1755. "Discharged +dead," abbreviated to "DD," the regulation entry in the muster books +against the names of persons deceased.] + +Risks of this sort raised grave issues for the sailor--issues to be well +considered of in those serious moments that came to the most reckless on +the wings of the wind or the lift of the waves at sea, what time drink +and the gang were remote factors in the problem of life. But ashore! Ah! +that was another matter. Life ashore was far too crowded, far too sweet +for serious reflections. The absorbing business of pleasure left little +room for thought, and the thoughts that came to the sailor later, when +he had had his fling and was again afoot in search of a ship, decidedly +favoured the killing of a gangsman, if need be, rather than the loss of +his own life or of a berth. The prevalence of these sentiments rendered +the taking of the sailor a dangerous business, particularly when he +consorted in bands. + +In that part of the west country traversed by the great roads from +Bristol to Liverpool, and having Stourbridge as its approximate centre, +ambulatory bands proved very formidable. The presence of the rendezvous +at Stourbridge accounted for this. Seamen travelled in strength because +they feared it. Two gangs were stationed there under Capt. Beecher, and +news of the approach of a large party of seamen from the south having +one day been brought in, he at once made preparations for intercepting +them. Lieut. Barnsley and his gang marched direct to Hoobrook, a couple +of miles south of Kidderminster, a point the seamen had perforce to +pass. His instructions were to wait there, picking up in the meantime +such of the sailor party as lagged behind from footsoreness or fatigue, +till joined by Lieut. Birchall and the other gang, when the two were to +unite forces and press the main body. Through unforeseen circumstances, +however, the plan miscarried. Birchall, who had taken a circuitous +route, arrived late, whilst the band of sailors arrived early. They +numbered, moreover, forty-six as against eleven gangsmen and two +officers. Four to one was a temptation the sailors could not resist. +They attacked the gangs with such ferocity that out of the thirteen only +one man returned to the rendezvous with a whole skin. Luckily, there +were no casualties on this occasion; but a few days later, while two of +Barnsley's gangsmen were out on duty some little distance from the town, +they were suddenly attacked by a couple of sailors, presumably members +of the same band, who left one of them dead in the road. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Beecher, 12 July and 4 Aug. 1781.] + +Owing to its close proximity to the Thames, that remote suburb of +eighteenth century London known as Stepney Fields was much frequented +by armed bands of the above description, who successfully resisted all +attempts to take them. The master-at-arms of the _Chatham_ man-o'-war, +chancing once to pass that way, came in for exceedingly rough usage at +their hands, and when next day a lieutenant from the same ship +appeared upon the scene with a gang at his back and tried to press the +ringleaders in that affair, they "swore by God he should not, and if he +offered to lay hands on them, they would cut him down." With this threat +they drew their cutlasses, slashed savagely at the lieutenant, and +"made off through the Mobb which had gathered round them." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2579--Capt. Townshend, 21 April 1743.] + +A spot not many miles distant from Stepney Fields was the scene of a +singular fray many years later. His Majesty's ship _Squirrel_ happened +at the time to be lying in Longreach, and her commander, Capt. Brawn, +one day received intelligence that a number of sailors were to be met +with in the town of Barking. He at once dispatched his 1st and 2nd +lieutenants with a contingent of twenty-five men and several petty +officers, to rout them out and take them. They reached Barking about +nine o'clock in the evening, the month being July, and were not long in +securing several of the skulkers, who with many of the male inhabitants +of the place were at that hour congregated in public-houses, +unsuspicious of danger. The sudden appearance in their midst of so +large an armed force, however, coupled with the outcry and confusion +inseparable from the pressing of a number of men, alarmed the townsfolk, +who poured into the streets, rescued the pressed men, and would have +inflicted summary punishment upon the intruders had not the senior +officer, seeing his party hopelessly outnumbered, tactfully drawn off +his force. This he did in good order and without serious hurt; but just +as he and his men were congratulating themselves upon their escape, they +were suddenly ambushed, at a point where their road ran between high +banks, by a "large concourse of Irish haymakers, to the number of at +least five hundred men, all armed with sabres [Footnote: So in +the original, but "sabres" is perhaps an error for "scythes."] and +pitchforks," who with wild cries and all the Irishman's native love of +a shindy fell upon the unfortunate gangsmen and gave them a "most severe +beating." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Brawn, 3 July +1803.] + +Attacks on the gang, made with deliberate intent to rescue pressed men +from its custody, were by no means confined to Barking. The informer +throve in the land, but notwithstanding his hostile activity the sailor +everywhere had friends who possessed at least one cardinal virtue. They +seldom hung back when he was in danger, or hesitated to strike a blow in +his defence. + +There came into Limehouse Hole, on a certain day in the summer of 1709, +a vessel called the _Martin_ galley. How many men were in her we do not +learn; but whatever their number, there was amongst them one man who +had either a special dread of the press or some more than usually urgent +occasion for wishing to avoid it. Watching his opportunity, he slipped +into one of the galley's boats, sculled her rapidly to land, and there +leapt out--just as a press-gang hove in sight ahead! It was a dramatic +moment. The sailor, tacking at sight of the enemy, ran swiftly along +the river-bank, but was almost immediately overtaken, knocked down, and +thrown into the press-boat, which lay near by. "This gather'd a Mob," +says the narrator of the incident, "who Pelted the Boat and Gang by +throwing Stones and Dirt from the Shoar, and being Pursued also by the +Galley's men, who brought Cutlasses in the Boat with them to rescue +their Prest Man, the Gang was at last forc'd to betake themselves to a +Corn-lighter, where they might stand upon their Defence. The Galley's +men could not get aboard, but lay with their Boat along the side of the +Lighter, where they endeavouring to force in, and the Gang to keep them +out, the Boat of a sudden oversett and some of the Men therein were +Drown'd. Three of the Press-Gang were forc'd likewise into the Water, +whereof 'tis said one is Drown'd and the other two in Irons in the New +Prison. The remaining part of the Gang leapt into a Wherry, the Galley's +men pursuing them, but, not gaining upon them, they gave over the +Pursuit." The pressed man all this while was laughing in his sleeve. "He +lay on the other side of the Lighter, in the Tender's boat, whence he +made his escape." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aston, +10 Aug. 1709.] + +In their efforts to restore the freedom of the pressed man, the sailor's +friends did not confine their attention exclusively to the gang. When +they turned out in vindication of those rights which the sailor did not +possess, they not infrequently found their diversion in wrecking the +gang's headquarters or in making a determined, though generally futile, +onslaught upon the tender. Respectable people, who had no particular +reason to favour the sailor's cause, viewed these ebullitions of mingled +rage and mischief with dismay, stigmatising those who so lightheartedly +participated in them as the "lower classes" and the "mob." + +Few towns in the kingdom boasted--or reprobated, as the case might be--a +more erratically festive mob than Leith. As far back as 1709 Bailie +Cockburn had advised the inhabitants of that burgh to "oppose any +impressor," and seizing the occasion of the "Impressure of an Apprentice +Boy," had set them an example by arresting the pinnace of Her Majesty's +ship _Rye_, together with her whole crew, thirteen in number, and +keeping them in close confinement till the lad was given up. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2448--Capt. Shale, 4 Jan. 1708-9.] The worthy +Bailie was in due time gathered unto his fathers, and with the growth of +the century gangs came and went in endless succession, but neither the +precept nor the example was ever forgotten in Leith. Much pressing was +done there, but it was done almost entirely upon the water. To transfer +the scene of action to the strand meant certain tumult, for there the +whim of the mob was law. Now it pulled the gang-officer's house about +his ears because he dared to press a shipwright; again, it stoned the +gang viciously because they rescued some seamen from a wreck--and kept +them. Between whiles it amused itself by cutting down the rendezvous +flag-staff; and if nothing better offered, it split up into component +parts, each of which became a greater terror than the whole. One +night, when the watch had been set and all was quiet, a party of +this description, only three in number, approached the rendezvous +and respectfully requested leave to drink a last dram with some +newly pressed men who were then in the cage, their quondam shipmates. +Suspecting no ulterior design, the guard incautiously admitted them, +whereupon they dashed a quantity of spirits on the fire, set the place +in a blaze, and carried off the pressed men amid the hullabaloo that +followed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1516-9--Letters of Capt. +Brenton, 1797-8; Lieut. Pierie, 2 Feb. 1798.] + +If Leith did this sort of thing well, Greenock, her commercial rival on +the Clyde, did it very much better; for where the Leith mob was but a +sporadic thing, erupting from its slummy fastnesses only in response to +rumour of chance amusement to be had or mischief to be done, Greenock +held her mob always in hand, a perpetual menace to the gangsman did he +dare to disregard the Clydeside ordinance in respect to pressing. That +ordinance restricted pressing exclusively to the water; but it went +further, for it laid it down as an inviolable rule that members of +certain trades should not be pressed at all. + +It was with the Trades that the ordinance originated. There was little +or no Greenock apart from the Trades. The will of the Trades was +supreme. The coopers, carpenters, riggers, caulkers and seamen of +the town ruled the burgh. Assembled in public meeting, they resolved +unanimously "to stand by and support each other" in the event of a +press; and having come to this decision they indited a trite letter +to the magistrates, intimating in unequivocal terms that "if they +countenanced the press, they must abide by the consequences," for once +the Trades took the matter in hand "they could not say where they would +stop." With the worthy burgesses laying down the law in this fashion, it +is little wonder that the gangs "seldom dared to press ashore," or that +they should have been able to take "only two coopers in ten months." + +For the Trades were as good as their word. The moment a case of +prohibited pressing became known they took action. Alexander Weir, +member of the Shipwrights' Society, was taken whilst returning from his +"lawful employ," and immediately his mates, to the number of between +three and four hundred, downed tools and marched to the rendezvous, +where they peremptorily demanded his release. Have him they would, and +if the gang-officer did not see fit to comply with their demand, not +only should he never press another man in Greenock, but they would seize +one of the armed vessels in the river, lay her alongside the tender, +where Weir was confined, and take him out of her by force. Brenton was +regulating captain there at the time, and to pacify the mob he promised +to release the man--and broke his word. Thereupon the people "became +very riotous and proceeded to burn everything that came in their way. +About twelve o'clock they hauled one of the boats belonging to the +rendezvous upon the Square and put her into the fire, but by the timely +assistance of the officers and gangs, supported by the magistrates and a +body of the Fencibles, the boat was recovered, though much damaged, and +several of the ringleaders taken up and sent to prison." The affair did +not end without bloodshed. "Lieut. Harrison, in defending himself, was +under the necessity of running one of the rioters through the ribs." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1508--Letters of Capt. Brenton, 1793.] + +Though Bailie Cockburn once "arrested" the pinnace of a man-o'-war at +Leith, the attempted burning of the Greenock press-boat is worthy of +more than passing note as the only instance of that form of retaliation +to be met with in the history of home pressing. In the American +colonies, on the other hand, it was a common feature of demonstrations +against the gang. Boston was specially notorious for that form of +reprisal, and Governor Shirley, in one of his masterly dispatches, +narrates at length, and with no little humour, how the mob on one +occasion burnt with great eclat what they believed to be the press-boat, +only to discover, when it was reduced to ashes, that it belonged to +one of their own ringleaders. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +38l8--Shirley to the Admiralty, 1 Dec. 1747.] + +The threat of the Greenock artificers to lay alongside the tender and +take out their man by force of arms was one for which there existed +abundant, if by no means encouraging precedent. Long before, as early, +indeed, as 1742, the keelmen frequenting Sunderland had set them an +example in that respect by endeavouring, some hundreds strong, to haul +the tender ashore--an attempt coupled with threats so dire that the +officer in command trembled in his shoes lest he and his men should all +"be made sacrifices of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Allen, 13 March 1741-2.] Nothing so dreadful happened, however, for +the attempt, like that made at Shoreham a few years later, when there +"appear'd in Sight, from towards Brighthelmstone, about two or three +Hundred Men arm'd with different Weapons, who came with an Intent to +Attack the _Dispatch_ sloop," failed ignominiously, the attackers being +routed on both occasions by a timely use of swivel guns and musketry. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Lieut. Barnsley, 25 March 1746.] + +Similar disaster overtook the organisers of the Tooley Street affair, +of which one Taylor, lieutenant to Capt. William Boys of the _Royal +Sovereign_, was the active cause. At the "Spread-Eagle" in Tooley Street +he and his gang one evening pressed a privateersman--an insult keenly +resented by the master of the ship. He accordingly sent off to the +tender, whither the pressed man had been conveyed for security's sake, +two wherries filled with armed seamen of the most piratical type. The +fierce fight that ensued had a dramatic finish. "Two Pistols we took +from them," says the narrator of the incident, in his quaint old style, +"and three Cutlasses, and Six Men; but one of the Men took the Red Hott +Poker out of the Fire, and our Men, having the Cutlasses, Cutt him and +Kill'd him in Defence of themselves." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1488--Lieut. Taylor, 1 April 1757.] + +In attacks of this nature the fact that the tender was afloat told +heavily in her favour, for unless temporarily hung up upon a mud-bank by +the fall of the tide, she could only be got at by means of boats. With +the rendezvous ashore the case was altogether different. Here you had a +building in a public street, flaunting its purpose provocatively in +your very face, and having a rear to guard as well as a front. For these +reasons attacks on the rendezvous were generally attended with a greater +measure of success than similar attempts directed against the tenders. +The face of a pressed man had only to show itself at one of the stoutly +barred windows, and immediately a crowd gathered. To the prisoner behind +the bars this crowd was friendly, commiserating or chaffing him by +turns; but to the gangsmen responsible for his being there it was +invariably and uncompromisingly hostile, so much so that it needed only +a carelessly uttered threat, or a thoughtlessly lifted hand, to fan +the smouldering fires of hatred into a blaze. When this occurred, as +it often did, things happened. Paving-stones hurtled through the +curse-laden air, the windows flew in fragments, the door, assailed by +overwhelming numbers, crashed in, and despite the stoutest resistance +the gang could offer the pressed man was hustled out and carried off in +triumph. + +The year 1755 witnessed a remarkable attack of this description upon the +rendezvous at Deal, where a band of twenty-seven armed men made a sudden +descent upon that obnoxious centre of activity and cut up the gang +most grievously. As all wore masks and had their faces blackened, +identification was out of the question. A reward of 200 Pounds, offered +for proof of complicity in the outrage, elicited no information, and as +a matter of fact its perpetrators were never discovered. + +In Capt. McCleverty's time the gang at Waterford was once very roughly +handled whilst taking in a pressed man, and Mr. Mayor Alcock came +hurrying down to learn what was amiss. He found the rendezvous beset by +an angry and dangerous gathering. "Sir," said he to the captain, "have +you no powder or shot in the house?" McCleverty assured him that he had. +"Then, sir," cried the mayor, raising his voice so that all might hear, +"do you make use of it, and I will support you." The crowd understood +that argument and immediately dispersed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1500--Deposition of Lieut. M Kellop, 1780.] + +Had the Admiralty reasoned in similar terms with those who beat its +gangsmen, converted its rendezvous into match-wood and carried off its +pressed men, it would have quickly made itself as heartily feared as it +was already hated; but in seeking to shore up an odious cause by +pacific methods it laid its motives open to the gravest misconstruction. +Prudence was construed into timidity, and with every abstention from +lead the sailor's mobbish friends grew more daring and outrageous. + +One night in the winter of 1780, whilst Capt. Worth of the Liverpool +rendezvous sat lamenting the temporary dearth of seamen, Lieut. Haygarth +came rushing in with a rare piece of news. On the road from Lancaster, +it was reported, there was a whole coach-load of sailors. The chance +was too good to be lost, and instant steps were taken to intercept +the travellers. The gangs turned out, fully armed, and took up their +position at a strategic point, just outside the town, commanding the +road by which the sailors had to pass. By and by along came the coach, +the horses weary, the occupants nodding or asleep. In a trice they were +surrounded. Some of the gangsmen sprang at the horses' heads, others +threw themselves upon the drowsy passengers. Shouts, curses and the +thud of blows broke the silence of the night. Then the coach rumbled on +again, empty. Its late occupants, fifteen in number, sulkily followed on +foot, surrounded by their captors, who, as soon as the town was reached, +locked them into the press-room for the rest of the night, it being the +captain's intention to put them on board the tender in the Mersey at +break of day. + +In this, however, he was frustrated by a remarkable development in the +situation. Unknown to him, the coach-load of seamen had been designed +for the _Stag_ privateer, a vessel just on the point of sailing. News +of their capture reaching the ship soon after their arrival in the town, +Spence, her 1st lieutenant, at once roused out all his available men, +armed them, to the number of eighty, with cutlass and pistol, and led +them ashore. There all was quiet, favouring their design. The hour was +still early, and the silent, swift march through the deserted streets +attracted no attention and excited no alarm. At the rendezvous the +opposition of the weary sentinels counted for little. It was quickly +brushed aside, the strong-room door gave way beneath a few well-directed +blows, and by the time Liverpool went to breakfast the _Stag_ +privateer was standing out to sea, her crew not only complete, but ably +supplemented by eight additional occupants of the press-room who had +never, so far as is known, travelled in that commodious vehicle, the +Lancaster coach. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7, 300--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1778-83, No. 19.] + +The neighbouring city of Chester in 1803 matched this exploit by another +of great audacity. Chester had long been noted for its hostility to the +gang, and the fact that the local volunteer corps--the Royal Chester +Artillery--was composed mainly of ropemakers, riggers, shipwrights and +sailmakers who had enlisted for the sole purpose of evading the press, +did not tend to allay existing friction. Hence, when Capt. Birchall +brought over a gang from Liverpool because he could not form one in +Chester itself, and when he further signalised his arrival by pressing +Daniel Jackson, a well-known volunteer, matters at once came to an ugly +head. The day happened to be a field-day, and as Birchall crossed the +market square to wait upon the magistrates at the City Hall, he was +"given to understand what might be expected in the evening," for one of +the artillerymen, striking his piece, called out to his fellows: +"Now for a running ball! There he goes!" with hissing, booing and +execrations. At seven o'clock one of the gang rushed into the captain's +lodgings with disquieting news. The volunteers were attacking the +rendezvous. He hurried out, but by the time he arrived on the scene the +mischief was already done. The enraged volunteers, after first driving +the gang into the City Hall, had torn down the rendezvous colours and +staff, and broken open the city jail and rescued their comrade, whom +they were then in the act of carrying shoulder-high through the streets, +the centre of a howling mob that even the magistrates feared to face. By +request Birchall and his gang returned to Liverpool, counting themselves +lucky to have escaped the "running ball" they had been threatened +with earlier in the day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. +Birchall, 29 Dec. 1803.] + +Another town that gave the gang a hot reception was Whitby. As in the +case of Chester the gang there was an importation, having been brought +in from Tyneside by Lieuts. Atkinson and Oakes. As at Chester, too, a +place of rendezvous had been procured with difficulty, for at first +no landlord could be found courageous enough to let a house for so +dangerous a purpose. At length, however, one Cooper was prevailed upon +to take the risk, and the flag was hung out. This would seem to have +been the only provocative act of which the gang was guilty. It sufficed. +Anticipation did the rest; for just as in some individuals gratitude +consists in a lively sense of favours to come, so the resentment of mobs +sometimes avenges a wrong before it has been inflicted. + +On Saturday the 23rd of February 1793, at the hour of half-past seven +in the evening, a mob of a thousand persons, of whom many were women, +suddenly appeared before the rendezvous. The first intimation of what +was about to happen came in the shape of a furious volley of brickbats +and stones, which instantly demolished every window in the house, to +the utter consternation of its inmates. Worse, however, was in store +for them. An attempt to rush the place was temporarily frustrated by the +determined opposition of the gang, who, fearing that all in the house +would be murdered, succeeded in holding the mob at bay for an hour and +a half; but at nine o'clock, several of the gangsmen having been in the +meantime struck down and incapacitated by stones, which were rained +upon the devoted building without cessation, the door at length gave way +before an onslaught with capstan-bars, and the mob swarmed in unchecked. +A scene of indescribable confusion and fury ensued. Savagely assaulted +and mercilessly beaten, the gangsmen and the unfortunate landlord were +thrown into the street more dead than alive, every article of furniture +on the premises was reduced to fragments, and when the mob at length +drew off, hoarsely jubilant over the destruction it had wrought, nothing +remained of His Majesty's rendezvous save bare walls and gaping windows. +Even these were more than the townsfolk could endure the sight of. Next +evening they reappeared upon the scene, intending to finish what they +had begun by pulling the house down or burning it to ashes; but the +timely arrival of troops frustrating their design, they regretfully +dispersed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2739--Lieut. Atkinson, 26 +Feb. and 27 June 1793.] + +Out at sea the sailor, if he could not set the tune by running away from +the gang, played up to it with great heartiness. To sink the press-boat +was his first aim. With this end in view he held stolidly on his course, +if under weigh, betraying his intention by no sign till the boat, +manoeuvring to get alongside of him, was in the right position for him +to strike. Then, all of a sudden, he showed his hand. Clapping his helm +hard over, he dexterously ran the boat down, leaving the struggling +gangsmen to make what shift they could for their lives. Many a knight +of the hanger was sent to Davy Jones in this summary fashion, unloved in +life and cursed in the article of death. + +The attempt to best the gang by a master-stroke of this description was +not, it need hardly be said, attended with uniform success. A miss of an +inch or two, and the boat was safe astern, pulling like mad to recover +lost ground. In these circumstances the sailor recalled how he had once +seen a block fall from aloft and smash a shipmate's head, and from this +he argued that if a suitable object such as a heavy round-shot, or, +better still, the ship's grindstone, were deftly dropped over the side +at the psychological moment, it must either have a somewhat similar +effect upon the gangsmen below or sink the boat by knocking a hole in +her bottom. The case of the _John and Elizabeth_ of Sunderland, that +redoubtable Holland pink whose people were "resolved sooner to dye +than to be impressed," affords an admirable example of the successful +application of this theory. + +As the _John and Elizabeth_ was running into Sunderland harbour one +afternoon in February 1742, three press-boats, hidden under cover of +the pier-head, suddenly darted out as she surged past that point and +attempted to board her. They met with a remarkable repulse. For ten +minutes, according to the official account of the affair, the air +was filled with grindstones, four-pound shot, iron crows, handspikes, +capstan-bars, boat-hooks, billets of wood and imprecations, and when it +cleared there was not in any of the boats a man who did not bear upon +his person some bloody trace of that terrible fusillade. They sheered +off, but in the excitement of the moment and the mortification of +defeat Midshipmen Clapp and Danton drew their pistols and fired into the +jeering crew ranged along the vessel's gunwhale, "not knowing," as they +afterwards pleaded, "that there was any balls in the pistols." Evidence +to the contrary was quickly forthcoming. A man fell dead on the pink's +deck, and before morning the two middies were safe under lock and key in +that "dismal hole," Durham jail. It was a notable victory for the sailor +and applied mechanics. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Allen, 13 March 1741-2, and enclosure.] + +The affair of the _King William_ Indiaman, a ship whose people kept +the united boats'-crews of two men-of-war at bay for nearly twenty-four +hours, carried the sailor's resistance to the press an appreciable step +further and developed some surprising tactics. Between three and four +o'clock in the afternoon of a day in September 1742, two ships came into +the Downs in close order. They had been expected earlier in the day, and +both the _Shrewsbury_ frigate and the _Shark_ sloop were on the lookout +for them. A shot from the former brought the headmost to an anchor, but +the second, the _King William_, hauled her wind and stood away close to +the Goodwins, out of range of the frigate's guns. Here, the tide being +spent and the wind veering ahead, she was obliged to anchor, and the +warships' boats were at once manned and dispatched to press her men. +Against this eventuality the latter appear to have been primed "with +Dutch courage," as the saying went, the manner of which was to broach +a cask of rum and drink your fill. On the approach of the press-boats +pandemonium broke loose. The maddened crew, brandishing their cutlasses +and shouting defiance, assailed the on-coming boats with every +description of missile they could lay hands on, not excepting that most +dangerous of all casual ammunition, broken bottles. The _Shrewsbury's_ +mate fell, seriously wounded, and finding themselves unable to face +the terrible hail of missiles, the boats drew off. Night now came on, +rendering further attempts temporarily impossible--a respite of which +the Indiaman's crew availed themselves to confine the master and break +open the arms-chest, which he had taken the precaution to nail down. +With morning the boats returned to the attack. Three times they +attempted to board, and as often were they repulsed by pistol and +musketry fire. Upon this the _Shark_, acting under peremptory orders +from the _Shrewsbury_, ran down to within half-gunshot of the Indiaman +and fired a broadside into her, immediately afterwards repeating the +dose on finding her still defiant. The ship then submitted and all +her men were pressed save two. They had been killed by the _Shark's_ +gun-fire. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829--Capt. Goddard, 22 +Sept. and 16 Oct., and his Deposition, 19 Oct. 1742.] + +With the appearance of the gang on the deck of his ship there was +ushered in the last stage but one of the sailor's resistance to the +press afloat. How, when this happened, all hands were mustered and the +protected sheep separated from the unprotected goats, has been fully +described in a previous chapter. These preliminaries at an end, "Now, my +lads," said the gang officer, addressing the pressable contingent in the +terms of his instructions, "I must tell you that you are at liberty, if +you so choose, to enter His Majesty's service as volunteers. If you +come in in that way, you will each receive the bounty now being paid, +together with two months' advance wages before you go to sea. But if +you don't choose to enter volunteerly, then I must take you against your +wills" + +It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback--ay! and young one +too--spat viciously when he heard it. Conceive the situation! Here were +these poor fellows returning from a voyage which perhaps had cut them +off from home and kindred, from all the ordinary comforts and pleasures +of life, for months or maybe years; here were they, with the familiar +cliffs and downs under their hungry eyes, suddenly confronted with an +alternative of the cruellest description, a Hobson's choice that +left them no option but to submit or fight. It was a heartbreaking +predicament for men, and more especially for sailor-men, to be placed +in, and if they sometimes rose to the occasion like men and did their +best to heave the gang bodily into the sea, or to drive them out of +the ship with such weapons as their hard situation and the sailor's +Providence threw in their way--if they did these things in the gang's +despite, they must surely be judged as outraged husbands, fathers and +lovers rather than as disloyal subjects of an exacting king. They would +have made but sorry man-o'-war's-men had they entertained the gang in +any other way. + +Opposed to the service cutlass, the sailor's emergency weapon was but a +poor tool to stake his liberty upon, and even though the numerical +odds chanced to be in his favour he often learnt, in the course of his +pitched battles with the gang, that the edge of a hanger is sharper +than the corresponding part of a handspike. Lucky for him if, with his +shipmates, he could then retreat to close quarters below or between +decks, there to make a final stand for his brief spell of liberty +ashore. This was his last ditch. Beyond it lay only surrender or death. + +The death of the sailor at the hands of the gang introduces us to a +phase of pressing technically known as the accidental, wherein the +accidents were of three kinds--casual, unavoidable, and "disagreeable." + +The casual accident was one that could be neither foreseen nor averted, +as when Capt. Argles, returning to England on the breaking up of the +Limerick rendezvous in 1814, was captured by an American privateer "well +up the Bristol Channel," a place where no one ever dreamed of falling +in with such an enemy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. +Argles, 17 Aug. 1814.] + +To the unavoidable accident every impress officer and agent was liable +in the execution of his duty. It could thus be foreseen in the abstract, +though not in the instance. Hence it could not be avoided. Wounds given +and received in the heat and turmoil of pressing came under this head, +provided they did not prove fatal. + +The accident "disagreeable" was peculiar to pressing. It consisted in +the killing of a man, by whatever means and in whatever manner, whilst +endeavouring to press him, and the immediate effect of the act, which +was common enough, was to set up a remarkable contradiction in terms. +The man killed was not the victim of the accident. The victim was the +officer or gangsman who was responsible for striking him off the roll +of His Majesty's pressable subjects, and who thus let himself in for the +consequences, more or less disagreeable, which inevitably followed. + +While it was naturally the ambition of every officer engaged in pressing +"to do the business without any disagreeable accident ensuing," he +preferred, did fate ordain it otherwise, that the accident should +happen at sea rather than on land, since it was on land that the most +disagreeable consequences accrued to the unfortunate victim. These +embraced flight and prolonged expatriation, or, in the alternative, +arrest, preliminary detention in one of His Majesty's prisons, and +subsequent trial at the Assizes. What the ultimate punishment might be +was a minor, though still ponderable consideration, since, where naval +officers or agents were concerned, the law was singularly capricious. +[Footnote: As in Lacie's case, 25 Elizabeth, where a mortal wound having +been inflicted at sea, whereof the party died on land, the prisoner was +acquitted because neither the Admiralty nor a jury could inquire of +it.] At sea, on the other hand, the conditions which on land rendered +accidents of this nature so uniformly disagreeable, were almost entirely +reversed. How and why this was so can be best explained by stating a +case. + +The accident in point occurred in the year 1755, and is associated with +the illustrious name of Rodney. The Seven Years War was at the time +looming in the near future, and England's secret complicity in the +causes of that tremendous struggle rendered necessary the placing of her +Navy upon a footing adequate to the demands which it was foreseen would +be very shortly made upon it. In common with a hundred other naval +officers, Rodney, who was then in command of the _Prince George_ +guardship at Portsmouth, had orders to proceed without loss of time +to the raising of men. One of his lieutenants was accordingly sent to +London, that happy hunting-ground of the impress officer, while two +others, with picked crews at their backs, were put in charge of tenders +to intercept homeward-bounds. This was near the end of May. + + [Illustration: ANNE MILLS. Who served on board the _Maidstone_ +in 1740.] + +On the 1st of June, in the early morning, one of these tenders--the +_Princess Augusta_, Lieut. Sax commander--fell in, off Portland Bill, +with the _Britannia_, a Leghorn trader of considerable force. In +response to a shot fired as an intimation that she was expected to +lay-to and receive a gang on board, the master, hailing, desired +permission to retain his crew intact till he should have passed that +dangerous piece of navigation known as the Race. To this reasonable +request Sax acceded and the ship held on her course, closely followed by +the tender. By the time the Race was passed, however, the merchant-man's +crew had come to a resolution. They should not be pressed by "such +a pimping vessel" as the _Princess Augusta_. Accordingly, they first +deprived the master of the command, and then, when again hailed by the +tender, "swore they would lose their lives sooner than bring too." The +Channel at this time swarmed with tenders, and to Sax's hint that they +might just as well give in then and there as be pressed later on, they +replied with defiant huzzas and the discharge of one of their maindeck +guns. The tender was immediately laid alongside, but on the gang's +attempting to board they encountered a resistance so fierce that Sax, +thinking to bring the infuriated crew to their senses, ordered his +people to fire upon them. Ralph Sturdy and John Debusk, armed with +harpoons, and John Wilson, who had requisitioned the cook's spit as +a weapon, fell dead before that volley. The rest, submitting without +further ado, were at once confined below. + +Now, three questions of moment are raised by this accident: What became +of the ship? what was done with the dead men? and what punishment was +meted out to the lieutenant and his gang? The crew once secured +under hatches, the safety of the ship became of course the first +consideration. It was assured by a simple expedient. The gang remained +on board and worked the vessel into Portsmouth harbour, where, after her +hands had been taken out--Rodney the receiver--"men in lieu" were put +on board, as explained in our chapter on pressing afloat, and with this +make-shift crew she was navigated to her destination, in this instance +the port of London. + +As persons killed at sea, the three sailors who lay dead on the +ship's deck did not come within the jurisdiction of the coroner. That +official's cognisance of such matters extended only to high-water mark +when the tide was at flood, or to low-water mark when it was at ebb. +Beyond those limits, seawards, all acts of violence done in great ships, +and resulting in mayhem or the death of a man, fell within the sole +purview and jurisdiction of the Station Admiral, who on this occasion +happened to be Sir Edward Hawke, commander of the White Squadron at +Portsmouth. Now Sir Edward was not less keenly alive to the importance +of keeping such cases hidden from the public eye than were the Lords +Commissioners. Hence he immediately gave orders that the bodies of the +dead men should be taken "without St. Helens" and there committed to the +deep. Instead of going to feed the Navy, the three sailors thus went to +feed the fishes, and another stain on the service was washed out with a +commendable absence of publicity and fuss. + +There still remained the lieutenant and his gang to be dealt with and +brought to what, by another singular perversion of terms, was called +justice. On shore, notwithstanding the lenient view taken of such +accidents, an indictment of manslaughter, if not of murder, would have +assuredly followed the offence; and though in the circumstances it is +doubtful whether any jury would have found the culprits guilty of +the capital crime, yet the alternative verdict, with its consequent +imprisonment and disgrace, held out anything but a rosy prospect to the +young officer who had still his second "swab" to win. That was where the +advantage of accidents at sea came in. On shore the judiciary, however +kindly disposed to the naval service, were painfully disinterested. At +sea the scales of justice were held, none too meticulously, by brother +officers who had the service at heart. Under the judicious direction of +Admiral Osborn, who in the meantime had succeeded Sir Edward Hawke in +the Portsmouth command, Lieut. Sax and his gang were consequently +called upon to face no ordeal more terrible than an "inquiry into their +proceedings and behaviour." Needless to say, they were unanimously +exonerated, the court holding that the discharge of their duty fully +justified them in the discharge of their muskets. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5925--Minutes at a Court-Martial held on board H.M.S. +_Prince George_ at Portsmouth, 14 Nov. 1755. Precedent for the procedure +in this case is found in _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1733-56, No. 27.] When such disagreeable accidents had to +be investigated, the disagreeable business was done--to purloin an apt +phrase of Coke's--"without prying into them with eagles' eyes." + +But it is time to leave the trail of blood and turn to a more agreeable +phase of pressing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GANG AT PLAY. + + + +The reasons assigned for the pressing of men who ought never to have +made the acquaintance of the warrant or the hanger were often as +far-fetched as they are amusing. "You have no right to press a person +of my distinction!" warmly protested an individual of the superior type +when pounced upon by the gang. "Lor love yer! that's the wery reason +we're a-pressin' of your worship," replied the grinning minions of the +service. "We've such a set of black-guards aboard the tender yonder, we +wants a toff like you to learn 'em manners." + +The quixotic idea of inculcating manners by means of the press infected +others besides the gangsman. In a Navy whose officers not only plumed +themselves on representing the _ne plus ultra_ of etiquette, but +demanded that all who approached them should do so without sin either +of omission or commission, the idea was universal. Pride of service and +pride of self entered into its composition in about equal proportions; +hence the sailing-master who neglected to salute the flag, or who +through ignorance, crass stupidity, or malice aforethought flew +prohibited colours, was no more liable to be taught an exemplary lesson +than the bum-boatman who sauced the officer of the watch when detected +in the act of smuggling spirits or women into one of His Majesty's +ships. + +For all such offenders the autocracy of the quarter-deck, from the rigid +commander down to the very young gentleman newly joined, kept a jealous +lookout, and many are the instances of punishment, swift and implacable, +following the offence. Insulted dignity could of course take it out of +the disrespectful fore-mastman with the rattan, the cat or the irons; +but for the ill-mannered outsider, whether pertaining to sea or land, +the recognised corrective was His Majesty's press. A solitary exception +is found in the case of Henry Crabb of Chatham, a boatman who rejoiced +in incurable lameness; rejoiced because, although there were many +cripples on board the Queen's ships in his day, his infirmity was such +as to leave him at liberty to ply for hire "when other men durst not for +feare of being Imprest." He was an impudent, over-reaching knave, and +Capt. Balchen, of the _Adventure_ man-o'-war, whose wife had suffered +much from the fellow's abusive tongue and extortionate propensities, +finding himself unable to press him, brought him to the capstan and +there gave him "eleven lashes with a Catt of Nine Tailes." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1466--Capt. Balchen, 10 March 1703-4.] + +A letter written in the early forties-a letter as breezy as the sea from +which it was penned--gives us a striking picture of the old-time naval +officer as a teacher of deportment. Cruising far down-Channel, Capt. +Brett, of the _Anglesea_ man-o'-war, there fell in with a ship whose +character puzzled him sorely. He consequently gave chase, but the wind +falling light and night coming on, he lost her. Early next morning, as +luck would have it, he picked her up again, and having now a "pretty +breeze," he succeeded in drawing within range of her about two o'clock +in the afternoon, when he fired a shot to bring her to. The strange sail +doubtless feared that she was about to lose her hands, for instead of +obeying the summons she trained her stern-chasers on the _Anglesea_ and +for an hour and a half blazed away at her as fast as she could load. +"They put a large marlinespike into one of their guns," the indignant +captain tells us, "which struck the carriage of the chase gun upon our +forecastle, dented it near two inches, then broke asunder and wounded +one of the men in the leg, and had it come a yard higher, must +infallibly have killed two or three. By all this behaviour I concluded +she must be an English vessel taken by the Spaniards. However, when we +came within a cable's length of him he brought to, so we run close under +his stern in order to shoot a little berth to leeward of him, and at the +same time bid them hoist their boats out. Our people, as is customary +upon such occasions, were then all up upon the gunhill and in the +shrouds, looking at him. Just as we came under his quarter he pointed a +gun that was sticking out a little abaft his main-shrouds right at us, +and put the match to it, but it happened very luckily that the gun +blew. A fellow that was standing on the quarter-deck then took up a +blunderbuss and presented it, which by its not going off must have +missed fire. As it was almost impossible, they being stripp'd and +bareheaded, besides having their faces besmeared with powder, for us +to judge them by their looks, I concluded they must be a Parcell of +Light-headed Frenchmen run mad, and thinking it by no means prudent to +let them kill my men in such a ridiculous manner, I ordered the marines, +who were standing upon the quarter-deck with their musquets shoulder'd, +to fire upon them. As soon as they saw the musquets presented they +fell flat upon the decks and by that means saved themselves from being +kill'd. Some of our people at the same time fired a 9-pounder right into +his quarter, upon which they immediately submitted. I own I never was +more surprised in all my life to find that she was an English vessel, +tho' my surprise was lessened a good deal when I came to see the master +and all his fighting men so drunk as to be scarce capable of giving a +rational answer to any question that was asked them. I was very glad to +find that none of them were hurt; _but I found out the man who presented +the blunderbuss, and upon his behaving saucily when I taxed him with +it, I took him out of the vessel._" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1479--Capt. Brett, 17 April 1743. The captain's use of gender is +philologically instructive. Not till later times, it seems, did ships +lose the character of a "strong man armed" and take on, uniformly, the +attributes of the skittish female.] + + [Illustration: SAILORS CAROUSING. From the mezzotint after J. Ibbetson.] + +So abhorrent a condiment was "sauce" to the naval palate, whether +of officer or impress agent, that its use invariably brought its own +punishment with it. "You are no gentleman!" said Gangsman Dibell to one +Hartnell, a currier who accidentally jostled him whilst he was drinking +in a Poole taproom. "No, nor you neither!" replied Hartnell. The +retort cost him a most disagreeable experience. Dibell and his comrades +collared him and dragged him off to the rendezvous, where he was locked +up in the black-hole till the next day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers at Poole, 13 +Aug. 1804.] + +At Waterford Capt. Price went one better than this, for a man who was +totally unfit for the service having one day shown him some trifling +disrespect, the choleric old martinet promptly set the gang upon him and +had him conveyed on board the tender, "where," says Lieut. Collingwood, +writing a month later, "he has been eating the king's victuals ever +since." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. Collingwood, 18 +March 1781.] Punishment enough, surely! + +One night at Londonderry, as Lieut. Watson was making his way down to +the quay for the purpose of boarding the _Hope_ tender, of which he was +commander, he accidentally ran against a couple of strangers. + +"Hallo! my lads," cried he, "who and what are you?" + +"I am what I am," replied one of them, insolently. + +The lieutenant, who had been dining, fired up at this and demanded to +know if language such as that was proper to be addressed to a king's +officer. + +"As you please," said he of the insolent tongue. "If you like it better, +I'll say I'm a piece of a man." + +"So I see by your want of manners," retorted the lieutenant. "Come along +with me, my brave piece! I know those who will make a whole man of you +before they're done." + +With that he seized the fellow, meaning to take him to his boat, which +lay near by, but the pressed man, watching his chance, tripped him up +and made off. Next day there was a sequel. The lieutenant "was taken +possession of by the Civil Power" on a charge of assault. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Lieut. Watson, 27 Oct. 1804.] + +Another officer who met with base ingratitude from a pressed man whose +manners he attempted to reform was Capt. Bethel of the _Phoenix_. At the +Nore he was once grossly abused by the crew of a Customs-House boat, +and in retaliation took one of their number and carried him to sea. +Peremptory orders reaching him at one of the Scottish ports, however, he +discharged the man and paid his passage south. He was immediately sued +for false imprisonment and cast in heavy damages. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bethel, 29 Aug. 1762.] + +Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, was "had" in similar fashion by the +master of an East-Indiaman whom he pressed at Manilla because of his +insolence, and who afterwards, by a successful suit at law, let him +in for 400 Pounds damages and costs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1494--Capt. Brereton, 18 Oct. 1765.] + +This was turning the tables of etiquette on its professors with a +vengeance. + +Such costly lessons in the art of politeness, however, did not in +the least abash the naval officer or deter him from the continued +inculcation of manners. Young fellows idly roystering on the river could +not be permitted to miscall with impunity the gorgeous admiral +passing in his twelve-oared barge, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 577--Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, 24 June 1710.] nor irate +shipmasters who flouted the impress service of the Crown as a "pitiful" +thing and its officers as "little scandalous creatures," be allowed to +go scot-free. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Robinson, +21 Feb. 1725-6.] At whatever cost, the dignity of the service must be +maintained. + +Nowhere did the use of invective attain such extraordinary perfection as +amongst those who plied their vocations on the country's busy waterways. +Here "sauce" was reduced to a science and vituperation to a fine art. +Thames watermen and Tyne keelmen in particular acquired an astounding +proficiency in the choice and application of abusive epithets, but of +the two the keelman carried off the palm. The wherryman, it is true, +possessed a ripe vocabulary, but the fact that it embraced only a single +dialect seriously handicapped him in his race with the keelman, who +had no less than three to draw upon, all equally prolific. Between +"keelish," "coblish" and "sheelish," the respective dialects of the +north-country keelman, pilot and tradesman, he had at his command a +source of supply unrivalled in vituperative richness, abundance and +variety. With these at his tongue's end none could touch, much less +outdo him in power and scope of abusive description. He became in +consequence of these superior advantages so "insupportably impudent" +that the only known cure for his complaint was to follow the +prescription of Capt. Atkins of the _Panther_, and "take him as fast +as you could ketch him"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. +Atkins, 23 Dec. 1720.] but even this drastic method of curbing his +tongue was robbed of much of its efficacy by the jealous care with which +he was "protected." + +Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours +when you meet with a ship of war--the marine equivalent for raising +one's hat--constituted a gross contempt of the king's service. The +custom was very ancient, King John having instituted it in the second +year of his reign. At that time, and indeed for long after, the salute +was obligatory, its omission entailing heavy penalties; [Footnote: A +copy of the original proclamation may be seen in Lansdowne MSS., clxxi, +f. 218, where it is also summarised in the following terms: _"Anno 2 +regni Johannis regis: Frends not amaining at the j sumons but resisting +the King his lieutenant, the L. Admirall or his lieutenant, to lose the +ship and goods, & theire bodies to be imprisoned."_] but with the advent +of the century of pressing another means of inspiring respect for the +flag, now exacted as a courtesy rather than a right, came into vogue. +The offending vessel paid for its omission in men. + +If you were anything but a king's ship, and flew a flag that only +king's ships were entitled to fly, you were guilty, in the eyes of every +right-seeing naval officer, of another piece of ill manners so gross +as to be deserving of the severest punishment the press was capable of +inflicting upon you. You might fly the "flag and Jack white, with a red +cross (commonly called St. George's cross) passing quite through the +same"; likewise the "ensign red, with the cross in a canton of white +at the upper corner thereof, next to the staff"; but if you presumed to +display His Majesty's Jack, commonly called the Union Jack, or any +other of the various flags of command flown by ships of war or +vessels employed in the naval service, swift retribution overtook +you. Similarly, the inadvertent hoisting of your colours "wrong end +uppermost," or in any other manner deemed inconsistent with the dignity +of the service which permitted you to fly them, laid you open +to reprisals of the most summary nature. Before you realised the +heinousness of your offence, a gang boarded you and your best man or +men were gone beyond recall. The joy of waterside weddings--occasions +prolific in the display of wrong colours--was often turned into sorrow +in this way. + +Inability to do the things you professed to do involved grave risk of +making intimate acquaintance with the gang. If, for example, you were +a skipper and navigated your vessel more like a 'prentice than a master +hand, some one belonging to you was bound, in waters swarming with ships +of war, to pay the piper sooner or later. "A few days ago," writes Capt. +Archer of the _Isis_, "a ship called the _Jane_, Stewart master, ran +on board of us in a most lubberly manner--for which, as is customary +on such occasions, I took four of his people." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1448--Capt. Archer, 17 May 1795.] + +Ability to handle a musical instrument sometimes proved as fatal to +one's liberty as inability to handle a ship. Queen Anne was directly +responsible for this. Almost immediately after her accession she signed +a warrant authorising the pressing of "drummers, fife and haut boys for +sea and land." [Footnote: _Home Office Military Entry Books_, clxviii, +f. 406.] Though the authorisation was only temporary, the practice +thus set up continued long after its origin had been relegated to the +scrap-heap of memory, and not only continued, but was interpreted in a +sense much broader than its royal originator ever intended it should +be. This tendency to take an ell in lieu of the stipulated inch was +illustrated as early as 1705, when Lieut. Thomson, belonging to the +_Lickfield_, chancing to meet one Richard Bullard, fiddler, "persuaded +him to go as far as Woolwich with him, to play a tune or two to him +and some friends who had a mind to dance, saying he would pay him for +it"--which he did, when tired of dancing, by handing him over to the +press-gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Byron, 13 July +1705.] + +In 1781, again, a "stout lad of 17" was pressed at Waterford because, +as a piper, he was considered likely to be "useful in amusing the +new-raised men"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. +Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] and as late as 1807 a gang at Portsmouth, +acting under orders from Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, took one Madden, +a blind man, because of his "qualification of playing on the Irish +bagpipes." His affliction saved him. He was discharged, and the amount +of his pay and victualling was deducted from Sir Robert's wages as +a caution to him to be more careful in future. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, 1 Dec. 1808.] + +Perhaps the oddest reasons ever adduced in justification of specific +acts of pressing were those put forward in the cases of James Baily, a +Gosport ferry-man who was pressed on account of his "great inactivity," +and of John Conyear, exempt passenger on the packet-boat plying between +Dartmouth and Poole, subjected to the same process because, as the +officer responsible ingenuously put it when called to book for the act, +if Conyear had not been on board, "another would, who might have been a +proper person to serve His Majesty." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1451--Capt. Argles, 4 May 1807; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. +Scott, 13 March 1780.] + +An ironical interest attaches to the pressing of John Hagin, a youth +of nineteen who cherished an ambition to go a-whaling. Tramping the +riverside at Hull one day in search of a ship, he accidentally met one +of the lieutenants employed in the local impress service, and mistaking +him for the master of a Greenland ship, stepped up to him and asked him +for a berth. "Berth?" said the obliging officer. "Come this way;" and +he conducted the unsuspecting youth to the rendezvous. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Ackton, 23 March 1814.] + +Before you took a voyage for the benefit of your health in those days it +was always advisable to satisfy yourself as to the nature of the cargo +the vessel carried or intended to carry, otherwise you were liable to +be let in for a longer voyage than health demanded. Richard Gooding of +Bawdsey, in the county of Suffolk, a twenty-one-year-old yeoman who knew +nothing of the iniquities practised in ships, in an evil hour acted on +the advice of his apothecary and ran across to Holland for the sake of +his health, which the infirmities of youth appear to have undermined. +All went well until, on the return trip, just before Bawdsey Ferry hove +in sight, down swooped a revenue cutter's boat with an urgent request +that the master should open up his hatches and disclose what his hold +contained. He demurred, alleging that it held nothing of interest +to revenue men; but on their going below to see for themselves they +discovered an appreciable quantity of gin. Thereupon the master wickedly +declared Gooding to be the culprit, and he was pressed on suspicion of +attempting to run a cargo of spirits. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1530--Capt. Broughton, 20 April 1803, and enclosure.] + +Into the operations of the gang this element of suspicion entered very +largely, especially in the pressing of supposed sailors. To carry about +on your person any of the well-known marks of the seafaring man was to +invite certain disaster. When pressed, like so many others, because +he was "in appearance very much like a sailor," John Teede protested +vehemently that he had never been to sea in his life, and that all who +said he had were unmitigated liars. "Strip him," said the officer, who +had a short way with such cases. In a twinkling Teede's shirt was over +his head and the sailor stood revealed. Devices emblematic of love and +the sea covered both arms from shoulder to wrist. "You and I will lovers +die, eh?" said the officer, with a twinkle, as he spelt out one of +the amatory inscriptions. "Just so, John! I'll see to that. Next man!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1522--Description of a Person calling +himself John Teede, 28 Dec. 1799.] + +Bow-legged men ran the gravest of risks in this respect, and the goose +of many a tailor was effectually cooked because of the damning fact, +which no protestations of innocence of the sea could mitigate, that long +confinement to the board had warped his legs into a fatal resemblance to +those of a typical Jack-tar. Harwich once had a mayor who, after vowing +that he would "never be guilty of saying there was no law for pressing +sailors," as a convincing proof that he knew what was what, and was +willing to provide it to the best of his ability, straightway sent out +and pressed--a tailor! [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. +Allen, 26 March 1706.] + +The itinerant Jewish peddler who hawked his wares about the country +suffered grievously on this account. However indisputably Hebraic his +name, his accent and his nose might be, those evidences of nationality +were Anglicised, so to speak, by the fact that his legs were the legs of +a sailor, and the bandy appendages so characteristic of his race sooner +or later brought the gang down upon him in full cry and landed him in +the fleet. + +In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of +acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger--a great, bearded +man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, resorted daily +to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water mark," now writing +with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating wildly to the sea +and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, then all unused to +"visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his antics in wonder and +consternation. The principal inhabitants of the place, alarmed by his +vagaries, constituted themselves a committee of safety, and with the +parson at their head went down to interview him; and when, in response +to their none too polite inquiries, he flatly refused to give any +account of himself, they by common consent voted him a spy and a public +menace, telling each other that he was undoubtedly engaged in drawing +plans of the coast in order to facilitate' the landing of some enemy; +for did not the legend run:-- + + "He who would Old England win, + Must at Weybourn Hope begin?" + +and was not the "Hoop," as it was called locally, only a few miles to +the northward? No time was to be lost. Post-haste they dispatched a +messenger to Lieut. Brace at Yarmouth, begging him, if he would save his +country from imminent danger, to lose not a moment in sending his gang +to seize the suspect and nip his fell design in the bud. With this +alarming request Brace promptly complied, and the stranger was dragged +away to Yarmouth. Arraigned before the mayor, he with difficulty +succeeded in convincing that functionary that he was nothing more +dangerous than a stray agriculturist whom the Empress Catherine had +sent over from Russia to study the English method of growing-turnips! +[Footnote: _State Papers_, Russia, cv.--Lieut. Brace, 18 Aug. 1780.] + +The unhandsome treatment meted out to the inoffensive Russian is of a +piece with the whole aspect of pressing by instigation, of which it is +at once a specimen and a phase. The incentive here was suspicion; but in +the fertile field of instigation motives flourished in forms as varied +as the weaknesses of human nature. + +Thomas Onions, respectable burgess of Bridgnorth, engaged in working +a trow from that place to Bristol, fell under suspicion owing to the +mysterious disappearance of a portion of the cargo, which consisted of +china. The rest of the crew being metaphorically as well as literally in +the same boat, the consignee's agent, on the trow's arrival at Bristol, +hinted at a more than alliterative connection between china and chests, +which he was proceeding to search when Onions objected, very rightly +urging that he had no warrant. "Is it a warrant you're wanting?" +demanded the baffled agent. "Very well, we'll see if we cannot find +one." With that he stepped ashore and hurried to the rendezvous, where +he knew the officers, and within the hour the gang added Onions to the +impress stock-pot. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Memorial of +the Inhabitants and Burgesses of Bridgnorth, 12 March 1808.] + +Much the same motive led to the pressing of Charles M'Donald, a +north-country youth of education and property. His mother wished him to +enter the army, but his guardians, piqued by her insistence, "had him +kidnapped on board the impress tender at Shields, under pretence of +sending him on a visit." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. +Bland, 29 Nov. 1806, and enclosure.] + +An "independent fortune of fourteen hundred pounds," bequeathed to him +by his "Aunt Elizabeth," was instrumental in launching John Stillwell of +Clerkenwell upon a similar career. His step-mother and uncle desired +to retain possession of the money, of which they were trustees; so they +suborned the gang and the young man disappeared. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1539--Capt. Burton, 25 April 1806, and enclosure.] + +A more legitimate pastime of the gang was the pressing of incorrigible +sons. George Clark of Birmingham and William Barnicle of Margate, the +one a notorious thief, the other the despair of his family because of +his drunken habits, were two out of many shipped abroad by this cheap +but effectual means, the instigator of the gang being in each case +the lad's own father. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Jeremiah +Clark, 30 July 1806; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1547--Lieut. Dawe, 4 Sept. +1809.] The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in this +way amazingly simplified. + +In thus utilising the gang as a means of retaliating upon those who +incurred their displeasure, both naval officers and private individuals, +had they been arraigned for the offence, could have pleaded in +justification of their conduct the example of no less exalted a body +than the Admiralty itself. The case of the bachelor seamen of Dover, +pressed because of an official animus against that town, was as +notorious as their Lordships' futile attempt to teach the Brighton +fishermen respect for their betters, or their later orders to Capt. +Culverhouse, of the Liverpool rendezvous, instructing him "to take all +opportunities of impressing seafaring men belonging to the Isle of +Man," as a punishment for the "extreme ill-conduct of the people of that +Island to His Majesty's Officers on the Impress Service." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 3. 148--Admiralty Minutes, 11 Oct. 1803.] The +Admiralty method of paying out anyone against whom you cherished a +grudge possessed advantages which strongly commended it to the splenetic +and the vindictive. For suppose you lay in wait for your enemy and +beat or otherwise maltreated him: the chances were that he would either +punish you himself or invoke the law to do it for him; while if you +removed him by means of the garrot, the knife or the poisoned glass, no +matter how discreetly the deed was done the hangman was pretty sure to +get you sooner or later. But the gang--it was as safe as an epidemic! +The fact was not lost upon the community. People in almost every station +of life appreciated it at its true worth, and, encouraged by the example +of the Admiralty, availed themselves of the gang as the handiest, +speediest and safest of mediums for wiping out old scores. + +On shipboard, where life was more cramped and men consequently came +into sharper contact than on shore, resentments were struck from daily +intercourse like sparks from steel. Like sparks some died, impotent to +harm their object; but others, cherished in bitterness of spirit through +many a lonely watch, flashed into malicious action with that hoped-for +opportunity, the coming of the gang. John Gray, carpenter of a merchant +ship, in a moment of anger threatened to cut the skipper down with an +axe. This happened under a West-Indian sun. Months afterwards, as the +ship swung lazily into Bristol river and the gang came aboard, the +skipper found his opportunity. Beckoning to the impress officer, he +pointed to John Gray and said: "Take that man!" [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 22 June 1808, and enclosure.] Gray never +again lifted an axe on board a merchant vessel. + +Certain amenities which once passed between the master and the mate of +the _Lady Shore_ serve to throw an even broader light upon the origin +of quarrels at sea and the methods of settling them then in vogue. The +_Lady Shore_ was on the passage home from Quebec when the master one day +gave certain sailing directions which the mate, who was a sober, careful +seaman, thought fit to disregard on the ground that the safety of the +ship would be endangered if he followed them. The master, an irascible, +drunken brute, at this flew into a passion and sought to ingraft his +ideas of seamanship upon the mate through the medium of a handspike, +with which he caught him a savage blow "just above the eye, cutting him +about three inches in length." It was in mid-ocean that this lesson in +navigation was administered. By the time Scilly shoved its nose above +the horizon the skipper's "down" on the mate had reached an acute stage. +His resentment of the latter's being the better seaman had now deepened +into hatred, and to this, as the voyage neared its end, was added +growing fear of prosecution. At this juncture a man-o'-war hove in +sight and signalled an inspection of hands. "Get your chest on deck, Mr. +Mate," cried the exultant skipper. "You are too much master here. It is +time for us to part." Taken out of the ship as a pressed man, the mate +was ultimately discharged by order of the Admiralty; but the skipper +had his revenge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Matthew Gill to +Admiral Moorsom, 15 Jan. 1813.] + +A riot that occurred at King's Lynn in the year '55 affords a striking +instance of the retaliatory use of the gang on shore. In the course of +the disturbance mud and stones were thrown at the magistrates, who +had come out to do what they could to quell it. Angered by so gross +an indignity, they supplied the gang with information that led to the +pressing of some sixty persons concerned in the tumult, but as these +consisted mainly of "vagrants, gipsies, parish charges, maimed, halt and +idiots," the magisterial resentment caused greater rejoicings at +Lynn than it did at Spithead, where the sweepings of the borough were +eventually deposited. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir +Edward Hawke, 8 June 1755.] + +There is a decided smack of the modern about the use the gang was put to +by the journeymen coopers of Bristol. Considering themselves underpaid, +they threatened to go on strike unless the masters raised their wages. +In this they were not entirely unanimous, however. One of their number +stood out, refusing to join the combine; whereupon the rest summoned +the gang and had the "blackleg" pressed for his contumacy. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 20 Aug. 1808, and enclosure.] + +In pressing William Taylor of Broadstairs the gang nipped in the bud +as tender a romance as ever flourished in the shelter of the Kentish +cliffs, which is saying not a little. Taylor was only a poor fisherman, +and when he dared to make love to the pretty daughter of the Ramsgate +Harbour-Master, that exalted individual, who entertained for the girl +social ambitions in which fishermen's shacks had no place, resented +his advances as insufferable impertinence. A word to Lieut. Leary, his +friend at the local rendezvous, did the rest. Taylor disappeared, and +though he was afterwards discharged from His Majesty's ship Utrecht on +the score of his holding a Sea-Fencible's ticket, the remedy had worked +its cure and the Harbour-Master was thenceforth free to marry his +daughter where he would. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. +Austen, 23 Sept. 1803.] + +So natural is the transition from love to hate that no apology is needed +for introducing here the story of Sam Burrows, the ex-beadle of Chester +who fell a victim to the harsher in much the same manner as Taylor did +to the gentler passion. Burrows' evil genius was one Rev. Lucius Carey, +an Irish clergyman--whether Anglican or Roman we know not, nor does it +matter--who had contracted the unclerical habit of carrying pistols and +too much liquor. In this condition he was found late one night knocking +in a very violent manner at the door of the "Pied Bull," and swearing +that, while none should keep him out, any who refused to assist him +in breaking in should be shot down forthwith. Burrows, the ex-beadle, +happened to be passing at the moment. He seized the drunken cleric and +with the assistance of James Howell, one of the city watchmen, forcibly +removed him to the watch-house, whence he was next day taken before the +mayor and bound over to appear at the Sessions. Now it happened that +certain members of the local press-gang were Carey's boon companions, so +no sooner did he leave the presence of the mayor than he looked them up. +That same evening Burrows was missing. Carey had found him a "hard bed," +otherwise a berth on board a man-o'-war. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1532--Capt Birchall, 17 July 1804, and enclosures.] + +In the columns of the _Westminster Journal_, under date of both May +1743, we read of a sailor who, dying at Ringsend, was brought to +Irishtown church-yard, near Dublin, for burial. "When they laid him on +the ground," the narrative continues, "the coffin was observed to stir, +on which he was taken up, and by giving him some nourishment he came +to himself, and is likely to do well." Whether this sailor was ever +pressed, either before or after his abortive decease, we are not +informed; but there is on record at least one well-authenticated +instance of that calamity overtaking a person who had passed the bourne +whence none is supposed to return. + +In the year 1723 a young lad whose name has not been preserved, but who +was at the time apprentice to a master sailmaker in London, set out from +that city to visit his people, living at Sandwich. He appears to have +travelled afoot, for, getting a "lift" on the road, he was carried into +Deal, where he arrived late at night, and having no money was glad to +share a bed with a seafaring man, the boatswain of an Indiaman then in +the Downs. From this circumstance sprang the events which here follow. +Along in the small hours of the night the lad awoke, and finding the +room stuffy and day on the point of breaking, he rose and dressed, +purposing to see the town in the cool of the morning. The catch of +the door, however, refused to yield under his hand, and while he was +endeavouring to undo it the noise he made awakened the boatswain, who +told him that if he looked in his breeches pocket he would find a knife +there with which he could lift the latch. Acting on this hint, the +lad succeeded in opening the door, and thereupon went downstairs in +accordance with his original intention. When he returned some half-hour +later, as he did for the purpose of restoring the knife, which he +had thoughtlessly slipped into his pocket, the bed was empty and the +boatswain gone. Of this he thought nothing. The boatswain had talked, he +remembered, of going off to his ship at an early hour, in order, as he +had said, to call the hands for the washing down of the decks. The +lad accordingly left the house and went his way to Sandwich, where, as +already stated, his people lived. + +Meantime the old inn at Deal, and indeed the whole town, was thrown into +a state of violent commotion by a most shocking discovery. Going about +their morning duties at the inn, the maids had come to the bed in which +the boatswain and the apprentice had slept, and to their horror found +it saturated with blood. Drops of blood, together with marks of +blood-stained hands and feet, were further discovered on the floor and +the door of the chamber, down the stairs, and along the passage leading +to the street, whence they could be distinctly traced to the waterside, +not so very far away. Imagination, working upon these ghastly survivals +of the hours of darkness, quickly reconstructed the crime which it was +evident had been committed. The boatswain was known to have had money +on him; but the youth, it was recalled, had begged his bed. It was +therefore plain to the meanest understanding that the youth had murdered +the boatswain for his money and thrown the body into the sea. + +At once that terrible precursor of judgment to come, the hue and cry was +raised, and that night the footsore apprentice lay in Sandwich jail, a +more than suspected felon, for his speedy capture had supplied what +was taken to be conclusive evidence of his guilt. In his pocket they +discovered the boatswain's knife, and both it and the lad's clothing +were stained with blood. Asked whose blood it was, and how it came +there, he made no answer. Asked was it the boatswain's knife, he +answered, "Yes, it was," and therewith held his peace. In face of such +evidence, and such an admission, he stood prejudged. His trial at the +Assizes was a mere formality. The jury quickly found him guilty, and +sentence of death was passed upon him. + +The day of execution came. Up to this point Fate had set her face +steadfastly against our apprentice lad; but now, in the very hour +and article of death, she suddenly relented and smiled upon him. The +dislocating "drop" was in those days unknown. When you were hanged, +you were hanged from a cart, which was suddenly whisked from under you, +leaving you dangling in mid-air like a kind of death-fruit nearly, but +not quite, ready to fall. Much depended on the executioner, and that +grim functionary was in this case a raw hand, unused to his work, who +bungled the job. The knot was ill-adjusted, the rope too long, the +convict tall and lank. This last circumstance was no fault of the +executioner's, but it helped. When they turned him off, the lad's feet +swept the ground, and his friends, gathering round him like guardian +angels, bore him up. Cut down at the end of a tense half-hour, he was +hurried away to a surgeon's and there copiously bled. And being young +and virile, he revived. + +Trudging to Portsmouth some little time after, with the intention of for +ever leaving a country to which he was legally dead, he fell in with one +of the numerous press-gangs frequenting that road, and was sent on board +a man-o'-war. There, in course of time, he rose to be master's mate, and +in that capacity, whilst on the West-India station, was transferred to +another ship. On this ship he met the surprise of his life--if life can +be said to hold further surprises for one who has died and lived again. +As he stepped on deck the first person he met was his old bed-fellow, +the boatswain. + +The explanation of the amazing series of events which led up to this +amazing meeting is very simple. On the evening of that fateful night at +Deal the boatswain, who had been ailing, was let blood. In his sleep the +bandage slipped and the wound reopened. Discovering his condition when +awakened by the apprentice, he rose and left the house, intending to +have the wound re-dressed by the barber-surgeon who had inflicted it, +with more effect than discretion, some hours earlier. At the very door +of the inn, however, he ran into the arms of a press-gang, by whom +he was instantly seized and hurried on board ship. [Footnote: Watts, +_Remarkable Events in the History of Man_, 1825.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + + + +The medieval writer who declared women to be "capable of disturbing the +air and exciting tempests" was not indulging a mere quip at the expense +of that limited storm area, his own domestic circle. He expressed +what in his day, and indeed for long after, was a cardinal article of +belief--that if you were so ill-advised as to take a woman to sea, she +would surely upset the weather and play the mischief with the ship. + +To this ungallant superstition none subscribed more heartily than the +sailor, though always, be it understood, with a mental reservation. +Unlike many landsmen who held a similar belief, he limited the malign +influence of the sex strictly to the high-seas, where, for that reason, +he vastly preferred woman's room to her company; but once he was safe +in port, woman in his opinion ceased to be dangerous, and he then vastly +preferred her company to her room. + +For her companionship he had neither far to seek nor long to wait. It +was a case of + + "Deal, Dover and Harwich, + The devil gave his daughter in marriage." + +All naval seaports were full of women, and to prevent the supply from +running short thoughtful parish officials--church-wardens and other +well-meaning but sadly misguided people--added constantly to the number +by consigning to such doubtful reformatories the undesirable females of +their respective petty jurisdictions. The practice of admitting women +on board the ships of the fleet, too--a practice as old as the Navy +itself--though always forbidden, was universally connived at and tacitly +sanctioned. Before the anchor of the returning man-of-war was let go a +flotilla of boats surrounded her, deeply laden with pitiful creatures +ready to sell themselves for a song and the chance of robbing their +sailor lovers. No sooner did the boats lay alongside than the last +vestige of Jack's superstitious dread of the malevolent sex went by the +board, and discipline with it. Like monkeys the sailors swarmed into +the boats, where each selected a mate, redeemed her from the grasping +boatman's hands with money or blows according to the state of his +finances or temper, and so brought his prize, save the mark! in triumph +to the gangway. It was a point of honour, not to say of policy, with +these poor creatures to supply their respective "husbands," as they +termed them, with a drop of good-cheer; so at the gangway they were +searched for concealed liquor. This was the only formality observed on +such occasions, and as it was enforced in the most perfunctory manner +imaginable, there was always plenty of drink going. Decency there was +none. The couples passed below and the hell of the besotted broke loose +between decks, where the orgies indulged in would have beggared the pen +of a Balzac. [Footnote: Statement of Certain Immoral Practices, 1822.] + +During the earlier decades of the century these conditions, monstrous +though they were, passed almost unchallenged, but as time wore on and +their pernicious effects upon the _morale_ of the fleet became more and +more appalling, the service produced men who contended strenuously, and +in the end successfully, with a custom that, to say the least of it, did +violence to every notion of decency and clean living. In 1746 the ship's +company of the _Sunderland_ complained bitterly because not even their +wives were "suffer'd to come aboard to see them." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Brett, 22 Feb. 1745-6.] It was a sign of the +times. By the year '78 the practice had been fined down to a point +where, if a wherry with a woman in it were seen hovering in a suspicious +manner about a ship of war, the boatman was immediately pressed and the +woman turned on shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. +Boteler, 18 April 1778.] Another twenty years, and the example of such +men as Jervis, Nelson and Collingwood laid the evil for good and all. +The seamen of the fleet themselves pronounced its requiescat when, +drawing up certain "Rules and Orders" for their own guidance during the +mutiny of '97, they ordained that "no woman shall be permitted to go +on shore from any ship, but as many come in as pleases." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--A Detail of the Proceedings on Board the +_Queen Charlotte_ in the Year 1797.] + +An unforeseen consequence of thus suppressing the sailor's impromptu +liaisons was an alarming increase in the number of desertions. On shore +love laughs at locksmiths; on shipboard it derided the boatswain's mate. +To run and get caught meant at the worst "only a whipping bout," and, +the sailor's hide being as tough as his heart was tender, he ran and +took the consequences with all a sailor's stoicism. In this respect he +was perhaps not singular. The woman in the case so often counts for more +than the punishment she brings. + +Few of those who deserted their ships for amatory reasons had the +luck--viewing the escapade from the sailor's standpoint--that attended +the schoolmaster of the _Princess Louisa_. Going ashore at Plymouth to +fetch his chest from the London wagon, he succumbed to the blandishments +of an itinerant fiddler's wife, whom he chanced to meet in the husband's +temporary absence, and was in consequence "no more heard of." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Boys, 5 April 1742.] + +Had it always been a case of the travelling woman, the sailor's flight +in response to the voice of the charmer would seldom have landed him in +the cells or exposed his back to the caress of the ship's cat. Where he +was handicapped in his love flights was this. The haunt or home of his +seducer was generally known to one or other of his officers, and when +this was not the case there were often other women who gladly gave +him away. "Captain Barrington, Sir," writes "Nancy of Deptford" to the +commander of a man-o'-war in the Thames, "there is a Desarter of yours +at the upper water Gate. Lives at the sine of the mantion house. He is +an Irishman, gose by the name of Youe (Hugh) MackMullins, and is trying +to Ruing a Wido and three Children, for he has Insenuated into the Old +Woman's faver so far that she must Sartingly come to poverty, and you +by Sarching the Cook's will find what I have related to be true and much +oblidge the hole parrish of St. Pickles Deptford." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1495--Capt. Barrington, 22 Oct. 1771, enclosure.] + +A favourite resort of the amatory tar was that extra-parochial spot +known as the Liberty of the Fleet, where the nuptial knot could be tied +without the irksome formalities of banns or licence. The fact strongly +commended it to the sailor and brought him to the precinct in great +numbers. + +"I remember once on a time," says Keith, the notorious Fleet parson, "I +was at a public-house at Ratcliffe, which was then full of Sailors and +their Girls. There was fiddling, piping, jigging and eating. At length +one of the Tars starts up and says: 'Damn ye, Jack! I'll be married just +now; I will have my partner.' The joke took, and in less than two hours +Ten Couples set out for the Flete. They returned in Coaches, five Women +in each Coach; the Tars, some running before, some riding on the Coach +Box, and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, the Couples went up +into an upper Room, where they concluded the evening with great Jollity. +The landlord said it was a common thing, when a Fleet comes in, to have +2 or 3 Hundred Marriages in a week's time among the Sailors." [Footnote: +Keith, Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages, +1753.] + +In the "Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life," a play produced at Covent +Garden Theatre in 1755, Trueblue is pressed, not in, but out of the +arms of his tearful Nancy. The situation is distressingly typical. The +sailor's happiness was the gangsman's opportunity, however Nancy might +suffer in consequence. + +For the average gangsman was as void of sentiment as an Admiralty +warrant, pressing you with equal avidity and absence of feeling whether +he caught you returning from a festival or a funeral. To this callosity +of nature it was due that William Castle, a foreign denizen of Bristol +who had the hardihood to incur the marital tie there, was called +upon, as related elsewhere, to serve at sea in the very heyday of his +honeymoon. Similarly, if four seamen belonging to the _Dundee_ Greenland +whaler had not stolen ashore one night at Shields "to see some women," +they would probably have gone down to their graves, seawards or +landwards, under the pleasing illusion that the ganger was a man of like +indulgent passions with themselves. The negation of love, as exemplified +in that unsentimental individual, was thus brought home to many a +seafaring man, long debarred from the society of the gentler sex, +with startling abruptness and force. The pitiful case of the "Maidens +Pressed," whose names are enrolled in the pages of Camden Hotten, +[Footnote: Hotten, List of Persons of Quality, etc., who Went from +England to the American Plantations.] is in no way connected with +pressing for naval purposes. Those unfortunates were not victims of the +gangsman's notorious hardness of heart, but of their own misdeeds. Like +the female disciples of the "diving hand" stated by Lutterell [Footnote: +Lutterell, Historical Relation of State Affairs, 12 March 1706.] to have +been "sent away to follow the army," they were one and all criminals of +the Moll Flanders type who "left their country for their country's good" +under compulsion that differed widely, both in form and purpose, from +that described in these pages. + +To assert, however, that women were never pressed, in the enigmatic +sense of their being taken by the gang for the manning of the fleet, +would be to do violence to the truth as we find it in naval and other +records. As a matter of fact, the direct contrary was the case, and +there were in the kingdom few gangs of which, at one time or another +in their career, it could not be said, as Southey said of the gang at +Bristol, that "they pressed a woman." + +The incident alluded to will be familiar to all who know the poet as +distinguished from the Bard of Avon. It is found in the second "English +Eclogue," under the caption of the "Grandmother's Tale," and has to do +with the escapade, long famous in the more humorous annals of Southey's +native city, of blear-eyed Moll, a collier's wife, a great, ugly +creature whose voice was as gruff as a mastiff's bark, and who wore +habitually a man's hat and coat, so that at a few yards' distance you +were at a loss to know whether she was man or woman. + + "There was a merry story told of her, + How when the press-gang came to take her husband + As they were both in bed, she heard them coming, + Drest John up in her nightcap, and herself + Put on his clothes and went before the captain." + +A case of pressing on all-fours with this is said to have once occurred +at Portsmouth. A number of sailors, alarmed by the rumoured approach of +a gang while they were a-fairing, took it into their heads, so the story +goes, to effect a partial exchange of clothing with their sweethearts, +in the hope that the hasty shifting of garments would deceive the gang +and so protect them from the press. It did. In their parti-garb make-up +the women looked more sailorly than the sailors themselves. The gang +consequently pressed them, and there were hilarious scenes at the +rendezvous when the fair recruits were "regulated" and the ludicrous +mistake brought to light. + +It was not only on shore, however, or on special occasions such as +this, that women played the sailor. A naval commander, accounting to +the Admiralty for his shortness of complement, attributes it mainly to +sickness, partly to desertion, and incidentally to the discharge of one +of the ship's company, "who was discovered to be a woman." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Burney, 15 Feb. 1782.] + +His experience is capped by that of the master of the _Edmund and Mary_, +a vessel engaged in carrying coals to Ipswich. Shrewdly suspecting +one of his apprentices, a clever, active lad, to be other than what he +seemed, he taxed him with the deception. Taken unawares, the lad burst +into womanly tears and confessed himself to be the runaway daughter of +a north-country widow. Disgrace had driven her to sea. [Footnote: _Naval +Chronicle_, vol. xxx. 1813, p. 184.] + +These instances are far from being unique, for both in the navy and the +mercantile marine the masquerading of women in male attire was a not +uncommon occurrence. The incentives to the adoption of a mode of life +so foreign to all the gentler traditions of the sex were various, though +not inadequate to so surprising a change. Amongst them unhappiness +at home, blighted virtue, the secret love of a sailor and an abnormal +craving for adventure and the romantic life were perhaps the most +common and the most powerful. The question of clothing presented little +difficulty. Sailors' slops could be procured almost anywhere, and no +questions asked. The effectual concealment of sex was not so easy, and +when we consider the necessarily intimate relations subsisting between +the members of a ship's crew, the narrowness of their environment, the +danger of unconscious betrayal and the risks of accidental discovery, +the wonder is that any woman, however masculine in appearance or skilled +in the arts of deception, could ever have played so unnatural a part for +any length of time without detection. The secret of her success perhaps +lay mainly in two assisting circumstances. In theory there were no women +at sea, and despite his occasional vices the sailor was of all men the +most unsophisticated and simple-minded. + +Conspicuous among women who threw the dust of successful deception in +the eyes of masters and shipmates is Mary Anne Talbot. Taking to the sea +as a girl in order to "follow the fortunes" of a young naval officer for +whom she had conceived a violent but unrequited affection, she was known +afloat as John Taylor. In stature tall, angular and singularly lacking +in the physical graces so characteristic of the average woman, +she passed for years as a true shellback, her sex unsuspected and +unquestioned. Accident at length revealed her secret. Wounded in an +engagement, she was admitted to hospital in consequence of a shattered +knee, and under the operating knife the identity of John Taylor merged +into that of Mary Anne Talbot. [Footnote: Times, 4 Nov. 1799.] + +It is said, perhaps none too kindly or truthfully, that the lady doctor +of the present day no sooner sets up in practice than she incontinently +marries the medical man around the corner, and in many instances the +sailor-girl of former days brought her career on the ocean wave to an +equally romantic conclusion. However skilled in the art of navigation +she might become, she experienced a constitutional difficulty in +steering clear of matrimony. Maybe she steered for it. + +A romance of this description that occasioned no little stir in its day +is associated with a name at one time famous in the West-India trade. +Through bankruptcy the name suffered eclipse, and the unfortunate +possessor of it retired to a remote neighbourhood, taking with him his +two daughters, his sole remaining family. There he presently sank under +his misfortunes. Left alone in the world, with scarce a penny-piece to +call their own, the daughters resolved on a daring departure from the +conventional paths of poverty. + +Making their way to Portsmouth, they there dressed themselves as sailors +and in that capacity entered on board a man-o'-war bound for the West +Indies. At the first reduction of Curacoa, in 1798, as in subsequent +naval engagements, both acquitted themselves like men. No suspicion of +the part they were playing, and playing with such success, appears to +have been aroused till a year or two later, when one of them, in a brush +with the enemy, was wounded in the side. The surgeon's report terminated +her career as a seaman. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT.] + + + Meanwhile the other sister contracted tropical fever, and whilst +lying ill was visited by one of the junior officers of the ship. +Believing herself to be dying, she told him her secret, doubtless with +a view to averting its discovery after death. He confessed that the news +was no surprise to him. In fact, not only had he suspected her sex, he +had so far persuaded himself of the truth of his suspicions as to fall +in love with one of his own crew. The tonic effect of such avowals is +well known. The fever-stricken patient recovered, and on the return of +the ship to home waters the officer in question made his late foremast +hand his wife. [Footnote: Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. 1802, p. 60.] + +Of all the veracious yarns that are told of girl-sailors, there is +perhaps none more remarkable than the story of Rebecca Anne Johnson, the +girl-sailor of Whitby. One night a hundred and some odd years ago a Mrs. +Lesley, who kept the "Bull" inn in Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate Street, +found at her door a handsome sailor-lad begging for food. He had eaten +nothing for four and twenty hours, he declared, and when plied with +supper and questions by the kind-hearted but inquisitive old lady, he +explained that he was an apprentice to the sea, and had run from +his ship at Woolwich because of the mate's unduly basting him with a +rope's-end. "What! you a 'prentice?" cried the landlady; and turning his +face to the light, she subjected him to a scrutiny that read him through +and through. + +Next day, at his own request, he was taken before the Lord Mayor, to +whom he told his story. That he was a girl he freely admitted, and he +accounted for his appearing in sailor rig by asserting that a brutal +father had apprenticed him to the sea in his thirteenth year. More +astounding still, the same unnatural parent had actually bound her, the +sailor-girl's, mother, apprentice to the sea, and in that capacity +she was not only pressed into the navy, but killed at the battle of +Copenhagen, up to which time, though she had followed the sea for many +years and borne this child in the meantime, her sex had never once been +called in question. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xx. 1808, p. +293.] + +While woman was thus invading man's province at sea, that universal +feeder of the Navy, the pressgang, made little or no appeal to her as +a sphere of activity. On Portland Island, it is true, Lieut. McKey, who +commanded both the Sea-Fencibles and the press-gang there, rated his +daughter as a midshipman; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 April 1805] but with this exception +no woman is known to have added the hanger to her adornment. The three +merry maids of Taunton, who as gangsmen put the Denny Bowl quarrymen to +rout, were of course impostors. + +But if the ganger's life was not for woman, there was ample compensation +for its loss in the wider activities the gang opened up for her. The +gangsman was nothing if not practical. He took the poetic dictum that +"men must work and women must weep"--a conception in his opinion too +sentimentally onesided to be tolerated as one of the eternal verities of +human existence--and improved upon it. By virtue of the rough-and-ready +authority vested in him he abolished the distinction between toil and +tears, decreeing instead that women should suffer both. + +"M'Gugan's wife?" growled Capt. Brenton, gang-master at Greenock, when +the corporation of that town ventured to point out to him that +M'Gugan's wife and children must inevitably come to want unless +their bread-winner, recently pressed, were forthwith restored to +them,--"_M'Gugan's wife is as able to get her bread as any woman in the +town!_" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Brenton, 15 Jan. +1795.] + +For two hundred and fifty years, off and on--ever since, in fact, the +press-masters of bluff King Hal denuded the Dorset coast of fishermen +and drove the starving women of that region to sea in quest of food +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII_.: Lord Russell to the +Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545.]--the press-gang had been laboriously +teaching English housewives this very lesson, the simple economic truth +that if they wanted bread for themselves and their families while their +husbands were fagging for their country at sea, they must turn to and +work for it. Yet in face of this fact here was M'Gugan's wife trying to +shirk the common lot. It was monstrous! + +M'Gugan's wife ought really to have known better. The simplest +calculation, had she cared to make it, would have shown her the utter +futility of hoping to live on the munificent wage which a grateful +country allowed to M'Gugan, less certain deductions for M'Gugan's slops +and contingent sick-benefit, in return for his aid in protecting it from +its enemies; and almost any parish official could have told her, what +she ought in reason to have known already, that she was no longer merely +M'Gugan's wife, dependent upon his exertions for the bread she ate, but +a Daughter of the State and own sister to thousands of women to whom the +gang in its passage brought toil and poverty, tears and shame--not, mark +you, the shame of labour, if there be such a thing, but the bedraggled, +gin-sodden shame of the street, or, in the scarce less dreadful +alternative, the shame of the goodwife of the ballad who lamented her +husband's absence because, worse luck, sundry of her bairns "were gotten +quhan he was awa'." + +Lamentable as this state of things undoubtedly was, it was nevertheless +one of the inevitables of pressing. You could not take forcibly one +hundred husbands and fathers out of a community of five hundred souls, +and pay that hundred husbands and fathers the barest pittance instead of +a living wage, without condemning one hundred wives and mothers to hard +labour on behalf of the three hundred children who hungered. Out of +this hundred wives and mothers a certain percentage, again, lacked the +ability to work, while a certain other percentage lacked the will. These +recruited the ranks of the outcast, or with their families burdened +the parish. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of the +Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Portsmouth, +3 Dec 1793, and numerous instances.] The direct social and economic +outcome of this mode of manning the Navy, coupled with the payment of +a starvation wage, was thus threefold. It reversed the natural +sex-incidence of labour; it fostered vice; it bred paupers. The first +was a calamity personal to those who suffered it. The other two were +national in their calamitous effects. + +In that great diurnal of the eighteenth-century navy, the Captains' +Letters and Admirals' Dispatches, no volume can be opened without +striking the broad trail of destitution, misery and heart-break, to +mention no worse consequences, left by the gang. At nearly every turn of +the page, indeed, we come upon recitals or petitions recalling vividly +the exclamation involuntarily let fall by Pepys the tender-hearted when, +standing over against the Tower late one summer's night, he watched +by moonlight the pressed men sent away: "Lord! how some poor women did +cry." + +A hundred years later and their heritors in sorrow are crying still. Now +it is a bed-ridden mother bewailing her only son, "the principal prop +and stay of her old age"; again a wife, left destitute "with three +hopeful babes, and pregnant." And here, bringing up the rear of the sad +procession--lending to it, moreover, a touch of humour in itself not far +removed from tears--comes Lachlan M'Quarry. The gang have him, and amid +the Stirling hills, where he was late an indweller, a motley gathering +of kinsfolk mourn his loss--"me, his wife, two Small helpless Children, +an Aged Mother who is Blind, an Aged Man who is lame and unfit for work, +his father in Law, and a sister Insane, with his Mother in Law who is +Infirm." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1454--The Humble Petition of +Jullions Thomson, Spouse to Lachlan M'Quarry, 2 May 1812.] The fact +is attested by the minister and elders of the parish, being otherwise +unbelievable; and Lachlan is doubtless proportionately grieved to find +himself at sea. Men whose wives "divorced" them through the medium of +the gang--a not uncommon practice--experienced a similar grief. + +Besides the regular employment it so generously provided for wives +bereft of their lawful support, the press-gang found for the women of +the land many an odd job that bore no direct relation to the earning of +their bread. When the mob demolished the Whitby rendezvous in '93, it +was the industrious fishwives of the town who collected the stones +used as ammunition on that occasion; and when, again, Lieut. M'Kenzie +unwisely impressed an able seaman in the house of Joseph Hook, +inn-keeper at Pill, it was none other than "Mrs. Hook, her daughter and +female servant" who fell upon him and tore his uniform in shreds, thus +facilitating the pressed man's escape "through a back way." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Lieut. M'Kenzie, 20 Oct. 1805.] + +The good people of Sunderland at one time indulged themselves in the +use of a peculiar catch-phrase. Whenever any feat of more than ordinary +daring came under their observation, they spoke of it as "a case of +Dryden's sister." The saying originated in this way. The Sunderland gang +pressed the mate of a vessel, one Michael Dryden, and confined him in +the tender's hold. One night Dryden's sister, having in vain bribed the +lieutenant in command to let him go, at the risk of her life smuggled +some carpenter's tools on board under the very muzzles of the sentinel's +muskets, and with these her brother and fifteen other men cut their way +to freedom. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 +June and 10 July 1798.] + +A tender lying in King Road, at the entrance to Bristol River, was the +scene of another episode of the "Dryden's sister" type. Going ashore +one morning, the lieutenant in command fell from the bank and broke +his sword. It was an ill omen, for in his absence the hard fate of the +twenty pressed men who lay in the tender's hold, "all handcuft to each +other," made an irresistible appeal to two women, pressed men's wives, +who had been with singular lack of caution admitted on board. Whilst the +younger and prettier of the two cajoled the sentinel from his post, the +elder and uglier secured an axe and a hatchet and passed them unobserved +through the scuttle to the prisoners below, who on their part made such +good use of them that when at length the lieutenant returned he found +the cage empty and the birds flown. The shackles strewing the press-room +bore eloquent testimony to the manner of their flight. The irons had +been hacked asunder, some of them with as many as "six or seven Cutts." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 12 May 1759.] + +Never, surely, did the gang provide an odder job for any woman than the +one it threw in the way of Richard Parker's wife. The story of his part +in the historic mutiny at the Nore is common knowledge. Her's, being +less familiar, will bear retelling. But first certain incidents in the +life of the man himself, some of them hitherto unknown, call for brief +narration. + +Born at Exeter in or about the year 1764, it is not till some nineteen +years later, or, to be precise, the 5th of May 1783, that Richard Parker +makes his debut in naval records. On that date he appears on board +the _Mediator_ tender at Plymouth, in the capacity of a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 9307--Muster Book of +H.M. Tender the _Mediator_.] + +The tender carried him to London, where in due course he was delivered +up to the regulating officers, and by them turned over to the _Ganges_, +Captain the Honourable James Lutterell. This was prior to the 30th of +June 1783, the date of his official "appearance" on board that ship. +On the _Ganges_ he served as a midshipman--a noteworthy fact [Footnote: +Though one of rare occurrence, Parker's case was not altogether unique; +for now and then a pressed man by some lucky chance "got his foot on the +ladder," as Nelson put it, and succeeded in bettering himself. Admiral +Sir David Mitchell, pressed as the master of a merchantman, is a notable +example. Admiral Campbell, "Hawke's right hand at Quiberon," who entered +the service as a substitute for a pressed man, is another; and James +Clephen, pressed as a sea-going apprentice, became master's-mate of the +Doris, and taking part in the cutting out of the Chevrette, a corvette +of twenty guns, from Cameret Bay, in 1801, was for his gallantry on that +occasion made a lieutenant, fought at Trafalgar and died a captain. On +the other hand, John Norris, pressed at Gallions Reach out of a collier +and "ordered to walk the quarter-deck as a midshipman," proved such a +"laisie, sculking, idle fellow," and so "filled the sloop and men +with vermin," that his promoter had serious thoughts of "turning him +ashore."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, undated letter, +1741.]--till the 4th of September following, when he was discharged to +the _Bull-Dog_ sloop by order of Admiral Montagu. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10614--Muster Book of H.M.S. _Ganges_.] + +His transfer from the _Bull-Dog_ banished him from the quarter-deck and +sowed within him the seeds of that discontent which fourteen years later +made of him, as he himself expressed it, "a scape-goat for the sins of +many." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Dying Declaration of the +Late Unfortunate Richard Parker, 28 June 1797.] He was now, for what +reason we do not learn, rated as an ordinary seaman, and in that +capacity he served till the 15th of June 1784, when he was discharged +sick to Haslar Hospital. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, +1. 10420, 10421--Muster Books of H.M. Sloop _Bull-Dog_.] + +At this point we lose track of him for a matter of nearly fourteen +years, but on the 31st of March 1797, the year which brought his period +of service to so tragic a conclusion, he suddenly reappears at the Leith +rendezvous as a Quota Man for the county of Perth. Questioned as to his +past, he told Brenton, then in charge of that rendezvous, "that he had +been a petty officer or acting lieutenant on board the _Mediator_, Capt. +James Lutterell, at the taking of five prizes in 1783, when he received +a very large proportion of prize-money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1517--Capt. Brenton, 10 June 1797.] The inaccuracies evident on the +face of this statement are unquestionably due to Brenton's defective +recollection rather than to Parker's untruthfulness. Brenton wrote his +report nearly two and a half months after the event. + +After a period of detention on board the tender at Leith, Parker, in +company with other Quota and pressed men, was conveyed to the Nore in +one of the revenue vessels occasionally utilised for that purpose, and +there put on board the _Sandwich_, the flag-ship for that division of +the fleet. At half-past nine on the morning of the 12th of May, upon the +2nd lieutenant's giving orders to "clear hawse," the ship's company got +on the booms and gave three cheers, which were at once answered from the +_Director_. They then reeved yard-ropes as a menace to those of the +crew who would not join them, and trained the forecastle guns on the +quarter-deck as a hint to the officers. The latter were presently put +on shore, and that same day the mutineers unanimously chose Parker to +be their "President" or leader. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: Deposition of Lieut. Justice.] +The fact that he had been pressed in the first instance, and that +after having served for a time in the capacity of a "quarter-deck young +gentleman" he had been unceremoniously derated, singled him out for +this distinction. There was amongst the mutineers, moreover, no other so +eligible; for whatever Parker's faults, he was unquestionably a man of +superior ability and far from inferior attainments. + +The reeving of yard-ropes was his idea, though he disclaimed it. An +extraordinary mixture of tenderness and savagery, he wept when it was +proposed to fire upon a runaway ship, the _Repulse_, but the next moment +drove a crowbar into the muzzle of the already heavily shotted gun and +bade the gunner "send her to hell where she belonged." "I'll make a +beefsteak of you at the yard-arm" was his favourite threat. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: +Depositions of Capt. John Wood, of H.M. Sloop _Hound_, William +Livingston, boat-swain of the _Director_, and Thomas Barry, seaman on +board the _Monmouth._] It was prophetic, for that way, as events quickly +proved, lay the finish of his own career. + +At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June Parker, convicted and +sentenced to death after a fair trial, stood on the scaffold awaiting +his now imminent end. The halter, greased to facilitate his passing, was +already about his neck, and in one of his hands, which had been freed at +his own request, he held a handkerchief borrowed for the occasion from +one of the officers of the ship. This he suddenly dropped. It was the +preconcerted signal, and as the fatal gun boomed out in response to it +he thrust his hands into his pockets with great rapidity and jumped +into mid-air, meeting his death without a tremor and with scarce a +convulsion. Thanks to the clearness of the atmosphere and the facility +with which the semaphores did their work that morning, the Admiralty +learnt the news within seven minutes. [Footnote: Trial and Life of +Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] Now comes the woman's part in the +drama on which the curtain rose with the pressing of Parker in '83, and +fell, not with his execution at the yard-arm of the _Sandwich_, as one +would suppose, but four days after that event. + +In one of his spells of idleness ashore Parker had married a Scotch +girl, the daughter of an Aberdeenshire farmer--a tragic figure of a +woman whose fate it was to be always too late. Hearing that her husband +had taken the bounty, she set out with all speed for Leith, only to +learn, upon her arrival there, that he was already on his way to the +fleet. At Leith she tarried till rumours of his pending trial reached +the north country. The magistrates would then have put her under arrest, +designing to examine her, but the Admiralty, to whom Brenton reported +their intention, vetoed the proceeding as superfluous. The case +against Parker was already complete. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1517--Capt. Brenton, 15 June 1797, and endorsement.] Left free to follow +the dictates of her tortured heart, the distracted woman posted south. + +Eating his last breakfast in the gun-room of the _Sandwich_, Parker +talked affectionately of his wife, saying that he had made his will and +left her a small estate he was heir to. Little did he dream that she was +then within a few miles of him. + +The _Sandwich_ lay that morning above Blackstakes, the headmost ship of +the fleet, and at the moment when Parker leapt from her cathead scaffold +a boat containing his wife shot out into the stream. He was run up to +the yard-arm before her very eyes. She was again too late. + +He hung there for an hour. Meantime, with a tenacity of purpose as +touching as her devotion, the unhappy woman applied to the Admiral +for the body of her husband. She was denied, and Parker's remains were +committed to the new naval burial ground, beyond the Red-Barrier Gate +leading to Minster. The burial took place at noon. By nightfall the +grief-stricken woman had come to an amazing resolution. _She would steal +the body_. + +Ten o'clock that night found her at the place of interment. Save for the +presence of the sentinel at the adjoining Barrier Gate, the loneliness +of the spot favoured her design, but a ten-foot palisade surrounded the +grounds, and she had neither tools nor helpers. Unexpectedly three women +came that way. To them she disclosed her purpose, praying them for the +love of God to help her. Perhaps they were sailors' wives. Anyhow, they +assented, and the four body-snatchers scaled the fence. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT. Dressed as a sailor.] + + +The absence of tools, as it happened, presented no serious impediment to +the execution of their design. The grave was a shallow one, the freshly +turned mould loose and friable. Digging with their hands, they soon +uncovered the coffin, which they then contrived to raise and hoist over +the cemetery gates into the roadway, where they sat upon it to conceal +it from chance passers-by till four o'clock in the morning. It was then +daylight. The neighbouring drawbridge was let down, and, a fish-cart +opportunely passing on its way to Rochester, the driver was prevailed +upon to carry the "lady's box" into that town. A guinea served to allay +his suspicions. + +Three days later a caravan drew up before the "Hoop and Horseshoe" +tavern, in Queen Street, Little Tower Hill. A woman alighted--furtively, +for it was now broad daylight, whereas she had planned to arrive while +it was still dark. A watchman chanced to pass at the moment, and the +woman's strange behaviour aroused his suspicions. Pulling aside the +covering of the van, he looked in and saw there the rough coffin +containing the body of Parker, which the driver of the caravan had +carried up from Rochester for the sum of six guineas. Later in the +day the magistrates sitting at Lambeth Street Police Court ordered +its removal, and it was deposited in the vaults of Whitechapel church. +[Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] + +Full confirmation of this extraordinary story, should any doubt it, may +be found in the registers of the church in question. Amongst the burials +there we read this entry: "_July, 1797, Richard Parker, Sheerness, Kent, +age 33. Cause of death, execution. This was Parker, the President of +the Mutinous Delegates on board the fleet at the Nore. He was hanged +on board H.M.S._ Sandwich _on the 30th day of June_." [Footnote: Burial +Registers of St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapel, 1797.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + + + +Once the gang had a man in its power, his immediate destination was +either the rendezvous press-room or the tender employed as a substitute +for that indispensable place of detention. + +The press-room, lock-up or "shut-up house," as it was variously termed, +must not be confounded with the press-room at Newgate, where persons +indicted for felony, and perversely refusing to plead, were pressed +beneath weights till they complied with that necessary legal formality. +From that historic cell the rendezvous press-room differed widely, both +in nature and in use. Here the pressed men were confined pending their +dispatch to His Majesty's ships. As a matter of course the place was +strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, being in these +respects merely a commonplace replica of the average bridewell. Where it +differed from the bridewell was in its walls. Theoretically these were +elastic. No matter how many they held, there was always room within them +for more. As late as 1806 the press-room at Bristol consisted of a cell +only eight feet square, and into this confined space sixteen men were +frequently packed. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 March 1806.] + +Nearly everywhere it was the same gruesome story. The sufferings of +the pressed man went for nothing so long as the pressed man was kept. +Provided only the bars were dependable and the bolts staunch, anything +would do to "clap him up in." The town "cage" came in handy for the +purpose; and when no other means of securing him could be found, he +was thrust into the local prison like a common felon, often amidst +surroundings unspeakably awful. + +According to the elder Wesley, no "seat of woe" on this side of the +Bottomless Pit outrivalled Newgate except one. [Footnote: London +Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1761.] The exception was Bristol jail. A filthy, +evil-smelling hole, crowded with distempered prisoners without medical +care, it was deservedly held in such dread as to "make all seamen fly +the river" for fear of being pressed and committed to it. For when the +eight-foot cell at the rendezvous would hold no more, Bristol pressed +men were turned in here--to come out, if they survived the +pestilential atmosphere of the place, either fever-stricken or pitiful, +vermin-covered objects from whom even the hardened gangsman shrank with +fear and loathing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, +4 Aug. 1759.] Putting humane considerations entirely aside, it is +well-nigh inconceivable that so costly an asset as the pressed man +should ever have been exposed to such sanitary risks. The explanation +doubtless lies in the enormous amount of pressing that was done. The +number of men taken was in the aggregate so great that a life more or +less was hardly worth considering. + +Of ancient use as a county jail, Gloucester Castle stood far higher in +the pressed man's esteem as a place of detention than did its sister +prison on the Avon. The reason is noteworthy. Richard Evans, for many +years keeper there, possessed a magic palm. Rub it with silver in +sufficient quantity, and the "street door of the gaol" opened before +you at noonday, or, when at night all was as quiet as the keeper's +conscience, a plank vanished from the roof of your cell, and as you +stood lost in wonder at its disappearance there came snaking down +through the hole thus providentially formed a rope by the aid of which, +if you were a sailor or possessed of a sailor's agility and daring, it +was feasible to make your escape over the ramparts of the castle, though +they towered "most as high as the Monument." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 28 April and 26 May 1759.] + +In the absence of the gang on road or other extraneous duty the +precautions taken for the safety of pressed men were often very +inadequate, and this circumstance gave rise to many an impromptu rescue. +Sometimes the local constable was commandeered as a temporary guard, and +a story is told of how, the gang having once locked three pressed men +into the cage at Isleworth and stationed the borough watchman over them, +one Thomas Purser raised a mob, demolished the door of the cage, and set +its delighted occupants free amid frenzied shouts of: "Pay away within, +my lads! and we'll pay away without. Damn the constable! He has no +warrant." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 99.] + +In strict accordance with the regulations governing, or supposed to +govern, the keeping of rendezvous, the duration of the pressed man's +confinement ought never to have exceeded four-and-twenty hours from +the time of his capture; but as a matter of fact it often extended far +beyond that limit. Everything depended on the gang. If men were brought +in quickly, they were as quickly got rid of; but when they dribbled in +in one's and two's, with perhaps intervals of days when nothing at all +was doing, weeks sometimes elapsed before a batch of suitable size could +be made ready and started on its journey to the ships. + +All this time the pressed man had to be fed, or, as they said in the +service, subsisted or victualled, and for this purpose a sum varying +from sixpence to ninepence a day, according to the cost of provisions, +was allowed him. On this generous basis he was nourished for a hundred +years or more, till one day early in the nineteenth century some +half-score of gaunt, hungry wretches, cooped up for eight weary weeks in +an East-coast press-room during the rigours of a severe winter, made the +startling discovery that the time-honoured allowance was insufficient +to keep soul and body together. They accordingly addressed a petition to +the Admiralty, setting forth the cause and nature of their sufferings, +and asking for a "rise." A dozen years earlier the petition would have +been tossed aside as insolent and unworthy of consideration; but the +sharp lesson of the Nore mutiny happened to be still fresh in their +Lordships' memories, so with unprecedented generosity and haste they +at once augmented the allowance, and that too for the whole kingdom, to +fifteen-pence a day. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of +the Pressed Men at King's Lynn, 27 Jan. 1809, and endorsement.] + +It was a red-letter day for the pressed man. A single stroke of +the official pen had raised him from starvation to opulence, and +thenceforward, when food was cheap and the purchasing power of the penny +high, he regaled himself daily, as at Limerick in 1814, on such abundant +fare as a pound of beef, seven and a half pounds of potatoes, a pint of +milk, a quart of porter, a boiling of greens and a mess of oatmeal; or, +if he happened to be a Catholic, on fish and butter twice a week instead +of beef. The quantity of potatoes is worthy of remark. It was peculiar +to Ireland, where the lower classes never used bread. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 1 March 1814.] + +Though faring thus sumptuously at his country's expense, the pressed man +did not always pass the days of his detention in unprofitable idleness. +There were certain eventualities to be thought of and provided against. +Sooner or later he must go before the "gent with the swabs" and be +"regulated," that is to say, stripped to the waist, or further if that +exacting officer deemed it advisable, and be critically examined for +physical ailments and bodily defects. In this examination the local +"saw-bones" would doubtless lend a hand, and to outwit the combined +skill of both captain and surgeon was a point of honour with the pressed +man if by any possibility it could be done. With this laudable end in +view he devoted much of his enforced leisure to the rehearsal of such +symptoms and the fabrication of such defects as were best calculated to +make him a free man. + +For the sailor to deny his vocation was worse than useless. The ganger's +shrewd code--"All as says they be land-lubbers when I says they baint, +be liars, and all liars be seamen"--effectually shut that door in his +face. There were other openings, it is true, whereby a knowing chap +might wriggle free, but officers and medicoes were extremely "fly." He +had not practised his many deceptions upon them through long years +for nothing. They well knew that on principle he "endeavoured by every +stratagem in his power to impose"--that he was, in short, a cunning +cheat whose most serious ailments were to be regarded with the least +sympathy and the utmost suspicion. Yet in spite of this disquieting fact +the old hand, whom long practice had made an adept at deception, and +who, when he was so inclined, could simulate "complaints of a nature +to baffle the skill of any professional man," [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1540--Capt. Barker, 5 Nov. 1807.] rarely if ever faced +the ordeal of regulating without "trying it on." Often, indeed, he +anticipated it. There was nothing like keeping his hand in. + +Fits were his great stand-by, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1534--Capt. Barker, 11 Jan. 1805, and many instances.] and the time +he chose for these convulsive turns was generally night, when he could +count upon a full house and nothing to detract from the impressiveness +of the show. Suddenly, at night, then, a weird, horribly inarticulate +cry is heard issuing from the press-room, and at once all is uproar and +confusion. Unable to make himself heard, much less to restore order, and +fearing that murder is being done amongst the pressed men, the sentry +hastily summons the officer, who rushes down, half-dressed, and hails +the press-room. + +"Hullo! within there. What's wrong?" + +Swift silence. Then, "Man in a fit, sir," replies a quavering voice. + +"Out with him!" cries the officer. + +Immediately, the door being hurriedly unbarred, the "case" is handed out +by his terrified companions, who are only too glad to be rid of him. +To all appearances he is in a true epileptic state. In the light of the +lantern, held conveniently near by one of the gangsmen, who have by this +time turned out in various stages of undress, his features are seen to +be strongly convulsed. His breathing is laboured and noisy, his head +rolls incessantly from side to side. Foam tinged with blood oozes from +between his gnashing teeth, flecking his lips and beard, and when his +limbs are raised they fall back as rigid as iron. [Footnote: Almost the +only symptom of _le grand mal_ which the sailor could not successfully +counterfeit was the abnormal dilation of the pupils so characteristic of +that complaint, and this difficulty he overcame by rolling his eyes up +till the pupils were invisible.] + +After surveying him critically for a moment the officer, if he too is +an old hand, quietly removes the candle from the lantern and with a +deft turn of his wrist tips the boiling-hot contents of the tallow cup +surrounding the flaming wick out upon the bare arm or exposed chest of +the "case." When the fit was genuine, as of course it sometimes was, the +test had no particular reviving effect; but if the man were shamming, as +he probably was in spite of the great consistency of his symptoms, the +chances were that, with all his nerve and foreknowledge of what was +in store for him, the sudden biting of the fiery liquid into his naked +flesh would bring him to his feet dancing with pain and cursing and +banning to the utmost extent of his elastic vocabulary. + +When this happened, "Put him back," said the officer. "He'll do, alow or +aloft." + +Going aloft at sea was the true epileptic's chief dread. And with good +reason, for sooner or later it meant a fall, and death. + +In the meantime other enterprising members of the press-room community +made ready for the scrutiny of the official eye in various ways, +practising many devices for procuring a temporary disability and a +permanent discharge. Some, horrible thought! "rubbed themselves with Cow +Itch and Whipped themselves with Nettles to appear in Scabbs"; +others "burnt themselves with oil of vitriol" to induce symptoms with +difficulty distinguishable from those of scurvy, that disease of such +dread omen to the fleet; whilst others emulated the passing of the poor +consumptive of the canting epitaph, whose "legs it was that carried her +off." Bad legs, indeed, ran a close race with fits in the pressed man's +sprint for liberty. They were so easily induced, and so cheaply. The +industrious application of the smallest copper coin procurable, +the humble farthing or the halfpenny, speedily converted the most +insignificant abrasion of the skin into a festering sore. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 20 June 1741; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Bowyer, 18 Dec. 1808; _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1451--A. Clarke, Examining Surgeon at Dublin, 18 May 1807; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1517--Letters of Capt. Brenton, March and April 1797, and +many instances.] + +Here and there a man of iron nerve, acting on the common belief that if +you had lost a finger the Navy would have none of you, adopted a more +heroic method of shaking off the clutch of the gang. Such a man was +Samuel Caradine, some time inhabitant of Kendal. Committed to the House +of Correction there as a preliminary to his being turned over to the +fleet for crimes that he had done, he expressed a desire to bid farewell +to his wife. She was sent for, and came, apparently not unprepared; for +after she had greeted her man through the iron door of his cell, "he put +his hand underneath, and she, with a mallet and chisel concealed for +the purpose, struck off a finger and thumb to render him unfit for His +Majesty's service." [Footnote: _Times_, 3 Nov. 1795.] + +A stout-hearted fellow named Browne, who hailed from Chester, would have +made Caradine a fitting mate. "Being impressed into the sea service, he +very violently determined, in order to extricate himself therefrom, to +mutilate the thumb and a finger of his left hand; which he accomplished +by repeatedly maiming them with an old hatchet that he had obtained +for that purpose. He was immediately discharged." [Footnote: _Liverpool +Advertiser_, 6 June 1777.] Such men as these were a substantial loss to +the service. Fighting a gun shoulder to shoulder, what fearful execution +would they not have wrought upon the "hereditary enemy"! + +It did not always do, however, to presume upon the loss of a forefinger, +particularly if it were missing from the left hand. Capt. Barker, while +he was regulating the press at Bristol, once had occasion to send into +Ilchester for a couple of brace of convicts who had received the royal +pardon on condition of their serving at sea. Near Shepton Mallet, on the +return tramp, his gangsmen fell in with a party armed with sticks and +knives, who "beat and cut them in a very cruel manner." They succeeded, +however, in taking the ringleader, one Charles Biggen, and brought him +in; but when Barker would have discharged the fellow because his left +forefinger was wanting, the Admiralty brushed the customary rule +aside and ordered him to be kept. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1528--Capt. Barker, 28 July 1803, and endorsement.] + +The main considerations entering into the dispatch of pressed men to the +fleet, when at length their period of detention at headquarters came to +an end, were economy, speed and safety. Transport was necessarily either +by land or water, and in the case of seaport, river or canal towns, both +modes were of course available. Gangs operating at a distance from the +sea, or remote from a navigable river or canal, were from their very +situation obliged to send their catch to market either wholly by +land, or by land and water successively. Land transport, though always +healthier, and in many instances speedier and cheaper than transport by +water, was nevertheless much more risky. Pressed men therefore preferred +it. The risks--rescue and desertion--were all in their favour. Hence, +when they "offered chearfully to walk up," or down, as the case might +be, the seeming magnanimity of the offer was never permitted to blind +those in charge of them to the need for a strong attendant guard. +[Footnote: In the spring of 1795 a body of Quota Men, some 130 strong, +voluntarily marched from Liverpool to London, a distance of 182 miles, +instead of travelling by coach as at first proposed. Though all had +received the bounty and squandered it in debauchery, not a man deserted; +and in their case the danger of rescue was of course absent. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 21 April 1795.] The men would have had +to walk in any case, for transport by coach, though occasionally +sanctioned, was an event of rare occurrence. A number procured in +Berkshire were in 1756 forwarded to London "by the Reading machines," +but this was an exceptional indulgence due to the state of their feet, +which were already "blistered with travelling." + +Even with the precaution of a strong guard, there were parts of the +country through which it was highly imprudent, if not altogether +impracticable, to venture a party on foot. Of these the thirty-mile +stretch of road between Kilkenny and Waterford, the nearest seaport, +perhaps enjoyed the most unenviable reputation. No gang durst traverse +it; and no body of pressed men, and more particularly of pressed +Catholics, could ever have been conveyed even for so short a distance +through a country inhabited by a fanatical and strongly disaffected +people without courting certain bloodshed. The naval authorities in +consequence left Kilkenny severely alone. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] + +The sending of men overland from Appledore to Plymouth, a course +frequently adopted to avoid the circuitous sea-route, was attended +with similar risks. The hardy miners and quarrymen of the intervening +moorlands loved nothing so much as knocking the gangsman on the head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on +Rendezvous, 22 Sept. 1805.] + +The attenuated neck of land between the Mersey and the Dee had an evil +reputation for affairs of this description. Men pressed at Chester, +and sent across the neck to the tenders or ships of war in the Mersey, +seldom reached their destination unless attended by an exceptionally +strong escort. The reason is briefly but graphically set forth by Capt. +Ayscough, who dispatched three such men from Chester, under convoy of +his entire gang, in 1780. "On the road thither," says he, "about seven +miles from hence, at a village called Sutton, they were met by upwards +of one Hundred Arm'd Seamen from Parkgate, belonging to different +privateers at Liverpool. An Affray ensued, and the three Impress'd men +were rescued by the Mobb, who Shot one of my Gang through the Body +and wounded two others." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. +Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] Parkgate, it will be recalled, was a notorious +"nest of seamen." The alternative route to Liverpool, by passage-boat +down the Dee, was both safer and cheaper. To send a pressed man +that way, accompanied by two of the gang, cost only twelve-and-six. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Phillip, 14 Sept. 1804.] + +Mr. Midshipman Goodave and party, convoying pressed men from Lymington +to Southampton, once met with an adventure in traversing the New Forest +which, notwithstanding its tragic sequel, is not without its humorous +side. They had left the little fishing village of Lepe some miles +behind, and were just getting well into the Forest, when a cavalcade of +mounted men, some thirty strong, all muffled in greatgoats and armed to +the teeth, unexpectedly emerged from the wood and opened fire upon them. +Believing it to be an attempt at rescue, the gang closed in about +their prisoners, but when one of these was the first to fall, his arm +shattered and an ear shot off, the gangsmen, perceiving their mistake, +broke and fled in all directions. Not far, however. The smugglers, for +such they were, quickly rounded them up and proceeded, not to shoot +them, as the would-be fugitives anticipated, but to administer to them +the "smugglers' oath." This they did by forcing them on their knees +and compelling them, at the point of the pistol and with horrible +execrations, to "wish their eyes might drop out if they told their +officers which way they, the smugglers, were gone." Having extorted this +unique pledge of secrecy as to their movements, they rode away into the +Forest, unaware that Mr. Midshipman Goodave, snugly ensconced in the +neighbouring ditch, had seen and heard all that passed--a piece of +discretion on his part that later on brought at least one of the +smugglers into distressing contact with the law. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 18: Informations +of Shepherd Goodave, 1 Oct. 1779.] + +Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch +pressed men from seaport towns by land--as at Exmouth, where the +entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle +all shipping up, or shut it out, for days together--so the dangers +peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them +from inland towns by water. This was the case at Stourbridge. Handed +over to contractors responsible for their safe-keeping, the numerous +seamen taken by the gangs in that town and vicinity were delivered +on board the tenders in King Road, below Bristol--conveyed thither +by water, at a cost of half a guinea per head. This sum included +subsistence, which would appear to have been mainly by water also. To +Liverpool, the alternative port of delivery, carriage could only be had +by land, and the risks of land transit in that direction were so great +as to be considered insuperable, to say nothing of the cost. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships +made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men was +of course to put them immediately on ship-board; but when no ship was +thus available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign or +on other prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case +of rendezvous lying so far afield as to render land transport +impracticable, but to forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In +this way there grew up a system of sea transport that centred from many +distant and widely separated points of the kingdom upon those great +entrepots for pressed men, the Hamoaze, Spithead and the Nore. + +Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped +to these destinations as "passengers" on colliers and merchant vessels, +their escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more gangsmen, +according to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they had no +escort at all, the masters being simply bound over to make good all +losses arising from any cause save death, capture by an enemy's ship or +the act of God. From King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per head, by this +means of transport, was 2 Pounds, 15s., including victualling; from +Hull, 2 Pounds 12s. 6d.; from Newcastle, 10s. 6d. The lower rates for +the longer runs are explained by the fact that, shipping facilities +being so much more numerous on the Humber and the Tyne, competition +reduced the cost of carriage in proportion to its activity. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Phillip, 3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral +Pringle, 2 April 1795.] + +In spite of every precaution, such serious loss attended the shipping +of men in this manner as to force the Admiralty back upon its own +resources. Recourse was accordingly had, in the great majority of cases, +to that handy auxiliary of the fleet, the hired tender. Tenders fell +into two categories--cruising tenders, employed exclusively, or almost +exclusively, in pressing afloat after the manner described in an earlier +chapter, and tenders used for the double purpose of "keeping" men +pressed on land and of conveying them to the fleet when their numbers +grew to such proportions as to make a full and consequently dangerous +ship. In theory, "any old unmasted hulk, unfit to send to sea, would +answer to keep pressed men in." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] In practice, the contrary was the +case. Fitness for sea, combined with readiness to slip at short notice, +was more essential than mere cubic capacity, since transhipment was thus +avoided and the pressed man deprived of another chance of taking French +leave. + +One all-important consideration, in the case of tenders employed for +the storing and detention of pressed men prior to their dispatch to the +fleet, was that the vessel should be able to lie afloat at low +water; for if the fall of the tide left her high and dry, the risk +of desertion, as well as of attack from the shore, was enormously +increased. Whitehaven could make no use of man-storing tenders for this +reason; and at the important centre of King's Lynn, which was really a +receiving station for three counties, it was found "requisite to have +always a vessel below the Deeps to keep pressed men aboard," since their +escape or rescue by way of the flats was in any anchorage nearer +the town a foregone conclusion. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755.] + +On board the tenders the comfort and health of the pressed man were no +more studied than in the strong-rooms and prisons ashore. A part of the +hold was required to be roughly but substantially partitioned off for +his security, and on rare occasions this space was fitted with bunks; +but as the men usually arrived "all very bare of necessaries"--except +when pressed afloat, a case we are not now considering--any provision +for the slinging of hammocks, or the spreading of bedding they did +not possess, came to be looked upon as a superfluous and uncalled-for +proceeding. Even the press-room was a rarity, save in tenders that had +been long in the service. Down in the hold of the vessel, whither the +men were turned like so many sheep as soon as they arrived on board, +they perhaps found a rough platform of deal planks provided for them to +lie on, and from this they were at liberty to extract such sorry comfort +as they could during the weary days and nights of their incarceration. +Other conveniences they had none. When this too was absent, as not +infrequently happened, they were reduced to the necessity of "laying +about on the Cables and Cask," suffering in consequence "more than +can well be expressed." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +A'Court, 22 April 1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 11 +Feb. 1777, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] It is not too much to say +that transported convicts had better treatment. + +Cooped up for weeks at a stretch in a space invariably crowded to +excess, deprived almost entirely of light, exercise and fresh air, and +poisoned with bad water and what Roderick Random so truthfully called +the "noisome stench of the place," it is hardly surprising that on +protracted voyages from such distant ports as Limerick or Leith the men +should have "fallen sick very fast." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1444--Capt. Allen, 4 March 1771, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] +Officers were, indeed, charged "to be very careful of the healths of the +seamen" entrusted to their keeping; yet in spite of this most salutary +regulation, so hopelessly bad were the conditions under which the men +were habitually carried, and so slight was the effort made to ameliorate +them, that few tenders reached their destination without a more or less +serious outbreak of fever, small-pox or some other equally malignant +distemper. Upon the fleet the effect was appalling. Sickly tenders could +not but make sickly ships. + +If the material atmosphere of the tender's hold was bad, its moral +atmosphere was unquestionably worse. Dark deeds were done here at times, +and no man "peached" upon his fellows. Out of this deplorable state +of things a remarkable legal proceeding once grew. Murder having +been committed in the night, and none coming forward to implicate the +offender, the coroner's jury, instead of returning their verdict against +some person or persons unknown, found the entire occupants of the +tender's hold, seventy-two in number, guilty of that crime. A warrant +was actually issued for their apprehension, though never executed. +To put the men on their trial was a useless step, since, in the +circumstances, they would have been most assuredly acquitted. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 20.] +Just as assuredly any informer in their midst would have been murdered. + +The scale of victualling on board the tenders was supposed to be the +same as on shore. "Full allowance daily" was the rule; and if the copper +proved too small to serve all at one boiling, there were to be as many +boilings as should be required to go round. Unhappily for the pressed +man, there was a weevil in his daily bread. While it was the bounden +duty of the master of the vessel to feed him properly, and of the +officers to see that he was properly fed, "officers and masters +generally understood each other too well in the pursery line." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] +Rations were consequently short, boilings deficient, and though the +cabin went well content, the hold was the scene of bitter grumblings. + +Nor were these the only disabilities the pressed man laboured under. +His officers proved a sore trial to him. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord High +Admiral, foreseeing that this would be the case, directed that he should +be "used with all possible tenderness and humanity." The order was +little regarded. The callosity of Smollett's midshipman, who spat in +the pressed man's face when he dared to complain of his sufferings, +and roughly bade him die for aught he cared, was characteristic of the +service. Hence a later regulation, with grim irony, gave directions for +his burial. He was to be put out of the way, as soon as might be after +the fatal conditions prevailing on board His Majesty's tenders had done +their work, with as great a show of decency as could be extracted from +the sum of ten shillings. + +Strictly speaking, it was not in the power of the tender's officers +to mitigate the hardships of the pressed man's lot to any appreciable +extent, let them be as humane as they might. For this the pressed man +himself was largely to blame. An ungrateful rogue, his hide was as +impervious to kindness as a duck's back to water. Supply him with slops +[Footnote: The regulations stipulated that slops should be served out +to all who needed them; but as their acceptance was held to set up a +contract between the recipient and the Crown, the pressed man was not +unnaturally averse from drawing upon such a source of supply as long as +any chance of escape remained to him.] wherewith to cover his nakedness +or shield him from the cold, and before the Sunday muster came round +the garments had vanished--not into thin air, indeed, but in tobacco and +rum, for which forbidden luxuries he invariably bartered them with +the bumboat women who had the run of the vessel while she remained in +harbour. Or allow him on deck to take the air and such exercise as could +be got there, and the moment your back was turned he was away _sans +conge_. Few of these runaways were as considerate as that Scotch +humorist, William Ramsay, who was pressed at Leith for beating +an informer and there put on board the tender. Seizing the first +opportunity of absconding, "Sir," he wrote to the lieutenant in command, +"I am so much attached to you for the good usage I have received at your +hands, that I cannot think of venturing on board your ship again in the +present state of affairs. I therefore leave this letter at my father's +to inform you that I intend to slip out of the way." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1524.--Capt. Brenton, 20 Oct. 1800.] + +When that clever adventuress, Moll Flanders, found herself booked for +transportation beyond the seas, her one desire, it will be recalled, was +"to come back before she went." So it was with the pressed man. The idea +of escape obsessed him--escape before he should be rated on shipboard +and sent away to heaven only knew what remote quarter of the globe. It +was for this reason that irons were so frequently added to his comforts. +"Safe bind, safe find" was the golden rule on board His Majesty's +tenders. + +How difficult it was for him to carry his cherished design into +execution, and yet how easy, is brought home to us with surprising force +by the catastrophe that befell the _Tasker_ tender. On the 23rd of May +1755 the _Tasker_ sailed out of the Mersey with a full cargo of pressed +men designed for Spithead. She possessed no press-room, and as the +men for that reason had the run of the hold, all hatches were securely +battened down with the exception of the maindeck scuttle, an opening +so small as to admit of the passage of but one man at a time. Her crew +numbered thirty-eight, and elaborate precautions were taken for the +safe-keeping of her restless human freight. So much is evident from the +disposition of her guard, which was as follows:-- + +_(a)_ At the open scuttle two sentries, armed with pistol and cutlass. +Orders, not to let too many men up at once. + +_(b)_ On the forecastle two sentries, armed with musket and bayonet. +Orders, to fire on any pressed man who should attempt to swim away. + +_(c)_ On the poop one sentry, similarly armed, and having similar +orders. + +_(d)_ On the quarter-deck, at the entrance to the great cabin, where +the remaining arms were kept, one sentry, armed with cutlass and pistol. +Orders, to let no pressed man come upon the quarter-deck. + +There were thus six armed sentinels stationed about the ship--ample +to have nipped in the bud any attempt to seize the vessel, but for two +serious errors of judgment on the part of the officer responsible for +their disposition. These were, first, the discretionary power vested +in the sentries at the scuttle; and, second, the inadequate guard, a +solitary man, set for the defence of the great cabin and the arms it +contained. Now let us see how these errors of judgment affected the +situation. + +Either through stupidity, bribery or because they were rapidly making +an offing, the sentries at the scuttle, as the day wore on, admitted a +larger number of pressed men to the comparative freedom of the deck +than was consistent with prudence. The number eventually swelled to +fourteen--sturdy, determined fellows, the pick of the hold. One of them, +having a fiddle, struck up a merry tune, the rest fell to dancing, the +tender's crew who were off duty caught the infection and joined in, +while the officers stood looking on, tolerantly amused and wholly +unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly, just when the fun was at its height, +a splash was heard, a cry of "Man overboard!" ran from lip to lip, and +officers and crew rushed to the vessel's side. They were there, gazing +into the sea, for only a minute or two, but by the time they turned +their faces inboard again the fourteen determined men were masters of +the ship. In the brief disciplinary interval they had overpowered the +guard and looted the cabin of its store of arms. That night they carried +the tender into Redwharf Bay and there bade her adieu. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, 3 June 1755, and +enclosures.] To pursue them in so mountainous a country would have been +useless; to punish them, even had they been retaken, impossible. As +unrated men they were neither mutineers nor deserters, [Footnote: By 4 & +5 Anne, cap. 6, pressed men could be apprehended and tried for desertion +by virtue of the Queen's shilling having been forced upon them at the +time they were pressed, but as the use of that coin fell into abeyance, +so the Act in question became gradually a dead-letter. Hay, Murray, +Lloyd, Pinfold and Jervis, Law Officers of the Crown, giving an opinion +on this important point in 1756, held that "pressed men are not subject +to the Articles (of War) until they are actually rated on board some +of His Majesty's ships."--_Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1756-77, No. 3, Case 2.] and the seizure of the tender was at +the worst a bloodless crime in which no one was hurt save an obdurate +sentry, who was slashed over the head with a cutlass. + +The boldness of its inception and the anticlimaxical nature of its +finish invest another exploit of this description with an interest all +its own. This was the cutting out of the _Union_ tender from the river +Tyne on the 12th April 1777. The commander, Lieut. Colville, having that +day gone on shore for the "benefit of the air," and young Barker, the +midshipman who was left in charge in his absence, having surreptitiously +followed suit, the pressed men and volunteers, to the number of about +forty, taking advantage of the opportunity thus presented, rose and +seized the vessel, loaded the great guns, and by dint of threatening +to sink any boat that should attempt to board them kept all comers, +including the commander himself, at bay till nine o'clock in the +evening. By that time night had fallen, so, with the wind blowing strong +off-shore and an ebb-tide running, they cut the cables and stood out to +sea. For three days nothing was heard of them, and North Shields, the +scene of the exploit and the home of most of the runaways, was just on +the point of giving the vessel up for lost when news came that she +was safe. Influenced by one Benjamin Lamb, a pressed man of more than +ordinary character, the rest had relinquished their original purpose +of either crossing over to Holland or running the vessel ashore on +some unfrequented part of the coast, and had instead carried her into +Scarborough Bay, doubtless hoping to land there without interference and +so make their way to Whitby or Hull. In this design, however, they were +partly frustrated, for, a force having been hastily organised for their +apprehension, they were waylaid as they came ashore and retaken to the +number of twenty-two, the rest escaping. Lamb, discharged for his good +offices in saving the tender, was offered a boatswain's place if he +would re-enter; but for poor Colville the affair proved disastrous. +Becoming demented, he attempted to shoot himself and had to be +superseded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 13 +April 1777, and enclosures.] + +All down through the century similar incidents, crowding thick and fast +one upon another, relieved the humdrum routine of the pressed man's +passage to the fleet, and either made his miserable life in a measure +worth living or brought it to a summary conclusion. Of minor incidents, +all tending to the same happy or unhappy end, there was no lack. Now +he sweltered beneath a sun so hot as to cause the pitch to boil in the +seams of the deck above his head; again, as when the _Boneta_ sloop, +conveying pressed men from Liverpool to the Hamoaze in 1740, encountered +"Bedds of two or three Acres bigg of Ice & of five or Six foot +thicknesse, which struck her with such force 'twas enough to drive her +bows well out," he "almost perished" from cold. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 8 Feb. 1739-40.] To-day it was broad +farce. He held his sides with laughter to see the lieutenant of the +tender he was in, mad with rage and drink, chase the steward round and +round the mainmast with a loaded pistol, whilst the terrified hands, +fearing for their lives, fled for refuge to the coalhole, the roundtops +and the shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Complaint of the +Master and Company of H. M. Hired Tender _Speedwell_, 21 Dec. 1778.] +To-morrow it was tragedy. Some "little dirty privateer" swooped down +upon him, as in the case of the _Admiral Spry_ tender from Waterford to +Plymouth, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Dickson, Surveyor of +Customs at the Cove of Cork, April 1780.] and consigned him to what +he dreaded infinitely more than any man-o'-war--a French prison; or +contrary winds, swelling into a sudden gale, drove him a helpless wreck +on to some treacherous coast, as they drove the _Rich Charlotte_ upon +the Formby Sands in 1745, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. +Amherst, 4 Oct. 1745.] and there remorselessly drowned him. + +Provided he escaped such untoward accidents as death or capture by the +enemy, sooner or later the pressed man arrived at the receiving station. +Here another ordeal awaited him, and here also he made his last bid for +freedom. + +Taking the form of a final survey or regulating, the ordeal the pressed +man had now to face was no less thoroughgoing than its precursor at the +rendezvous had in all probability been superficial and ineffective. Eyes +saw deeper here, wits were sharper, and in this lay at once the pressed +man's bane and salvation. For if genuinely unfit, the fact was speedily +demonstrated; whereas if merely shamming, discovery overtook him with +a certainty that wrote "finis" to his last hope. Nevertheless, for this +ordeal, as for his earlier regulating at the rendezvous, the sailor who +knew his book prepared himself with exacting care during the tedium of +his voyage. + +No sooner was he mustered for survey, then, than the most extraordinary, +impudent and in many instances transparent impostures were sprung upon +his examiners. Deafness prevailed to an alarming extent, dumbness was by +no means unknown. Men who fought desperately when the gang took them, +or who played cards with great assiduity in the tender's hold, developed +sudden paralysis of the arms. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1464--Capt. Bloyes, Jan. 1702-3; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. +Bennett, 26 Sept. 1711. An extraordinary instance of this form of +malingering is cited in the "Naval Sketch-Book," 1826.] Legs which had +been soundness itself at the rendezvous were now a putrefying mass +of sores. The itch broke out again, virulent and from all accounts +incurable. Fits returned with redoubled frequency and violence, the sane +became demented or idiotic, and the most obviously British, losing the +use of their mother tongue, swore with many gesticulatory _sacres_ that +they had no English, as indeed they had none for naval purposes. Looking +at the miserable, disease-ridden crew, the uninitiated spectator was +moved to tears of pity. Not so the naval officer. In France, when a +prisoner of war, learning French there without a master, he had heard a +saying that he now recalled to some purpose: _Vin de grain est plus doux +que n'est pas vin de presse_--"Willing duties are sweeter than those +that are extorted." The punning allusion to the press had tickled his +fancy and fixed the significant truism in his memory. From it he now +took his cue and proceeded to man his ship. + +So at length the pressed man, in spite of all his ruses and +protestations, was rated and absorbed into that vast agglomeration +of men and ships known as the fleet. Here he underwent a speedy +metamorphosis. It was not that he lost his individuality and became a +mere unit amongst thousands. Quite the contrary. Friends, creditors +or next-of-kin, concocting petitions on his behalf, set forth in +heart-rending terms the many disabilities he suffered from, together +with many he did not, and prayed, with a fervour often reaching no +deeper than their pockets, that he might be restored without delay to +his bereaved and destitute family. Across the bottom right-hand +corner of these petitions, conveniently upturned for that purpose, the +Admiralty scrawled its initial order: "Let his case be stated." The +immediate effect of this expenditure of Admiralty ink was magical. It +promoted the subject of the petition from the ranks, so to speak, and +raised him to the dignity of a "State the Case Man." + +He now became a person of consequence. The kindliest inquiries were made +after his health. The state of his eyes, the state of his limbs, the +state of his digestion were all stated with the utmost minuteness and +prolixity. Reams of gilt-edged paper were squandered upon him; and +by the time his case had been duly stated, restated, considered, +reconsidered and finally decided, the poor fellow had perhaps voyaged +round the world or by some mischance gone to the next. + +In the matter of exacting their pound of flesh the Lords Commissioners +were veritable Shylocks. Neither supplications nor tears had power to +move them, and though they sometimes relented, it was invariably for +reasons of policy and in the best interests of the service. Men clearly +shown to be protected they released. They could not go back upon their +word unless some lucky quibble rendered it possible to traverse the +obligation with honour. Unprotected subjects who were clearly unfit to +eat the king's victuals they discharged--for substitutes. + + [Illustration: The Press Gang, or English Liberty Displayed.] + +The principle underlying their Lordships' gracious acceptance of +substitutes for pressed men was beautifully simple. If as a pressed +man you were fit to serve, but unwilling, you were worth at least two +able-bodied men; if you were unfit, and hence unable to serve, you +were worth at least one. This simple rule proved a source of great +encouragement to the gangs, for however bad a man might be he was always +worth a better. + +The extortions to which the Lords Commissioners lent themselves in this +connection--three, and, as in the case of Joseph Sanders of Bristol, +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Capt. Barker, 4 Jan. 1805, +and endorsement.] even four able-bodied men being exacted as +substitutes--could only be termed iniquitous did we not know the +duplicity, roguery and deep cunning with which they had to cope. Upon +the poor, indeed, the practice entailed great hardship, particularly +when the home had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the discharge of +the bread-winner who had been instrumental in getting it together; but +to the unscrupulous crimp and the shady attorney the sailor's misfortune +brought only gain. Buying up "raw boys," or Irishmen who "came over for +reasons they did not wish known"--rascally persons who could be had for +a song--they substituted these for seasoned men who had been pressed, +and immediately, having got the latter in their power, turned them over +to merchant ships at a handsome profit. At Hull, on the other hand, +substitutes were sought in open market. The bell-man there cried a +reward for men to go in that capacity. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--George Crowle, Esq., M.P. for Hull, 28 Dec. 1739.] + +Even when the pressed man had procured his substitutes and obtained his +coveted discharge, his liberty was far from assured. In theory exempt +from the press for a period of at least twelve months, he was in reality +not only liable to be re-pressed at any moment, but to be subjected to +that process as often as he chose to free himself and the gang to take +him. A Liverpool youth named William Crick a lad with expectations to +the amount of "near 4000 Pounds," was in this way pressed and discharged +by substitute three times in quick succession. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Rear-Admiral Child, 8 Aug. 1799.] Intending substitutes +themselves not infrequently suffered the same fate ere they could carry +out their intention. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Lieut. +Leaver, 5 Jan. 1739-40, and numerous instances.] + +The discharging of a pressed man whose petition finally succeeded did +not always prove to be the eminently simple matter it would seem. +Time and tide waited for no man, least of all for the man who had the +misfortune to be pressed, and in the interval between his appeal and the +order for his release his ship, as already hinted, had perhaps put half +the circumference of the globe between him and home; or when the crucial +moment arrived, and he was summoned before his commander to learn the +gratifying Admiralty decision, he made his salute in batches of two, +three or even four men, each of whom protested vehemently that he was +the original and only person to whom the order applied. An amusing +attempt at "coming Cripplegate" in this manner occurred on board the +_Lennox_ in 1711. A woman, who gave her name as Alice Williams, having +petitioned for the release of her "brother," one John Williams, a +pressed man then on board that ship, succeeded in her petition, and +orders were sent down to the commander, Capt. Bennett, to give the man +his discharge. He proceeded to do so, but to his amazement discovered, +first, that he had no less than four John Williamses on board, all +pressed men; second, that while each of the four claimed to be the +man in question, three of the number had no sister, while the fourth +confessed to one whose name was not Alice but "Percilly"; and, after +long and patient investigation, third, that one of them had a wife named +Alice, who, he being a foreigner domiciled by marriage, had "tould him +she would gett him cleare" should he chance to fall into the hands +of the press-gang. In this she failed, for he was kept. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 2 Dec. 1711.] + +Of the pressed man's smiling arrest for debts which he did not owe, and +of his jocular seizure by sheriffs armed with writs of Habeas Corpus, +the annals of his incorporation in the fleet furnish many instances. +Arrest for fictitious debt was specially common. In every seaport +town attorneys were to be found who made it their regular practice. +Particularly was this true of Bristol. Good seamen were rarely pressed +there for whom writs were not immediately issued on the score of +debts of which they had never heard. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Admiral Philip, 5 Dec. 1801.] To warrant such arrest the debt had +to exceed twenty pounds, and service, when the pressed man was already +on shipboard, was by the hands of the Water Bailiff. + +The writ of Habeas Corpus was, in effect, the only legal check it +was possible to oppose to the impudent pretensions and high-handed +proceedings of the gang. While H.M.S. _Amaranth_ lay in dock in 1804 +and her company were temporarily quartered on a hulk in Long Reach, two +sheriff's officers, accompanied by a man named Cumberland, a tailor of +Deptford, boarded the latter and served a writ on a seaman for debt. The +first lieutenant, who was in charge at the time, refused to let the man +go, saying he would first send to his captain, then at the dock, for +orders, which he accordingly did. The intruders thereupon went over +the side, Cumberland "speaking very insultingly." Just as the messenger +returned with the captain's answer, however, they again put in an +appearance, and the lieutenant hailed them and bade them come aboard. +Cumberland complied. "I have orders from my captain," said the +lieutenant, stepping up to him, "to press you." He did so, and had it +not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was immediately sworn out, the +Deptford tailor would most certainly have exchanged his needle for a +marlinespike. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1532--Lieut. Collett, 13 +Feb. 1804.] + +Provocative as such redemptive measures were, and designedly so, they +were as a rule allowed to pass unchallenged. The Lords Commissioners +regretted the loss of the men, but thought "perhaps it would be as well +to let them go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 302--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1783-95, No. 24.] For this complacent attitude on the part of +his captors the pressed man had reason to hold the Law Officers of the +Crown in grateful remembrance. As early as 1755 they gave it as their +opinion--too little heeded--that to bring any matter connected with +pressing to judicial trial would be "very imprudent." Later, with the +lesson of twenty-two years' hard pressing before their eyes, they went +still further, for they then advised that a subject so contentious, +not to say so ill-defined in law, should be kept, if not altogether, at +least as much as possible out of court. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 99; _Admiralty Records_ 7. +299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, No. 70.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + + + +Not until the year 1833 did belated Nemesis overtake the press-gang. It +died the unmourned victim of its own enormities, and the manner of +its passing forms the by no means least interesting chapter in its +extraordinary career. + +Summarising the causes, direct and indirect, which led to the final +scrapping of an engine that had been mainly instrumental in manning +the fleet for a hundred years and more, and without which, whatever its +imperfections, that fleet could in all human probability never have been +manned at all, we find them to be substantially these:-- + +_(a)_ The demoralising effects of long-continued, violent and +indiscriminate pressing upon the Fleet; + +_(b)_ Its injurious and exasperating effects upon Trade; + +_(c)_ Its antagonising effect upon the Nation; and + +_(d)_ Its enormous cost as compared with recruiting by the good-will of +the People. + +Frederick the Great, it is related, being in one of his grim humours +after the dearly bought victory of Czaslaw, invited the neighbouring +peasantry to come and share the spoil of the carcases on the field of +battle. They responded in great numbers; whereupon he, surrounding +them, pressed three hundred of the most promising and "cloathed them +immediately from the dead." [Footnote: _State Papers Foreign, +Germany,_ vol. cccxl.--Robinson to Hyndford, 31 May 1742.] In this way, +Ezekiel-like, he retrieved his losses; but to the regiments so completed +the addition of these resurrection recruits proved demoralising to a +degree, notwithstanding the Draconic nature of the Prussian discipline. +In like manner the discipline used in the British fleet, while not less +drastic, failed conspicuously to counteract the dry-rot introduced and +fostered by the press-gang. In its efforts to maintain the Navy, indeed, +that agency came near to proving its ruin. + +On the most lenient survey of the recruits it furnished, it cannot be +denied that they were in the aggregate a desperately poor lot, unfitted +both physically and morally for the tremendous task of protecting an +island people from the attacks of powerful sea-going rivals. How bad +they were, the epithets spontaneously applied to them by the outraged +commanders upon whom they were foisted abundantly prove. Witness the +following, taken at random from naval captains' letters extending over a +hundred years:-- + +"Blackguards." + +"Sorry poor creatures that don't earn half the victuals they eat." + +"Sad, thievish creatures." + +"Not a rag left but what was of such a nature as had to be destroyed." + +"150 on board, the greatest part of them sorry fellows." + +"Poor ragged souls, and very small." + +"Miserable poor creatures, not a seaman amongst them, and the fleet in +the same condition." + +"Unfit for service, and a nuisance to the ship." + +"Never so ill-manned a ship since I have been at sea. The worst set I +ever saw." + +"Twenty-six poor souls, but three of them seamen. Ragged and half dead." + +"Landsmen, boys, incurables and cripples. Sad wretches great part of +them are." + +"More fit for an hospital than the sea." + +"All the ragg-tagg that can be picked up." + +In this last phrase, "All the rag-tag that can be picked up," we have +the key to the situation; for though orders to press "no aged, diseased +or infirm persons, nor boys," were sufficiently explicit, yet in +order to swell the returns, and to appease in some degree the fleet's +insatiable greed for men, the gangs raked in recruits with a lack of +discrimination that for the better part of a century made that fleet the +most gigantic collection of human freaks and derelicts under the sun. + +Billingsley, commander of the _Ferme_, receiving seventy pressed men to +complete his complement in 1708, discovers to his chagrin that thirteen +are lame in the legs, five lame in the hands, and three almost blind. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1469--Capt. Billingsley, 5 May 1708.] +Latham, commanding the _Bristol_, on the eve of sailing for the West +Indies can muster only eighteen seamen amongst sixty-eight pressed men +that day put on board of him. As for the rest, they are either sick, +or too old or too young to be of service--"ragged wretches, bad of the +itch, who have not the least pretensions to eat His Majesty's bread." +Forty of the number had to be put ashore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 161--Admiral Watson, 26 Feb. 1754.] Admiral Mostyn, boarding his +flagship, the _Monarch_, "never in his life saw such a crew," though the +_Monarch_ had an already sufficiently evil reputation in that respect, +insomuch that whenever a scarecrow man-o'-war's man was seen ashore the +derisive cry instantly went up: "There goes a _Monarch_!" So hopelessly +bad was the company in this instance, it was found impossible to carry +the ship to sea. "I don't know where they come from," observes the +Admiral, hot with indignation, "but whoever was the officer who received +them, he ought to be ashamed, for I never saw such except in the +condemned hole at Newgate. I was three hours and a half mustering this +scabby crew, and I should have imagined that the Scum of the Earth +had been picked up for this ship." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +480--Admiral Mostyn, 1 and 6 April 1755.] The vigorous protest prepares +us for what Capt. Baird found on board the _Duke_ a few years later. +The pressed men there exhibited such qualifications for sea duty as +"fractured thigh-bone, idiocy, strained back and sickly, a discharged +soldier, gout and sixty years old, rupture, deaf and foolish, fits, +lame, rheumatic and incontinence of urine." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Baird, 22 May 1759.] + +That most reprehensible practice, the pressing of cripples for naval +purposes, would appear to have had its origin in the unauthorised +extension of an order issued by the Lord High Admiral, in 1704, to the +effect that in the appointment of cooks to the Navy the Board should +give preference to persons so afflicted. For the pressing of boys there +existed even less warrant. Yet the practice was common, so much so that +when, during the great famine of 1800, large numbers of youths flocked +into Poole in search of the bread they could not obtain in the country, +the gangs waylaid them and reaped a rich harvest. Two hundred was the +toll on this occasion. As all were in a "very starving, ragged, filthy +condition," the gangsmen stripped them, washed them thoroughly in the +sea, clad them in second-hand clothing from the quay-side shops, and +giving each one a knife, a spoon, a comb and a bit of soap, sent them on +board the tenders contented and happy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 579--Capt. Boyle, 2 June 1801.] These lads were of course a cut +above the "scum of the earth" so vigorously denounced by Admiral Mostyn. +Beginning their career as powder-monkeys, a few years' licking into +shape transformed them, as a rule, into splendid fighting material. + +The utter incapacity of the human refuse dumped into the fleet is justly +stigmatised by one indignant commander, himself a patient long-sufferer +in that respect, as a "scandalous abuse of the service." Six of these +poor wretches had not the strength of one man. They could not be got +upon deck in the night, or if by dint of the rope's-end they were at +length routed out of their hammocks, they immediately developed the +worst symptoms of the "waister"--seasickness and fear of that which +is high. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Billop, 26 Oct. +1712.] Bruce, encountering dirty weather on the Irish coast, when in +command of the _Hawke_, out of thirty-two pressed men "could not get +above seven to go upon a yard to reef his courses," but was obliged to +order his warrant officers and master aloft on that duty. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, 6 Oct. 1741.] Belitha, of the +_Scipio_, had but one man aboard him, out of a crew of forty-one, who +was competent to stand his trick at the wheel; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Belitha, 15 July 1746.] Bethell, of the +_Phoenix_, had many who had "never seen a gun fired in their lives"; +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Bethell, 21 Aug. 1759.] +and Adams, of the _Bird-in-hand_, learnt the fallacy of the assertion +that that _rara avis_ is worth two in the bush. Mustered for drill in +small-arms, his men "knew no more how to handle them than a child." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 7 Oct. 1744.] +For all their knowledge of that useful exercise they might have been +Sea-Fencibles. + +Yet while ships were again and again prevented from putting to sea +because, though their complements were numerically complete, they had +only one or no seaman on board, and hence were unable to get their +anchors or make sail; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. +Boys, 14 April 1742; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1512--Capt. Bayly, 21 July +1796, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] while Bennett, of the _Lennox_, +when applied to by the masters of eight outward-bound East-India ships +for the loan of two hundred and fifty men to enable them to engage the +French privateers by whom they were held up in the river of Shannon, +dared not lend a single hand lest the pressed men, who formed the +greater part of his crew, should rise and run away with the ship; +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1779.] +Ambrose, of the _Rupert_, cruising off Cape Machichaco with a crew of +"miserable poor wretches" whom he feared could be of "no manner of use +or service" to him, after a short but sharp engagement of only an +hour's duration captured, with the loss of but a single man, the largest +privateer sailing out of San Sebastian--the _Duke of Vandome_, +of twenty-six carriage guns and two hundred and two men, of whom +twenty-nine were killed; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. +Ambrose, 7 July and 26 Sept. 1741.] and Capt. Amherst, encountering a +heavy gale in Barnstable Pool, off Appledore, would have lost his ship, +the low-waisted, over-masted _Mortar_ sloop, had it not been for +the nine men he was so lucky as to impress shortly before the gale. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 12 Dec. 1744.] +Anson regarded pressed men with suspicion. When he sailed on his famous +voyage round the world his ships contained only sixty-seven; but with +his complement of five hundred reduced by sickness to two hundred and +one, he was glad to add forty of those undesirables to their number +out of the India-men at Wampoo. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Anson, 18 Sept. 1740, and 7 Dec. 1742.] These, however, were +seamen such as the gangs did not often pick up in England, where, as we +have seen, the able seaman who was not fully protected avoided the press +as he would a lee shore. + +In addition to the sweepings of the roads and slums, there were in His +Majesty's ships many who trod the decks "wide betwixt the legs, as if +they had the gyves on." Peculiar to the seafaring man, the tailor and +the huckstering Jew, the gait of these individuals, who belonged +mostly to the sailor class, was strongly accentuated by an adventitious +circumstance having no necessary connection with Israelitish descent, +the sartorial board or the rolling deep. They were in fact convicts who +had but recently shed their irons, and who walked wide from force of +habit. Reasons of policy rather than of mercy explained their presence +in the fleet. The prisons of the country, numerous and insanitary though +they were, could neither hold them all nor kill them; America would have +no more of them; and penal settlements, those later garden cities of +a harassed government, were as yet undreamt of. In these circumstances +reprieved and pardoned convicts were bestowed in about equal +proportions, according to their calling and election, upon the army and +the navy. + +The practice was one of very respectable antiquity and antecedents. By +a certain provision of the Feudal System a freeman who had committed a +felony, or become hopelessly involved in debt, might purge himself of +either by becoming a serf. So, at a later date, persons in the like +predicament were permitted to exchange their fetters, whether of debt or +iron, for the dear privilege of "spilling every drop of blood in their +bodies" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Convicts +on board the _Stanislaus_ hulk, Woolwich, 18 May 1797.] on behalf of +the sovereign whose clemency they enjoyed. Broken on the wheel of naval +discipline, they "did very well in deep water." Nearer land they were +given, like the jailbirds they were, to "hopping the twig." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 21 March 1776.] + +The insolvent debtor, who in the majority of cases had studied his +pleasures more than his constitution, was perhaps an even less desirable +recruit than his cousin the emancipated convict. In his letters to +the Navy Board, Capt. Aston, R.N., relates how, immediately after the +passing of the later Act [Footnote: 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6.] for the +freeing of such persons from their financial fetters, he "gave constant +attendance for almost two years at the sittings of the Courts of +Sessions in London and Surrey," lying in wait there for such debtors +as should choose the sea. From the Queen's Bench Prison, the Clink, +Marshalsea, Borough Compter, Poultry Compter, Wood Street Compter, +Ludgate Prison and the Fleet, he obtained in that time a total of one +hundred and thirty-two, to whom in every case the prest-shilling was +paid. They were dear at the price. Bankrupt in pocket, stamina and +health, they cumbered the ships to the despair of commanders and were +never so welcome as when they ran away. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1436--Letters of Capt. Aston, 1704-5.] + +The responsibility for jail-bird recruiting did not of course rest with +the gangs. They saw the shady crew safe on board ship, that was all. +Yet the odium of the thing was theirs. For not only did association with +criminals lower the standard of pressing as the gangs practised it, +it heightened the general disrepute in which they were held. For an +institution whose hold upon the affections of the people was at the best +positively negative, this was a serious matter. Every convict whom the +gang safeguarded consequently drove another nail in the coffin preparing +for it. The first and most lasting effect of the wholesale pumping +of sewage into the fleet was to taint the ships with a taint far more +deadly than mere ineptitude. A spirit of ominous restlessness +prevailed. Slackness was everywhere observable, coupled with incipient +insubordination which no discipline, however severe, could eradicate or +correct. At critical moments the men could with difficulty be held to +their duty. To hold them to quarters in '97, when engaging the enemy +off Brest, the rattan and the rope's-end had to be unsparingly used. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Company of +H.M.S. _Nymph_, 1797.] In no circumstances were they to be trusted. +Given the slightest opening, they "ran" like water from a sieve. To +counteract these dangerous tendencies the Marines were instituted. +Drafted into the ships in thousands, they checked in a measure the +surface symptoms of disaffection, but left the disease itself untouched. +The fact was generally recognised, and it was no uncommon circumstance, +when the number of pressed men present in a ship was large in proportion +to the unpressed element, for both officers and marines to walk the deck +day and night armed, fearful lest worse things should come upon them. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1799, +and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] What they anticipated was the mutiny +of individual crews. But a greater calamity than this was in store for +them. + +In the wholesale mutinies at Spithead and the Nore the blow fell with +appalling suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that in one form or +another it had been long foreseen. Fifty-five years had elapsed since +Vernon, scenting danger from the existing mode of manning the fleet, had +first sounded the alarm. He dreaded, he told the Lords Commissioners +in so many words, the consequences that must sooner or later ensue +from adherence to the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +578--Vice-Admiral Vernon, 27 Jan. 1742-3.] Though the utterance of one +gifted with singularly clear prevision, the warning passed unheeded. Had +it been made public, it would doubtless have met with the derision with +which the voice of the national prophet is always hailed. Veiled as it +was in service privacy, it moved their Lordships to neither comment nor +action. Action, indeed, was out of the question. The Commissioners were +helpless in the grip of a system from which, so far as human sagacity +could then perceive, there was no way of escape. Let its issue be what +it might, they could no more replace or reconstruct it than they could +build ships of tinsel. + +Other warnings were not wanting. For some years before the catastrophic +happenings of '97 there flowed in upon the Admiralty a thin but steady +stream of petitions from the seamen of the fleet, each of them a rude +echo of Vernon's sapient warning. To these, coming as they did from an +unconsidered source, little if any significance was attached. Beyond the +most perfunctory inquiry, in no case to be made public, they received +scant attention. The sailor, it was thought, must have his grievances if +he would be happy; and petitions were the recognised line for him to air +them on. They were accordingly relegated to that limbo of distasteful +and quickly forgotten things, their Lordships' pigeon-holes. + +Yet there was amongst these documents at least one which should have +given the Heads of the Navy pause for serious thought. It was the +petition of the seamen of H.M.S. _Shannon_, [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Ship's Company of the _Shannon_, 16 +June 1796.] in which there was conveyed a threat that afterwards, when +the mutiny at the Nore was at its height, under the leadership of a +pressed man whose coadjutors were mainly pressed men, came within an +ace of resolving itself in action. That threat concerned the desperate +expedient of carrying the revolted ships into an enemy's port, and of +there delivering them up. Had this been done--and only the Providence +that watches over the destinies of nations prevented it--the act would +have brought England to her knees. + +At a time like this, when England's worst enemies were emphatically the +press-gangs which manned her fleet with the riff-raff of the nation and +thus made national disaster not only possible but hourly imminent, the +"old stander" and the volunteer were to her Navy what salt is to the +sea, its perpetual salvation. Such men inculcated an example, created an +_esprit de corps_, that infected even the vagrant and the jail-bird, to +say nothing of the better-class seaman, taken mainly by gangs operating +on the water, who was often content, when brought into contact with +loyal men, to settle down and do his best for king and country. Amongst +the pressed men, again, desertion and death made for the survival of the +fittest, and in this residuum there was not wanting a certain savour. +Subdued and quickened by man-o'-war discipline, they developed a +dogged resolution, a super-capacity not altogether incompatible with +degeneracy; and to crown all, the men who officered the resolute if +disreputable crew were men in whose blood the salt of centuries tingled, +men unrivalled for sea-sagacity, initiative and pluck. If they could not +uphold the honour of the flag with the pressed man's unqualified aid, +they did what was immeasurably greater. They upheld it in spite of him. + +Upon the trade of the nation the injury inflicted by the press-gang is +rightly summed up in littles. Every able seaman, every callow apprentice +taken out of or forcibly detained from a merchant vessel was, _ipso +facto,_ a minute yet irretrievably substantial loss to commerce of one +kind or another. Trade, it is true, did not succumb in consequence. +Possessed of marvellous recuperative powers, she did not even languish +to any perceptible degree. Nevertheless, the detriment was there, +a steadily cumulative factor, and at the end of any given period of +pressing the commerce of the nation, emasculated by these continuous if +infinitesimal abstractions from its vitality, was substantially less in +bulk, substantially less in pounds sterling, than if it had been allowed +to run its course unhindered. + +British in name, but Teutonic in its resentments, trade came to regard +these continual "pin-pricks" as an intolerable nuisance. It was not so +much the loss that aroused her anger as the constant irritation she +was subjected to. This she keenly resented, and the stream of her +resentment, joining forces with its confluents the demoralisation of +the Navy through pressing, the excessive cost of pressing and the +antagonising effects of pressing upon the nation at large, contributed +in no small degree to that final supersession of the press-gang which +was in essence, if not in name, the beginning of Free Trade. + +To the people the impress was as an axe laid at the root of the tree. +There was here no question, as with trade, of the mere loss of hands +who could be replaced. Attacking the family in the person of its natural +supporter and protector, the octopus system of which the gangs were the +tentacles struck at the very foundations of domestic life and brought to +thousands of households a poverty as bitter and a grief as poignant as +death. + +If the people were slow to anger under the infliction it was because, in +the first place, the gang had its advocates who, though they could not +extol its virtues, since it had none, were yet able, and that with no +small measure of success, to demonstrate to a people as insular in their +prejudices as in their habitat that, but for the invincible Navy which +the gang maintained for their protection, the hereditary enemy, the +detested French, would most surely come and compel them one and all to +subsist upon a diet of frogs. What could be seriously urged against the +gang in face of an argument such as that? + +Patriotism, moreover, glowed with ardent flame. Fanned to twofold heat +by natural hatred of the foreigner and his insolent challenge of insular +superiority, it blinded the people to the truth that liberty of the +subject is in reality nothing more than freedom from oppression. +So, with the gang at their very doors, waiting to snatch away their +husbands, their fathers and their sons, they carolled "Rule Britannia" +and congratulated themselves on being a free people. The situation was +unparalleled in its sardonic humour; and, as if this were not enough, +the "Noodle of Newcastle," perceiving vacuously that something was still +wanting, supplied the bathetic touch by giving out that the king, God +bless him! could never prevail upon himself to break through the sacred +liberties of his people save on the most urgent occasions. [Footnote: +_Newcastle Papers_--Newcastle to Yorke, 27 Feb. 1749-50.] + +The process of correcting the defective vision of the nation was as +gradual as the acquisition of the sea-power the nation had set as its +goal, and as painful. In both processes the gang participated largely. +To the fleet it acted as a rude feeder; to the people as a ruder +specialist. Wielding the cutlass as its instrument, it slowly and +painfully hewed away the scales from their eyes until it stood +visualised for what it really was--the most atrocious agent of +oppression the world has ever seen. For the operation the people should +have been grateful. The nature of the thing they had cherished so +blindly filled them with rage and incited them to violence. + +Two events now occurred to seal the fate of the gang and render its +final supersession a mere matter of time rather than of debate or +uncertainty. The mutiny at the Nore brought the people face to face with +the appalling risks attendant on wholesale pressing, while the war with +America, incurred for the sole purpose of upholding the right to press, +taught them the lengths to which their rulers were still prepared to go +in order to enslave them. In the former case their sympathies, though +with the mutineers, were frozen at the fountain-head by fear of invasion +and that supposititious diet of frogs. In the latter, as in the ancient +quarrel between Admiralty and Trade, they went out to the party who not +only abstained from pressing but paid the higher wages. + +While the average cost of 'listing a man "volunteerly" rarely exceeded +the modest sum of 30s., the expense entailed through recruiting him by +means of the press-gang ranged from 3s. 9d. per head in 1570 [Footnote: +_State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth_, vol. lxxiii. f. 38: Estimate of +Charge for Pressing 400 Mariners, 1570.] to 114 Pounds in 1756. Between +these extremes his cost fluctuated in the most extraordinary manner. +At Weymouth, in 1762, it was at least 100 Pounds; at Deal, in 1805, 32 +Pounds odd; at Poole, in the same year, 80 Pounds. [Footnote: _London +Chronicle_, 16-18 March, 1762; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral +Berkeley, 14 Feb. and 5 Aug. 1805.] From 1756 the average steadily +declined until in 1795 it touched its eighteenth century minimum of +about 6 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Average based on +Admirals' Reports on Rendezvous, 1791-5.] A sharp upward tendency then +developed, and in the short space of eight years it soared again to 20 +Pounds. It was at this figure that Nelson, perhaps the greatest naval +authority of his time, put it in 1803. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] + +Up to this point we have considered only the prime cost of the pressed +man. A secondary factor must now be introduced, for when you had got +your man at an initial cost of 20 Pounds--a cost in itself out of all +proportion to his value--you could never be sure of keeping him. Nelson +calculated that during the war immediately preceding 1803 forty-two +thousand seamen deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Assuming, with him, +that every man of this enormous total was either a pressed man or had +been procured at the cost of a pressed man, the loss entailed upon the +nation by their desertion represented an outlay of 840,000 Pounds for +raising them in the first instance, and, in the second, a further outlay +of 840,000 Pounds for replacing them. + +In this estimate there is, however, a substantial error; for, +approaching the question from another point of view, let us suppose, as +we may safely do without overstraining the probabilities of the case, +that out of every three men pressed at least one ran from his rating. +Now the primary cost of pressing three men on the 20 Pound basis being +60 Pounds, it follows that in order to obtain their ultimate cost to the +country we must add to that sum the outlay incurred in pressing another +man in lieu of the one who ran. The total cost of the three men who +ultimately remain to the fleet consequently works out at 80 Pounds; the +cost of each at 26 Pounds, 13s. 4d. Hence Nelson's forty-two thousand +deserters entailed upon the nation an actual expenditure, not of +1,680,000 Pounds, but of nearly two and a quarter millions. + +Another fact that emerges from a scrutiny of these remarkable figures is +this. Whenever the number of volunteer additions to the fleet increased, +the cost of pressing increased in like ratio; whenever the number of +volunteers declined, the pressed man became proportionally cheaper. +Periods in which the pressed man was scarce and dear thus synchronise +with periods when the volunteer was plentiful; but scarcity of +volunteers, reacting upon the gangs, and conducing to their greater +activity, brought in pressed men in greater numbers in proportion to +expenditure and so reduced the cost per head. In this logical though at +first sight bewildering interrelation of the laws of supply and demand, +we have in a nutshell the whole case for the cost of pressing as against +the gang. Taking one year with another the century through, the impress +service, on a moderate estimate, employed enough able-bodied men to man +a first-rate ship of the line, and absorbed at least enough money to +maintain her, while the average number of men raised, taking again one +year with another, rarely if ever exceeded the number of men engaged in +obtaining them. With tranquillity at length assured to the country, with +trade in a state of high prosperity, the shipping tonnage of the nation +rising by leaps and bounds and the fleet reduced to an inexigent peace +footing, why incur the ruinous expense of pressing the seaman when, as +was now the case, he could be had for the asking or the making? + +For Peace brought in her train both change and opportunity. The frantic +dumping of all sorts and conditions of men into the fleet ceased. +Necessity no longer called for it. No enemy hovered in the offing, to be +perpetually outmanoeuvred or instantly engaged. Until that enemy could +renew its strength, or time should call another into being, the mastery +of the seas, the dear prize of a hundred years of strenuous struggle, +remained secure. Our ships, maintained nevertheless as efficient +fighting-machines, became schools of leisure wherein--a thing impossible +amid the perpetual storm and stress of war--the young blood of +the nation could be more gradually inured to the sea and tuned to +fighting-pitch. Science had not yet linked hands with warfare. Steam, +steel, the ironclad, the super-Dreadnought and the devastating cordite +gun were still in the womb of the future; but the keels of a newer +fleet were nevertheless already on the slips, and with the old order the +press-gang, now for ever obsolete, went the way of all things useless. + +Its memory still survives. Those who despair of our military system, or +of our lack of it, talk of conscription. They alone forget. A people +who for a hundred years patiently endured conscription in its most cruel +form will never again suffer it to be lightly inflicted upon them. + + + + +APPENDIX + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO + + +DEAR NEPEAN,--I enclose a little project for destroying the Enemy's +Flatboats if they venture over to our Coast, which you may shew, if you +please, to your Sea Lords as coming from some anonymous correspondent. +If they can improve upon it so as to make it useful, I shall be glad +of it; and if they think it good for nothing, and throw it in the fire, +there is no harm done. As the conveying an Army must require a very +great number of Boats, which must be very near each other, if many such +vessels as I propose should get among them, they must necessarily commit +great havoc. I cannot ascertain whether the blocks or logs of wood would +be strong enough to throw the shot without bursting, or whether they +would not throw the shot though they should burst. I think they would +not burst, and so do some Officers of Artillery here; but that might +be ascertained by experiment at any time. This sort of Fire-vessel will +have the advantage of costing very little; and of being of no service to +the Enemy should it fall into their hands. + +W. YOUNG. LEWES, 14 _Aug_. 1803. + + + [Illustration: Admiral Young's Torpedo. From the Original Drawing at +the Public Record Office.] + +_Secret_ + +"The success of an attempt to land an Army on an Enemy's Coast, whose +Army is prepared to prevent it, will depend in a great degree on the +regularity of the order in which the Boats, or Vessels, are arranged, +that carry the Troops on Shore; everything therefore which contributes +to the breaking of that order will so far contribute to render success +more doubtful; especially if, in breaking the order, some of the Boats +or Vessels are destroyed. For this purpose Fireships well managed will +be found very useful; I should therefore think that, at all the King's +Ports, and at all places where the Enemy may be expected to attempt +a landing with Ships of War or other large Vessels, considerable +quantities of materials for fitting Fireships according to the latest +method should be kept ready to be put on board any small Vessels on the +Enemy's approach; but, as such Vessels would have little or no effect +on Gunboats or Flatboats, machines might be made for the purpose of +destroying them, by shot, and by explosion. The Shot should be large, +but as they will require to be thrown but a short distance, and will +have only thin-sided Vessels to penetrate, Machines strong enough to +resist the effort of the small quantity of Powder necessary to throw +them may probably be made of wood; either by making several chambers in +one thick Block, as No. 1, or one chamber at each end of a log as No. +2, which may be used either separately, or fastened together. The Vents +should communicate with each other by means of quick Match, which should +be very carefully covered to prevent its sustaining damage, or being +moved by things carried about. Such Machines, properly loaded, may be +kept in Fishing boats or other small vessels near the parts of the Coast +where the Enemy may be expected to land; or in secure places, ready to +be put on board when the Enemy are expected. The Chambers should be cut +horizontally, and the Machine should be so placed in the Vessel as to +have them about level with the surface of the water; under the Machine +should be placed a considerable quantity of Gunpowder; and over it, +large Stones, and bags of heavy shingle, and the whole may be covered +with fishing nets, or any articles that may happen to be on board. +Several fuses, or trains of Match, should communicate with the Machine, +and with the powder under it, so managed as to ensure those which +communicate with the Machine taking effect upon the others, that the +shot may be thrown before the Vessel is blown up. The Match, or Fuses, +should be carefully concealed to prevent their being seen if the Vessel +should be boarded.... If these Vessels are placed in the front of the +Enemy's Line, and not near the extremities of it, it would be scarcely +possible for them to avoid the effects of the explosion unless, from +some of them exploding too soon, the whole armament should stop. Every +Machine would probably sink the Boat on each side of it, and so do +considerable damage to others with the shot; and would kill and wound +many men by the explosion and the fall of the stones.... As the success +of these Vessels will depend entirely upon their not being suspected by +the Enemy, the utmost secrecy must be observed in preparing the +Machines and sending them to the places where they are to be kept. A few +confidential men only should be employed to make them, and they should +be so covered as to prevent any suspicion of their use, or of what they +contain." + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Capt., + +_Admiral Spry_ tender, + +_Adventure_, H.M.S., + +Ages below eighteen and over fifty-five exempt, + +Alcock, Henry, Mayor of Waterford, + +Alms, Capt., + +_Amaranth_, H.M.S., + +Ambrose, Capt., + +Amherst, Capt, + +_Amphitrite_, H.M.S., + +Andover, the press-gang at, + +_Anglesea_, H.M.S., + +Anne, Queen, impresses foreign seamen, + arms of press-gang under, + drummers and fifers pressed for navy in her reign, + sailors unwilling to serve, + +Anson, Admiral Lord, + +Anthony, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Appledore, press-gang at, 72, + +Apprentices, exempt from impressment only in some circumstances, in +North-country pressed because their indentures bore Scotch 14s. stamp +instead of English 15s., + +Archer, Capt, + +Arms of the press-gang, + +_Assurance_, H.M.S., + +Aston, Capt, + +Atkinson, Lieut., + +Ayscough, Capt., + +Baily, James, a ferryman, pressed for his inactivity, + +Baird, Capt, + +Balchen, Capt., + +Ball, Capt., + +Banyan days, + +Bargemen impressed in thousands, + +Barker, Capt., regulating officer at Bristol, midshipman. + +Barking, the press-gang at, + +Barnicle, William, + +Barnsley, Lieut., + +Barrington, Capt., + +Bath, Bristol gang's fruitless attempt at, + +Bawdsey, + +_Beaufort_, East Indiaman, + +Beecher, Capt, + +Bennett, Capt, + +Bertie, Capt, + +Bethell, Capt, paid damages for wrongfully impressing, + +Bettesworth, John, claims privilege of granting private protections to +Ryde and Portsmouth ferrymen, + +Biggen, Charles, + +Billingsley, Capt., + +Bingham, William, + +Birchall, Lieut., + +_Bird-in-hand_, H.M.S., + +Birmingham, sham gangs at, + +_Black Book_ of the Admiralty, + +Blackstone, Sir W., + +Blackwater, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Blanche_, H.M.S., + +Blear-eyed Moll, + +_Blonde_, H.M.S., + +Boats for the press-gang, + +Boat steerers on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Boatswains, conditions of exemption, + +_Bonetta_ sloop, + +Boscawen, Capt., + +Boston, Mass., + +Bounty system, the, + +Bowen, Capt., + +Box, Lieut, + +Boys, Capt., + +Brace, Lieut., + +Bradley, Lieut, + +Brawn, Capt., + +Breedon, Lieut., + +Brenton, Capt. Jahleel, afterwards Vice-Admiral, + +Brenton, E. P., _Naval History_, + +Brenton, Lieut, + +Brereton, Capt., + +Brett, Capt, 110, + +Bridges a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +Brighton, the press-gang at, + +Bristol, the press-gang at, + +Bristol jail as press-room, + +_Bristol_, H.M.S., + +_Britannia_ trading vessel, + three of the crew shot in resisting the + press-gang, the ship captured and taken to port, + the affair not within the coroner's purview, the bodies + buried at sea, court-martial acquits officers, + +Brixham, the press-gang at, + +Broadfoot case, the, + +Broadstairs fishermen, the press-gang at, Bromley, Capt. Sir Robert, + +Bullard, Richard, a fiddler persuaded to go to Woolwich to play and for +payment was handed to the gang, + +_Bull-Dog_ sloop, + +Burchett, Josiah, _Observations on the Navy_, + +Burrows, Sam, + +Butler, Capt., + +Byron, Lord, + +Calahan, a gangsman, killed in attempting an arrest, + +Cambridge bargemen, press-gang among, + +Campbell, Admiral, + +Cape Breton, + +Caradine, Samuel, + +Carey, Rev. Lucius, + +Carmarthen, Admiral the Marquis of, + +Carolina, + +Carpenters, conditions of exemption, on warships on coast of Scotland +could be replaced by shipwrights pressed from the yards, + +Carrying the ship up, + +Cartel ships, + +Castle, William, an alien, impressed on his honeymoon, + +Castleford, the press-gang at, + +Cawsand safe from the press-gang, + +Cecil, William, Lord Burleigh, + +_Centurion_, H.M.S., Anson's flagship, whose crew on their return had +life-protection from the press, + +Chaplains, + +Charles II., + +Chatham, crimpage at, + +_Chatham_, H.M.S., + +Chester, the press-gang at + +_Chevrette_ corvette, + +Clapp, Midshipman, + +Clark, George, + +Clephen, James, + +_Clincher_ gun-brig, + +Cockburn, Bailie, of Leith, + +Cogbourne's electuary, + +Coke, Sir E., + +Collingwood, Admiral Lord, Lieut, + +Colvill, Admiral Lord, + +Colville, Lieut., + +Convoys, + +Conyear, John, + +Cooper, Josh, + +Cork, crimpage at, the press-gang at, + +Comet bomb ship, + +Cornwall, the press-gang in, + +Coversack, safe from the press-gang, + +Coventry, Mr. Commissioner, + +Coventry, sham gangs at, + +Cowes, press-gang at, + +Crabb, Henry, + +Crews depleted by the press-gang, + +Crick, William, + +Crimps, as sham gangsmen, + +Cromer, the suspicions of the inhabitants, + bring the press-gang, to take a noted Russian, + +Crown Colonies, desertions in, + + +Croydon, the press-gang around, + + +Cruickshank, John, chaplain, + +Culverhouse, Capt., + +Customs, Board of, + +Dansays, Capt., + +Danton, Midshipman, + +Darby, Capt., + +Dartmouth, H.M.S., + +Dartmouth, press-gang at, + +Davidson, Samuel, of Newcastle, applies for life protection + +"DD," discharged dead, in muster books against names of persons +deceased, + +Deal, press-gang at, + +cutters, + +Death of sailor in resisting impress, "accidental", + +Debusk, John, shot by the press-gang, on the Britannia, + +Dent, Capt., + +Deptford, the press-gang at, + +Desertion from the Navy, + +Devonshire, H.M.S., + +Dipping the flag, + +Director, H.M.S., + +Discipline in the Navy, + +Disinfecting a ship, + +Dispatch sloop, + +Dolan, Edward, + +Dominion and Laws of the Sea., See Justice, A., + +Dorsetshire, H.M.S., + +Douglas, Capt. Andrew, + +Dover, press-gang at, + +Downs, crimpage in the, + +press-gang in, + +Doyle, Lieut, + +Dreadnought, H.M.S., + +Drummers pressed for the Navy, + +Dryden, Michael, illegally pressed, + +Dryden's sister, + +Dublin, sham gangs at, the press-gang at, + +Duke, H.M.S., + +Duke of Vandome, H.M.S., + +Duncan case, the, + +Dundas, Henry, + +Dundonald, Lord, Autobiography, + +Dunkirk, H.M.S., + +Eccentricity leads to impressment, + +Eddystone lighthouse, building delayed through impressment of workmen, +builders of the third, protected, keepers at, put inward-bound, + ships' crews ashore, + +Edinburgh, press-gang at, + +Edmund and Mary Collier, + +Edward III. on the Navy, + +Elizabeth, Queen, + +Elizabeth ketch, + +Ely bargemen, press-gang among, + +Emergency crews of men unfit for pressing supplied to merchant-men by +the crimps, + +Emergency men working on their own account, places of muster for, + +English Eclogues. See Southey, R., + +Evading the press-gang. See under Press-gang, How it was evaded., + +Evans, Richard, keeper of Gloucester Castle, + +Exemption from impressment, + not a right, of foreigners, negroes not included, + of landsmen only theoretical, + property no qualification for exemption, + of harvesters, + of gentlemen, judged by appearances, + below 18 and over 55 years, + of apprentices dependent on circumstances, + of merchant seamen dependent on circumstances, + of masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters dependent on + circumstances, + of some of crew of whalers, + of Thames wherrymen by quota system, + of Tyne keelman by the same, + of Severn and Wye trow-men by 10% levy, + did not extend to turf boats on Shannon and Blackwater, + special for four on each fishing vessel, and later for all engaged + in taking, curing, and selling fish, + of Worthing fishermen for a levy, + of Scottish and Manx fishermen, on similar terms, + worthless without a document of protection, + +Exeter, the press-gang at, + +_Falmouth_, H.M.S., + +Falmouth, press-gang at, + +Faversham, the press-gang at, + +_Ferme_, H.M.S., + +Ferries, a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +_Feversham_, H.M.S., + +Fifers pressed for the Navy, + +Fire on ship board, + +Fisheries, carefully fostered, + three fish days made compulsory, became a great nursery for seamen, + few exemptions granted, at first special concessions only to the + whale and cod fisheries, + later only such number as the warrant specified might be taken, and + these the Justices chose; in 1801 no person employed in taking, + curing, or selling fish could be impressed, + with their best men impressed, only small smacks could be worked, + a quota system preferred by the fishermen of some ports, + in Cornwall, the men turned tinners in the off-season, + +Flags, flying without authority, omission to dip, + +Fleet, Liberty of, + +Folkstone market-boats, + +Folkstone, press-gang at, + +Forcible entry by the press-gang illegal, + +Foreigners impressed, theoretically exempt, married to English wives considered naturalised, + in emergency crews, + +Frederick the Great, + +Freeholders at one time exempt from impressment, + +_Fubbs_, H.M.S., + +Gage, Capt., + +_Galloper_, tender to the _Dreadnought_, + +_Ganges_, H.M.S., + +Garth, Dr., + +Gaydon, Lieut., + +Gentlemen exempt from the impress, but judged by appearance and manner, + +Gibbs, Capt., + +_Glory_, H.M.S., + +Gloucester, the press-gang at, + +Gloucester Castle used as press-room, the keeper's magic palm, + +Godalming, the press-gang at, + +Golden, John, Lord Mayor's bargeman, wrongfully impressed, + +Good, James, midshipman, + +Goodave, Midshipman, + +Gooding, Richard, + +Gosport, the press-gang at, + +Gravesend, the press-gang at, + +Gray, John, + +Great Yarmouth, press-gang at, + +Greenock, crimpage at, press-gang at, Trades Guild, + +Greenock ferries, the press-gang at, + +Greenwich Hospital, + + +Grimsby, the press-gang at, + + +Habeas Corpus, writs of, as means of arresting, and so freeing, pressed +men for debts not owing, + +Half-pay officers, their projects and inventions, + +Hamoaze, the, an entrepot for pressed men, + +Harpooners exempt from impressment, + +Harrison, Lieut., + +Hart, Alexander, + +_Harwich_, H.M.S., + +Haverfordwest, press-gang at, + +Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward, + +_Hawke_, H.M.S., + +Haygarth, Lieut., + +Health and illness, + +_Hector_, H.M.S., + +Herbert, Emanuel, + +_Hind_ armed sloop, + +_Historical Relation of State Affairs_. See Lutterell, N., + +Hogarth's "Stage Coach," + +Hook, Joseph, + +_Hope_ tender, + +Hotten, J. C., _List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England +to the American Plantations_, + +Hull, press-gang at, + +Humber, the press-gang on, + +Hurst Castle, the press-gang at, + +Ilfracombe, the press-gang at, + +Impressment. See Pressed labour., + +Informers, + +Inland waterways and the gang at one time without the jurisdiction of +the admirals, + +Innes, Capt, + +Ipswich, the press-gang at, + +_Isis_, H.M.S., + +Isle of Man fishermen, + +Jackson, Daniel, pressed from the Chester Volunteers, + +Jamaica, + +_Jason_, H.M.S., + +Jervis, John, Earl of St. Vincent, + +Jews, pressed on account of bandy legs, + +_John and Elizabeth_ pink, + +John, King, impressment under, + +Johnson, Rebecca Anne, + +Jones, Paul, + +Justice, A., _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, + +Keith, A., parson of the Fleet, _Observations on the Act for Preventing +Clandestine Marriages_, + +Kilkenny, the press-gang at, + +King's Lynn, press-gang at, + +Kingston, William, case of, + +_King William_, Indiaman, + +_Lady Shore_, the, + +Landsmen exempt only in theory, + +Latham, Capt., + +Law officers' opinions on pressing, + +Leave, stoppage of, + +Leeds, the press-gang at, + +Leith, crimpage at, press-gang at, + +_Lennox_, H.M.S., + +Letting, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Lewis, Edward, chaplain, + +Libraries, ships', + +_Lichfield_, H.M.S., + +Licorne, H.M.S., + +Limehouse Hole, the press-gang at, + +Lindsay, Admiral the Earl of, _Instructions_, + +Linesmen on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Liskeard, the press-gang at, + +_List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England to the American +Plantations_. See Hotten, J. C., + +_Litchfield_, H.M.S., + +Littlehampton, the press-gang at, + +Liverpool, crimpage at, press-gang at, + +Lodden Bridge, the press-gang at, + +London, the press-gang in, + +Londonderry, the press-gang at, + +Longcroft, Capt, + +_Loo_, H.M.S., + +Love, Henry, gets life protection as promised by Pitt and Dundas, + +Lowestoft, the press-gang at, + +Lulworth, + +Lundy Island, safe from the press-gang, + but not to the sailors' liking, + crews marooned on, + +Lutterell, N., _Historical Relation of State Affairs_, Capt. Hon. Jas., + +Lymington, the press-gang at, + +M'Bride, Admiral, + +M'Cleverty, Capt., + +M'Donald, Alexander, impressed under the age of twelve, Charles, + +M'Gugan's wife, + +M'Kenzie, Lieut., + +M'Quarry, Lachlan, + +Magna Carta, its provisions contrary to impressment, + +Mansfield, Lord, + +Margate, the press-gang at, + +_Maria_ brig, + +Marines, + +Marooned crews on Lundy Island, + +_Martin_ galley, + +_Mary_ smuggler, + +Masters, conditions of exemption, + +Mastery of the sea, a necessity for England, + +Mates, conditions of exemption, + +Medway, press-gang on, + +_Medway_, H.M.S., + +Men in lieu, + +Merchant seamen, conditions of exemption, unprotected when sleeping +ashore, the most valuable asset to the Navy, + +Merchant service, hard conditions of crews, + +_Mercury_, H.M.S., + +Messenger, George, + +Mike, James, hanged for desertion, + +Moll Flanders, + +_Monarch_, H.M.S., + +_Monmouth_, H.M.S., + +_Monumenta Juridica_, + +Morals in the Navy, improved by Jervis, Nelson, and Collingwood, + +Moriarty, Capt, + +_Mortar_ sloop, + +Mostyn, Admiral, + +_Mediator_ tender, + +Mitchell, Admiral Sir D., + +Montagu, Admiral, + +Mousehole, safe from the press-gang, + +Moverty, Thomas, pressed, not having protection on him, + +Nancy of Deptford, + +_Naseby_, H.M.S., + +_Nassau_, H.M.S., + +_Naval History_. See Brenton, E. P., + +Navy, the growth of, in 18th century, natural sources of supply of +crews, hard conditions of service in, + discipline in, + provisions in, + comforts in, + +Negroes not exempt from impressment, + +Nelson, Admiral Lord, + +_Nemesis_, H.M.S., + +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, press-gang at, grand protection enjoyed by, + +New England, + +Newgate compared with the press-room, + +Newhaven, the press-gang at, + +Newland, safe from the press-gang, + +Newquay, safe from the press-gang, + +Nore, the press-gang at the, the mutiny at, an entrepot for pressed-men, + +_Norfolk_, Indiaman, + +Norris, John, + +North Forland, press-gang at, + +_Nymph_, H.M.S., + + +Oakley, Lieut., + +Oaks, Lieut., + +O'Brien, Lieut., + +_Observations on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc._ See Penrose, +Admiral Sir V. C., + +_Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages._ See +Keith, A., + +_Observations on the Navy._ See Burchett, J., + +Okehampton, the press-gang at, + +Onions, Thomas, + +_Orford_, H.M.S., + +Orkney fishermen, + +Osborne, Admiral, + +Osmer, Lieut., + +_Otter_ sloop, + +Oyster vessels, + + +_Pallas_, H.M.S., + +Parker, Richard, president of the mutineers at the Nore, + +Parkgate, a resort of seamen, + +Paying off discharged entire crews, + +Paying the shot, + +Pay of sailors, deferred, + +Pembroke, Earl of, Lord High Admiral, + +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc._, + +Pepys, S., + +Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, + +Petitions of seamen of the Fleet and others, + +_Phoenix_, H.M.S., + +Pill, a favourite haunt of sailors, and shunned by gangsmen, + +Pilots, + +Pitt, William, + +Plymouth, the press-gang at, + +Polpero, safe from the press-gang, + +Poole, press-gang at, mayor refuses to back press-warrants, + +Popham, Admiral Sir Home, his scheme for coast defence, + +Portland Bill, press-gang off, + +Portland Island, + +Portsmouth, desertions at, the press-gang at, + +Post-chaise, sailors in, + +Press-boats sunk at sea, + +Pressed labour (see also Press-gang), antiquity of, for civil occupations, + for warfare, + means of enforcing, + contrary to the spirit of Magna Carta, + penalties for resistance, + derivation of the term, + the classes from which drawn, + exemptions from, + necessity of, in English Navy, + its crippling effect on trade, + +Press-gang, the why it was a necessity for the Navy, + its services not needed by some captains, + what it was, + the official and the popular views, + the class of men it was composed of, + its quarters, landsmen joining the land force not to be pressed + for sea service, + ship-gangs entirely seamen, varying numbers in gang, + the officers, + the shore service the grave of promotion, + general character of officers ashore, + duties of the Regulating Captain, + pay and road money, etc., + perquisites, peculation, and bribery in the service, + sham-gangs, + the rendezvous, + boat's arms, + press warrant, + whom the gang might take, + primarily those who used the sea, + later on trade suffers from the gang, + exemption granted as an indulgence, + the foreigner first exempted, + but not if he had an English wife, and was soon assumed to have + one, + negroes not exempt, landsmen theoretically only, + harvesters were exempt if holding a certificate, + gentlemen exempt if dressed as such, + only those proved to be between eighteen and fifty-five, + the position of apprentices was uncertain, + to press merchant seamen was resented by trade, + masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters were exempt, + colliers were exempt up to a certain proportion, + ship protections did not count on shore, + mate was not entitled to liberty unless registered at the + rendezvous, + harpooners were protected out of season on land or on colliers, + the press-gang preyed upon its fellows, + watermen, bargemen, and canal boat-dwellers were considered to use + the see, + Thames watermen and some others exempt if certain quota of men + supplied, + large numbers pressed from Ireland, + fishermen indifferently protected, but fisheries fostered, + all protected persons bound to carry their protection on them, + an error in protection invalidated it, + protections often disregarded, + special protections, + its activities afloat, + the merchant seamen the principal quest, + the chain of sea-gangs, + the outer rings, frigates pressing for their own crews and armed + sloops as tenders to ships of the line, and the vessels employed + by regulating captains at the large ports, + the inner ring of boat-gangs in harbour or on rivers; + their methods., + methods of pressing at sea, + complications arising from pressing at sea, + their varied success., + and the right to search foreign vessels for English seamen, + and convoys, + and privateers, + and smugglers, + smuggling by, + and ships in quarantine, + and transports, + and cartel ships, + and pilots, + how it was evaded, + in the ship, with her or from her, + or a combination, + hiding on board from, + evasions assisted by the skipper, + and men in lieu and foreigners in emergency crews, + pilots and fisherman taken by, when acting as emergency men, + evaded by desertion from the ship, + evaded by hiding on land and changing quarters, + Cornwall dangerous for, + safe retreats from, + empowered to take Severn and Wye trow-men, + unsuccessful efforts of, + evaded by borrowed, forged, and American protections and by + disguises, + what it did ashore, + the sailor betrayed by marked characteristics; + sailors outnumbered on shore by the gang, + its object the pressing of sailors who escaped the seagangs, + its London rendezvous and taverns used. + the inland distribution of, + the class of places selected for operations of, + the land-gangs necessarily ambulatory, + its resting and refreshment places chosen for purposes of capture, + the methods adopted, + a hot press at Brighton, + a ruse at Portsmouth, + how the sailors' liking for drink was turned to account, + the amount of violence used, + outside assistance to, + rivalry between gangs, + assisted by mayors and county magistrates, + assisted by the military, + townsmen who sided with the sailors against, + brutal behaviour of, at Poole, + resisted at Deal and Dover, + forcible entry by, illegal, + magistrates consign vagabonds and disorderly persons to, + how it was resisted, + various weapons used against, + gangs-men killed by sailors resisting them, + sailors killed by gangsmen, + by armed bands of seamen, + by the populace in attempting to impress, + pressed-men recaptured from, + tenders attacked, + rendezvous attacked, + press-boats attacked and sunk, + resistance when the press-gang had come abroad, + the hardship of impressment on arrival from long voyage, + the only means of resistance, + a sailor's death in such case "accidental," casual, unavoidable, + or disagreeable, + a case in point, + at play, + humorous reason given for impressing a person, + inculcating manners by means of the press, + the respect due to naval officers, + the outsider liable to be pressed for breach of naval etiquette, + rudeness to the press-gang treated the same way, + damages from officers for wrongful impressment, failure to dip the + flag, or flying an unauthorised flag, might lead to pressing + from that crew, + unseamanlike management of a ship laid the crew open to pressing, + pipers and fiddlers, etc., impressed, + ridiculous reasons given for impressing, + unsuspecting passenger in a smuggler declared owner of contraband + and pressed, + tattoo marks and bandy legs lead to pressing, + any eccentricity sufficient to ensure the attention of the + press-gang, + used by trustees to keep heirs from their money, and by parents to + rid them of incorrigible sons, + used for purposes of retaliation, + used by strikers to get rid of a "blackleg." + used by stern parent to part his daughter and her lover, + a drunken cleric's revenge by means of, + by pressing a sailor, causes his late bedfellow to be hanged as + his murderer, + and women, + of women and sailors in general, + lack of sentiment in gangsmen, + women impressed by, + women masquerading as men to go to sea, + women in the gang, + the hardship brought on women by the gang, + fostered vice and bred paupers, + women who released sailors from the press-gang, + the devotion of Richard Parker's wife, + In the clutch of, + the press-room, what it was; strongly built and small as it might + be, could hold any number, + Bristol gaol and Gloucester Castle used as press-rooms, + inadequate precautions for retaining pressed men on the road, + regulations for rendezvous, + victualling in the press-room, + regulating or examining for fitness for service, + fabricated ailments and defects, + dispatching pressed men to the fleet, + tenders hired for transport of pressed men, + comfort and health of pressed men on tenders, + the victualling of pressed men on tenders, + prevention of escape, + an attempt to escape-with the Tasker tender escapes from, + The Union tender cut out from the Tyne by the pressed men, + various excitements aboard + a final examination, + petitions, + substitutes, + How the gang went out, + causes of withdrawal of press-gang, + the increasingly bad quality of the product, + the spirit of restlessness and mutiny engendered, + the injury to trade, + only continued so long by the apathy of the people, + the cost of impressing, + +Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life, The, + +Press warrants, forged, + +Presting, the original term and its meaning, + +Prest money, + +Price, Capt, + +Prince George guardship at Portsmouth, + +Princess Augusta, a letter of marque, + +Princess Augusta tender, + +Princess Louisa, H.M.S, + +Privateers, loss of seamen by, pressing from, + recapture of pressed crew of, + +Prize money, + +Profane abuse of crews by officers, + +Protections, for masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters, worthless, +if the holder were ashore, bound to be always carried, + slightest error in description invalidated, + were often disregarded, + special, + for men in lieu, + for crews of convoys and privateers expired on arrival in home waters, + lent, bought, and exchanged, + American, + +Provisions in the Navy, + +Quarantine, + +Queensferry, the press-gang at, + +Quota men, + +"R" for "run" in ships' books to denote deserter, + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, + +Ramsgate, the press-gang at, + +Reading, the press-gang at, + +Registration of seamen, + +Regulating, i.e. examination of pressed-men for fitness, ailments and +defects fabricated or assumed, + +Regulating captains, character of a, + +Repulse, H.M.S., + +Rendezvous, attacked, regulations of, + +Rescue of pressed men from the gang, + +Reunion, H.M.S., + +Rhode Island, + +Rice, + +Richard II, + +Richards, John, midshipman, + +Richardson, Lieut, + +Right of search, + +Roberts, Capt. John, + +Rochester, the press-gang at, + +Rodney, Admiral Lord, + +Roebuck, H.M.S., + +Romsey, the press-gang at, + +Routh, Capt, + +_Royal Sovereign_, H.M.S., + +_Ruby_ gunship, + +Rudsdale, Lieut., + +Rum, + +_Rupert_, H.M.S., + +Russia, impressment in, + +Russian Navy, + +Ryde, the Lord of the Manor, claimed the privilege of private +protections for his ferrymen to Portsmouth and Gosport, the press-gang +at, + +_Rye_, H.M.S., + +Rye, the press-gang at, + + +Sailor, the word disfavoured by Navy Board, a creature of +contradictions, + +St. Ives, safe from the press-gang, + +St. Lawrence River, deserters in, + +St. Vincent, Earl of. See Jervis, J, + +Salisbury, the press-gang at, + +Sanders, Joseph, + +_Sandwich_, H.M.S., flag-ship at the Nore, + +Sax, Lieut, + +_Scipio_, H.M.S., + +Scott, John, pressed when his protection was lying in his coat beside +him, + +Scottish fishermen, + +_Seahorse_, H.M.S., + +"Serving out slops," + +Severn trow-men, exempted from impress by 10% levy, Court of Exchequer +rules the reverse, + +Seymour, Lieut., + +Sham gangs, + +_Shandois_ sloop, + +_Shannon_, H.M.S., + +Shannon, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Shark_, sloop, + +"She" applied to a ship, a recent use, + +Sheerness, crimpage at, + +Shields, press-gang at, + +Ships, impressment of, + +Shipwrights in Scotch yards could be pressed as carpenters on warships, + +Shirley, Governor, + +Shoreham, the press-gang at, + +_Shrewsbury_, H.M.S., + +Shrewsbury, sham gangs at, + +Sloper, Major-General, + +Smeaton, John, + +Smugglers, crew of, pressed, unsuspecting passenger declared owner and +pressed, + +_Solebay_, H.M.S., + +Southampton, the press-gang at, + +Southey, Robt, _English Eclogues_, + +_Southsea Castle_, H.M.S., + +Spithead, crimpage at, an entrepot for pressed men, + +_Spy_ sloop of war, + +_Squirrel_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_ privateer, + +Stangate Creek, the fray at, + +Stephens, George, impressed at thirteen, + +Stephenson, George, + +Stepney Fields, press-gang at, + +Stillwell, John, + +Stourbridge, the press-gang at, + +Strike-me-blind. See Rice, + +Sturdy, Ralph, shot by the pressgang on the _Britannia_, + +Sunderland, press-gang at, + +Surgeons, + +Swansea, + + +Tailors pressed on account of bandy legs, + +Talbot, Mary Anne, + +_Tasker_ tender, + +Tassell, William, a protected mate, pressed ashore, + +Taunton, Denny-Bowl quarry, near--three girls as sham gang, the +press-gang at, + +Taylor, Lieut, + +Taylor, William, + +Teede, John, undone by tattoo marks, + +Tenders, attacked, hired for transport of pressed men, + the health and comfort of pressed men on, + their victualling, + attempts to escape from and with, + +Thames, press-gang on the, wherrymen exempted by levy of one in five, + +_Thetis_, H.M.S., + +Thomson, Lieut, + +Thurlow, Lord, + +Ticket men. See Men in lieu, + +Tobacco, + +Trading classes the greatest sufferers from impressment, not without +resentment, various trades gradually exempted, + +Tramps. See Vagabonds, + +Transports, + +Travelling, cost of, + +_Trial and Life of Richard Parker_, + +Trim, William, + +Trinity House, + +_Triton_ brig, + +_Triton_, Indiaman, + +Turning over of crews, + +Tyne keelman exempt from impress by levy--the men supplied being +obtained by them by bounties, + + +_Union_ tender, + +_Utrecht_, H.M.S., + + +Vagabonds handed over to the press-gang, + +_Vanguard_, H.M.S., + +Vernon, Admiral, + +Victualling in the press-room, + +Virginia, + + +Wages due to sailors to date of impressment, + +Walbeoff, Capt, + +Ward, Ned, _Wooden World Dissected_, + +Waterford, press-gang at, + +Watermen's language, + +Watson, Lieut, + +Watts, John, punished with 170 lashes, + +Weapons used against the press-gang, + +Weir, Alexander, + +Wellington, Duke of, + +Whalers, some of crew of, exempt from impressment, + +Whitby, the press-gang at, + +White, John, pressed at Bristol ninety yards from his vessel, + +Whitefoot, James, impressed at Bristol, + +Whitworth, Charles, Envoy to Russia, + +"Widows' men." + +Williams, John, + +_Willing Traveller_ smuggler, + +Wilson, John, shot by the press-gang on the _Britannia_, + +_Winchelsea_, H.M.S., + +Winstanley, London butcher, served as pressed man 16 years, + +_Wolf_ armed sloop, + +Women and the Press-gang, See also under Press-gang, "The Press-gang and +Women." + +_Wooden World Dissected_. See Ward, Ned, + +Wool, illegal export of, + +Worth, Capt, + +Worthing fishermen, + +Wye trow-men exempted from impress by 10% levy, + +Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Yarmouth Roads, the press-gang in, + +"Yellow Admirals." + +Yorke, Sol. Gen, + +Young, Admiral, his torpedo, + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore, by +John R. Hutchinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + +***** This file should be named 6766.txt or 6766.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/6/6766/ + +Produced by Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore + +Author: John R. Hutchinson + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6766] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + + + + +Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the CWRU +Preservation Department Digital Library. + + + +THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE + +BY J. R. HUTCHINSON + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + +II. WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + +III. WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + +IV. WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + +V. WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + +VI. EVADING THE GANG. + +VII. WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + +VIII. AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + +IX. THE GANG AT PLAY. + +X. WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + +XI. IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + +XII. HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + +APPENDIX: ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: + + + +AN UNWELCOME VISIT FROM THE PRESS GANG. + +MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a rare print in +the collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY. + +THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM. + +SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS WEDDING DAY. + +JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the Painting by MORLAND. + +ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. A play-bill announcing the +suspension of the Gang's operations on "Play Nights," in the +collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY, by whose kind permission it is +reproduced. + +SAILORS CAROUSING. From the Mezzotint after J. IBBETSON. + +ANNE MILLS WHO SERVED ON BOARD THE _MAIDSTONE_ IN 1740. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT DRESSED AS A SAILOR. + +THE PRESS GANG, OR ENGLISH LIBERTY DISPLAYED. + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. Reproduced from the Original Drawing at the +Public Record Office. + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + + + +The practice of pressing men--that is to say, of taking by +intimidation or force those who will not volunteer--would seem to have +been world-wide in its adoption. + +Wherever man desired to have a thing done, and was powerful enough to +insure the doing of it, there he attained his end by the simple +expedient of compelling others to do for him what he, unaided, could +not do for himself. + +The individual, provided he did not conspire in sufficient numbers to +impede or defeat the end in view, counted only as a food-consuming +atom in the human mass which was set to work out the purpose of the +master mind and hand. His face value in the problem was that of a +living wage. If he sought to enhance his value by opposing the master +hand, the master hand seized him and wrung his withers. + +So long as the compelling power confined the doing of the things it +desired done to works of construction, it met with little opposition +in its designs, experienced little difficulty in coercing the labour +necessary for piling its walls, excavating its tanks, raising its +pyramids and castles, or for levelling its roads and building its +ships and cities. These were the commonplace achievements of peace, at +which even the coerced might toil unafraid; for apart from the normal +incidence of death, such works entailed little danger to the lives of +the multitudes who wrought upon them. Men could in consequence be +procured for them by the exercise of the minimum of coercion--by, that +is to say, the mere threat of it. + +When peace went to the wall and the pressed man was called upon to go +to battle, the case assumed another aspect, an acuter phase. Given a +state of war, the danger to life and limb, the incidence of death, at +once jumped enormously, and in proportion as these disquieting factors +in the pressed man's lot mounted up, just in that proportion did his +opposition to the power that sought to take him become the more +determined, strenuous, and undisguised. + +Particularly was this true of warlike operations upon the sea, for to +the extraordinary and terrible risks of war were here added the +ordinary but ever-present dangers of wind and wave and storm, +sufficient in themselves to appal the unaccustomed and to antagonise +the unwilling. In face of these superlative risks the difficulty of +procuring men was accentuated a thousand-fold, and with it both the +nature and the degree of the coercive force necessary to be exercised +for their procuration. + +In these circumstances the Ruling Power had no option but to resort to +more exigent means of attaining its end. In times of peace, working +through myriad hands, it had constructed a thousand monuments of +ornamental or utilitarian industry. These, with the commonweal they +represented, were now threatened and must be protected at all costs. +What more reasonable than to demand of those who had built, or of +their successors in the perpetual inheritance of toil, that they +should protect what they had reared. Hitherto, in most cases, the men +required to meet the national need had submitted at a threat. They had +to live, and coercive toil meant at least a living wage. Now, made +rebellious by a fearful looking forward to the risks they were called +upon to incur, they had to be met by more effective measures. Faced by +this emergency, Power did not mince matters. It laid violent hands +upon the unwilling subject and forced him, _nolens volens_, to +sail its ships, to man its guns, and to fight its battles by sea as he +already, under less overt compulsion, did its bidding by land. + +It is with this phase of pressing--pressing open, violent and +unashamed--that we purpose here to deal, and more particularly with +pressing as it applies to the sea and sailors, to the Navy and the +defence of an Island Kingdom. + +At what time the pressing of men for the sea service of the Crown was +first resorted to in these islands it is impossible to determine. +There is evidence, however, that the practice was not only in vogue, +but firmly established as an adjunct of power, as early as the days of +the Saxon kings. It was, in fact, coeval with feudalism, of which it +may be described as a side-issue incidental to a maritime situation; +for though it is impossible to point to any species of fee, as +understood of the tenure of land, under which the holder was liable to +render service at sea, yet it must not be forgotten that the great +ports of the kingdom, and more especially the Cinque Ports, were from +time immemorial bound to find ships for national purposes, whenever +called upon to do so, in return for the peculiar rights and privileges +conferred upon them by the Crown. The supply of ships necessarily +involved the supply of men to sail and fight them, and in this supply, +or, rather, in the mode of obtaining it, we have undoubtedly the +origin of the later impress system. + +With the reign of John the practice springs into sudden prominence. +The incessant activities of that uneasy king led to almost incessant +pressing, and at certain crises in his reign commission after +commission is directed, in feverish succession, to the sheriffs of +counties and the bailiffs of seaports throughout the kingdom, straitly +enjoining them to arrest and stay all ships within their respective +jurisdictions, and with the ships the mariners who sail them. +[Footnote: By a plausible euphemism they were said to be "hired." As a +matter of fact, both ships and men were retained during the royal +pleasure at rates fixed by custom.] No exception was taken to these +edicts. Long usage rendered the royal lien indefeasible. [Footnote: In +more modern times the pressing of ships, though still put forward as a +prerogative of the Crown, was confined in the main to unforeseen +exigencies of transport. On the fall of Louisburg in 1760, vessels +were pressed at that port in order to carry the prisoners of war to +France (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1491--Capt. Byron, 17 June 1760); +and in 1764, again, we find Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, +forcibly impressing the East India ship _Revenge_ for the purpose +of transporting to Fort St. George, in British India, the company, +numbering some four hundred and twenty-one souls, of the _Siam_, +then recently condemned at Manilla as unseaworthy.--_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1498--Letters of Capt. Brereton, 1764.] + +In the carrying out of the royal commands there was consequently, at +this stage in the development of pressing, little if any resort to +direct coercion. From the very nature of the case the principle of +coercion was there, but it was there only in the bud. The king's right +to hale whom he would into his service being practically undisputed, a +threat of reprisals in the event of disobedience answered all +purposes, and even this threat was as yet more often implied than +openly expressed. King John was perhaps the first to clothe it in +words. Requisitioning the services of the mariners of Wales, a +notoriously disloyal body, he gave the warrant, issued in 1208, a +severely minatory turn. "Know ye for certain," it ran, "that if ye act +contrary to this, we will cause you and the masters of your vessels to +be hanged, and all your goods to be seized for our use." + +At this point in the gradual subjection of the seaman to the needs of +the nation, defensive or the contrary, we are confronted by an event +as remarkable in its nature as it is epoch-making in its consequences. +Magna Charta was sealed on the 13th of June 1215, and within a year of +that date, on, namely, the 14th of April then next ensuing, King John +issued his commission to the barons of twenty-two seaports, requiring +them, in terms admitting of neither misconstruction nor compromise, to +arrest all ships, and to assemble those ships, together with their +companies, in the River of Thames before a certain day. [Footnote: +Hardy, _Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum_, 1833.] This wholesale +embargo upon the shipping and seamen of the nation, imposed as it was +immediately after the ensealing of Magna Charta, raises a question of +great constitutional interest. In what sense, and to what extent, was +the Charter of English Liberties intended to apply to the seafaring +man? + +Essentially a tyrant and a ruthless promise-breaker, John's natural +cruelty would in itself sufficiently account for the dire penalties +threatened under the warrant of 1208; but neither his tyranny, his +faithlessness of character, nor his very human irritation at the +concessions wrung from him by his barons, can explain to our +satisfaction why, having granted a charter affirming and safeguarding +the liberties of, ostensibly, every class of his people, he should +immediately inflict upon one of those classes, and that, too, the one +least of all concerned in his historic dispute, the pains of a most +rigorous impressment. The only rational explanation of his conduct is, +that in thus acting he was contravening no convention, doing violence +to no covenant, but was, on the contrary, merely exercising, in +accordance with time-honoured usage, an already well-recognised, +clearly denned and firmly seated prerogative which the great charter +he had so recently put his hand to was in no sense intended to limit +or annul. + +This view of the case is confirmed by subsequent events. Press +warrants, identical in every respect save one with the historic +warrant of 1216, continued to emanate from the Crown long after King +John had gone to his account, and, what is more to the point, to +emanate unchallenged. Stubbs himself, our greatest constitutional +authority, repeatedly admits as much. Every crisis in the destinies of +the Island Kingdom--and they were many and frequent--produced its +batch of these procuratory documents, every batch its quota of pressed +men. The inference is plain. The mariner was the bondsman of the sea, +and to him the _Nullus liber homo capiatur_ clause of the Great +Charter was never intended to apply. In his case a dead-letter from +the first, it so remained throughout the entire chapter of his +vicissitudes. + +The chief point wherein the warrants of later times differed from +those of King John was this: As time went on the penalties they +imposed on those who resisted the press became less and less severe. +The death penalty fell into speedy disuse, if, indeed, it was ever +inflicted at all. Imprisonment for a term of from one to two years, +with forfeiture of goods, was held to meet all the exigencies of the +case. Gradually even this modified practice underwent amelioration, +until at length it dawned upon the official intelligence that a seaman +who was free to respond to the summons of the boatswain's whistle +constituted an infinitely more valuable physical asset than one who +cursed his king and his Maker in irons. All punishment of the condign +order, for contempt or resistance of the press, now went by the board, +and in its stead the seaman was merely admonished in paternal fashion, +as in a Proclamation of 1623, to take the king's shilling "dutifully +and reverently" when it was tendered to him. + +In its apparent guilelessness the admonition was nevertheless woefully +deceptive. Like the subdued beat of drum by which, some five years +later, the seamen of London were lured to Tower Hill, there to be +seized and thrown bodily into the waiting fleet, it masked under its +mild exterior the old threat of coercion in a new form. The ancient +pains and penalties were indeed no more; but for the back of the +sailor who was so ill-advised as to defy the press there was another +rod in pickle. He could now be taken forcibly. + +For side by side with the negative change involved in the abolition of +the old punishments, there had been in progress, throughout the +intervening centuries, a positive development of far worse omen for +the hapless sailor-man. The root-principle of direct coercion, +necessarily inherent in any system that seeks to foist an arbitrary +and obnoxious status upon any considerable body of men, was slowly but +surely bursting into bud. The years that had seen the unprested seaman +freed from the dread of the yardarm and the horrors of the forepeak, +had bred a new terror for him. Centuries of usage had strengthened the +arm of that hated personage the Press-Master, and the compulsion which +had once skulked under cover of a threat now threw off its disguise +and stalked the seafaring man for what it really was--Force, open and +unashamed. The _dernier ressort_ of former days was now the first +resort. The seafaring man who refused the king's service when +"admonished" thereto had short shrift. He was "first knocked down, and +then bade to stand in the king's name." Such, literally and without +undue exaggeration, was the later system which, reaching the climax of +its insolent pretensions to justifiable violence in the eighteenth +century, for upwards of a hundred years bestrode the neck of the +unfortunate sailor like some monstrous Old Man of the Sea. + +Outbursts of violent pressing before the dawn of the eighteenth +century, though spasmodic and on the whole infrequent, were not +entirely unknown. Times of national stress were peculiarly productive +of them. Thus when, in 1545, there was reason to fear a French +invasion, pressing of the most violent and unprecedented character was +openly resorted to in order to man the fleet. The class who suffered +most severely on that occasion were the fisher folk of Devon, "the +most part" of whom were "taken as marryners to serve the king." +[Footnote: _State Papers_, Henry VIII.--Lord Russell to the Privy +Council, 22 Aug. 1545. Bourne, who cites the incident in his _Tudor +Seamen_, misses the essential point that the fishermen were +forcibly pressed.] + +During the Civil Wars of the next century both parties to the strife +issued press warrants which were enforced with the utmost rigour. The +Restoration saw a marked recrudescence of similar measures. How great +was the need of men at that time, and how exigent the means employed +to procure them, may be gathered from the fact, cited by Pepys, that +in 1666 the fleet lay idle for a whole fortnight "without any demand +for a farthing worth of anything, but only to get men." The genial +diarist was deeply moved by the scenes of violence that followed. They +were, he roundly declares, "a shame to think of." + +The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and +"pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it +so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's +service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" +in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to +a process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by +means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being +the English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now +_pret_, meaning "ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, +"prest" money stood for what is nowadays, in both services, +commonly termed the "king's shilling," and the man who, either +voluntarily or under duress, accepted or received that shilling at the +recruiter's hands, was said to be "prested" or "prest." In other +words, having taken the king's ready money, he was thenceforth, during +the king's pleasure, "ready" for the king's service. + +By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter +to the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter +and his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more +solemn or binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. +One of the parties to the contract was more often than not, it is +true, a strongly dissenting party; but although under the common law +of the land this circumstance would have rendered any similar contract +null and void, in this amazing transaction between the king and his +"prest" subject it was held to be of no vitiating force. From the +moment the king's shilling, by whatever means, found its way into the +sailor's possession, from that moment he was the king's man, bound in +heavy penalties to toe the line of duty, and, should circumstances +demand it, to fight the king's enemies to the death, be that fate +either theirs or his. + +By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the +English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in +pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, +as we have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the +devious means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea +service. "Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions +precisely connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. +Hence, as the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, +"pressing," in the mouths of the people at large, came to be +synonymous with that most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring +system of recruiting which, in the course of time, took the place of +its milder and more humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man +disappeared, [Footnote: The Law Officers of the Crown retained him, on +paper, until the close of the eighteenth century--an example in which +they were followed by the Admiralty. To admit his disappearance would +have been to knock the bottom out of their case.] and in his stead +there came upon the scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, +"forced," as Pepys so graphically describes his condition, "against +all law to be gone." An odder coincidence than this gradual +substitution of "pressed" for _prest,_ or one more grimly +appropriate in its application, it would surely be impossible to +discover in the whose history of nomenclature. + +With the growth of the power and violence of the impress there was +gradually inaugurated another change, which perhaps played a larger +part than any other feature of the system in making it finally +obnoxious to the nation at large--finally, because, as we shall see, +the nation long endured its exactions with pathetic submission and +lamentable indifference. The incidence of pressing was no longer +confined, as in its earlier stages, to the overflow of the populace +upon the country's rivers, and bays, and seas. Gradually, as naval +needs grew in volume and urgency, the press net was cast wider and +wider, until at length, during the great century of struggle, when the +system was almost constantly working at its highest pressure and +greatest efficiency, practically every class of the population of +these islands was subjected to its merciless inroads, if not decimated +by its indiscriminate exactions. + +On the very threshold of the century we stumble upon an episode +curiously indicative of the set of the tide. Czar Peter of Russia had +been recently in England, acquiring a knowledge of English customs +which, on his return home, he immediately began to put in practice. +His navy, such as it was, was wretchedly manned. [Footnote: The navy +got together by Czar Peter had all but disappeared by the time +Catherine II. came to the throne. "Ichabod" was written over the doors +of the Russian Admiralty. Their ships of war were few in number, +unseaworthy, ill-found, ill-manned. Two thousand able-bodied seamen +could with difficulty be got together in an emergency. The nominal +fighting strength of the fleet stood high, but that strength in +reality consisted of men "one half of whom had never sailed out of the +Gulf of Finland, whilst the other half had never sailed anywhere at +all." When the fleet was ordered to sea, the Admiralty "put soldiers +on board, and by calling them sailors persuaded themselves that they +really were so."--_State Papers, Russia,_ vol. lxxvii.--Macartney, +Nov. 16-27, 1766.] Russian serfs made bad sailors and worse +seamen. In the English ships thronging the quays at Archangel +there was, however, plenty of good stuff-men who could use +the sea without being sick, men capable of carrying a ship to her +destination without piling her up on the rocks or seeking nightly +shelter under the land. He accordingly pressed every ninth man out +of those ships. + +When news of this high-handed proceeding reached England, it roused +the Queen and her advisers to indignation. Winter though it was, they +lost no time in dispatching Charles Whitworth, a rising diplomat of +the suavest type, as "Envoy Extraordinary to our Good (but naughty) +Brother the Czar of Muscovy," with instructions to demand the release, +immediate and unconditional, of the pressed men. Whitworth found the +Czar at Moscow. The Autocrat of All the Russias listened affably +enough to what he had to say, but refused his demand in terms that +left scant room for doubt as to his sincerity of purpose, and none for +protracted "conversations." "Every Prince," he declared for sole +answer, "can take what he likes out of his own havens." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. J. Anderson's letters and +enclosures; _State Papers, Russia_, vol. iv.--Whitworth to +Secretary Harley.] The position thus taken up was unassailable. +Centuries of usage hedged the prerogative in, and Queen Anne herself, +in the few years she had been on the throne, had not only exercised it +with a free hand, but had laid that hand without scruple upon many a +foreign seaman. + +The lengths to which the system had gone by the end of the third +quarter of the century is thrown into vivid relief by two incidents, +one of which occurred in 1726, the other fifty years later. + +In the former year one William Kingston, pressed in the Downs--a man +who hailed from Lyme Regis and habitually "used the sea"--was, +notwithstanding that fact, discharged by express Admiralty order +because he was a "substantial man and had a landed estate." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt Charles Browne, 25 March 1726, +and endorsement.] + +The incident of 1776, known as the Duncan case, occurred, or rather +began, at North Shields. Lieutenant Oaks, captain of the press-gang in +that town, one day met in the streets a man who, unfortunately for his +future, "had the appearance of a seaman." He accordingly pressed him; +whereupon the man, whose name was Duncan, produced the title-deeds of +certain house property in London, down Wapping way, worth some six +pounds per annum, and claimed his discharge on the ground that as a +freeholder and a voter he was immune from the press. The lieutenant +laughed the suggestion to scorn, and Duncan was shipped south to the +fleet. + +The matter did not end there. Duncan's friends espoused his cause and +took energetic steps for his release. Threatened with an action at +law, and averse from incurring either unnecessary risks or opprobrium +where pressed men were concerned, the Admiralty referred the case to +Mr. Attorney-General (afterwards Lord) Thurlow for his opinion. + +The point of law Thurlow was called upon to resolve was, "Whether +being a freeholder is an exception from being pressed;" and as Duncan +was represented in counsel's instructions--on what ground, other than +his "appearance," is not clear--to be a man Who habitually used the +sea, it is hardly matter for surprise that the great jurist's opinion, +biassed as it obviously was by that alleged fact, should have been +altogether inimical to the pressed man and favourable to the +Admiralty. + +"I see no reason," he writes, in his crabbed hand and nervous diction, +"why men using the sea, and being otherwise fit objects to be +impressed into His Majesty's service, should be exempted only because +they are Freeholders. Nor did I ever read or hear of such an +exemption. Therefore, unless some use or practice, which I am ignorant +of, gives occasion to this doubt, I see no reason for a Mariner being +discharged, seriously, because he is a Freeholder. It's a +qualification easily attained: a single house at Wapping would ship a +first-rate man-of-war. If a Freeholder is exempt, _eo nomine_, it +will be impossible to go on with the pressing service. [Footnote: It +would have been equally impossible to go on with the naval service had +the fleet contained many freeholders like John Barnes. Granted leave +of absence from his ship, the _Neptune,_ early in May, "in order +to give his vote in the city," he "return'd not till the 8th of +August."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. Whorwood, 23 Aug. +1741.] There is no knowing a Freeholder by sight: and if claiming that +character, or even showing deeds is sufficient, few Sailors will be +without it." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1756-77, No. 64.] + +Backed by this opinion, so nicely in keeping with its own +inclinations, the Admiralty kept the man. Its views, like its +practice, had undergone an antipodal change since the Kingston +incident of fifty years before. And possession, commonly reputed to be +nine points of the law, more than made up for the lack of that element +in Mr. Attorney-General's sophistical reasoning. + +In this respect Thurlow was in good company, for although Coke, who +lived before violent pressing became the rule, had given it as his +opinion that the king could not lawfully press men to serve him in his +wars, the legal luminaries who came after him, and more particularly +those of the eighteenth century, differed from him almost to a man. +Blackstone, whilst admitting that no statute expressly legalised +pressing, reminded the nation--with a leer, we might almost say--that +many statutes strongly implied, and hence--so he put it--amply +justified it. In thus begging the question he had in mind the +so-called Statutes of Exemption which, in protecting from impressment +certain persons or classes of persons, proceeded on the assumption, so +dear to the Sea Lords, that the Crown possessed the right to press +all. This also was the view taken by Yorke, Solicitor-General in 1757. +"I take the prerogative," he declares, "to be most clearly legal." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 102.] + +Another group of lawyers took similar, though less exalted ground. Of +these the most eminent was that "great oracle of law," Lord Mansfield. +"The power of pressing," he contends, "is founded upon immemorial +usage allowed for ages. If not, it can have no ground to stand upon. +The practice is deduced from that trite maxim of the Constitutional +Law of England, that private mischief had better be submitted to than +that public detriment should ensue." + +The sea-lawyer had yet to be heard. With him "private mischief" +counted for much, the usage of past ages for very little. He lived and +suffered in the present. Of common law he knew nothing, but he +possessed a fine appreciation of common justice, and this forced from +him an indictment of the system that held him in thrall as scathing in +its truth, its simplicity and its logic as it is spontaneous and +untutored in its diction. + +"You confidently tell us," said he, dipping his pen in the gall of +bitterness, "that our King is a father to us and our officers friends. +They are so, we must confess, in some respects, for Indeed they use us +like Children in Whiping us into Obedience. As for English Tars to be +the Legitimate Sons of Liberty, it is an Old Cry which we have +Experienced and Knows it to be False. God knows, the Constitution is +admirable well Callculated for the Safety and Happiness of His +Majesty's Subjects who live by Employments on Shore; but alass, we are +not Considered as Subjects of the same Sovereign, unless it be to Drag +us by Force from our Families to Fight the Battles of a Country which +Refuses us Protection." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Petitions of the Seamen of the Fleet, 1797.] + +Such, in rough outline, was the Impress System of the eighteenth +century. In its inception, its development, and more especially in its +extraordinary culmination, it perhaps constitutes the greatest +anomaly, as it undoubtedly constitutes the grossest imposition, any +free people ever submitted to. Although unlawful in the sense of +having no foundation in law, and oppressive and unjust in that it +yearly enslaved, under the most noxious conditions, thousands against +their will, it was nevertheless for more than a hundred years +tolerated and fostered as the readiest, speediest and most effective +means humanly devisable for the manning of a fleet whose toll upon a +free people, in the same period of time, swelled to more than thrice +its original bulk. Standing as a bulwark against aggression and +conquest, it ground under its heel the very people it protected, and +made them slaves in order to keep them free. Masquerading as a +protector, it dragged the wage-earner from his home and cast his +starving family upon the doubtful mercies of the parish. And as if +this were not enough, whilst justifying its existence on the score of +public benefit it played havoc with the fisheries, clipped the wings +of the merchant service, and sucked the life-blood out of trade. + +It was on the rising tide of such egregious contradictions as these +that the press-gang came in; for the press-gang was at once the +embodiment and the active exponent of all that was anomalous or bad in +the Impress System. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + + + +The root of the necessity that seized the British sailor and made of +him what he in time became, the most abject creature and the most +efficient fighting unit the world has ever produced, lay in the fact +that he was island-born. + +In that island a great and vigorous people had sprung into being--a +people great in their ambitions, commerce and dominion; vigorous in +holding what they had won against the assaults, meditated or actual, +of those who envied their greatness and coveted their possessions. Of +this island people, as of their world-wide interests, the "chiefest +defence" was a "good fleet at sea." [Footnote: This famous phrase is +used, perhaps for the first time, by Josiah Burchett, sometime +Secretary to the Admiralty, in his _Observations on the Navy_, +1700.] + +The Peace of Utrecht, marking though it did the close of the +protracted war of the Spanish Succession, brought to the Island +Kingdom not peace, but a sword; for although its Navy was now as +unrivalled as its commerce and empire, the supreme struggle for +existence, under the guise of the mastery of the sea, was only just +begun. Decade after decade, as that struggle waxed and waned but went +remorselessly on, the Navy grew in ships, the ships in tonnage and +weight of metal, and with their growth the demand for men, imperative +as the very existence of the nation, mounted ever higher and higher. +In 1756 fifty thousand sufficed for the nation's needs. By 1780 the +number had reached ninety-two thousand; and with 1802 it touched +high-water mark in the unprecedented total of one hundred and +twenty-nine thousand men in actual sea pay. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 567-Navy Progress, 1756-1805. These figures are below +rather than above the mark, since the official returns on which they +are based are admittedly deficient.] + +Beset by this enormous and steadily growing demand, the Admiralty, the +defensive proxy of the nation, had perforce to face the question as to +where and how the men were to be obtained. + +The source of supply was never at any time in doubt. Here, ready to +hand, were some hundreds of thousands of persons using the sea, or +following vocations merging into the sea in the capacity of colliers, +bargemen, boatmen, longshoremen, fishermen and deep-sea sailors or +merchantmen, who constituted the natural Naval Reserve of an Island +Kingdom--a reserve ample, if judiciously drawn upon, to meet, and more +than meet, the Navy's every need. + +The question of means was one more complicated, more delicate, and +hence incomparably more difficult of solution. To draw largely upon +these seafaring classes, numerous and fit though they were, meant +detriment to trade, and if the Navy was the fist, trade was the +backbone of the nation. The sufferings of trade, moreover, reacted +unpleasantly upon those in power at Whitehall. Methods of procuration +must therefore be devised of a nature such as to insure that neither +trade nor Admiralty should suffer--that they should, in fact, enjoy +what the unfortunate sailor never knew, some reasonable measure of +ease. + +In its efforts to extricate itself and trade from the complex +difficulties of the situation, Admiralty had at its back what an +eighteenth century Beresford would doubtless have regarded as the +finest talent of the service. Neither the unemployed admiral nor the +half-pay captain had at that time, in his enforced retirement at Bath +or Cheltenham, taken seriously to parliamenteering, company promoting, +or the concocting of pedigrees as a substitute for walking the +quarter-deck. His occupation was indeed gone, but in its stead there +had come to him what he had rarely enjoyed whilst on the active +service list--opportunity. Carried away by the stimulus of so +unprecedented a situation as that afforded by the chance to make +himself heard, he rushed into print with projects and suggestions +which would have revolutionised the naval policy and defence of the +country at a stroke had they been carried into effect. Or he devoted +his leisure to the invention of signal codes, semaphore systems, +embryo torpedoes, gun carriages, and--what is more to our +point--methods ostensibly calculated to man the fleet in the easiest, +least oppressive and most expeditious manner possible for a free +people. Armed with these schemes, he bombarded the Admiralty with all +the pertinacity he had shown in his quarter-deck days in applying for +leave or seeking promotion. Many, perhaps most, of the inventions +which it was thus sought to father upon the Sea Lords, were happily +never more heard of; but here and there one, commending itself by its +seeming practicability, was selected for trial and duly put to the +test. + +Fair to look upon while still in the air, these fruits of leisured +superannuation proved deceptively unsound when plucked by the hand of +experiment. Registration, first adopted in 1696, held out undeniable +advantages to the seaman. Under its provisions he drew a yearly +allowance when not required at sea, and extra prize-money when on +active service. Yet the bait did not tempt him, and the system was +soon discarded as useless and inoperative. Bounty, defined by some +sentimentalist as a "bribe to Neptune," for a while made a stronger +appeal; but, ranging as it did from five to almost any number of +pounds under one hundred per head, it proved a bribe indeed, and by +putting an irresistible premium on desertion threatened to decimate +the very ships it was intended to man. In 1795 what was commonly known +as the Quota Scheme superseded it. This was a plan of Pitt's devising, +under which each county contributed to the fleet according to its +population, the quota varying from one thousand and eighty-one men for +Yorkshire to twenty-three for Rutland, whilst a minor Act levied +special toll on seaports, London leading the way with five thousand +seven hundred and four men. Like its predecessor Bounty, however, this +mode of recruiting drained the Navy in order to feed it. Both systems, +moreover, possessed another and more serious defect. When their +initial enthusiasm had cooled, the counties, perhaps from force of +habit as component parts of a country whose backbone was trade, bought +in the cheapest market. Hence the Quota Man, consisting as he +generally did of the offscourings of the merchant service, was seldom +or never worth the money paid for him. An old man-o'-war's-man, +picking up a miserable specimen of this class of recruit by the slack +of his ragged breeches, remarked to his grinning messmates as he +dangled the disreputable object before their eyes: "'Ere's a lubber as +cost a guinea a pound!" He was not far out in his estimate. + +As in the case of the good old method of recruiting by beat of drum +and the lure of the king's shilling, system after system thus failed +to draw into its net, however speciously that net was spread, either +the class or the number of men whose services it was desired to +requisition. And whilst these futilities were working out their own +condemnation the stormcloud of necessity grew bigger and bigger on the +national horizon. Let trade suffer as it might, there was nothing for +it but to discard all new-fangled notions and to revert to the system +which the usage of ages had sanctioned. The return was imperative. +Failing what Junius stigmatised as the "spur of the Press," the right +men in the right numbers were not to be procured. The wisdom of the +nation was at fault. It could find no other way. + +There were, moreover, other reasons why the press-gang was to the Navy +an indispensable appendage--reasons perhaps of little moment singly, +but of tremendous weight in the scale of naval necessity when lumped +together and taken in the aggregate. + +Of these the most prominent was that fatal flaw in naval +administration which Nelson was in the habit of anathematising as the +"Infernal System." Due partly to lack of foresight and false economy +at Whitehall, partly to the character of the sailor himself, it +resolved itself into this, that whenever a ship was paid off and put +out of commission, all on board of her, excepting only her captain and +her lieutenants, ceased to be officially connected with the Navy. Now, +as ships were for various reasons constantly going out of commission, +and as the paying off of a first-second-or third-rate automatically +discharged from their country's employ a body of men many hundreds in +number, the "lowering" effects of such a system, working year in, year +out, upon a fleet always in chronic difficulties for men, may be more +readily imagined than described. + +To a certain limited extent the loss to the service was minimised by a +process called "turning over"; that is to say, the company of a ship +paying off was turned over bodily, or as nearly intact as it was +possible to preserve it, to another ship which at the moment chanced +to be ready, or making ready, for sea. Or it might be that the +commander of a ship paying off, transferred to another ship fitting +out, carried the best men of his late command, commonly known as "old +standers," along with him. + +Unfortunately, the occasion of fitting out did not always coincide +with the occasion of paying off; and although turnovers were +frequently made by Admiralty order, there were serious obstacles in +the way of their becoming general. Once the men were paid off, the +Admiralty had no further hold upon them. By a stretch of authority +they might, it is true, be confined to quarters or on board a +guardship; but if in these circumstances they rose in a body and got +ashore, they could neither be retaken nor punished as deserters, +but--to use the good old service term--had to be "rose" again by means +of the press-gang. Turnovers, accordingly, depended mainly upon two +closely related circumstances: the goodwill of the men, and the +popularity of commanders. A captain who was notorious for his use of +the lash or the irons, or who was reputed unlucky, rarely if ever got +a turnover except by the adoption of the most stringent measures. One +who, on the other hand, treated his men with common humanity, who +bested the enemy in fair fight and sent rich prizes into port, never +wanted for "followers," and rarely, if ever, had recourse to the gang. +[Footnote: In his Autobiography Lord Dundonald asserts that he was +only once obliged to resort to pressing--a statement so remarkable, +considering the times he lived in, as to call for explanation. The +occasion was when, returning from a year's "exile in a tub," a +converted collier that "sailed like a hay-stack," he fitted out the +_Pallas_ at Portsmouth and could obtain no volunteers. Setting +his gangs to work, he got together a scratch crew of the wretchedest +description; yet so marvellous were the personality and disciplinary +ability of the man, that with only this unpromising material ready to +his hand he intercepted the Spanish trade off Cape Finisterre and +captured four successive prizes of very great value. The _Pallas_ +returned to Portsmouth with "three large golden candlesticks, each +about five feet high, placed upon the mast-heads," and from that time +onward Dundonald's reputation as a "lucky" commander was made. He +never again had occasion to invoke the aid of the gang.] Under such +men the seaman would gladly serve "even in a dung barge." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 28 Sept. 1776.] +Unhappily for the service, such commanders were comparatively few, and +in their absence the Infernal System drained the Navy of its best +blood and accentuated a hundred-fold the already overwhelming need for +the impress. + +The old-time sailor, [Footnote: The use of the word "sailor" was long +regarded with disfavour by the Navy Board, who saw in it only a +colourless substitute for the good old terms "seaman" and "mariner." +Capt. Bertie, of the _Ruby_ gunship, once reported the pressing +of a "sailor," Thomas Letting by name, out of a collier in Yarmouth +Roads, and was called upon by My Lords to define the new-fangled term. +This he did with admirable circumlocution. "As for explaining the word +'sailor,'" said he, "I can doe it no otherwise than (by) letting of +you know that Thomas Letting is a Sailor."--_Admiralty Records_ +1. 1468--Capt. Bertie, 6 May 1706.] again, was essentially a creature +of contradictions. Notorious for a "swearing rogue," who punctuated +his strange sea-lingo with horrid oaths and appalling blasphemies, he +made the responses required by the services of his Church with all the +superstitious awe and tender piety of a child. Inconspicuous for his +thrift or "forehandedness," it was nevertheless a common circumstance +with him to have hundreds of pounds, in pay and prize-money, to his +credit at his bankers, the Navy Pay-Office; and though during a voyage +he earned his money as hardly as a horse, and was as poor as a church +mouse, yet the moment he stepped ashore he made it fly by the handful +and squandered it, as the saying went, like an ass. When he was sober, +which was seldom enough provided he could obtain drink, he possessed +scarcely a rag to his back; but when he was drunk he was himself the +first to acknowledge that he had "too many cloths in the wind." +According to his own showing, his wishes in life were limited to +three: "An island of tobacco, a river of rum, and--more rum;" but +according to those who knew him better than he knew himself, he would +at any time sacrifice all three, together with everything else he +possessed, for the gratification of a fourth and unconfessed desire, +the dearest wish of his life, woman. Ward's description of him, +slightly paraphrased, fits him to a hair: "A salt-water vagabond, who +is never at home but when he is at sea, and never contented but when +he is ashore; never at ease until he has drawn his pay, and never +satisfied until he has spent it; and when his pocket is empty he is +just as much respected as a father-in-law is when he has beggared +himself to give a good portion with his daughter." [Footnote: Ward, +_Wooden World Dissected_, 1744.] With all this he was brave +beyond belief on the deck of a ship, timid to the point of cowardice +on the back of a horse; and although he fought to a victorious finish +many of his country's most desperate fights, and did more than any +other man of his time to make her the great nation she became, yet his +roving life robbed him of his patriotism and made it necessary to +wring from him by violent means the allegiance he shirked. It was at +this point that he came in contact with what he hated most in life, +yet dearly loved to dodge--the press-gang. + +That such a creature of contradictions should be averse from serving +the country he loved is perhaps the most consistent trait in his +character; for here at least the sailor had substantial grounds for +his inconsistency. + +For one thing, his aversion to naval service was as old as the Navy +itself, having grown with its growth. We have seen in what manner King +John was obliged to admonish the sailor in order to induce him to take +his prest-money; and Edward III., referring to his attitude in the +fourteenth century, is said to have summed up the situation in the +pregnant words: "There is navy enough in England, were there only the +will." Raleigh, recalling with bitterness of soul those glorious +Elizabethan days when no adventurer ever dreamt of pressing, scoffed +at the seamen of King James's time as degenerates who went on board a +man-of-war "with as great a grudging as if it were to be slaves in the +galleys." A hundred years did not improve matters. The sailors of +Queen Anne entered her ships like men "dragged to execution." +[Footnote: Justice, _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 1705, +Appendix on Pressing.] + +In the merchant service, where the sailor received his initiation into +the art and mystery of the sea, life during the period under review, +and indeed for long after, was hard enough in all conscience. +Systematic and unspeakably inhuman brutality made the merchant +seaman's lot a daily inferno. Traders sailing out of Liverpool, +Bristol and a score of other British ports depended almost entirely +for their crews upon drugged rum, so evil was their reputation in this +respect amongst seafaring men. In the East India Company's ships, +even, the conditions were little short of unendurable. Men had rather +be hanged than sail to the Indies in them. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1463, 1472--Letters of Captains Bouler and Billingsley, +and numerous instances.] + +Of all these bitternesses the sailor tasted freely. Cosmopolite that +he was, he wandered far a-sea and incurred the blows and curses of +many masters, happy if, amid his manifold tribulations, he could still +call his soul his own. Just here, indeed, was where the shoe of naval +service pinched him most sorely; for though upon the whole life on +board a man-of-war was not many shades worse than life aboard a +trader, it yet introduced into his already sadly circumscribed vista +of happiness the additional element of absolute loss of free-will, and +the additional dangers of being shot as an enemy or hanged as a +deserter. These additional things, the littles that yet meant so much, +bred in him a hatred of the service so implacable that nothing less +drastic than the warrant and the hanger could cope with or subdue it. +Eradicated it never was. + +The keynote to the sailor's treatment in the Navy may be said to have +been profane abuse. Officers of all ranks kept the Recording Angel +fearfully busy. With scarcely an exception they were men of blunt +speech and rough tongue who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, +and the ordinary seaman something many degrees worse. These were +technicalities of the service which had neither use nor meaning +elsewhere. But to the navigation of the ship, to daily routine and the +maintenance of that exact discipline on which the Navy prided itself, +they were as essential as is milk to the making of cheese. Nothing +could be done without them. Decent language was thrown away upon a set +of fellows who had been bred in that very shambles of language, the +merchant marine. To them "'twas just all the same as High Dutch." They +neither understood it nor appreciated its force. But a volley of +thumping oaths, bellowed at them from the brazen throat of a +speaking-trumpet, and freely interlarded with adjectives expressive of +the foulness of their persons, and the ultimate state and destination +of their eyes and limbs, saved the situation and sometimes the ship. +Officers addicted to this necessary flow of language were sensible of +only one restraint. Visiting parties caused them embarrassment, and +when this was the case they fell back upon the tactics of the +commander who, unable to express himself with his usual fluency +because of the presence of ladies on the quarter-deck, hailed the +foreyard-arm in some such terms as these: "Foreyard-arm there! God +bless you! God bless you! God bless you! _You know what I mean!_" + +Hard words break no bones, and to quarter-deck language, as such, the +sailor entertained no rooted objection. What he did object to, and +object to with all the dogged insistence of his nature, was the fact +that this habitual flow of profane scurrility was only the prelude to +what, with grim pleasantry, he was accustomed to describe as "serving +out slops." Anything intended to cover his back was "slops" to the +sailor, and the punishments meted out to him covered him like a +garment. + +The old code of naval laws, the _Monumenta Juridica_ or _Black +Book_ of the Admiralty, contained many curious disciplinary +methods, not a few of which too long survived the age they originated +in. If, for instance, one sailor robbed another and was found guilty +of the crime, boiling pitch was poured over his head and he was +powdered with feathers "to mark him," after which he was marooned on +the first island the ship fell in with. Seamen guilty of undressing +themselves while at sea were ducked three times from the yard-arm--a +more humane use of that spar than converting it into a gallows. On +this code were based Admiral the Earl of Lindsay's "Instructions" of +1695. These included ducking, keel-hauling, fasting, flogging, +weighting until the "heart or back be ready to break," and "gogging" +or scraping the tongue with hoop-iron for obscene or profane swearing; +for although the "gentlemen of the quarter-deck" might swear to their +heart's content, that form of recreation was strictly taboo in other +parts of the ship. Here we have the origin of the brutal discipline of +the next century, summed up in the Consolidation Act of George II. +[Footnote: 22 George II. c. 33.]--an Act wherein ten out of thirty-six +articles awarded capital punishment without option, and twelve death +or minor penalties. + +Of the latter, the one most commonly in use was flogging at the +gangway or jears. This duty fell to the lot of the boatswain's mate. +[Footnote: "As it is the Custom of the Army to punish with the Drums, +so it is the known Practice of the Navy to punish with the Boatswain's +Mate."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. (afterwards Admiral) +Boscawen, 25 Feb. 1746-7.] The instrument employed was the +cat-o'-nine-tails, the regulation dose twelve lashes; but since the +actual number was left to the captain's discretion or malice, as the +case might be, it not infrequently ran into three figures. Thus John +Watts, able seaman on board H.M.S. _Harwich,_ Capt. Andrew +Douglas commander, in 1704 received one hundred and seventy lashes for +striking a shipmate in self-defence, his captain meanwhile standing by +and exhorting the boatswain's mate to "Swinge the Dog, for hee has a +Tough Hide"--and that, too, with a cat waxed to make it bite the +harder. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, +1704-5.] + +It was just this unearned increment of blows--this dash of bitter +added to the regulation cup--that made Jack's gorge rise. He was not +the sort of chap, it must be confessed, to be ruled with a feather. +"An impudent rascal" at the best of times, he often "deserved a great +deal and had but little." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1472--Capt. Balchen, 26 Jan. 1716-7.] But unmerited punishment, too +often devilishly devised, maliciously inflicted and inhumanly carried +out, broke the back of his sense of justice, already sadly +overstrained, and inspired him with a mortal hatred of all things +naval. + +For the slightest offence he was "drubbed at the gears"; for serious +offences, from ship to ship. If, when reefing topsails on a dark night +or in the teeth of a sudden squall, he did not handle the canvas with +all the celerity desired by the officer of the watch, he and his +fellow yardsmen were flogged _en bloc_. He was made to run the +gauntlet, often with the blood gushing from nose and ears as the +result of a previous dose of the cat, until he fell to the deck +comatose and at the point of death. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1466--Complaint of ye Abuse of a Sayler in the +_Litchfield_, 1704. In this case the man actually died.] Logs of +wood were bound to his legs as shackles, and whatever the nature of +his offence, he invariably began his expiation of it, the preliminary +canter, so to speak, in irons. If he had a lame leg or a bad foot, he +was "started" with a rope's-end as a "slacker." If he happened to be +the last to tumble up when his watch was called, the rattan [Footnote: +Carried at one time by both commissioned and warrant officers.] raised +weals on his back or drew blood from his head; and, as if to add +insult to injury, for any of these, and a hundred and one other +offences, he was liable to be black-listed and to lose his allowance +of grog. + +Some things, too, were reckoned sins aboard ship which, unhappily for +the sailor, could not well be avoided. Laughing, or even permitting +the features to relax in a smile in the official presence, was such a +sin. "He beats us for laughing," declare the company of the +_Solebay_, in a complaint against their commander, "more like +Doggs than Men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1435--Capt. +Aldred, 29 Feb. 1703-4.] One of the _Nymph's_ company, in or +about the year 1797, received three dozen for what was officially +termed "Silent Contempt"--"which was nothing more than this, that when +flogged by the boatswain's mate the man smiled." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions, 1793-7.] This was the +"Unpardonable Crime" of the service. + +Contrariwise, a man was beaten if he sulked. And as a rule the sailor +was sulky enough. Works of supererogation, such as polishing +everything polishable--the shot for the guns, in extreme cases, not +even excepted--until it shone like the tropical sun at noonday, left +him little leisure or inclination for mirth. "Very pretty to look at," +said Wellington, when confronted with these glaring evidences of +hyper-discipline, "but there is one thing wanting. I have not seen a +bright face in the ship." + +A painful tale of discipline run mad, or nearly so, is unfolded by +that fascinating series of sailor-records, the Admiralty Petitions. +Many of them, it must in justice be owned, bear unqualified testimony +to the kindness and humanity of officers; but in the great majority of +cases the evidence they adduce is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And +if their language is sometimes bombastic, if their style is almost +uniformly illiterate, if they are the productions of a band of +mutinous dogs standing out for rights which they never possessed and +deserving of a halter rather than a hearing, these are circumstances +that do not in the least detract from the veracity of the allegations +they advance. The sailor appealed to his king, or to the Admiralty, +"the same as a child to its father"; and no one who peruses the story +of his wrongs, as set forth in these documents, can doubt for a moment +that he speaks the truth with all a child's simplicity. + +The seamen of the _Reunion_ open the tale of oppression and +ill-usage. "Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in +Salt Water and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look +as Clean as if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's +Grog which has the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not +Tyd to please him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the +_Amphitrite_ "flogging is their portion." The men of the +_Winchelsea_ "wold sooner be Shot at like a Targaite than to +Remain." The treatment systematically meted out to the _Shannon's_ +crew is more than the heart "can Cleaverly Bear"--enough, in +short, to make them "rise and Steer the Ship into an Enemies +Port." The seamen of the _Glory_ are made wretched by "beating, +blacking, tarring, putting our heads in Bags," and by being +forced to "drink half a Gallon of Salt Water" for the most trivial +breaches of discipline or decorum. On the _Blanch,_ if they get +wet and hang or spread their clothes to dry, the captain "thros them +overboard." The _Nassau's_ company find it impossible to put the +abuse they receive on paper. It is "above Humanity." Though put on +board to fight for king and country, they are used worse than dogs. +They have no encouragement to "face the Enemy with a chearful Heart." +Besides being kept "more like Convicts than free-born Britons," the +_Nymph's_ company have an unspeakable grievance. "When Engaged +with the Enemy off Brest, March the 9th, 1797, they even Beat us at +our Quarters, though on the Verge of Eternity." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5l25--Petitions, 1793-7.] + +On the principle advanced by Rochefoucault, that there is something +not displeasing to us in the misfortunes of our friends, the sailor +doubtless derived a sort of negative satisfaction from the fact that +he was not the only one on shipboard liable to the pains and penalties +of irascibility, brutality and excessive disciplinary zeal. +Particularly was this true of his special friend the "sky-pilot" or +chaplain, that super-person who perhaps most often fell a victim to +quarter-deck ebullitions. Notably there is on record the case of one +John Cruickshank, chaplain of H.M.S. _Assurance,_ who was clapped +in irons, court-martialled and dismissed the service merely because he +happened to take--what no sailor could ever condemn him for-a drop too +much, and whilst in that condition insisted on preaching to the ship's +company when they were on the very point of going into action. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5. +His zeal was unusual. Most naval chaplains thought "of nothing more +than making His Majesty's ships sinecures"] There is also that other +case of the "saucy Surgeon of the _Seahorse_" who incurred his +captain's dire displeasure all on account of candles, of which +necessary articles he, having his wife on board, thought himself +entitled to a more liberal share than was consistent with strict naval +economy; and who was, moreover, so "troblesome about his Provisions, +that if he did not always Chuse out of ye best in ye whole Ship," he +straightway got his back up and "threatened to Murder the Steward." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Blowers, 3 Jan. +1710-11.] Such interludes as these would assuredly have proved highly +diverting to the foremast-man had it not been for the cat and that +savage litter of minor punishments awaiting the man who smiled. + +In the matter of provisions, there can be little doubt that the sailor +shared to the full the desire evinced by the surgeon of the +_Seahorse_ to take blood-vengeance upon someone on account of +them. His "belly-timber," as old Misson so aptly if indelicately +describes it, was mostly worm-eaten or rotten, his drink indescribably +nasty. + +Charles II. is said to have made his breakfast off ship's diet the +morning he left the _Naseby,_ and to have pronounced it good; and +Nelson in 1803 declared it "could not possibly be improved upon." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580-Memorandum on the State of +the Fleet, 1803.] Such, however, was not the opinion of the chaplain +of the _Dartmouth,_ for after dining with his captain on an +occasion which deserves to become historic, he swore that "although he +liked that Sort of Living very well, as for the King's Allowance there +was but a Sheat of Browne Paper between it and Hell." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Misdemenors Comited by Mr Edward +Lewis, Chapling on Board H. M. Shipp Dartmouth, 1 Oct. 1702.] Which of +these opinions came nearest to the truth, the sequel will serve to +show. + +On the face of it the sailor's dietary was not so bad. A ship's +stores, in 1719, included ostensibly such items as bread, wine, beef, +pork, peas, oatmeal, butter, cheese, water and beer, and if Jack had +but had his fair share of these commodities, and had it in decent +condition, he would have had little reason to grumble about the king's +allowance. Unhappily for him, the humanities of diet were little +studied by the Victualling Board. + +Taking the beef, the staple article of consumption on shipboard, +cooking caused it to shrink as much as 45 per cent., thus reducing the +sailor's allowance by nearly one-half. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1495--Capt. Barrington, 23 Dec. 1770.] The residuum was +often "mere carrion," totally unfit for human consumption. "Junk," the +sailor contemptuously called it, likening it, in point of texture, +digestibility and nutritive properties, to the product of picked +oakum, which it in many respects strongly resembled. The pork, though +it lost less in the cooking, was rancid, putrid stuff, repellent in +odour and colour-particulars in which it found close competitors in +the butter and cheese, which had often to be thrown overboard because +they "stunk the ship." [Footnote: To disinfect a ship after she had +been fouled by putrid rations or disease, burning sulphur and vinegar +were commonly employed. Their use was preferable to the means adopted +by the carpenter of the _Feversham_, who in order to "sweeten +ship" once "turn'd on the cock in the hould" and through forgetfulness +"left it running for eighteen howers," thereby not only endangering +the vessel's safety, but incidentally spoiling twenty-one barrels of +powder in the magazine.--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. +Watson, 18 April 1741.] The peas "would not break." Boiled for eight +hours on end, they came through the ordeal "almost as hard as shott." +Only the biscuit, apart from the butter and cheese, possessed the +quality of softness. Damp, sea-water, mildew and weevil converted +"hard" into "soft tack" and added another horror to the sailor's mess. +The water he washed these varied abominations down with was frequently +"stuff that beasts would cough at." His beer was no better. It would +not keep, and was in consequence both "stinking and sour." [Footnote: +According to Raleigh, old oil and fish casks were used for the storing +of ship's beer in Elizabeth's reign.] Although the contractor was +obliged to make oath that he had used both malt and hops in the +brewing, it often consisted of nothing more stimulating than "water +coloured and bittered," and sometimes the "stingy dog of a brewer" +even went so far as to omit the "wormwood." + +Such a dietary as this made a meal only an unavoidable part of the +day's punishment and inspired the sailor with profound loathing. "Good +Eating is an infallible Antidote against murmuring, as many a +Big-Belly Place-Man can instance," he says in one of his petitions. +Poor fellow! his opportunities of putting it to the test were few +enough. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the so-called Banyan days +of the service, when his hateful ration of meat was withheld and in +its stead he regaled himself on plum-duff--the "plums," according to +an old regulation, "not worse than Malaga"--he had a taste of it. +Hence the banyan day, though in reality a fast-day, became indelibly +associated in his simple mind and vocabulary with occasions of +feasting and plenty, and so remains to this day. + +If the sailor's only delicacy was duff, his only comforts were rum and +tobacco, and to explore some unknown island, and discover therein a +goodly river of the famous Jamaica spirit, flowing deep and fragrant +between towering mountains of "pig tail," is commonly reputed to have +been the cherished wish of his heart. With tobacco the Navy Board did +not provide him, nor afford dishonest pursers opportunity to "make +dead men chew," [Footnote: Said of pursers who manipulated the Muster +Books, which it was part of their duty to keep, in such a way as to +make it appear that men "discharged dead" had drawn a larger quantity +of tobacco than was actually the case, the difference in value of +course going into their own pockets.] until 1798; but rum they allowed +him at a comparatively early date. When sickness prevailed on board, +when beer ran short or had to be turned over the side to preserve a +sweet ship, rum or wine was issued, and although the Admiralty at +first looked askance at the innovation, and at times left commanders +of ships to foot the bill for spirits thus served out, the practice +made gradual headway, until at length it ousted beer altogether and +received the stamp of official approval. Half a pint, dealt out each +morning and evening in equal portions, was the regular allowance--a +quantity often doubled were the weather unusually severe or the men +engaged in the arduous duty of watering ship. At first the ration of +rum was served neat and appreciated accordingly; but about 1740 the +practice of adding water was introduced. This was Admiral Vernon's +doing. Vernon was best known to his men as "Old Grog," a nickname +originating in a famous grogram coat he affected in dirty weather; and +as the rum and water now served out to them was little to their +liking, they marked their disapproval of the mixture, as well as of +the man who invented it, by dubbing it "grog." The sailor was not +without his sense of humour. + +The worst feature of rum, from the sailor's point of view, worse by +far than dilution, was the fact that it could be so easily stopped. +Here his partiality for the spirit told heavily against him. His grog +was stopped because he liked it, rather than because he deserved to +lose it. The malice of the thing did not make for a contented ship. + +The life of the man-o'-war's-man, according to Lord Nelson, was on an +average "finished at forty-five years." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Bad +food and strenuous labour under exceptionally trying conditions sapped +his vitals, made him prematurely old, and exposed him to a host of +ills peculiar to his vocation. He "fell down daily," to employ the old +formula, in spotted or putrid fevers. He was racked by agues, +distorted by rheumatic pains, ruptured or double-ruptured by the +strain of pulling, hauling and lifting heavy weights. He ate no meal +without incurring the pangs of acute indigestion, to which he was +fearfully subject. He was liable to a "prodigious inflammation of the +head, nose and eyes," occasioned by exposure. Scurvy, his most +inveterate and merciless enemy, "beat up" for him on every voyage and +dragged his brine-sodden body down to a lingering death. Or, did he +escape these dangers and a watery grave, protracted disease sooner or +later rendered him helpless, or a brush with the enemy disabled him +for ever from earning his bread. + +His surgeons were, as a rule, a sorry lot. Not only were they +deficient in numbers, they commonly lacked both professional training +and skill. Their methods were consequently of the crudest description, +and long continued so. The approved treatment for rupture, to which +the sailor was painfully liable, was to hang the patient up by the +heels until the prolapsus was reduced. Pepys relates how he met a +seaman returning from fighting the Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped +with oakum," and as late at least as the Battle of Trafalgar it was +customary, in amputations, to treat the bleeding stump with boiling +pitch as a cauterant. In his general attitude towards the sick and +wounded the old-time naval surgeon was not unlike Garth, Queen Anne's +famous physician. At the Kit Cat Club he one day sat so long over his +wine that Steele ventured to remind him of his patients. "No matter," +said Garth. "Nine have such bad constitutions that no physician can +save them, and the other six such good ones that all the physicans in +the world could not kill them." + +Many were the devices resorted to in order to keep the +man-o'-war's-man healthy and fit. As early as 1602 a magic electuary, +invented by one "Doctor Cogbourne, famous for fluxes," was by +direction of the Navy Commissioners supplied for his use in the West +Indies. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Barker, 14 +Oct. 1702.] By Admiral Vernon and his commanders he was dosed freely +with "Elixir of Vitriol," which they not only "reckoned the best +general medicine next to rhubarb," but pinned their faith to as a +sovereign specific for scurvy and fevers. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 161--Admiral Vernon, 31 Oct. 1741.] Lime-juice, known +as a valuable anti-scorbutic as early as the days of Drake and +Raleigh, was not added to his rations till 1795. He did not find it +very palatable. The secret of fortifying it was unknown, and oil had +to be floated on its surface to make it keep. Sour-crout was much more +to his taste as a preventive of scurvy, and in 1777, at the request of +Admiral Montagu, then Governor and Commander-in-Chief over the Island +of Newfoundland, the Admiralty caused to be sent out, for the use of +the squadron on that station, where vegetables were unprocurable, a +sufficient quantity of that succulent preparation to supply twelve +hundred men for a period of two months. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 471--Admiral Montagu, 28 Feb. 1777, and endorsement.] + +Rice the sailor detested. Of all species of "soft tack" it was least +to his liking. He nicknamed it "strike-me-blind," being firmly +convinced that its continued use would rob him of his eyesight. Tea +was not added to his dietary till 1824, but as early as 1795 he could +regale himself on cocoa. For the rest, sugar, essence of malt, essence +of spruce, mustard, cloves, opium and "Jesuits'" or Peruvian bark were +considered essential to his well-being on shipboard. He was further +allowed a barber-one to every hundred men-without whose attentions it +was found impossible to keep him "clean and healthy." + +With books he was for many years "very scantily supplied." It was not +till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that +he had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association +with the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies +of literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his +leisure with such books as the _Old Chaplains Farewell Letter_, +Wilson's _Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man_, Seeker's _Duties of +the Sick_, and, lest returning health should dissipate the piety +begotten of his ailments, Gibson's _Advice after Sickness_. +Thousands of pounds were spent upon this improving literature, which +was distributed to the fleet in strict accordance with the amount of +storage room available at the various dockyards. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ Accountant-General, Misc. (Various), No. +l06--Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, Chaplain-General to the +Fleet, 1812-7.] + +A fundamental principle of man-o'-war routine was that the sailor +formed no part of it for hospital purposes. Hence sickness was not +encouraged. If the sailor-patient did not recover within a reasonable +time, he was "put on shore sick," sometimes to the great terror of the +populace, who, were he supposed to be afflicted with an infectious +disease, fled from him "as if he had the plague." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 24 June 1740.] On shore +he was treated for thirty days at his country's charges. If incurable, +or permanently disabled, he was then turned adrift and left to shift +for himself. A clean record and a sufficiently serious wound entitled +him to a small pension or admission to Greenwich Hospital, an +institution which had religiously docked his small pay of sixpence a +month throughout his entire service. Failing these, there remained for +him only the streets and the beggar's role. + +His pay was far from princely. From 3d. a day in the reign of King +John it rose by grudging increments to 20s. a month in 1626, and 24s. +in 1797. Years sometimes elapsed before he touched a penny of his +earnings, except in the form of "slop" clothing and tobacco. Amongst +the instances of deferred wages in which the Admiralty records abound, +there may be cited the case of the _Dreadnought_, whose men in +1711 had four years' pay due; and of the _Dunkirk_, to whose +company, in the year following, six and a half years' was owing. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 8 March +1710-11. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Butler, 19 March, +1711-12,] And at the time of the Nore Mutiny it was authoritatively +stated that there were ships then in the fleet which had not been paid +off for eight, ten, twelve and in one instance even fifteen years. +"Keep the pay, keep the man," was the policy of the century--a sadly +mistaken policy, as we shall presently see. + +In another important article of contentment the sailor was hardly +better off. The system of deferred pay amounted practically to a +stoppage of all leave for the period, however protracted, during which +the pay was withheld. Thus the _Monmouth's_ men had in 1706 been +in the ship "almost six years, and had never had the opportunity of +seeing their families but once." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1468-Capt. Baker, 3 Nov. 1706.] In Boscawen's ship, the +_Dreadnought_, there were in 1744 two hundred and fifty men who +"had not set foot on shore near two year." Admiral Penrose once paid +off in a seventy-four at Plymouth, many of whose crew had "never set +foot on land for six or seven years"; [Footnote: Penrose (Sir V. C., +Vice-Admiral of the Blue), _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc.,_ 1824.] and Brenton, in his _Naval History_, +instances the case of a ship whose company, after having been +eleven years in the East Indies, on returning to England were +drafted straightway into another ship and sent back to that quarter of +the globe without so much as an hour's leave ashore. + +What was true of pay and leave was also true of prize-money. The +sailor was systematically kept out of it, and hence out of the means +of enjoyment and carousal it afforded him, for inconscionable periods. +From a moral point of view the check was hardly to his detriment. But +the Navy was not a school of morals, and withholding the sailor's +hard-earned prize-money over an indefinite term of years neither made +for a contented heart nor enhanced his love for a service that first +absorbed him against his will, and then, having got him in its +clutches, imposed upon and bested him at every turn. + +Although the prime object in withholding his pay was to prevent his +running from his ship, so far from compassing that desirable end it +had exactly the contrary effect. Both the preventive and the disease +were of long standing. With De Ruyter in the Thames in 1667, menacing +London and the kingdom, the seamen of the fleet flocked to town in +hundreds, clamouring for their wages, whilst their wives besieged the +Navy Office in Seething Lane, shrieking: "This is what comes of not +paying our husbands!" + +Essentially a creature of contradictions, the sailor rarely, if he +could avoid it, steered the course laid down for him, and in nothing +perhaps was this idiosyncrasy so glaringly apparent as in his +behaviour as his country's creditor. He "would get to London if he +could." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 12 +Dec. 1742.] "An unaccountable humour" impelled him "to quit His +Majesty's service without leave." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 480--Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, 12 Sept. 1746.] Once the +whim seized him, no ties of deferred pay or prize-money had power to +hold him back. The one he could obtain on conditions; the other he +could dispose of at a discount which, though ruinously heavy, still +left him enough to frolic on. + +The weapon of deferred pay was thus a two-edged one. If it hurt the +sailor, it also cut the fingers of those who employed it against him. +So exigent were the needs of the service, he could "run" with +impunity. For if he ran whilst his pay was in arrears, he did so with +the full knowledge that, barring untimely recapture by the press-gang, +he would receive a free pardon, together with payment of all dues, on +the sole condition, which he never kept if he could help it, of +returning to his ship when his money was gone. He therefore deserted +for two reasons: First, to obtain his pay; second, to spend it. + +The penalty for desertion, under a well-known statute of George I., +[Footnote: 13 George I., art. 7.] was death by hanging. As time went +on, however, discipline in this respect suffered a grave relapse, and +fear of the halter no longer served to check the continual exodus from +the fleet. If the runaway sailor were taken, "it would only be a +whipping bout." So he openly boasted. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Boscawen, 26 April 1743.] The "bout," it is +true, at times ran to six, or even seven hundred lashes--the latter +being the heaviest dose of the cat ever administered in the British +navy; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 12 Nov. 1765.] but even this terrible ordeal had no power to +hold the sailor to his duty, and although Admiral Lord St. Vincent, +better known in his day as "hanging Jervis," did his utmost to revive +the ancient custom of stretching the sailor's neck, the trend of the +times was against him, and within twenty-five years of the reaffirming +of the penalty, in the 22nd year of George II., hanging for desertion +had become practically obsolete. + +In the declining days of the practice a grim game at life and death +was played upon the deck of a king's ship lying in the River St. +Lawrence. The year was 1760. Quebec had only recently fallen before +the British onslaught. A few days before that event, at a juncture +when every man in the squadron was counted upon to play his part in +the coming struggle, and to play it well, three seamen, James Mike, +Thomas Wilkinson and William M'Millard by name, deserted from the +_Vanguard_. Retaken some months later, they were brought to +trial; but as men were not easy to replace in that latitude, the +court, whilst sentencing all three to suffer the extreme penalty of +the law, added to their verdict a rider to the effect that it would be +good policy to spare two of them. Admiral Lord Colvill, then +Commander-in-Chief, issued his orders accordingly, and at eleven +o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July the condemned men, preceded +to the scaffold by two chaplains, were led to the _Vanguard's_ +forecastle, where they drew lots to determine which of them should +die. The fatal lot fell to James Mike, who, in presence of the +assembled boats of the squadron, was immediately "turned off" at the +foreyard-arm. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 10 July 1760; Captains' Logs, 1026--Log of H.M.S. +_Vanguard_.] + +Encouraged in this grim fashion, desertion assumed alarming +proportions. Nelson estimated that whenever a large convoy of merchant +ships assembled at Portsmouth, at least a thousand men deserted from +the fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on +the State of the Fleet, 1803.] This was a "liberty they would take," +do what you could to prevent it. + +Of those who thus deserted fully one-third, according to the same high +authority, never saw the fleet again. "From loss of clothes, drinking +and other debaucheries" they were "lost by death to the country." Some +few of the remainder, after drinking His Majesty's health in a final +bowl, voluntarily returned on board and "prayed for a fair wind"; but +the majority held aloof, taking their chances and their pleasures in +sailorly fashion until, their last stiver gone, they fell an easy prey +to the press-gang or the crimp. + +While the crimp was to the merchant service what the press-gang was to +the Navy, a kind of universal provider, there was in his method of +preying upon the sailor a radical difference. Like his French compeer, +the recruiting sergeant of the Pont Neuf in the days of Louis the +Well-Beloved, wherever sailors congregated the crimp might be heard +rattling his money-bags and crying: "Who wants any? Who wants any?" +Where the press-gang used the hanger or the cudgel, the crimp employed +dollars. The circumstance gave him a decided "pull" in the contest for +men, for the dollars he offered, whether in the way of pay or bounty, +were invariably fortified with rum. The two formed a contraption no +sailor could resist. "Money and liquor held out to a seaman," said +Nelson, "are too much for him." + +In law the offence of enticing seamen to desert His Majesty's service, +like desertion itself, was punishable with death; [Footnote: 22 George +n. cap. 33.] but in fact the penalty was either commuted to +imprisonment, or the offender was dealt with summarily, without +invoking the law. Crimps who were caught red-handed had short shrift. +Two of the fraternity, named respectively Henry Nathan and Sampson +Samuel, were once taken in the Downs. "Send Nathan and Samuel," ran +the Admiralty order in their case, "to Plymouth by the first +conveyance. Admiral Young is to order them on board a ship going on +foreign service as soon as possible." Another time an officer, +boarding a boat filled with men as it was making for an Indiaman at +Gravesend, found in her six crimps, all of whom suffered the same +fate. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Bazeley, 7 +Feb. 1808. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. Bowater, 12 June +1796.] + +Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver +cooped," and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, +it was world-wide. In whatever waters a British man-o'-war cast +anchor, there the crimp appeared, plying his crafty trade. His +assiduity paid a high compliment to the sterling qualities of the +British seaman, but for the Navy it spelt wholesale depletion. + +In home ports he was everywhere in evidence. No ship of war could lie +in Leith Roads but she lost a good part of her crew through his +seductions. "M'Kirdy & M'Lean, petty-fogging writers," were the chief +crimps at Greenock. Sheerness crimps gave "great advance money." +Liverpool was infested with them, all the leading merchant shippers at +Bristol, London and other great ports having "agents" there, who +offered the man-o'-war's-man tempting bounties and substantial wages +to induce him to desert his ship. A specially active agent of Bristol +shipowners was one Vernon Ley, who plied his trade chiefly at Exeter +and Plymouth, whence he was known to send to Bristol, in the space of +six months, as many as seventy or eighty men, whom he provided with +postchaises for the journey and 8 Pounds per man as bounty. James +White, a publican who kept the "Pail of Barm" at Bedminster, made a +close second in his activity and success. Spithead had its regular +contingent of crimps, and many an East India ship sailing from that +famous anchorage was "entirely manned" by their efforts, of course at +the expense of the ships of war lying there. At Chatham, crimpage +bounty varied from fifteen to twenty guineas per head; and at Cork, a +favourite recruiting ground for both merchantmen and privateers, the +same sum could be had any day, with high wages to boot. + +In the Crown Colonies a similar state of things prevailed. Queen's +ships visiting Jamaica in or about the year 1716 lost so heavily they +scarce dared venture the return voyage to England, their men having +"gone a-wrecking" in the Gulf of Florida, where one armed sloop was +reputed to have recovered Spanish treasure to the value of a hundred +thousand dollars. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Balchen, 13 May 1716.] Time did not lessen desertion in the island, +though it wrought a change in the cause. When Admiral Vernon was +Commander-in-Chief there in the forties, he lost five hundred men +within a comparatively short time--"seduced out," to use his own +words, "through the temptations of high wages and thirty gallons of +rum, and conveyed drunk on board from the punch-houses where they are +seduced." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 233--Admiral Vernon, +5 Sept. 1742. A rare recruiting sheet of 1780, which has for its +headpiece a volunteer shouting: "Rum for nothing!" describes Jamaica +as "that delightful Island, abounding in Rum, Sugar and Spanish +Dollars, where there is delicious living and plenty of GROGG and +PUNCH."] + +At Louisberg, in the Island of Cape Breton, the North American +Squadron in 1746 lost so many men through the seductions practised by +New England skippers frequenting that port, that Townsend, the admiral +in command, indited a strongly worded protest to Shirley, then +Governor of Massachusetts; but the latter, though deploring the "vile +behaviour" of the skippers in question, could do nothing to put a stop +to it. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Townsend, 17 Aug.; +Shirley, 12 Sept. 1746.] As a matter of fact he did not try. + +On the coast of Carolina many of the English merchantmen in 1743 paid +from seventeen to twenty guineas for the run home, and in addition "as +many pounds of Sugar, Gallons of Rum and pounds of Tobacco as pounds +in Money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1 1479-Capt. Bladwell, +1 July 1743.] + +The lust for privateering had much to answer for in this respect. So +possessed were the Virginians by the desire to get rich at the expense +of their enemies that they quite "forgot their allegiance to the +King." By the offer of inordinately high wages and rich prizes they +did their utmost to seduce carpenters, gunners, sailmakers and able +seamen from His Majesty's ships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1480--Capt. Lord Alexander Banff, 21 Oct. 1744.] Any ship forced to +winter at Rhode Island, again, always counted upon losing enough men +to "disable her from putting to sea" when the spring came. Here, too, +the privateering spirit was to blame, Rhode Island being notorious for +its enterprise in that form of piracy. Another impenitent sinner in +her inroads upon the companies of king's ships was Boston, where "a +sett of people made it their Business" to entice them away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Askew, 27 Aug. 1748.] No ship +could clean, refit, victual or winter there without "the loss of all +her men." Capt. Young, of the _Jason_, was in 1753 left there +with never a soul on board except "officers and servants, widows' men, +the quarter-deck gentlemen and those called idlers." The rest had been +seduced at 30 Pounds per head. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2732--Capt. Young, 6 Oct. 1753. The "widows' men" here humorously +alluded to would not add much to the effectiveness of the depleted +company. They were imaginary sailors, borne on the ship's books for +pay and prize-money which went to Greenwich Hospital.] + +So it went on. Day in, day out, at home and abroad, this ceaseless +drain of men, linking hands in the decimation of the fleet with those +able adjutants Disease and Death, accentuated progressively and +enormously the naval needs of the country. For the apprehension and +return of deserters from ships in home ports a drag-net system of +rewards and conduct-money sprang into being; but this the sailor to +some extent contrived to elude. He "stuck a cockade in his hat" and +made shift to pass for a soldier on leave; or he laid furtive hands on +a horse and set up for an equestrian traveller. In the neighbourhood +of all great seaport towns, as on all main roads leading to that +paradise and ultimate goal of the deserter, the metropolis, +horse-stealing by sailors "on the run" prevailed to an alarming +extent; and although there was a time when the law strung him up for +the crime of borrowing horses to help him on his way, as it had once +hanged him for deserting, the naval needs of the country eventually +changed all that and brought him a permanent reprieve. Thenceforth, +instead of sending the happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care felon to the +gallows, they turned him over to the press-gang and so re-consigned +him, penniless and protesting, to the duty he detested. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + + + +From the standpoint of a systematic supply of men to the fleet, the +press-gang was a legitimate means to an imperative end. This was the +official view. In how different a light the people came to regard the +petty man-trap of power, we shall presently see. + +Designed as it was for the taking up of able-bodied adults, the main +idea in the formation of the gang was strength and efficiency. It was +accordingly composed of the stoutest men procurable, dare-devil +fellows capable of giving a good account of themselves in fight, or of +carrying off their unwilling prey against long odds. Brute strength +combined with animal courage being thus the first requisite of the +ganger, it followed--not perhaps as a matter of course so much as a +matter of fact--that his other qualities were seldom such as to endear +him to the people. Wilkes denounced him for a "lawless ruffian," and +one of the newspapers of his time describes him, with commendable +candour and undeniable truth, as a "profligate and abandoned wretch, +perpetually lounging about the streets and incessantly vomiting out +oaths and horrid curses." [Footnote: _London Chronicle,_ 16 March +1762.] + +The getting of a gang together presented little difficulty. The first +business of the officer charged with its formation was to find +suitable quarters, rent not to exceed twenty shillings a week, +inclusive of fire and candle. Here he hung out a flag as the sign of +authority and a bait for volunteers. As a rule, they were easily +procurable. All the roughs of the town were at his disposal, and when +these did not yield material enough recourse was had to beat of drum, +that instrument, together with the man who thumped it, being either +hired at half-a-crown a day or "loaned" from the nearest barracks. +Selected members of the crowd thus assembled were then plied with +drink "to invite them to enter"--an invitation they seldom refused. + +It goes without saying that gangs raised in this manner were of an +exceedingly mixed character. On the principle of setting a thief to +catch a thief, seafaring men of course had first preference, but +landsmen were by no means excluded. The gang operating at Godalming in +1782 may be cited as typical of the average inland gang. It consisted +of three farmers, one weaver, one bricklayer, one labourer, and two +others whose regular occupations are not divulged. They were probably +sailors. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Boston, +Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] + +Landsmen entered on the express understanding that they should not be +pressed when the gang broke up. Sailor gangsmen, on the contrary, +enjoyed no such immunity. The most they could hope for, when their +arduous duties came to an end, was permission to "choose their ship." +The concession was no mean one. By choosing his ship discreetly the +gangsman avoided encounters with men he had pressed, thus preserving +his head unbroken and his skin intact. + +Ship-gangs, unlike those operating on land, were composed entirely of +seamen. For dash, courage and efficiency, they had no equal and few +rivals. + +Apart from the officers commanding it, the number of men that went to +the making of a gang varied from two to twenty or more according to +the urgency of the occasion that called it into being and the +importance or ill-repute of the centre selected as the scene of its +operations. For Edinburgh and Leith twenty-one men, directed by a +captain, two lieutenants and four midshipmen, were considered none too +many. Greenock kept the same number of officers and twenty men fully +employed, for here there was much visiting of ships on the water, a +fast cutter being retained for that purpose. The Liverpool gang +numbered eighteen men, directed by seven officers and backed by a +flotilla of three tenders, each under the command of a special +lieutenant. Towns such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great Yarmouth, Cowes +and Haverfordwest also had gangs of at least twenty men each, with +boats as required; and Deal, Dover and Folkstone five gangs between +them, totalling fifty men and fifteen officers, and employing as many +boats as gangs for pressing in the Downs. + +In the case of ship-gangs, operating directly from a ship of war in +harbour or at sea, the officers in charge were as a matter of course +selected from the available ward or gun-room contingent. Few, if any, +of the naval men whose names at one time or another spring into +prominence during the century, escaped this unpleasant but necessary +duty in their younger days. But on shore an altogether different order +of things prevailed. + + [Illustration: MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a +rare print in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley.] + +The impress service ashore was essentially the grave of promotion. +Whether through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high +places, the officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, +service derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or +of again commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat +spoke of them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the +fictitious rank denoting a kind of service quarantine that knew no +pratique. + +Like the salt junk of the foremast--man, the Yellow Admiral got +fearfully "out of character" through over-keeping. With the service he +lost all touch save in one degrading particular. His pay was better +than his reputation, but his position was isolated, his duties and his +actions subject to little official supervision. With opportunity came +peculiar temptations to bribery and peculation, and to these he often +succumbed. The absence of congenial society frequently weighed heavy +upon him and drove him to immoderate drinking. Had he lived a +generation or so later the average impress officer ashore could have +echoed with perfect truth, and almost nightly iteration, the crapulous +sentiment in which Byron is said to have toasted his hosts when dining +on board H.M.S. _Hector_ at Malta:-- + + "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, + Was ever mortal drunk as I am!" + +[Footnote: The authenticity of the anecdote, notwithstanding the fact +that it was long current in naval circles, is more than doubtful. When +Bryon visited Malta in 1808 the _Hector_ was doing duty at +Plymouth as a prison-ship, and naval records disclose no other ship of +that name till 1864.] + +A lieutenant attached to the gang at Chester is responsible for a +piece of descriptive writing, of a biographical nature, which perhaps +depicts the impress officer of the century at his worst. Addressing a +brother lieutenant at Waterford, to which station his superior was on +the point of being transferred, "I think but right," says he, "to give +you a character of Capt. P., who is to be your Regulating Captain. I +have been with him six months here, and if it had not been that he is +leaving the place, I should have wrote to the Board of Admiralty to +have been removed from under his command. At first you'll think him a +Fine old Fellow, but if it's possible he will make you Quarrel with +all your Acquaintance. Be very Careful not to Introduce him to any +Family that you have a regard for, for although he is near Seventy +Years of Age, he is the greatest Debauchee you ever met with--a Man of +No Religion, a Man who is Capable of any Meanness, Arbitrary and +Tyrannicall in his Disposition. This City has been several times just +on the point of writing against him to the Board of Admiralty. He has +a wife, and Children grown up to Man's Estate. The Woman he brings +over with him is Bird the Builder's Daughter. To Conclude, there is +not a House in Chester that he can go into but his own and the +Rendezvous, after having been Six Months in one of the agreeablest +Cities in England." [Footnote: _Ad,_ 1. 1500--Lieut. Shuckford, 7 +March 1780.] + +Ignorant of the fact that his reputation had thus preceded him, Capt. +P. found himself assailed, on his arrival at Waterford, by a "most +Infamous Epitaph," emanating none knew whence, nor cared. This +circumstance, accentuated by certain indiscretions of which the +hectoring old officer was guilty shortly after his arrival, aroused +strong hostility against him. A mob of fishwives, attacking his house +at Passage, smashed the windows and were with difficulty restrained +from levelling the place with the ground. His junior officers +conspired against him. Piqued by the loss of certain perquisites which +the newcomer remorselessly swept away, they denounced him to the +Admiralty, who ordered an inquiry into his conduct. After a hearing of +ten days it went heavily against him, practically every charge being +proved. He was immediately superseded and never again employed--a sad +ending to a career of forty years under such men as Anson, Boscawen, +Hawke and Vernon. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Capt. +Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780, and enclosures constituting the inquiry.] Yet +such was the ultimate fate of many an impress officer. A stronger +light focussed him ashore, and habits, proclivities and weaknesses +that escaped censure at sea, were here projected odiously upon the +sensitive retina of public opinion. + +Of the younger men who drifted into the shore service there were some, +it need scarcely be said, who for obvious reasons escaped, or, rather, +did not succumb to the common odium. A notable example of this type of +officer was Capt. Jahleel Brenton, who for some years commanded the +gangs at Leith and Greenock. Though a man of blunt sensibilities and +speech, he possessed qualities which carried him out of the stagnant +back-water of pressing into the swim of service afloat, where he +eventually secured a baronetcy and the rank of Vice-Admiral. +Singularly enough, he was American-born. + +The senior officer in charge of a gang, commonly known as the +Regulating Captain, might in rank be either captain or lieutenant. It +was his duty to hire, but not to "keep" the official headquarters of +the gang, to organise that body, to direct its operations, to account +for all moneys expended and men pressed, and to "regulate" or inspect +the latter and certify them fit for service or otherwise. In this +last-named duty a surgeon often assisted him, usually a local +practitioner, who received a shilling a head for his pains. One or +more lieutenants, each of whom had one or more midshipmen at his beck +and call, served under the Regulating Captain. They "kept" the +headquarters and led the gang, or contingents of the gang, on pressing +forays, thus coming in for much of the hard work, and many of the +harder knocks, that unpopular body was liable to. Sometimes, as in the +case of Dover, Deal and Folkestone, several gangs were grouped under a +single regulating officer. + +The pay of the Regulating Captain was 1 Pound a day, with an +additional 5s. subsistence money. Lieutenants received their usual +service pay, and for subsistence 3s. 6d. In special cases grants were +made for coach-hire [Footnote: Capt. William Bennett's bill for the +double journey between Waterford and Cork, on the occasion of the +inquiry into the conduct of the Regulating Officer at the former +place, over which he presided, amounted to forty-three guineas--a sum +he considered "as moderate as any gentleman's could have been, laying +aside the wearing of my uniform every day." Half the amount went in +chaise and horse hire, "there being," we are told, "no chaises upon +the road as in England," and "only one to be had at Cork, all the rest +being gone to Dublin with the Lawyers and the Players, the Sessions +being just ended and the Play House broke up" (_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Bennett, 24 March 1782). Nelson's bill for +posting from Burnham, Norfolk, to London and back, 260 miles, in the +year 1789, amounted to 19 Pounds, 55. 2d. (_Admiralty Records_ +Victualling Dept, Miscellanea, No. 26).] and such purposes as +"entertainments to the Mayor and Corporation, the Magistrates +and the Officers of the Regulars and the Militia, by way of return +for their civilities and for their assistance in carrying on the +impress." The grant to the Newcastle officers, under this head, in +1763 amounted to upwards of 93 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bover, 6 March 1763, and endorsement.] + +"Road-money" was generally allowed at the rate of 3d. a mile for +officers and 1d. a mile for gangers when on the press; but as a matter +of fact these modest figures were often largely exceeded--to the no +small emolument of the regulating officer. Lieut. Gaydon, commanding +at Ilfracombe, in 1795 debited the Navy Board with a sum of 148 Pounds +for 1776 miles of travel; Capt. Gibbs, of Swansea, with 190 Pounds for +1561 miles; and Capt. Longcroft, of Haverfordwest, with 524 Pounds for +8388 miles--a charge characterised by Admiral M'Bride, who that year +reported upon the working of the impress, as "immense." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] He +might well have used a stronger term. + +An item which it was at one time permissible to charge, possesses a +special interest. This was a bonus of 1s. a head on all men pressed--a +bonus that was in reality nothing more than the historic prest +shilling of other days, now no longer paid to pressed men, diverted +into the pockets of those who did the pressing. The practice, however, +was short-lived. Tending as it did to fill the ships with +unserviceable men, it was speedily discontinued and the historic +shilling made over to the certifying surgeon. + +The shore midshipman could boast but little affinity with his namesake +of the quarter-deck. John Richards, midshipman of the Godalming gang, +had never in his life set foot on board a man-of-war or been to sea. +His age was forty. The case of James Good, of Hull, is even more +remarkable. He had served as "Midshipman of the Impress" for thirty +years out of sixty-three. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1455--Capt. Acklom, 6 Oct. 1814. _Admiralty Records_ 1.1502-- +Capt. Boston, Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] The pay of these +elderly youths at no time exceeded a guinea a week. + +The gangsman was more variously, if not more generously remunerated. +At Deal, in 1743, he had 1s. per day for his boat, and "found +himself," or, in the alternative, "ten shillings for every good seaman +procured, in full for his trouble and the hire of the boat." At Dover, +in 1776, he received 2s. 6d. a day; at Godalming, six years later, +10s. 6d. a week; and at Exeter, during the American War of +Independence, when the demand for seamen was phenomenal, 14s. a week, +5s. for every man pressed, and clothing and shoes "when he deserved +it." Pay and allowances were thus far from uniform. Both depended +largely upon the scarcity or abundance of suitable gangsmen, the +demand for seamen, and the astuteness of the officer organising the +gang. Some gangs not on regular wages received as much as "twenty +shillings for each man impressed, and six-pence a mile for as many +miles as they could make it appear each man had travelled, not +exceeding twenty, besides (a noteworthy addition) the twelve-pence +press-money "; but if a man pressed under these conditions were found +to be unserviceable after his appearance on shipboard, all money +considerations for his capture were either withheld or recalled. On +the whole, considering the arduous and disagreeable nature of the +gangsman's calling, the Navy Board cannot be accused of dealing any +too generously by him. + +"If ever you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the +captains and pursers," Charles II. is credited with having once said +to his council, "you may go to bed." What in this sense was true of +the service afloat was certainly not less true of that loosely +organised and laxly supervised naval department, the impress ashore. +Considering the repute of the officers engaged in it, and the +opportunities they enjoyed for peculation and the taking of +bribes--considering, above all, the extreme difficulty of keeping a +watchful eye upon officers scattered throughout the length and breadth +of the land, the wonder is, not that irregularities crept in, but that +they should have been, upon the whole, so few and so venial. + +To allow the gangsmen to go fishing for sea-fish or dredging for +oysters, as was commonly done when there was little prospect of a +catch on land, was no more heinous than the custom prevailing--to +everybody's knowledge--at King's Lynn in Norfolk, where the gang had +no need to go a-fishing because, regularly as the cobbles came in, the +midshipman attached to the gang appeared on the quay and had the +"insolence to demand Three of the Best Fysh for the Regulating +Captain, the Lieutenant and himself." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the Owners of the Fishing Cobbles of +Lynn, 3 March 1809.] And if, again, rating a gangsman in choicest +quarterdeck language were no serious offence, why should not the +Regulating Captain rate his son as midshipman, even though "not proper +to be employed as such." And similarly, granting it to be right to +earn half a sovereign by pressing a man contrary to law, where was the +wrong in "clearing him of the impress" for the same amount, as was +commonly done by the middies at Sunderland and Shields. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1557--Capt. Bell, 27 June 1806, enclosure.] +These were works of supererogation rather than sins against the +service, and little official notice was taken of them unless, as +in the case of Liverpool, they were carried to such lengths as to +create a public scandal. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579 +--Admiral Child, 30 Jan. 1800.] + +There were, as a matter of course, some officers in the service who +went far beyond the limits of such venial irregularities and, like +Falstaff, "misused the king's press damnably." Though according to the +terms of their warrant they were "to take care not to demand or +receive any money, gratuity, reward, or any other consideration +whatsoever for the sparing, exchanging or discharging any person or +persons impressed or to be impressed," the taking of "gratifications" +for these express purposes prevailed to a notorious extent. The +difficulty was to fasten the offence upon the offenders. "Bailed men," +as they were called, did not "peach." Their immunity from the press +was too dearly bought to admit of their indulging personal animus +against the officer who had taken their money. It was only through +some tangle of circumstance over which the delinquent had no control +that the truth leaked out. Such a case was that of the officer in +command of the _Mary_ tender at Sunderland, a lieutenant of over +thirty years' standing. Having pressed one Michael Dryden, a master's +mate whom he ought never to have pressed at all, he so far "forgot" +himself as to accept a bribe of 15 Pounds for the man's release, and +then, "having that day been dining with a party of military officers," +forgot to release the man. The double lapse of memory proved his ruin. +Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the unfortunately +constituted lieutenant was "broke" and black-listed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June 1798, and +endorsement.] + +Another species of fraud upon which the Admiralty was equally severe, +was that long practised with impunity by a certain regulating officer +at Poole. Not only did he habitually put back the dates on which men +were pressed, thus "bearing" them for subsistence money they never +received, he made it a further practice to enter on his books the +names of fictitious pressed men who opportunely "escaped" after adding +their quota to his dishonest perquisites. So general was +misappropriation of funds by means of this ingenious fraud that +detection was deservedly visited with instant dismissal. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1526--Capt. Boyle, 2 Oct. 1801, and +endorsement.] + +Though to the gangsman all things were reputedly lawful, some things +were by no means expedient. He could with impunity deprive almost any +ablebodied adult of his freedom, and he could sometimes, with equal +impunity, add to his scanty earnings by restoring that freedom for a +consideration in coin of the realm; but when, like Josh Cooper, +sometime gangsman at Hull, he extended his prerogative to the +occupants of hen-roosts, he was apt to find himself at cross-purposes +with the law as interpreted by the sitting magistrates. + +Amongst less questionable perquisites accruing to the gangsman two +only need be mentioned here. One was the "straggling-money" paid to +him for the apprehension of deserters--20s. for every deserter taken, +with "conduct" money to boot; the other, the anker of brandy +designedly thrown overboard by smugglers when chased by a gang engaged +in pressing afloat. Occasionally the brandy checked the pursuit; but +more often it gave an added zest to the chase and so hastened the +capture of the fugitive donors. + +To the unscrupulous outsider the opportunities for illicit gain +afforded by the service made an irresistible appeal. Sham gangs and +make-believe press-masters abounded, thriving exceedingly upon the +fears and credulity of the people until capture put a term to their +activities and sent them to the pillory, the prison or the fleet they +pretended to cater for. + +Their mode of operation seldom varied. They pressed a man, and then +took money for "discharging" him; or they threatened to press and were +bought off. One Philpot was in 1709 fined ten nobles and sentenced to +the pillory for this fraud. He had many imitators, amongst them John +Love, who posed as a midshipman, and William Moore, his gangsman, both +of whom were eventually brought to justice and turned over to His +Majesty's ships. + +The role adopted by these last-named pretenders was a favourite one +with men engaged in crimping for the merchant service. Shrewsbury in +1780 received a visit from one of these individuals--"a Person named +Hopkins, who appeared in a Lieutenant's Uniform and committed many +fraudulant Actions and Scandalous Abuses in raising Men," as he said, +"for the Navy." Two months later another impostor of the same type +appeared at Birmingham, where he scattered broadcast a leaflet, headed +with the royal arms and couched in the following seductive terms: +"Eleven Pounds for every Able Seaman, Five Pounds for every ordinary +Seaman, and Three Pounds for every Able-bodied Landsman, exclusive of +a compleat set of Sea Clothing, given by the Marine Society. All Good +Seamen, and other hearty young Fellows of Spirit, that are willing to +serve on board any of His Majesty's Vessels or Ships of War, Let them +with Chearfulness repair to the Sailors' Head Rendezvous in this Town, +where a proper Officer attends, who will give them every encouragement +they can desire. Now my Jolly Lads is the time to fill your Pockets +with Dollars, Double Doubloon's & Luidores. Conduct Money allowed, +Chest and Bedding sent Carriage Free." Soon after, the two united +forces at Coventry, whither Capt. Beecher desired to "send a party to +take them," but to this request the Admiralty turned a deaf ear. In +their opinion the game was not worth the candle. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780] + +Ex-midshipman Rookhad, who when dismissed the service took to boarding +vessels in the Thames and extorting money and liquor from the masters +as a consideration for not pressing their men, did not escape so +lightly. Him the Admiralty prosecuted. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 12. Process +was by information in the Court of King's Bench, for a misdemeanour.] + +It was in companies, however, that the sham ganger most frequently +took the road, for numbers not only enhanced his chances of obtaining +money, they materially diminished the risk of capture. One such gang +was composed of "eighteen desperate villians," who were nevertheless +taken. Another, a "parcel of fellows armed with cutlasses like a +pressgang," appeared at Dublin in 1743, where they boldly entered +public-houses on pretence of looking for sailors, and there extorted +money and drink. What became of them we are not told; but in the case +of the pretended gang whose victim, after handing over two guineas as +the price of his release, was pressed by a regularly constituted gang, +we learn the gratifying sequel. The real gang gave chase to the sham +gang and pressed every man of them. + +According to the "Humble Petition of Grace Blackmore of Stratford le +Bow, widow," on Friday the 29th of May, in an unknown year of Queen +Anne's reign, "there came to Bow ffaire severall pretended +pressmasters, endeavouring to impress." A tumult ensued. Murder was +freely "cryed out," apparently with good reason, for in the melee +petitioner's husband, then constable of Bow, was "wounded soe that he +shortly after dyed." [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic,_ Anne, +xxxvi. No. 17.] + +There were occasions when the sham gang operated under cover of a real +press-warrant, and for this the Admiralty was directly to blame. It +had become customary at the Navy Office to send out warrants, whether +to commanders of ships or to Regulating Captains, in blank, the person +to whom the warrant was directed filling in the name for himself. Such +warrants were frequently stolen and put to irregular uses, and of this +a remarkable instance occurred in 1755. + +In that year one Nicholas Cooke, having by some means obtained +possession of such a warrant, "filled up the blank thereof by +directing it to himself, by the name and description of Lieutenant +Nicholas Cooke, tho' in truth not a Lieutenant nor an Officer in His +Majesty's Navy," hired a vessel--the _Providence_ snow of +Dublin--and in her cruised the coasts of Ireland, pressing men. After +thus raising as many as he could carry, he shaped his course for +Liverpool, no doubt intending, on his arrival at that port, to sell +his unsuspecting victims to the merchant ships in the Mersey at so +much a head. Through bad seamanship, however, the vessel was run +aground at Seacombe, opposite to Liverpool, and Capt. Darby, of H.M.S. +_Seahorse_, perceiving her plight, and thinking to render +assistance in return for perhaps a man or two, took boat and rowed +across to her. To his astonishment he found her full of Irishmen to +the number of seventy-three, whom he immediately pressed and removed +to his own ship. The circumstance of the false warrant now came to +light, and with it another, of worse omen for the mock lieutenant. In +the hold a quantity of undeclared spirits was discovered, and this +fact afforded the Admiralty a handle they were not slow to avail +themselves of. They put the Excise Officers on the scent, and Cooke +was prosecuted for smuggling. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 101.] + +The most successful sham gang ever organised was perhaps that said to +have been got together by a trio of mischievous Somerset girls. The +scene of the exploit was the Denny-Bowl quarry, near Taunton. The +quarrymen there were a hard-bitten set and great braggarts, openly +boasting that no gang dare attack them, and threatening, in the event +of so unlikely a contingency, to knock the gangsmen on the head and +bury them in the rubbish of the pit. There happened to be in the +neighbouring town "three merry maids," who heard of this tall talk and +secretly determined to put the vaunted courage of the quarrymen to the +test. They accordingly dressed themselves in men's clothing, stuck +cockades in their hats, and with hangers under their arms stealthily +approached the pit. Sixty men were at work there; but no sooner did +they catch sight of the supposed gang than they one and all threw down +their tools and ran for their lives. + +Officially known as the Rendezvous, a French term long associated with +English recruiting, the headquarters of the gang were more familiarly, +and for brevity's sake, called the "rondy." Publicans were partial to +having the rondy on their premises because of the trade it brought +them. Hence it was usually an alehouse, frequently one of the shadiest +description, situated in the lowest slum of the town; but on +occasions, as when the gang was of uncommon strength and the number of +pressed men dealt with proportionately large, a private house or other +suitable building was taken for the exclusive use of the service. It +was distinguished by a flag--a Jack--displayed upon a pole. The cost +of the two was 27s., and in theory they were supposed to last a year; +but in towns where the populace evinced their love for the press by +hewing down the pole and tearing the flag in ribbons, these emblems of +national liberty had frequently to be renewed. At King's Lynn as much +as 13 Pounds was spent upon them in four years--an outlay regarded by +the Navy Board with absolute dismay. It would have been not less +dismayed, perhaps, could it have seen the bunting displayed by +rendezvous whose surroundings were friendly. There the same old Jack +did duty year after year until, grimy and bedraggled, it more +resembled the black flag than anything else that flew, wanting only +the skull and cross-bones to make it a fitting emblem of authorised +piracy. + +The rondy was hardly a spot to which one would have resorted for a +rest-cure. When not engaged in pressing, the gangsmen were a +roistering, drinking crew, under lax control and never averse from a +row, either amongst themselves or with outsiders. Sometimes the +commanding officer made the place his residence, and when this was the +case some sort of order prevailed. The floors were regularly swept, +the beds made, the frowsy "general" gratified by a weekly "tip" on +pay-day. But when, on the other hand, the gangsmen who did not "find +themselves" occupied the rondy to the exclusion of the officer, eating +and sleeping there, tramping in and out at all hours of the day and +night, dragging pressed men in to be "regulated" and locked up, and +diverting such infrequent intervals of leisure as they enjoyed by +pastimes in which fear of the "gent overhead" played no part--when +this was the case the rondy became a veritable bear-garden, a place of +unspeakable confusion wherein papers and pistols, boots and blankets, +cutlasses, hats, beer-pots and staves cumbered the floors, the lockers +and the beds with a medley of articles torn, rusty, mud-stained, +dirt-begrimed and unkept. + +Amongst accessories essential to the efficient activity of gangs +stationed at coast or river towns the boat had first place. Sometimes +both sail and row-boats were employed. Luggers of the old type, fast +boats carrying a great press of sail, served best for overhauling +ships; but on inland waterways, such as the Thames, the Humber or the +Tyne, a "sort of wherry, constructed for rowing fast," was the +favourite vehicle of pursuit. The rate of hire varied from 1s. a day +to two or more guineas a week, according to the size and class of +boat. At Cork it was "five shillings Irish" per day. + +Accessories of a less indispensable nature, occasionally allowed, +were, at Dartmouth and a few other places, cockades for the gangsmen's +hats, supplied at a cost of 1s. each; at Tower Hill a messenger, pay +20s. a week; and at Appledore an umbrella for use in rainy weather, +price 12s. 6d. + +The arms of the gang comprised, first, a press-warrant, and, second, +such weapons as were necessary to enforce it. + +In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably +associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as +the cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the +gangsmen are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's +"good oak plant." Apart from this artistic evidence, however, there is +no valid reason for believing that the bludgeon ever came into general +use as the ganger's weapon. As early as the reign of Anne he went +armed with the "Queen's broad cutlash," and for most gangs, certainly +for all called upon to operate in rough neighbourhoods, the hanger +remained the stock weapon throughout the century. In expeditions +involving special risk or danger, the musket and the pistol +supplemented what must have been in itself no mean weapon. + +As we have already seen, the earliest recorded press-warrants emanated +from the king in person, whilst later ones were issued by the king in +council and endorsed by the naval authorities. As the need of men +became more and more imperative, however, this mode of issue was found +to be too cumbersome and inexpeditious. Hence, by the time the +eighteenth century came in, with its tremendously enhanced demands on +behalf of the Navy, the royal prerogative in respect to warrants had +been virtually delegated to the Admiralty, who issued them on their +own initiative, though ostensibly in pursuance of His Majesty's Orders +in Council. + +An Admiralty warrant empowered the person to whom it was directed to +"impress" as many "seamen" as possibly he could procure, giving to +each man so impressed 1s. "for prest money." He was to impress none +but such as "were strong bodies and capable to serve the king"; and, +having so impressed such persons, he was to deliver them up to the +officer regulating the nearest rendezvous. All civil authorities were +to be "aiding and assisting" to him in the discharge of this duty. + +Now this document, the stereotyped press-warrant of the century, here +concisely summarised in its own phraseology, was not at all what it +purported to be. It was in fact a warrant out of time, an official +anachronism, a red-tape survival of that bygone period when pressing +still meant "presting" and force went no further than a threat. For +men were now no longer "prested." They were pressed, and that, too, in +the most drastic sense of the term. The king's shilling no longer +changed hands. Even in Pepys' time men were pressed "without money," +and in none of the accounts of expenses incurred in pressing during +the century which followed, excepting only a very few of the earlier +ones, can any such item as the king's shilling or prest-money be +discovered. Its abolition was a logical sequence of the change from +presting to pressing. + +The seaman, moreover, so far from being the sole quarry of the +warrant-holder, now sought concealment amongst a people almost without +exception equally liable with himself to the capture he endeavoured to +elude. Retained merely as a matter of form, and totally out of keeping +with altered conditions, the warrant was in effect obsolete save as an +instrument authorising one man to deprive another of his liberty in +the king's name. Even the standard of "able bodies and capable" had +deteriorated to such an extent that the officers of the fleet were +kept nearly as busy weeding out and rejecting men as were the officers +of the impress in taking them. + +Still, the warrant served. Stripped of its obsolete injunctions, it +read: "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and water-ways, and +compel them to come in"--enough, surely, for any officer imbued with +zeal for His Majesty's service. + +Though according to the strict letter of the law as defined by various +decisions of the courts a press-warrant was legally executable only by +the officer to whom it was addressed, in practice the limitation was +very widely departed from, if not altogether ignored; for just as a +constable or sheriff may call upon bystanders to assist him in the +execution of his office, so the holder of a press-warrant, though +legally unable to delegate his authority by other means, could call +upon others to aid him in the execution of his duty. Naturally, the +gangsmen being at hand, and being at hand for that very purpose, he +gave them first preference. Hence, the gangsman pressed on the +strength of a warrant which in reality gave him no power to press. + +While the law relating to the intensive force of warrants was thus +deliberately set at naught, an extraordinary punctiliousness for legal +formality was displayed in another direction. According to tradition +and custom no warrant was valid until it had received the sanction of +the civil power. Solicitor-General Yorke could find no statutory +authority for such procedure. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] He accordingly +pronounced it to be non-essential to the validity of warrants. +Nevertheless, save in cases where the civil power refused its +endorsement, it was universally adhered to. What was bad law was +notoriously good policy, for a disaffected mayor, or an unfriendly +Justice of the Peace, had it in his power to make the path of the +impress officer a thorny one indeed. "Make unto yourselves friends," +was therefore one of the first injunctions laid upon officers whose +duties unavoidably made them many enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + + + +In theory an authority for the taking of seafaring men only, the +press-warrant was in practice invested with all the force of a Writ of +Quo Warranto requiring every able-bodied male adult to show by what +right he remained at large. The difference between the theory and the +practice of pressing was consequently as wide as the poles. + +While the primary and ostensible objective of the impress remained +always what it had been from the outset, the seaman who had few if any +land-ties except those of blood or sex, from this root principle there +sprang up a very Upas tree of pretension, whose noxious branches +overspread practically every section of the community. Hence the +press-gang, the embodiment of this pretension, eventually threw aside +ostence and took its pick of all who came its way, let their +occupation or position be what it might. It was no duty of the +gangsman to employ his hanger in splitting hairs. "First catch your +man," was for him the greatest of all the commandments. Discrimination +was for his masters. The weeding out could be done when the pressing +was over. + +The classes hardest hit by this lamentable want of discrimination were +the classes engaged in trade. "Mr. Coventry," wrote Pepys some four +years after the Restoration, "showed how the medium of the men the +King hath one year with another employed in his navy since his coming, +hath not been above 3000 men, or at most 4000; and now having occasion +for 30,000, the remaining 26,000 _must be found out of the Trade of +the Nation_." Naturally. Where a nation of shopkeepers was +concerned it could hardly have been otherwise. They who go down to the +sea in ships and do business in great waters, returning laden with the +spoils of the commercial world, have perforce to render tribute unto +Caesar; but Mr. Commissioner Coventry little guessed, when he +enunciated his corollary with such nice precision, to what it was +destined to lead in the next hundred years or so. + +Under the merciless exactions of the press-gang Trade did not, +however, prove the submissive thing that was wont to stand at its +doors and cry: "Will you buy? will you buy?" or to bow prospective +customers into its rich emporiums with unctuous rubbing of hands and +sauve words. Trade knew its power and determined to use it. "Look you! +my Lords Commissioners," cried Trade, truculently cocking its hat in +the face of Admiralty, "I have had enough. You have taken my butcher, +my baker, my candlestick-maker, nor have you spared that worthy youth, +the 'prentice who was to have wed my daughter. My coachman, the driver +of my gilded chariot, goes in fear of you, and as for my sedan-chair +man, he is no more found. My colliers, draymen, watermen, the +carpenters who build my ships and the mariners who sail them, the +ablest of these my necessary helpers sling their hammocks in your +fleet. You have crippled the printing of my Bible and the brewing of +my Beer, and I can bear no more. Protect me from my arch-enemy the +foreigner if you must and will, but not, my Lords Commissioners, by +such monstrous personal methods as these." "Your servant!" said +Admiralty, obsequious before the only power it feared--"your servant +to command!" and straightway set about finding a remedy for the evils +Trade complained of. + +Now, to attain this end, so desirable if Trade were to be placated, it +was necessary to define with precision either whom the gang might +take, or whom it might not take; and here Admiralty, though +notoriously a body without a brain, achieved a stroke of genius, for +it brought down both birds with a single stone. Postulating first of +all the old _lex sine lege_ fiction that every native-born Briton +and every British male subject born abroad was legally pressable, it +laid it down as a logical sequence that no man, whatever his vocation +or station in life, was lawfully exempt; that exemption was in +consequence an official indulgence and not a right; and that apart +from such indulgence every man, unless idiotic, blind, lame, maimed or +otherwise physically unfit, was not only liable to be pressed, but +could be legally pressed for the king's service at sea. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. +26; and _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. +1805, well express the official view.] Having thus cleared the ground +root and branch, Admiralty magnanimously proceeded to frame a category +of persons whom, as an act of grace and a concession to Trade, it was +willing to protect from assault and capture by its emissary the +press-gang. + +These exemptions from the wholesale incidence of the impress were not +granted all at once. Embodied from time to time in Acts of Parliament +and so-called acts of official grace--slowly and painfully wrung from +a reluctant Admiralty by the persistent demands and ever-growing power +of Trade--they spread themselves over the entire century of struggle +for the mastery of the sea, from which they were a reaction, and, +touching the lives of the common people in a hundred and one intimate +points and interests, culminated at length in the abolition of that +most odious system of oppression from which they had sprung, and in a +charter of liberties before which the famous charter of King John +sinks into insignificance. + + [Illustration: THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM.] + +As a matter of policy the foreigner had first place in the list of +exemptions. He could volunteer if he chose, [Footnote: Strenuous +efforts were made in 1709 to induce the "Poor Palatines"--seven +thousand of them encamped at Blackheath, and two thousand in Sir John +Parson's brewhouse at Camberwell--to enter for the navy. But the +"thing was New to them to go aboard a Man of Warr," so they declined +the invitation, "having the Notion of being sent to Carolina." +--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Letters of Capt. Aston.] but +he must not be pressed. [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] To +deprive him of his right in this respect was to invite unpleasant +diplomatic complications, of which England had already too many on her +hands. Trade, too, looked upon the foreigner as her perquisite, and +Trade must be indulged. Moreover, he fostered mutiny in the fleet, +where he was prone to "fly in the face" of authority and to refuse to +work, much less fight, for an alien people. If, however, he served on +board British merchant ships for two years, or if he married in +England, he at once lost caste, since he then became a naturalised +British subject and was liable to have even his honeymoon curtailed by +a visit from the press-gang. Such, in fact, was the fate of one +William Castle of Bristol in 1806. Pressed there in that year on his +return from the West Indies, he was discharged as a person of alien +birth; but having immediately afterwards committed the indiscretion of +taking a Bristol woman to wife, he was again pressed, this time within +three weeks of his wedding-day, and kept by express order of +Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, +23 July 1806.] + +For some years after the passing of the Act exempting the foreigner, +his rights appear to have been generally, though by no means +universally respected. "Discharge him if not married or settled in +England," was the usual order when he chanced to be taken by the gang. +With the turn of the century, however, a reaction set in. Pressed men +claiming to be of alien birth were thenceforth only liberated "if +unfit for service." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. +Young, 11 March 1756, endorsement, and numerous instances.] For this +untoward change the foreigner could blame none but himself. When taxed +with having an English wife, he could seldom or never be induced to +admit the soft impeachment. Consequently, whenever he was taken by the +gang he was assumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have +committed the fatal act of naturalisation. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Phillip, 26 Feb. 1805.] Alien seamen in +distress through shipwreck or other accidental causes, formed a humane +exception to this unwritten law. + +The negro was never reckoned an alien. Looked upon as a proprietary +subject of the Crown, and having no one in particular to speak up for +or defend him, he "shared the same fate as the free-born white man." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 29 +Oct. 1762.] Many blacks, picked up in the West Indies or on the +American coast "without hurting commerce," were to be found on board +our ships of war, where, when not incapacitated by climatic +conditions, they made active, alert seamen and "generally imagined +themselves free." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 585--Admiral +Donnelly, 22 Feb. 1815.] Their point of view, poor fellows, was +doubtless a strictly comparative one. + +Theoretically exempt by virtue of his calling, whatever that might be, +the landsman was in reality scarcely less marked down by the gang than +his unfortunate brother the seafaring man; for notwithstanding all its +professions to the contrary, Admiralty could not afford to ignore the +potentialities of the reserve the landsman represented. Hence no +occupation, no property qualification, could or did protect him. As +early as 1705 old Justice, in his treatise on sea law, deplores +bitterly the "barbarous custom of pressing promiscuously landsmen and +seamen," and declares that the gang, in its purblind zeal, "hurried +away tradesmen from their houses, 'prentices and journeymen from their +masters' shops, and even housekeepers (householders) too." By 1744 the +practice had become confirmed. In that year Capt. Innes, of His +Majesty's armed sloop the _Hind_, applied to the Lords Commissioners +for "Twenty Landsmen from Twenty to Twenty-five years of Age." +The Admiralty order, "Let the Regulating Captains send them as +he desires," [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1983--Capt. Innes, +3 May 1744, and endorsement.] leaves no room for doubt as to the class +of men provided. They were pressed men, not volunteers. + +Nor is this a solitary instance of a practice that was rapidly growing +to large proportions. Many a landsman, in the years that followed, +shared the fate of the Irish "country farmer" who went into Waterford +to sell his corn, and was there pressed and sent on board the tender; +of James Whitefoot, the Bristol glover, "a timid, unformed young man, +the comfort and support of his parents," who, although he had "never +seen a ship in his life," was yet pressed whilst "passing to follow +his business," which knew him no more; and of Winstanley, the London +butcher, who served for upwards of sixteen years as a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Bligh, 16 May 1781. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Duchess of Gordon, 14 Feb. 1804. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 584--Humble Petition of Betsey Winstanley, +2 Sept. 1814.] Wilkes' historic barber would have entered upon the +same enforced career had not that astute Alderman discovered, to the +astonishment of the nation at large, that a warrant which authorised +the pressing of seamen did not necessarily authorise the pressing of a +city tonsor. + +Amongst landsmen the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the +country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress +officers had particular instructions concerning him. They were to +delete him from the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a +certificate from the minister and churchwardens of his parish, this +migratory farm-hand, provided always he were not a sailor masquerading +in that disguise, could traverse the length and breadth of the land to +all intents and purposes a free man. To him, as well as to the grower +of corn who depended so largely upon his aid in getting his crop, the +concession proved an inestimable boon. There were violations of the +harvester's status, it is true; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Memorial of Sir William Oglander, Bart., July 1796.] but these +were too infrequent to affect seriously the industry he represented. + +So far as the press was concerned, the harvester was better off than +the gentleman, for while the former could dress as he pleased, the +latter was often obliged to dress as he could, and in this lay an +element of danger. So long as his clothes were as good as the blood he +boasted, and he wore them with an aplomb suggestive of position and +influence, the gentleman was safe; but let his pretensions to +gentility lie more in the past than in the suit on his back, and woe +betide him! In spite of his protestations the gang took him, and he +was lucky indeed if, like the gentleman who narrates his experience in +the _Review_ for the both of February 1706, he was able to +convince his captors that he was foreign born by "talking Latin and +Greek." + +To the people at large, whether landsmen or seafarers, the Act +exempting from the press every male under eighteen and over fifty-five +years of age would have brought a sorely needed relief had not +Admiralty been a past-master in the subtle art of outwitting the law. +In this instance a simple regulation did the trick. Every man or boy +who claimed the benefit of the age-limit when pressed, was required to +prove his claim ere he could obtain his discharge. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. +43: "It is incumbent on those who claim to be exempted to prove the +facts."] The impossibility of any general compliance with such a +demand on the part of persons often as ignorant of birth certificates +as they were of the sea, practically wiped the exemption off the +slate. + +In the eyes of the Regulating Captain no man was older than he looked, +no lad as young as he avowed. Hence thousands of pressed men over +fifty-five, who did not look the age they could not prove, figured on +the books of the fleet with boys whose precocity of appearance gave +the lie to their assertions. George Stephens, son of a clerk in the +Transport Office, suffered impressment when barely thirteen; and the +son of a corporal in Lord Elkinton's regiment, one Alexander M'Donald, +was listed in the same manner while still "under the age of twelve." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Vice-Admiral Hunter, 10 +May 1813. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Butchart, 22 Jan. +1782, and enclosure.] The gang did not pause by the way to discuss +such questions. + +Apprentices fell into a double category--those bound to the sea, those +apprenticed on land. Nominally, the sea apprentice was protected from +the impress for a term of three years from the date of his indentures, +provided he had not used the sea before; [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. +6, re-affirmed 13 George II. cap. 17.] while the land apprentice +enjoyed immunity under the minimum age-limit of eighteen years. The +proviso in the first case, however, left open a loop-hole the impress +officer was never slow to take advantage of; and the minimum +age-limit, as we have just seen, had little if any existence in fact. +Apprentices pressed after the three years' exemption had expired were +never given up, nor could their masters successfully claim them in +law. They dropped like ripe fruit into the lap of Admiralty. On the +other hand, apprentices pressed within the three years' exemption +period were generally discharged, for if they were not, they could be +freed by a writ of Habeas Corpus, or else the masters could maintain +an action for damages against the Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 25.] +'Prentices who "eloped" or ran away from their masters, and then +entered voluntarily, could not be reclaimed by any known process at +law if they were over eighteen years of age. On the whole, the +position of the apprentice, whether by land or sea, was highly +anomalous and uncertain. Often taken by the gang in the hurry of +visiting a ship, or in the scurry of a hot press on shore, he was in +effect the shuttlecock of the service, to-day singing merrily at his +capstan or bench, to-morrow bewailing his hard fate on board a +man-o'-war. + +When it came to the exemption of seamen, Admiralty found itself on the +horns of a dilemma. Both the Navy and the merchant service depended in +a very large degree upon the seaman who knew the ropes--who could take +his turn at the wheel, scud aloft without going through the +lubber-hole, and act promptly and sailorly in emergency. To take +wholesale such men as these, while it would enormously enhance the +effectiveness of His Majesty's ships of war, must inevitably cripple +sea-borne trade. It was therefore necessary, for the well-being of +both services, to discover the golden mean. According to statute law +[Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] every person using the sea, of what +age soever he might be, was exempt from the impress for two years from +the time of his first making the venture. The concession did not +greatly improve the situation from a trade point of view. It merely +touched the fringe of the problem, and Trade was insistent. + +A further concession was accordingly made. All masters, mates, +boatswains and carpenters of vessels of fifty tons and upwards were +exempted from the impress on condition of their going before a Justice +of the Peace and making oath to their several qualifications. This +affidavit, coupled with a succinct description of the deponent, +constituted the holder's "protection" and shielded him, or was +supposed to shield him, from molestation by the gang. Masters and +mates of colliers, and of vessels laid up for the winter, came under +this head; but masters or mates of vessels detected in running +dutiable goods, or caught harbouring deserters from the fleet, could +be summarily dealt with notwithstanding their protections. The same +fate befell the mate or apprentice who was lent by one ship to +another. + +In addition to the executive of the vessel, as defined in the +foregoing paragraph, it was of course necessary to extend protection +to as many of her "hands", as were essential to her safe and efficient +working. How many were really required for this purpose was, however, +a moot point on which ship-masters and naval officers rarely saw eye +to eye; and since the arbiter in all such disputes was the +"quarter-deck gentlemen," the decision seldom if ever went in favour +of the master. + +The importance of the coal trade won for colliers an early concession, +which left no room for differences of opinion. Every vessel employed +in that trade was entitled to carry one exempt able-bodied man for +each hundred units of her registered tonnage, provided it did not +exceed three hundred. The penalty for pressing such men was 10 Pounds +for each man taken. [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6.] + +On the coasts of Scotland commanders of warships whose carpenters had +run or broken their leave, and who perhaps were left, like Capt. Gage +of the _Otter_ sloop, "without so much as a Gimblett on board," +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829-Capt. Gage, 29 Sept. +1742.] might press shipwrights from the yards on shore to fill the +vacancy, and suffer no untoward consequences; but south of the Tweed +this mode of collecting "chips" was viewed with disfavour. There, +although ship-carpenters, sailmakers and men employed in rope-walks +were by a stretch of the official imagination reckoned as persons +using the sea, and although they were generally acknowledged to be no +less indispensable to the complete economy of a ship than the +able-bodied seaman, legal questions of an extremely embarrassing +nature nevertheless cropped up when the scene of their activities +underwent too sudden and violent a change. The pressing of such +artificers consequently met with little official encouragement. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 2.] + +Where the Admiralty scored, in the matter of ship protections, and +scored heavily, was when the protected person went ashore. For when on +shore the protected master, mate, boatswain, carpenter, apprentice or +seaman no longer enjoyed protection unless he was there "on ship's +duty." The rule was most rigorously, not to say arbitrarily, enforced. +Thus at Plymouth, in the year 1746, a seaman who protested in broken +English that he had come ashore to "look after his master's +_sheep_" was pressed because the naval officer who met and +questioned him "imagined sheep to have no affinity with a ship!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2381--Capt. John Roberts, 11 +July 1746. Capt. Roberts was a very downright individual, and years +before the characteristic had got him into hot water. The occasion was +when, in 1712, an Admiralty letter, addressed to him at Harwich and +containing important instructions, by some mischance went astray and +Roberts accused the Clerk of the Check of having appropriated it. The +latter called him a liar, whereupon Roberts "gave him a slap in the +face and bid him learn more manners." For this exhibition of temper he +was superseded and kept on the half-pay list for some six years. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Brand, 8 March 1711-12. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2378, section 11, Admiralty note.] + +Any mate who failed to register his name at the rendezvous, as soon as +his ship arrived in port, did so at his peril. Without that formality +he was "not entitled to liberty." So strict was the rule that when +William Tassell, mate of the _Elizabeth_ ketch, was caught +drinking in a Lynn alehouse one night at ten o'clock, after having +obtained "leave to run about the town" until eight only, he was +immediately pressed and kept, the Admiralty refusing to declare the +act irregular. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Capt. +Bowyer, 25 July 1809, and enclosure.] + +In many ports it was customary for sailors to sleep ashore while their +ships lay at the quay or at moorings. The proceeding was highly +dangerous. No sailor ever courted sleep in such circumstances, even +though armed with a "line from the master setting forth his business," +without grave risk of waking to find himself in the bilboes. The Mayor +of Poole once refused to "back" press-warrants for local use unless +protected men belonging to trading vessels of the port were granted +the privilege of lodging ashore. "Certainly not!" retorted the +Admiralty. "We cannot grant Poole an indulgence _that other towns do +not enjoy_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. +Scott, 4 Jan. 1780, and endorsement.] + +In spite of the risk involved, the sailor slept ashore and--if he +survived the night--tried to steal back to his ship in the grey of the +morning. Now and then, by a run of luck, he made his offing in safety; +but more frequently he met the fate of John White of Bristol, who was +taken by the gang when only "about ninety yards from his vessel." + +The only exceptions to this stringent rule were certain classes of men +engaged in the Greenland and South Seas whale fisheries. Skilled +harpooners, linesmen and boat-steerers, on their return from a whaling +cruise, could obtain from any Collector of Customs, for sufficient +bond put in, a protection from the impress which no Admiralty +regulation, however sweeping, could invalidate or override. +Safeguarded by this document, they were at liberty to live and work +ashore, or to sail in the coal trade, until such time as they should +be required to proceed on another whaling voyage. If, however, they +took service on board any vessel other than a collier, they forfeited +their protections and could be "legally detained." [Footnote: 13 +George II. cap. 28. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 14 +March 1756. _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 42.] + +In one ironic respect the gang strongly resembled a boomerang. So +thoroughly and impartially did it do its work that it recoiled upon +those who used it. The evil was one of long standing. Pepys complained +of it bitterly in his day, asserting that owing to its prevalence +letters could neither be received nor sent, and that the departmental +machinery for victualling and arming the fleet was like to be undone. +With the growth of pressing the imposition was carried to absurd +lengths. The crews of the impress tenders, engaged in conveying +pressed men to the fleet, could not "proceed down" without falling +victims to the very service they were employed in. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755, and +numerous instances.] To check this egregious robbing of Peter to pay +Paul, both the Navy Board and the Government were obliged to "protect" +their own sea-going hirelings, and even then the protections were not +always effective. + +Between the extremes represented by the landsman who enjoyed nominal +exemption and the seaman who enjoyed none, there existed a middle or +amphibious class of persons who lived exclusively on neither land nor +water, but habitually used both in the pursuit of their various +callings. These were the wherry or watermen, the lightermen, bargemen, +keelmen, trowmen and canal-boat dwellers frequenting mainly the inland +waterways of the country. + +In the reign of Richard II. the jurisdiction of Admirals was denned as +extending, in a certain particular, to the "main stream of great +rivers nigh the sea." [Footnote: 15 Richard II. cap. 2.] Had the same +line of demarcation been observed in the pressing of those whose +occupations lay upon rivers, there would have been little cause for +outcry or complaint. But the Admiralty, the successors of the ancient +"Guardians of the Sea" whose powers were so clearly limited by the +Ricardian statute, gradually extended the old-time jurisdiction until, +for the purposes of the impress, it included all waterways, whether +"nigh the sea" or inland, natural or artificial, whereon it was +possible for craft to navigate. All persons working upon or habitually +using such waterways were regarded as "using the sea," and later +warrants expressly authorised the gangs to take as many of them as +they should be able, not excepting even the ferryman. The extension +was one of tremendous consequence, since it swept into the Navy +thousands of men who, like the Ely and Cambridge bargemen, were +"hardy, strong fellows, who never failed to make good seamen." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 April +1755.] + +Amongst these denizens of the country's waterways the position of the +Thames wherryman was peculiar in that from very early times he had +been exempt from the ordinary incidence of the press on condition of +his periodically supplying from his own numbers a certain quota of +able-bodied men for the use of the fleet. The rule applied to all +watermen using the river between Gravesend and Windsor, and members of +the fraternity who "withdrew and hid themselves" at the time of the +making of such levies, were liable to be imprisoned for two years and +"banished any more to row for a year and a day." [Footnote: 2 & 3 +Philip and Mary, cap. 16.] The exemption he otherwise enjoyed appears +to have conduced not a little to the waterman's proverbial joviality. +As a youth he spent his leisure in "dancing and carolling," thus +earning the familiar sobriquet of "the jolly young waterman." Even so, +his tenure of happiness was anything but secure. With the naval +officer and the gang he was no favourite, and few opportunities of +dashing his happiness were allowed to pass unimproved. In the person +of John Golden, however, they caught a Tartar. To the dismay of the +Admiralty and the officer responsible for pressing him, he proved to +be one of my Lord Mayor's bargemen. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733-Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] + +Apart from the watermen of the Thames, the purchase of immunity from +the press by periodic levies met with little favour, and though the +levy was in many cases reluctantly adopted, it was only because it +entailed the lesser of two evils. The basis of such levies varied from +one man in ten to one in five--a percentage which the Admiralty +considered a "matter of no distress"; and the penalty for refusing to +entertain them was wholesale pressing. + +The Tyne keelmen, while ostensibly consenting to buy immunity on this +basis, seldom levied the quota upon themselves. By offering bounties +they drew the price of their freedom to work in the keels from outside +sources. Lord Thurlow confessed that he did not know what "working in +the keels" meant. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1752-77, No. 70.] There were' few in the fleet who +could have enlightened him of their own experience. The keelmen kept +their ranks as far as possible intact. In this they were materially +aided by the Mayor and Corporation of Newcastle, who held a "Grand +Protection" of the Admiralty, and in return for this exceptional mark +of their Lordships' favour did all they could to further the pressing +of persons less essential to the trade of the town and river than were +their own keelmen. + +On the rivers Severn and Wye there was plying in 1806 a flotilla of +ninety-eight trows, ranging in capacity from sixty to one hundred and +thirty tons, and employing five hundred and eighty-eight men, of whom +practically all enjoyed exemption from the press. It being a time of +exceptional stress for men, the Admiralty considered this proportion +excessive, and Capt. Barker, at that time regulating the press at +Bristol, was ordered to negotiate terms. He proposed a contribution of +trowmen on the basis of one in every ten, coupling the suggestion with +a thinly veiled threat that if it were not complied with he would set +his gangs to work and take all he could get. The Association of Severn +Traders, finding themselves thus placed between the devil and the deep +sea, agreed to the proposal with a reluctance they in vain endeavoured +to hide under ardent protestations of loyalty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 24 April and 9 May 1806, and +enclosure.] + +In the three hundred "flats" engaged in carrying salt, coals and other +commodities between Nantwich and Liverpool there were employed, in +1795, some nine hundred men who had up to that time largely escaped +the attentions of the gang. In that year, however, an arrangement was +entered into, under duress of the usual threat, to the effect that +they should contribute one man in six, or at the least one man in +nine, in return for exemption to be granted to the remainder. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Admiral Pringle, Report on +Rendezvous, 2 April 1795.] + +Turf-boats plying on the Blackwater and the Shannon seem to have +enjoyed no special concessions. The men working them were pressed +when-ever they could be laid hold of, and if they were not always +kept, their discharge was due to reasons of physical unfitness rather +than to any acknowledged right to labour unmolested. Ireland's +contribution to the fleet, apart from the notoriously disaffected, was +of too much consequence to be played with; for the Irishman was +essentially a good-natured soul, and when his native indolence and +slowness of movement had been duly corrected by a judicious use of the +rattan and the rope's-end, his services were highly esteemed in His +Majesty's ships of war. + +In the category of exemptions the fisheries occupied a place entirely +their own. They were carefully fostered, but indifferently protected. + +Previous to the year 1729 the most important concession granted to +those engaged in the taking of fish was the establishing of two extra +"Fishe Dayes" in the week. The provision was embodied in a statute of +1563, whereby the people were required, under a penalty of, 3 Pounds +for each omission, "or els three monethes close Imprisonment without +Baile or Maineprise," to eat fish, to the total exclusion of meat, on +Fridays and Saturdays, and to content themselves with "one dish of +flesh to three dishes of fish" on Wednesdays. [Footnote: 5 Elizabeth, +cap. 5.] The enactment had no religious significance whatever; but in +order to avoid any suspicion of Popish tendencies it was deemed +advisable, by those responsible for the measure, to saddle it with a +rider to the effect that all persons teaching, preaching or +proclaiming the eating of fish, as enjoined by the Act, to be of +"necessitee for the saving of the soule of man," should be punished as +"spreaders of fause newes." The true significance of the measure lay +in this. The abolition of Romish fast-days had resulted, since the +Reformation, in an enormous falling off in the consumption of fish, +and this decrease had in turn played havoc with the fisheries. Now the +fisheries were in reality the national incubator for seamen, and +Cecil, Elizabeth's astute Secretary of State, perceiving in their +decadence a grave menace to the manning of prospective fleets, +determined, for that reason if for no other, to reanimate the dying +industry. The Act in question was the practical outcome of his +deliberations. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, Elizabeth, +vol. xxvii. Nos. 71 and 72, comprising Cecil's original memoranda.] + +An enactment which combined so happily the interests of the fisher +classes with those of national defence could not but be productive of +far-reaching consequences. The fishing industry not only throve +exceedingly because of it, it in time became, as Cecil clearly foresaw +it would become, a nursery for seamen and a feeder of the fleet as +unrivalled for the excellence of its material as it was inexhaustible +in its resources. Its prosperity was in fact its curse. Few exemptions +were granted it. Adventurers after whale and cod had special +concessions, suited to the peculiar conditions of their calling; but +with these exceptions craft of every description employed in the +taking or the carrying of fish, for a very protracted period enjoyed +only such exemptions as were grudgingly extended to sea-going craft in +general. The source of supply represented by the leviathan industry +was too valuable to be lightly restricted. + +On the other hand, it was too important to be lightly depleted. +Therefore under Cecil's Act establishing extra "Fishe Dayes," no +fisherman "using or haunting the sea" could be pressed off-hand to +serve in the Queen's Navy. The "taker," as the press-master was at +that time called, was obliged to carry his warrant to the Justices +inhabiting the place or places where it was proposed that the +fishermen should be pressed, and of these Justices any two were +empowered to "choose out such nomber of hable men" as the warrant +specified. In this way originated the "backing" or endorsing of +warrants by the civil power. At first obligatory only as regards the +pressing of fishermen, it came to be regarded in time as an essential +preliminary to all pressing done on land. + +No further provision of a special nature would appear to have been +made for the protecting of fisher folk from the press until the year +1729, when an exemption was granted which covered the master, one +apprentice, one seaman and one landsman for each vessel. [Footnote: 2 +George n. cap. 15.] In 1801, however, a sweeping change was +inaugurated. A statute of that date provided that no person engaged in +the taking, curing or selling of fish should be impressed. [Footnote: +41 George in. cap. 21.] The exemption came too late to prove +substantially beneficial to an industry which had suffered +incalculable injury from the then recent wars. The press-gang was +already nearing its last days. + +Prior to the Act of 1801 persons whose sole occupation was "to pick +oysters and mussels at low water" were accounted fishermen and +habitually pressed as "using the sea." + +The position of the smaller fry of fishermen is thrown into vivid +relief by an official communique of 1709 as opposed to an incident of +later date. "These poor people," runs the note, which was addressed to +a naval commander who had pressed a fisherman out of a boat of less +than three tons, "have been always protected for the support of their +indigent families, and therefore they must not Be taken into the +service unless there is a pressing occasion, _and then they will be +all forced thereinto_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1.2377 +--Capt. Robinson, 4 Feb. 1708-9, and endorsement.] Captain +Boscawen, writing from the Nore in 1745, supplies the antithesis. He +had been instructed to procure half a dozen fishing smacks, each of +not less than sixty tons burden, for transport purposes. None were to +be had. "The reason the fishermen give for not employing vessels of +that size," he states, in explanation of the fact, "is that all the +young men are pressed, and that the old men and boys are not able to +work them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1481--Capt. +Boscawen, 23 Dec. 1745.] + +Conditions such as these in time taught the fisherman wisdom, and he +awoke to the fact that exemption for a consideration, as in the case +of workers on rivers and canals, was preferable to paying through the +nose. The Admiralty was never averse from driving a bargain of this +description. It saved much distress, much bad blood, much good money. +In this way Worthing fishermen bought exemption in 1780. The fishery +of that town was then in its infancy, the people engaged in it "very +poor and needy." They employed only sixteen boats. Yet they found it +cheaper to contribute five men to the Navy, at a cost of 40 Pounds in +bounties, than to entertain the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Alms, 2 Jan. 1780.] + +The Orkney fisherman bought his freedom, both on his fishing-grounds +and when carrying his catch to market, on similar terms; but being a +person of frugal turn of mind, he gradually developed the habit of +withholding his stipulated quota. The unexpected arrival in his midst +of an armed smack, followed by a spell of vigorous pressing, taught +him that to be penny-wise is sometimes to be pound-foolish. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 11 May 1798, and +Admiralty note.] + +On the Scottish coasts fishermen and ferrymen--the latter a numerous +class on that deeply indented seaboard--offered up one man in every +five or six on the altar of protection. The sacrifice distressed them +less than indiscriminate pressing. A prosperous people, they chose out +those of their number who could best be spared, supporting the +families thus left destitute by common subscription. Buss fishermen, +who followed the migratory herring; from fishing-ground to +fishing-ground, were in another category. Their contribution, when on +the Scottish coast, figured out at a man per buss, but as they were +for some inscrutable reason called upon to pay similar tribute on +other parts of the coast, they cannot be said to have escaped any too +lightly. Neither did the four hundred fishing-boats composing the Isle +of Man fleet. Their crews were obliged to surrender one man in every +seven. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, +Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795; Admiral Philip, Report on +Rendezvous, 1 Aug. 1801.] + +Opinions as to the value of material drawn from these sources differed +widely. The buss fisherman was on all hands acknowledged to be a +seasoned sailor; but when it came to those employed in smaller craft, +it was held that heaving at the capstan for a matter of only six or +seven weeks in the year could never convert raw lads into useful +seamen, even though they continued that healthful form of exercise all +their lives. This was the view entertained by the masters of +fishing-smacks smarting from loss of "hands." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Thomas Hurry, master, 3 March 1777.] + +Admiralty saw things in quite another light. "What you admit," said +their Lordships, expressing the counter-view, "it is our business to +prevent. We will therefore take these lads, who are admittedly of no +service to you save for hauling in your nets or getting your anchors, +and will make of them what you, on your own showing, can never +make--able seamen.": The argument, backed as it was by the strong arm +of the press-gang, was unanswerable. + +The fact that the fisherman passed much of his time on shore did not +free him from the press any more than it freed the waterman, or the +worker in keel or trow. In his main vocation he "used the sea," and +that was enough. For the use of the sea was the rule and standard by +which every man's liability to the press was supposed to be measured +and determined. + +Except in the case of masters, mates and apprentices to the sea, whose +affidavits or indentures constituted their respective safeguards +against the press, every person exempt from that infliction, whether +by statute law or Admiralty indulgence, was required to have in his +possession an official voucher setting forth the fact and ground of +his exemption. This document was ironically termed his "protection." + +Admiralty protections were issued under the hand of the Lord High +Admiral; ordinary protections, by departments and persons who +possessed either delegated or vested powers of issue. Thus each +Trinity House protected its own pilots; the Customs protected whale +fishermen and apprentices to the sea; impress officers protected +seamen temporarily lent to ships in lieu of men taken out of them by +the gangs. Some protections were issued for a limited period and +lapsed when that period expired; others were of perpetual "force," +unless invalidated by some irregular acton the part of the holder. No +protection was good unless it bore a minute description of the person +to whom it applied, and all protections had to be carried on the +person and produced upon demand. Thomas Moverty was pressed out of a +wherry in the Thames owing to his having changed his clothes and left +his protection at home; and John Scott of Mistley, in Suffolk, was +taken whilst working in his shirtsleeves, though his protection lay in +the pocket of his jacket, only a few yards away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Bridges, 11 August 1743. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Capt. Ballard, 15 March 1804, and +enclosure.] + +The most trifling irregularity in the protection itself, or the +slightest discrepancy between the personal appearance of the bearer +and the written description of him, was enough to convert the +protection into so much waste paper and the bearer into a naval +seaman. North-country apprentices, whose indentures bore a 14s. stamp +in accordance with Scottish law, were pressed because that document +did not bear a 15s. stamp according to English law. A seaman was in +one instance described in his protection as "smooth-faced," that is, +beardless. The impress officer scrutinised him closely. "Aha!" said +he, "you are not smooth-faced. You are pockmarked"; and he pressed the +poor fellow for that reason. + +To be over-protected was as bad as having no protection at all. Thomas +Letting, a collier's man, and John Anthony of the merchant ship +_Providence_, learnt this fact to their cost when they were taken +out of their respective ships for having each two protections. In +short, the slightest pretext served. If a protection had but a few +more days to run; if the name, date, place or other essential +particular showed signs of "coaxing," that is, of having been "on +purpose rubbed out" or altered; if a man's description did not figure +in his protection, or if it figured on the back instead of in the +margin, or in the margin instead of on the back; if his face wore a +ruddy rather than a pale look, if his hair were red when it ought to +have been brown, if he proved to be "tall and remarkable thin" when he +should have been middle-sized and thick-set--in any of these, as in a +hundred and one similar cases, the bearer of the protection paid the +penalty for what the impress officer regarded as a "hoodwinking +attempt" to cheat the King's service of an eligible man. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the impress officer regarded every +pressable man as a person who made it his chief business in life to +defraud the Navy of his services on the "miserable plea of a +protection," it by no means followed that his zeal in pressing him on +that account had in every case the countenance or met with the +unqualified approval of the Admiralty. Thousands of men and boys taken +in this irresponsible fashion obtained their discharge, though with +more or less difficulty and delay, when the facts of the case were +laid before the naval authorities; and in general it may be said, that +although the Lords Commissioners were only too ready to wink at any +colourable excuse whereby another physical unit might be added to the +fleet, they nevertheless laid it down as a rule, inviolable at least +on paper, "never to press any man from protections," since it brought +"great trouble and clamour upon them." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 3. 50--Admiralty Minutes, 26 Feb. 1744-5.] To assert that +the rule was generally obeyed would be to turn the truth into a lie. +On the contrary, it was almost universally disregarded. Both officers +and gangs traversed it on every possible occasion, leaving the justice +or injustice of the act to the arbitrament of the higher tribunal. +Zeal for the service was no crime, and to release a man was always so +much easier than to catch him. + +"Pressing from protections," as the phrase ran in the service, did not +therefore mean that the Admiralty over-rode its own protections at +pleasure. It merely signified that on occasion more than ordinarily +stringent measures were adopted for the holding-up and examining of +all protected persons, or of as many of them as could be got at by the +gangs, to the end that all false or fraudulent vouchers might be +weeded out and the dishonest bearers of them consigned to another +place. And yet there were times when "pressing from protections" had +its plenary significance too. + +Lovers of prints who are familiar with Hogarth's "Stage Coach; or, a +Country Inn Yard," date 1747, will readily recall the two +"outsides"--the one a down-in-the-mouth soldier, the other a jolly +Jack-tar on whose bundle may be read the word "Centurion." Now the +_Centurion_ was Anson's flag-ship, and in this print Hogarth has +incidentally recorded the fact that her crew, on their return from +that famous voyage round the world, were awarded life-protections from +the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Anson, +24 July 1744.] + +The life-protection was an indulgence extended to few. Samuel Davidson +of Newcastle, sailor, aged fifty, who had "served for nine years +during the late wars," in 1777 made bold to plead that fact as a +reason why he should be freed from the attentions of the press-gang +for the rest of his life. But the Lords Commissioners refused to admit +the plea "unless he was in a position not inferior to that of chief +mate." On the other hand, Henry Love of Hastings, who had merely +served in a single Dutch expedition, but had the promise of Pitt and +Dundas that both he and those who volunteered with him should never be +pressed, was immediately discharged when that calamity befell him. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1449--Capt. Columbine, 21 July +1800.] + +The granting of extraordinary protections was thus something entirely +erratic and not to be counted upon. Captain Balchen in 1708 had +special protections for ten of his ship's company whom he desired to +bring to London as witnesses in a suit then pending against him; but +the building of the three earlier Eddystone lighthouses was allowed to +be seriously impeded by the pressing of the unprotected workmen when +on shore at Plymouth, and the keepers of the first erection of that +name were once carried off bag and baggage by the gang. + +Smeaton, who built the third Eddystone, protected his men by means of +silver badges, and his storeboat enjoyed similar immunity--presumably +with the consent of Admiralty--by reason of a picture of the +lighthouse painted on her sail. Other great constructors, as well as +rich mercantile firms, bought protection at a price. They supplied a +stipulated number of men for the fleet, and found the arrangement a +highly convenient one for ridding themselves of those who were useless +to them or had incurred their displeasure. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 583--Admiral Thornborough, 30 Nov. 1813.] + +Private protections, of which great numbers saw the light, were in no +case worth the paper they were written on. Joseph Bettesworth of Ryde, +Isle of Wight, Attorney-at-Law and Lord of the Manor of Ashey and +Ryde, by virtue of an ancient privilege pertaining to that Manor and +confirmed by royal Letters Patent, in 1790 protected some twenty +seafaring men to work his "Antient Ferry or Passage for the Wafting of +Passengers to and from Ride, Portsmouth and Gosport, in a smack of +about 14 tons, and a wherry." The regulating captain at the last-named +place asked what he should do about it. "Press every man as soon as +possible," replied their Lordships. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1506--Capt. John Bligh, June 1790, and enclosure.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + + + +"A man we want, and a man we must have," was the naval cry of the +century. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Deposition of +John Swinburn, 28 July 1804.] + +Nowhere was the cry so loud or so insistent as on the sea, where every +ship of war added to its volume. In times of peace, when the demand +for men was gauged by those every-day factors, sickness, death and +desertion, it dwindled, if it did not altogether die away; but given a +war-cloud on the near horizon and the cry for men swelled, as +many-voiced as there were keels in the fleet, to a sudden clamour of +formidable proportions--a clamour that only the most strenuous and +unremitting exertions could in any measure appease. + +Every navy is argus-eyed, and in crises such as these, when the very +existence of the nation was perhaps at stake, it was first and +principally towards the crews of the country's merchant ships that the +eyes of the Navy were directed; for, shipboard life and shipboard duty +being largely identical in both services, no elaborate training was +required to convert the merchant sailor into a first-rate +man-o'-war's-man. The ships of both services were sailing ships. Both, +as a rule, went armed. Hence, not only was the merchant sailor an able +seaman, he was also trained in the handling of great guns, and in the +use of the cutlass, the musket and the boarding-pike. In a word, he +was that most valuable of all assets to a people seeking to dominate +the sea--a man-o'-war's-man ready-made, needing only to be called in +in order to become immediately effective. + +The problem was how to catch him--how to take him fresh and vigorous +from his deep-sea voyaging--how to enroll him in the King's Navy ere +he got ashore with a pocketful of money and relaxed his hardened +muscles in the uncontrolled debauchery he was so partial to after long +abstention. + +A device of the simplest yet of the most elaborate description met the +difficulty. It was based upon the fact that to take the sailor afloat +was a much easier piece of strategy than to ferret him out of his +hiding-places after he got ashore. The impress trap was therefore set +in such a way as to catch him before he reached the land. + +With infinite ingenuity and foresight sea-gangs were picketed from +harbour to harbour, from headland to headland, until they formed an +almost unbroken chain around the coasts and guarded the sailor's every +point of accustomed approach from overseas: This was the outer cordon +of the system, the beginning of the gauntlet the returning sailor had +to run, and he was a smart seaman indeed who could successfully +negotiate the uncharted rocks and shoals with which the coast was +everywhere strewn in his despite. + +The composition of this chain of sea-gangs was mixed to a degree, yet +singularly homogeneous. + +First of all, on its extreme outer confines, perhaps as far down +Channel as the Scillies, or as far north as the thirteen-mile stretch +of sea running between the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast, where +the trade for Liverpool, Whitehaven, Dublin and the Clyde commonly +came in, the homing sailor would suddenly descry, bearing down upon +him under press of sail, the trim figure of one of His Majesty's +frigates, or the clean, swift lines of an armed sloop. The meeting was +no chance one. Both the frigate and the sloop were there by design, +the former cruising to complete her own complement, the latter to +complete that of some ship-of-the-line at Plymouth, Spithead or the +Nore, to which she stood in the relation of tender. + +Tenders were vessels taken into the king's service "at the time of +Impressing Seamen." Hired at certain rates per month, they continued +in the service as long as they were required, often most unwillingly, +and were principally employed in obtaining men for the king's ships or +in matters relative thereto. In burden they varied from thirty or +forty to one hundred tons, [Footnote: This was the maximum tonnage for +which the Navy Board paid, but when trade was slack larger vessels +could be had, and were as a matter of fact frequently employed, at the +nominal tonnage rate.] the smaller craft hugging the coast and +dropping in from port to port, the larger cruising far beyond shore +limits. For deep-sea or trade-route cruising the smaller craft were of +little use. No ship of force would bring-to for them. + +While press-warrants were supplied regularly to every warship, no +matter what her rating, the supply of tenders was less general and +much more erratic. It was only when occasion demanded it, and then +only to ships of the first, second and third rate, that tenders were +assigned for the purpose of bringing their crews up to full strength. +The urgency of the occasion, the men to be "rose," the diplomacy of +the commander determined the number. A tender to each ship was the +rule, but however parsimonious the Navy Board might be on such +occasions, a carefully worded appeal to its prejudices seldom failed +to produce a second, or even a third attendant vessel. Boscawen once +had recourse to this ingenious ruse in order to obtain tender number +two. The Navy Board detested straggling seamen, so he suggested that, +with several tenders lying idle in the Thames, his men might be far +more profitably employed than in straggling about town. "Most +reprehensible practice!" assented the Board, and placed a second +vessel at his disposal without more ado. Lieut. Upton was immediately +put in charge of her and ordered seawards. He returned within a week +with twenty-seven men, pressed out of merchantmen in Margate Roads. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Letters of Capt. Boscawen, +July and August 1743.] + +The tender assigned to Boscawen on this occasion was the +_Galloper_, an American-built vessel, "rigged in the manner the +West Indians do their sloops." Her armament consisted of six +9-pounders and threescore small-arms, but as a sea-boat she belied her +name, for she was hopelessly sluggish under sail, and the great depth +of her waist, and her consequent liability to ship seas in rough +weather, rendered her "very improper" for cruising in the Channel. + +For her company she had a master, a mate and six hands supplied by the +owners, in addition to thirty-four seamen temporarily drafted into her +from Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_. It was the duty of the +former to work the vessel, of the latter to do the pressing; but these +duties were largely interchangeable. All were under the command of the +lieutenant, who with forty-two men at his beck and call could +organise, on a pinch, five gangs of formidable strength and yet leave +sufficient hands, given fair weather, to mind the tender in their +temporary absence. Tender's men were generally the flower of a ship's +company, old hands of tried fidelity, equal to any emergency and +reputedly proof against bribery, rum and petticoats. Yet the +temptation to give duty the slip and enjoy the pleasures of town for a +season sometimes proved too strong, even for them, and we read of one +boat's-crew of eight, who, overcome in this way, were discovered after +many days in a French prison. Instead of going pressing in the Downs, +they had gone to Boulogne. + +On the commanders of His Majesty's ships the onus of raising men fell +with intolerable insistence. Nelson's greatest pleasure in his +promotion to Admiral's rank is said to have been derived from the fact +that with it there came a blessed cessation to the scurvy business of +pressing; and there were in the service few captains, whether before +or after Nelson's day, who could not echo with hearty approval the +sentiment of Capt. Brett of the _Roebuck_, when he said: "I can +solemnly declare that the getting and taking care of my men has given +me more trouble and uneasiness than all the rest of my duty." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Brett, 27 Oct. +1742.] + +Commanders of smaller and less effective ships found themselves on the +horns of a cruel dilemma did they dare to ask for tenders. Beg and +pray as they would, these were rarely allowed them save as a special +indulgence or a crying necessity. To most applications from this +source the Admiralty opposed a front well calculated "to encourage the +others." "If he has not men enough to proceed on service," ran its +dictum, "their Lordships will lay up the ship." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Boyle, 1 March 1715-6, +endorsement, and numerous instances.] Faced with the summary loss of +his command, their Lordships' high displeasure, and consequent +inactivity and half-pay for an indefinite period, the captain whose +complement was short, and who could obtain neither men nor tender from +the constituted authority, had no option but to put to sea with such +hands as he already bore and there beat up for others. This, with +their Lordships' gracious permission, he accordingly did, thus adding +another unit to the fleet of armed vessels already prowling the Narrow +Seas on a similar errand. It can be readily imagined that such +commanders were not out for pleasure. + +To the great and incessantly active flotilla got together in this way, +the regulating captains on shore contributed a further large +contingent. Every seaport of consequence had its rendezvous, every +seaport rendezvous its amphibious gang or gangs who ranged the +adjacent coast for many leagues in swift bottoms whose character and +mission often remained wholly unsuspected until some skilful manoeuvre +laid them aboard their intended victim and brought the gang swarming +over her decks, armed to the teeth and resolute to press her crew. + +We have now three classes of vessels, of varying build, rig, tonnage +and armament, engaged in a common endeavour to intercept and take the +homing sailor. Let us next see how they were disposed upon the coast. + +Tenders from Greenwich and Blackwall ransacked the Thames below bridge +as far as Blackstakes in the river Medway, the Nore and the Swin +channel. Tenders from Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover watched the +lower Thames estuary, swept the Downs, and kept a sharp lookout along +the coasts of Kent and Sussex, of Essex and of Norfolk. To these +tenders from Lynn dipped their colours off Wells-on-Sea or Cromer, +whence they bore away for the mouth of Humber, where Hull tenders took +up the running till met by those belonging to Sunderland, +Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shields, which in turn joined up the cordon +with others hailing from Leith and the Firth of Forth. Northward of +the Forth, away to the extreme Orkneys, and all down the west coast of +Scotland through the two Minches and amongst the Hebrides, specially +armed sloops from Leith and Greenock made periodic cruises. Greenock +tenders, again, united with tenders from Belfast and Whitehaven in a +lurking watch for ships making home ports by way of the North Channel; +or circled the Isle of Man, ran thence across to Morecambe Bay, and so +down the Lancashire coast the length of Formby Head, where the Mersey +tenders, alert for the Jamaica trade, relieved them of their vigil. +Dublin tenders guarded St. George's Channel, aided by others from +Milford Haven and Haverfordwest. Bristol tenders cruised the channel +of that names keeping a sharp eye on Lundy Island and the Holmes, +where shipmasters were wont to play them tricks if they were not +watchful. Falmouth and Plymouth tenders guarded the coast from Land's +End to Portland Bill, Portsmouth tenders from Portland Bill to Beachy +Head, and Folkestone and Dover tenders from Beachy Head to the North +Foreland, thus completing the encircling chain. Nor was Ireland +forgotten in the general sea-rummage. As a converging point for the +great overseas trade-routes it was of prime importance, and tenders +hailing from Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, or making +those places their chief ports of call, exercised unceasing vigilance +over all the coast. + +In this general scouring of the coastal waters of the kingdom certain +points were of necessity subjected to a much closer surveillance than +others. Particularly was this true of the sea routes followed by the +East and West India, and the Baltic, Virginia, Newfoundland, Dutch and +Greenland trades, where these converged upon such centres of +world-commerce as London, Poole, Bristol, Liverpool and the great +northern entrepots on the Forth and Clyde, the Humber and the Tyne. A +tender stationed off Poole, when a Newfoundland fish-convoy was +expected in, never failed to reap a rich harvest. At Highlake, near +the mouth of the Mersey, many a fine haul was made from the sugar and +rum-laden Jamaica ships, the privateers and slavers from which +Liverpool drew her wealth. Early in the century sloops of war had +orders "to cruise between Beechy and the Downs to Impress men out of +homeward-bound Merchant Ships," and in 1755 Rodney's lieutenants found +the Channel "full of tenders." Except in times of profound peace--few +and brief in the century under review--it was rarely or never in any +other state. An ocean highway so congested with the winged vehicles of +commerce could not escape the constant vigilance of those whose +business it was to waylay the inward-bound sailor. + +A favourite station in the Channel was "at ye west end of ye Isle of +Wight, near Hurst Castle," where the watchful tender, having under her +eye all ships coming from the westward, as well as all passing through +the Needles, could press at pleasure by the simple expedient of +sending gangs aboard of them. At certain times of the year such ports +as Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Brixham came in for similar +attention. When the fleets were due back from the "Great Fishery" on +the Dogger Banks, tenders cruising off those ports netted more men +than they could find room for; and so heavy was the tribute paid in +this way by the fishermen of the last-named port in 1805, that "not a +single man was to be found in Brixham liable to the impress." Every +unprotected man, out of a total of ninety-six fishing-smacks then +belonging to the place, had been snapped up by the tenders and ships +of war cruising off the bay or further up-Channel. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +15 Sept.] + +The double cordon composed of ships and tenders on the cruise by no +means exhausted the resources called into play for the intercepting of +the sailor afloat. Still nearer the land was a third or innermost line +composed of boat-gangs operating, like so many of the tenders, from +rendezvous on shore, or from ships of war lying in dock or riding at +anchor. Less continuous than the outer cordon, it was not less +effective, and many a sailor who by strategy or good luck had all but +won through, struck his flag to the gang when perhaps only the cast of +a line separated him from shore and liberty. + +It was across the entrance to harbours and navigable estuaries that +this innermost line was most frequently and most successfully drawn. +Pill, the pilot station for the port of Bristol, threw out such a line +to the further bank of Avon and thereby caught many an able seaman who +had evaded the tenders below King Road. On Southampton Water it was +generally so impassable that few men who could in the slightest degree +be considered liable to the press escaped its toils. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +5 Aug. 1805.] Dublin Bay knew it well. A press "on float" +there, carried out silently and swiftly in the grey of a September +morning, 1801, whilst the mists still hung thick over the water, +resulted in the seizure of seventy-four seamen who had eluded the +press-smacks cruising without the bay; but of this number two proving +to be protected apprentices, the Lord Mayor sent the Water Bailiff of +the city, "with a detachment of the army," and took them by force out +of the hands of the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1526--Capt. Brabazon, 16 Sept. 1801.] On the Thames, notwithstanding +the ceaseless activity of the outer cordons, the innermost line of +capture yielded enormously. The night of October the 28th, 1776, saw +three hundred and ninety-nine men, the greater part of them good +seamen, pressed by the boats of a single ship--the _Princess +Augusta_, Captain Sir Richard Bickerton commander, then fitting out +at Woolwich. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. +Bickerton, 29 Oct. 1776.] Such a raid was very properly termed a "hot +press." + +The amazing feature of this exploit is, that it should have been +possible at all, in view of what was going on in the Thames estuary +below a line drawn across the river's mouth from Foulness to +Sheerness-reach. Seawards of this line lay the two most famous +anchorages in the world, where ships foregathered from every quarter +of the navigable globe. Than the Nore and the Downs no finer +recruiting-ground could anywhere be found, and here the shore-gangs +afloat, and the boat-gangs from ships of war, were for ever on the +alert. No ship, whether inward or outward bound, could pass the Nore +without being visited. Nothing went by unsearched. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] The +wonder is that any unprotected sailor ever found his way to London. + +Between the Nore and the North Foreland the conditions were equally +rigorous. Through all the channels leading to the sea, channels +affording anchorage to innumerable ships of every conceivable rig and +tonnage, the gangs roamed at will, exacting toll of everything that +carried canvas. Even the smaller craft left high and dry upon the +flats, or awaiting the tide in some sand-girt pool, did not escape +their hawk-like vigilance. + + [Illustration: SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS +WEDDING DAY.] + +In the Downs these conditions reached their climax, for thither, in +never-ending procession, came the larger ships which were so fruitful +of good hauls. With the wind at north, or between north and east, few +ships came in and little could be done. But when the wind veered and +came piping out of the west or sou'-west, in they came in such numbers +that the gangs, however numerous they might be, had all their work cut +out to board them. A special tender, swift and exceedingly well-found, +was accordingly stationed here, whose duty it was to be "very watchful +that no vessel passed without a visit from the impress boats." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Orders of Vice-Admiral +Buckle to Capt. Yates, 29 April 1778.] In such work as this man-o'-war +boats were of little use. Just as they could not negotiate Deal beach +without danger of being reduced to matchwood, so they could not live +in the choppy sea kicked up in the Downs by a westerly gale. Folkstone +market boats and Deal cutters had to be requisitioned for pressing in +those waters. Their seaworthiness and speed made the Downs the crux of +inward-bound ships, whose only means of escaping their attentions was +to incur another danger by "going back of the Goodwins." + +The procedure of boat-gangs pressing in harbour or on rivers seldom +varied, unless it were by accident. As a rule, night was the time +selected, for to catch the sailor asleep conduced greatly to the +success and safety of the venture. The hour chosen was consequently +either close upon midnight, some little time after he had turned in, +or in the early morning before he turned out. The darker the night and +the dirtier the weather the better. Surprise, swiftly and silently +carried out, was half the battle. + +A case in point is the attempt made by Lieut. Rudsdale, of H.M.S. +_Licorne_, "to impress all men (without exception) from the ships +and vessels lying at Cheek Point above Passage of Waterford," in the +year '79. Putting-off in the pinnace with a picked crew at eleven +o'clock on a dark and tempestuous October night, he had scarcely left +the ship astern ere he overtook a boatload of men, how many he could +not well discern in the darkness, pulling in the direction he himself +was bound. Fearful lest they should suspect the nature of his errand +and alarm the ships at Passage, he ran alongside of them and pressed +the entire number, sending the boat adrift. Putting back, he set his +capture on board the _Licorne_ and once more turned the nose of +the pinnace towards Passage. There, dropping noiselessly aboard the +_Triton_ brig, he caught the hands asleep, pressed as many of +them as he had room for, and with them returned to the ship. +Meanwhile, the master of the _Triton_ armed what hands he had +left and met Rudsdale's second attempt to board him with a formidable +array of handspikes, hatchets and crowbars. A fusillade of bottles and +billets of wood further evinced his determination to protect the brig +against all comers, and lest there should be any doubt on that point +he swore roundly that he would be the death of every man in the +pinnace if they did not immediately sheer off and leave him in peace. +This the lieutenant wisely did. No further surprises were possible +that night, for by this time the alarm had spread, the pinnace was +half-full of missiles, and one of his men lay in the bottom of her +severely wounded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 471--Deposition +of Lieut. Rudsdale, 24 Oct. 1779.] As it was, he had a very +fair night's work to his credit. Between the occupants of the +boat and those of the brig he had obtained close upon a score of men. + +The expedients resorted to by commanders of ships of war temporarily +in port and short of their tale of men are vividly depicted in a +report made to the Admiralty in 1711. "Three days ago, very +privately," writes Capt. Billingsley, whose ship, the _Vanguard_, +was then lying at Blackstakes, "I Sent two fishing Smacks with a +Lieutenant and some Men, with orders to proceede along the Essex +Coast, and downe as far as the Wallet, to the Naze, with directions to +take all the men out of Oyster Vessels and others that were not +Exempted. The project succeeded, and they are return'd with fourteen +men, all fit, and but one has ever been in the Service. The coast was +Alarm'd, and the country people came downe and fir'd from the Shore +upon the Smacks, and no doubt but they doe still take 'em to be +privateers." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. +Billingsley, 5 May 1711.] + +Pressing at sea differed materially in many of its aspects from +pressing on the more sheltered waters of rivers and harbours. Carried +out as a rule in the broad light of day, it was for that very reason +accompanied with a more open and determined display of force than +those quieter ventures which depended so largely for their success +upon the element of surprise. Situated as we are in these latter days, +when anyone who chooses may drive his craft from Land's End to John o' +Groats without hindrance, it is difficult to conceive that there was +ever a time when the whole extent of the coastal waters of the +kingdom, as ranged by the impress tender, was under rigorous martial +law. Yet such was unquestionably the case. Throughout the eighteenth +century the flag was everywhere in armed evidence in those waters, and +no sailing master of the time could make even so much as a day's run +with any certainty that the peremptory summons: "Bring to! I'm coming +aboard of you," would not be bawled at him from the mouth of a gun. + +The retention of the command of a tender depended entirely upon her +success in procuring men. As a rule, she was out for no other purpose, +and this being so, it is not to be supposed that the officer in charge +of her would do otherwise than employ the means ordained for that end. +Accordingly, as soon as a sail was sighted by the tender's lookout +man, a gun was loaded, shotted with roundshot, and run out ready for +the moment when the vessel should come within range. + +The first intimation the intended victim had of the fate in store for +her was the shriek of the roundshot athwart her bows. This was the +signal, universally known as such, for her to back her topsails and +await the coming of the gang, already tumbling in ordered haste into +the armed boat prepared for them under the tender's quarter. And yet +it was not always easy for the sprat to catch the whale. A variety of +factors entered into the problem and made for failure as often as for +success. Sometimes the tender's powder was bad--so bad that in spite +of an extra pound or so added to the charge, the shot could not be got +to carry as far as a common musket ball. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Shirley, 5 Nov. 1780, and numerous +instances.] When this was the case her commander suffered a double +mortification. His shot, the symbol of authority and coercion, took +the water far short of its destined goal, whilst the vessel it was +intended to check and intimidate surged by amid the derisive cat-calls +and laughter of her crew. + +Even with the powder beyond reproach, ships did not always obey the +summons, peremptory though it was. One pretended not to hear it, or to +misunderstand it, or to believe it was meant for some other craft, and +so held stolidly on her course, vouchsafing no sign till a second +shot, fired point-blank, but at a safe elevation, hurtled across her +decks and brought her to her senses. Another, perhaps some well-armed +Levantine trader or tall Indiaman whose crew had little mind to strike +their colours submissively at the behest of a midget press-smack, +would pipe to quarters and put up a stiff fight for liberty and the +dear delights of London town--a fight from which the tender, supposing +her to have accepted the gage of battle, rarely came off victor. Or +the challenged ship, believing herself to be the faster craft of the +two, clapped on all sail, caught an opportune "slatch of wind," and +showed her pursuer a clean pair of heels, the tender's guns meanwhile +barking away at her until she passed out of range. These were +incidents in the chapter of pressing afloat which every tender's +commander was familiar with. Back of them all lay a substantial fact, +and on that he relied for his supply of men. There was somehow a magic +in the boom of a naval gun that had its due effect upon most +ship-masters. They brought-to, however reluctantly, and awaited the +pleasure of the gang. But the sailor had still to be reckoned with. + +In order to invest the business of taking the sailor with some +semblance of legality, it was necessary that the commander of the +tender, in whose name the press-warrant was made out, or one of his +two midshipmen, each of whom usually held a similar warrant, should +conduct the proceedings in person; and the first duty of this officer, +on setting foot upon the deck of the vessel held up in the manner just +described, was to order her entire company to be mustered for his +inspection. If the master proved civil, this preliminary passed off +quickly and with no more confusion than was incidental to a general +and hasty rummaging of sea-chests and lockers in search of those magic +protections on which hung the immediate destiny of every man in the +ship, excepting only the skipper, his mate and that privileged person, +the boatswain. The muster effected, the officer next subjected each +protection to the closest possible scrutiny, for none who knew the +innate trickery of seamen would ever "take their words for it." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Boscawen, 20 March +1745-6.] Men who had no protections, men whose papers bore evident +traces of "coaxing" or falsification, men whose appearance and persons +failed to tally exactly with the description there written down--these +were set apart from their more fortunate messmates, to be dealt with +presently. To their ranks were added others whose protections had +either expired or were on the point of expiry, as well as skulkers who +sought to evade His Majesty's press by stowing themselves away between +or below decks, and who had been by this time more or less thoroughly +routed out by members of the gang armed with hangers. The two +contingents now lined up, and their total was checked by reference to +the ship's articles, the officer never omitting to make affectionate +inquiries after men marked down as "run," "drowned," or "discharged"; +for none knew better than he, if an old hand at the game, how often +the "run" man ran no further afield than some secure hiding-place +overlooked by his gangers, or how miraculously the "drowned" bobbed up +once more to the surface of things when the gang had ceased from +troubling. If the ship happened to be an inward-bound, and to possess +a general protection exempting her from the press only for the voyage +then just ending, that fact greatly simplified and abbreviated the +proceedings, for then her whole company was looked upon as the +ganger's lawful prey. In the case of an outward-bound ship, the +gang-officer's duty was confined to seeing that she carried no more +hands than her protection and tonnage permitted her to carry. All +others were pressed. Cowed by armed authority, or wounded and bleeding +in a lost cause as hereafter to be related, the men were hustled into +the boat with "no more violence than was necessary for securing them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aldred, 12 June +1708.] Their chests and bedding followed, making a full boat; and so, +having cleared the ship of all her pressable hands, the gang prepared +to return to the tender. But first there was a last stroke of business +to be done. The gunner must have his bit. + +Up to this point, beyond producing the ship's papers for inspection +and gruffly answering such questions as were put to, him, the master +of the vessel had taken little part in what was going on. His turn now +came. By virtue of his position he could not be pressed, but there +existed a very ancient naval usage according to which he could be, and +was, required to pay for the powder and shot expended in inducing him +to receive the gang on board. In law the exaction was indefensible. +Litigation often followed it, and as the century grew old the practice +for that reason fell into gradual desuetude, a circumstance almost +universally deplored by naval commanders of the old school, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 13 Oct. 1795, and +Admiralty endorsement.] who were ever sticklers for respect to the +flag; but during the first five or six decades of the century the +shipmaster who had to be fired upon rarely escaped paying the shot. +The money accruing from his compliance with the demand, 6s. 8d., went +to the gunner, whose perquisite it was, and as several shots were +frequently necessary to reduce a crew to becoming submissiveness, the +gunners must have done very well out of it. Refusal to "pay the shot" +could be visited upon the skipper only indirectly. Another man or two +were taken out of him by way of reprisals, and the press-boat shoved +off--to return a second, or even a third time, if the pressed men +numbered more than she could stow. + +From this summary mode of depriving a ship of a part or the whole of +her crew two serious complications arose, the first of which had to do +with the wages of the men pressed, the second with what was +technically called "carrying the ship up," that is to say, sailing her +to her destination. + +According to the law of the land, the sailor who was pressed out of a +ship was entitled to his wages in full till the day he was pressed, +and not only was every shipmaster bound to provide such men with +tickets good for the sums severally due to them, tickets drawn upon +the owners and payable upon demand, but it was the duty of every +impress officer to see that such tickets were duly made out and +delivered to the men. Refusal to comply with the law in this respect +led to legal proceedings, in which, except in the case of foreign +ships, the Admiralty invariably won. Eminently fair to the sailor, the +provision was desperately hard on masters and owners, for they, after +having shipped their crews for the run or voyage, now found themselves +left either with insufficient hands to carry the ship up, or with no +hands at all. As a concession to the necessity of the moment a gang +was sometimes put on board a ship for the avowed purpose of pressing +her hands when she arrived in port; but such concessions were not +always possible, [Footnote: Nor were they always effective, as witness +the following: "Tuesday the 15th, the _Shandois_ sloop from +Holland came by this place (the Nore). I put 15 men on board her to +secure her Company till their Protection was expired. Soon after came +from Sheerness the Master Attendant's boat to assist me on that +service. I immediately sent her away with more Men and Armes for the +better Securing of the Sloop's Company, but that night, in Longreach, +the Vessel being near the Shore, and almost Calme, they hoisted the +boat out to tow the Sloop about, and all the Sloop's men, being 18, +got into her and Run ashore, bidding defiance to my people's +fireing."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, H.M.S. +_Argyle_, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] and common equity demanded that in +their absence ample provision should be made for the safety of vessels +suddenly disabled by the gang. This the Admiralty undertook to do, and +hence there grew up that appendage to the impress afloat generally +known as "men in lieu" or "ticket men." + +The vocation of the better type "man in lieu" was a vicarious sort of +employment, entailing any but disagreeable consequences upon him who +followed it. At every point on the coast where a gang was stationed, +and at many where they were not, great numbers of these men were +retained for service afloat whenever required. The three ports of +Dover, Deal and Folkestone alone at one time boasted no less than four +hundred and fifty of them, and when a hot press was in full swing in +the Downs even this number was found insufficient to meet the demand. +Mostly fishermen, Sea-Fencibles and others of a quasi-seafaring type, +they enjoyed complete exemption from the impress as a consideration +for "going in pressed men's rooms," received a shilling, and in some +cases eighteen-pence a day while so employed, and had a penny a mile +road-money for their return to the place of their abode, where they +were free, in the intervals between carrying ships up, to follow any +longshore occupation they found agreeable, save only smuggling. The +enjoyment of these privileges, and particularly the privilege of +exemption from the press, made them, as a class, notorious for their +independence and insolence--characteristics which still survive in not +a few of their descendants. Tenders going a-pressing often bore a +score or two of these privileged individuals as supers, who were +drafted into ships, as the crews were taken out, to assist the master, +mate and few remaining hands, were any of the latter left, in carrying +them up. Or, if no supers of this class were borne by the tender, she +"loaned" the master a sufficient number of her own company, duly +protected by tickets from the commanding officer, and invariably the +most unserviceable people on board, to work the ship into the nearest +port where regular "men in lieu" could be obtained. + +Had all "men in lieu" conformed to the standard of the better class +substitute of that name, the system would have been laudable in the +extreme and trade would have suffered little inconvenience from the +depredations of the gangs; but there was in the system a flaw that +generally reduced the aid lent to ships to something little better +than a mere travesty of assistance. That flaw lay in the fact that +Admiralty never gave as good as it took. Clearly, it could not. True, +it supplied substitutes to go in "pressed men's rooms," but to call +them "men in lieu" was a gross abuse of language. In reality the +substitutes supplied were in the great majority of cases mere scum in +lieu, the unpressable residuum of the population, consisting of men +too old or lads too young to appeal to the cupidity of the gangs, poor +creatures whom the regulating captains had refused, useless on land +and worse than useless at sea. + +In the general character of the persons sent in pressed men's rooms +Admiralty thus had Trade on the hip, and Trade suffered much in +consequence. More than one rich merchantman, rusty from long voyaging, +strewed the coast with her cargo and timbers because all the able +seamen had been taken out of her, and none better than old men and +boys could be found to sail her. Few seaport towns were as wise as +Sunderland, where they had a Society of Shipowners for mutual +insurance against the risks arising from the pressing of their men. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1541--Capt. Bligh, 8 Jan. 1807, +enclosure.] Elsewhere masters, owners and underwriters groaned under +the galling imposition; but the wrecker rejoiced exceedingly, thanking +the gangs whose ceaseless activities rendered such an outrageous state +of things possible. + +Whichever of these two classes the ticket man belonged to, he was an +incorrigible deserter. "Thirteen out of the fifteen men in lieu that I +sent up in the _Beaufort_ East-Indiaman," writes the disgusted +commander of the _Comet_ bombship, from the Downs, "have never +returned. As they are not worth inquiring for, I have made them run." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Burvill, 4 Sept. +1742. A man-o'-war's-man was "made run" when he failed to return to +his ship after a reasonable absence and an R was written over against +his name on the ship's books.] Such instances might be multiplied +indefinitely. Once the ticket man had drawn his money for the trip, +there was no such thing as holding him. The temptation to spend his +earnings in town proved too strong, and he went on the spree with +great consistency and enjoyment till his money was gone and his +protection worthless, when the inevitable overtook him. The ubiquitous +gang deprived him of his only remaining possession, his worthless +liberty, and sent him to the fleet, a ragged but shameless derelict, +as a punishment for his breach of privilege. + +The protecting ticket carried by the man in lieu dated from 1702, when +it appears to have been first instituted; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1433--Capt. Anderson, 5 April 1702.] but even when the +bearer was no deserter in fact or intention, it had little power to +protect him. No ticket man could count upon remaining unmolested by +the gangs except the undoubted foreigner and the marine, both of whom +were much used as men in lieu. The former escaped because his alien +tongue provided him with a natural protection; the latter because he +was reputedly useless on shipboard. In the person of the marine, +indeed, the man in lieu achieved the climax of ineptitude. It was an +ironical rule of the service that persons refusing to act as men in +lieu should suffer the very fate they stood in so much danger of in +the event of their consenting. Broadstairs fishermen in 1803 objected +to serving in that capacity, though tendered the exceptional wage of +27s. for the run to London. "If not compelled to go in that way," they +alleged, "they could make their own terms with shipmasters and have as +many guineas as they were now offered shillings." Orders to press them +for their contumacy were immediately sent down. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Carter, 16 Aug. 1803.] + +By the year 1811 the halcyon days of the man in lieu were at an end. +As a class he was then practically extinct. Inveterate and +long-continued pressing had drained the merchant service of all +able-bodied British seamen except those who were absolutely essential +to its existence. These were fully protected, and when their number +fell short of the requirements of the service the deficiency was +supplied by foreigners and apprentices similarly exempt. So few +pressable men were to be found in any one ship that it was no longer +considered necessary to send ticket men in their stead when they were +taken out, and as a matter of fact less than a dozen such men were +that year put on board ships passing the Downs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1453--Capt. Anderson, 31 Aug. 1811.] +Pressing itself was in its decline, and as for the vocation of the man +in lieu, it had gone never to return. + +Ships and tenders out for men met with varied fortunes. In the winter +season the length of the nights, the tempestuous weather and the cold +told heavily against success, as did at all times that factor in the +problem which one old sea-dog so picturesquely describes as "the room +there is for missing you." Capt. Barker, of the _Thetis_, in 1748 +made a haul of thirty men off the Old-Head of Kinsale, but lost his +barge in doing so, "it blowed so hard." Byng, of the _Sutherland_, +grumbled atrociously because in the course of his run up-Channel +in '42 he was able to press "no more than seventeen." Anson, +looking quite casually into Falmouth on his way down-Channel, +found there in '46 the _Betsey_ tender, then just recently +condemned, and took out of her every man she possessed at the cost of +a mere hour's work, ignorant of the fact that when pressing eight of +those men the commander of the _Betsey_ had been "eight hours +about it." It was all a game of chance, and when you played it the +only thing you could count upon was the certainty of having both the +sailor and the elements dead against you. + + [Illustration: JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the painting by Morland.] + +But if the "room there is for missing you," conspiring with other +unfavourable conditions, rendered pressing afloat an uncertain and +vexatious business, the chances of making a haul were on the other +hand augmented by every ship that entered or left the Narrow Seas, not +even excepting the foreigner. The foreign sailor could not be pressed +unless, as we have seen, he had naturalised himself by marrying an +English wife, but the foreign ship was fair game for every hunter of +British seamen.--An ancient assumption of right made it so. + +From the British point of view the "Right of Search" was an eminently +reasonable thing. Here was an island people to whose keeping Heaven +had by special dispensation committed the dominion of the seas. To +defend that dominion they needed every seaman they possessed or could +produce. They could spare none to other nations; and when their +sailors, who enjoyed no rights under their own flag, had the temerity +to seek refuge under another, there was nothing for it but to fire on +that flag if necessary, and to take the refugee by armed force from +under its protection. This in effect constituted the time-honoured +"Right of Search," and none were so reluctant to forego the +prerogative, or so keen to enforce it, as those naval officers who saw +in it a certain prospect of adding to their ships' companies. The +right of search was always good for another man or two. + +It was often good for a great many more, for the foreign skipper was +at the best an arrant man-stealing rogue. If a Yankee, he hated the +British because he had beaten them; if a Frenchman or a Hollander, +because they had beaten him. His animus was all against the British +Navy, his sympathies all in favour of the British sailor, in whom he +recognised as good, if not a better seaman than himself. He +accordingly enticed him with the greatest pertinacity and hid him away +with the greatest cunning. + +Every impress officer worth his salt was fully alive to these facts, +and on all the coast no ship was so thoroughly ransacked as the ship +whose skipper affected a bland ignorance of the English tongue or +called Heaven to witness the blamelessness of his conduct with many +gesticulations and strange oaths. Lieut. Oakley, regulating officer at +Deal, once boarded an outward-bound Dutch East-Indiaman in the Downs. +The master strenuously denied having any English sailors on board, but +the lieutenant, being suspicious, sent his men below with instructions +to leave no part of the ship unsearched. They speedily routed out +three, "who discovered that there were in all thirteen on board, most +of them good and able seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +3363--Lieut. Oakley, 8 Dec. 1743.] The case is a typical one. + +Another source of joy and profit to the gangs afloat were the great +annual convoys from overseas. For safety's sake merchantmen in times +of hostilities sailed in fleets, protected by ships of war, and when a +fleet of this description was due back from Jamaica, Newfoundland or +the Baltic, that part of the coast where it might be expected to make +its land-fall literally swarmed with tenders, all on the _qui +vive_ for human plunder. They were seldom disappointed. The +Admiralty protections under which the ships had put to sea in the +first instance expired with the home voyage, leaving the crews at the +mercy of the gangs. If, that is to say, the commanders of the +convoying men-o'-war had not forestalled them, or the ships' companies +were not composed, as in one case we read of, of men who were all +"either sick or Dutchmen." + +The privateer had to be approached more warily than the merchantman, +since the number of men and the weight of metal she carried made her +an ugly customer to deal with. She was in consequence notorious for +being the sauciest craft afloat, and though "sauce" was to the naval +officer what a red rag is to a bull, there were few in the service who +did not think twice before attempting to violate the armed sanctity of +the privateer. At the same time the hands who crowded her deck were +the flower of British seamen, and in this fact lay a tremendous +incentive to dare all risks and press her men. Her commission or +letter of marque of course protected her, but when she was +inward-bound that circumstance carried no weight. + +Against such an adversary the tender stood little chance. When she +hailed the privateer, the latter laughed at her, threatening to sink +her out of hand, or, if ordered to bring to, answered with all the +insolent contempt of the Spanish grandee: "Mariana!" Accident +sometimes stood the tender in better stead, where the pressing of +privateer's-men was concerned, than all the guns she carried. Capt. +Adams, cruising for men in the Bristol Channel, one day fell in with +the Princess Augusta, a letter of marque whose crew had risen upon +their officers and tried to take the ship. After hard fighting the +mutiny was quelled and the mutineers confined to quarters, in which +condition Adams found them. The whole batch, twenty-nine in number, +was handed over to him, "though 'twas only with great threats" that he +could induce them to submit, "they all swearing to die to a man rather +than surrender." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. +Adams, 28 June 1745.] + +A year or two prior to this event this same ship, the Princess +Augusta, had a remarkable adventure whilst sailing under the merchant +flag of England. On the homeward run from Barbadoes, some fifty +leagues to the westward of the Scillies, she fell in with a Spanish +privateer, who at once engaged and would undoubtedly have taken her +but for an extraordinary occurrence. Just as the trader's assailants +were on the point of boarding her the Spaniard blew up, strewing the +sea with his wreckage, but leaving the merchantman providentially +unharmed. Capt. Dansays, of H.M.S. the _Fubbs_ yacht, who +happened to be out for men at the time in the chops of the Channel, +brought the news to England. Meeting with the trader a few days after +her miraculous escape, he had boarded her and pressed nine of her +crew. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 +Feb. 1741-2.] + +From the smuggling vessels infesting the coasts the sea-going gangs +drew sure returns and rich booty. In the south and east of England +people who were "in the know" could always buy tobacco, wines and +silks for a mere song; and in Cumberland, in the coast towns there, +and inland too, the very beggars are said to have regaled themselves +on tea at sixpence or a shilling the pound. These commodities, as well +as others dealt in by runners of contrabrand, were worth far more on +the water than on land, and none was so keenly alive to the fact as +the gangsman who prowled the coast. Animated by the prospect of double +booty, he was by all odds the best "preventive man" the country ever +had. + +There was a certainty, too, about the pressing of a smuggler that was +wanting in other cases. The sailor taken out of a merchant ship, or +the fisherman out of a smack, might at the eleventh hour spring upon +you a protection good for his discharge. Not so the smuggler. There +was in his case no room for the unexpected. No form of protection +could save him from the consequences of his trade. Once caught, his +fate was a foregone conclusion, for he carried with him evidence +enough to make him a pressed man twenty times over. Hence the gangsman +and the naval officer loved the smuggler and lost no opportunity of +showing their affection. + +"Strong Breezes and Cloudy," records the officer in command of H.M.S. +_Stag_, a twenty-eight gun frigate, in his log. "Having made the +Signal for Two Strange Sail in the West, proceeded on under Courses & +Double Reeft Topsails. At 1 sett the Jibb and Driver, at 3 boarded a +Smugling Cutter, but having papers proving she was from Guernsey, and +being out limits, pressed one Man and let her go." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2734--Log of H.M.S. _Stag_, Capt. Yorke +commander, 5 Oct. 1794.] + +"Friday last," says the captain of the _Spy_ sloop of war, "I +sail'd out of Yarmouth Roads with a Fleet of Colliers in order to +press Men, & in my way fell in with Two Dutch Built Scoots sail'd by +Englishmen, bound for Holland, one belonging to Hull, call'd the +_Mary_, the other to Lyn, call'd the _Willing Traveller_. I +search'd 'em and took out of the former 64 Pounds 14. and out of the +latter 300 Pounds 6, all English Money, which I've deliver'd to the +Collector of Custome at Yarmouth. I likewise Imprest out of the Two +Vessells seven men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438 +--Capt. Arnold, 29 May 1727. The exporting of coin was illegal.] + +"In the execution of my orders for pressing," reports Capt. Young, +from on board the Bonetta sloop under his command, "I lately met with +two Smuglers, & landing my boats into a Rocky Bay where they were +running of Goods, the Weather came on so Violent I had my pinnace +Stove so much as to be rendered unservisable. They threw overboard all +their Brandy, Tea and Tobacco, of which last wee recover'd about 14 +Baggs and put it to the Custom house. In Endeavouring to bring one of +them to Sail, my Boatswain, who is a very Brisk and Deserving Man, had +his arm broke, so that tho' wee got no more of their Cargo, it has +broke their Voyage and Trade this bout." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 April 1739.] + +On the 13th of December 1703, George Messenger, boatswain of the +_Wolf_ armed sloop, whilst pressing on the Humber descried a +"keel" lying high and dry apart from the other shipping in the river, +where it was then low water. Boarding her with the intention of +pressing her men, he found her deserted save for the master, and +thinking that some of the hands might be in hiding below--where the +master assured him he would find nothing but ballast--he "did order +one of his Boat's crew to goe down in the Hold and see what was +therein"; who presently returned and reported "a quantity of wool +conceal'd under some Coales a foot thik." The exportation of wool +being at that time forbidden under heavy penalties, the vessel was +seized and the master pressed--a course frequently adopted in such +circumstances, and uniformly approved. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1465--Deposition of George Messenger, 20 Dec. 1703. +Owling, ooling or wooling, as the exportation of wool contrary to law +was variously termed, was a felony punishable, according to an +enactment of Edward III., with "forfeiture of life and member." So +serious was the offence considered that in 1565 a further enactment +was formulated against it. Thereafter any person convicted of +exporting a live ram, lamb or sheep, was not only liable to forfeit +all his goods, but to suffer imprisonment for a year, and at the end +of the year "in some open market town, in the fulness of the market on +the market day, to have his right hand cut off and nailed up in the +openest place of such market." The first of these Acts remained in +nominal force till 1863.] + +While the gangs afloat in this way lent their aid in the suppression +of smuggling, they themselves were sometimes subjected to disagreeable +espionage on the part of those whose duty it was to keep a special +lookout for runners of contraband goods. An amusing instance of this +once occurred in the Downs. The commanding officer of H.M.S. +_Orford_, discovering his complement to be short, sent one of his +lieutenants, Richardson by name, in quest of men to make up the +deficiency. In the course of his visits from ship to ship there +somehow found their way into the lieutenant's boat a fifteen-gallon +keg of rum and ten bottles of white wine. Between seven and eight +o'clock in the evening he boarded an Indiaman and went below with the +master. Scarcely had he done so, however, when an uproar alongside +brought him hurriedly on deck--to find his boat full of strange faces. +A Customs cutter, in some unaccountable way getting wind of what was +in the boat, had unexpectedly "clapt them aboard," collared the +man-o'-war's-men for a set of rascally smugglers, and confiscated the +unexplainable rum and wine, becoming so fuddled on the latter, which +they lost no time in consigning to bond, that one of their number fell +into the sea and was with difficulty fished out by Richardson's +disgusted gangsmen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. +Brown, 30 July 1727, and enclosures.] + +The only inward-bound ship the gangsmen were forbidden to press from +was the "sick ship" or vessel undergoing quarantine because of the +presence, or the suspected presence, on board of her of some +"catching" disease, and more particularly of that terrible scourge the +plague. Dread of the plague in those days rode the country like a +nightmare, and just as the earliest quarantine precautions had their +origin in that fact, so those precautions were never more rigorously +enforced than in the case of ships trading to countries known to be +subject to plague or reported to be in the grip of it. The Levantine +trader suffered most severely in this respect. In 1721 two vessels +from Cyprus, where plague was then prevalent, were burned to the +water's edge by order of the authorities, and as late as 1800 two +others from Morocco, suspected of carrying the dread disease in the +hides composing their cargo, were scuttled and sent to the bottom at +the Nore. This was quarantine _in excelsis_. Ordinary preventive +measures went no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," as +communication with the shore was called, for a period varying usually +from ten to sixty-five days, and during this period no gang was +allowed to board the ship. + +The seamen belonging to such ships always got ashore if they could; +for though the penalty for deserting a ship in quarantine was death, +[Footnote: 26 George II. cap. 6.] it might be death to remain, and the +sailor was ever an opportunist careless of consequences. So, for that +matter, was the gangsman. Knowing well that Jack would make a break +for it the first chance he got, he hovered about the ship both day and +night, alert for every movement on board, watchful of every ripple on +the water, taunting the woebegone sailors with the irksomeness of +their captivity or the certainty of their capture, and awaiting with +what patience he could the hour that should see pratique restored and +the crew at his mercy. Whether the ship had "catching" disease on +board or not might be an open question. There was no mistaking its +symptoms in the gangsman. + +Stangate Creek, on the river Medway, was the great quarantine station +for the port of London, and here, in the year 1744, was enacted one of +the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in connection with pressing +afloat. The previous year had seen a recrudescence of plague in the +Levant and consequent panic in England, where extraordinary +precautions were adopted against possible infection. In December of +that year there lay in Stangate Creek a fleet of not less than a dozen +Levantine ships, in which were cooped up, under the most exacting +conditions imaginable, more than two hundred sailors. At Sheerness, +only a few miles distant, a number of ships of war, amongst them +Rodney's, were at the same time fitting out and wanting men. The +situation was thus charged with possibilities. + +It was estimated that in order to press the two hundred sailors from +the quarantine ships, when the period of detention should come to an +end, a force of not less than one hundred and fifty men would be +required. These were accordingly got together from the various ships +of war and sent into the Creek on board a tender belonging to the +_Royal Sovereign_. This was on the 15th of December, and quarantine +expired on the 22nd. + +The arrival of the tender threw the Creek into a state of +consternation bordering on panic, and that very day a number of +sailors broke bounds and fell a prey to the gangs in attempting to +steal ashore. Seymour, the lieutenant in command of the tender, did +not improve matters by his idiotic and unofficerlike behaviour. Every +day be rowed up and down the Creek, in and out amongst the ships, +taunting the men with what he would do unless they volunteered, when +the 22nd arrived, and he was free to work his will upon them. He would +have them all, he assured them, if he had to "shoot them like small +birds." + +By the 22nd the sailors were in a state of "mutinous insolence." When +the tender's boats approached the ships they were welcomed "with +presented arms," and obliged to sheer off in order to obtain "more +force," so menacing did the situation appear. Seeing this, and either +mistaking or guessing the import of the move, the desperate seamen +rushed the cabins, secured all the arms and ammunition they could lay +hands on, hoisted out the ship's boats, and in these reached the shore +in safety ere the tender's men, by this time out in strength, could +prevent or come up with them. The fugitives, to the number of a +hundred or more, made off into the country to the accompaniment, we +are told, of "smart firing on both sides." With this exchange of shots +the curtain falls on the "Fray at Stangate Creek." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1480--Capt. Berkeley, 30 Dec. 1744, and +enclosure.] In the engagement two of the seamen were wounded, but all +escaped the snare of the fowler, and in that happy denouement our +sympathies are with them. + +Returning transports paid immediate and heavy tribute to the gangs +afloat. Out of a fleet of such vessels arriving at the Nore in 1756 +two hundred and thirty men, "a parcel of as fine fellows as were ever +pressed," fell to the gangs. Not a man escaped from any of the ships, +and the boats were kept busy all next day shifting chests and bedding +and putting in ticket men to navigate the depleted vessels to London. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 6, 7 and 8 +July 1756.] A similar press at the Cove of Cork, on the return of the +transports from America in '79, proved equally productive. Hundreds of +sailors were secured, to the unspeakable grief of the local crimps, +who were then offering long prices in order to recruit Paul Jones, at +that time cruising off the Irish coast. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1499--Letters of Capt. Bennett, 1779.] + +The cartel ship was an object of peculiar solicitude to the sea-going +gangsman. In her, after weary months passed in French, Spanish or +Dutch prisons, hundreds of able-bodied British seamen returned to +their native land in more or less prime condition for His Majesty's +Navy. The warmest welcome they received was from the waiting gangsman. +Often they got no other. Few cartels had the extraordinary luck of the +ship of that description that crept into Rye harbour one night in +March 1800, and in bright moonlight landed three hundred lusty +sailor-men fresh from French prisons, under the very nose of the +battery, the guard at the port head and the _Clinker_ gun-brig. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1449--Capt. Aylmer, 9 March +1800.] + +Of all the seafaring men the gangsman took, there was perhaps none +whom he pressed with greater relish than the pilot. The every-day +pilot of the old school was a curious compound. When he knew his +business, which was only too seldom, he was frequently too many sheets +in the wind to embody his knowledge in intelligent orders; and when he +happened to be sober enough to issue intelligent orders, he not +infrequently showed his ignorance of what he was supposed to know by +issuing wrong ones. The upshot of these contradictions was, that +instead of piloting His Majesty's ships in a becoming seamanly manner, +he was for ever running them aground. Fortunately for the service, an +error of this description incapacitated him and made him fair game for +the gangs, who lost no time in transferring him to those foremast +regions where ship's grog was strictly limited and the captain's quite +unknown. William Cook, impressed upon an occasion at Lynn, with +unconscious humour styled himself a landsman. He was really a pilot +who had qualified for that distinction by running vessels ashore. + +In the aggregate this unremitting and practically unbroken +surveillance of the coast was tremendously effective. Like Van Tromp, +the vessels and gangs engaged in it rode the seas with a broom at +their masthead, sweeping into the service, not every man, it is true, +but enormous numbers of them. As for their quality, "One man out of a +merchant ship is better than three the lieutenants get in town." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Roberts, 27 June +1732.] This was the general opinion early in the century; but as the +century wore on the quality of the man pressed in town steadily +deteriorated, till at length the sailor taken fresh from the sea was +reckoned to be worth six of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +EVADING THE GANG. + + + +As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that the +British sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into +Falstaff's famous commodity, "food for powder." + +Outward bound, the ship's protection--that "sweet little cherub" +which, contrary to all Dibdinic precedent, lay down below--had spread +its kindly aegis over him, and, generally speaking, saved him harmless +from the warrant and the hanger. But now the run for which he has +signed on is almost finished, and as the Channel opens before him the +magic Admiralty paper ceases to be of "force" for his protection. No +sooner, therefore, does he make his land-fall off the fair green hills +or shimmering cliffs than his troubles begin. He is now within the +outer zone of danger, and all about him hover those dreaded sharks of +the Narrow Seas, the rapacious press-smacks, seeking whom they may +devour. Conning the compass-card of his chances as they bear down upon +him and send their shot whizzing across his bows, the sailor, in his +fixed resolve to evade the gang at any cost, resorted first of all to +the most simple and sailorly expedient imaginable. He "let go all" and +made a run for it. That way lay the line of least resistance, and, +with luck on his side, of surest escape. + +Three modes of flight were his to choose between--three modes +involving as many nice distinctions, plus a possible difference with +the master. He could run away in his ship, run away with her, or as a +last resort he could sacrifice his slops, his bedding, his pet monkey +and the gaudy parrot that was just beginning to swear, and run from +her. Which should it be? It was all a toss-up. The chance of the +moment, instantly detected and as instantly acted upon, determined his +choice. + +The sailor's flight in his ship depended mainly upon her sailing +qualities and the master's willingness to risk being dismasted or +hulled by the pursuer's shot. Granted a capful of wind on his beam, a +fleet keel under foot, and a complacent skipper aft, the flight direct +was perhaps the means of escape the sailor loved above all others. The +spice of danger it involved, the dash and frolic of the chase, the joy +of seeing his leaping "barky" draw slowly away from her pursuer in the +contest of speed, and of watching the stretch of water lying between +him and capture surely widen out, were sensations dear to his heart. + +Running away _with_ his ship was a more serious business, since +the adoption of such a course meant depriving the master of his +command, and this again meant mutiny. Happily, masters took a lenient +view of mutinies begotten of such conditions. Not infrequently, +indeed, they were consenting parties, winking at what they could not +prevent, and assuming the command again when the safety of ship and +crew was assured by successful flight, with never a hint of the irons, +indictment or death decreed by law as the mutineer's portion. + +These modes of flight did not in every instance follow the +hard-and-fast lines here laid down. Under stress of circumstance each +was liable to become merged in the other; or both, perhaps, had to be +abandoned in favour of fresh tactics rendered necessary by the +accident or the exigency of the moment. The _Triton_ and _Norfolk_ +Indiamen, after successfully running the gauntlet of the Channel +tenders, in the Downs fell in with the _Falmouth_ man-o'-war. +The meeting was entirely accidental. Both merchantmen were +congratulating themselves on having negotiated the Channel without the +loss of a man. The _Triton_ had all furled except her fore and +mizen topsails, preparatory to coming to an anchor; but as the wind +was strong southerly, with a lee tide running, the _Falmouth's_ +boats could not forge ahead to board her before the set of the tide +carried her astern of the warship's guns, whereupon her crew mutinied, +threw shot into the man-o'-war's boats, which had by this time drawn +alongside, and so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear +away. Meantime a shot had brought the _Norfolk_ to on the +_Falmouth's_ starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On +her decks an ominous state of things prevailed. Her crew would not +assist to clew up the sails, the anchor had been seized to the +chain-plates and could not be let go, and when the gang from the +_Falmouth_ attempted to cut the buoy ropes with which it was +secured, the "crew attacked them with hatchets and treenails, made +sail and obliged them to quit the ship." Being by that, time astern of +the _Falmouth's_ guns, they too made their escape. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1485--Capt. Brett, 25 June 1755.] + +Never, perhaps, did the sailor adopt the expedient of running away, +ship and all, with so malicious a goodwill or so bright a prospect of +success, as when sailing under convoy. In those days he seldom +ventured to "risk the run," even to Dutch ports and back, without the +protection of one or more ships of war, and in this precaution there +was danger as well as safety; for although the king's ships +safeguarded him against the enemy if hostilities were in progress, as +well as against the "little rogues" of privateers infesting the coasts +and the adjacent seas, no sooner did the voyage near its end than the +captains of the convoying ships took out of him, by force if +necessary, as many men as they happened to require. This was a _quid +pro quo_ of which the sailor could see neither the force nor the +fairness, and he therefore let slip no opportunity of evading it. + +"Their Lordships," writes a commander who had been thus cheated, "need +not be surprised that I pressed so few men out of so large a Convoy, +for the Wind taking me Short before I got the length of Leostaff +(Lowestoft), the Pilot would not take Charge of the Shipp to turn her +out over the Stamford in the Night, which Oblig'd me to come to an +Anchor in Corton Road. This I did by Signal, but the Convoy took no +Notice of it, and all of them Run away and Left me, my Bottom being +like a Rock for Roughness, so that I could not Follow them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Letters of Capt. Young, +1742.] + +Supposing, however, that all these manoeuvres failed him and the gang +after a hot chase appeared in force on deck, the game was not yet up +so far as the sailor was concerned. A ship, it is true, had neither +the length of the Great North Road nor yet the depth of the Forest of +Dean, but all the same there was within the narrow compass of her +timbers many a lurking place wherein the artful sailor, by a judicious +exercise of forethought and tools, might contrive to lie undetected +until the gang had gone over the side. + +About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of June 1756, Capt. +William Boys, from the quarter-deck of his ship the _Royal +Sovereign_, then riding at anchor at the Nore, observed a snow on +fire in the five-fathom channel, a little below the Spoil Buoy. He +immediately sent his cutter to her assistance, but in spite of all +efforts to save her she ran aground and burnt to the water's edge. Her +cargo consisted of wine, and the loss of the vessel was occasioned by +one of her crew, who was fearful of being pressed, hiding himself in +the hold with a lighted candle. He was burnt with the ship. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 26 June 1756. Oddly +enough, a somewhat similar accident was indirectly the cause of Capt. +Boys' entering the Navy. In 1727, whilst the merchantman of which he +was then mate was on the voyage home from Jamaica, two mischievous +imps of black boys, inquisitive to know whether some liquor spilt on +deck was rum or water, applied a lighted candle to it. It proved to be +rum, and when the officers and crew, who were obliged to take to the +boats in consequence, were eventually picked up by a Newfoundland +fishing vessel, unspeakable sufferings had reduced their number from +twenty-three to seven, and these had only survived by feeding on the +bodies of their dead shipmates. In memory of that harrowing time Boys +adopted as his seal the device of a burning ship and the motto: "From +Fire, Water and Famine by Providence Preserved."] + +Barring the lighted candle and the lamentable accident which followed +its use, the means of evading the gang resorted to in this instance +was of a piece with many adopted by the sailor. He contrived cunning +hiding-places in the cargo, where the gangsmen systematically +"pricked" for him with their cutlasses when the nature of the vessel's +lading admitted of it, or he stowed himself away in seachests, lockers +and empty "harness" casks with an ingenuity and thoroughness that +often baffled the astutest gangsman and the most protracted search. +The spare sails forward, the readily accessible hiding-hole of the +green-hand, afforded less secure concealment. Pierre Flountinherre, +routed out of hiding there, endeavoured to save his face by declaring +that he had "left France on purpose to get on board an English +man-of-war." Frenchman though he was, the gang obliged him. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1510--Capt. Baskerville, 5 Aug. 1795.] + +In his endeavours to best the impress officers and gangsmen the sailor +found a willing backer in his skipper, who systematically falsified +the ship's articles by writing "run," "drowned," "discharged" or +"dead" against the names of such men as he particularly desired to +save harmless from the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1525--Capt. Berry, 31 March 1801.] This done, the men were +industriously coached in the various parts they were to play at the +critical moment. In the skipper's stead, supposing him to be for some +reason unfit for naval service, some specially valuable hand was +dubbed master. Failing this substitution, which was of course intended +to save the man and not the skipper, the ablest seaman in the ship +figured as mate, whilst others became putative boatswain or carpenter +and apprentices--privileged persons whom no gang could lawfully take, +but who, to render their position doubly secure, were furnished with +spurious papers, of which every provident skipper kept a supply at +hand for use in emergencies. When all hands were finally mustered to +quarters, so to speak, there remained on deck only a "master" who +could not navigate the ship, a "mate" unable to figure out the day's +run, a "carpenter" who did not know how to handle an adze, and some +make-believe apprentices "bound" only to outwit the gang. And if in +spite of all these precautions an able seaman were pressed, the real +master immediately came forward and swore he was the mate. + +Such thoroughly organised preparedness as this, however, was the +exception rather than the rule, for though often attempted, it rarely +reached perfection or stood the actual test. The sailor was too +childlike by nature to play the fraud successfully, and as for the +impress officer and the gangsman, neither was easily gulled. Supposing +the sailor, then, to have nothing to hope for from deception or +concealment, and supposing, too, that it was he who had the rough +bottom beneath him and the fleet keel in pursuit, how was he to outwit +the gang and evade the pinch? Nothing remained for him but to heave +duty by the board and abandon his ship to the doubtful mercies of wind +and wave. He accordingly went over the side with all the haste he +could, appropriating the boats in defiance of authority, and leaving +only the master and his mate, the protected carpenter and the +apprentices to work the ship. Many a trader from overseas, summarily +abandoned in this way, crawled into some outlying port, far from her +destination, in quest--since a rigorous press often left no others +available--of "old men and boys to carry her up." There is even on +record the case of a ship that passed the Nore "without a man +belonging to her but the master, the passengers helping him to sail +her." Her people had "all got ashore by Harwich." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] + +Few shipowners were so foolhardy as to incur the risk of being thus +hit in the pocket by the sailor's well-known predilection for French +leave when in danger of the press. Nor were the masters, for they, +even when not part owners, had still an appreciable stake in the +safety of the ships they sailed. As between masters, owners and men +there consequently sprang up a sort of triangular sympathy, having for +its base a common dread of the gangs, and for its apex their +circumvention. This apex necessarily touched the coast at a point +contiguous to the ocean tracks of the respective trades in which the +ships sailed; and here, in some spot far removed from the regular +haunts of the gangsman, an emergency crew was mustered by those +indefatigable purveyors, the crimps, and held in readiness against the +expected arrival. + +Composed of seafaring men too old, too feeble, or too diseased to +excite the cupidity of the most zealous lieutenant who eked out his +pay on impress perquisites; of lads but recently embarked on the +adventurous voyage of their teens; of pilots willing, for a +consideration, to forego the pleasure of running ships aground; of +fishermen who evaded His Majesty's press under colour of Sea-Fencible, +Militia, or Admiralty protections; and of unpressable foreigners whose +wives bewailed them more or less beyond the seas, this scratch +crew--the Preventive Men of the merchant service--here awaited the +preconcerted signal which should apprise them that their employer's +ship was ready for a change of hands. + +For safety's sake the transfer was generally effected by night, when +that course was possible; but the untimely appearance of a press-smack +on the scene not infrequently necessitated the shifting of the crews +in the broad light of day and the hottest of haste. On shore all had +been in readiness perhaps for days. At the signal off dashed the +deeply laden boats to the frantic ship, the scratch crew scrambled +aboard, and the regular hands, thus released from duty, tumbled +pell-mell into the empty boats and pulled for shore with a will +mightily heartened by a running fire of round-shot from the smack and +of musketry from her cutter, already out to intercept the fugitives. +Then it was:-- + + "Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard to wind'ard; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard a-lee; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! else 'tis farewell home and kindred, + And the bosun's mate a-raisin' hell in the King's Navee. + Cheerily, lads, cheerily ho! the warrant's out, the hanger's drawn! + Cheerily, lads, so cheerily! we'll leave 'em an _R_ in pawn!" + +[Footnote: When Jack deserted his ship under other conditions than +those here described, an _R_ was written against his name to +denote that he had "run." So, when he shirked an obligation, monetary +or moral, by running away from it, he was said to "leave an _R_ +in pawn."] + +The place of muster of the emergency men thus became in turn the +landing-place of the fugitive crew. Its whereabouts depended as a +matter of course upon the trade in which the ship sailed. The spot +chosen for the relief of the Holland, Baltic and Greenland traders of +the East Coast was generally some wild, inaccessible part abutting +directly on the German Ocean or the North Sea. London skippers in +those trades favoured the neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, where the +maze of inland waterways constituting the Broads enabled the shifty +sailor to lead the gangs a merry game at hide and seek. King's Lynners +affected Skegness and the Norfolk lip of the Wash. Of the men who +sailed out of Hull not one in ten could be picked up, on their return, +by the gangs haunting the Humber. They went ashore at Dimlington on +the coast of Holderness, or at the Spurn. The homing sailors of Leith, +as of the ports on the upper reaches of the Firth of Forth, enjoyed an +immunity from the press scarcely less absolute than that of the Orkney +Islanders, who for upwards of forty years contributed not a single man +to the Navy. Having on either hand an easily accessible coast, +inhabited by a people upon whose hospitality the gangs were chary of +intruding, and abounding in lurking-places as secure as they were +snug, the Mother Firth held on to her sailor sons with a pertinacity +and success that excited the envy of the merchant seaman at large and +drove impress officers to despair. The towns and villages to the north +of the Firth were "full of men." On no part of the north coast, +indeed, from St. Abb's Head clear round to Annan Water, was it an easy +matter to circumvent the canny Scot who went a-sailoring. He had a +trick of stopping short of his destination, when homeward bound, that +proved as baffling to the gangs as it was in seeming contradiction to +all the traditions of a race who pride themselves on "getting there." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, Report on +Rendezvous, 2 April 1795, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] + +In the case of outward-bound ships, the disposition of the two crews +was of course reversed. The scratch crew carried the ship down to the +stipulated point of exchange, where they vacated her in favour of the +actual crew, who had been secretly conveyed to that point by land. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Lord Nelson, +Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Whichever way the trick +was worked, it proved highly effective, for, except from the sea, no +gang durst venture near such points of debarkation and departure +without strong military support. + +There still remained the emergency crew itself. The most decrepit, +crippled or youthful were of course out of the question. But the +foreigner and our shifty friend the man in lieu were fair game. +Entering largely as they did into the make-up of almost every scratch +crew, they were pressed without compunction whenever and wherever +caught abusing their privileges by playing the emergency man. To keep +such persons always and in all circumstances was a point of honour +with the Navy Board. It had no other means of squaring accounts with +the scratch crew. + +The emergency man who plied "on his own" was more difficult to deal +with. Keepers of the Eddystone made a "great deal of money" by putting +inward-bound ships' crews ashore; but when one of their number, +Matthew Dolon by name, was pressed as a punishment for that offence, +the Admiralty, having the fear of outraged Trade before its eyes, +ordered his immediate discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2732--Capt. Yeo, 25 July 1727.] + +The pilot, the fisherman and the longshoreman were notorious offenders +in this respect. Whenever they saw a vessel bound in, they were in the +habit of putting off to her and of first inciting the crew to escape +and then hiring themselves at exorbitant rates to work the vessel into +port. On such mischievous interlopers the gangsman had no mercy. He +took them whenever he could, confident that when their respective +cases were stated to the Board, that body would "tumble" to the +occasion. + +Any attempt at estimating the number of seafaring men who evaded the +gangs and the call of the State by means of the devices and +subterfuges here roughly sketched into the broad canvas of our picture +would prove a task as profitless as it is impossible of +accomplishment. One thing only is certain. The number fluctuated +greatly from time to time with the activity or inactivity of the +gangs. When the press was lax, there arose no question as there +existed no need of escape; when it was hot, it was evaded +systematically and with a degree of success extremely gratifying to +the sailor. Taking the sea-borne coal trade of the port of London +alone, it is estimated that in the single month of September 1770, at +a time when an exceptionally severe press from protections was in full +swing, not less than three thousand collier seamen got ashore between +Yarmouth Roads and Foulness Point. As the coal trade was only one of +many, and as the stretch of coast concerned comprised but a few miles +out of hundreds equally well if not better adapted to the sailor's +furtive habits, the total of escapes must have been little short of +enormous. It could not have been otherwise. In this grand battue of +the sea it was clearly impossible to round-up and capture every +skittish son of Neptune. + +On shore, as at sea, the sailor's course, when the gang was on his +track, followed the lines of least resistance, only here he became a +skulk as well as a fugitive. It was not that he was a less +stout-hearted fellow than when at sea. He was merely the victim of a +type of land neurosis. Drink and his recent escape from the gang got +on his nerves and rendered him singularly liable to panic. The +faintest hint of a press was enough to make his hair rise. At the +first alarm he scuttled into hiding in the towns, or broke cover like +a frightened hare. + +The great press of 1755 affords many instances of such panic flights. +Abounding in "lurking holes" where a man might lie perdue in +comparative safety, King's Lynn nevertheless emptied itself of seamen +in a few hours' time, and when the gang hurried to Wells by water, +intending to intercept the fugitives there, the "idle fishermen on +shore" sounded a fresh alarm and again they stampeded, going off to +the eastward in great numbers and burying themselves in the thickly +wooded dells and hills of that bit of Devon in Norfolk which lies +between Clay-next-the-Sea and Sheringham. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 March and 21 April 1755.] + +A similar exodus occurred at Ipswich. The day the warrants came down, +as for many days previous, the ancient borough was full of seamen; but +no sooner did it become known that the press was out than they +vanished like the dew of the morning. For weeks the face of but one +sailor was seen in the town, and he was only ferreted out, with the +assistance of a dozen constables, after prolonged and none too legal +search. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Brand, 26 +Feb. 1755.] + +How effectually the sailor could hide when dread of the press had him +in its grip is strikingly illustrated by the hot London press of 1740. +On that occasion the docks, the riverside slums and dens, the river +itself both above and below bridge, were scoured by gangs who left no +stratagem untried for unearthing and taking the hidden sailor. When +the rigour of the press was past not a seaman, it is said, was to be +found at large in London; yet within four-and-twenty hours sixteen +thousand emerged from their retreats. [Footnote: Griffiths, +_Impressment Fully Considered_.] + +The secret of such effectual concealment lay in the fact that the +nature of his hiding-place mattered little to the sailor so long as it +was secure. Accustomed to quarters of the most cramped description on +shipboard, he required little room for his stowing. The roughest bed, +the worst ventilated hole, the most insanitary surroundings and +conditions were all one to him. He could thus hide himself away in +places and receptacles from which the average landsman would have +turned in fear or disgust. In quarry, clay-pit, cellar or well; in +holt, hill or cave; in chimney, hayloft or secret cell behind some +old-time oven; in shady alehouse or malodorous slum where a man's life +was worth nothing unless he had the smell of tar upon him, and not +much then; on isolated farmsteads and eyots, or in towns too remote or +too hostile for the gangsman to penetrate--somewhere, somehow and of +some sort the sailor found his lurking-place, and in it, by good +providence, lay safe and snug throughout the hottest press. + +Many of the seamen employed in the Newfoundland trade of Poole, +gaining the shore at Chapman's Pool or Lulworth, whiled away their +stolen leisure either in the clay-pits of the Isle of Purbeck, where +they defied intrusion by posting armed sentries at every point of +access to their stronghold, or--their favourite haunt--on Portland +Island, which the number and ill-repute of the labourers employed in +its stone quarries rendered well-nigh impregnable. To search for, let +alone to take the seamen frequenting that natural fortress--who of +course "squared" the hard-bitten quarrymen--was more than any gang +durst undertake unless, as was seldom the case, it consisted of some +"very superior force." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581 +--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] + +With the solitary exception of Falmouth town, the Cornish coast was +merely another Portland Neck enormously extended. From Rame Head to +the Lizard and Land's End, and in a minor sense from Land's End away +to Bude Haven in the far nor'-east, the entire littoral of this remote +part of the kingdom was forbidden ground whereon no gangsman's life +was worth a moment's purchase. The two hundred seins and twice two +hundred drift-boats belonging to that coast employed at least six +thousand fishermen, and of these the greater part, as soon as the +fishing season was at an end, either turned "tinners" and went into +the mines, where they were unassailable, + + [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 28 Sept. 1805.] or betook themselves to their +strongholds at Newquay, St. Ives, Newland, Mousehole, Coversack, +Polpero, Cawsand and other places where, in common with smugglers, +deserters from the king's ships at Hamoaze, and an endless succession +of fugitive merchant seamen, they were as safe from intrusion or +capture as they would have been on the coast of Labrador. It was +impossible either to hunt them down or to take them on a coast so +"completely perforated." A thousand "stout, able young fellows" could +have been drawn from this source without being missed; but the gangs +fought shy of the task, and only when they carried vessels in distress +into Falmouth were the redoubtable sons of the coves ever molested. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 9 March +1795. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Petition of the Inhabitants of +the Village of Coversack, 31 Jan. 1778.] + +On the Bristol Channel side Lundy Island offered unrivalled facilities +for evasion, and many were the crews marooned there by far-sighted +skippers who calculated on thus securing them against their return +from Bristol, outward bound. The gangs as a rule gave this little +Heligoland a wide berth, and when carried thither against their will +they had a disconcerting habit of running away with the press-boat, +and of thus marooning their commanding officer, that contributed not a +little to the immunity the island enjoyed. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Aylmer, 22 Dec. 1743.] + +The sailor's objection to Lundy was as strong as the gangsman's. From +his point of view it was no ideal place to hide in, and the effect +upon him of enforced sojourn there was to make him sulky and mutinous. +Rather the shore with all its dangers than an island that produced +neither tobacco, rum, nor women! He therefore preferred sticking to +his ship, even though he thereby ran the risk of impressment, until +she arrived the length of the Holmes. + +These islands are two in number, Steep Holme and Flat Holme, and so +closely can vessels approach the latter, given favourable weather +conditions, that a stone may be cast on shore from the deck. The +business of landing and embarking was consequently easy, and though +the islands themselves were as barren as Lundy of the three +commodities the sailor loved, he was nevertheless content to terminate +his voyage there for the following reasons. Under the lee of one or +other of the islands there was generally to be found a boat-load of +men who were willing, for a suitable return in coin of the realm, to +work the ship into King Road, the anchorage of the port of Bristol. +The sailor was thus left free to gain the shore in the neighbourhood +of Uphill, Weston, or Clevedon Bay, whence it was an easy tramp, not +to Bristol, of which he steered clear because of its gangs, but to +Bath, or, did he prefer a place nearer at hand, to the little town of +Pill, near Avon-mouth. + +A favourite haunt of seafaring men, fishermen, pilots and pilots' +assistants, with a liberal sprinkling of that class of female known in +sailor lingo as "brutes," this lively little town was a place after +Jack's own heart. The gangsmen gave it a wide berth. It offered an +abundance of material for him to work upon, but that material was a +trifle too rough even for his infastidious taste. The majority of the +permanent indwellers of Pill, as well as the casual ones, not only +protected themselves from the press, when such a course was necessary, +by a ready use of the fist and the club, but, when this means of +exemption failed them, pleaded the special nature of their calling +with great plausibility and success. They were "pilots' assistants," +and as such they enjoyed for many years the unqualified indulgence of +the naval authorities. The appellation they bore was nevertheless +purely euphemistic. As a matter of fact they were sailors' assistants +who, under cover of an ostensible vocation, made it their real +business, at the instigation and expense of Bristol shipowners, to +save crews harmless from the gangs by boarding ships at the Holmes and +working them from thence into the roadstead or to the quays. They are +said to have been "very fine young men," and many a longing look did +the impress officers at Bristol cast their way whilst struggling to +swell their monthly returns. So essentially necessary to the trade of +the place were they considered to be, however, that they were allowed +to checkmate the gangs, practically without molestation or hindrance, +till about the beginning of the last century, when the Admiralty, +suddenly awaking to the unpatriotic nature of a practice that so +effectually deprived the Navy of its due, caused them to be served +with a notice to the effect that "for the future all who navigated +ships from the Holmes should be pressed as belonging to those ships." +At this threat the Pill men jeered. Relying on the length of pilotage +water between King Road and Bristol, they took a leaf from the +sailor's log and ran before the press-boats could reach the ships in +which they were temporarily employed. For four years this state of +things continued. Then there was struck at the practice a blow which +not even the Admiralty had foreseen. Tow-paths were constructed along +the river-bank, and the pilots' assistants, ousted by horses, fell an +easy prey to the gangs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +Bath had no gang, and was in consequence much frequented by sailors of +the better class. In 1803--taking that as a normal year--the number +within its limits was estimated at three hundred--enough to man a +ship-of-the-line. The fact being duly reported to the Admiralty, a +lieutenant and gang were ordered over from Bristol to do some +pressing. The civic authorities--mayor, magistrates, constables and +watchmen--fired with sudden zeal for the service, all came forward "in +the most handsome manner" with offers of countenance and support. In +the purlieus of the town, however, the advent of the gang created +panic. The seamen went into prompt hiding, the mob turned out in +force, angry and threatening, resolved that no gang should violate the +sanctuary of a cathedral city. Seeing how the wind set, the mayor and +magistrates, having begun by backing the warrant, continued backing +until they backed out of the affair altogether. The zealous watchmen +could not be found, the eager constables ran away. Dismayed by these +untimely defections, the lieutenant hurriedly resolved "to drop the +business." So the gang marched back to Bristol empty-handed, followed +by the hearty execrations of the rabble and the heartier good wishes +of the mayor, who assured them that as soon as he should be able to +clap the skulking seamen in jail "on suspicion of various +misdemeanours," he would send for them again. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 3 and 11 July 1803.] We do not +learn that he ever did. + +To Bristol no unprotected sailor ever repaired of his own free will, +for early in the century of pressing the chickens of the most +notorious kidnapping city in England began to come home to roost. The +mantle of the Bristol mayor whom Jeffreys tried for a "kidnapping +knave" fell upon a succession of regulating captains whose doings put +their civic prototype to open shame, and more petitions and protests +against the lawlessness of the gangs emanated from Bristol than from +any other city in the kingdom. + +The trowmen who navigated the Severn and the Wye, belonging as they +did mainly to extra-parochial spots in the Forest of Dean, were exempt +from the Militia ballot and the Army of Reserve. On the ground that +they came under the protection of inland navigation, they likewise +considered themselves exempt from the sea service, but this contention +the Court of Exchequer in 1798 completely overset by deciding that the +"passage of the River Severn between Gloucester and Bristol is open +sea." A press-gang was immediately let loose upon the numerous tribe +frequenting it, whereupon the whole body of newly created sailors +deserted their trows and fled to the Forest, where they remained in +hiding till the disappointed gang sought other and more fruitful +fields. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, +Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +Within Chester gates the sailor for many years slept as securely as +upon the high seas. No householder would admit the gangsmen beneath +his roof; and when at length they succeeded in gaining a foothold +within the city, all who were liable to the press immediately deserted +it--"as they do every town where there is a gang"--and went "to reside +at Parkgate." Parkgate in this way became a resort of sea-faring men +without parallel in the kingdom--a "nest" whose hornet bands were +long, and with good reason, notorious for their ferocity and +aggressiveness. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. +Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] An attempt to establish a rendezvous here in +1804 proved a failure. The seamen fled, no "business" could be done, +and officer and gang were soon withdrawn. + +In comparison with the seething Deeside hamlet, Liverpool was tameness +itself. Now and then, as in 1745, the sailor element rose in arms, +demanding who was master; but as a rule it suffered the gang, if not +gladly, at least with exemplary patience. Homing seamen who desired to +evade the press in that city--and they were many--fled ashore from +their ships at Highlake, a spot so well adapted to their purpose that +it required "strict care to catch them." From Highlake they made their +way to Parkgate, swelling still further the sailor population of that +far-famed nest of skulkers. + +Cork was a minor Parkgate. A graphic account of the conditions +obtaining in that city has been left to us by Capt. Bennett, of H.M.S. +_Lennox_, who did port duty there from May 1779 till March 1783. +"Many hundreds of the best Seamen in this Province," he tells us, +"resort in Bodys in Country Villages round about here, where they are +maintained by the Crimps, who dispose of them to Bristol, Liverpool +and other Privateers, who appoint what part of the Coast to take them +on Board. They go in Bodys, even in the Town of Cork, and bid defiance +to the Press-gangs, and resort in houses armed, and laugh at both +civil and military Power. This they did at Kinsale, where they +threatened to pull the Jail down in a garrison'd Town." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Bennett, 12 and 26 April +1782.] These tactics rendered the costly press-gangs all but useless. +A hot press at Cork, in 1796, yielded only sixteen men fit for the +service. + +Space fails us to tell of how, owing to a three days' delay in the +London post that brought the warrants to Newhaven in the spring of +'78, the "alarm of soon pressing" spread like wildfire along that +coast and drove every vessel to sea; of how "three or four hundred +young fellows" belonging to Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, who had no +families and could well have been spared without hindrance to the +seafaring business of those towns, thought otherwise and took a little +trip of "thirty or forty miles in the country to hide from the +service"; or of how Capt. Routh, of the rendezvous at Leeds, happened +upon a great concourse of skulkers at Castleford, whither they had +been drawn by reasons of safety and the alleged fact that + + "Castleford woman must needs be fair, + Because they wash both in Calder and Aire," + +and after two unsuccessful attempts at surprise, at length took them +with the aid of the military. These were everyday incidents which were +accepted as matters of course and surprised nobody. Nevertheless the +vagaries of the wayward children of the State, who chose to run away +and hide instead of remaining to play the game, cost the naval +authorities many an anxious moment. _They_ had to face both +evasion and invasion, and the prevalence of the one did not help to +repel the other. + +His country's fear of invasion by the French afforded the seafaring +man the chance of the century. Pitt's Quota Bill put good money in his +pocket at the expense of his liberty, but in Admiral Sir Home Popham's +great scheme for the defence of the coasts against Boney and his +flat-bottomed boats he scented something far more to his advantage and +taste. + +From the day in 1796 when Capt. Moriarty, press-gang-officer at Cork, +reported the arrival of the long-expected Brest fleet off the Irish +coast, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1621--Capt. Crosby, 30 +Dec. 1796.] the question how best to defend from sudden attack so +enormously extended and highly vulnerable a seaboard as that of the +United Kingdom, became one of feverish moment. At least a hundred +different projects for compassing that desirable end at one time or +another claimed the attention of the Navy Board. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Knowles, 25 Jan. 1805.] One +of these was decidedly ingenious. It aimed at destroying the French +flotilla by means of logs of wood bored hollow and charged with +gunpowder and ball. These were to be launched against the invaders +somewhat after the manner of the modern torpedo, of which they were, +in fact, the primitive type and original. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Rear-Admiral Young, 14 Aug. 1803, and secret +enclosure, as in the Appendix. The Admiral's "machine," as he termed +it, though embodying the true torpedo idea of an explosive device to +be propelled against an enemy's ship, was not designed to be so +propelled on its own buoyancy, but by means of a fishing-boat, in +which it lay concealed. Had his inventive genius taken a bolder flight +and given us a more finished product in place of this crudity, the +Whitehead torpedo would have been anticipated, in something more than +mere principle, by upwards of half a century.] + +Meantime, however, the Admiralty had adopted another plan--Admiral +Popham, already famous for his improved code of signals, its +originator. On paper it possessed the merits of all Haldanic +substitutes for the real thing. It was patriotic, cheap, simple as +kissing your hand. All you had to do was to take the fisherman, the +longshoreman and other stalwarts who lived "one foot in sea and one on +shore," enroll them in corps under the command (as distinguished from +the control) of naval officers, and practise them (on Sundays, since +it was a work of strict necessity) in the use of the pike and the +cannon, and, hey presto! the country was as safe from invasion as if +the meddlesome French had never been. The expense would be trivial. +Granting that the French did not take alarm and incontinently drop +their hostile designs upon the tight little island, there would be a +small outlay for pay, a trifle of a shilling a day on exercise days, +but nothing more--except for martello towers. The boats it was +proposed to enroll and arm would cost nothing. Their patriotic owners +were to provide them free of charge. + +Such was the Popham scheme on paper. On a working basis it proved +quite another thing. The pikes provided were old ship-pikes, rotten +and worthless. The only occasion on which they appear to have served +any good purpose was when, at Gerrans and St. Mawes, the Fencibles +joined the mob and terrified the farmers, who were ignorant of the +actual condition of the pikes, into selling their corn at something +less than famine prices. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Capt. Spry, 14 April 1801.] Guns hoary with age, requisitioned +from country churchyards and village greens where they had rusted, +some of them, ever since the days of Drake and Raleigh, were dragged +forth and proudly grouped as "parks of artillery." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. Bradley, 21 Aug. 1796.] Signal +stations could not be seen one from the other, or, if visible, +perpetrated signals no one could read. The armed smacks were equally +unreliable. In Ireland they could not be "trusted out of sight with a +gun." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 +Oct. 1803.] In England they left the guns behind them. The weight, the +patriotic owners discovered, seriously hampered the carrying capacity +and seaworthiness of their boats; so to abate the nuisance they hove +the guns overboard on to the beach, where they were speedily buried in +sand or shingle, while the appliances were carried off by those who +had other uses for them than their country's defence. The vessels thus +armed, moreover, were always at sea, the men never at home. When it +was desired to practise them in the raising of the sluice-gates which, +in the event of invasion, were to convert Romney Marsh into an inland +sea, no efforts availed to get together sufficient men for the +purpose. Immune from the press by reason of their newly created status +of Sea-Fencibles, they were all elsewhere, following their +time-honoured vocations of fishing and smuggling with industry and +gladness of heart. As a means of repelling invasion the Popham scheme +was farcical and worthless; as a means of evading the press it was the +finest thing ever invented. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Reports on Sea-Fencibles, 1805; Admiral Lord +Keith, Sentiments upon the Sea-Fencible System, 7 Jan. 1805.] The only +benefits the country ever drew from it, apart from this, were two. It +provided the Admiralty with an incomparable register of seafaring men, +and some modern artists with secluded summer retreats. + +It goes without saying that a document of such vital consequence to +the seafaring man as an Admiralty protection did not escape the +attention of those who, from various motives, sought to aid and abet +the sailor in his evasion of the press. Protections were freely lent +and exchanged, bought and sold, "coaxed," concocted and stolen. +Skilful predecessors of Jim the Penman imitated to the life the +signatures of Pembroke and Sandwich, Lord High Admirals, and of the +lesser fry who put the official hand to those magic papers. "Great +abuses" were "committed that way." Bogus protections could be obtained +at Sunderland for 8s. 6d., Stephenson and Collins, the disreputable +schoolmasters who made a business of faking them, coining money by the +"infamous practice." In London "one Broucher, living in St. Michael's +Lane," supplied them to all comers at 3 Pounds apiece. Even the Navy +Office was not above suspicion in this respect, for in '98 a clerk +there, whose name does not transpire, was accused of adding to his +income by the sale of bogus protections at a guinea a head. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 5 Oct. 1798.] + +American protections were the Admiralty's pet bugbear. For many years +after the successful issue of the War of Independence a bitter +animosity characterised the attitude of the British naval officer +towards the American sailor. Whenever he could be laid hold of he was +pressed, and no matter what documents he produced in evidence of his +American birth and citizenship, those documents were almost invariably +pronounced false and fraudulent. There were weighty reasons, however, +for refusing to accept the claim of the alleged American sailor at its +face value. No class of protection was so generally forged, so +extensively bought and sold, as the American. Practically every +British seaman who made the run to an American port took the +precaution, during his sojourn in that land of liberty, to provide +himself with spurious papers against his return to England, where he +hoped, by means of them, to checkmate the gang. The process of +obtaining such papers was simplicity itself. All the sailor had to do, +at, say, New York, was to apply himself to one Riley, whose other name +was Paddy. The sum of three dollars having changed hands, Riley and +his client betook themselves to the retreat of some shady Notary +Public, where the Irishman made ready oath that the British seaman was +as much American born as himself. The business was now as good as +done, for on the strength of this lying affidavit any Collector of +Customs on the Atlantic coast would for a trifling fee grant the +sailor a certificate of citizenship. Riley created American citizens +in this way at the rate, it is said, of a dozen a day, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1523-Deposition of Zacharias Pasco, 20 +Jan. 1800.] and as he was only one of many plying the same lucrative +trade, the effect of such wholesale creations upon the impress service +in England, had they been allowed to pass unchallenged, may be readily +conceived. + +The fraud, worse luck for the service, was by no means confined to +America. Almost every home seaport had its recognised perveyor of +"false American passes." At Liverpool a former clerk to the Collector +of Customs for Pembroke, Pilsbury by name, grew rich on them, whilst +at Greenock, Shields and other north-country shipping centres they +were for many years readily procurable of one Walter Gilly and his +confederates, whose transactions in this kind of paper drove the Navy +Board to desperation. They accordingly instructed Capt. Brown, +gang-officer at Greenock, to take Gilly at all hazards, but the +fabricator of passes fled the town ere the gang could be put on his +track. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1549--Capt. Brown, 22 +Aug. 1809.] + +Considering that every naval officer, from the Lord High Admiral +downwards, had these facts and circumstances at his fingers' end, it +is hardly suprising that protections having, or purporting to have, an +American origin, should have been viewed with profound distrust +--distrust too often justified, and more than justified, by +the very nature of the documents themselves. Thus a gentleman of +colour, Cato Martin by name, when taken out of the _Dolly_ +West-Indiaman at Bristol, had the assurance to produce a white man's +pass certifying his eyes, which were undeniably yellow, to be a soft +sky-blue, and his hair, which was hopelessly black and woolly, to be +of that well-known hue most commonly associated with hair grown north +of the Tweed. It was reserved, however, for an able seaman bearing the +distinguished name of Oliver Cromwell to break all known records in +this respect. When pressed, he unblushingly produced a pass dated in +America the 29th of May and vised by the American Consul in London on +the 6th of June immediately following, thus conferring on its bearer +the unique distinction of having crossed the Atlantic in eight days at +a time when the voyage occupied honester men nearly as many weeks. To +press such frauds was a public benefit. On the other hand, one +confesses to a certain sympathy with the American sailor who was +pressed because he "spoke English very well." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2734--Capt. Yorke, 8 March 1798.] + +Believing in the simplicity of his heart that others were as gullible +as himself, the fugitive sailor sought habitually to hide his identity +beneath some temporary disguise of greater or less transparency. That +of farm labourer was perhaps his favourite choice. The number of +seamen so disguised, and employed on farms within ten miles of the +coast between Hull and Whitby prior to the sailing of the Greenland +and Baltic ships in 1803, was estimated at more than a thousand +able-bodied men. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral +Phillip, Report on Rendezvous, 25 April 1804.] Seamen using the +Newfoundland trade of Dartmouth were "half-farmer, half-sailor." When +the call of the sea no longer lured them, they returned to the land in +an agricultural sense, resorting in hundreds to the farmsteads in the +Southams, where they were far out of reach of the gangs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, Report on Rendezvous, +28 Feb. 1795] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + + + +In his endeavours to escape the gang the sailor resembled nothing so +much as that hopelessly impotent fugitive the flying-fish. For both +the sea swarmed with enemies bent on catching them. Both sought to +evade those enemies by flight, and both, their ineffectual flight +ended, returned to the sea again whether they would or not. It was +their fate, a deep-sea kismet as unavoidable as death. + +The ultimate destination of the sailor who by strategy or accident +succeeded in eluding the triple line of sea-gangs so placed as to head +him off from the coast, was thus never in doubt. His longest flights +were those he made on land, for here the broad horizon that stood the +gangs in such good stead at sea was measurably narrower, while +hiding-places abounded and were never far to seek. All the same, in +spite of these adventitious aids to self-effacement, the predestined +end of the seafaring man sooner or later overtook him. The gang met +him at the turning of the ways and wiped him off the face of the land. +In the expressive words of a naval officer who knew the conditions +thoroughly well, the sailor's chances of obtaining a good run for his +money "were not worth a chaw of tobacco." + +For this inevitable finish to all the sailor's attempts at flight on +shore there existed in the main two reasons. The first of these lay in +the sailor himself, making of him an unconscious aider and abettor in +his own capture. Just as love and a cough cannot be hid, so there was +no disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by +characteristics that infallibly betrayed him. His bandy legs and +rolling gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea, and no +"soaking" in alehouse or tavern could eliminate the salt from the +peculiar oaths that were as natural to him as the breath of life. +Assume what disguise he would, he fell under suspicion at sight, and +he had only to open his mouth to turn that suspicion into certainty. +It needed no Sherlock Holmes of a gangsman to divine what he was or +whence he came. + +The second reason why the sailor could never long escape the gangs was +because the gangs were numerically too many for him. It was no +question of a chance gang here and there. The country swarmed with +them. + +Take the coast. Here every seaport of any pretensions in the way of +trade, together with every spot between such ports known to be +favoured or habitually used by the homing sailor as a landing-place, +with certain exceptions already noted, either had its own particular +gang or was closely watched by some gang stationed within easy access +of the spot. In this way the whole island was ringed in by gangs on +shore, just as it was similarly ringed in by other gangs afloat. + +"If their Lordships would give me authority to press here," says +Lieut. Oakley, writing to the Sea Lords from Deal in 1743, "I could +frequently pick up good seamen ashoar. I mean seamen _who by some +means escape being prest by the men of war and tenders_." + +In this modest request the lieutenant states the whole case for the +land-gang, at once demonstrating its utility and defining its +functions. Unconsciously he does more. He echoes a cry that +incessantly assailed the ears of Admiralty: "The sailor has escaped! +Send us warrants and give us gangs, and we will catch him yet." + +It was this call, the call of the fleet, that dominated the situation +and forced order out of chaos. The men must be "rose," and only method +could do it. The demand was a heavy one to make upon the most +unsystematic system ever known, yet it survived the ordeal. The coast +was mapped out, warrants were dispatched to this point and that, +rendezvous were opened, gangs formed. No effort or outlay was spared +to take the sailor the moment he got ashore, or very soon after. + +In this systematic setting of land-traps that vast head-centre of the +nation's overseas trade, the metropolis, naturally had first place. +The streets, and especially the waterside streets, were infested with +gangs. At times it was unsafe for any able-bodied man to venture +abroad unless he had on him an undeniable protection or wore a dress +that unmistakeably proclaimed the gentleman. The general rendezvous +was on Tower Hill; but as ships completing their complement nearly +always sent a gang or two to London, minor rendezvous abounded. St. +Katherine's by the Tower was specially favoured by them. The +"Rotterdam Arms" and the "Two Dutch Skippers," well-known taverns +within that precinct, were seldom without the bit of bunting that +proclaimed the headquarters of the gang. At Westminster the "White +Swan" in King's Street usually bore a similar decoration, as did also +the "Ship" in Holborn. + +A characteristic case of pressing by a gang using the last-named house +occurred in 1706. Ransacking the town in quest of pressable subjects +of Her Majesty, they came one day to the "Cock and Rummer" in Bow +Street, where a big dinner was in progress. Here nothing would suit +their tooth but mine host's apprentice, and as ill-luck would have it +the apprentice was cook to the establishment and responsible for the +dinner. Him they nevertheless seized and would have hurried away in +spite of his master's supplications, protests and offers of free +drinks, had it not been for the fact that a mob collected and forcibly +prevented them. Other gangs hurrying to the assistance of their +hard-pressed comrades--to the number, it is said, of sixty men--a free +fight ensued, in the course of which a burly constable, armed with a +formidable longstaff, was singled out by the original gang, doubtless +on account of the prominent part he took in the fray, as a fitting +substitute for the apprentice. By dint of beating the poor fellow till +he was past resistance they at length got him to the "Ship," where +they were in the very act of bundling him into a coach, with the +intention of carrying him to the waterside below bridge, and of their +putting him on board the press-smack, when in the general confusion he +somehow effected his escape. [Footnote: "A Horrible Relation," +_Review_, 17 March 1705-6.] Such incidents were common enough not +only at that time but long after. + +At Gravesend sailors came ashore in such numbers from East India and +other ships as to keep a brace of gangs busy. Another found enough to +do at Broadstairs, whence a large number of vessels sailed in the +Iceland cod fishery and similar industries. Faversham was a port and +had its gang, and from Margate right away to Portsmouth, and from +Portsmouth to Plymouth, nearly every town of any size that offered +ready hiding to the fugitive sailor from the Channel was similarly +favoured. Brighton formed a notable exception, and this circumstance +gave rise to an episode about which we shall have more to say +presently. + +To record in these pages the local of all the gangs that were +stationed in this manner upon the seaboard of the kingdom would be as +undesirable as it is foreign to the scope of this chapter. Enough to +repeat that the land, always the sailor's objective in eluding the +triple cordon of sea-borne gangs, was ringed in and surrounded by a +circle of land-gangs in every respect identical with that described as +hedging the southern coast, and in its continuity almost as unbroken +as the shore itself. Both sea-gangs and coast-gangs were amphibious, +using either land or sea at pleasure. + +Inland the conditions were the same, yet materially different. What +was on the coast an encircling line assumed here the form of a vast +net, to which the principal towns, the great cross-roads and the +arterial bridges of the country stood in the relation of reticular +knots, while the constant "ranging" of the gangs, now in this +direction, now in that, supplied the connecting filaments or threads. +The gangs composing this great inland net were not amphibious. Their +most desperate aquatic ventures were confined to rivers and canals. +Ability to do their twenty miles a day on foot counted for more with +them than a knowledge of how to handle an oar or distinguish the +"cheeks" of a gaff from its "jaw." + +Just as the sea-gangs in their raids upon the land were the Danes and +"creekmen" of their time, so the land-gangsman was the true highwayman +of the century that begot him. He kept every strategic point of every +main thoroughfare, held all the bridges, watched all the ferries, +haunted all the fairs. No place where likely men were to be found +escaped his calculating eye. + +He was an inveterate early riser, and sailors sauntering to the fair +for want of better employment ran grave risks. In this way a large +number were taken on the road to Croydon fair one morning in September +1743. For actual pressing the fair itself was unsafe because of the +great concourse of people; but it formed one of the best possible +hunting-grounds and was kept under close observation for that reason. +Here the gangsman marked his victim, whose steps he dogged into the +country when his business was done or his pleasure ended, never for a +moment losing sight of him until he walked into the trap all ready set +in some wayside spinny or beneath some sheltering bridge. + +Bridges were the inland gangsman's favourite haunt. They not only +afforded ready concealment, they had to be crossed. Thus Lodden +Bridge, near Reading, accounted one of the "likeliest places in the +country for straggling seamen," was seldom without its gang. Nor was +the great bridge at Gloucester, since, as the first bridge over the +Severn, it drew to itself all the highroads and their users from Wales +and the north. To sailors making for the south coast from those parts +it was a point of approach as dangerous as it was unavoidable. Great +numbers were taken here in consequence. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 58l--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April +1805.] + +So of ferries. The passage boats at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, +watched by gangs from Inverkeithing, yielded almost as many men in the +course of a year as the costly rendezvous at Leith. Greenock ferries +proved scarcely less productive. But there was here an exception. The +ferry between Glenfinart and Greenock plied only twice a week, and as +both occasions coincided with market-days the boat was invariably +crowded with women. Only once did it yield a man. Peter Weir, the hand +in charge, one day overset the boat, drowning every soul on board +except himself. Thereupon the gang pressed him, arguing that one who +used the sea so effectively could not fail to make a valuable addition +to the fleet. + +Inland towns traversed by the great highroads leading from north to +south, or from east to west, were much frequented by the gangs. +Amongst these Stourbridge perhaps ranked first. Situated midway +between the great ports of Liverpool and Bristol, it easily and +effectually commanded Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, +Kidderminster and other populous towns, while it was too small to +afford secure hiding within itself. The gangs operating from +Stourbridge brought in an endless procession of ragged and +travel-stained seamen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500 +--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +From ports on the Bristol Channel to ports on the English Channel, and +the reverse, many seamen crossed the country by stage-coach or wagon, +and to intercept them gangs were stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and +Exeter. Taunton and Salisbury also, as "great thoroughfares to and +from the west," had each its gang, and a sufficient number of sailors +escaped the press at the latter place to justify the presence of +another at Romsey. Andover had a gang as early as 1756, on the +recommendation of no less a man than Rodney. + +Shore gangs were of necessity ambulatory. To sit down before the +rendezvous pipe in hand, and expect the evasive sailor to come of his +own accord and beg the favour of being pressed, would have been a +futile waste of time and tobacco. The very essence of the gangman's +duty lay in the leg-work he did. To that end he ate the king's +victuals and wore the king's shoe-leather. Consequently he was early +afoot and late to bed. Ten miles out and ten home made up his daily +constitutional, and if he saw fit to exceed that distance he did not +incur his captain's displeasure. The gang at Reading, a strategic +point of great importance on the Bath and Bristol road, traversed all +the country round about within a radius of twenty miles--double the +regulation distance. That at King's Lynn, another centre of unmeasured +possibilities, trudged as far afield as Boston, Ely, Peterborough and +Wells-on-Sea. And the Isle of Wight gang, stationed at Cowes or Ryde, +now and then co-operated with a gang from Portsmouth or Gosport and +ranged the whole length and breadth of the island, which was a noted +nest of deserters and skulkers. "Range," by the way, was a word much +favoured by the officers who led such expeditions. Its use is happy. +It suggests the object well in view, the nicely calculated distance, +the steady aim that seldom missed its mark. The gang that "ranged" +rarely returned empty-handed. + +On these excursions the favourite resting-place was some secluded nook +overlooking the point of crossing of two or more highroads; the +favourite place of refreshment, some busy wayside alehouse. Both were +good to rest or refresh in, for at both the chances of effecting a +capture were far more numerous than on the open road. + +The object of the gang in taking the road was not, however, so much +what could be picked up by chance in the course of a day's march, as +the execution of some preconcerted design upon a particular person or +place. This brings us to the methods of pressing commonly adopted, +which may be roughly summarised under the three heads of surprise, +violence and the hunt. Frequently all three were combined; but as in +the case of gangs operating on the waters of rivers or harbours, the +essential element in all pre-arranged raids, attacks and predatory +expeditions was the first-named element, surprise. In this respect the +gangsmen were genuine "Peep-o'-Day Boys." The siege of Brighton is a +notable case in point. + +The inhabitants of Brighton, better known in the days of the +press-gang as Brighthelmstone, consisted largely of fisher-folk in +respect to whom the Admiralty had been guilty of one of its rare +oversights. For generations no call was made upon them to serve the +king at sea. This accidental immunity in course of time came to be +regarded by the Brighton fisherman as his birthright, and the +misconception bred consequences. For one thing, it made him +intolerably saucy. He boasted that no impress officer had power to +take him, and he backed up the boast by openly insulting, and on more +than one occasion violently assaulting the king's uniform. With all +this he was a hardy, long-lived, lusty fellow, and as his numbers were +never thinned by that active corrector of an excessive birth-rate, the +press-gang, he speedily overstocked the town. An energetic worker +while his two great harvests of herring and mackerel held out, he was +at other times indolent, lazy and careless of the fact that his +numerous progeny burdened the rates. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 31 Dec. +1804.] These unpleasing circumstances having been duly reported to the +Admiralty, their Lordships decided that what the Brighton fisherman +required to correct his lax principles and stiffen his backbone was a +good hot press. They accordingly issued orders for an early raid to be +made upon that promising nursery of man-o'-war's-men. + +The orders, which were of course secret, bore date the 3rd of July +1779, and were directed to Capt. Alms, who, as regulating officer at +Shoreham, was likewise in charge of the gang at Newhaven under Lieut. +Bradley, and of the gang at Littlehampton under Lieut. Breedon. At +Shoreham there was also a tender, manned by an able crew. With these +three gangs and the tender's crew at his back, Alms determined to lay +siege to Brighton and teach the fishermen there a lesson they should +not soon forget. But first, in order to render the success of the +project doubly sure, he enlisted the aid of Major-General Sloper, +Commandant at Lewes, who readily consented to lend a company of +soldiers to assist in the execution of the design. + +These preparations were some little time in the making, and it was not +until the Thursday immediately preceding the 24th of July that all was +in readiness. On the night of that day, by preconcerted arrangement, +the allied forces took the road--for the Littlehampton gang, a matter +of some twenty miles--and at the first flush of dawn united on the +outskirts of the sleeping town, where the soldiers were without loss +of time so disposed as to cut off every avenue of escape. This done, +the gangs split up and by devious ways, but with all expedition, +concentrated their strength upon the quay, expecting to find there a +large number of men making ready for the day's fishing. To their +intense chagrin the quay was deserted. The night had been a +tempestuous one, with heavy rain, and though the unfortunate gangsmen +were soaked to the skin, the fishermen all lay dry in bed. Hearing the +wind and rain, not a man turned out. + +By this time the few people who were abroad on necessary occasions had +raised the alarm, and on every hand were heard loud cries of +"Press-gang!" and the hurried barricading of doors. For ten hours +"every man kept himself locked up and bolted." For ten hours Alms +waited in vain upon the local Justice of the Peace for power to break +and enter the fishermen's cottages. His repeated requests being +refused, he was at length "under the necessity of quitting the town +with only one man." So ended the siege of Brighton; but Bradley, on +his way back to Newhaven, fell in with a gang of smugglers, of whom he +pressed five. Brighton did not soon forget the terrors of that +rain-swept morning. For many a long day her people were "very shy, and +cautious of appearing in public." The salutary effects of the raid, +however, did not extend to the fishermen it was intended to benefit. +They became more insolent than ever, and a few years later marked +their resentment of the attempt to press them by administering a sound +thrashing to Mr. Midshipman Sealy, of the Shoreham rendezvous, whom +they one day caught unawares. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1445-46--Letters of Capt. Alms.] + +The surprise tactics of the gang of course varied according to +circumstances, and the form they took was sometimes highly ingenious. +A not uncommon stratagem was the impersonation of a recruiting party +beating up for volunteers. With cockades in their hats, drums rolling +and fifes shrilling, the gangsmen, who of course had their arms +concealed, marched ostentatiously through the high-street of some +sizable country town and so into the market-place. Since nobody had +anything to fear from a harmless recruiting party, people turned out +in strength to see the sight and listen to the music. When they had in +this way drawn as many as they could into the open, the gangsmen +suddenly threw off their disguise and seized every pressable person +they could lay hands on. Market-day was ill-adapted to these tactics. +It brought too big a crowd together. + +A similar ruse was once practised with great success upon the +inhabitants of Portsmouth by Capt. Bowen of the _Dreadnought_, in +connection with a general press which the Admiralty had secretly +ordered to be made in and about that town. Dockyard towns were not as +a rule considered good pressing-grounds because of the drain of men +set up by the ships of war fitting out there; but Bowen had certainly +no reason to subscribe to that opinion. Late on the night of the 8th +of March 1803, he landed a company of marines at Gosport for the +purpose, as it was given out, of suppressing a mutiny at Fort +Monckton. The news spread rapidly, drawing crowds of people from their +homes in anticipation of an exciting scrimmage. This gave Bowen the +opportunity he counted upon. When the throngs had crossed Haslar +Bridge he posted marines at the bridge-end, and as the disappointed +people came pouring back the "jollies" pressed every man in the crowd. +Five hundred are said to have been taken on this occasion, but as the +nature of the service forbade discrimination at the moment of +pressing, nearly one-half were next day discharged as unfit or exempt. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1057--Admiral Milbanke, 9 March +1803.] + +Sometimes, though not often, it was the gang that was surprised. All +hands would perhaps be snug in bed after a long and trying day, when +suddenly a thunderous knocking at the rendezvous door, and stentorian +cries of: "Turn out! turn out there!" coupled with epithets here +unproducible, would bring every man of them into the street in the +turn of a handspike, half-dressed but fully armed and awake to the +fact that a party of belated seamen was coming down the road. The +sailors were perhaps more road-weary than the gangsmen, and provided +none of them succeeded in slipping away in the darkness, or made a +successful resistance, in half-an-hour's time or less the whole party +would be safe under lock and key, cursing luck for a scurvy trickster +in delivering them over to the gang. + +The sailor's well-known partiality for drink was constantly turned to +account by the astute gangsman. If a sailor himself, he laid aside his +hanger or cudgel and played the game of "What ho! shipmate" at the +cost of a can or two of flip, gently guiding his boon companion to the +rendezvous when he had got him sufficiently corned. Failing these +tactics, he adopted others equally effective. At Liverpool, where the +seafaring element was always a large one, it was a common practice for +the gangs to lie low for a time, thus inducing the sailor to believe +himself safe from molestation. He immediately indulged in a desperate +drinking bout and so put himself entirely in their power. Whether +rolling about the town "very much in liquor," or "snugly moored in +Sot's Bay," he was an easy victim. + +Another ineradicable weakness that often landed the sailor in the +press-room was his propensity to indulge in "swank." Two jolly tars, +who were fully protected and consequently believed themselves immune +from the press, once bought a four-wheeled post-chaise and hired a +painter in Long Acre to ornament it with anchors, masts, cannon and a +variety of other objects emblematic of the sea. In this ornate vehicle +they set out, behind six horses, with the intention of posting down to +Alnwick, where their sweethearts lived. So impatient were they to get +over the road that they could not be prevailed upon, at any of the +numerous inns where they pulled up for refreshment, to stop long +enough to have the wheels properly greased, crying out at the delay: +"Avast there! she's had tar enough," and so on again. Just as they +were making a triumphal entry into Newcastle-upon-Tyne the wheels took +fire, and the chaise, saturated with the liquor they had spilt in the +course of their mad drive, burst into flames fore and aft. The sailors +bellowed lustily for help, whereupon the spectators ran to their +assistance and by swamping the ship with buckets of water succeeded in +putting out the fire. Now it happened that in the crowd drawn together +by such an unusual occurrence there was an impress officer who was +greatly shocked by the exhibition. He considered that the sailors had +been guilty of unseemly behaviour, and on that ground had them +pressed. Notwithstanding their protections they were kept. + +In his efforts to swell the returns of pressed men the gangsman was +supposed--we may even go so far as to say enjoined--to use no more +violence than was absolutely necessary to attain his end. The question +of force thus resolved itself into one of the degree of resistance he +encountered. Needless to say, he did not always knock a man down +before bidding him stand in the king's name. Recourse to measures so +extreme was not always necessary. Every sailor had not the pluck to +fight, and even when he had both the pluck and the good-will, hard +drinking, weary days of tramping, or long abstinence from food had +perhaps sapped his strength, leaving him in no fit condition to hold +his own in a scrap with the well-fed gangsman. The latter consequently +had it pretty much his own way. A firm hand on the shoulder, or at the +most a short, sharp tussle, and the man was his. But there were +exceptions to this easy rule, as we shall see in our next chapter. + +Hunting the sailor was largely a matter of information, and +unfortunately for his chances of escape informers were seldom wanting. +Everywhere it was a game at hide-and-seek. Constables had orders to +report him. Chapmen, drovers and soldiers, persons who were much on +the road, kept a bright lookout for him. The crimp, habitually given +to underhand practices, turned informer when prices for seamen ruled +low in the service he usually catered for. His mistress loved him as +long as his money lasted; when he had no more to throw away upon her +she perfidiously betrayed him. And for all this there was a reason as +simple as casting up the number of shillings in the pound. No matter +how penniless the sailor himself might be, he was always worth that +sum at the rendezvous. Twenty shillings was the reward paid for +information leading to his apprehension as a straggler or a skulker, +and it was largely on the strength of such informations, and often +under the personal guidance of such detestable informers, that the +gang went a-hunting. + +Apart from greed of gain, the motive most commonly underlying +informations was either jealousy or spite. Women were the greatest +sinners in the first respect. Let the sailorman concealed by a woman +only so much as look with favour upon another, and his fate was +sealed. She gave him away, or, what was more profitable, sold him +without regret. There were as good fish in the sea as ever came out. +Perhaps better. + +On the wings of spite and malice the escapades of youth often came +home to roost after many years. Men who had run away to sea as lads, +but had afterwards married and settled down, were informed on by +evil-disposed persons who bore them some grudge, and torn from their +families as having used the sea. Stephen Kemp, of Warbelton in Sussex, +one of the many who suffered this fate, had indeed used the sea, but +only for a single night on board a fishing-boat. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1445--Capt. Alms, 9 June 1777.] + +In face of these infamies it is good to read of how they dealt with +informers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There the role was one fraught with +peculiar danger. Rewards were paid by the Collector of Customs, and +when a Newcastle man went to the Customs-House to claim the price of +some sailor's betrayal, the people set upon him and incontinently +broke his head. One notorious receiver of such rewards was "nearly +murther'd." Thereafter informers had to be paid in private places for +fear of the mob, and so many persons fell under suspicion of playing +the dastardly game that the regulating captain was besieged by +applicants for "certificates of innocency." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Letters of Capt. Bover, 1777.] + + + [Illustration: ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. +A play-bill announcing the suspension of the Gang's operations on +"Play Nights"; in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley, by whose kind +permission it is reproduced.] + + +Informations not infrequently took the form of anonymous +communications addressed by the same hand to two different gangs at +one and the same time, and when this was the case, and both gangs +sallied forth in quest of the skulker, a collision was pretty sure to +follow. Sometimes the encounter resolved itself into a running fight, +in the course of which the poor sailor, who formed the bone of +contention, was pressed and re-pressed several times over between his +hiding-place and one or other of the rendezvous. + +Rivalry between gangs engaged in ordinary pressing led to many a +stirring encounter and bloody fracas. A gang sent out by H.M.S. +_Thetis_ was once attacked, while prowling about the waterside +slums of Deptford, by "three or four different gangs, to the number of +thirty men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. +Butcher, 29 Oct. 1782.] There was a greater demand for bandages than +for sailors in Deptford during the rest of the night. + +The most extraordinary affair of this description to be met with in +the annals of pressing is perhaps one that occurred early in the reign +of Queen Anne. Amongst the men-of-war then lying at Spithead were +the _Dorsetshire_, Capt. Butler commander, and the _Medway_. +Hearing that some sailors were in hiding at a place a little distance +beyond Gosport, Capt. Butler dispatched his 1st and 2nd lieutenants, +in charge of thirty of his best men, with instructions to take them +and bring them on board. It so happened that a strong gang was at the +same time on shore from the _Medway_, presumably on the same +errand, and this party the Dorsetshires, returning to their ship with +the seamen they had taken, found posted in the Gosport road for the +avowed purpose of re-pressing the pressed men. By a timely detour, +however, they reached the waterside "without any mischief done." + +Meanwhile, a rumour had somehow reached the ears of Capt. Butler to +the effect that a fight was in progress and his 1st lieutenant killed. +He immediately took boat and hurried over to Gosport, where, to his +relief, he found his people all safe in their boats, but on the Point, +to use his own graphic words, "severall hundred People, some with +drawn Swords, some with Spitts, others with Clubbs, Staves & +Stretchers. Some cry'd 'One & All!' others cry'd 'Medways!' and some +again swearing, cursing & banning that they would knock my People's +Brains out. Off I went with my Barge to the Longboat," continues the +gallant captain, "commanding them to weigh their grappling & goe with +me aboard. In the meantime off came about twelve Boats full with the +_Medway's_ men to lay my Longboat aboard, who surrounded us with +Swords, Clubbs, Staves & divers Instruments, & nothing would do but +all our Brains must be Knock't out. Finding how I defended the +Longboat, they then undertook to attack myselfe and people, One of +their Boats came upon the stern and made severall Blows at my Coxwain, +and if it had not been for the Resolution I had taken to endure all +these Abuses, I had Kill'd all those men with my own Hand; but this +Boat in particular stuck close to me with only six men, and I kept a +very good Eye upon her. All this time we were rowing out of the +Harbour with these Boats about us as far as Portsmouth Point, my +Coxwain wounded, myselfe and People dangerously assaulted with Stones +which they brought from the Beech & threw at us, and as their Boats +drop'd off I took my opportunity & seized ye Boat with the Six Men +that had so attack'd me, and have secured them in Irons." With this +the incident practically ended; for although the Medways retaliated by +seizing and carrying off the _Dorsetshire's_ coxwain and a crew +who ventured ashore next day with letters, the latter were speedily +released; but for a week Capt. Butler--fiery old Trojan! who could +have slain a whole boat's-crew with his own hand--remained a close +prisoner on board his ship. "Should I but put my foot ashoar," we hear +him growl, "I am murther'd that minute." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Butler, 1 June 1705.] + +With certain exceptions presently to be noted, every man's hand was +against the fugitive sailor, and this being so it followed as a matter +of course that in his inveterate pursuit of him the gangsman found +more honourable allies than that nefarious person, the man-selling +informer. The class whom the sailor himself, in his contempt of the +good feeding he never shared, nicknamed "big-bellied placemen"--the +pompous mayors, the portly aldermen and the county magistrate who knew +a good horse or hound but precious little law, were almost to a man +the gangsman's coadjutors. Lavishly wined and dined at Admiralty +expense, they urbanely "backed" the regulating captain's warrants, +consistently winked at his glaring infractions of law and order, and +with the most commendable loyalty imaginable did all in their power to +forward His Majesty's service. Even the military, if rightly +approached on their pinnacle of lofty superiority, now and then +condescended to lend the gangsman a hand. Did not Sloper, +Major-General and Commandant at Lewes, throw a whole company into the +siege of Brighton? + +These post-prandial concessions on the part of bigwigs desirous of +currying favour in high places on the whole told heavily against the +sorely harassed object of the gangsman's quest, rendering it, amongst +other things, extremely unsafe for him to indulge in those +unconventional outbursts which, under happier conditions, so uniformly +marked his jovial moods. At the playhouse, for example, he could not +heave empty bottles or similar tokens of appreciation upon the stage +without grave risk of incurring the fate that overtook Steven David, +Samuel Jenkins and Thomas Williams, three sailors of Falmouth town +who, merely because they adopted so unusual a mode of applauding a +favourite, were by magisterial order handed over to Lieut. Box of +H.M.S. _Blonde_, with a peremptory request that they should be +transferred forthwith to that floating stage where the only recognised +"turns" were those of the cat and the capstan. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Ballard, 13 Dec. 1806.] + +Luckily for the sailor and those of other callings who shared his +liability to the press, the civil authorities did not range themselves +on the gangsman's side with complete unanimity. Local considerations +of trade, coupled with some faint conception of the hideous injustice +the seafaring classes groaned under, and groaned in vain, here and +there outweighed patriotism and dinners. Little by little a +cantankerous spirit of opposition got abroad, and every now and then, +at this point or at that, some mayor or alderman, obsessed by this +spirit beyond his fellows and his time, seized such opportunities as +office threw in his way to mark his disapproval of the wrongs the +sailor suffered. Had this attitude been more general, or more +consistent in itself, the press-gang would not have endured for a day. + +The role of Richard Yea and Nay was, however, the favourite one with +urban authorities. Towns at first not "inclinable to allow a +pressing," afterwards relented and took the gang to their bosom, or +entertained it gladly for a time, only to cast it out with contumely. +A lieutenant who was sent to Newcastle to press in 1702 found "no +manner of encouragement there"; yet seventy-five years later the +Tyneside city, thanks to the loyal co-operation of a long succession +of mayors, and of such men as George Stephenson, sometime +Deputy-Master of the Trinity House, had become one of the riskiest in +the kingdom for the seafaring man who was a stranger within her gates. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. Bover, 11 Aug. +1778.] + +The attitude of Poole differed in some respects from that of other +towns. Her mayors and magistrates, while they did not actually oppose +the pressing of seamen within the borough, would neither back the +warrants nor lend the gangs their countenance. The reason advanced for +this disloyal attitude was of the absurdest nature. Poole held that in +order to press twenty men you were not at liberty to kill the +twenty-first. That, in fact, was what had happened on board the +_Maria_ brig as she came into port there, deeply laden with fish +from the Banks, and the corporation very foolishly never forgot the +trivial incident. + +It did not, of course, follow that the Poole sailor enjoyed freedom +from the press. Far from it. What he did enjoy was a reputation that, +if not all his own, was yet sufficiently so to be shared by few. Bred +in that roughest of all schools, the Newfoundland cod fishery, he was +an exceptionally tough nut to crack. + + "If Poole were a fish pool + And the men of Poole fish, + There'd be a pool for the devil + And fish for his dish," + +was how the old jibe ran, and in this estimate of the Poole man's +character the gangs fully concurred. They knew him well and liked him +little, so when bent on pressing him they adopted no squeamish +measures, but very wisely "trusted to the strength of their right arms +for it." Some of their attempts to take him make strange reading. + +About eight o'clock on a certain winter's evening, Regulating Captain +Walbeoff, accompanied by Lieut. Osmer, a midshipman and eight +gangsmen, broke into the house of William Trim, a seafaring native of +the place whom they knew to be at home and had resolved to press. +Alarmed by the forcing of the door, and only too well aware of what it +portended, Trim made for the stairs, where, turning upon his pursuers, +he struck repeatedly and savagely at the midshipman, who headed them, +with a red-hot poker which he had snatched out of the fire at the +moment of his flight. He was, however, quickly overpowered, disarmed +and dragged back into the lower room, where his captors threw him +violently to the floor and with their hangers took effective measures +to prevent his escape or further opposition. His sister happened to be +in the house, and whilst this was going on the lieutenant brutally +assaulted her, presumably because she wished to go to her brother's +assistance. Meanwhile Trim's father, a man near seventy years of age, +who lived only a stone's-throw away, hearing the uproar, and being +told the gang had come for his son, ran to the house with the +intention, as he afterwards declared, of persuading him to go quietly. +Seeing him stretched upon the floor, he stooped to lift him to his +feet, when one of the gang attacked him and stabbed him in the back. +He fell bleeding beside the younger man, and was there beaten by a +number of the gangsmen whilst the remainder dragged his son off to the +press-room, whence he was in due course dispatched to the fleet at +Spithead. The date of this brutal episode is 1804; the manner of it, +"nothing more than what usually happened on such occasions" in the +town of Poole. [Footnote _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral +Phillip, Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers at Poole, 13 +Aug. 1804.] + +For this deplorable state of things Poole had none but herself to +thank. Had she, instead of merely refusing to back the warrants, taken +effective measures to rid herself of the gang, that mischievous body +would have soon left her in peace. Rochester wore the jewel of +consistency in this respect. When Lieut. Brenton pressed a youth there +who "appeared to be a seafaring man," but turned out to be an exempt +city apprentice, he was promptly arrested and deprived of his sword, +the mayor making no bones of telling him that his warrant was "useless +in Rochester." With this broad hint he was discharged; but the people +proved less lenient than the mayor, for they set about him and beat +him unmercifully. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, No. 42: Deposition of Lieut. Brenton.] + +Save on a single occasion, already incidentally referred to, civic +Liverpool treated the gang with uniform kindness. In 1745, at a time +when the rebels were reported to be within only four miles of the +city, the mayor refused to back warrants for the pressing of sailors +to protect the shipping in the river. His reason was a cogent one. The +captains of the _Southsea Castle_, the _Mercury_ and the _Loo_, +three ships of war then in the Mersey, had just recently +"manned their boats with marines and impressed from the shore near +fifty men," and the seafaring element of the town, always a formidable +one, was up in arms because of it. This so intimidated the mayor that +he dared not sanction further raids "for fear of being murder'd." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Letters of Capt. Amherst, +Dec. 1745.] His dread of the armed sailor was not shared by Henry +Alcock, sometime mayor of Waterford. That gentleman "often headed the +press-gangs" in person. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780.] + +Deal objected to the press for reasons extending back to the reign of +King John. As a member of the Cinque Ports that town had constantly +supplied the kings and queens of the realm, from the time of Magna +Charta downwards, with great numbers of able and sufficient seamen +who, according to the ancient custom of the Five Ports, had been +impressed and raised by the mayor and magistrates of the town, acting +under orders from the Lord Warden, and not by irresponsible gangs from +without. It was to these, and not to the press as such, that Deal +objected. The introduction of gangs in her opinion bred disorder. +Great disturbances, breaches of the peace, riots, tumults and even +bloodshed attended their steps and made their presence in any +peaceably disposed community highly undesirable. Within the memory of +living man even, Deal had obliged no less than four hundred seamen to +go on board the ships of the fleet, and she desired no more of those +strangers who recently, incited by Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, +had gone a-pressing in her streets and grievously wounded divers +persons. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, Anne, xxxvi: No. 24: +Petition of the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of the Free Town and +Borough of Deal.] + +In this commonsense view of the case Deal was ably supported by Dover, +the premier Cinque Port. Dover, it is true, so far as we know never +embodied her objections to the press in any humble petition to the +Queen's Majesty. She chose instead a directer method, for when the +lieutenant of the _Devonshire_ impressed six men belonging to a +brigantine from Carolina in her streets, and attempted to carry them +beyond the limits of the borough, "many people of Dover, in company +with the Mayor thereof, assembled themselves together and would not +permit the lieutenant to bring them away." The action angered the +Lords Commissioners, who resolved to teach Dover a lesson. Orders were +accordingly sent down to Capt. Dent, whose ship the _Shrewsbury_ +man-o'-war was then in the Downs, directing him to send a gang ashore +and press the first six good seamen they should meet with, taking +care, however, since their Lordships did not wish to be too hard upon +the town, that the men so pressed were bachelors and not householders. +Lieut. O'Brien was entrusted with this delicate punitive mission. He +returned on board after a campaign of only a few hours' duration, +triumphantly bearing with him the stipulated hostages for Dover's +future good behaviour--"six very good seamen, natives and inhabitants, +and five of them bachelors." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1696--Capt. Dent, 24 Aug. 1743.] The sixth was of course a +householder, a circumstance that made the town's punishment all the +severer. + +Its effects were less salutary than the Admiralty had anticipated. +True, both Dover and Deal thereafter withdrew their opposition to the +press so far as to admit the gang within their borders; but they kept +a watchful eye upon its doings, and every now and then the old spirit +flamed out again at white heat, consuming the bonds of some poor devil +who, like Alexander Hart, freeman of Dover, had been irregularly +taken. On this occasion the mayor, backed by a posse of constables, +himself broke open the press-room door. A similar incident, occurring +a little later in the same year, so incensed Capt. Ball, who aptly +enough was at the time in command of the _Nemesis_, that he +roundly swore "to impress every seafaring man in Dover and make them +repent of their impudence." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +301--Law Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, No. 44; _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1507--Capt. Ball, 15 April 1791.] + +Where the magistrate had it most in his power to make or mar the +fugitive sailor's chances was in connection with the familiar fiction +that the Englishman's house is his castle. To hide a sailor was to +steal the king's chattel--penalty, 5 Pounds forfeited to the parish; +and if you were guilty of such a theft, or were with good reason +suspected of being guilty, you found yourself in much the same case as +the ordinary thief or the receiver of stolen goods. A search warrant +could be sworn out before a magistrate, and your house ransacked from +cellar to garret. Without such warrant, however, it could not be +lawfully entered. In the heat of pressing forcible entry was +nevertheless not unusual, and many an impress officer found himself +involved in actions for trespass or damages in consequence of his own +indiscretion or the excessive zeal of his gang. The defence set up by +Lieut. Doyle, of Dublin, that the "Panel of the Door was Broke by +Accident," would not go down in a court of law, however avidly it +might be swallowed by the Board of Admiralty. + +More than this. The magistrate was by law empowered to seize all +straggling seamen and landsmen and hand them over to the gangs for +consignment to the fleet. The vagabond, as the unfortunate tramp of +those days was commonly called, had thus a bad time of it. For him all +roads led to Spithead. The same was true of persons who made +themselves a public nuisance in other ways. By express magisterial +order many answering to that description followed Francis Juniper of +Cuckfield, "a very drunken, troublesome fellow, without a coat to his +back," who was sent away lest he should become "chargeable to the +parish." The magistrate in this way conferred a double benefit upon +his country. He defended it against itself whilst helping it to defend +itself against the French. Still, the latter benefit was not always +above suspicion. The "ignorant zeal of simple justices," we are told, +often impelled them to hand over to the gangs men whom "any old woman +could see with half an eye to be properer objects of pity and charity +than fit to serve His Majesty." + +"Send your myrmidons," was a form of summons familiar to every gang +officer. As its tone implies, its source was magisterial, and when the +officer received it he hastened with his gang to the Petty Sessions, +the Assizes or the prison, and there took over, as an unearned +increment of His Majesty's fleet, the person of some misdemeanant +willing to exchange bridewell for the briny, or the manacled body of +some convicted felon who preferred to swing in a hammock at sea rather +than on the gallows ashore. + +A strangely assorted crew it was, this overflow of the jails that +clanked slowly seawards, marshalled by the gang. Reprieves and +commutations, if by no means universal in a confirmed hanging age, +were yet common enough to invest it with an appalling sameness that +was nevertheless an appalling variety. Able seamen sentenced for +horse-stealing or rioting, town dwellers raided out of night-houses, +impostors who simulated fits or played the maimed soldier, fishermen +in the illicit brandy and tobacco line, gentlemen of the road, makers +of "flash" notes and false coin, stealers of sheep, assaulters of +women, pickpockets and murderers in one unmitigated throng went the +way of the fleet and there sank their vices, their roguery, their +crimes and their identity in the number of a mess. + +Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too--youths barely in their +teens, guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people +who passed in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine +service on Sunday" and remaining impenitent and obdurate when +confronted with all the "terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and +dark cells" pertaining to a well-equipped city jail. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534, 1545--Capt. Barker, 1 March 1805, 20 +Aug. 1809, and numerous instances.] The turning over of such young +reprobates to the gang was one of the pleasing duties of the +magistrate. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + + + +When all avenues of escape were cut off and the sailor found himself +face to face with the gang and imminent capture, he either surrendered +his liberty at the word of command or staked it on the issue of a +fight. + +His choice of the latter alternative was the proverbial turning of the +worm, but of a worm that was no mean adversary. Fear of the gang, +supposing him to entertain any, was thrown to the winds. Fear of the +consequences--the clink, or maybe the gallows for a last +land-fall--which had restrained him in less critical moments when he +had both room to run and opportunity, sat lightly on him now. In red +realism there flashed through his brain the example of some doughty +sailor, the hero of many an anchor-watch and forecastle yarn, who had +fought the gang to its last man and yet come off victor. The swift +vision fired his blood and nerved his arm, and under its obsession he +stood up to his would-be captors with all the dogged pluck for which +he was famous when facing the enemy at sea. + +In contests of this description the weapon perhaps counted for as much +as the man who wielded it, and as its nature depended largely upon +circumstances and surroundings, the range of choice was generally wide +enough to please the most elective taste. Pressing consequently +introduced the gangsman to some strange weapons. + +Trim, the Poole sailor whose capture is narrated in the foregoing +chapter, defended himself with a red-hot poker. In what may be termed +domestic as opposed to public pressing, the use of this homely utensil +as an impromptu liberty-preserver was not at all uncommon. Hot or +cold, it proved a formidable weapon in the hands of a determined man, +more especially when, as was at that time very commonly the case, it +belonged to the ponderous cobiron or knobbed variety. + +Another weapon of recognised utility, particularly in the vicinity of +docks, careening-stations and ship-yards, was the humble tar-mop. +Consisting of a wooden handle some five or six feet in length, though +of no great diameter, terminating in a ball of spun-yarn forming the +actual mop, this implement, when new, was comparatively harmless. No +serious blow could then be dealt with it; but once it had been used +for "paying" a vessel's bottom and sides it underwent a change that +rendered it truly formidable. The ball of ravellings forming the mop +became then thoroughly, charged with tar or pitch and dried in a rough +mass scarcely less heavy than lead. In this condition it was capable +of inflicting a terrible blow, and many were the tussels decided by +it. A remarkable instance of its effective use occurred at Ipswich in +1703, when a gang from the _Solebay_, rowing up the Orwell from +Harwich, attempted to press the men engaged in re-paying a collier. +They were immediately "struck down with Pitch-Mopps, to the great +Peril of their Lives." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436 +--Capt. Aldred, 6 Jan. 1702-3.] + +The weapon to which the sailor was most partial, however, was the +familiar capstan-bar. In it, as in its fellow the handspike, he found +a whole armament. Its availability, whether on shipboard or at the +waterside, its rough-and-ready nature, and above all its heft and +general capacity for dealing a knock-down blow without inflicting +necessarily fatal injuries, adapted it exactly to the sailor's +requirements, defensive or the reverse. It was with a capstan-bar that +Paul Jones, when hard pressed by a gang on board his ship at +Liverpool, was reputed to have stretched three of his assailants dead +on deck. Every sailor had heard of that glorious achievement and +applauded it, the killing perhaps grudgingly excepted. + +So, too, did he applaud the hardihood of William Bingham, that +far-famed north-country sailor who, adopting pistols as his weapon, +negligently stuck a brace of them in his belt and walked the streets +of Newcastle in open defiance of the gangs, none of which durst lay a +hand on him till the unlucky day when, in a moment of criminal +carelessness that could never be forgiven, he left his weapons at home +and was haled to the press-room fighting, all too late, like a fiend +incarnate. + +Not to enlarge on the endless variety of chance weapons, there +remained those good old-standers the musket, the cutlass and the +knife, each of which, in the sailor's grasp, played its part in the +rough-and-tumble of pressing, and played it well. A case in point, +familiar to every seaman, was the last fight put up by that famous +Plymouth sailor, Emanuel Herbert, another fatalist who, like Bingham, +believed in having two strings to his bow. He accordingly provided +himself with both fuzee and hanger, and with these comforting +bed-fellows retired to rest in an upper chamber of the public-house +where he lodged, easy in the knowledge that whatever happened the door +of his crib commanded the stairs. From this stronghold the gang +invited him to come down. He returned the compliment by inviting them +up, assuring them that he had a warm welcome in store for the first +who should favour him with a visit. The ambiguity of the invitation +appears to have been thrown away upon the gang, for "three of my +people," says the officer who led them, "rushed up, and the gun +missing fire, he immediately run one of them through the body with the +hanger"--a mode of welcoming his visitors which resulted in Herbert's +shifting his lodgings to Exeter jail, and in the wounded man's speedy +death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Brown, 4 +July 1727.] + +Here was a serious contingency indeed; but whatever deterrent effect +the fatal issue of this affair, as of many similar ones, may have had +upon the sailor's use of lethal weapons when attacked by the gang, +that effect was largely, if not altogether, neutralised by the upshot +of the famous Broadfoot case, which, occurring some sixteen years +later, gave the scales of justice a decided turn in the sailor's +favour and robbed the killing of a gangsman of its only terror, the +shadow of the gallows. The incident in question opened in Bristol +river, with the boarding of a merchant-man by a tender's gang. As they +came over the side Broadfoot met them, blunderbuss in hand. Being +there to guard the ship, he bade them begone, and upon their +disregarding the order, and closing in upon him with evident intent to +take him, he clapped the blunderbuss, which was heavily charged with +swanshot, to his shoulder and let fly into the midst of them. One of +their number, Calahan by name, fell mortally wounded, and Broadfoot +was in due course indicted for wilful murder. [Footnote: +_Westminster Journal_, 30 April 1743.] How he was found not +guilty on the ground that a warrant directed to the lieutenant gave +the gang no power to take him, and that he was therefore justified in +defending himself, was well known to every sailor in the kingdom. No +jury thereafter ever found him guilty of a capital felony if by chance +he killed a gangsman in self-defence. The worst he had to fear was a +verdict of manslaughter--a circumstance that proved highly inspiriting +to him in his frequent scraps with the gang. + +There was another aspect of the case, however, that came home to the +sailor rather more intimately than the risk of being called upon to +"do time" under conditions scarcely worse than those he habitually +endured at sea. Suppose, instead of his killing the gangsman, the +gangsman killed him? He recalled a case he had heard much palaver +about. An able seaman, a perfect Tom Bowling of a fellow, brought to +at an alehouse in the Borough--the old "Bull's Head" it was--having a +mind to lie snug for a while, 'tween voyages. However, one day, being +three sheets in the wind or thereabouts, he risked a run and was made +a prize of, worse luck, by a press-gang that engaged him. Their boat +lay at Battle Bridge in the Narrow Passage, and while they were +bearing down upon her, with the sailor-chap in tow, what should Jack +do but out with his knife and slip it into one of the gangers. 'Twas +nothing much, a waistcoat wound at most, but the ganger resented the +liberty, and swearing that no man should tap his claret for nix, he +ups with his cudgel and fetches Jack a clip beside the head that lost +him the number of his mess, for soon after he was discharged dead +along of having his head broke. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1486--Lieut. Slyford, 24 Nov. 1755. "Discharged dead," abbreviated to +"DD," the regulation entry in the muster books against the names of +persons deceased.] + +Risks of this sort raised grave issues for the sailor--issues to be +well considered of in those serious moments that came to the most +reckless on the wings of the wind or the lift of the waves at sea, +what time drink and the gang were remote factors in the problem of +life. But ashore! Ah! that was another matter. Life ashore was far too +crowded, far too sweet for serious reflections. The absorbing business +of pleasure left little room for thought, and the thoughts that came +to the sailor later, when he had had his fling and was again afoot in +search of a ship, decidedly favoured the killing of a gangsman, if +need be, rather than the loss of his own life or of a berth. The +prevalence of these sentiments rendered the taking of the sailor a +dangerous business, particularly when he consorted in bands. + +In that part of the west country traversed by the great roads from +Bristol to Liverpool, and having Stourbridge as its approximate +centre, ambulatory bands proved very formidable. The presence of the +rendezvous at Stourbridge accounted for this. Seamen travelled in +strength because they feared it. Two gangs were stationed there under +Capt. Beecher, and news of the approach of a large party of seamen +from the south having one day been brought in, he at once made +preparations for intercepting them. Lieut. Barnsley and his gang +marched direct to Hoobrook, a couple of miles south of Kidderminster, +a point the seamen had perforce to pass. His instructions were to wait +there, picking up in the meantime such of the sailor party as lagged +behind from footsoreness or fatigue, till joined by Lieut. Birchall +and the other gang, when the two were to unite forces and press the +main body. Through unforeseen circumstances, however, the plan +miscarried. Birchall, who had taken a circuitous route, arrived late, +whilst the band of sailors arrived early. They numbered, moreover, +forty-six as against eleven gangsmen and two officers. Four to one was +a temptation the sailors could not resist. They attacked the gangs +with such ferocity that out of the thirteen only one man returned to +the rendezvous with a whole skin. Luckily, there were no casualties on +this occasion; but a few days later, while two of Barnsley's gangsmen +were out on duty some little distance from the town, they were +suddenly attacked by a couple of sailors, presumably members of the +same band, who left one of them dead in the road. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Beecher, 12 July and 4 Aug. +1781.] + +Owing to its close proximity to the Thames, that remote suburb of +eighteenth century London known as Stepney Fields was much frequented +by armed bands of the above description, who successfully resisted all +attempts to take them. The master-at-arms of the _Chatham_ +man-o'-war, chancing once to pass that way, came in for exceedingly +rough usage at their hands, and when next day a lieutenant from the +same ship appeared upon the scene with a gang at his back and tried to +press the ringleaders in that affair, they "swore by God he should +not, and if he offered to lay hands on them, they would cut him down." +With this threat they drew their cutlasses, slashed savagely at the +lieutenant, and "made off through the Mobb which had gathered round +them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2579--Capt. Townshend, +21 April 1743.] + +A spot not many miles distant from Stepney Fields was the scene of a +singular fray many years later. His Majesty's ship _Squirrel_ +happened at the time to be lying in Longreach, and her commander, +Capt. Brawn, one day received intelligence that a number of sailors +were to be met with in the town of Barking. He at once dispatched his +1st and 2nd lieutenants with a contingent of twenty-five men and +several petty officers, to rout them out and take them. They reached +Barking about nine o'clock in the evening, the month being July, and +were not long in securing several of the skulkers, who with many of +the male inhabitants of the place were at that hour congregated in +public-houses, unsuspicious of danger. The sudden appearance in their +midst of so large an armed force, however, coupled with the outcry and +confusion inseparable from the pressing of a number of men, alarmed +the townsfolk, who poured into the streets, rescued the pressed men, +and would have inflicted summary punishment upon the intruders had not +the senior officer, seeing his party hopelessly outnumbered, tactfully +drawn off his force. This he did in good order and without serious +hurt; but just as he and his men were congratulating themselves upon +their escape, they were suddenly ambushed, at a point where their road +ran between high banks, by a "large concourse of Irish haymakers, to +the number of at least five hundred men, all armed with sabres +[Footnote: So in the original, but "sabres" is perhaps an error for +"scythes."] and pitchforks," who with wild cries and all the +Irishman's native love of a shindy fell upon the unfortunate gangsmen +and gave them a "most severe beating." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Brawn, 3 July 1803.] + +Attacks on the gang, made with deliberate intent to rescue pressed men +from its custody, were by no means confined to Barking. The informer +throve in the land, but notwithstanding his hostile activity the +sailor everywhere had friends who possessed at least one cardinal +virtue. They seldom hung back when he was in danger, or hesitated to +strike a blow in his defence. + +There came into Limehouse Hole, on a certain day in the summer of +1709, a vessel called the _Martin_ galley. How many men were in +her we do not learn; but whatever their number, there was amongst them +one man who had either a special dread of the press or some more than +usually urgent occasion for wishing to avoid it. Watching his +opportunity, he slipped into one of the galley's boats, sculled her +rapidly to land, and there leapt out--just as a press-gang hove in +sight ahead! It was a dramatic moment. The sailor, tacking at sight of +the enemy, ran swiftly along the river-bank, but was almost +immediately overtaken, knocked down, and thrown into the press-boat, +which lay near by. "This gather'd a Mob," says the narrator of the +incident, "who Pelted the Boat and Gang by throwing Stones and Dirt +from the Shoar, and being Pursued also by the Galley's men, who +brought Cutlasses in the Boat with them to rescue their Prest Man, the +Gang was at last forc'd to betake themselves to a Corn-lighter, where +they might stand upon their Defence. The Galley's men could not get +aboard, but lay with their Boat along the side of the Lighter, where +they endeavouring to force in, and the Gang to keep them out, the Boat +of a sudden oversett and some of the Men therein were Drown'd. Three +of the Press-Gang were forc'd likewise into the Water, whereof 'tis +said one is Drown'd and the other two in Irons in the New Prison. The +remaining part of the Gang leapt into a Wherry, the Galley's men +pursuing them, but, not gaining upon them, they gave over the +Pursuit." The pressed man all this while was laughing in his sleeve. +"He lay on the other side of the Lighter, in the Tender's boat, whence +he made his escape." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437 +--Capt. Aston, 10 Aug. 1709.] + +In their efforts to restore the freedom of the pressed man, the +sailor's friends did not confine their attention exclusively to the +gang. When they turned out in vindication of those rights which the +sailor did not possess, they not infrequently found their diversion in +wrecking the gang's headquarters or in making a determined, though +generally futile, onslaught upon the tender. Respectable people, who +had no particular reason to favour the sailor's cause, viewed these +ebullitions of mingled rage and mischief with dismay, stigmatising +those who so lightheartedly participated in them as the "lower +classes" and the "mob." + +Few towns in the kingdom boasted--or reprobated, as the case might +be--a more erratically festive mob than Leith. As far back as 1709 +Bailie Cockburn had advised the inhabitants of that burgh to "oppose +any impressor," and seizing the occasion of the "Impressure of an +Apprentice Boy," had set them an example by arresting the pinnace of +Her Majesty's ship _Rye_, together with her whole crew, thirteen +in number, and keeping them in close confinement till the lad was +given up. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2448--Capt. Shale, 4 +Jan. 1708-9.] The worthy Bailie was in due time gathered unto his +fathers, and with the growth of the century gangs came and went in +endless succession, but neither the precept nor the example was ever +forgotten in Leith. Much pressing was done there, but it was done +almost entirely upon the water. To transfer the scene of action to the +strand meant certain tumult, for there the whim of the mob was law. +Now it pulled the gang-officer's house about his ears because he dared +to press a shipwright; again, it stoned the gang viciously because +they rescued some seamen from a wreck--and kept them. Between whiles +it amused itself by cutting down the rendezvous flag-staff; and if +nothing better offered, it split up into component parts, each of +which became a greater terror than the whole. One night, when the +watch had been set and all was quiet, a party of this description, +only three in number, approached the rendezvous and respectfully +requested leave to drink a last dram with some newly pressed men who +were then in the cage, their quondam shipmates. Suspecting no ulterior +design, the guard incautiously admitted them, whereupon they dashed a +quantity of spirits on the fire, set the place in a blaze, and carried +off the pressed men amid the hullabaloo that followed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1516-9--Letters of Capt. Brenton, 1797-8; +Lieut. Pierie, 2 Feb. 1798.] + +If Leith did this sort of thing well, Greenock, her commercial rival +on the Clyde, did it very much better; for where the Leith mob was but +a sporadic thing, erupting from its slummy fastnesses only in response +to rumour of chance amusement to be had or mischief to be done, +Greenock held her mob always in hand, a perpetual menace to the +gangsman did he dare to disregard the Clydeside ordinance in respect +to pressing. That ordinance restricted pressing exclusively to the +water; but it went further, for it laid it down as an inviolable rule +that members of certain trades should not be pressed at all. + +It was with the Trades that the ordinance originated. There was little +or no Greenock apart from the Trades. The will of the Trades was +supreme. The coopers, carpenters, riggers, caulkers and seamen of the +town ruled the burgh. Assembled in public meeting, they resolved +unanimously "to stand by and support each other" in the event of a +press; and having come to this decision they indited a trite letter to +the magistrates, intimating in unequivocal terms that "if they +countenanced the press, they must abide by the consequences," for once +the Trades took the matter in hand "they could not say where they +would stop." With the worthy burgesses laying down the law in this +fashion, it is little wonder that the gangs "seldom dared to press +ashore," or that they should have been able to take "only two coopers +in ten months." + +For the Trades were as good as their word. The moment a case of +prohibited pressing became known they took action. Alexander Weir, +member of the Shipwrights' Society, was taken whilst returning from +his "lawful employ," and immediately his mates, to the number of +between three and four hundred, downed tools and marched to the +rendezvous, where they peremptorily demanded his release. Have him +they would, and if the gang-officer did not see fit to comply with +their demand, not only should he never press another man in Greenock, +but they would seize one of the armed vessels in the river, lay her +alongside the tender, where Weir was confined, and take him out of her +by force. Brenton was regulating captain there at the time, and to +pacify the mob he promised to release the man--and broke his word. +Thereupon the people "became very riotous and proceeded to burn +everything that came in their way. About twelve o'clock they hauled +one of the boats belonging to the rendezvous upon the Square and put +her into the fire, but by the timely assistance of the officers and +gangs, supported by the magistrates and a body of the Fencibles, the +boat was recovered, though much damaged, and several of the +ringleaders taken up and sent to prison." The affair did not end +without bloodshed. "Lieut. Harrison, in defending himself, was under +the necessity of running one of the rioters through the ribs." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1508--Letters of Capt. Brenton, +1793.] + +Though Bailie Cockburn once "arrested" the pinnace of a man-o'-war at +Leith, the attempted burning of the Greenock press-boat is worthy of +more than passing note as the only instance of that form of +retaliation to be met with in the history of home pressing. In the +American colonies, on the other hand, it was a common feature of +demonstrations against the gang. Boston was specially notorious for +that form of reprisal, and Governor Shirley, in one of his masterly +dispatches, narrates at length, and with no little humour, how the mob +on one occasion burnt with great eclat what they believed to be the +press-boat, only to discover, when it was reduced to ashes, that it +belonged to one of their own ringleaders. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 38l8--Shirley to the Admiralty, 1 Dec. 1747.] + +The threat of the Greenock artificers to lay alongside the tender and +take out their man by force of arms was one for which there existed +abundant, if by no means encouraging precedent. Long before, as early, +indeed, as 1742, the keelmen frequenting Sunderland had set them an +example in that respect by endeavouring, some hundreds strong, to haul +the tender ashore--an attempt coupled with threats so dire that the +officer in command trembled in his shoes lest he and his men should +all "be made sacrifices of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Allen, 13 March 1741-2.] Nothing so dreadful happened, +however, for the attempt, like that made at Shoreham a few years +later, when there "appear'd in Sight, from towards Brighthelmstone, +about two or three Hundred Men arm'd with different Weapons, who +came with an Intent to Attack the _Dispatch_ sloop," failed +ignominiously, the attackers being routed on both occasions by a +timely use of swivel guns and musketry. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Lieut. Barnsley, 25 March 1746.] + +Similar disaster overtook the organisers of the Tooley Street affair, +of which one Taylor, lieutenant to Capt. William Boys of the _Royal +Sovereign_, was the active cause. At the "Spread-Eagle" in Tooley +Street he and his gang one evening pressed a privateersman--an insult +keenly resented by the master of the ship. He accordingly sent off to +the tender, whither the pressed man had been conveyed for security's +sake, two wherries filled with armed seamen of the most piratical +type. The fierce fight that ensued had a dramatic finish. "Two Pistols +we took from them," says the narrator of the incident, in his quaint +old style, "and three Cutlasses, and Six Men; but one of the Men took +the Red Hott Poker out of the Fire, and our Men, having the Cutlasses, +Cutt him and Kill'd him in Defence of themselves." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1488--Lieut. Taylor, 1 April 1757.] + +In attacks of this nature the fact that the tender was afloat told +heavily in her favour, for unless temporarily hung up upon a mud-bank +by the fall of the tide, she could only be got at by means of boats. +With the rendezvous ashore the case was altogether different. Here you +had a building in a public street, flaunting its purpose provocatively +in your very face, and having a rear to guard as well as a front. For +these reasons attacks on the rendezvous were generally attended with a +greater measure of success than similar attempts directed against the +tenders. The face of a pressed man had only to show itself at one of +the stoutly barred windows, and immediately a crowd gathered. To the +prisoner behind the bars this crowd was friendly, commiserating or +chaffing him by turns; but to the gangsmen responsible for his being +there it was invariably and uncompromisingly hostile, so much so that +it needed only a carelessly uttered threat, or a thoughtlessly lifted +hand, to fan the smouldering fires of hatred into a blaze. When this +occurred, as it often did, things happened. Paving-stones hurtled +through the curse-laden air, the windows flew in fragments, the door, +assailed by overwhelming numbers, crashed in, and despite the stoutest +resistance the gang could offer the pressed man was hustled out and +carried off in triumph. + +The year 1755 witnessed a remarkable attack of this description upon +the rendezvous at Deal, where a band of twenty-seven armed men made a +sudden descent upon that obnoxious centre of activity and cut up the +gang most grievously. As all wore masks and had their faces blackened, +identification was out of the question. A reward of 200 Pounds, +offered for proof of complicity in the outrage, elicited no +information, and as a matter of fact its perpetrators were never +discovered. + +In Capt. McCleverty's time the gang at Waterford was once very roughly +handled whilst taking in a pressed man, and Mr. Mayor Alcock came +hurrying down to learn what was amiss. He found the rendezvous beset +by an angry and dangerous gathering. "Sir," said he to the captain, +"have you no powder or shot in the house?" McCleverty assured him that +he had. "Then, sir," cried the mayor, raising his voice so that all +might hear, "do you make use of it, and I will support you." The crowd +understood that argument and immediately dispersed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Deposition of Lieut. M Kellop, +1780.] + +Had the Admiralty reasoned in similar terms with those who beat its +gangsmen, converted its rendezvous into match-wood and carried off its +pressed men, it would have quickly made itself as heartily feared as +it was already hated; but in seeking to shore up an odious cause by +pacific methods it laid its motives open to the gravest +misconstruction. Prudence was construed into timidity, and with every +abstention from lead the sailor's mobbish friends grew more daring and +outrageous. + +One night in the winter of 1780, whilst Capt. Worth of the Liverpool +rendezvous sat lamenting the temporary dearth of seamen, Lieut. +Haygarth came rushing in with a rare piece of news. On the road from +Lancaster, it was reported, there was a whole coach-load of sailors. +The chance was too good to be lost, and instant steps were taken to +intercept the travellers. The gangs turned out, fully armed, and took +up their position at a strategic point, just outside the town, +commanding the road by which the sailors had to pass. By and by along +came the coach, the horses weary, the occupants nodding or asleep. In +a trice they were surrounded. Some of the gangsmen sprang at the +horses' heads, others threw themselves upon the drowsy passengers. +Shouts, curses and the thud of blows broke the silence of the night. +Then the coach rumbled on again, empty. Its late occupants, fifteen in +number, sulkily followed on foot, surrounded by their captors, who, as +soon as the town was reached, locked them into the press-room for the +rest of the night, it being the captain's intention to put them on +board the tender in the Mersey at break of day. + +In this, however, he was frustrated by a remarkable development in the +situation. Unknown to him, the coach-load of seamen had been designed +for the _Stag_ privateer, a vessel just on the point of sailing. +News of their capture reaching the ship soon after their arrival in +the town, Spence, her 1st lieutenant, at once roused out all his +available men, armed them, to the number of eighty, with cutlass and +pistol, and led them ashore. There all was quiet, favouring their +design. The hour was still early, and the silent, swift march through +the deserted streets attracted no attention and excited no alarm. At +the rendezvous the opposition of the weary sentinels counted for +little. It was quickly brushed aside, the strong-room door gave way +beneath a few well-directed blows, and by the time Liverpool went to +breakfast the _Stag_ privateer was standing out to sea, her crew +not only complete, but ably supplemented by eight additional occupants +of the press-room who had never, so far as is known, travelled in that +commodious vehicle, the Lancaster coach. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7, 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 19.] + +The neighbouring city of Chester in 1803 matched this exploit by +another of great audacity. Chester had long been noted for its +hostility to the gang, and the fact that the local volunteer +corps--the Royal Chester Artillery--was composed mainly of ropemakers, +riggers, shipwrights and sailmakers who had enlisted for the sole +purpose of evading the press, did not tend to allay existing friction. +Hence, when Capt. Birchall brought over a gang from Liverpool because +he could not form one in Chester itself, and when he further +signalised his arrival by pressing Daniel Jackson, a well-known +volunteer, matters at once came to an ugly head. The day happened to +be a field-day, and as Birchall crossed the market square to wait upon +the magistrates at the City Hall, he was "given to understand what +might be expected in the evening," for one of the artillerymen, +striking his piece, called out to his fellows: "Now for a running +ball! There he goes!" with hissing, booing and execrations. At seven +o'clock one of the gang rushed into the captain's lodgings with +disquieting news. The volunteers were attacking the rendezvous. He +hurried out, but by the time he arrived on the scene the mischief was +already done. The enraged volunteers, after first driving the gang +into the City Hall, had torn down the rendezvous colours and staff, +and broken open the city jail and rescued their comrade, whom they +were then in the act of carrying shoulder-high through the streets, +the centre of a howling mob that even the magistrates feared to face. +By request Birchall and his gang returned to Liverpool, counting +themselves lucky to have escaped the "running ball" they had been +threatened with earlier in the day. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Birchall, 29 Dec. 1803.] + +Another town that gave the gang a hot reception was Whitby. As in the +case of Chester the gang there was an importation, having been brought +in from Tyneside by Lieuts. Atkinson and Oakes. As at Chester, too, a +place of rendezvous had been procured with difficulty, for at first no +landlord could be found courageous enough to let a house for so +dangerous a purpose. At length, however, one Cooper was prevailed upon +to take the risk, and the flag was hung out. This would seem to have +been the only provocative act of which the gang was guilty. It +sufficed. Anticipation did the rest; for just as in some individuals +gratitude consists in a lively sense of favours to come, so the +resentment of mobs sometimes avenges a wrong before it has been +inflicted. + +On Saturday the 23rd of February 1793, at the hour of half-past seven +in the evening, a mob of a thousand persons, of whom many were women, +suddenly appeared before the rendezvous. The first intimation of what +was about to happen came in the shape of a furious volley of brickbats +and stones, which instantly demolished every window in the house, to +the utter consternation of its inmates. Worse, however, was in store +for them. An attempt to rush the place was temporarily frustrated by +the determined opposition of the gang, who, fearing that all in the +house would be murdered, succeeded in holding the mob at bay for an +hour and a half; but at nine o'clock, several of the gangsmen having +been in the meantime struck down and incapacitated by stones, which +were rained upon the devoted building without cessation, the door at +length gave way before an onslaught with capstan-bars, and the mob +swarmed in unchecked. A scene of indescribable confusion and fury +ensued. Savagely assaulted and mercilessly beaten, the gangsmen and +the unfortunate landlord were thrown into the street more dead than +alive, every article of furniture on the premises was reduced to +fragments, and when the mob at length drew off, hoarsely jubilant over +the destruction it had wrought, nothing remained of His Majesty's +rendezvous save bare walls and gaping windows. Even these were more +than the townsfolk could endure the sight of. Next evening they +reappeared upon the scene, intending to finish what they had begun by +pulling the house down or burning it to ashes; but the timely arrival +of troops frustrating their design, they regretfully dispersed. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2739--Lieut. Atkinson, 26 Feb. +and 27 June 1793.] + +Out at sea the sailor, if he could not set the tune by running away +from the gang, played up to it with great heartiness. To sink the +press-boat was his first aim. With this end in view he held stolidly +on his course, if under weigh, betraying his intention by no sign till +the boat, manoeuvring to get alongside of him, was in the right +position for him to strike. Then, all of a sudden, he showed his hand. +Clapping his helm hard over, he dexterously ran the boat down, leaving +the struggling gangsmen to make what shift they could for their lives. +Many a knight of the hanger was sent to Davy Jones in this summary +fashion, unloved in life and cursed in the article of death. + +The attempt to best the gang by a master-stroke of this description +was not, it need hardly be said, attended with uniform success. A miss +of an inch or two, and the boat was safe astern, pulling like mad to +recover lost ground. In these circumstances the sailor recalled how he +had once seen a block fall from aloft and smash a shipmate's head, and +from this he argued that if a suitable object such as a heavy +round-shot, or, better still, the ship's grindstone, were deftly +dropped over the side at the psychological moment, it must either have +a somewhat similar effect upon the gangsmen below or sink the boat by +knocking a hole in her bottom. The case of the _John and +Elizabeth_ of Sunderland, that redoubtable Holland pink whose +people were "resolved sooner to dye than to be impressed," affords an +admirable example of the successful application of this theory. + +As the _John and Elizabeth_ was running into Sunderland harbour +one afternoon in February 1742, three press-boats, hidden under cover +of the pier-head, suddenly darted out as she surged past that point +and attempted to board her. They met with a remarkable repulse. For +ten minutes, according to the official account of the affair, the air +was filled with grindstones, four-pound shot, iron crows, handspikes, +capstan-bars, boat-hooks, billets of wood and imprecations, and when +it cleared there was not in any of the boats a man who did not bear +upon his person some bloody trace of that terrible fusillade. They +sheered off, but in the excitement of the moment and the mortification +of defeat Midshipmen Clapp and Danton drew their pistols and fired +into the jeering crew ranged along the vessel's gunwhale, "not +knowing," as they afterwards pleaded, "that there was any balls in the +pistols." Evidence to the contrary was quickly forthcoming. A man fell +dead on the pink's deck, and before morning the two middies were safe +under lock and key in that "dismal hole," Durham jail. It was a +notable victory for the sailor and applied mechanics. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Allen, 13 March 1741-2, and +enclosure.] + +The affair of the _King William_ Indiaman, a ship whose people +kept the united boats'-crews of two men-of-war at bay for nearly +twenty-four hours, carried the sailor's resistance to the press an +appreciable step further and developed some surprising tactics. +Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of a day in September +1742, two ships came into the Downs in close order. They had been +expected earlier in the day, and both the _Shrewsbury_ frigate +and the _Shark_ sloop were on the lookout for them. A shot from +the former brought the headmost to an anchor, but the second, the +_King William_, hauled her wind and stood away close to the +Goodwins, out of range of the frigate's guns. Here, the tide being +spent and the wind veering ahead, she was obliged to anchor, and the +warships' boats were at once manned and dispatched to press her men. +Against this eventuality the latter appear to have been primed "with +Dutch courage," as the saying went, the manner of which was to broach +a cask of rum and drink your fill. On the approach of the press-boats +pandemonium broke loose. The maddened crew, brandishing their +cutlasses and shouting defiance, assailed the on-coming boats with +every description of missile they could lay hands on, not excepting +that most dangerous of all casual ammunition, broken bottles. +The _Shrewsbury's_ mate fell, seriously wounded, and finding +themselves unable to face the terrible hail of missiles, the boats +drew off. Night now came on, rendering further attempts temporarily +impossible--a respite of which the Indiaman's crew availed themselves +to confine the master and break open the arms-chest, which he had +taken the precaution to nail down. With morning the boats returned to +the attack. Three times they attempted to board, and as often were +they repulsed by pistol and musketry fire. Upon this the _Shark_, +acting under peremptory orders from the _Shrewsbury_, ran down to +within half-gunshot of the Indiaman and fired a broadside into her, +immediately afterwards repeating the dose on finding her still +defiant. The ship then submitted and all her men were pressed save +two. They had been killed by the _Shark's_ gun-fire. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829--Capt. Goddard, 22 Sept. and 16 Oct., +and his Deposition, 19 Oct. 1742.] + +With the appearance of the gang on the deck of his ship there was +ushered in the last stage but one of the sailor's resistance to the +press afloat. How, when this happened, all hands were mustered and the +protected sheep separated from the unprotected goats, has been fully +described in a previous chapter. These preliminaries at an end, "Now, +my lads," said the gang officer, addressing the pressable contingent +in the terms of his instructions, "I must tell you that you are at +liberty, if you so choose, to enter His Majesty's service as +volunteers. If you come in in that way, you will each receive the +bounty now being paid, together with two months' advance wages before +you go to sea. But if you don't choose to enter volunteerly, then I +must take you against your wills" + +It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback--ay! and young one +too--spat viciously when he heard it. Conceive the situation! Here +were these poor fellows returning from a voyage which perhaps had cut +them off from home and kindred, from all the ordinary comforts and +pleasures of life, for months or maybe years; here were they, with the +familiar cliffs and downs under their hungry eyes, suddenly confronted +with an alternative of the cruellest description, a Hobson's choice +that left them no option but to submit or fight. It was a +heartbreaking predicament for men, and more especially for sailor-men, +to be placed in, and if they sometimes rose to the occasion like men +and did their best to heave the gang bodily into the sea, or to drive +them out of the ship with such weapons as their hard situation and the +sailor's Providence threw in their way--if they did these things in +the gang's despite, they must surely be judged as outraged husbands, +fathers and lovers rather than as disloyal subjects of an exacting +king. They would have made but sorry man-o'-war's-men had they +entertained the gang in any other way. + +Opposed to the service cutlass, the sailor's emergency weapon was but +a poor tool to stake his liberty upon, and even though the numerical +odds chanced to be in his favour he often learnt, in the course of his +pitched battles with the gang, that the edge of a hanger is sharper +than the corresponding part of a handspike. Lucky for him if, with his +shipmates, he could then retreat to close quarters below or between +decks, there to make a final stand for his brief spell of liberty +ashore. This was his last ditch. Beyond it lay only surrender or +death. + +The death of the sailor at the hands of the gang introduces us to a +phase of pressing technically known as the accidental, wherein the +accidents were of three kinds--casual, unavoidable, and +"disagreeable." + +The casual accident was one that could be neither foreseen nor +averted, as when Capt. Argles, returning to England on the breaking up +of the Limerick rendezvous in 1814, was captured by an American +privateer "well up the Bristol Channel," a place where no one ever +dreamed of falling in with such an enemy. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 17 Aug. 1814.] + +To the unavoidable accident every impress officer and agent was liable +in the execution of his duty. It could thus be foreseen in the +abstract, though not in the instance. Hence it could not be avoided. +Wounds given and received in the heat and turmoil of pressing came +under this head, provided they did not prove fatal. + +The accident "disagreeable" was peculiar to pressing. It consisted in +the killing of a man, by whatever means and in whatever manner, whilst +endeavouring to press him, and the immediate effect of the act, which +was common enough, was to set up a remarkable contradiction in terms. +The man killed was not the victim of the accident. The victim was the +officer or gangsman who was responsible for striking him off the roll +of His Majesty's pressable subjects, and who thus let himself in for +the consequences, more or less disagreeable, which inevitably +followed. + +While it was naturally the ambition of every officer engaged in +pressing "to do the business without any disagreeable accident +ensuing," he preferred, did fate ordain it otherwise, that the +accident should happen at sea rather than on land, since it was on +land that the most disagreeable consequences accrued to the +unfortunate victim. These embraced flight and prolonged expatriation, +or, in the alternative, arrest, preliminary detention in one of His +Majesty's prisons, and subsequent trial at the Assizes. What the +ultimate punishment might be was a minor, though still ponderable +consideration, since, where naval officers or agents were concerned, +the law was singularly capricious. [Footnote: As in Lacie's case, 25 +Elizabeth, where a mortal wound having been inflicted at sea, whereof +the party died on land, the prisoner was acquitted because neither the +Admiralty nor a jury could inquire of it.] At sea, on the other hand, +the conditions which on land rendered accidents of this nature so +uniformly disagreeable, were almost entirely reversed. How and why +this was so can be best explained by stating a case. + +The accident in point occurred in the year 1755, and is associated +with the illustrious name of Rodney. The Seven Years War was at the +time looming in the near future, and England's secret complicity in +the causes of that tremendous struggle rendered necessary the placing +of her Navy upon a footing adequate to the demands which it was +foreseen would be very shortly made upon it. In common with a hundred +other naval officers, Rodney, who was then in command of the _Prince +George_ guardship at Portsmouth, had orders to proceed without loss +of time to the raising of men. One of his lieutenants was accordingly +sent to London, that happy hunting-ground of the impress officer, +while two others, with picked crews at their backs, were put in charge +of tenders to intercept homeward-bounds. This was near the end of May. + + [Illustration: ANNE MILLS. Who served on board the _Maidstone_ +in 1740.] + +On the 1st of June, in the early morning, one of these tenders--the +_Princess Augusta_, Lieut. Sax commander--fell in, off Portland +Bill, with the _Britannia_, a Leghorn trader of considerable +force. In response to a shot fired as an intimation that she was +expected to lay-to and receive a gang on board, the master, hailing, +desired permission to retain his crew intact till he should have +passed that dangerous piece of navigation known as the Race. To this +reasonable request Sax acceded and the ship held on her course, +closely followed by the tender. By the time the Race was passed, +however, the merchant-man's crew had come to a resolution. They should +not be pressed by "such a pimping vessel" as the _Princess +Augusta_. Accordingly, they first deprived the master of the +command, and then, when again hailed by the tender, "swore they would +lose their lives sooner than bring too." The Channel at this time +swarmed with tenders, and to Sax's hint that they might just as well +give in then and there as be pressed later on, they replied with +defiant huzzas and the discharge of one of their maindeck guns. The +tender was immediately laid alongside, but on the gang's attempting to +board they encountered a resistance so fierce that Sax, thinking to +bring the infuriated crew to their senses, ordered his people to fire +upon them. Ralph Sturdy and John Debusk, armed with harpoons, and John +Wilson, who had requisitioned the cook's spit as a weapon, fell dead +before that volley. The rest, submitting without further ado, were at +once confined below. + +Now, three questions of moment are raised by this accident: What +became of the ship? what was done with the dead men? and what +punishment was meted out to the lieutenant and his gang? The crew once +secured under hatches, the safety of the ship became of course the +first consideration. It was assured by a simple expedient. The gang +remained on board and worked the vessel into Portsmouth harbour, +where, after her hands had been taken out--Rodney the receiver--"men +in lieu" were put on board, as explained in our chapter on pressing +afloat, and with this make-shift crew she was navigated to her +destination, in this instance the port of London. + +As persons killed at sea, the three sailors who lay dead on the ship's +deck did not come within the jurisdiction of the coroner. That +official's cognisance of such matters extended only to high-water mark +when the tide was at flood, or to low-water mark when it was at ebb. +Beyond those limits, seawards, all acts of violence done in great +ships, and resulting in mayhem or the death of a man, fell within the +sole purview and jurisdiction of the Station Admiral, who on this +occasion happened to be Sir Edward Hawke, commander of the White +Squadron at Portsmouth. Now Sir Edward was not less keenly alive to +the importance of keeping such cases hidden from the public eye than +were the Lords Commissioners. Hence he immediately gave orders that +the bodies of the dead men should be taken "without St. Helens" and +there committed to the deep. Instead of going to feed the Navy, the +three sailors thus went to feed the fishes, and another stain on the +service was washed out with a commendable absence of publicity and +fuss. + +There still remained the lieutenant and his gang to be dealt with and +brought to what, by another singular perversion of terms, was called +justice. On shore, notwithstanding the lenient view taken of such +accidents, an indictment of manslaughter, if not of murder, would have +assuredly followed the offence; and though in the circumstances it is +doubtful whether any jury would have found the culprits guilty of the +capital crime, yet the alternative verdict, with its consequent +imprisonment and disgrace, held out anything but a rosy prospect to +the young officer who had still his second "swab" to win. That was +where the advantage of accidents at sea came in. On shore the +judiciary, however kindly disposed to the naval service, were +painfully disinterested. At sea the scales of justice were held, none +too meticulously, by brother officers who had the service at heart. +Under the judicious direction of Admiral Osborn, who in the meantime +had succeeded Sir Edward Hawke in the Portsmouth command, Lieut. Sax +and his gang were consequently called upon to face no ordeal more +terrible than an "inquiry into their proceedings and behaviour." +Needless to say, they were unanimously exonerated, the court holding +that the discharge of their duty fully justified them in the discharge +of their muskets. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5925--Minutes +at a Court-Martial held on board H.M.S. _Prince George_ at +Portsmouth, 14 Nov. 1755. Precedent for the procedure in this case is +found in _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 27.] When such disagreeable accidents had to be +investigated, the disagreeable business was done--to purloin an apt +phrase of Coke's--"without prying into them with eagles' eyes." + +But it is time to leave the trail of blood and turn to a more +agreeable phase of pressing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GANG AT PLAY. + + + +The reasons assigned for the pressing of men who ought never to have +made the acquaintance of the warrant or the hanger were often as +far-fetched as they are amusing. "You have no right to press a person +of my distinction!" warmly protested an individual of the superior +type when pounced upon by the gang. "Lor love yer! that's the wery +reason we're a-pressin' of your worship," replied the grinning minions +of the service. "We've such a set of black-guards aboard the tender +yonder, we wants a toff like you to learn 'em manners." + +The quixotic idea of inculcating manners by means of the press +infected others besides the gangsman. In a Navy whose officers not +only plumed themselves on representing the _ne plus ultra_ of +etiquette, but demanded that all who approached them should do so +without sin either of omission or commission, the idea was universal. +Pride of service and pride of self entered into its composition in +about equal proportions; hence the sailing-master who neglected to +salute the flag, or who through ignorance, crass stupidity, or malice +aforethought flew prohibited colours, was no more liable to be taught +an exemplary lesson than the bum-boatman who sauced the officer of the +watch when detected in the act of smuggling spirits or women into one +of His Majesty's ships. + +For all such offenders the autocracy of the quarter-deck, from the +rigid commander down to the very young gentleman newly joined, kept a +jealous lookout, and many are the instances of punishment, swift and +implacable, following the offence. Insulted dignity could of course +take it out of the disrespectful fore-mastman with the rattan, the cat +or the irons; but for the ill-mannered outsider, whether pertaining to +sea or land, the recognised corrective was His Majesty's press. A +solitary exception is found in the case of Henry Crabb of Chatham, a +boatman who rejoiced in incurable lameness; rejoiced because, although +there were many cripples on board the Queen's ships in his day, his +infirmity was such as to leave him at liberty to ply for hire "when +other men durst not for feare of being Imprest." He was an impudent, +over-reaching knave, and Capt. Balchen, of the _Adventure_ +man-o'-war, whose wife had suffered much from the fellow's abusive +tongue and extortionate propensities, finding himself unable to press +him, brought him to the capstan and there gave him "eleven lashes with +a Catt of Nine Tailes." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1466--Capt. Balchen, 10 March 1703-4.] + +A letter written in the early forties-a letter as breezy as the sea +from which it was penned--gives us a striking picture of the old-time +naval officer as a teacher of deportment. Cruising far down-Channel, +Capt. Brett, of the _Anglesea_ man-o'-war, there fell in with a +ship whose character puzzled him sorely. He consequently gave chase, +but the wind falling light and night coming on, he lost her. Early +next morning, as luck would have it, he picked her up again, and +having now a "pretty breeze," he succeeded in drawing within range of +her about two o'clock in the afternoon, when he fired a shot to bring +her to. The strange sail doubtless feared that she was about to lose +her hands, for instead of obeying the summons she trained her +stern-chasers on the _Anglesea_ and for an hour and a half blazed +away at her as fast as she could load. "They put a large marlinespike +into one of their guns," the indignant captain tells us, "which struck +the carriage of the chase gun upon our forecastle, dented it near two +inches, then broke asunder and wounded one of the men in the leg, and +had it come a yard higher, must infallibly have killed two or three. +By all this behaviour I concluded she must be an English vessel taken +by the Spaniards. However, when we came within a cable's length of him +he brought to, so we run close under his stern in order to shoot a +little berth to leeward of him, and at the same time bid them hoist +their boats out. Our people, as is customary upon such occasions, were +then all up upon the gunhill and in the shrouds, looking at him. Just +as we came under his quarter he pointed a gun that was sticking out a +little abaft his main-shrouds right at us, and put the match to it, +but it happened very luckily that the gun blew. A fellow that was +standing on the quarter-deck then took up a blunderbuss and presented +it, which by its not going off must have missed fire. As it was almost +impossible, they being stripp'd and bareheaded, besides having their +faces besmeared with powder, for us to judge them by their looks, I +concluded they must be a Parcell of Light-headed Frenchmen run mad, +and thinking it by no means prudent to let them kill my men in such a +ridiculous manner, I ordered the marines, who were standing upon the +quarter-deck with their musquets shoulder'd, to fire upon them. As +soon as they saw the musquets presented they fell flat upon the decks +and by that means saved themselves from being kill'd. Some of our +people at the same time fired a 9-pounder right into his quarter, upon +which they immediately submitted. I own I never was more surprised in +all my life to find that she was an English vessel, tho' my surprise +was lessened a good deal when I came to see the master and all his +fighting men so drunk as to be scarce capable of giving a rational +answer to any question that was asked them. I was very glad to find +that none of them were hurt; _but I found out the man who presented +the blunderbuss, and upon his behaving saucily when I taxed him with +it, I took him out of the vessel._" [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Brett, 17 April 1743. The captain's use of +gender is philologically instructive. Not till later times, it seems, +did ships lose the character of a "strong man armed" and take on, +uniformly, the attributes of the skittish female.] + + [Illustration: SAILORS CAROUSING. From the mezzotint after J. Ibbetson.] + +So abhorrent a condiment was "sauce" to the naval palate, whether of +officer or impress agent, that its use invariably brought its own +punishment with it. "You are no gentleman!" said Gangsman Dibell to +one Hartnell, a currier who accidentally jostled him whilst he was +drinking in a Poole taproom. "No, nor you neither!" replied Hartnell. +The retort cost him a most disagreeable experience. Dibell and his +comrades collared him and dragged him off to the rendezvous, where he +was locked up in the black-hole till the next day. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Inquiry into the Conduct of the +Impress Officers at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + +At Waterford Capt. Price went one better than this, for a man who was +totally unfit for the service having one day shown him some trifling +disrespect, the choleric old martinet promptly set the gang upon him +and had him conveyed on board the tender, "where," says Lieut. +Collingwood, writing a month later, "he has been eating the king's +victuals ever since." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501 +--Lieut. Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] Punishment enough, surely! + +One night at Londonderry, as Lieut. Watson was making his way down to +the quay for the purpose of boarding the _Hope_ tender, of which +he was commander, he accidentally ran against a couple of strangers. + +"Hallo! my lads," cried he, "who and what are you?" + +"I am what I am," replied one of them, insolently. + +The lieutenant, who had been dining, fired up at this and demanded to +know if language such as that was proper to be addressed to a king's +officer. + +"As you please," said he of the insolent tongue. "If you like it +better, I'll say I'm a piece of a man." + +"So I see by your want of manners," retorted the lieutenant. "Come +along with me, my brave piece! I know those who will make a whole man +of you before they're done." + +With that he seized the fellow, meaning to take him to his boat, which +lay near by, but the pressed man, watching his chance, tripped him up +and made off. Next day there was a sequel. The lieutenant "was taken +possession of by the Civil Power" on a charge of assault. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Lieut. Watson, 27 Oct. 1804.] + +Another officer who met with base ingratitude from a pressed man whose +manners he attempted to reform was Capt. Bethel of the _Phoenix_. +At the Nore he was once grossly abused by the crew of a Customs-House +boat, and in retaliation took one of their number and carried him to +sea. Peremptory orders reaching him at one of the Scottish ports, +however, he discharged the man and paid his passage south. He was +immediately sued for false imprisonment and cast in heavy damages. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bethel, 29 Aug. +1762.] + +Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, was "had" in similar fashion +by the master of an East-Indiaman whom he pressed at Manilla because +of his insolence, and who afterwards, by a successful suit at law, let +him in for 400 Pounds damages and costs. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1494--Capt. Brereton, 18 Oct. 1765.] + +This was turning the tables of etiquette on its professors with a +vengeance. + +Such costly lessons in the art of politeness, however, did not in the +least abash the naval officer or deter him from the continued +inculcation of manners. Young fellows idly roystering on the river +could not be permitted to miscall with impunity the gorgeous admiral +passing in his twelve-oared barge, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 577--Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, 24 June 1710.] nor irate +shipmasters who flouted the impress service of the Crown as a +"pitiful" thing and its officers as "little scandalous creatures," be +allowed to go scot-free. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2379--Capt. Robinson, 21 Feb. 1725-6.] At whatever cost, the dignity +of the service must be maintained. + +Nowhere did the use of invective attain such extraordinary perfection +as amongst those who plied their vocations on the country's busy +waterways. Here "sauce" was reduced to a science and vituperation to a +fine art. Thames watermen and Tyne keelmen in particular acquired an +astounding proficiency in the choice and application of abusive +epithets, but of the two the keelman carried off the palm. The +wherryman, it is true, possessed a ripe vocabulary, but the fact that +it embraced only a single dialect seriously handicapped him in his +race with the keelman, who had no less than three to draw upon, all +equally prolific. Between "keelish," "coblish" and "sheelish," the +respective dialects of the north-country keelman, pilot and tradesman, +he had at his command a source of supply unrivalled in vituperative +richness, abundance and variety. With these at his tongue's end none +could touch, much less outdo him in power and scope of abusive +description. He became in consequence of these superior advantages so +"insupportably impudent" that the only known cure for his complaint +was to follow the prescription of Capt. Atkins of the _Panther_, +and "take him as fast as you could ketch him"; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. Atkins, 23 Dec. 1720.] but even this +drastic method of curbing his tongue was robbed of much of its +efficacy by the jealous care with which he was "protected." + +Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours +when you meet with a ship of war--the marine equivalent for raising +one's hat--constituted a gross contempt of the king's service. The +custom was very ancient, King John having instituted it in the second +year of his reign. At that time, and indeed for long after, the salute +was obligatory, its omission entailing heavy penalties; [Footnote: A +copy of the original proclamation may be seen in Lansdowne MSS., +clxxi, f. 218, where it is also summarised in the following terms: +_"Anno 2 regni Johannis regis: Frends not amaining at the j sumons +but resisting the King his lieutenant, the L. Admirall or his +lieutenant, to lose the ship and goods, & theire bodies to be +imprisoned."_] but with the advent of the century of pressing +another means of inspiring respect for the flag, now exacted as a +courtesy rather than a right, came into vogue. The offending vessel +paid for its omission in men. + +If you were anything but a king's ship, and flew a flag that only +king's ships were entitled to fly, you were guilty, in the eyes of +every right-seeing naval officer, of another piece of ill manners so +gross as to be deserving of the severest punishment the press was +capable of inflicting upon you. You might fly the "flag and Jack +white, with a red cross (commonly called St. George's cross) passing +quite through the same"; likewise the "ensign red, with the cross in a +canton of white at the upper corner thereof, next to the staff"; but +if you presumed to display His Majesty's Jack, commonly called the +Union Jack, or any other of the various flags of command flown by +ships of war or vessels employed in the naval service, swift +retribution overtook you. Similarly, the inadvertent hoisting of your +colours "wrong end uppermost," or in any other manner deemed +inconsistent with the dignity of the service which permitted you to +fly them, laid you open to reprisals of the most summary nature. +Before you realised the heinousness of your offence, a gang boarded +you and your best man or men were gone beyond recall. The joy of +waterside weddings--occasions prolific in the display of wrong +colours--was often turned into sorrow in this way. + +Inability to do the things you professed to do involved grave risk of +making intimate acquaintance with the gang. If, for example, you were +a skipper and navigated your vessel more like a 'prentice than a +master hand, some one belonging to you was bound, in waters swarming +with ships of war, to pay the piper sooner or later. "A few days ago," +writes Capt. Archer of the _Isis_, "a ship called the _Jane_, +Stewart master, ran on board of us in a most lubberly manner +--for which, as is customary on such occasions, I took four of +his people." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1448--Capt. +Archer, 17 May 1795.] + +Ability to handle a musical instrument sometimes proved as fatal to +one's liberty as inability to handle a ship. Queen Anne was directly +responsible for this. Almost immediately after her accession she +signed a warrant authorising the pressing of "drummers, fife and haut +boys for sea and land." [Footnote: _Home Office Military Entry +Books_, clxviii, f. 406.] Though the authorisation was only +temporary, the practice thus set up continued long after its origin +had been relegated to the scrap-heap of memory, and not only +continued, but was interpreted in a sense much broader than its royal +originator ever intended it should be. This tendency to take an ell in +lieu of the stipulated inch was illustrated as early as 1705, when +Lieut. Thomson, belonging to the _Lickfield_, chancing to meet +one Richard Bullard, fiddler, "persuaded him to go as far as Woolwich +with him, to play a tune or two to him and some friends who had a mind +to dance, saying he would pay him for it"--which he did, when tired of +dancing, by handing him over to the press-gang. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Byron, 13 July 1705.] + +In 1781, again, a "stout lad of 17" was pressed at Waterford because, +as a piper, he was considered likely to be "useful in amusing the +new-raised men"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. +Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] and as late as 1807 a gang at Portsmouth, +acting under orders from Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, took one Madden, a +blind man, because of his "qualification of playing on the Irish +bagpipes." His affliction saved him. He was discharged, and the amount +of his pay and victualling was deducted from Sir Robert's wages as a +caution to him to be more careful in future. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, 1 Dec. 1808.] + +Perhaps the oddest reasons ever adduced in justification of specific +acts of pressing were those put forward in the cases of James Baily, a +Gosport ferry-man who was pressed on account of his "great +inactivity," and of John Conyear, exempt passenger on the packet-boat +plying between Dartmouth and Poole, subjected to the same process +because, as the officer responsible ingenuously put it when called to +book for the act, if Conyear had not been on board, "another would, +who might have been a proper person to serve His Majesty." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1451--Capt. Argles, 4 May 1807; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Scott, 13 March 1780.] + +An ironical interest attaches to the pressing of John Hagin, a youth +of nineteen who cherished an ambition to go a-whaling. Tramping the +riverside at Hull one day in search of a ship, he accidentally met one +of the lieutenants employed in the local impress service, and +mistaking him for the master of a Greenland ship, stepped up to him +and asked him for a berth. "Berth?" said the obliging officer. "Come +this way;" and he conducted the unsuspecting youth to the rendezvous. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Ackton, 23 March +1814.] + +Before you took a voyage for the benefit of your health in those days +it was always advisable to satisfy yourself as to the nature of the +cargo the vessel carried or intended to carry, otherwise you were +liable to be let in for a longer voyage than health demanded. Richard +Gooding of Bawdsey, in the county of Suffolk, a twenty-one-year-old +yeoman who knew nothing of the iniquities practised in ships, in an +evil hour acted on the advice of his apothecary and ran across to +Holland for the sake of his health, which the infirmities of youth +appear to have undermined. All went well until, on the return trip, +just before Bawdsey Ferry hove in sight, down swooped a revenue +cutter's boat with an urgent request that the master should open up +his hatches and disclose what his hold contained. He demurred, +alleging that it held nothing of interest to revenue men; but on their +going below to see for themselves they discovered an appreciable +quantity of gin. Thereupon the master wickedly declared Gooding to be +the culprit, and he was pressed on suspicion of attempting to run a +cargo of spirits. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1530--Capt. +Broughton, 20 April 1803, and enclosure.] + +Into the operations of the gang this element of suspicion entered very +largely, especially in the pressing of supposed sailors. To carry +about on your person any of the well-known marks of the seafaring man +was to invite certain disaster. When pressed, like so many others, +because he was "in appearance very much like a sailor," John Teede +protested vehemently that he had never been to sea in his life, and +that all who said he had were unmitigated liars. "Strip him," said the +officer, who had a short way with such cases. In a twinkling Teede's +shirt was over his head and the sailor stood revealed. Devices +emblematic of love and the sea covered both arms from shoulder to +wrist. "You and I will lovers die, eh?" said the officer, with a +twinkle, as he spelt out one of the amatory inscriptions. "Just so, +John! I'll see to that. Next man!" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1522--Description of a Person calling himself John Teede, 28 Dec. +1799.] + +Bow-legged men ran the gravest of risks in this respect, and the goose +of many a tailor was effectually cooked because of the damning fact, +which no protestations of innocence of the sea could mitigate, that +long confinement to the board had warped his legs into a fatal +resemblance to those of a typical Jack-tar. Harwich once had a mayor +who, after vowing that he would "never be guilty of saying there was +no law for pressing sailors," as a convincing proof that he knew what +was what, and was willing to provide it to the best of his ability, +straightway sent out and pressed--a tailor! [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. Allen, 26 March 1706.] + +The itinerant Jewish peddler who hawked his wares about the country +suffered grievously on this account. However indisputably Hebraic his +name, his accent and his nose might be, those evidences of nationality +were Anglicised, so to speak, by the fact that his legs were the legs +of a sailor, and the bandy appendages so characteristic of his race +sooner or later brought the gang down upon him in full cry and landed +him in the fleet. + +In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of +acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger--a great, +bearded man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, +resorted daily to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water +mark," now writing with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating +wildly to the sea and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, +then all unused to "visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his +antics in wonder and consternation. The principal inhabitants of the +place, alarmed by his vagaries, constituted themselves a committee of +safety, and with the parson at their head went down to interview him; +and when, in response to their none too polite inquiries, he flatly +refused to give any account of himself, they by common consent voted +him a spy and a public menace, telling each other that he was +undoubtedly engaged in drawing plans of the coast in order to +facilitate' the landing of some enemy; for did not the legend run:-- + + "He who would Old England win, + Must at Weybourn Hope begin?" + +and was not the "Hoop," as it was called locally, only a few miles to +the northward? No time was to be lost. Post-haste they dispatched a +messenger to Lieut. Brace at Yarmouth, begging him, if he would save +his country from imminent danger, to lose not a moment in sending his +gang to seize the suspect and nip his fell design in the bud. With +this alarming request Brace promptly complied, and the stranger was +dragged away to Yarmouth. Arraigned before the mayor, he with +difficulty succeeded in convincing that functionary that he was +nothing more dangerous than a stray agriculturist whom the Empress +Catherine had sent over from Russia to study the English method of +growing-turnips! [Footnote: _State Papers_, Russia, cv.--Lieut. +Brace, 18 Aug. 1780.] + +The unhandsome treatment meted out to the inoffensive Russian is of a +piece with the whole aspect of pressing by instigation, of which it is +at once a specimen and a phase. The incentive here was suspicion; but +in the fertile field of instigation motives flourished in forms as +varied as the weaknesses of human nature. + +Thomas Onions, respectable burgess of Bridgnorth, engaged in working a +trow from that place to Bristol, fell under suspicion owing to the +mysterious disappearance of a portion of the cargo, which consisted of +china. The rest of the crew being metaphorically as well as literally +in the same boat, the consignee's agent, on the trow's arrival at +Bristol, hinted at a more than alliterative connection between china +and chests, which he was proceeding to search when Onions objected, +very rightly urging that he had no warrant. "Is it a warrant you're +wanting?" demanded the baffled agent. "Very well, we'll see if we +cannot find one." With that he stepped ashore and hurried to the +rendezvous, where he knew the officers, and within the hour the gang +added Onions to the impress stock-pot. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1542--Memorial of the Inhabitants and Burgesses of +Bridgnorth, 12 March 1808.] + +Much the same motive led to the pressing of Charles M'Donald, a +north-country youth of education and property. His mother wished him +to enter the army, but his guardians, piqued by her insistence, "had +him kidnapped on board the impress tender at Shields, under pretence +of sending him on a visit." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1537--Capt. Bland, 29 Nov. 1806, and enclosure.] + +An "independent fortune of fourteen hundred pounds," bequeathed to him +by his "Aunt Elizabeth," was instrumental in launching John Stillwell +of Clerkenwell upon a similar career. His step-mother and uncle +desired to retain possession of the money, of which they were +trustees; so they suborned the gang and the young man disappeared. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1539--Capt. Burton, 25 April +1806, and enclosure.] + +A more legitimate pastime of the gang was the pressing of incorrigible +sons. George Clark of Birmingham and William Barnicle of Margate, the +one a notorious thief, the other the despair of his family because of +his drunken habits, were two out of many shipped abroad by this cheap +but effectual means, the instigator of the gang being in each case the +lad's own father. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Jeremiah +Clark, 30 July 1806; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1547--Lieut. Dawe, 4 Sept. +1809.] The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in this +way amazingly simplified. + +In thus utilising the gang as a means of retaliating upon those who +incurred their displeasure, both naval officers and private +individuals, had they been arraigned for the offence, could have +pleaded in justification of their conduct the example of no less +exalted a body than the Admiralty itself. The case of the bachelor +seamen of Dover, pressed because of an official animus against that +town, was as notorious as their Lordships' futile attempt to teach the +Brighton fishermen respect for their betters, or their later orders to +Capt. Culverhouse, of the Liverpool rendezvous, instructing him "to +take all opportunities of impressing seafaring men belonging to the +Isle of Man," as a punishment for the "extreme ill-conduct of the +people of that Island to His Majesty's Officers on the Impress +Service." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 3. 148--Admiralty +Minutes, 11 Oct. 1803.] The Admiralty method of paying out anyone +against whom you cherished a grudge possessed advantages which +strongly commended it to the splenetic and the vindictive. For suppose +you lay in wait for your enemy and beat or otherwise maltreated him: +the chances were that he would either punish you himself or invoke the +law to do it for him; while if you removed him by means of the garrot, +the knife or the poisoned glass, no matter how discreetly the deed was +done the hangman was pretty sure to get you sooner or later. But the +gang--it was as safe as an epidemic! The fact was not lost upon the +community. People in almost every station of life appreciated it at +its true worth, and, encouraged by the example of the Admiralty, +availed themselves of the gang as the handiest, speediest and safest +of mediums for wiping out old scores. + +On shipboard, where life was more cramped and men consequently came +into sharper contact than on shore, resentments were struck from daily +intercourse like sparks from steel. Like sparks some died, impotent to +harm their object; but others, cherished in bitterness of spirit +through many a lonely watch, flashed into malicious action with that +hoped-for opportunity, the coming of the gang. John Gray, carpenter of +a merchant ship, in a moment of anger threatened to cut the skipper +down with an axe. This happened under a West-Indian sun. Months +afterwards, as the ship swung lazily into Bristol river and the gang +came aboard, the skipper found his opportunity. Beckoning to the +impress officer, he pointed to John Gray and said: "Take that man!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 22 June +1808, and enclosure.] Gray never again lifted an axe on board a +merchant vessel. + +Certain amenities which once passed between the master and the mate of +the _Lady Shore_ serve to throw an even broader light upon the +origin of quarrels at sea and the methods of settling them then in +vogue. The _Lady Shore_ was on the passage home from Quebec when +the master one day gave certain sailing directions which the mate, who +was a sober, careful seaman, thought fit to disregard on the ground +that the safety of the ship would be endangered if he followed them. +The master, an irascible, drunken brute, at this flew into a passion +and sought to ingraft his ideas of seamanship upon the mate through +the medium of a handspike, with which he caught him a savage blow +"just above the eye, cutting him about three inches in length." It was +in mid-ocean that this lesson in navigation was administered. By the +time Scilly shoved its nose above the horizon the skipper's "down" on +the mate had reached an acute stage. His resentment of the latter's +being the better seaman had now deepened into hatred, and to this, as +the voyage neared its end, was added growing fear of prosecution. At +this juncture a man-o'-war hove in sight and signalled an inspection +of hands. "Get your chest on deck, Mr. Mate," cried the exultant +skipper. "You are too much master here. It is time for us to part." +Taken out of the ship as a pressed man, the mate was ultimately +discharged by order of the Admiralty; but the skipper had his revenge. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Matthew Gill to Admiral +Moorsom, 15 Jan. 1813.] + +A riot that occurred at King's Lynn in the year '55 affords a striking +instance of the retaliatory use of the gang on shore. In the course of +the disturbance mud and stones were thrown at the magistrates, who had +come out to do what they could to quell it. Angered by so gross an +indignity, they supplied the gang with information that led to the +pressing of some sixty persons concerned in the tumult, but as these +consisted mainly of "vagrants, gipsies, parish charges, maimed, halt +and idiots," the magisterial resentment caused greater rejoicings at +Lynn than it did at Spithead, where the sweepings of the borough were +eventually deposited. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920 +--Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, 8 June 1755.] + +There is a decided smack of the modern about the use the gang was put +to by the journeymen coopers of Bristol. Considering themselves +underpaid, they threatened to go on strike unless the masters raised +their wages. In this they were not entirely unanimous, however. One of +their number stood out, refusing to join the combine; whereupon the +rest summoned the gang and had the "blackleg" pressed for his +contumacy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, +20 Aug. 1808, and enclosure.] + +In pressing William Taylor of Broadstairs the gang nipped in the bud +as tender a romance as ever flourished in the shelter of the Kentish +cliffs, which is saying not a little. Taylor was only a poor +fisherman, and when he dared to make love to the pretty daughter of +the Ramsgate Harbour-Master, that exalted individual, who entertained +for the girl social ambitions in which fishermen's shacks had no +place, resented his advances as insufferable impertinence. A word to +Lieut. Leary, his friend at the local rendezvous, did the rest. Taylor +disappeared, and though he was afterwards discharged from His +Majesty's ship Utrecht on the score of his holding a Sea-Fencible's +ticket, the remedy had worked its cure and the Harbour-Master was +thenceforth free to marry his daughter where he would. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Austen, 23 Sept. 1803.] + +So natural is the transition from love to hate that no apology is +needed for introducing here the story of Sam Burrows, the ex-beadle of +Chester who fell a victim to the harsher in much the same manner as +Taylor did to the gentler passion. Burrows' evil genius was one Rev. +Lucius Carey, an Irish clergyman--whether Anglican or Roman we know +not, nor does it matter--who had contracted the unclerical habit of +carrying pistols and too much liquor. In this condition he was found +late one night knocking in a very violent manner at the door of the +"Pied Bull," and swearing that, while none should keep him out, any +who refused to assist him in breaking in should be shot down +forthwith. Burrows, the ex-beadle, happened to be passing at the +moment. He seized the drunken cleric and with the assistance of James +Howell, one of the city watchmen, forcibly removed him to the +watch-house, whence he was next day taken before the mayor and bound +over to appear at the Sessions. Now it happened that certain members +of the local press-gang were Carey's boon companions, so no sooner did +he leave the presence of the mayor than he looked them up. That same +evening Burrows was missing. Carey had found him a "hard bed," +otherwise a berth on board a man-o'-war. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1532--Capt Birchall, 17 July 1804, and enclosures.] + +In the columns of the _Westminster Journal_, under date of both +May 1743, we read of a sailor who, dying at Ringsend, was brought to +Irishtown church-yard, near Dublin, for burial. "When they laid him on +the ground," the narrative continues, "the coffin was observed to +stir, on which he was taken up, and by giving him some nourishment he +came to himself, and is likely to do well." Whether this sailor was +ever pressed, either before or after his abortive decease, we are not +informed; but there is on record at least one well-authenticated +instance of that calamity overtaking a person who had passed the +bourne whence none is supposed to return. + +In the year 1723 a young lad whose name has not been preserved, but +who was at the time apprentice to a master sailmaker in London, set +out from that city to visit his people, living at Sandwich. He appears +to have travelled afoot, for, getting a "lift" on the road, he was +carried into Deal, where he arrived late at night, and having no money +was glad to share a bed with a seafaring man, the boatswain of an +Indiaman then in the Downs. From this circumstance sprang the events +which here follow. Along in the small hours of the night the lad +awoke, and finding the room stuffy and day on the point of breaking, +he rose and dressed, purposing to see the town in the cool of the +morning. The catch of the door, however, refused to yield under his +hand, and while he was endeavouring to undo it the noise he made +awakened the boatswain, who told him that if he looked in his breeches +pocket he would find a knife there with which he could lift the latch. +Acting on this hint, the lad succeeded in opening the door, and +thereupon went downstairs in accordance with his original intention. +When he returned some half-hour later, as he did for the purpose of +restoring the knife, which he had thoughtlessly slipped into his +pocket, the bed was empty and the boatswain gone. Of this he thought +nothing. The boatswain had talked, he remembered, of going off to his +ship at an early hour, in order, as he had said, to call the hands for +the washing down of the decks. The lad accordingly left the house and +went his way to Sandwich, where, as already stated, his people lived. + +Meantime the old inn at Deal, and indeed the whole town, was thrown +into a state of violent commotion by a most shocking discovery. Going +about their morning duties at the inn, the maids had come to the bed +in which the boatswain and the apprentice had slept, and to their +horror found it saturated with blood. Drops of blood, together with +marks of blood-stained hands and feet, were further discovered on the +floor and the door of the chamber, down the stairs, and along the +passage leading to the street, whence they could be distinctly traced +to the waterside, not so very far away. Imagination, working upon +these ghastly survivals of the hours of darkness, quickly +reconstructed the crime which it was evident had been committed. The +boatswain was known to have had money on him; but the youth, it was +recalled, had begged his bed. It was therefore plain to the meanest +understanding that the youth had murdered the boatswain for his money +and thrown the body into the sea. + +At once that terrible precursor of judgment to come, the hue and cry +was raised, and that night the footsore apprentice lay in Sandwich +jail, a more than suspected felon, for his speedy capture had supplied +what was taken to be conclusive evidence of his guilt. In his pocket +they discovered the boatswain's knife, and both it and the lad's +clothing were stained with blood. Asked whose blood it was, and how it +came there, he made no answer. Asked was it the boatswain's knife, he +answered, "Yes, it was," and therewith held his peace. In face of such +evidence, and such an admission, he stood prejudged. His trial at the +Assizes was a mere formality. The jury quickly found him guilty, and +sentence of death was passed upon him. + +The day of execution came. Up to this point Fate had set her face +steadfastly against our apprentice lad; but now, in the very hour and +article of death, she suddenly relented and smiled upon him. The +dislocating "drop" was in those days unknown. When you were hanged, +you were hanged from a cart, which was suddenly whisked from under +you, leaving you dangling in mid-air like a kind of death-fruit +nearly, but not quite, ready to fall. Much depended on the +executioner, and that grim functionary was in this case a raw hand, +unused to his work, who bungled the job. The knot was ill-adjusted, +the rope too long, the convict tall and lank. This last circumstance +was no fault of the executioner's, but it helped. When they turned him +off, the lad's feet swept the ground, and his friends, gathering round +him like guardian angels, bore him up. Cut down at the end of a tense +half-hour, he was hurried away to a surgeon's and there copiously +bled. And being young and virile, he revived. + +Trudging to Portsmouth some little time after, with the intention of +for ever leaving a country to which he was legally dead, he fell in +with one of the numerous press-gangs frequenting that road, and was +sent on board a man-o'-war. There, in course of time, he rose to be +master's mate, and in that capacity, whilst on the West-India station, +was transferred to another ship. On this ship he met the surprise of +his life--if life can be said to hold further surprises for one who +has died and lived again. As he stepped on deck the first person he +met was his old bed-fellow, the boatswain. + +The explanation of the amazing series of events which led up to this +amazing meeting is very simple. On the evening of that fateful night +at Deal the boatswain, who had been ailing, was let blood. In his +sleep the bandage slipped and the wound reopened. Discovering his +condition when awakened by the apprentice, he rose and left the house, +intending to have the wound re-dressed by the barber-surgeon who had +inflicted it, with more effect than discretion, some hours earlier. At +the very door of the inn, however, he ran into the arms of a +press-gang, by whom he was instantly seized and hurried on board ship. +[Footnote: Watts, _Remarkable Events in the History of Man_, +1825.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + + + +The medieval writer who declared women to be "capable of disturbing +the air and exciting tempests" was not indulging a mere quip at the +expense of that limited storm area, his own domestic circle. He +expressed what in his day, and indeed for long after, was a cardinal +article of belief--that if you were so ill-advised as to take a woman +to sea, she would surely upset the weather and play the mischief with +the ship. + +To this ungallant superstition none subscribed more heartily than the +sailor, though always, be it understood, with a mental reservation. +Unlike many landsmen who held a similar belief, he limited the malign +influence of the sex strictly to the high-seas, where, for that +reason, he vastly preferred woman's room to her company; but once he +was safe in port, woman in his opinion ceased to be dangerous, and he +then vastly preferred her company to her room. + +For her companionship he had neither far to seek nor long to wait. It +was a case of + + "Deal, Dover and Harwich, + The devil gave his daughter in marriage." + +All naval seaports were full of women, and to prevent the supply from +running short thoughtful parish officials--church-wardens and other +well-meaning but sadly misguided people--added constantly to the +number by consigning to such doubtful reformatories the undesirable +females of their respective petty jurisdictions. The practice of +admitting women on board the ships of the fleet, too--a practice as +old as the Navy itself--though always forbidden, was universally +connived at and tacitly sanctioned. Before the anchor of the returning +man-of-war was let go a flotilla of boats surrounded her, deeply laden +with pitiful creatures ready to sell themselves for a song and the +chance of robbing their sailor lovers. No sooner did the boats lay +alongside than the last vestige of Jack's superstitious dread of the +malevolent sex went by the board, and discipline with it. Like monkeys +the sailors swarmed into the boats, where each selected a mate, +redeemed her from the grasping boatman's hands with money or blows +according to the state of his finances or temper, and so brought his +prize, save the mark! in triumph to the gangway. It was a point of +honour, not to say of policy, with these poor creatures to supply +their respective "husbands," as they termed them, with a drop of +good-cheer; so at the gangway they were searched for concealed liquor. +This was the only formality observed on such occasions, and as it was +enforced in the most perfunctory manner imaginable, there was always +plenty of drink going. Decency there was none. The couples passed +below and the hell of the besotted broke loose between decks, where +the orgies indulged in would have beggared the pen of a Balzac. +[Footnote: Statement of Certain Immoral Practices, 1822.] + +During the earlier decades of the century these conditions, monstrous +though they were, passed almost unchallenged, but as time wore on and +their pernicious effects upon the _morale_ of the fleet became +more and more appalling, the service produced men who contended +strenuously, and in the end successfully, with a custom that, to say +the least of it, did violence to every notion of decency and clean +living. In 1746 the ship's company of the _Sunderland_ complained +bitterly because not even their wives were "suffer'd to come aboard to +see them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Brett, +22 Feb. 1745-6.] It was a sign of the times. By the year '78 the +practice had been fined down to a point where, if a wherry with a +woman in it were seen hovering in a suspicious manner about a ship of +war, the boatman was immediately pressed and the woman turned on +shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. Boteler, 18 +April 1778.] Another twenty years, and the example of such men as +Jervis, Nelson and Collingwood laid the evil for good and all. The +seamen of the fleet themselves pronounced its requiescat when, drawing +up certain "Rules and Orders" for their own guidance during the mutiny +of '97, they ordained that "no woman shall be permitted to go on shore +from any ship, but as many come in as pleases." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--A Detail of the Proceedings on Board +the _Queen Charlotte_ in the Year 1797.] + +An unforeseen consequence of thus suppressing the sailor's impromptu +liaisons was an alarming increase in the number of desertions. On +shore love laughs at locksmiths; on shipboard it derided the +boatswain's mate. To run and get caught meant at the worst "only a +whipping bout," and, the sailor's hide being as tough as his heart was +tender, he ran and took the consequences with all a sailor's stoicism. +In this respect he was perhaps not singular. The woman in the case so +often counts for more than the punishment she brings. + +Few of those who deserted their ships for amatory reasons had the +luck--viewing the escapade from the sailor's standpoint--that attended +the schoolmaster of the _Princess Louisa_. Going ashore at +Plymouth to fetch his chest from the London wagon, he succumbed to the +blandishments of an itinerant fiddler's wife, whom he chanced to meet +in the husband's temporary absence, and was in consequence "no more +heard of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Boys, 5 +April 1742.] + +Had it always been a case of the travelling woman, the sailor's flight +in response to the voice of the charmer would seldom have landed him +in the cells or exposed his back to the caress of the ship's cat. +Where he was handicapped in his love flights was this. The haunt or +home of his seducer was generally known to one or other of his +officers, and when this was not the case there were often other women +who gladly gave him away. "Captain Barrington, Sir," writes "Nancy of +Deptford" to the commander of a man-o'-war in the Thames, "there is a +Desarter of yours at the upper water Gate. Lives at the sine of the +mantion house. He is an Irishman, gose by the name of Youe (Hugh) +MackMullins, and is trying to Ruing a Wido and three Children, for he +has Insenuated into the Old Woman's faver so far that she must +Sartingly come to poverty, and you by Sarching the Cook's will find +what I have related to be true and much oblidge the hole parrish of +St. Pickles Deptford." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1495 +--Capt. Barrington, 22 Oct. 1771, enclosure.] + +A favourite resort of the amatory tar was that extra-parochial spot +known as the Liberty of the Fleet, where the nuptial knot could be +tied without the irksome formalities of banns or licence. The fact +strongly commended it to the sailor and brought him to the precinct in +great numbers. + +"I remember once on a time," says Keith, the notorious Fleet parson, +"I was at a public-house at Ratcliffe, which was then full of Sailors +and their Girls. There was fiddling, piping, jigging and eating. At +length one of the Tars starts up and says: 'Damn ye, Jack! I'll be +married just now; I will have my partner.' The joke took, and in less +than two hours Ten Couples set out for the Flete. They returned in +Coaches, five Women in each Coach; the Tars, some running before, some +riding on the Coach Box, and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, +the Couples went up into an upper Room, where they concluded the +evening with great Jollity. The landlord said it was a common thing, +when a Fleet comes in, to have 2 or 3 Hundred Marriages in a week's +time among the Sailors." [Footnote: Keith, Observations on the Act for +Preventing Clandestine Marriages, 1753.] + +In the "Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life," a play produced at Covent +Garden Theatre in 1755, Trueblue is pressed, not in, but out of the +arms of his tearful Nancy. The situation is distressingly typical. The +sailor's happiness was the gangsman's opportunity, however Nancy might +suffer in consequence. + +For the average gangsman was as void of sentiment as an Admiralty +warrant, pressing you with equal avidity and absence of feeling +whether he caught you returning from a festival or a funeral. To this +callosity of nature it was due that William Castle, a foreign denizen +of Bristol who had the hardihood to incur the marital tie there, was +called upon, as related elsewhere, to serve at sea in the very heyday +of his honeymoon. Similarly, if four seamen belonging to the +_Dundee_ Greenland whaler had not stolen ashore one night at +Shields "to see some women," they would probably have gone down to +their graves, seawards or landwards, under the pleasing illusion that +the ganger was a man of like indulgent passions with themselves. The +negation of love, as exemplified in that unsentimental individual, was +thus brought home to many a seafaring man, long debarred from the +society of the gentler sex, with startling abruptness and force. The +pitiful case of the "Maidens Pressed," whose names are enrolled in the +pages of Camden Hotten, [Footnote: Hotten, List of Persons of Quality, +etc., who Went from England to the American Plantations.] is in no way +connected with pressing for naval purposes. Those unfortunates were +not victims of the gangsman's notorious hardness of heart, but of +their own misdeeds. Like the female disciples of the "diving hand" +stated by Lutterell [Footnote: Lutterell, Historical Relation of State +Affairs, 12 March 1706.] to have been "sent away to follow the army," +they were one and all criminals of the Moll Flanders type who "left +their country for their country's good" under compulsion that differed +widely, both in form and purpose, from that described in these pages. + +To assert, however, that women were never pressed, in the enigmatic +sense of their being taken by the gang for the manning of the fleet, +would be to do violence to the truth as we find it in naval and other +records. As a matter of fact, the direct contrary was the case, and +there were in the kingdom few gangs of which, at one time or another +in their career, it could not be said, as Southey said of the gang at +Bristol, that "they pressed a woman." + +The incident alluded to will be familiar to all who know the poet as +distinguished from the Bard of Avon. It is found in the second +"English Eclogue," under the caption of the "Grandmother's Tale," and +has to do with the escapade, long famous in the more humorous annals +of Southey's native city, of blear-eyed Moll, a collier's wife, a +great, ugly creature whose voice was as gruff as a mastiff's bark, and +who wore habitually a man's hat and coat, so that at a few yards' +distance you were at a loss to know whether she was man or woman. + + "There was a merry story told of her, + How when the press-gang came to take her husband + As they were both in bed, she heard them coming, + Drest John up in her nightcap, and herself + Put on his clothes and went before the captain." + +A case of pressing on all-fours with this is said to have once +occurred at Portsmouth. A number of sailors, alarmed by the rumoured +approach of a gang while they were a-fairing, took it into their +heads, so the story goes, to effect a partial exchange of clothing +with their sweethearts, in the hope that the hasty shifting of +garments would deceive the gang and so protect them from the press. It +did. In their parti-garb make-up the women looked more sailorly than +the sailors themselves. The gang consequently pressed them, and there +were hilarious scenes at the rendezvous when the fair recruits were +"regulated" and the ludicrous mistake brought to light. + +It was not only on shore, however, or on special occasions such as +this, that women played the sailor. A naval commander, accounting to +the Admiralty for his shortness of complement, attributes it mainly to +sickness, partly to desertion, and incidentally to the discharge of +one of the ship's company, "who was discovered to be a woman." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Burney, 15 Feb. +1782.] + +His experience is capped by that of the master of the _Edmund and +Mary_, a vessel engaged in carrying coals to Ipswich. Shrewdly +suspecting one of his apprentices, a clever, active lad, to be other +than what he seemed, he taxed him with the deception. Taken unawares, +the lad burst into womanly tears and confessed himself to be the +runaway daughter of a north-country widow. Disgrace had driven her to +sea. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xxx. 1813, p. 184.] + +These instances are far from being unique, for both in the navy and +the mercantile marine the masquerading of women in male attire was a +not uncommon occurrence. The incentives to the adoption of a mode of +life so foreign to all the gentler traditions of the sex were various, +though not inadequate to so surprising a change. Amongst them +unhappiness at home, blighted virtue, the secret love of a sailor and +an abnormal craving for adventure and the romantic life were perhaps +the most common and the most powerful. The question of clothing +presented little difficulty. Sailors' slops could be procured almost +anywhere, and no questions asked. The effectual concealment of sex was +not so easy, and when we consider the necessarily intimate relations +subsisting between the members of a ship's crew, the narrowness of +their environment, the danger of unconscious betrayal and the risks of +accidental discovery, the wonder is that any woman, however masculine +in appearance or skilled in the arts of deception, could ever have +played so unnatural a part for any length of time without detection. +The secret of her success perhaps lay mainly in two assisting +circumstances. In theory there were no women at sea, and despite his +occasional vices the sailor was of all men the most unsophisticated +and simple-minded. + +Conspicuous among women who threw the dust of successful deception in +the eyes of masters and shipmates is Mary Anne Talbot. Taking to the +sea as a girl in order to "follow the fortunes" of a young naval +officer for whom she had conceived a violent but unrequited affection, +she was known afloat as John Taylor. In stature tall, angular and +singularly lacking in the physical graces so characteristic of the +average woman, she passed for years as a true shellback, her sex +unsuspected and unquestioned. Accident at length revealed her secret. +Wounded in an engagement, she was admitted to hospital in consequence +of a shattered knee, and under the operating knife the identity of +John Taylor merged into that of Mary Anne Talbot. [Footnote: Times, 4 +Nov. 1799.] + +It is said, perhaps none too kindly or truthfully, that the lady +doctor of the present day no sooner sets up in practice than she +incontinently marries the medical man around the corner, and in many +instances the sailor-girl of former days brought her career on the +ocean wave to an equally romantic conclusion. However skilled in the +art of navigation she might become, she experienced a constitutional +difficulty in steering clear of matrimony. Maybe she steered for it. + +A romance of this description that occasioned no little stir in its +day is associated with a name at one time famous in the West-India +trade. Through bankruptcy the name suffered eclipse, and the +unfortunate possessor of it retired to a remote neighbourhood, taking +with him his two daughters, his sole remaining family. There he +presently sank under his misfortunes. Left alone in the world, with +scarce a penny-piece to call their own, the daughters resolved on a +daring departure from the conventional paths of poverty. + +Making their way to Portsmouth, they there dressed themselves as +sailors and in that capacity entered on board a man-o'-war bound for +the West Indies. At the first reduction of Curacoa, in 1798, as in +subsequent naval engagements, both acquitted themselves like men. No +suspicion of the part they were playing, and playing with such +success, appears to have been aroused till a year or two later, when +one of them, in a brush with the enemy, was wounded in the side. The +surgeon's report terminated her career as a seaman. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT.] + + + Meanwhile the other sister contracted tropical fever, and whilst +lying ill was visited by one of the junior officers of the ship. +Believing herself to be dying, she told him her secret, doubtless with +a view to averting its discovery after death. He confessed that the +news was no surprise to him. In fact, not only had he suspected her +sex, he had so far persuaded himself of the truth of his suspicions as +to fall in love with one of his own crew. The tonic effect of such +avowals is well known. The fever-stricken patient recovered, and on +the return of the ship to home waters the officer in question made his +late foremast hand his wife. [Footnote: Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. +1802, p. 60.] + +Of all the veracious yarns that are told of girl-sailors, there is +perhaps none more remarkable than the story of Rebecca Anne Johnson, +the girl-sailor of Whitby. One night a hundred and some odd years ago +a Mrs. Lesley, who kept the "Bull" inn in Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate +Street, found at her door a handsome sailor-lad begging for food. He +had eaten nothing for four and twenty hours, he declared, and when +plied with supper and questions by the kind-hearted but inquisitive +old lady, he explained that he was an apprentice to the sea, and had +run from his ship at Woolwich because of the mate's unduly basting him +with a rope's-end. "What! you a 'prentice?" cried the landlady; and +turning his face to the light, she subjected him to a scrutiny that +read him through and through. + +Next day, at his own request, he was taken before the Lord Mayor, to +whom he told his story. That he was a girl he freely admitted, and he +accounted for his appearing in sailor rig by asserting that a brutal +father had apprenticed him to the sea in his thirteenth year. More +astounding still, the same unnatural parent had actually bound her, +the sailor-girl's, mother, apprentice to the sea, and in that capacity +she was not only pressed into the navy, but killed at the battle of +Copenhagen, up to which time, though she had followed the sea for many +years and borne this child in the meantime, her sex had never once +been called in question. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xx. +1808, p. 293.] + +While woman was thus invading man's province at sea, that universal +feeder of the Navy, the pressgang, made little or no appeal to her as +a sphere of activity. On Portland Island, it is true, Lieut. McKey, +who commanded both the Sea-Fencibles and the press-gang there, rated +his daughter as a midshipman; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 April 1805] but with +this exception no woman is known to have added the hanger to her +adornment. The three merry maids of Taunton, who as gangsmen put the +Denny Bowl quarrymen to rout, were of course impostors. + +But if the ganger's life was not for woman, there was ample +compensation for its loss in the wider activities the gang opened up +for her. The gangsman was nothing if not practical. He took the poetic +dictum that "men must work and women must weep"--a conception in his +opinion too sentimentally onesided to be tolerated as one of the +eternal verities of human existence--and improved upon it. By virtue +of the rough-and-ready authority vested in him he abolished the +distinction between toil and tears, decreeing instead that women +should suffer both. + +"M'Gugan's wife?" growled Capt. Brenton, gang-master at Greenock, when +the corporation of that town ventured to point out to him that +M'Gugan's wife and children must inevitably come to want unless their +bread-winner, recently pressed, were forthwith restored to +them,--"_M'Gugan's wife is as able to get her bread as any woman in +the town!_" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Brenton, +15 Jan. 1795.] + +For two hundred and fifty years, off and on--ever since, in fact, the +press-masters of bluff King Hal denuded the Dorset coast of fishermen +and drove the starving women of that region to sea in quest of food +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII_.: Lord Russell to +the Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545.]--the press-gang had been laboriously +teaching English housewives this very lesson, the simple economic +truth that if they wanted bread for themselves and their families +while their husbands were fagging for their country at sea, they must +turn to and work for it. Yet in face of this fact here was M'Gugan's +wife trying to shirk the common lot. It was monstrous! + +M'Gugan's wife ought really to have known better. The simplest +calculation, had she cared to make it, would have shown her the utter +futility of hoping to live on the munificent wage which a grateful +country allowed to M'Gugan, less certain deductions for M'Gugan's +slops and contingent sick-benefit, in return for his aid in protecting +it from its enemies; and almost any parish official could have told +her, what she ought in reason to have known already, that she was no +longer merely M'Gugan's wife, dependent upon his exertions for the +bread she ate, but a Daughter of the State and own sister to thousands +of women to whom the gang in its passage brought toil and poverty, +tears and shame--not, mark you, the shame of labour, if there be such +a thing, but the bedraggled, gin-sodden shame of the street, or, in +the scarce less dreadful alternative, the shame of the goodwife of the +ballad who lamented her husband's absence because, worse luck, sundry +of her bairns "were gotten quhan he was awa'." + +Lamentable as this state of things undoubtedly was, it was +nevertheless one of the inevitables of pressing. You could not take +forcibly one hundred husbands and fathers out of a community of five +hundred souls, and pay that hundred husbands and fathers the barest +pittance instead of a living wage, without condemning one hundred +wives and mothers to hard labour on behalf of the three hundred +children who hungered. Out of this hundred wives and mothers a certain +percentage, again, lacked the ability to work, while a certain other +percentage lacked the will. These recruited the ranks of the outcast, +or with their families burdened the parish. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of the Churchwardens and Overseers of +the Poor of the Parish of Portsmouth, 3 Dec 1793, and numerous +instances.] The direct social and economic outcome of this mode of +manning the Navy, coupled with the payment of a starvation wage, was +thus threefold. It reversed the natural sex-incidence of labour; it +fostered vice; it bred paupers. The first was a calamity personal to +those who suffered it. The other two were national in their calamitous +effects. + +In that great diurnal of the eighteenth-century navy, the Captains' +Letters and Admirals' Dispatches, no volume can be opened without +striking the broad trail of destitution, misery and heart-break, to +mention no worse consequences, left by the gang. At nearly every turn +of the page, indeed, we come upon recitals or petitions recalling +vividly the exclamation involuntarily let fall by Pepys the +tender-hearted when, standing over against the Tower late one summer's +night, he watched by moonlight the pressed men sent away: "Lord! how +some poor women did cry." + +A hundred years later and their heritors in sorrow are crying still. +Now it is a bed-ridden mother bewailing her only son, "the principal +prop and stay of her old age"; again a wife, left destitute "with +three hopeful babes, and pregnant." And here, bringing up the rear of +the sad procession--lending to it, moreover, a touch of humour in +itself not far removed from tears--comes Lachlan M'Quarry. The gang +have him, and amid the Stirling hills, where he was late an indweller, +a motley gathering of kinsfolk mourn his loss--"me, his wife, two +Small helpless Children, an Aged Mother who is Blind, an Aged Man who +is lame and unfit for work, his father in Law, and a sister Insane, +with his Mother in Law who is Infirm." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1454--The Humble Petition of Jullions Thomson, Spouse +to Lachlan M'Quarry, 2 May 1812.] The fact is attested by the minister +and elders of the parish, being otherwise unbelievable; and Lachlan is +doubtless proportionately grieved to find himself at sea. Men whose +wives "divorced" them through the medium of the gang--a not uncommon +practice--experienced a similar grief. + +Besides the regular employment it so generously provided for wives +bereft of their lawful support, the press-gang found for the women of +the land many an odd job that bore no direct relation to the earning +of their bread. When the mob demolished the Whitby rendezvous in '93, +it was the industrious fishwives of the town who collected the stones +used as ammunition on that occasion; and when, again, Lieut. M'Kenzie +unwisely impressed an able seaman in the house of Joseph Hook, +inn-keeper at Pill, it was none other than "Mrs. Hook, her daughter +and female servant" who fell upon him and tore his uniform in shreds, +thus facilitating the pressed man's escape "through a back way." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Lieut. M'Kenzie, 20 Oct. +1805.] + +The good people of Sunderland at one time indulged themselves in the +use of a peculiar catch-phrase. Whenever any feat of more than +ordinary daring came under their observation, they spoke of it as "a +case of Dryden's sister." The saying originated in this way. The +Sunderland gang pressed the mate of a vessel, one Michael Dryden, and +confined him in the tender's hold. One night Dryden's sister, having +in vain bribed the lieutenant in command to let him go, at the risk of +her life smuggled some carpenter's tools on board under the very +muzzles of the sentinel's muskets, and with these her brother and +fifteen other men cut their way to freedom. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June and 10 July 1798.] + +A tender lying in King Road, at the entrance to Bristol River, was the +scene of another episode of the "Dryden's sister" type. Going ashore +one morning, the lieutenant in command fell from the bank and broke +his sword. It was an ill omen, for in his absence the hard fate of the +twenty pressed men who lay in the tender's hold, "all handcuft to each +other," made an irresistible appeal to two women, pressed men's wives, +who had been with singular lack of caution admitted on board. Whilst +the younger and prettier of the two cajoled the sentinel from his +post, the elder and uglier secured an axe and a hatchet and passed +them unobserved through the scuttle to the prisoners below, who on +their part made such good use of them that when at length the +lieutenant returned he found the cage empty and the birds flown. The +shackles strewing the press-room bore eloquent testimony to the manner +of their flight. The irons had been hacked asunder, some of them with +as many as "six or seven Cutts." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 12 May 1759.] + +Never, surely, did the gang provide an odder job for any woman than +the one it threw in the way of Richard Parker's wife. The story of his +part in the historic mutiny at the Nore is common knowledge. Her's, +being less familiar, will bear retelling. But first certain incidents +in the life of the man himself, some of them hitherto unknown, call +for brief narration. + +Born at Exeter in or about the year 1764, it is not till some nineteen +years later, or, to be precise, the 5th of May 1783, that Richard +Parker makes his debut in naval records. On that date he appears on +board the _Mediator_ tender at Plymouth, in the capacity of a +pressed man. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. +9307--Muster Book of H.M. Tender the _Mediator_.] + +The tender carried him to London, where in due course he was delivered +up to the regulating officers, and by them turned over to the +_Ganges_, Captain the Honourable James Lutterell. This was prior +to the 30th of June 1783, the date of his official "appearance" on +board that ship. On the _Ganges_ he served as a midshipman--a +noteworthy fact [Footnote: Though one of rare occurrence, Parker's +case was not altogether unique; for now and then a pressed man by some +lucky chance "got his foot on the ladder," as Nelson put it, and +succeeded in bettering himself. Admiral Sir David Mitchell, pressed as +the master of a merchantman, is a notable example. Admiral Campbell, +"Hawke's right hand at Quiberon," who entered the service as a +substitute for a pressed man, is another; and James Clephen, pressed +as a sea-going apprentice, became master's-mate of the Doris, and +taking part in the cutting out of the Chevrette, a corvette of twenty +guns, from Cameret Bay, in 1801, was for his gallantry on that +occasion made a lieutenant, fought at Trafalgar and died a captain. On +the other hand, John Norris, pressed at Gallions Reach out of a +collier and "ordered to walk the quarter-deck as a midshipman," proved +such a "laisie, sculking, idle fellow," and so "filled the sloop and +men with vermin," that his promoter had serious thoughts of "turning +him ashore."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, undated +letter, 1741.]--till the 4th of September following, when he was +discharged to the _Bull-Dog_ sloop by order of Admiral Montagu. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10614--Muster +Book of H.M.S. _Ganges_.] + +His transfer from the _Bull-Dog_ banished him from the +quarter-deck and sowed within him the seeds of that discontent which +fourteen years later made of him, as he himself expressed it, "a +scape-goat for the sins of many." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 5339--Dying Declaration of the Late Unfortunate Richard Parker, 28 +June 1797.] He was now, for what reason we do not learn, rated as an +ordinary seaman, and in that capacity he served till the 15th of June +1784, when he was discharged sick to Haslar Hospital. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10420, 10421--Muster Books +of H.M. Sloop _Bull-Dog_.] + +At this point we lose track of him for a matter of nearly fourteen +years, but on the 31st of March 1797, the year which brought his +period of service to so tragic a conclusion, he suddenly reappears at +the Leith rendezvous as a Quota Man for the county of Perth. +Questioned as to his past, he told Brenton, then in charge of that +rendezvous, "that he had been a petty officer or acting lieutenant on +board the _Mediator_, Capt. James Lutterell, at the taking of +five prizes in 1783, when he received a very large proportion of +prize-money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Capt. +Brenton, 10 June 1797.] The inaccuracies evident on the face of this +statement are unquestionably due to Brenton's defective recollection +rather than to Parker's untruthfulness. Brenton wrote his report +nearly two and a half months after the event. + +After a period of detention on board the tender at Leith, Parker, in +company with other Quota and pressed men, was conveyed to the Nore in +one of the revenue vessels occasionally utilised for that purpose, and +there put on board the _Sandwich_, the flag-ship for that +division of the fleet. At half-past nine on the morning of the 12th of +May, upon the 2nd lieutenant's giving orders to "clear hawse," the +ship's company got on the booms and gave three cheers, which were at +once answered from the _Director_. They then reeved yard-ropes as +a menace to those of the crew who would not join them, and trained the +forecastle guns on the quarter-deck as a hint to the officers. The +latter were presently put on shore, and that same day the mutineers +unanimously chose Parker to be their "President" or leader. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: +Deposition of Lieut. Justice.] The fact that he had been pressed in +the first instance, and that after having served for a time in the +capacity of a "quarter-deck young gentleman" he had been +unceremoniously derated, singled him out for this distinction. There +was amongst the mutineers, moreover, no other so eligible; for +whatever Parker's faults, he was unquestionably a man of superior +ability and far from inferior attainments. + +The reeving of yard-ropes was his idea, though he disclaimed it. An +extraordinary mixture of tenderness and savagery, he wept when it was +proposed to fire upon a runaway ship, the _Repulse_, but the next +moment drove a crowbar into the muzzle of the already heavily shotted +gun and bade the gunner "send her to hell where she belonged." "I'll +make a beefsteak of you at the yard-arm" was his favourite threat. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard +Parker: Depositions of Capt. John Wood, of H.M. Sloop _Hound_, +William Livingston, boat-swain of the _Director_, and Thomas +Barry, seaman on board the _Monmouth._] It was prophetic, for +that way, as events quickly proved, lay the finish of his own career. + +At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June Parker, convicted +and sentenced to death after a fair trial, stood on the scaffold +awaiting his now imminent end. The halter, greased to facilitate his +passing, was already about his neck, and in one of his hands, which +had been freed at his own request, he held a handkerchief borrowed for +the occasion from one of the officers of the ship. This he suddenly +dropped. It was the preconcerted signal, and as the fatal gun boomed +out in response to it he thrust his hands into his pockets with great +rapidity and jumped into mid-air, meeting his death without a tremor +and with scarce a convulsion. Thanks to the clearness of the +atmosphere and the facility with which the semaphores did their work +that morning, the Admiralty learnt the news within seven minutes. +[Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] Now +comes the woman's part in the drama on which the curtain rose with the +pressing of Parker in '83, and fell, not with his execution at the +yard-arm of the _Sandwich_, as one would suppose, but four days +after that event. + +In one of his spells of idleness ashore Parker had married a Scotch +girl, the daughter of an Aberdeenshire farmer--a tragic figure of a +woman whose fate it was to be always too late. Hearing that her +husband had taken the bounty, she set out with all speed for Leith, +only to learn, upon her arrival there, that he was already on his way +to the fleet. At Leith she tarried till rumours of his pending trial +reached the north country. The magistrates would then have put her +under arrest, designing to examine her, but the Admiralty, to whom +Brenton reported their intention, vetoed the proceeding as +superfluous. The case against Parker was already complete. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Capt. Brenton, 15 June 1797, and +endorsement.] Left free to follow the dictates of her tortured heart, +the distracted woman posted south. + +Eating his last breakfast in the gun-room of the _Sandwich_, +Parker talked affectionately of his wife, saying that he had made his +will and left her a small estate he was heir to. Little did he dream +that she was then within a few miles of him. + +The _Sandwich_ lay that morning above Blackstakes, the headmost +ship of the fleet, and at the moment when Parker leapt from her +cathead scaffold a boat containing his wife shot out into the stream. +He was run up to the yard-arm before her very eyes. She was again too +late. + +He hung there for an hour. Meantime, with a tenacity of purpose as +touching as her devotion, the unhappy woman applied to the Admiral for +the body of her husband. She was denied, and Parker's remains were +committed to the new naval burial ground, beyond the Red-Barrier Gate +leading to Minster. The burial took place at noon. By nightfall the +grief-stricken woman had come to an amazing resolution. _She would +steal the body_. + +Ten o'clock that night found her at the place of interment. Save for +the presence of the sentinel at the adjoining Barrier Gate, the +loneliness of the spot favoured her design, but a ten-foot palisade +surrounded the grounds, and she had neither tools nor helpers. +Unexpectedly three women came that way. To them she disclosed her +purpose, praying them for the love of God to help her. Perhaps they +were sailors' wives. Anyhow, they assented, and the four +body-snatchers scaled the fence. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT. Dressed as a sailor.] + + +The absence of tools, as it happened, presented no serious impediment +to the execution of their design. The grave was a shallow one, the +freshly turned mould loose and friable. Digging with their hands, they +soon uncovered the coffin, which they then contrived to raise and +hoist over the cemetery gates into the roadway, where they sat upon it +to conceal it from chance passers-by till four o'clock in the morning. +It was then daylight. The neighbouring drawbridge was let down, and, a +fish-cart opportunely passing on its way to Rochester, the driver was +prevailed upon to carry the "lady's box" into that town. A guinea +served to allay his suspicions. + +Three days later a caravan drew up before the "Hoop and Horseshoe" +tavern, in Queen Street, Little Tower Hill. A woman alighted +--furtively, for it was now broad daylight, whereas she had +planned to arrive while it was still dark. A watchman chanced to pass +at the moment, and the woman's strange behaviour aroused his +suspicions. Pulling aside the covering of the van, he looked in and +saw there the rough coffin containing the body of Parker, which the +driver of the caravan had carried up from Rochester for the sum of six +guineas. Later in the day the magistrates sitting at Lambeth Street +Police Court ordered its removal, and it was deposited in the vaults +of Whitechapel church. [Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, +Manchester, 1797.] + +Full confirmation of this extraordinary story, should any doubt it, +may be found in the registers of the church in question. Amongst the +burials there we read this entry: "_July, 1797, Richard Parker, +Sheerness, Kent, age 33. Cause of death, execution. This was Parker, +the President of the Mutinous Delegates on board the fleet at the +Nore. He was hanged on board H.M.S._ Sandwich _on the 30th day of +June_." [Footnote: Burial Registers of St. Mary Matfellon, +Whitechapel, 1797.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + + + +Once the gang had a man in its power, his immediate destination was +either the rendezvous press-room or the tender employed as a +substitute for that indispensable place of detention. + +The press-room, lock-up or "shut-up house," as it was variously +termed, must not be confounded with the press-room at Newgate, where +persons indicted for felony, and perversely refusing to plead, were +pressed beneath weights till they complied with that necessary legal +formality. From that historic cell the rendezvous press-room differed +widely, both in nature and in use. Here the pressed men were confined +pending their dispatch to His Majesty's ships. As a matter of course +the place was strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, +being in these respects merely a commonplace replica of the average +bridewell. Where it differed from the bridewell was in its walls. +Theoretically these were elastic. No matter how many they held, there +was always room within them for more. As late as 1806 the press-room +at Bristol consisted of a cell only eight feet square, and into this +confined space sixteen men were frequently packed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +14 March 1806.] + +Nearly everywhere it was the same gruesome story. The sufferings of +the pressed man went for nothing so long as the pressed man was kept. +Provided only the bars were dependable and the bolts staunch, anything +would do to "clap him up in." The town "cage" came in handy for the +purpose; and when no other means of securing him could be found, he +was thrust into the local prison like a common felon, often amidst +surroundings unspeakably awful. + +According to the elder Wesley, no "seat of woe" on this side of the +Bottomless Pit outrivalled Newgate except one. [Footnote: London +Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1761.] The exception was Bristol jail. A filthy, +evil-smelling hole, crowded with distempered prisoners without medical +care, it was deservedly held in such dread as to "make all seamen fly +the river" for fear of being pressed and committed to it. For when the +eight-foot cell at the rendezvous would hold no more, Bristol pressed +men were turned in here--to come out, if they survived the +pestilential atmosphere of the place, either fever-stricken or +pitiful, vermin-covered objects from whom even the hardened gangsman +shrank with fear and loathing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1490--Capt. Brown, 4 Aug. 1759.] Putting humane considerations +entirely aside, it is well-nigh inconceivable that so costly an asset +as the pressed man should ever have been exposed to such sanitary +risks. The explanation doubtless lies in the enormous amount of +pressing that was done. The number of men taken was in the aggregate +so great that a life more or less was hardly worth considering. + +Of ancient use as a county jail, Gloucester Castle stood far higher in +the pressed man's esteem as a place of detention than did its sister +prison on the Avon. The reason is noteworthy. Richard Evans, for many +years keeper there, possessed a magic palm. Rub it with silver in +sufficient quantity, and the "street door of the gaol" opened before +you at noonday, or, when at night all was as quiet as the keeper's +conscience, a plank vanished from the roof of your cell, and as you +stood lost in wonder at its disappearance there came snaking down +through the hole thus providentially formed a rope by the aid of +which, if you were a sailor or possessed of a sailor's agility and +daring, it was feasible to make your escape over the ramparts of the +castle, though they towered "most as high as the Monument." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 28 April and 26 May +1759.] + +In the absence of the gang on road or other extraneous duty the +precautions taken for the safety of pressed men were often very +inadequate, and this circumstance gave rise to many an impromptu +rescue. Sometimes the local constable was commandeered as a temporary +guard, and a story is told of how, the gang having once locked three +pressed men into the cage at Isleworth and stationed the borough +watchman over them, one Thomas Purser raised a mob, demolished the +door of the cage, and set its delighted occupants free amid frenzied +shouts of: "Pay away within, my lads! and we'll pay away without. Damn +the constable! He has no warrant." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 99.] + +In strict accordance with the regulations governing, or supposed to +govern, the keeping of rendezvous, the duration of the pressed man's +confinement ought never to have exceeded four-and-twenty hours from +the time of his capture; but as a matter of fact it often extended far +beyond that limit. Everything depended on the gang. If men were +brought in quickly, they were as quickly got rid of; but when they +dribbled in in one's and two's, with perhaps intervals of days when +nothing at all was doing, weeks sometimes elapsed before a batch of +suitable size could be made ready and started on its journey to the +ships. + +All this time the pressed man had to be fed, or, as they said in the +service, subsisted or victualled, and for this purpose a sum varying +from sixpence to ninepence a day, according to the cost of provisions, +was allowed him. On this generous basis he was nourished for a hundred +years or more, till one day early in the nineteenth century some +half-score of gaunt, hungry wretches, cooped up for eight weary weeks +in an East-coast press-room during the rigours of a severe winter, +made the startling discovery that the time-honoured allowance was +insufficient to keep soul and body together. They accordingly +addressed a petition to the Admiralty, setting forth the cause and +nature of their sufferings, and asking for a "rise." A dozen years +earlier the petition would have been tossed aside as insolent and +unworthy of consideration; but the sharp lesson of the Nore mutiny +happened to be still fresh in their Lordships' memories, so with +unprecedented generosity and haste they at once augmented the +allowance, and that too for the whole kingdom, to fifteen-pence a day. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the Pressed +Men at King's Lynn, 27 Jan. 1809, and endorsement.] + +It was a red-letter day for the pressed man. A single stroke of the +official pen had raised him from starvation to opulence, and +thenceforward, when food was cheap and the purchasing power of the +penny high, he regaled himself daily, as at Limerick in 1814, on such +abundant fare as a pound of beef, seven and a half pounds of potatoes, +a pint of milk, a quart of porter, a boiling of greens and a mess of +oatmeal; or, if he happened to be a Catholic, on fish and butter twice +a week instead of beef. The quantity of potatoes is worthy of remark. +It was peculiar to Ireland, where the lower classes never used bread. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 1 March +1814.] + +Though faring thus sumptuously at his country's expense, the pressed +man did not always pass the days of his detention in unprofitable +idleness. There were certain eventualities to be thought of and +provided against. Sooner or later he must go before the "gent with the +swabs" and be "regulated," that is to say, stripped to the waist, or +further if that exacting officer deemed it advisable, and be +critically examined for physical ailments and bodily defects. In this +examination the local "saw-bones" would doubtless lend a hand, and to +outwit the combined skill of both captain and surgeon was a point of +honour with the pressed man if by any possibility it could be done. +With this laudable end in view he devoted much of his enforced leisure +to the rehearsal of such symptoms and the fabrication of such defects +as were best calculated to make him a free man. + +For the sailor to deny his vocation was worse than useless. The +ganger's shrewd code--"All as says they be land-lubbers when I says +they baint, be liars, and all liars be seamen"--effectually shut that +door in his face. There were other openings, it is true, whereby a +knowing chap might wriggle free, but officers and medicoes were +extremely "fly." He had not practised his many deceptions upon them +through long years for nothing. They well knew that on principle he +"endeavoured by every stratagem in his power to impose"--that he was, +in short, a cunning cheat whose most serious ailments were to be +regarded with the least sympathy and the utmost suspicion. Yet in +spite of this disquieting fact the old hand, whom long practice had +made an adept at deception, and who, when he was so inclined, could +simulate "complaints of a nature to baffle the skill of any +professional man," [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1540--Capt. +Barker, 5 Nov. 1807.] rarely if ever faced the ordeal of regulating +without "trying it on." Often, indeed, he anticipated it. There was +nothing like keeping his hand in. + +Fits were his great stand-by, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1534--Capt. Barker, 11 Jan. 1805, and many instances.] and the time he +chose for these convulsive turns was generally night, when he could +count upon a full house and nothing to detract from the impressiveness +of the show. Suddenly, at night, then, a weird, horribly inarticulate +cry is heard issuing from the press-room, and at once all is uproar +and confusion. Unable to make himself heard, much less to restore +order, and fearing that murder is being done amongst the pressed men, +the sentry hastily summons the officer, who rushes down, half-dressed, +and hails the press-room. + +"Hullo! within there. What's wrong?" + +Swift silence. Then, "Man in a fit, sir," replies a quavering voice. + +"Out with him!" cries the officer. + +Immediately, the door being hurriedly unbarred, the "case" is handed +out by his terrified companions, who are only too glad to be rid of +him. To all appearances he is in a true epileptic state. In the light +of the lantern, held conveniently near by one of the gangsmen, who +have by this time turned out in various stages of undress, his +features are seen to be strongly convulsed. His breathing is laboured +and noisy, his head rolls incessantly from side to side. Foam tinged +with blood oozes from between his gnashing teeth, flecking his lips +and beard, and when his limbs are raised they fall back as rigid as +iron. [Footnote: Almost the only symptom of _le grand mal_ which +the sailor could not successfully counterfeit was the abnormal +dilation of the pupils so characteristic of that complaint, and this +difficulty he overcame by rolling his eyes up till the pupils were +invisible.] + +After surveying him critically for a moment the officer, if he too is +an old hand, quietly removes the candle from the lantern and with a +deft turn of his wrist tips the boiling-hot contents of the tallow cup +surrounding the flaming wick out upon the bare arm or exposed chest of +the "case." When the fit was genuine, as of course it sometimes was, +the test had no particular reviving effect; but if the man were +shamming, as he probably was in spite of the great consistency of his +symptoms, the chances were that, with all his nerve and foreknowledge +of what was in store for him, the sudden biting of the fiery liquid +into his naked flesh would bring him to his feet dancing with pain and +cursing and banning to the utmost extent of his elastic vocabulary. + +When this happened, "Put him back," said the officer. "He'll do, alow +or aloft." + +Going aloft at sea was the true epileptic's chief dread. And with good +reason, for sooner or later it meant a fall, and death. + +In the meantime other enterprising members of the press-room community +made ready for the scrutiny of the official eye in various ways, +practising many devices for procuring a temporary disability and a +permanent discharge. Some, horrible thought! "rubbed themselves with +Cow Itch and Whipped themselves with Nettles to appear in Scabbs"; +others "burnt themselves with oil of vitriol" to induce symptoms with +difficulty distinguishable from those of scurvy, that disease of such +dread omen to the fleet; whilst others emulated the passing of the +poor consumptive of the canting epitaph, whose "legs it was that +carried her off." Bad legs, indeed, ran a close race with fits in the +pressed man's sprint for liberty. They were so easily induced, and so +cheaply. The industrious application of the smallest copper coin +procurable, the humble farthing or the halfpenny, speedily converted +the most insignificant abrasion of the skin into a festering sore. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 20 June +1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Bowyer, 18 Dec. 1808; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1451--A. Clarke, Examining Surgeon at +Dublin, 18 May 1807; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Letters of +Capt. Brenton, March and April 1797, and many instances.] + +Here and there a man of iron nerve, acting on the common belief that +if you had lost a finger the Navy would have none of you, adopted a +more heroic method of shaking off the clutch of the gang. Such a man +was Samuel Caradine, some time inhabitant of Kendal. Committed to the +House of Correction there as a preliminary to his being turned over to +the fleet for crimes that he had done, he expressed a desire to bid +farewell to his wife. She was sent for, and came, apparently not +unprepared; for after she had greeted her man through the iron door of +his cell, "he put his hand underneath, and she, with a mallet and +chisel concealed for the purpose, struck off a finger and thumb to +render him unfit for His Majesty's service." [Footnote: _Times_, +3 Nov. 1795.] + +A stout-hearted fellow named Browne, who hailed from Chester, would +have made Caradine a fitting mate. "Being impressed into the sea +service, he very violently determined, in order to extricate himself +therefrom, to mutilate the thumb and a finger of his left hand; which +he accomplished by repeatedly maiming them with an old hatchet that he +had obtained for that purpose. He was immediately discharged." +[Footnote: _Liverpool Advertiser_, 6 June 1777.] Such men as +these were a substantial loss to the service. Fighting a gun shoulder +to shoulder, what fearful execution would they not have wrought upon +the "hereditary enemy"! + +It did not always do, however, to presume upon the loss of a +forefinger, particularly if it were missing from the left hand. Capt. +Barker, while he was regulating the press at Bristol, once had +occasion to send into Ilchester for a couple of brace of convicts who +had received the royal pardon on condition of their serving at sea. +Near Shepton Mallet, on the return tramp, his gangsmen fell in with a +party armed with sticks and knives, who "beat and cut them in a very +cruel manner." They succeeded, however, in taking the ringleader, one +Charles Biggen, and brought him in; but when Barker would have +discharged the fellow because his left forefinger was wanting, the +Admiralty brushed the customary rule aside and ordered him to be kept. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 28 July +1803, and endorsement.] + +The main considerations entering into the dispatch of pressed men to +the fleet, when at length their period of detention at headquarters +came to an end, were economy, speed and safety. Transport was +necessarily either by land or water, and in the case of seaport, river +or canal towns, both modes were of course available. Gangs operating +at a distance from the sea, or remote from a navigable river or canal, +were from their very situation obliged to send their catch to market +either wholly by land, or by land and water successively. Land +transport, though always healthier, and in many instances speedier and +cheaper than transport by water, was nevertheless much more risky. +Pressed men therefore preferred it. The risks--rescue and +desertion--were all in their favour. Hence, when they "offered +chearfully to walk up," or down, as the case might be, the seeming +magnanimity of the offer was never permitted to blind those in charge +of them to the need for a strong attendant guard. [Footnote: In the +spring of 1795 a body of Quota Men, some 130 strong, voluntarily +marched from Liverpool to London, a distance of 182 miles, instead of +travelling by coach as at first proposed. Though all had received the +bounty and squandered it in debauchery, not a man deserted; and in +their case the danger of rescue was of course absent. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 21 April 1795.] The men would have +had to walk in any case, for transport by coach, though occasionally +sanctioned, was an event of rare occurrence. A number procured in +Berkshire were in 1756 forwarded to London "by the Reading machines," +but this was an exceptional indulgence due to the state of their feet, +which were already "blistered with travelling." + +Even with the precaution of a strong guard, there were parts of the +country through which it was highly imprudent, if not altogether +impracticable, to venture a party on foot. Of these the thirty-mile +stretch of road between Kilkenny and Waterford, the nearest seaport, +perhaps enjoyed the most unenviable reputation. No gang durst traverse +it; and no body of pressed men, and more particularly of pressed +Catholics, could ever have been conveyed even for so short a distance +through a country inhabited by a fanatical and strongly disaffected +people without courting certain bloodshed. The naval authorities in +consequence left Kilkenny severely alone. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] + +The sending of men overland from Appledore to Plymouth, a course +frequently adopted to avoid the circuitous sea-route, was attended +with similar risks. The hardy miners and quarrymen of the intervening +moorlands loved nothing so much as knocking the gangsman on the head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 22 Sept. 1805.] + +The attenuated neck of land between the Mersey and the Dee had an evil +reputation for affairs of this description. Men pressed at Chester, +and sent across the neck to the tenders or ships of war in the Mersey, +seldom reached their destination unless attended by an exceptionally +strong escort. The reason is briefly but graphically set forth by +Capt. Ayscough, who dispatched three such men from Chester, under +convoy of his entire gang, in 1780. "On the road thither," says he, +"about seven miles from hence, at a village called Sutton, they were +met by upwards of one Hundred Arm'd Seamen from Parkgate, belonging to +different privateers at Liverpool. An Affray ensued, and the three +Impress'd men were rescued by the Mobb, who Shot one of my Gang +through the Body and wounded two others." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] Parkgate, it will +be recalled, was a notorious "nest of seamen." The alternative route +to Liverpool, by passage-boat down the Dee, was both safer and +cheaper. To send a pressed man that way, accompanied by two of the +gang, cost only twelve-and-six. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Admiral Phillip, 14 Sept. 1804.] + +Mr. Midshipman Goodave and party, convoying pressed men from Lymington +to Southampton, once met with an adventure in traversing the New +Forest which, notwithstanding its tragic sequel, is not without its +humorous side. They had left the little fishing village of Lepe some +miles behind, and were just getting well into the Forest, when a +cavalcade of mounted men, some thirty strong, all muffled in +greatgoats and armed to the teeth, unexpectedly emerged from the wood +and opened fire upon them. Believing it to be an attempt at rescue, +the gang closed in about their prisoners, but when one of these was +the first to fall, his arm shattered and an ear shot off, the +gangsmen, perceiving their mistake, broke and fled in all directions. +Not far, however. The smugglers, for such they were, quickly rounded +them up and proceeded, not to shoot them, as the would-be fugitives +anticipated, but to administer to them the "smugglers' oath." This +they did by forcing them on their knees and compelling them, at the +point of the pistol and with horrible execrations, to "wish their eyes +might drop out if they told their officers which way they, the +smugglers, were gone." Having extorted this unique pledge of secrecy +as to their movements, they rode away into the Forest, unaware that +Mr. Midshipman Goodave, snugly ensconced in the neighbouring ditch, +had seen and heard all that passed--a piece of discretion on his part +that later on brought at least one of the smugglers into distressing +contact with the law. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 18: Informations of Shepherd Goodave, +1 Oct. 1779.] + +Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch +pressed men from seaport towns by land--as at Exmouth, where the +entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle +all shipping up, or shut it out, for days together--so the dangers +peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them +from inland towns by water. This was the case at Stourbridge. Handed +over to contractors responsible for their safe-keeping, the numerous +seamen taken by the gangs in that town and vicinity were delivered on +board the tenders in King Road, below Bristol--conveyed thither by +water, at a cost of half a guinea per head. This sum included +subsistence, which would appear to have been mainly by water also. To +Liverpool, the alternative port of delivery, carriage could only be +had by land, and the risks of land transit in that direction were so +great as to be considered insuperable, to say nothing of the cost. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, +1780.] + +At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships +made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men +was of course to put them immediately on ship-board; but when no ship +was thus available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign +or on other prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case +of rendezvous lying so far afield as to render land transport +impracticable, but to forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In +this way there grew up a system of sea transport that centred from +many distant and widely separated points of the kingdom upon those +great entrepots for pressed men, the Hamoaze, Spithead and the Nore. + +Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped +to these destinations as "passengers" on colliers and merchant +vessels, their escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more +gangsmen, according to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they +had no escort at all, the masters being simply bound over to make good +all losses arising from any cause save death, capture by an enemy's +ship or the act of God. From King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per +head, by this means of transport, was 2 Pounds, 15s., including +victualling; from Hull, 2 Pounds 12s. 6d.; from Newcastle, 10s. 6d. +The lower rates for the longer runs are explained by the fact that, +shipping facilities being so much more numerous on the Humber and the +Tyne, competition reduced the cost of carriage in proportion to its +activity. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Phillip, +3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] + +In spite of every precaution, such serious loss attended the shipping +of men in this manner as to force the Admiralty back upon its own +resources. Recourse was accordingly had, in the great majority of +cases, to that handy auxiliary of the fleet, the hired tender. Tenders +fell into two categories--cruising tenders, employed exclusively, or +almost exclusively, in pressing afloat after the manner described in +an earlier chapter, and tenders used for the double purpose of +"keeping" men pressed on land and of conveying them to the fleet when +their numbers grew to such proportions as to make a full and +consequently dangerous ship. In theory, "any old unmasted hulk, unfit +to send to sea, would answer to keep pressed men in." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] In +practice, the contrary was the case. Fitness for sea, combined with +readiness to slip at short notice, was more essential than mere cubic +capacity, since transhipment was thus avoided and the pressed man +deprived of another chance of taking French leave. + +One all-important consideration, in the case of tenders employed for +the storing and detention of pressed men prior to their dispatch to +the fleet, was that the vessel should be able to lie afloat at low +water; for if the fall of the tide left her high and dry, the risk of +desertion, as well as of attack from the shore, was enormously +increased. Whitehaven could make no use of man-storing tenders for +this reason; and at the important centre of King's Lynn, which was +really a receiving station for three counties, it was found "requisite +to have always a vessel below the Deeps to keep pressed men aboard," +since their escape or rescue by way of the flats was in any anchorage +nearer the town a foregone conclusion. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755.] + +On board the tenders the comfort and health of the pressed man were no +more studied than in the strong-rooms and prisons ashore. A part of +the hold was required to be roughly but substantially partitioned off +for his security, and on rare occasions this space was fitted with +bunks; but as the men usually arrived "all very bare of +necessaries"--except when pressed afloat, a case we are not now +considering--any provision for the slinging of hammocks, or the +spreading of bedding they did not possess, came to be looked upon as a +superfluous and uncalled-for proceeding. Even the press-room was a +rarity, save in tenders that had been long in the service. Down in the +hold of the vessel, whither the men were turned like so many sheep as +soon as they arrived on board, they perhaps found a rough platform of +deal planks provided for them to lie on, and from this they were at +liberty to extract such sorry comfort as they could during the weary +days and nights of their incarceration. Other conveniences they had +none. When this too was absent, as not infrequently happened, they +were reduced to the necessity of "laying about on the Cables and +Cask," suffering in consequence "more than can well be expressed." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. A'Court, 22 April +1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 11 Feb. 1777, and +Captains' Letters, _passim_.] It is not too much to say that +transported convicts had better treatment. + +Cooped up for weeks at a stretch in a space invariably crowded to +excess, deprived almost entirely of light, exercise and fresh air, and +poisoned with bad water and what Roderick Random so truthfully called +the "noisome stench of the place," it is hardly surprising that on +protracted voyages from such distant ports as Limerick or Leith the +men should have "fallen sick very fast." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1444--Capt. Allen, 4 March 1771, and Captains' Letters, +_passim_.] Officers were, indeed, charged "to be very careful of +the healths of the seamen" entrusted to their keeping; yet in spite of +this most salutary regulation, so hopelessly bad were the conditions +under which the men were habitually carried, and so slight was the +effort made to ameliorate them, that few tenders reached their +destination without a more or less serious outbreak of fever, +small-pox or some other equally malignant distemper. Upon the fleet +the effect was appalling. Sickly tenders could not but make sickly +ships. + +If the material atmosphere of the tender's hold was bad, its moral +atmosphere was unquestionably worse. Dark deeds were done here at +times, and no man "peached" upon his fellows. Out of this deplorable +state of things a remarkable legal proceeding once grew. Murder having +been committed in the night, and none coming forward to implicate the +offender, the coroner's jury, instead of returning their verdict +against some person or persons unknown, found the entire occupants of +the tender's hold, seventy-two in number, guilty of that crime. A +warrant was actually issued for their apprehension, though never +executed. To put the men on their trial was a useless step, since, in +the circumstances, they would have been most assuredly acquitted. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 20.] Just as assuredly any informer in their midst would +have been murdered. + +The scale of victualling on board the tenders was supposed to be the +same as on shore. "Full allowance daily" was the rule; and if the +copper proved too small to serve all at one boiling, there were to be +as many boilings as should be required to go round. Unhappily for the +pressed man, there was a weevil in his daily bread. While it was the +bounden duty of the master of the vessel to feed him properly, and of +the officers to see that he was properly fed, "officers and masters +generally understood each other too well in the pursery line." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March +1795.] Rations were consequently short, boilings deficient, and though +the cabin went well content, the hold was the scene of bitter +grumblings. + +Nor were these the only disabilities the pressed man laboured under. +His officers proved a sore trial to him. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord +High Admiral, foreseeing that this would be the case, directed that he +should be "used with all possible tenderness and humanity." The order +was little regarded. The callosity of Smollett's midshipman, who spat +in the pressed man's face when he dared to complain of his sufferings, +and roughly bade him die for aught he cared, was characteristic of the +service. Hence a later regulation, with grim irony, gave directions +for his burial. He was to be put out of the way, as soon as might be +after the fatal conditions prevailing on board His Majesty's tenders +had done their work, with as great a show of decency as could be +extracted from the sum of ten shillings. + +Strictly speaking, it was not in the power of the tender's officers to +mitigate the hardships of the pressed man's lot to any appreciable +extent, let them be as humane as they might. For this the pressed man +himself was largely to blame. An ungrateful rogue, his hide was as +impervious to kindness as a duck's back to water. Supply him with +slops [Footnote: The regulations stipulated that slops should be +served out to all who needed them; but as their acceptance was held to +set up a contract between the recipient and the Crown, the pressed man +was not unnaturally averse from drawing upon such a source of supply +as long as any chance of escape remained to him.] wherewith to cover +his nakedness or shield him from the cold, and before the Sunday +muster came round the garments had vanished--not into thin air, +indeed, but in tobacco and rum, for which forbidden luxuries he +invariably bartered them with the bumboat women who had the run of the +vessel while she remained in harbour. Or allow him on deck to take the +air and such exercise as could be got there, and the moment your back +was turned he was away _sans conge_. Few of these runaways were +as considerate as that Scotch humorist, William Ramsay, who was +pressed at Leith for beating an informer and there put on board the +tender. Seizing the first opportunity of absconding, "Sir," he wrote +to the lieutenant in command, "I am so much attached to you for the +good usage I have received at your hands, that I cannot think of +venturing on board your ship again in the present state of affairs. I +therefore leave this letter at my father's to inform you that I intend +to slip out of the way." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1524.--Capt. Brenton, 20 Oct. 1800.] + +When that clever adventuress, Moll Flanders, found herself booked for +transportation beyond the seas, her one desire, it will be recalled, +was "to come back before she went." So it was with the pressed man. +The idea of escape obsessed him--escape before he should be rated on +shipboard and sent away to heaven only knew what remote quarter of the +globe. It was for this reason that irons were so frequently added to +his comforts. "Safe bind, safe find" was the golden rule on board His +Majesty's tenders. + +How difficult it was for him to carry his cherished design into +execution, and yet how easy, is brought home to us with surprising +force by the catastrophe that befell the _Tasker_ tender. On the +23rd of May 1755 the _Tasker_ sailed out of the Mersey with a +full cargo of pressed men designed for Spithead. She possessed no +press-room, and as the men for that reason had the run of the hold, +all hatches were securely battened down with the exception of the +maindeck scuttle, an opening so small as to admit of the passage of +but one man at a time. Her crew numbered thirty-eight, and elaborate +precautions were taken for the safe-keeping of her restless human +freight. So much is evident from the disposition of her guard, which +was as follows:-- + +_(a)_ At the open scuttle two sentries, armed with pistol and +cutlass. Orders, not to let too many men up at once. + +_(b)_ On the forecastle two sentries, armed with musket and +bayonet. Orders, to fire on any pressed man who should attempt to swim +away. + +_(c)_ On the poop one sentry, similarly armed, and having similar +orders. + +_(d)_ On the quarter-deck, at the entrance to the great cabin, +where the remaining arms were kept, one sentry, armed with cutlass and +pistol. Orders, to let no pressed man come upon the quarter-deck. + +There were thus six armed sentinels stationed about the ship--ample to +have nipped in the bud any attempt to seize the vessel, but for two +serious errors of judgment on the part of the officer responsible for +their disposition. These were, first, the discretionary power vested +in the sentries at the scuttle; and, second, the inadequate guard, a +solitary man, set for the defence of the great cabin and the arms it +contained. Now let us see how these errors of judgment affected the +situation. + +Either through stupidity, bribery or because they were rapidly making +an offing, the sentries at the scuttle, as the day wore on, admitted a +larger number of pressed men to the comparative freedom of the deck +than was consistent with prudence. The number eventually swelled to +fourteen--sturdy, determined fellows, the pick of the hold. One of +them, having a fiddle, struck up a merry tune, the rest fell to +dancing, the tender's crew who were off duty caught the infection and +joined in, while the officers stood looking on, tolerantly amused and +wholly unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly, just when the fun was at its +height, a splash was heard, a cry of "Man overboard!" ran from lip to +lip, and officers and crew rushed to the vessel's side. They were +there, gazing into the sea, for only a minute or two, but by the time +they turned their faces inboard again the fourteen determined men were +masters of the ship. In the brief disciplinary interval they had +overpowered the guard and looted the cabin of its store of arms. That +night they carried the tender into Redwharf Bay and there bade her +adieu. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir Edward +Hawke, 3 June 1755, and enclosures.] To pursue them in so mountainous +a country would have been useless; to punish them, even had they been +retaken, impossible. As unrated men they were neither mutineers nor +deserters, [Footnote: By 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6, pressed men could be +apprehended and tried for desertion by virtue of the Queen's shilling +having been forced upon them at the time they were pressed, but as the +use of that coin fell into abeyance, so the Act in question became +gradually a dead-letter. Hay, Murray, Lloyd, Pinfold and Jervis, Law +Officers of the Crown, giving an opinion on this important point in +1756, held that "pressed men are not subject to the Articles (of War) +until they are actually rated on board some of His Majesty's +ships."--_Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, +1756-77, No. 3, Case 2.] and the seizure of the tender was at the +worst a bloodless crime in which no one was hurt save an obdurate +sentry, who was slashed over the head with a cutlass. + +The boldness of its inception and the anticlimaxical nature of its +finish invest another exploit of this description with an interest all +its own. This was the cutting out of the _Union_ tender from the +river Tyne on the 12th April 1777. The commander, Lieut. Colville, +having that day gone on shore for the "benefit of the air," and young +Barker, the midshipman who was left in charge in his absence, having +surreptitiously followed suit, the pressed men and volunteers, to the +number of about forty, taking advantage of the opportunity thus +presented, rose and seized the vessel, loaded the great guns, and by +dint of threatening to sink any boat that should attempt to board them +kept all comers, including the commander himself, at bay till nine +o'clock in the evening. By that time night had fallen, so, with the +wind blowing strong off-shore and an ebb-tide running, they cut the +cables and stood out to sea. For three days nothing was heard of them, +and North Shields, the scene of the exploit and the home of most of +the runaways, was just on the point of giving the vessel up for lost +when news came that she was safe. Influenced by one Benjamin Lamb, a +pressed man of more than ordinary character, the rest had relinquished +their original purpose of either crossing over to Holland or running +the vessel ashore on some unfrequented part of the coast, and had +instead carried her into Scarborough Bay, doubtless hoping to land +there without interference and so make their way to Whitby or Hull. In +this design, however, they were partly frustrated, for, a force having +been hastily organised for their apprehension, they were waylaid as +they came ashore and retaken to the number of twenty-two, the rest +escaping. Lamb, discharged for his good offices in saving the tender, +was offered a boatswain's place if he would re-enter; but for poor +Colville the affair proved disastrous. Becoming demented, he attempted +to shoot himself and had to be superseded. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 13 April 1777, and enclosures.] + +All down through the century similar incidents, crowding thick and +fast one upon another, relieved the humdrum routine of the pressed +man's passage to the fleet, and either made his miserable life in a +measure worth living or brought it to a summary conclusion. Of minor +incidents, all tending to the same happy or unhappy end, there was no +lack. Now he sweltered beneath a sun so hot as to cause the pitch to +boil in the seams of the deck above his head; again, as when the +_Boneta_ sloop, conveying pressed men from Liverpool to the +Hamoaze in 1740, encountered "Bedds of two or three Acres bigg of Ice +& of five or Six foot thicknesse, which struck her with such force +'twas enough to drive her bows well out," he "almost perished" from +cold. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 8 Feb. +1739-40.] To-day it was broad farce. He held his sides with laughter +to see the lieutenant of the tender he was in, mad with rage and +drink, chase the steward round and round the mainmast with a loaded +pistol, whilst the terrified hands, fearing for their lives, fled for +refuge to the coalhole, the roundtops and the shore. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Complaint of the Master and Company of +H. M. Hired Tender _Speedwell_, 21 Dec. 1778.] To-morrow it was tragedy. +Some "little dirty privateer" swooped down upon him, as in the case +of the _Admiral Spry_ tender from Waterford to Plymouth, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Dickson, Surveyor of Customs at the Cove +of Cork, April 1780.] and consigned him to what he dreaded infinitely +more than any man-o'-war--a French prison; or contrary winds, swelling +into a sudden gale, drove him a helpless wreck on to some treacherous +coast, as they drove the _Rich Charlotte_ upon the Formby Sands in +1745, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 4 Oct. +1745.] and there remorselessly drowned him. + +Provided he escaped such untoward accidents as death or capture by the +enemy, sooner or later the pressed man arrived at the receiving +station. Here another ordeal awaited him, and here also he made his +last bid for freedom. + +Taking the form of a final survey or regulating, the ordeal the +pressed man had now to face was no less thoroughgoing than its +precursor at the rendezvous had in all probability been superficial +and ineffective. Eyes saw deeper here, wits were sharper, and in this +lay at once the pressed man's bane and salvation. For if genuinely +unfit, the fact was speedily demonstrated; whereas if merely shamming, +discovery overtook him with a certainty that wrote "finis" to his last +hope. Nevertheless, for this ordeal, as for his earlier regulating at +the rendezvous, the sailor who knew his book prepared himself with +exacting care during the tedium of his voyage. + +No sooner was he mustered for survey, then, than the most +extraordinary, impudent and in many instances transparent impostures +were sprung upon his examiners. Deafness prevailed to an alarming +extent, dumbness was by no means unknown. Men who fought desperately +when the gang took them, or who played cards with great assiduity in +the tender's hold, developed sudden paralysis of the arms. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Bloyes, Jan. 1702-3; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 26 Sept. 1711. An extraordinary +instance of this form of malingering is cited in the "Naval +Sketch-Book," 1826.] Legs which had been soundness itself at +the rendezvous were now a putrefying mass of sores. The itch broke out +again, virulent and from all accounts incurable. Fits returned with +redoubled frequency and violence, the sane became demented or idiotic, +and the most obviously British, losing the use of their mother tongue, +swore with many gesticulatory _sacres_ that they had no English, +as indeed they had none for naval purposes. Looking at the miserable, +disease-ridden crew, the uninitiated spectator was moved to tears of +pity. Not so the naval officer. In France, when a prisoner of war, +learning French there without a master, he had heard a saying that he +now recalled to some purpose: _Vin de grain est plus doux que n'est +pas vin de presse_--"Willing duties are sweeter than those that are +extorted." The punning allusion to the press had tickled his fancy and +fixed the significant truism in his memory. From it he now took his +cue and proceeded to man his ship. + +So at length the pressed man, in spite of all his ruses and +protestations, was rated and absorbed into that vast agglomeration of +men and ships known as the fleet. Here he underwent a speedy +metamorphosis. It was not that he lost his individuality and became a +mere unit amongst thousands. Quite the contrary. Friends, creditors or +next-of-kin, concocting petitions on his behalf, set forth in +heart-rending terms the many disabilities he suffered from, together +with many he did not, and prayed, with a fervour often reaching no +deeper than their pockets, that he might be restored without delay to +his bereaved and destitute family. Across the bottom right-hand corner +of these petitions, conveniently upturned for that purpose, the +Admiralty scrawled its initial order: "Let his case be stated." The +immediate effect of this expenditure of Admiralty ink was magical. It +promoted the subject of the petition from the ranks, so to speak, and +raised him to the dignity of a "State the Case Man." + +He now became a person of consequence. The kindliest inquiries were +made after his health. The state of his eyes, the state of his limbs, +the state of his digestion were all stated with the utmost minuteness +and prolixity. Reams of gilt-edged paper were squandered upon him; and +by the time his case had been duly stated, restated, considered, +reconsidered and finally decided, the poor fellow had perhaps voyaged +round the world or by some mischance gone to the next. + +In the matter of exacting their pound of flesh the Lords Commissioners +were veritable Shylocks. Neither supplications nor tears had power to +move them, and though they sometimes relented, it was invariably for +reasons of policy and in the best interests of the service. Men +clearly shown to be protected they released. They could not go back +upon their word unless some lucky quibble rendered it possible to +traverse the obligation with honour. Unprotected subjects who were +clearly unfit to eat the king's victuals they discharged--for +substitutes. + + [Illustration: The Press Gang, or English Liberty Displayed.] + +The principle underlying their Lordships' gracious acceptance of +substitutes for pressed men was beautifully simple. If as a pressed +man you were fit to serve, but unwilling, you were worth at least two +able-bodied men; if you were unfit, and hence unable to serve, you +were worth at least one. This simple rule proved a source of great +encouragement to the gangs, for however bad a man might be he was +always worth a better. + +The extortions to which the Lords Commissioners lent themselves in +this connection--three, and, as in the case of Joseph Sanders of +Bristol, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Capt. Barker, 4 +Jan. 1805, and endorsement.] even four able-bodied men being exacted +as substitutes--could only be termed iniquitous did we not know the +duplicity, roguery and deep cunning with which they had to cope. Upon +the poor, indeed, the practice entailed great hardship, particularly +when the home had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the discharge of +the bread-winner who had been instrumental in getting it together; but +to the unscrupulous crimp and the shady attorney the sailor's +misfortune brought only gain. Buying up "raw boys," or Irishmen who +"came over for reasons they did not wish known"--rascally persons who +could be had for a song--they substituted these for seasoned men who +had been pressed, and immediately, having got the latter in their +power, turned them over to merchant ships at a handsome profit. At +Hull, on the other hand, substitutes were sought in open market. The +bell-man there cried a reward for men to go in that capacity. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--George Crowle, Esq., M.P. +for Hull, 28 Dec. 1739.] + +Even when the pressed man had procured his substitutes and obtained +his coveted discharge, his liberty was far from assured. In theory +exempt from the press for a period of at least twelve months, he was +in reality not only liable to be re-pressed at any moment, but to be +subjected to that process as often as he chose to free himself and the +gang to take him. A Liverpool youth named William Crick a lad with +expectations to the amount of "near 4000 Pounds," was in this way +pressed and discharged by substitute three times in quick succession. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Rear-Admiral Child, 8 Aug. +1799.] Intending substitutes themselves not infrequently suffered the +same fate ere they could carry out their intention. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Lieut. Leaver, 5 Jan. 1739-40, and +numerous instances.] + +The discharging of a pressed man whose petition finally succeeded did +not always prove to be the eminently simple matter it would seem. Time +and tide waited for no man, least of all for the man who had the +misfortune to be pressed, and in the interval between his appeal and +the order for his release his ship, as already hinted, had perhaps put +half the circumference of the globe between him and home; or when the +crucial moment arrived, and he was summoned before his commander to +learn the gratifying Admiralty decision, he made his salute in batches +of two, three or even four men, each of whom protested vehemently that +he was the original and only person to whom the order applied. An +amusing attempt at "coming Cripplegate" in this manner occurred on +board the _Lennox_ in 1711. A woman, who gave her name as Alice +Williams, having petitioned for the release of her "brother," one John +Williams, a pressed man then on board that ship, succeeded in her +petition, and orders were sent down to the commander, Capt. Bennett, +to give the man his discharge. He proceeded to do so, but to his +amazement discovered, first, that he had no less than four John +Williamses on board, all pressed men; second, that while each of the +four claimed to be the man in question, three of the number had no +sister, while the fourth confessed to one whose name was not Alice but +"Percilly"; and, after long and patient investigation, third, that one +of them had a wife named Alice, who, he being a foreigner domiciled by +marriage, had "tould him she would gett him cleare" should he chance +to fall into the hands of the press-gang. In this she failed, for he +was kept. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, +2 Dec. 1711.] + +Of the pressed man's smiling arrest for debts which he did not owe, +and of his jocular seizure by sheriffs armed with writs of Habeas +Corpus, the annals of his incorporation in the fleet furnish many +instances. Arrest for fictitious debt was specially common. In every +seaport town attorneys were to be found who made it their regular +practice. Particularly was this true of Bristol. Good seamen were +rarely pressed there for whom writs were not immediately issued on the +score of debts of which they had never heard. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Philip, 5 Dec. 1801.] To warrant such +arrest the debt had to exceed twenty pounds, and service, when the +pressed man was already on shipboard, was by the hands of the Water +Bailiff. + +The writ of Habeas Corpus was, in effect, the only legal check it was +possible to oppose to the impudent pretensions and high-handed +proceedings of the gang. While H.M.S. _Amaranth_ lay in dock in +1804 and her company were temporarily quartered on a hulk in Long +Reach, two sheriff's officers, accompanied by a man named Cumberland, +a tailor of Deptford, boarded the latter and served a writ on a seaman +for debt. The first lieutenant, who was in charge at the time, refused +to let the man go, saying he would first send to his captain, then at +the dock, for orders, which he accordingly did. The intruders +thereupon went over the side, Cumberland "speaking very insultingly." +Just as the messenger returned with the captain's answer, however, +they again put in an appearance, and the lieutenant hailed them and +bade them come aboard. Cumberland complied. "I have orders from my +captain," said the lieutenant, stepping up to him, "to press you." He +did so, and had it not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was +immediately sworn out, the Deptford tailor would most certainly have +exchanged his needle for a marlinespike. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1532--Lieut. Collett, 13 Feb. 1804.] + +Provocative as such redemptive measures were, and designedly so, they +were as a rule allowed to pass unchallenged. The Lords Commissioners +regretted the loss of the men, but thought "perhaps it would be as +well to let them go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 302--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1783-95, No. 24.] For this complacent attitude on +the part of his captors the pressed man had reason to hold the Law +Officers of the Crown in grateful remembrance. As early as 1755 they +gave it as their opinion--too little heeded--that to bring any matter +connected with pressing to judicial trial would be "very imprudent." +Later, with the lesson of twenty-two years' hard pressing before their +eyes, they went still further, for they then advised that a subject so +contentious, not to say so ill-defined in law, should be kept, if not +altogether, at least as much as possible out of court. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. +99; _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, +No. 70.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + + + +Not until the year 1833 did belated Nemesis overtake the press-gang. +It died the unmourned victim of its own enormities, and the manner of +its passing forms the by no means least interesting chapter in its +extraordinary career. + +Summarising the causes, direct and indirect, which led to the final +scrapping of an engine that had been mainly instrumental in manning +the fleet for a hundred years and more, and without which, whatever +its imperfections, that fleet could in all human probability never +have been manned at all, we find them to be substantially these:-- + +_(a)_ The demoralising effects of long-continued, violent and +indiscriminate pressing upon the Fleet; + +_(b)_ Its injurious and exasperating effects upon Trade; + +_(c)_ Its antagonising effect upon the Nation; and + +_(d)_ Its enormous cost as compared with recruiting by the +good-will of the People. + +Frederick the Great, it is related, being in one of his grim humours +after the dearly bought victory of Czaslaw, invited the neighbouring +peasantry to come and share the spoil of the carcases on the field of +battle. They responded in great numbers; whereupon he, surrounding +them, pressed three hundred of the most promising and "cloathed them +immediately from the dead." [Footnote: _State Papers Foreign, +Germany,_ vol. cccxl.--Robinson to Hyndford, 31 May 1742.] In this +way, Ezekiel-like, he retrieved his losses; but to the regiments so +completed the addition of these resurrection recruits proved +demoralising to a degree, notwithstanding the Draconic nature of the +Prussian discipline. In like manner the discipline used in the British +fleet, while not less drastic, failed conspicuously to counteract the +dry-rot introduced and fostered by the press-gang. In its efforts to +maintain the Navy, indeed, that agency came near to proving its ruin. + +On the most lenient survey of the recruits it furnished, it cannot be +denied that they were in the aggregate a desperately poor lot, +unfitted both physically and morally for the tremendous task of +protecting an island people from the attacks of powerful sea-going +rivals. How bad they were, the epithets spontaneously applied to them +by the outraged commanders upon whom they were foisted abundantly +prove. Witness the following, taken at random from naval captains' +letters extending over a hundred years:-- + +"Blackguards." + +"Sorry poor creatures that don't earn half the victuals they eat." + +"Sad, thievish creatures." + +"Not a rag left but what was of such a nature as had to be destroyed." + +"150 on board, the greatest part of them sorry fellows." + +"Poor ragged souls, and very small." + +"Miserable poor creatures, not a seaman amongst them, and the fleet in +the same condition." + +"Unfit for service, and a nuisance to the ship." + +"Never so ill-manned a ship since I have been at sea. The worst set I +ever saw." + +"Twenty-six poor souls, but three of them seamen. Ragged and half +dead." + +"Landsmen, boys, incurables and cripples. Sad wretches great part of +them are." + +"More fit for an hospital than the sea." + +"All the ragg-tagg that can be picked up." + +In this last phrase, "All the rag-tag that can be picked up," we have +the key to the situation; for though orders to press "no aged, +diseased or infirm persons, nor boys," were sufficiently explicit, yet +in order to swell the returns, and to appease in some degree the +fleet's insatiable greed for men, the gangs raked in recruits with a +lack of discrimination that for the better part of a century made that +fleet the most gigantic collection of human freaks and derelicts under +the sun. + +Billingsley, commander of the _Ferme_, receiving seventy pressed +men to complete his complement in 1708, discovers to his chagrin that +thirteen are lame in the legs, five lame in the hands, and three +almost blind. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1469--Capt. +Billingsley, 5 May 1708.] Latham, commanding the _Bristol_, on +the eve of sailing for the West Indies can muster only eighteen seamen +amongst sixty-eight pressed men that day put on board of him. As for +the rest, they are either sick, or too old or too young to be of +service--"ragged wretches, bad of the itch, who have not the least +pretensions to eat His Majesty's bread." Forty of the number had to be +put ashore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 161--Admiral +Watson, 26 Feb. 1754.] Admiral Mostyn, boarding his flagship, the +_Monarch_, "never in his life saw such a crew," though the +_Monarch_ had an already sufficiently evil reputation in that +respect, insomuch that whenever a scarecrow man-o'-war's man was seen +ashore the derisive cry instantly went up: "There goes a +_Monarch_!" So hopelessly bad was the company in this instance, +it was found impossible to carry the ship to sea. "I don't know where +they come from," observes the Admiral, hot with indignation, "but +whoever was the officer who received them, he ought to be ashamed, for +I never saw such except in the condemned hole at Newgate. I was three +hours and a half mustering this scabby crew, and I should have +imagined that the Scum of the Earth had been picked up for this ship." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Admiral Mostyn, 1 and 6 +April 1755.] The vigorous protest prepares us for what Capt. Baird +found on board the _Duke_ a few years later. The pressed men +there exhibited such qualifications for sea duty as "fractured +thigh-bone, idiocy, strained back and sickly, a discharged soldier, +gout and sixty years old, rupture, deaf and foolish, fits, lame, +rheumatic and incontinence of urine." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Baird, 22 May 1759.] + +That most reprehensible practice, the pressing of cripples for naval +purposes, would appear to have had its origin in the unauthorised +extension of an order issued by the Lord High Admiral, in 1704, to the +effect that in the appointment of cooks to the Navy the Board should +give preference to persons so afflicted. For the pressing of boys +there existed even less warrant. Yet the practice was common, so much +so that when, during the great famine of 1800, large numbers of youths +flocked into Poole in search of the bread they could not obtain in the +country, the gangs waylaid them and reaped a rich harvest. Two hundred +was the toll on this occasion. As all were in a "very starving, +ragged, filthy condition," the gangsmen stripped them, washed them +thoroughly in the sea, clad them in second-hand clothing from the +quay-side shops, and giving each one a knife, a spoon, a comb and a +bit of soap, sent them on board the tenders contented and happy. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Capt. Boyle, 2 June 1801.] +These lads were of course a cut above the "scum of the earth" so +vigorously denounced by Admiral Mostyn. Beginning their career as +powder-monkeys, a few years' licking into shape transformed them, as a +rule, into splendid fighting material. + +The utter incapacity of the human refuse dumped into the fleet is +justly stigmatised by one indignant commander, himself a patient +long-sufferer in that respect, as a "scandalous abuse of the service." +Six of these poor wretches had not the strength of one man. They could +not be got upon deck in the night, or if by dint of the rope's-end +they were at length routed out of their hammocks, they immediately +developed the worst symptoms of the "waister"--seasickness and fear of +that which is high. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Billop, 26 Oct. 1712.] Bruce, encountering dirty weather on the Irish +coast, when in command of the _Hawke_, out of thirty-two pressed +men "could not get above seven to go upon a yard to reef his courses," +but was obliged to order his warrant officers and master aloft on that +duty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, 6 Oct. +1741.] Belitha, of the _Scipio_, had but one man aboard him, out +of a crew of forty-one, who was competent to stand his trick at the +wheel; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Belitha, 15 +July 1746.] Bethell, of the _Phoenix_, had many who had "never +seen a gun fired in their lives"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1490--Capt. Bethell, 21 Aug. 1759.] and Adams, of the +_Bird-in-hand_, learnt the fallacy of the assertion that that +_rara avis_ is worth two in the bush. Mustered for drill in +small-arms, his men "knew no more how to handle them than a child." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 7 Oct. +1744.] For all their knowledge of that useful exercise they might have +been Sea-Fencibles. + +Yet while ships were again and again prevented from putting to sea +because, though their complements were numerically complete, they had +only one or no seaman on board, and hence were unable to get their +anchors or make sail; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478 +--Capt. Boys, 14 April 1742; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1512--Capt. +Bayly, 21 July 1796, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] while +Bennett, of the _Lennox_, when applied to by the masters of +eight outward-bound East-India ships for the loan of two hundred +and fifty men to enable them to engage the French privateers by +whom they were held up in the river of Shannon, dared not lend +a single hand lest the pressed men, who formed the greater +part of his crew, should rise and run away with the ship; [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1779.] +Ambrose, of the _Rupert_, cruising off Cape Machichaco with a +crew of "miserable poor wretches" whom he feared could be of "no +manner of use or service" to him, after a short but sharp engagement +of only an hour's duration captured, with the loss of but a single +man, the largest privateer sailing out of San Sebastian--the _Duke +of Vandome_, of twenty-six carriage guns and two hundred and two +men, of whom twenty-nine were killed; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 July and 26 Sept. 1741.] and +Capt. Amherst, encountering a heavy gale in Barnstable Pool, off +Appledore, would have lost his ship, the low-waisted, over-masted +_Mortar_ sloop, had it not been for the nine men he was so lucky +as to impress shortly before the gale. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 12 Dec. 1744.] Anson regarded +pressed men with suspicion. When he sailed on his famous voyage round +the world his ships contained only sixty-seven; but with his +complement of five hundred reduced by sickness to two hundred and one, +he was glad to add forty of those undesirables to their number out of +the India-men at Wampoo. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Anson, 18 Sept. 1740, and 7 Dec. 1742.] These, however, +were seamen such as the gangs did not often pick up in England, where, +as we have seen, the able seaman who was not fully protected avoided +the press as he would a lee shore. + +In addition to the sweepings of the roads and slums, there were in His +Majesty's ships many who trod the decks "wide betwixt the legs, as if +they had the gyves on." Peculiar to the seafaring man, the tailor and +the huckstering Jew, the gait of these individuals, who belonged +mostly to the sailor class, was strongly accentuated by an +adventitious circumstance having no necessary connection with +Israelitish descent, the sartorial board or the rolling deep. They +were in fact convicts who had but recently shed their irons, and who +walked wide from force of habit. Reasons of policy rather than of +mercy explained their presence in the fleet. The prisons of the +country, numerous and insanitary though they were, could neither hold +them all nor kill them; America would have no more of them; and penal +settlements, those later garden cities of a harassed government, were +as yet undreamt of. In these circumstances reprieved and pardoned +convicts were bestowed in about equal proportions, according to their +calling and election, upon the army and the navy. + +The practice was one of very respectable antiquity and antecedents. By +a certain provision of the Feudal System a freeman who had committed a +felony, or become hopelessly involved in debt, might purge himself of +either by becoming a serf. So, at a later date, persons in the like +predicament were permitted to exchange their fetters, whether of debt +or iron, for the dear privilege of "spilling every drop of blood in +their bodies" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of +the Convicts on board the _Stanislaus_ hulk, Woolwich, 18 May +1797.] on behalf of the sovereign whose clemency they enjoyed. Broken +on the wheel of naval discipline, they "did very well in deep water." +Nearer land they were given, like the jailbirds they were, to "hopping +the twig." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, +21 March 1776.] + +The insolvent debtor, who in the majority of cases had studied his +pleasures more than his constitution, was perhaps an even less +desirable recruit than his cousin the emancipated convict. In his +letters to the Navy Board, Capt. Aston, R.N., relates how, immediately +after the passing of the later Act [Footnote: 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6.] for +the freeing of such persons from their financial fetters, he "gave +constant attendance for almost two years at the sittings of the Courts +of Sessions in London and Surrey," lying in wait there for such +debtors as should choose the sea. From the Queen's Bench Prison, the +Clink, Marshalsea, Borough Compter, Poultry Compter, Wood Street +Compter, Ludgate Prison and the Fleet, he obtained in that time a +total of one hundred and thirty-two, to whom in every case the +prest-shilling was paid. They were dear at the price. Bankrupt in +pocket, stamina and health, they cumbered the ships to the despair of +commanders and were never so welcome as when they ran away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Letters of Capt. Aston, 1704-5.] + +The responsibility for jail-bird recruiting did not of course rest +with the gangs. They saw the shady crew safe on board ship, that was +all. Yet the odium of the thing was theirs. For not only did +association with criminals lower the standard of pressing as the gangs +practised it, it heightened the general disrepute in which they were +held. For an institution whose hold upon the affections of the people +was at the best positively negative, this was a serious matter. Every +convict whom the gang safeguarded consequently drove another nail in +the coffin preparing for it. The first and most lasting effect of the +wholesale pumping of sewage into the fleet was to taint the ships with +a taint far more deadly than mere ineptitude. A spirit of ominous +restlessness prevailed. Slackness was everywhere observable, coupled +with incipient insubordination which no discipline, however severe, +could eradicate or correct. At critical moments the men could with +difficulty be held to their duty. To hold them to quarters in '97, +when engaging the enemy off Brest, the rattan and the rope's-end had +to be unsparingly used. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Petition of the Company of H.M.S. _Nymph_, 1797.] In no +circumstances were they to be trusted. Given the slightest opening, +they "ran" like water from a sieve. To counteract these dangerous +tendencies the Marines were instituted. Drafted into the ships in +thousands, they checked in a measure the surface symptoms of +disaffection, but left the disease itself untouched. The fact was +generally recognised, and it was no uncommon circumstance, when the +number of pressed men present in a ship was large in proportion to the +unpressed element, for both officers and marines to walk the deck day +and night armed, fearful lest worse things should come upon them. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. +1799, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] What they anticipated was +the mutiny of individual crews. But a greater calamity than this was +in store for them. + +In the wholesale mutinies at Spithead and the Nore the blow fell with +appalling suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that in one form or +another it had been long foreseen. Fifty-five years had elapsed since +Vernon, scenting danger from the existing mode of manning the fleet, +had first sounded the alarm. He dreaded, he told the Lords +Commissioners in so many words, the consequences that must sooner or +later ensue from adherence to the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 578--Vice-Admiral Vernon, 27 Jan. 1742-3.] Though the +utterance of one gifted with singularly clear prevision, the warning +passed unheeded. Had it been made public, it would doubtless have met +with the derision with which the voice of the national prophet is +always hailed. Veiled as it was in service privacy, it moved their +Lordships to neither comment nor action. Action, indeed, was out of +the question. The Commissioners were helpless in the grip of a system +from which, so far as human sagacity could then perceive, there was no +way of escape. Let its issue be what it might, they could no more +replace or reconstruct it than they could build ships of tinsel. + +Other warnings were not wanting. For some years before the +catastrophic happenings of '97 there flowed in upon the Admiralty a +thin but steady stream of petitions from the seamen of the fleet, each +of them a rude echo of Vernon's sapient warning. To these, coming as +they did from an unconsidered source, little if any significance was +attached. Beyond the most perfunctory inquiry, in no case to be made +public, they received scant attention. The sailor, it was thought, +must have his grievances if he would be happy; and petitions were the +recognised line for him to air them on. They were accordingly +relegated to that limbo of distasteful and quickly forgotten things, +their Lordships' pigeon-holes. + +Yet there was amongst these documents at least one which should have +given the Heads of the Navy pause for serious thought. It was +the petition of the seamen of H.M.S. _Shannon_, [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Ship's Company of the _Shannon_, 16 +June 1796.] in which there was conveyed a threat that afterwards, when +the mutiny at the Nore was at its height, under the leadership of a +pressed man whose coadjutors were mainly pressed men, came within an +ace of resolving itself in action. That threat concerned the desperate +expedient of carrying the revolted ships into an enemy's port, and of +there delivering them up. Had this been done--and only the Providence +that watches over the destinies of nations prevented it--the act would +have brought England to her knees. + +At a time like this, when England's worst enemies were emphatically +the press-gangs which manned her fleet with the riff-raff of the +nation and thus made national disaster not only possible but hourly +imminent, the "old stander" and the volunteer were to her Navy what +salt is to the sea, its perpetual salvation. Such men inculcated an +example, created an _esprit de corps_, that infected even the +vagrant and the jail-bird, to say nothing of the better-class seaman, +taken mainly by gangs operating on the water, who was often content, +when brought into contact with loyal men, to settle down and do his +best for king and country. Amongst the pressed men, again, desertion +and death made for the survival of the fittest, and in this residuum +there was not wanting a certain savour. Subdued and quickened by +man-o'-war discipline, they developed a dogged resolution, a +super-capacity not altogether incompatible with degeneracy; and to +crown all, the men who officered the resolute if disreputable crew +were men in whose blood the salt of centuries tingled, men unrivalled +for sea-sagacity, initiative and pluck. If they could not uphold the +honour of the flag with the pressed man's unqualified aid, they did +what was immeasurably greater. They upheld it in spite of him. + +Upon the trade of the nation the injury inflicted by the press-gang is +rightly summed up in littles. Every able seaman, every callow +apprentice taken out of or forcibly detained from a merchant vessel +was, _ipso facto,_ a minute yet irretrievably substantial loss to +commerce of one kind or another. Trade, it is true, did not succumb in +consequence. Possessed of marvellous recuperative powers, she did not +even languish to any perceptible degree. Nevertheless, the detriment +was there, a steadily cumulative factor, and at the end of any given +period of pressing the commerce of the nation, emasculated by these +continuous if infinitesimal abstractions from its vitality, was +substantially less in bulk, substantially less in pounds sterling, +than if it had been allowed to run its course unhindered. + +British in name, but Teutonic in its resentments, trade came to regard +these continual "pin-pricks" as an intolerable nuisance. It was not so +much the loss that aroused her anger as the constant irritation she +was subjected to. This she keenly resented, and the stream of her +resentment, joining forces with its confluents the demoralisation of +the Navy through pressing, the excessive cost of pressing and the +antagonising effects of pressing upon the nation at large, contributed +in no small degree to that final supersession of the press-gang which +was in essence, if not in name, the beginning of Free Trade. + +To the people the impress was as an axe laid at the root of the tree. +There was here no question, as with trade, of the mere loss of hands +who could be replaced. Attacking the family in the person of its +natural supporter and protector, the octopus system of which the gangs +were the tentacles struck at the very foundations of domestic life and +brought to thousands of households a poverty as bitter and a grief as +poignant as death. + +If the people were slow to anger under the infliction it was because, +in the first place, the gang had its advocates who, though they could +not extol its virtues, since it had none, were yet able, and that with +no small measure of success, to demonstrate to a people as insular in +their prejudices as in their habitat that, but for the invincible Navy +which the gang maintained for their protection, the hereditary enemy, +the detested French, would most surely come and compel them one and +all to subsist upon a diet of frogs. What could be seriously urged +against the gang in face of an argument such as that? + +Patriotism, moreover, glowed with ardent flame. Fanned to twofold heat +by natural hatred of the foreigner and his insolent challenge of +insular superiority, it blinded the people to the truth that liberty +of the subject is in reality nothing more than freedom from +oppression. So, with the gang at their very doors, waiting to snatch +away their husbands, their fathers and their sons, they carolled "Rule +Britannia" and congratulated themselves on being a free people. The +situation was unparalleled in its sardonic humour; and, as if this +were not enough, the "Noodle of Newcastle," perceiving vacuously that +something was still wanting, supplied the bathetic touch by giving out +that the king, God bless him! could never prevail upon himself to +break through the sacred liberties of his people save on the most +urgent occasions. [Footnote: _Newcastle Papers_--Newcastle to +Yorke, 27 Feb. 1749-50.] + +The process of correcting the defective vision of the nation was as +gradual as the acquisition of the sea-power the nation had set as its +goal, and as painful. In both processes the gang participated largely. +To the fleet it acted as a rude feeder; to the people as a ruder +specialist. Wielding the cutlass as its instrument, it slowly and +painfully hewed away the scales from their eyes until it stood +visualised for what it really was--the most atrocious agent of +oppression the world has ever seen. For the operation the people +should have been grateful. The nature of the thing they had cherished +so blindly filled them with rage and incited them to violence. + +Two events now occurred to seal the fate of the gang and render its +final supersession a mere matter of time rather than of debate or +uncertainty. The mutiny at the Nore brought the people face to face +with the appalling risks attendant on wholesale pressing, while the +war with America, incurred for the sole purpose of upholding the right +to press, taught them the lengths to which their rulers were still +prepared to go in order to enslave them. In the former case their +sympathies, though with the mutineers, were frozen at the +fountain-head by fear of invasion and that supposititious diet of +frogs. In the latter, as in the ancient quarrel between Admiralty and +Trade, they went out to the party who not only abstained from pressing +but paid the higher wages. + +While the average cost of 'listing a man "volunteerly" rarely exceeded +the modest sum of 30s., the expense entailed through recruiting him by +means of the press-gang ranged from 3s. 9d. per head in 1570 +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth_, vol. lxxiii. f. +38: Estimate of Charge for Pressing 400 Mariners, 1570.] to 114 Pounds +in 1756. Between these extremes his cost fluctuated in the most +extraordinary manner. At Weymouth, in 1762, it was at least 100 +Pounds; at Deal, in 1805, 32 Pounds odd; at Poole, in the same year, +80 Pounds. [Footnote: _London Chronicle_, 16-18 March, 1762; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. and 5 Aug. +1805.] From 1756 the average steadily declined until in 1795 it +touched its eighteenth century minimum of about 6 Pounds. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Average based on Admirals' Reports on +Rendezvous, 1791-5.] A sharp upward tendency then developed, and in +the short space of eight years it soared again to 20 Pounds. It was at +this figure that Nelson, perhaps the greatest naval authority of his +time, put it in 1803. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580 +--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] + +Up to this point we have considered only the prime cost of the pressed +man. A secondary factor must now be introduced, for when you had got +your man at an initial cost of 20 Pounds--a cost in itself out of all +proportion to his value--you could never be sure of keeping him. +Nelson calculated that during the war immediately preceding 1803 +forty-two thousand seamen deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, +1803.] Assuming, with him, that every man of this enormous total was +either a pressed man or had been procured at the cost of a pressed +man, the loss entailed upon the nation by their desertion represented +an outlay of 840,000 Pounds for raising them in the first instance, +and, in the second, a further outlay of 840,000 Pounds for replacing +them. + +In this estimate there is, however, a substantial error; for, +approaching the question from another point of view, let us suppose, +as we may safely do without overstraining the probabilities of the +case, that out of every three men pressed at least one ran from his +rating. Now the primary cost of pressing three men on the 20 Pound +basis being 60 Pounds, it follows that in order to obtain their +ultimate cost to the country we must add to that sum the outlay +incurred in pressing another man in lieu of the one who ran. The total +cost of the three men who ultimately remain to the fleet consequently +works out at 80 Pounds; the cost of each at 26 Pounds, 13s. 4d. Hence +Nelson's forty-two thousand deserters entailed upon the nation an +actual expenditure, not of 1,680,000 Pounds, but of nearly two and a +quarter millions. + +Another fact that emerges from a scrutiny of these remarkable figures +is this. Whenever the number of volunteer additions to the fleet +increased, the cost of pressing increased in like ratio; whenever the +number of volunteers declined, the pressed man became proportionally +cheaper. Periods in which the pressed man was scarce and dear thus +synchronise with periods when the volunteer was plentiful; but +scarcity of volunteers, reacting upon the gangs, and conducing to +their greater activity, brought in pressed men in greater numbers in +proportion to expenditure and so reduced the cost per head. In this +logical though at first sight bewildering interrelation of the laws of +supply and demand, we have in a nutshell the whole case for the cost +of pressing as against the gang. Taking one year with another the +century through, the impress service, on a moderate estimate, employed +enough able-bodied men to man a first-rate ship of the line, and +absorbed at least enough money to maintain her, while the average +number of men raised, taking again one year with another, rarely if +ever exceeded the number of men engaged in obtaining them. With +tranquillity at length assured to the country, with trade in a state +of high prosperity, the shipping tonnage of the nation rising by leaps +and bounds and the fleet reduced to an inexigent peace footing, why +incur the ruinous expense of pressing the seaman when, as was now the +case, he could be had for the asking or the making? + +For Peace brought in her train both change and opportunity. The +frantic dumping of all sorts and conditions of men into the fleet +ceased. Necessity no longer called for it. No enemy hovered in the +offing, to be perpetually outmanoeuvred or instantly engaged. Until +that enemy could renew its strength, or time should call another into +being, the mastery of the seas, the dear prize of a hundred years of +strenuous struggle, remained secure. Our ships, maintained +nevertheless as efficient fighting-machines, became schools of leisure +wherein--a thing impossible amid the perpetual storm and stress of +war--the young blood of the nation could be more gradually inured to +the sea and tuned to fighting-pitch. Science had not yet linked hands +with warfare. Steam, steel, the ironclad, the super-Dreadnought and +the devastating cordite gun were still in the womb of the future; but +the keels of a newer fleet were nevertheless already on the slips, and +with the old order the press-gang, now for ever obsolete, went the way +of all things useless. + +Its memory still survives. Those who despair of our military system, +or of our lack of it, talk of conscription. They alone forget. A +people who for a hundred years patiently endured conscription in its +most cruel form will never again suffer it to be lightly inflicted +upon them. + + + + +APPENDIX + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO + + +DEAR NEPEAN,--I enclose a little project for destroying the Enemy's +Flatboats if they venture over to our Coast, which you may shew, if +you please, to your Sea Lords as coming from some anonymous +correspondent. If they can improve upon it so as to make it useful, I +shall be glad of it; and if they think it good for nothing, and throw +it in the fire, there is no harm done. As the conveying an Army must +require a very great number of Boats, which must be very near each +other, if many such vessels as I propose should get among them, they +must necessarily commit great havoc. I cannot ascertain whether the +blocks or logs of wood would be strong enough to throw the shot +without bursting, or whether they would not throw the shot though they +should burst. I think they would not burst, and so do some Officers of +Artillery here; but that might be ascertained by experiment at any +time. This sort of Fire-vessel will have the advantage of costing very +little; and of being of no service to the Enemy should it fall into +their hands. + +W. YOUNG. LEWES, 14 _Aug_. 1803. + + + [Illustration: Admiral Young's Torpedo. From the Original Drawing at +the Public Record Office.] + +_Secret_ + +"The success of an attempt to land an Army on an Enemy's Coast, whose +Army is prepared to prevent it, will depend in a great degree on the +regularity of the order in which the Boats, or Vessels, are arranged, +that carry the Troops on Shore; everything therefore which contributes +to the breaking of that order will so far contribute to render success +more doubtful; especially if, in breaking the order, some of the Boats +or Vessels are destroyed. For this purpose Fireships well managed will +be found very useful; I should therefore think that, at all the King's +Ports, and at all places where the Enemy may be expected to attempt a +landing with Ships of War or other large Vessels, considerable +quantities of materials for fitting Fireships according to the latest +method should be kept ready to be put on board any small Vessels on +the Enemy's approach; but, as such Vessels would have little or no +effect on Gunboats or Flatboats, machines might be made for the +purpose of destroying them, by shot, and by explosion. The Shot should +be large, but as they will require to be thrown but a short distance, +and will have only thin-sided Vessels to penetrate, Machines strong +enough to resist the effort of the small quantity of Powder necessary +to throw them may probably be made of wood; either by making several +chambers in one thick Block, as No. 1, or one chamber at each end of a +log as No. 2, which may be used either separately, or fastened +together. The Vents should communicate with each other by means of +quick Match, which should be very carefully covered to prevent its +sustaining damage, or being moved by things carried about. Such +Machines, properly loaded, may be kept in Fishing boats or other small +vessels near the parts of the Coast where the Enemy may be expected to +land; or in secure places, ready to be put on board when the Enemy are +expected. The Chambers should be cut horizontally, and the Machine +should be so placed in the Vessel as to have them about level with the +surface of the water; under the Machine should be placed a +considerable quantity of Gunpowder; and over it, large Stones, and +bags of heavy shingle, and the whole may be covered with fishing nets, +or any articles that may happen to be on board. Several fuses, or +trains of Match, should communicate with the Machine, and with the +powder under it, so managed as to ensure those which communicate with +the Machine taking effect upon the others, that the shot may be thrown +before the Vessel is blown up. The Match, or Fuses, should be +carefully concealed to prevent their being seen if the Vessel should +be boarded.... If these Vessels are placed in the front of the Enemy's +Line, and not near the extremities of it, it would be scarcely +possible for them to avoid the effects of the explosion unless, from +some of them exploding too soon, the whole armament should stop. Every +Machine would probably sink the Boat on each side of it, and so do +considerable damage to others with the shot; and would kill and wound +many men by the explosion and the fall of the stones.... As the +success of these Vessels will depend entirely upon their not being +suspected by the Enemy, the utmost secrecy must be observed in +preparing the Machines and sending them to the places where they are +to be kept. A few confidential men only should be employed to make +them, and they should be so covered as to prevent any suspicion of +their use, or of what they contain." + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Capt., + +_Admiral Spry_ tender, + +_Adventure_, H.M.S., + +Ages below eighteen and over fifty-five exempt, + +Alcock, Henry, Mayor of Waterford, + +Alms, Capt., + +_Amaranth_, H.M.S., + +Ambrose, Capt., + +Amherst, Capt, + +_Amphitrite_, H.M.S., + +Andover, the press-gang at, + +_Anglesea_, H.M.S., + +Anne, Queen, impresses foreign seamen, + arms of press-gang under, + drummers and fifers pressed for navy in her reign, + sailors unwilling to serve, + +Anson, Admiral Lord, + +Anthony, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Appledore, press-gang at, 72, + +Apprentices, exempt from impressment only in some circumstances, + in North-country pressed because their indentures bore Scotch 14s. +stamp instead of English 15s., + +Archer, Capt, + +Arms of the press-gang, + +_Assurance_, H.M.S., + +Aston, Capt, + +Atkinson, Lieut., + +Ayscough, Capt., + +Baily, James, a ferryman, pressed for his inactivity, + +Baird, Capt, + +Balchen, Capt., + +Ball, Capt., + +Banyan days, + +Bargemen impressed in thousands, + +Barker, Capt., regulating officer at Bristol, + midshipman. + +Barking, the press-gang at, + +Barnicle, William, + +Barnsley, Lieut., + +Barrington, Capt., + +Bath, Bristol gang's fruitless attempt at, + +Bawdsey, + +_Beaufort_, East Indiaman, + +Beecher, Capt, + +Bennett, Capt, + +Bertie, Capt, + +Bethell, Capt, paid damages for wrongfully impressing, + +Bettesworth, John, claims privilege of granting private protections to +Ryde and Portsmouth ferrymen, + +Biggen, Charles, + +Billingsley, Capt., + +Bingham, William, + +Birchall, Lieut., + +_Bird-in-hand_, H.M.S., + +Birmingham, sham gangs at, + +_Black Book_ of the Admiralty, + +Blackstone, Sir W., + +Blackwater, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Blanche_, H.M.S., + +Blear-eyed Moll, + +_Blonde_, H.M.S., + +Boats for the press-gang, + +Boat steerers on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Boatswains, conditions of exemption, + +_Bonetta_ sloop, + +Boscawen, Capt., + +Boston, Mass., + +Bounty system, the, + +Bowen, Capt., + +Box, Lieut, + +Boys, Capt., + +Brace, Lieut., + +Bradley, Lieut, + +Brawn, Capt., + +Breedon, Lieut., + +Brenton, Capt. Jahleel, afterwards Vice-Admiral, + +Brenton, E. P., _Naval History_, + +Brenton, Lieut, + +Brereton, Capt., + +Brett, Capt, 110, + +Bridges a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +Brighton, the press-gang at, + +Bristol, the press-gang at, + +Bristol jail as press-room, + +_Bristol_, H.M.S., + +_Britannia_ trading vessel, three of the crew shot in resisting + the press-gang, the ship captured and taken to port, + the affair not within the coroner's purview, the bodies + buried at sea, court-martial acquits officers, + +Brixham, the press-gang at, + +Broadfoot case, the, + +Broadstairs fishermen, + the press-gang at, +Bromley, Capt. Sir Robert, + +Bullard, Richard, a fiddler persuaded to go to Woolwich to + play and for payment was handed to the gang, + +_Bull-Dog_ sloop, + +Burchett, Josiah, _Observations on the Navy_, + +Burrows, Sam, + +Butler, Capt., + +Byron, Lord, + +Calahan, a gangsman, killed in attempting an arrest, + +Cambridge bargemen, press-gang among, + +Campbell, Admiral, + +Cape Breton, + +Caradine, Samuel, + +Carey, Rev. Lucius, + +Carmarthen, Admiral the Marquis of, + +Carolina, + +Carpenters, conditions of exemption, + on warships on coast of Scotland could be replaced by shipwrights +pressed from the yards, + +Carrying the ship up, + +Cartel ships, + +Castle, William, an alien, impressed on his honeymoon, + +Castleford, the press-gang at, + +Cawsand safe from the press-gang, + +Cecil, William, Lord Burleigh, + +_Centurion_, H.M.S., Anson's flagship, whose crew on their return +had life-protection from the press, + +Chaplains, + +Charles II., + +Chatham, crimpage at, + +_Chatham_, H.M.S., + +Chester, the press-gang at + +_Chevrette_ corvette, + +Clapp, Midshipman, + +Clark, George, + +Clephen, James, + +_Clincher_ gun-brig, + +Cockburn, Bailie, of Leith, + +Cogbourne's electuary, + +Coke, Sir E., + +Collingwood, Admiral Lord, + Lieut, + +Colvill, Admiral Lord, + +Colville, Lieut., + +Convoys, + +Conyear, John, + +Cooper, Josh, + +Cork, crimpage at, + the press-gang at, + +Comet bomb ship, + +Cornwall, the press-gang in, + +Coversack, safe from the press-gang, + +Coventry, Mr. Commissioner, + +Coventry, sham gangs at, + +Cowes, press-gang at, + +Crabb, Henry, + +Crews depleted by the press-gang, + +Crick, William, + +Crimps, + as sham gangsmen, + +Cromer, the suspicions of the inhabitants, + bring the press-gang, + to take a noted Russian, + +Crown Colonies, desertions in, + + +Croydon, the press-gang around, + + +Cruickshank, John, chaplain, + +Culverhouse, Capt., + +Customs, Board of, + +Dansays, Capt., + +Danton, Midshipman, + +Darby, Capt., + +Dartmouth, H.M.S., + +Dartmouth, press-gang at, + +Davidson, Samuel, of Newcastle, + applies for life protection + +"DD," discharged dead, in muster books against names of persons +deceased, + +Deal, press-gang at, + +cutters, + +Death of sailor in resisting impress, "accidental", + +Debusk, John, shot by the press-gang, + on the Britannia, + +Dent, Capt., + +Deptford, the press-gang at, + +Desertion from the Navy, + +Devonshire, H.M.S., + +Dipping the flag, + +Director, H.M.S., + +Discipline in the Navy, + +Disinfecting a ship, + +Dispatch sloop, + +Dolan, Edward, + +Dominion and Laws of the Sea., + See Justice, A., + +Dorsetshire, H.M.S., + +Douglas, Capt. Andrew, + +Dover, press-gang at, + +Downs, crimpage in the, + +press-gang in, + +Doyle, Lieut, + +Dreadnought, H.M.S., + +Drummers pressed for the Navy, + +Dryden, Michael, illegally pressed, + +Dryden's sister, + +Dublin, sham gangs at, + the press-gang at, + +Duke, H.M.S., + +Duke of Vandome, H.M.S., + +Duncan case, the, + +Dundas, Henry, + +Dundonald, Lord, Autobiography, + +Dunkirk, H.M.S., + +Eccentricity leads to impressment, + +Eddystone lighthouse, building delayed through impressment of workmen, + builders of the third, protected, + keepers at, put inward-bound, + ships' crews ashore, + +Edinburgh, press-gang at, + +Edmund and Mary Collier, + +Edward III. on the Navy, + +Elizabeth, Queen, + +Elizabeth ketch, + +Ely bargemen, press-gang among, + +Emergency crews of men unfit for pressing supplied to merchant-men by +the crimps, + +Emergency men working on their own account, + places of muster for, + +English Eclogues. See Southey, R., + +Evading the press-gang. See under Press-gang, How it was evaded., + +Evans, Richard, keeper of Gloucester Castle, + +Exemption from impressment, not a right, + of foreigners, + negroes not included, + of landsmen only theoretical, + property no qualification for exemption, + of harvesters, + of gentlemen, judged by appearances, + below 18 and over 55 years, + of apprentices dependent on circumstances, + of merchant seamen dependent on circumstances, + of masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters dependent on + circumstances, + of some of crew of whalers, + of Thames wherrymen by quota system, + of Tyne keelman by the same, + of Severn and Wye trow-men by 10% levy, + did not extend to turf boats on Shannon and Blackwater, + special for four on each fishing vessel, and later for all engaged + in taking, curing, and selling fish, + of Worthing fishermen for a levy, + of Scottish and Manx fishermen, on similar terms, + worthless without a document of protection, + +Exeter, the press-gang at, + +_Falmouth_, H.M.S., + +Falmouth, press-gang at, + +Faversham, the press-gang at, + +_Ferme_, H.M.S., + +Ferries, a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +_Feversham_, H.M.S., + +Fifers pressed for the Navy, + +Fire on ship board, + +Fisheries, carefully fostered, + three fish days made compulsory, + became a great nursery for seamen, + few exemptions granted, at first special concessions only to the + whale and cod fisheries, + later only such number as the warrant specified might be taken, and + these the Justices chose; in 1801 no person employed in taking, + curing, or selling fish could be impressed, + with their best men impressed, only small smacks could be worked, + a quota system preferred by the fishermen of some ports, + in Cornwall, the men turned tinners in the off-season, + +Flags, flying without authority, + omission to dip, + +Fleet, Liberty of, + +Folkstone market-boats, + +Folkstone, press-gang at, + +Forcible entry by the press-gang illegal, + +Foreigners impressed, + theoretically exempt, + married to English wives considered naturalised, + in emergency crews, + +Frederick the Great, + +Freeholders at one time exempt from impressment, + +_Fubbs_, H.M.S., + +Gage, Capt., + +_Galloper_, tender to the _Dreadnought_, + +_Ganges_, H.M.S., + +Garth, Dr., + +Gaydon, Lieut., + +Gentlemen exempt from the impress, but judged by appearance and +manner, + +Gibbs, Capt., + +_Glory_, H.M.S., + +Gloucester, the press-gang at, + +Gloucester Castle used as press-room, + the keeper's magic palm, + +Godalming, the press-gang at, + +Golden, John, Lord Mayor's bargeman, wrongfully impressed, + +Good, James, midshipman, + +Goodave, Midshipman, + +Gooding, Richard, + +Gosport, the press-gang at, + +Gravesend, the press-gang at, + +Gray, John, + +Great Yarmouth, press-gang at, + +Greenock, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + Trades Guild, + +Greenock ferries, the press-gang at, + +Greenwich Hospital, + + +Grimsby, the press-gang at, + + +Habeas Corpus, writs of, as means of arresting, and so freeing, +pressed men for debts not owing, + +Half-pay officers, their projects and inventions, + +Hamoaze, the, an entrepot for pressed men, + +Harpooners exempt from impressment, + +Harrison, Lieut., + +Hart, Alexander, + +_Harwich_, H.M.S., + +Haverfordwest, press-gang at, + +Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward, + +_Hawke_, H.M.S., + +Haygarth, Lieut., + +Health and illness, + +_Hector_, H.M.S., + +Herbert, Emanuel, + +_Hind_ armed sloop, + +_Historical Relation of State Affairs_. See Lutterell, N., + +Hogarth's "Stage Coach," + +Hook, Joseph, + +_Hope_ tender, + +Hotten, J. C., _List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from +England to the American Plantations_, + +Hull, press-gang at, + +Humber, the press-gang on, + +Hurst Castle, the press-gang at, + +Ilfracombe, the press-gang at, + +Impressment. See Pressed labour., + +Informers, + +Inland waterways and the gang + at one time without the jurisdiction of the admirals, + +Innes, Capt, + +Ipswich, the press-gang at, + +_Isis_, H.M.S., + +Isle of Man fishermen, + +Jackson, Daniel, pressed from the Chester Volunteers, + +Jamaica, + +_Jason_, H.M.S., + +Jervis, John, Earl of St. Vincent, + +Jews, pressed on account of bandy legs, + +_John and Elizabeth_ pink, + +John, King, impressment under, + +Johnson, Rebecca Anne, + +Jones, Paul, + +Justice, A., _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, + +Keith, A., parson of the Fleet, + _Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages_, + +Kilkenny, the press-gang at, + +King's Lynn, press-gang at, + +Kingston, William, case of, + +_King William_, Indiaman, + +_Lady Shore_, the, + +Landsmen exempt only in theory, + +Latham, Capt., + +Law officers' opinions on pressing, + +Leave, stoppage of, + +Leeds, the press-gang at, + +Leith, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + +_Lennox_, H.M.S., + +Letting, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Lewis, Edward, chaplain, + +Libraries, ships', + +_Lichfield_, H.M.S., + +Licorne, H.M.S., + +Limehouse Hole, the press-gang at, + +Lindsay, Admiral the Earl of, _Instructions_, + +Linesmen on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Liskeard, the press-gang at, + +_List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England to the +American Plantations_. See Hotten, J. C., + +_Litchfield_, H.M.S., + +Littlehampton, the press-gang at, + +Liverpool, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + +Lodden Bridge, the press-gang at, + +London, the press-gang in, + +Londonderry, the press-gang at, + +Longcroft, Capt, + +_Loo_, H.M.S., + +Love, Henry, gets life protection as promised by Pitt and Dundas, + +Lowestoft, the press-gang at, + +Lulworth, + +Lundy Island, safe from the press-gang, but not to the sailors' + liking, + crews marooned on, + +Lutterell, N., _Historical Relation of State Affairs_, + Capt. Hon. Jas., + +Lymington, the press-gang at, + +M'Bride, Admiral, + +M'Cleverty, Capt., + +M'Donald, Alexander, impressed under the age of twelve, + Charles, + +M'Gugan's wife, + +M'Kenzie, Lieut., + +M'Quarry, Lachlan, + +Magna Carta, its provisions contrary to impressment, + +Mansfield, Lord, + +Margate, the press-gang at, + +_Maria_ brig, + +Marines, + +Marooned crews on Lundy Island, + +_Martin_ galley, + +_Mary_ smuggler, + +Masters, conditions of exemption, + +Mastery of the sea, a necessity for England, + +Mates, conditions of exemption, + +Medway, press-gang on, + +_Medway_, H.M.S., + +Men in lieu, + +Merchant seamen, conditions of exemption, + unprotected when sleeping ashore, + the most valuable asset to the Navy, + +Merchant service, hard conditions of crews, + +_Mercury_, H.M.S., + +Messenger, George, + +Mike, James, hanged for desertion, + +Moll Flanders, + +_Monarch_, H.M.S., + +_Monmouth_, H.M.S., + +_Monumenta Juridica_, + +Morals in the Navy, + improved by Jervis, Nelson, and Collingwood, + +Moriarty, Capt, + +_Mortar_ sloop, + +Mostyn, Admiral, + +_Mediator_ tender, + +Mitchell, Admiral Sir D., + +Montagu, Admiral, + +Mousehole, safe from the press-gang, + +Moverty, Thomas, pressed, not having protection on him, + +Nancy of Deptford, + +_Naseby_, H.M.S., + +_Nassau_, H.M.S., + +_Naval History_. See Brenton, E. P., + +Navy, the growth of, in 18th century, + natural sources of supply of crews, + hard conditions of service in, + discipline in, + provisions in, + comforts in, + +Negroes not exempt from impressment, + +Nelson, Admiral Lord, + +_Nemesis_, H.M.S., + +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, press-gang at, + grand protection enjoyed by, + +New England, + +Newgate compared with the press-room, + +Newhaven, the press-gang at, + +Newland, safe from the press-gang, + +Newquay, safe from the press-gang, + +Nore, the press-gang at the, + the mutiny at, + an entrepot for pressed-men, + +_Norfolk_, Indiaman, + +Norris, John, + +North Forland, press-gang at, + +_Nymph_, H.M.S., + + +Oakley, Lieut., + +Oaks, Lieut., + +O'Brien, Lieut., + +_Observations on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc._ See +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., + +_Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages._ +See Keith, A., + +_Observations on the Navy._ See Burchett, J., + +Okehampton, the press-gang at, + +Onions, Thomas, + +_Orford_, H.M.S., + +Orkney fishermen, + +Osborne, Admiral, + +Osmer, Lieut., + +_Otter_ sloop, + +Oyster vessels, + + +_Pallas_, H.M.S., + +Parker, Richard, president of the mutineers at the Nore, + +Parkgate, a resort of seamen, + +Paying off discharged entire crews, + +Paying the shot, + +Pay of sailors, + deferred, + +Pembroke, Earl of, Lord High Admiral, + +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc._, + +Pepys, S., + +Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, + +Petitions of seamen of the Fleet and others, + +_Phoenix_, H.M.S., + +Pill, a favourite haunt of sailors, and shunned by gangsmen, + +Pilots, + +Pitt, William, + +Plymouth, the press-gang at, + +Polpero, safe from the press-gang, + +Poole, press-gang at, + mayor refuses to back press-warrants, + +Popham, Admiral Sir Home, his scheme for coast defence, + +Portland Bill, press-gang off, + +Portland Island, + +Portsmouth, desertions at, + the press-gang at, + +Post-chaise, sailors in, + +Press-boats sunk at sea, + +Pressed labour (see also Press-gang), + antiquity of, + for civil occupations, + for warfare, + means of enforcing, + contrary to the spirit of Magna Carta, + penalties for resistance, + derivation of the term, + the classes from which drawn, + exemptions from, + necessity of, in English Navy, + its crippling effect on trade, + +Press-gang, the + why it was a necessity for the Navy, + its services not needed by some captains, + what it was, + the official and the popular views, + the class of men it was composed of, + its quarters, landsmen joining the land force not to be pressed + for sea service, + ship-gangs entirely seamen, varying numbers in gang, + the officers, + the shore service the grave of promotion, + general character of officers ashore, + duties of the Regulating Captain, + pay and road money, etc., + perquisites, peculation, and bribery in the service, + sham-gangs, + the rendezvous, + boat's arms, + press warrant, + whom the gang might take, + primarily those who used the sea, + later on trade suffers from the gang, + exemption granted as an indulgence, + the foreigner first exempted, + but not if he had an English wife, and was soon assumed to have + one, + negroes not exempt, landsmen theoretically only, + harvesters were exempt if holding a certificate, + gentlemen exempt if dressed as such, + only those proved to be between eighteen and fifty-five, + the position of apprentices was uncertain, + to press merchant seamen was resented by trade, + masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters were exempt, + colliers were exempt up to a certain proportion, + ship protections did not count on shore, + mate was not entitled to liberty unless registered at the + rendezvous, + harpooners were protected out of season on land or on colliers, + the press-gang preyed upon its fellows, + watermen, bargemen, and canal boat-dwellers were considered to use + the see, + Thames watermen and some others exempt if certain quota of men + supplied, + large numbers pressed from Ireland, + fishermen indifferently protected, but fisheries fostered, + all protected persons bound to carry their protection on them, + an error in protection invalidated it, + protections often disregarded, + special protections, + its activities afloat, + the merchant seamen the principal quest, + the chain of sea-gangs, + the outer rings, frigates pressing for their own crews and armed + sloops as tenders to ships of the line, and the vessels employed + by regulating captains at the large ports, + the inner ring of boat-gangs in harbour or on rivers; + their methods., + methods of pressing at sea, + complications arising from pressing at sea, + their varied success., + and the right to search foreign vessels for English seamen, + and convoys, + and privateers, + and smugglers, + smuggling by, + and ships in quarantine, + and transports, + and cartel ships, + and pilots, + how it was evaded, + in the ship, with her or from her, + or a combination, + hiding on board from, + evasions assisted by the skipper, + and men in lieu and foreigners in emergency crews, + pilots and fisherman taken by, when acting as emergency men, + evaded by desertion from the ship, + evaded by hiding on land and changing quarters, + Cornwall dangerous for, + safe retreats from, + empowered to take Severn and Wye trow-men, + unsuccessful efforts of, + evaded by borrowed, forged, and American protections and by + disguises, + what it did ashore, + the sailor betrayed by marked characteristics; + sailors outnumbered on shore by the gang, + its object the pressing of sailors who escaped the seagangs, + its London rendezvous and taverns used. + the inland distribution of, + the class of places selected for operations of, + the land-gangs necessarily ambulatory, + its resting and refreshment places chosen for purposes of capture, + the methods adopted, + a hot press at Brighton, + a ruse at Portsmouth, + how the sailors' liking for drink was turned to account, + the amount of violence used, + outside assistance to, + rivalry between gangs, + assisted by mayors and county magistrates, + assisted by the military, + townsmen who sided with the sailors against, + brutal behaviour of, at Poole, + resisted at Deal and Dover, + forcible entry by, illegal, + magistrates consign vagabonds and disorderly persons to, + how it was resisted, + various weapons used against, + gangs-men killed by sailors resisting them, + sailors killed by gangsmen, + by armed bands of seamen, + by the populace in attempting to impress, + pressed-men recaptured from, + tenders attacked, + rendezvous attacked, + press-boats attacked and sunk, + resistance when the press-gang had come abroad, + the hardship of impressment on arrival from long voyage, + the only means of resistance, + a sailor's death in such case "accidental," casual, unavoidable, + or disagreeable, + a case in point, + at play, + humorous reason given for impressing a person, + inculcating manners by means of the press, + the respect due to naval officers, + the outsider liable to be pressed for breach of naval etiquette, + rudeness to the press-gang treated the same way, + damages from officers for wrongful impressment, failure to dip the + flag, or flying an unauthorised flag, might lead to pressing + from that crew, + unseamanlike management of a ship laid the crew open to pressing, + pipers and fiddlers, etc., impressed, + ridiculous reasons given for impressing, + unsuspecting passenger in a smuggler declared owner of contraband + and pressed, + tattoo marks and bandy legs lead to pressing, + any eccentricity sufficient to ensure the attention of the + press-gang, + used by trustees to keep heirs from their money, and by parents to + rid them of incorrigible sons, + used for purposes of retaliation, + used by strikers to get rid of a "blackleg." + used by stern parent to part his daughter and her lover, + a drunken cleric's revenge by means of, + by pressing a sailor, causes his late bedfellow to be hanged as + his murderer, + and women, + of women and sailors in general, + lack of sentiment in gangsmen, + women impressed by, + women masquerading as men to go to sea, + women in the gang, + the hardship brought on women by the gang, + fostered vice and bred paupers, + women who released sailors from the press-gang, + the devotion of Richard Parker's wife, + In the clutch of, + the press-room, what it was; strongly built and small as it might + be, could hold any number, + Bristol gaol and Gloucester Castle used as press-rooms, + inadequate precautions for retaining pressed men on the road, + regulations for rendezvous, + victualling in the press-room, + regulating or examining for fitness for service, + fabricated ailments and defects, + dispatching pressed men to the fleet, + tenders hired for transport of pressed men, + comfort and health of pressed men on tenders, + the victualling of pressed men on tenders, + prevention of escape, + an attempt to escape-with the Tasker tender escapes from, + The Union tender cut out from the Tyne by the pressed men, + various excitements aboard + a final examination, + petitions, + substitutes, + How the gang went out, + causes of withdrawal of press-gang, + the increasingly bad quality of the product, + the spirit of restlessness and mutiny engendered, + the injury to trade, + only continued so long by the apathy of the people, + the cost of impressing, + +Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life, The, + +Press warrants, + forged, + +Presting, the original term and its meaning, + +Prest money, + +Price, Capt, + +Prince George guardship at Portsmouth, + +Princess Augusta, a letter of marque, + +Princess Augusta tender, + +Princess Louisa, H.M.S, + +Privateers, loss of seamen by, + pressing from, + recapture of pressed crew of, + +Prize money, + +Profane abuse of crews by officers, + +Protections, for masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters, + worthless, if the holder were ashore, + bound to be always carried, + slightest error in description invalidated, + were often disregarded, + special, + for men in lieu, + for crews of convoys and privateers expired on arrival in home waters, + lent, bought, and exchanged, + American, + +Provisions in the Navy, + +Quarantine, + +Queensferry, the press-gang at, + +Quota men, + +"R" for "run" in ships' books to denote deserter, + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, + +Ramsgate, the press-gang at, + +Reading, the press-gang at, + +Registration of seamen, + +Regulating, i.e. examination of pressed-men for fitness, + ailments and defects fabricated or assumed, + +Regulating captains, + character of a, + +Repulse, H.M.S., + +Rendezvous, + attacked, + regulations of, + +Rescue of pressed men from the gang, + +Reunion, H.M.S., + +Rhode Island, + +Rice, + +Richard II, + +Richards, John, midshipman, + +Richardson, Lieut, + +Right of search, + +Roberts, Capt. John, + +Rochester, the press-gang at, + +Rodney, Admiral Lord, + +Roebuck, H.M.S., + +Romsey, the press-gang at, + +Routh, Capt, + +_Royal Sovereign_, H.M.S., + +_Ruby_ gunship, + +Rudsdale, Lieut., + +Rum, + +_Rupert_, H.M.S., + +Russia, impressment in, + +Russian Navy, + +Ryde, the Lord of the Manor, claimed the privilege of private +protections for his ferrymen to Portsmouth and Gosport, + the press-gang at, + +_Rye_, H.M.S., + +Rye, the press-gang at, + + +Sailor, the word disfavoured by Navy Board, + a creature of contradictions, + +St. Ives, safe from the press-gang, + +St. Lawrence River, deserters in, + +St. Vincent, Earl of. See Jervis, J, + +Salisbury, the press-gang at, + +Sanders, Joseph, + +_Sandwich_, H.M.S., flag-ship at the Nore, + +Sax, Lieut, + +_Scipio_, H.M.S., + +Scott, John, pressed when his protection was lying in his coat beside +him, + +Scottish fishermen, + +_Seahorse_, H.M.S., + +"Serving out slops," + +Severn trow-men, exempted from impress by 10% levy, + Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Seymour, Lieut., + +Sham gangs, + +_Shandois_ sloop, + +_Shannon_, H.M.S., + +Shannon, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Shark_, sloop, + +"She" applied to a ship, a recent use, + +Sheerness, crimpage at, + +Shields, press-gang at, + +Ships, impressment of, + +Shipwrights in Scotch yards could be pressed as carpenters on +warships, + +Shirley, Governor, + +Shoreham, the press-gang at, + +_Shrewsbury_, H.M.S., + +Shrewsbury, sham gangs at, + +Sloper, Major-General, + +Smeaton, John, + +Smugglers, crew of, pressed, + unsuspecting passenger declared owner and pressed, + +_Solebay_, H.M.S., + +Southampton, the press-gang at, + +Southey, Robt, _English Eclogues_, + +_Southsea Castle_, H.M.S., + +Spithead, crimpage at, + an entrepot for pressed men, + +_Spy_ sloop of war, + +_Squirrel_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_ privateer, + +Stangate Creek, the fray at, + +Stephens, George, impressed at thirteen, + +Stephenson, George, + +Stepney Fields, press-gang at, + +Stillwell, John, + +Stourbridge, the press-gang at, + +Strike-me-blind. See Rice, + +Sturdy, Ralph, shot by the pressgang on the _Britannia_, + +Sunderland, press-gang at, + +Surgeons, + +Swansea, + + +Tailors pressed on account of bandy legs, + +Talbot, Mary Anne, + +_Tasker_ tender, + +Tassell, William, a protected mate, pressed ashore, + +Taunton, Denny-Bowl quarry, near--three girls as sham gang, + the press-gang at, + +Taylor, Lieut, + +Taylor, William, + +Teede, John, undone by tattoo marks, + +Tenders, + attacked, + hired for transport of pressed men, + the health and comfort of pressed men on, + their victualling, + attempts to escape from and with, + +Thames, press-gang on the, + wherrymen exempted by levy of one in five, + +_Thetis_, H.M.S., + +Thomson, Lieut, + +Thurlow, Lord, + +Ticket men. See Men in lieu, + +Tobacco, + +Trading classes the greatest sufferers from impressment, + not without resentment, + various trades gradually exempted, + +Tramps. See Vagabonds, + +Transports, + +Travelling, cost of, + +_Trial and Life of Richard Parker_, + +Trim, William, + +Trinity House, + +_Triton_ brig, + +_Triton_, Indiaman, + +Turning over of crews, + +Tyne keelman exempt from impress by levy--the men supplied being +obtained by them by bounties, + + +_Union_ tender, + +_Utrecht_, H.M.S., + + +Vagabonds handed over to the press-gang, + +_Vanguard_, H.M.S., + +Vernon, Admiral, + +Victualling in the press-room, + +Virginia, + + +Wages due to sailors to date of impressment, + +Walbeoff, Capt, + +Ward, Ned, _Wooden World Dissected_, + +Waterford, press-gang at, + +Watermen's language, + +Watson, Lieut, + +Watts, John, punished with 170 lashes, + +Weapons used against the press-gang, + +Weir, Alexander, + +Wellington, Duke of, + +Whalers, some of crew of, exempt from impressment, + +Whitby, the press-gang at, + +White, John, pressed at Bristol ninety yards from his vessel, + +Whitefoot, James, impressed at Bristol, + +Whitworth, Charles, Envoy to Russia, + +"Widows' men." + +Williams, John, + +_Willing Traveller_ smuggler, + +Wilson, John, shot by the press-gang on the _Britannia_, + +_Winchelsea_, H.M.S., + +Winstanley, London butcher, served as pressed man 16 years, + +_Wolf_ armed sloop, + +Women and the Press-gang, + See also under Press-gang, "The Press-gang and Women." + +_Wooden World Dissected_. See Ward, Ned, + +Wool, illegal export of, + +Worth, Capt, + +Worthing fishermen, + +Wye trow-men exempted from impress by 10% levy, + +Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Yarmouth Roads, the press-gang in, + +"Yellow Admirals." + +Yorke, Sol. Gen, + +Young, Admiral, + his torpedo, + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + +This file should be named 7pgaa10.txt or 7pgaa10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7pgaa11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7pgaa10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore + +Author: John R. Hutchinson + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6766] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + + + + +Steve Schulze, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. +This file was produced from images generously made available by the CWRU +Preservation Department Digital Library. + + + +THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE + +BY J. R. HUTCHINSON + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + +II. WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + +III. WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + +IV. WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + +V. WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + +VI. EVADING THE GANG. + +VII. WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + +VIII. AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + +IX. THE GANG AT PLAY. + +X. WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + +XI. IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + +XII. HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + +APPENDIX: ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. + +INDEX + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS: + + + +AN UNWELCOME VISIT FROM THE PRESS GANG. + +MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a rare print in +the collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY. + +THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM. + +SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS WEDDING DAY. + +JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the Painting by MORLAND. + +ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. A play-bill announcing the +suspension of the Gang's operations on "Play Nights," in the +collection of Mr. A. M. BROADLEY, by whose kind permission it is +reproduced. + +SAILORS CAROUSING. From the Mezzotint after J. IBBETSON. + +ANNE MILLS WHO SERVED ON BOARD THE _MAIDSTONE_ IN 1740. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT. + +MARY ANNE TALBOT DRESSED AS A SAILOR. + +THE PRESS GANG, OR ENGLISH LIBERTY DISPLAYED. + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO. Reproduced from the Original Drawing at the +Public Record Office. + + + + + +THE PRESS-GANG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE PRESS-GANG CAME IN. + + + +The practice of pressing men--that is to say, of taking by +intimidation or force those who will not volunteer--would seem to have +been world-wide in its adoption. + +Wherever man desired to have a thing done, and was powerful enough to +insure the doing of it, there he attained his end by the simple +expedient of compelling others to do for him what he, unaided, could +not do for himself. + +The individual, provided he did not conspire in sufficient numbers to +impede or defeat the end in view, counted only as a food-consuming +atom in the human mass which was set to work out the purpose of the +master mind and hand. His face value in the problem was that of a +living wage. If he sought to enhance his value by opposing the master +hand, the master hand seized him and wrung his withers. + +So long as the compelling power confined the doing of the things it +desired done to works of construction, it met with little opposition +in its designs, experienced little difficulty in coercing the labour +necessary for piling its walls, excavating its tanks, raising its +pyramids and castles, or for levelling its roads and building its +ships and cities. These were the commonplace achievements of peace, at +which even the coerced might toil unafraid; for apart from the normal +incidence of death, such works entailed little danger to the lives of +the multitudes who wrought upon them. Men could in consequence be +procured for them by the exercise of the minimum of coercion--by, that +is to say, the mere threat of it. + +When peace went to the wall and the pressed man was called upon to go +to battle, the case assumed another aspect, an acuter phase. Given a +state of war, the danger to life and limb, the incidence of death, at +once jumped enormously, and in proportion as these disquieting factors +in the pressed man's lot mounted up, just in that proportion did his +opposition to the power that sought to take him become the more +determined, strenuous, and undisguised. + +Particularly was this true of warlike operations upon the sea, for to +the extraordinary and terrible risks of war were here added the +ordinary but ever-present dangers of wind and wave and storm, +sufficient in themselves to appal the unaccustomed and to antagonise +the unwilling. In face of these superlative risks the difficulty of +procuring men was accentuated a thousand-fold, and with it both the +nature and the degree of the coercive force necessary to be exercised +for their procuration. + +In these circumstances the Ruling Power had no option but to resort to +more exigent means of attaining its end. In times of peace, working +through myriad hands, it had constructed a thousand monuments of +ornamental or utilitarian industry. These, with the commonweal they +represented, were now threatened and must be protected at all costs. +What more reasonable than to demand of those who had built, or of +their successors in the perpetual inheritance of toil, that they +should protect what they had reared. Hitherto, in most cases, the men +required to meet the national need had submitted at a threat. They had +to live, and coercive toil meant at least a living wage. Now, made +rebellious by a fearful looking forward to the risks they were called +upon to incur, they had to be met by more effective measures. Faced by +this emergency, Power did not mince matters. It laid violent hands +upon the unwilling subject and forced him, _nolens volens_, to +sail its ships, to man its guns, and to fight its battles by sea as he +already, under less overt compulsion, did its bidding by land. + +It is with this phase of pressing--pressing open, violent and +unashamed--that we purpose here to deal, and more particularly with +pressing as it applies to the sea and sailors, to the Navy and the +defence of an Island Kingdom. + +At what time the pressing of men for the sea service of the Crown was +first resorted to in these islands it is impossible to determine. +There is evidence, however, that the practice was not only in vogue, +but firmly established as an adjunct of power, as early as the days of +the Saxon kings. It was, in fact, coeval with feudalism, of which it +may be described as a side-issue incidental to a maritime situation; +for though it is impossible to point to any species of fee, as +understood of the tenure of land, under which the holder was liable to +render service at sea, yet it must not be forgotten that the great +ports of the kingdom, and more especially the Cinque Ports, were from +time immemorial bound to find ships for national purposes, whenever +called upon to do so, in return for the peculiar rights and privileges +conferred upon them by the Crown. The supply of ships necessarily +involved the supply of men to sail and fight them, and in this supply, +or, rather, in the mode of obtaining it, we have undoubtedly the +origin of the later impress system. + +With the reign of John the practice springs into sudden prominence. +The incessant activities of that uneasy king led to almost incessant +pressing, and at certain crises in his reign commission after +commission is directed, in feverish succession, to the sheriffs of +counties and the bailiffs of seaports throughout the kingdom, straitly +enjoining them to arrest and stay all ships within their respective +jurisdictions, and with the ships the mariners who sail them. +[Footnote: By a plausible euphemism they were said to be "hired." As a +matter of fact, both ships and men were retained during the royal +pleasure at rates fixed by custom.] No exception was taken to these +edicts. Long usage rendered the royal lien indefeasible. [Footnote: In +more modern times the pressing of ships, though still put forward as a +prerogative of the Crown, was confined in the main to unforeseen +exigencies of transport. On the fall of Louisburg in 1760, vessels +were pressed at that port in order to carry the prisoners of war to +France (_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1491--Capt. Byron, 17 June 1760); +and in 1764, again, we find Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, +forcibly impressing the East India ship _Revenge_ for the purpose +of transporting to Fort St. George, in British India, the company, +numbering some four hundred and twenty-one souls, of the _Siam_, +then recently condemned at Manilla as unseaworthy.--_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1498--Letters of Capt. Brereton, 1764.] + +In the carrying out of the royal commands there was consequently, at +this stage in the development of pressing, little if any resort to +direct coercion. From the very nature of the case the principle of +coercion was there, but it was there only in the bud. The king's right +to hale whom he would into his service being practically undisputed, a +threat of reprisals in the event of disobedience answered all +purposes, and even this threat was as yet more often implied than +openly expressed. King John was perhaps the first to clothe it in +words. Requisitioning the services of the mariners of Wales, a +notoriously disloyal body, he gave the warrant, issued in 1208, a +severely minatory turn. "Know ye for certain," it ran, "that if ye act +contrary to this, we will cause you and the masters of your vessels to +be hanged, and all your goods to be seized for our use." + +At this point in the gradual subjection of the seaman to the needs of +the nation, defensive or the contrary, we are confronted by an event +as remarkable in its nature as it is epoch-making in its consequences. +Magna Charta was sealed on the 13th of June 1215, and within a year of +that date, on, namely, the 14th of April then next ensuing, King John +issued his commission to the barons of twenty-two seaports, requiring +them, in terms admitting of neither misconstruction nor compromise, to +arrest all ships, and to assemble those ships, together with their +companies, in the River of Thames before a certain day. [Footnote: +Hardy, _Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum_, 1833.] This wholesale +embargo upon the shipping and seamen of the nation, imposed as it was +immediately after the ensealing of Magna Charta, raises a question of +great constitutional interest. In what sense, and to what extent, was +the Charter of English Liberties intended to apply to the seafaring +man? + +Essentially a tyrant and a ruthless promise-breaker, John's natural +cruelty would in itself sufficiently account for the dire penalties +threatened under the warrant of 1208; but neither his tyranny, his +faithlessness of character, nor his very human irritation at the +concessions wrung from him by his barons, can explain to our +satisfaction why, having granted a charter affirming and safeguarding +the liberties of, ostensibly, every class of his people, he should +immediately inflict upon one of those classes, and that, too, the one +least of all concerned in his historic dispute, the pains of a most +rigorous impressment. The only rational explanation of his conduct is, +that in thus acting he was contravening no convention, doing violence +to no covenant, but was, on the contrary, merely exercising, in +accordance with time-honoured usage, an already well-recognised, +clearly denned and firmly seated prerogative which the great charter +he had so recently put his hand to was in no sense intended to limit +or annul. + +This view of the case is confirmed by subsequent events. Press +warrants, identical in every respect save one with the historic +warrant of 1216, continued to emanate from the Crown long after King +John had gone to his account, and, what is more to the point, to +emanate unchallenged. Stubbs himself, our greatest constitutional +authority, repeatedly admits as much. Every crisis in the destinies of +the Island Kingdom--and they were many and frequent--produced its +batch of these procuratory documents, every batch its quota of pressed +men. The inference is plain. The mariner was the bondsman of the sea, +and to him the _Nullus liber homo capiatur_ clause of the Great +Charter was never intended to apply. In his case a dead-letter from +the first, it so remained throughout the entire chapter of his +vicissitudes. + +The chief point wherein the warrants of later times differed from +those of King John was this: As time went on the penalties they +imposed on those who resisted the press became less and less severe. +The death penalty fell into speedy disuse, if, indeed, it was ever +inflicted at all. Imprisonment for a term of from one to two years, +with forfeiture of goods, was held to meet all the exigencies of the +case. Gradually even this modified practice underwent amelioration, +until at length it dawned upon the official intelligence that a seaman +who was free to respond to the summons of the boatswain's whistle +constituted an infinitely more valuable physical asset than one who +cursed his king and his Maker in irons. All punishment of the condign +order, for contempt or resistance of the press, now went by the board, +and in its stead the seaman was merely admonished in paternal fashion, +as in a Proclamation of 1623, to take the king's shilling "dutifully +and reverently" when it was tendered to him. + +In its apparent guilelessness the admonition was nevertheless woefully +deceptive. Like the subdued beat of drum by which, some five years +later, the seamen of London were lured to Tower Hill, there to be +seized and thrown bodily into the waiting fleet, it masked under its +mild exterior the old threat of coercion in a new form. The ancient +pains and penalties were indeed no more; but for the back of the +sailor who was so ill-advised as to defy the press there was another +rod in pickle. He could now be taken forcibly. + +For side by side with the negative change involved in the abolition of +the old punishments, there had been in progress, throughout the +intervening centuries, a positive development of far worse omen for +the hapless sailor-man. The root-principle of direct coercion, +necessarily inherent in any system that seeks to foist an arbitrary +and obnoxious status upon any considerable body of men, was slowly but +surely bursting into bud. The years that had seen the unprested seaman +freed from the dread of the yardarm and the horrors of the forepeak, +had bred a new terror for him. Centuries of usage had strengthened the +arm of that hated personage the Press-Master, and the compulsion which +had once skulked under cover of a threat now threw off its disguise +and stalked the seafaring man for what it really was--Force, open and +unashamed. The _dernier ressort_ of former days was now the first +resort. The seafaring man who refused the king's service when +"admonished" thereto had short shrift. He was "first knocked down, and +then bade to stand in the king's name." Such, literally and without +undue exaggeration, was the later system which, reaching the climax of +its insolent pretensions to justifiable violence in the eighteenth +century, for upwards of a hundred years bestrode the neck of the +unfortunate sailor like some monstrous Old Man of the Sea. + +Outbursts of violent pressing before the dawn of the eighteenth +century, though spasmodic and on the whole infrequent, were not +entirely unknown. Times of national stress were peculiarly productive +of them. Thus when, in 1545, there was reason to fear a French +invasion, pressing of the most violent and unprecedented character was +openly resorted to in order to man the fleet. The class who suffered +most severely on that occasion were the fisher folk of Devon, "the +most part" of whom were "taken as marryners to serve the king." +[Footnote: _State Papers_, Henry VIII.--Lord Russell to the Privy +Council, 22 Aug. 1545. Bourne, who cites the incident in his _Tudor +Seamen_, misses the essential point that the fishermen were +forcibly pressed.] + +During the Civil Wars of the next century both parties to the strife +issued press warrants which were enforced with the utmost rigour. The +Restoration saw a marked recrudescence of similar measures. How great +was the need of men at that time, and how exigent the means employed +to procure them, may be gathered from the fact, cited by Pepys, that +in 1666 the fleet lay idle for a whole fortnight "without any demand +for a farthing worth of anything, but only to get men." The genial +diarist was deeply moved by the scenes of violence that followed. They +were, he roundly declares, "a shame to think of." + +The origin of the term "pressing," with its cognates "to press" and +"pressed," is not less remarkable than the genesis of the violence it +so aptly describes. Originally the man who was required for the king's +service at sea, like his twin brother the soldier, was not "pressed" +in the sense in which we now use the term. He was merely subjected to +a process called "presting." To "prest" a man meant to enlist him by +means of what was technically known as "prest" money--"prest" being +the English equivalent of the obsolete French _prest_, now +_prêt_, meaning "ready." In the recruiter's vocabulary, therefore, +"prest" money stood for what is nowadays, in both services, +commonly termed the "king's shilling," and the man who, either +voluntarily or under duress, accepted or received that shilling at the +recruiter's hands, was said to be "prested" or "prest." In other +words, having taken the king's ready money, he was thenceforth, during +the king's pleasure, "ready" for the king's service. + +By the transfer of the prest shilling from the hand of the recruiter +to the pouch of the seaman a subtle contract, as between the latter +and his sovereign, was supposed to be set up, than which no more +solemn or binding pact could exist save between a man and his Maker. +One of the parties to the contract was more often than not, it is +true, a strongly dissenting party; but although under the common law +of the land this circumstance would have rendered any similar contract +null and void, in this amazing transaction between the king and his +"prest" subject it was held to be of no vitiating force. From the +moment the king's shilling, by whatever means, found its way into the +sailor's possession, from that moment he was the king's man, bound in +heavy penalties to toe the line of duty, and, should circumstances +demand it, to fight the king's enemies to the death, be that fate +either theirs or his. + +By some strange irony of circumstance there happened to be in the +English language a word--"pressed"--which tallied almost exactly in +pronunciation with the old French word _prest_, so long employed, +as we have seen, to differentiate from his fellows the man who, by the +devious means we have here described, was made "ready" for the sea +service. "Press" means to constrain, to urge with force--definitions +precisely connoting the development and manner of violent enlistment. +Hence, as the change from covert to overt violence grew in strength, +"pressing," in the mouths of the people at large, came to be +synonymous with that most obnoxious, oppressive and fear-inspiring +system of recruiting which, in the course of time, took the place of +its milder and more humane antecedent, "presting." The "prest" man +disappeared, [Footnote: The Law Officers of the Crown retained him, on +paper, until the close of the eighteenth century--an example in which +they were followed by the Admiralty. To admit his disappearance would +have been to knock the bottom out of their case.] and in his stead +there came upon the scene his later substitute the "pressed" man, +"forced," as Pepys so graphically describes his condition, "against +all law to be gone." An odder coincidence than this gradual +substitution of "pressed" for _prest,_ or one more grimly +appropriate in its application, it would surely be impossible to +discover in the whose history of nomenclature. + +With the growth of the power and violence of the impress there was +gradually inaugurated another change, which perhaps played a larger +part than any other feature of the system in making it finally +obnoxious to the nation at large--finally, because, as we shall see, +the nation long endured its exactions with pathetic submission and +lamentable indifference. The incidence of pressing was no longer +confined, as in its earlier stages, to the overflow of the populace +upon the country's rivers, and bays, and seas. Gradually, as naval +needs grew in volume and urgency, the press net was cast wider and +wider, until at length, during the great century of struggle, when the +system was almost constantly working at its highest pressure and +greatest efficiency, practically every class of the population of +these islands was subjected to its merciless inroads, if not decimated +by its indiscriminate exactions. + +On the very threshold of the century we stumble upon an episode +curiously indicative of the set of the tide. Czar Peter of Russia had +been recently in England, acquiring a knowledge of English customs +which, on his return home, he immediately began to put in practice. +His navy, such as it was, was wretchedly manned. [Footnote: The navy +got together by Czar Peter had all but disappeared by the time +Catherine II. came to the throne. "Ichabod" was written over the doors +of the Russian Admiralty. Their ships of war were few in number, +unseaworthy, ill-found, ill-manned. Two thousand able-bodied seamen +could with difficulty be got together in an emergency. The nominal +fighting strength of the fleet stood high, but that strength in +reality consisted of men "one half of whom had never sailed out of the +Gulf of Finland, whilst the other half had never sailed anywhere at +all." When the fleet was ordered to sea, the Admiralty "put soldiers +on board, and by calling them sailors persuaded themselves that they +really were so."--_State Papers, Russia,_ vol. lxxvii.--Macartney, +Nov. 16-27, 1766.] Russian serfs made bad sailors and worse +seamen. In the English ships thronging the quays at Archangel +there was, however, plenty of good stuff-men who could use +the sea without being sick, men capable of carrying a ship to her +destination without piling her up on the rocks or seeking nightly +shelter under the land. He accordingly pressed every ninth man out +of those ships. + +When news of this high-handed proceeding reached England, it roused +the Queen and her advisers to indignation. Winter though it was, they +lost no time in dispatching Charles Whitworth, a rising diplomat of +the suavest type, as "Envoy Extraordinary to our Good (but naughty) +Brother the Czar of Muscovy," with instructions to demand the release, +immediate and unconditional, of the pressed men. Whitworth found the +Czar at Moscow. The Autocrat of All the Russias listened affably +enough to what he had to say, but refused his demand in terms that +left scant room for doubt as to his sincerity of purpose, and none for +protracted "conversations." "Every Prince," he declared for sole +answer, "can take what he likes out of his own havens." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. J. Anderson's letters and +enclosures; _State Papers, Russia_, vol. iv.--Whitworth to +Secretary Harley.] The position thus taken up was unassailable. +Centuries of usage hedged the prerogative in, and Queen Anne herself, +in the few years she had been on the throne, had not only exercised it +with a free hand, but had laid that hand without scruple upon many a +foreign seaman. + +The lengths to which the system had gone by the end of the third +quarter of the century is thrown into vivid relief by two incidents, +one of which occurred in 1726, the other fifty years later. + +In the former year one William Kingston, pressed in the Downs--a man +who hailed from Lyme Regis and habitually "used the sea"--was, +notwithstanding that fact, discharged by express Admiralty order +because he was a "substantial man and had a landed estate." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt Charles Browne, 25 March 1726, +and endorsement.] + +The incident of 1776, known as the Duncan case, occurred, or rather +began, at North Shields. Lieutenant Oaks, captain of the press-gang in +that town, one day met in the streets a man who, unfortunately for his +future, "had the appearance of a seaman." He accordingly pressed him; +whereupon the man, whose name was Duncan, produced the title-deeds of +certain house property in London, down Wapping way, worth some six +pounds per annum, and claimed his discharge on the ground that as a +freeholder and a voter he was immune from the press. The lieutenant +laughed the suggestion to scorn, and Duncan was shipped south to the +fleet. + +The matter did not end there. Duncan's friends espoused his cause and +took energetic steps for his release. Threatened with an action at +law, and averse from incurring either unnecessary risks or opprobrium +where pressed men were concerned, the Admiralty referred the case to +Mr. Attorney-General (afterwards Lord) Thurlow for his opinion. + +The point of law Thurlow was called upon to resolve was, "Whether +being a freeholder is an exception from being pressed;" and as Duncan +was represented in counsel's instructions--on what ground, other than +his "appearance," is not clear--to be a man Who habitually used the +sea, it is hardly matter for surprise that the great jurist's opinion, +biassed as it obviously was by that alleged fact, should have been +altogether inimical to the pressed man and favourable to the +Admiralty. + +"I see no reason," he writes, in his crabbed hand and nervous diction, +"why men using the sea, and being otherwise fit objects to be +impressed into His Majesty's service, should be exempted only because +they are Freeholders. Nor did I ever read or hear of such an +exemption. Therefore, unless some use or practice, which I am ignorant +of, gives occasion to this doubt, I see no reason for a Mariner being +discharged, seriously, because he is a Freeholder. It's a +qualification easily attained: a single house at Wapping would ship a +first-rate man-of-war. If a Freeholder is exempt, _eo nomine_, it +will be impossible to go on with the pressing service. [Footnote: It +would have been equally impossible to go on with the naval service had +the fleet contained many freeholders like John Barnes. Granted leave +of absence from his ship, the _Neptune,_ early in May, "in order +to give his vote in the city," he "return'd not till the 8th of +August."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. Whorwood, 23 Aug. +1741.] There is no knowing a Freeholder by sight: and if claiming that +character, or even showing deeds is sufficient, few Sailors will be +without it." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' +Opinions, 1756-77, No. 64.] + +Backed by this opinion, so nicely in keeping with its own +inclinations, the Admiralty kept the man. Its views, like its +practice, had undergone an antipodal change since the Kingston +incident of fifty years before. And possession, commonly reputed to be +nine points of the law, more than made up for the lack of that element +in Mr. Attorney-General's sophistical reasoning. + +In this respect Thurlow was in good company, for although Coke, who +lived before violent pressing became the rule, had given it as his +opinion that the king could not lawfully press men to serve him in his +wars, the legal luminaries who came after him, and more particularly +those of the eighteenth century, differed from him almost to a man. +Blackstone, whilst admitting that no statute expressly legalised +pressing, reminded the nation--with a leer, we might almost say--that +many statutes strongly implied, and hence--so he put it--amply +justified it. In thus begging the question he had in mind the +so-called Statutes of Exemption which, in protecting from impressment +certain persons or classes of persons, proceeded on the assumption, so +dear to the Sea Lords, that the Crown possessed the right to press +all. This also was the view taken by Yorke, Solicitor-General in 1757. +"I take the prerogative," he declares, "to be most clearly legal." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 102.] + +Another group of lawyers took similar, though less exalted ground. Of +these the most eminent was that "great oracle of law," Lord Mansfield. +"The power of pressing," he contends, "is founded upon immemorial +usage allowed for ages. If not, it can have no ground to stand upon. +The practice is deduced from that trite maxim of the Constitutional +Law of England, that private mischief had better be submitted to than +that public detriment should ensue." + +The sea-lawyer had yet to be heard. With him "private mischief" +counted for much, the usage of past ages for very little. He lived and +suffered in the present. Of common law he knew nothing, but he +possessed a fine appreciation of common justice, and this forced from +him an indictment of the system that held him in thrall as scathing in +its truth, its simplicity and its logic as it is spontaneous and +untutored in its diction. + +"You confidently tell us," said he, dipping his pen in the gall of +bitterness, "that our King is a father to us and our officers friends. +They are so, we must confess, in some respects, for Indeed they use us +like Children in Whiping us into Obedience. As for English Tars to be +the Legitimate Sons of Liberty, it is an Old Cry which we have +Experienced and Knows it to be False. God knows, the Constitution is +admirable well Callculated for the Safety and Happiness of His +Majesty's Subjects who live by Employments on Shore; but alass, we are +not Considered as Subjects of the same Sovereign, unless it be to Drag +us by Force from our Families to Fight the Battles of a Country which +Refuses us Protection." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Petitions of the Seamen of the Fleet, 1797.] + +Such, in rough outline, was the Impress System of the eighteenth +century. In its inception, its development, and more especially in its +extraordinary culmination, it perhaps constitutes the greatest +anomaly, as it undoubtedly constitutes the grossest imposition, any +free people ever submitted to. Although unlawful in the sense of +having no foundation in law, and oppressive and unjust in that it +yearly enslaved, under the most noxious conditions, thousands against +their will, it was nevertheless for more than a hundred years +tolerated and fostered as the readiest, speediest and most effective +means humanly devisable for the manning of a fleet whose toll upon a +free people, in the same period of time, swelled to more than thrice +its original bulk. Standing as a bulwark against aggression and +conquest, it ground under its heel the very people it protected, and +made them slaves in order to keep them free. Masquerading as a +protector, it dragged the wage-earner from his home and cast his +starving family upon the doubtful mercies of the parish. And as if +this were not enough, whilst justifying its existence on the score of +public benefit it played havoc with the fisheries, clipped the wings +of the merchant service, and sucked the life-blood out of trade. + +It was on the rising tide of such egregious contradictions as these +that the press-gang came in; for the press-gang was at once the +embodiment and the active exponent of all that was anomalous or bad in +the Impress System. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHY THE GANG WAS NECESSARY. + + + +The root of the necessity that seized the British sailor and made of +him what he in time became, the most abject creature and the most +efficient fighting unit the world has ever produced, lay in the fact +that he was island-born. + +In that island a great and vigorous people had sprung into being--a +people great in their ambitions, commerce and dominion; vigorous in +holding what they had won against the assaults, meditated or actual, +of those who envied their greatness and coveted their possessions. Of +this island people, as of their world-wide interests, the "chiefest +defence" was a "good fleet at sea." [Footnote: This famous phrase is +used, perhaps for the first time, by Josiah Burchett, sometime +Secretary to the Admiralty, in his _Observations on the Navy_, +1700.] + +The Peace of Utrecht, marking though it did the close of the +protracted war of the Spanish Succession, brought to the Island +Kingdom not peace, but a sword; for although its Navy was now as +unrivalled as its commerce and empire, the supreme struggle for +existence, under the guise of the mastery of the sea, was only just +begun. Decade after decade, as that struggle waxed and waned but went +remorselessly on, the Navy grew in ships, the ships in tonnage and +weight of metal, and with their growth the demand for men, imperative +as the very existence of the nation, mounted ever higher and higher. +In 1756 fifty thousand sufficed for the nation's needs. By 1780 the +number had reached ninety-two thousand; and with 1802 it touched +high-water mark in the unprecedented total of one hundred and +twenty-nine thousand men in actual sea pay. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 567-Navy Progress, 1756-1805. These figures are below +rather than above the mark, since the official returns on which they +are based are admittedly deficient.] + +Beset by this enormous and steadily growing demand, the Admiralty, the +defensive proxy of the nation, had perforce to face the question as to +where and how the men were to be obtained. + +The source of supply was never at any time in doubt. Here, ready to +hand, were some hundreds of thousands of persons using the sea, or +following vocations merging into the sea in the capacity of colliers, +bargemen, boatmen, longshoremen, fishermen and deep-sea sailors or +merchantmen, who constituted the natural Naval Reserve of an Island +Kingdom--a reserve ample, if judiciously drawn upon, to meet, and more +than meet, the Navy's every need. + +The question of means was one more complicated, more delicate, and +hence incomparably more difficult of solution. To draw largely upon +these seafaring classes, numerous and fit though they were, meant +detriment to trade, and if the Navy was the fist, trade was the +backbone of the nation. The sufferings of trade, moreover, reacted +unpleasantly upon those in power at Whitehall. Methods of procuration +must therefore be devised of a nature such as to insure that neither +trade nor Admiralty should suffer--that they should, in fact, enjoy +what the unfortunate sailor never knew, some reasonable measure of +ease. + +In its efforts to extricate itself and trade from the complex +difficulties of the situation, Admiralty had at its back what an +eighteenth century Beresford would doubtless have regarded as the +finest talent of the service. Neither the unemployed admiral nor the +half-pay captain had at that time, in his enforced retirement at Bath +or Cheltenham, taken seriously to parliamenteering, company promoting, +or the concocting of pedigrees as a substitute for walking the +quarter-deck. His occupation was indeed gone, but in its stead there +had come to him what he had rarely enjoyed whilst on the active +service list--opportunity. Carried away by the stimulus of so +unprecedented a situation as that afforded by the chance to make +himself heard, he rushed into print with projects and suggestions +which would have revolutionised the naval policy and defence of the +country at a stroke had they been carried into effect. Or he devoted +his leisure to the invention of signal codes, semaphore systems, +embryo torpedoes, gun carriages, and--what is more to our +point--methods ostensibly calculated to man the fleet in the easiest, +least oppressive and most expeditious manner possible for a free +people. Armed with these schemes, he bombarded the Admiralty with all +the pertinacity he had shown in his quarter-deck days in applying for +leave or seeking promotion. Many, perhaps most, of the inventions +which it was thus sought to father upon the Sea Lords, were happily +never more heard of; but here and there one, commending itself by its +seeming practicability, was selected for trial and duly put to the +test. + +Fair to look upon while still in the air, these fruits of leisured +superannuation proved deceptively unsound when plucked by the hand of +experiment. Registration, first adopted in 1696, held out undeniable +advantages to the seaman. Under its provisions he drew a yearly +allowance when not required at sea, and extra prize-money when on +active service. Yet the bait did not tempt him, and the system was +soon discarded as useless and inoperative. Bounty, defined by some +sentimentalist as a "bribe to Neptune," for a while made a stronger +appeal; but, ranging as it did from five to almost any number of +pounds under one hundred per head, it proved a bribe indeed, and by +putting an irresistible premium on desertion threatened to decimate +the very ships it was intended to man. In 1795 what was commonly known +as the Quota Scheme superseded it. This was a plan of Pitt's devising, +under which each county contributed to the fleet according to its +population, the quota varying from one thousand and eighty-one men for +Yorkshire to twenty-three for Rutland, whilst a minor Act levied +special toll on seaports, London leading the way with five thousand +seven hundred and four men. Like its predecessor Bounty, however, this +mode of recruiting drained the Navy in order to feed it. Both systems, +moreover, possessed another and more serious defect. When their +initial enthusiasm had cooled, the counties, perhaps from force of +habit as component parts of a country whose backbone was trade, bought +in the cheapest market. Hence the Quota Man, consisting as he +generally did of the offscourings of the merchant service, was seldom +or never worth the money paid for him. An old man-o'-war's-man, +picking up a miserable specimen of this class of recruit by the slack +of his ragged breeches, remarked to his grinning messmates as he +dangled the disreputable object before their eyes: "'Ere's a lubber as +cost a guinea a pound!" He was not far out in his estimate. + +As in the case of the good old method of recruiting by beat of drum +and the lure of the king's shilling, system after system thus failed +to draw into its net, however speciously that net was spread, either +the class or the number of men whose services it was desired to +requisition. And whilst these futilities were working out their own +condemnation the stormcloud of necessity grew bigger and bigger on the +national horizon. Let trade suffer as it might, there was nothing for +it but to discard all new-fangled notions and to revert to the system +which the usage of ages had sanctioned. The return was imperative. +Failing what Junius stigmatised as the "spur of the Press," the right +men in the right numbers were not to be procured. The wisdom of the +nation was at fault. It could find no other way. + +There were, moreover, other reasons why the press-gang was to the Navy +an indispensable appendage--reasons perhaps of little moment singly, +but of tremendous weight in the scale of naval necessity when lumped +together and taken in the aggregate. + +Of these the most prominent was that fatal flaw in naval +administration which Nelson was in the habit of anathematising as the +"Infernal System." Due partly to lack of foresight and false economy +at Whitehall, partly to the character of the sailor himself, it +resolved itself into this, that whenever a ship was paid off and put +out of commission, all on board of her, excepting only her captain and +her lieutenants, ceased to be officially connected with the Navy. Now, +as ships were for various reasons constantly going out of commission, +and as the paying off of a first-second-or third-rate automatically +discharged from their country's employ a body of men many hundreds in +number, the "lowering" effects of such a system, working year in, year +out, upon a fleet always in chronic difficulties for men, may be more +readily imagined than described. + +To a certain limited extent the loss to the service was minimised by a +process called "turning over"; that is to say, the company of a ship +paying off was turned over bodily, or as nearly intact as it was +possible to preserve it, to another ship which at the moment chanced +to be ready, or making ready, for sea. Or it might be that the +commander of a ship paying off, transferred to another ship fitting +out, carried the best men of his late command, commonly known as "old +standers," along with him. + +Unfortunately, the occasion of fitting out did not always coincide +with the occasion of paying off; and although turnovers were +frequently made by Admiralty order, there were serious obstacles in +the way of their becoming general. Once the men were paid off, the +Admiralty had no further hold upon them. By a stretch of authority +they might, it is true, be confined to quarters or on board a +guardship; but if in these circumstances they rose in a body and got +ashore, they could neither be retaken nor punished as deserters, +but--to use the good old service term--had to be "rose" again by means +of the press-gang. Turnovers, accordingly, depended mainly upon two +closely related circumstances: the goodwill of the men, and the +popularity of commanders. A captain who was notorious for his use of +the lash or the irons, or who was reputed unlucky, rarely if ever got +a turnover except by the adoption of the most stringent measures. One +who, on the other hand, treated his men with common humanity, who +bested the enemy in fair fight and sent rich prizes into port, never +wanted for "followers," and rarely, if ever, had recourse to the gang. +[Footnote: In his Autobiography Lord Dundonald asserts that he was +only once obliged to resort to pressing--a statement so remarkable, +considering the times he lived in, as to call for explanation. The +occasion was when, returning from a year's "exile in a tub," a +converted collier that "sailed like a hay-stack," he fitted out the +_Pallas_ at Portsmouth and could obtain no volunteers. Setting +his gangs to work, he got together a scratch crew of the wretchedest +description; yet so marvellous were the personality and disciplinary +ability of the man, that with only this unpromising material ready to +his hand he intercepted the Spanish trade off Cape Finisterre and +captured four successive prizes of very great value. The _Pallas_ +returned to Portsmouth with "three large golden candlesticks, each +about five feet high, placed upon the mast-heads," and from that time +onward Dundonald's reputation as a "lucky" commander was made. He +never again had occasion to invoke the aid of the gang.] Under such +men the seaman would gladly serve "even in a dung barge." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 28 Sept. 1776.] +Unhappily for the service, such commanders were comparatively few, and +in their absence the Infernal System drained the Navy of its best +blood and accentuated a hundred-fold the already overwhelming need for +the impress. + +The old-time sailor, [Footnote: The use of the word "sailor" was long +regarded with disfavour by the Navy Board, who saw in it only a +colourless substitute for the good old terms "seaman" and "mariner." +Capt. Bertie, of the _Ruby_ gunship, once reported the pressing +of a "sailor," Thomas Letting by name, out of a collier in Yarmouth +Roads, and was called upon by My Lords to define the new-fangled term. +This he did with admirable circumlocution. "As for explaining the word +'sailor,'" said he, "I can doe it no otherwise than (by) letting of +you know that Thomas Letting is a Sailor."--_Admiralty Records_ +1. 1468--Capt. Bertie, 6 May 1706.] again, was essentially a creature +of contradictions. Notorious for a "swearing rogue," who punctuated +his strange sea-lingo with horrid oaths and appalling blasphemies, he +made the responses required by the services of his Church with all the +superstitious awe and tender piety of a child. Inconspicuous for his +thrift or "forehandedness," it was nevertheless a common circumstance +with him to have hundreds of pounds, in pay and prize-money, to his +credit at his bankers, the Navy Pay-Office; and though during a voyage +he earned his money as hardly as a horse, and was as poor as a church +mouse, yet the moment he stepped ashore he made it fly by the handful +and squandered it, as the saying went, like an ass. When he was sober, +which was seldom enough provided he could obtain drink, he possessed +scarcely a rag to his back; but when he was drunk he was himself the +first to acknowledge that he had "too many cloths in the wind." +According to his own showing, his wishes in life were limited to +three: "An island of tobacco, a river of rum, and--more rum;" but +according to those who knew him better than he knew himself, he would +at any time sacrifice all three, together with everything else he +possessed, for the gratification of a fourth and unconfessed desire, +the dearest wish of his life, woman. Ward's description of him, +slightly paraphrased, fits him to a hair: "A salt-water vagabond, who +is never at home but when he is at sea, and never contented but when +he is ashore; never at ease until he has drawn his pay, and never +satisfied until he has spent it; and when his pocket is empty he is +just as much respected as a father-in-law is when he has beggared +himself to give a good portion with his daughter." [Footnote: Ward, +_Wooden World Dissected_, 1744.] With all this he was brave +beyond belief on the deck of a ship, timid to the point of cowardice +on the back of a horse; and although he fought to a victorious finish +many of his country's most desperate fights, and did more than any +other man of his time to make her the great nation she became, yet his +roving life robbed him of his patriotism and made it necessary to +wring from him by violent means the allegiance he shirked. It was at +this point that he came in contact with what he hated most in life, +yet dearly loved to dodge--the press-gang. + +That such a creature of contradictions should be averse from serving +the country he loved is perhaps the most consistent trait in his +character; for here at least the sailor had substantial grounds for +his inconsistency. + +For one thing, his aversion to naval service was as old as the Navy +itself, having grown with its growth. We have seen in what manner King +John was obliged to admonish the sailor in order to induce him to take +his prest-money; and Edward III., referring to his attitude in the +fourteenth century, is said to have summed up the situation in the +pregnant words: "There is navy enough in England, were there only the +will." Raleigh, recalling with bitterness of soul those glorious +Elizabethan days when no adventurer ever dreamt of pressing, scoffed +at the seamen of King James's time as degenerates who went on board a +man-of-war "with as great a grudging as if it were to be slaves in the +galleys." A hundred years did not improve matters. The sailors of +Queen Anne entered her ships like men "dragged to execution." +[Footnote: Justice, _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, 1705, +Appendix on Pressing.] + +In the merchant service, where the sailor received his initiation into +the art and mystery of the sea, life during the period under review, +and indeed for long after, was hard enough in all conscience. +Systematic and unspeakably inhuman brutality made the merchant +seaman's lot a daily inferno. Traders sailing out of Liverpool, +Bristol and a score of other British ports depended almost entirely +for their crews upon drugged rum, so evil was their reputation in this +respect amongst seafaring men. In the East India Company's ships, +even, the conditions were little short of unendurable. Men had rather +be hanged than sail to the Indies in them. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1463, 1472--Letters of Captains Bouler and Billingsley, +and numerous instances.] + +Of all these bitternesses the sailor tasted freely. Cosmopolite that +he was, he wandered far a-sea and incurred the blows and curses of +many masters, happy if, amid his manifold tribulations, he could still +call his soul his own. Just here, indeed, was where the shoe of naval +service pinched him most sorely; for though upon the whole life on +board a man-of-war was not many shades worse than life aboard a +trader, it yet introduced into his already sadly circumscribed vista +of happiness the additional element of absolute loss of free-will, and +the additional dangers of being shot as an enemy or hanged as a +deserter. These additional things, the littles that yet meant so much, +bred in him a hatred of the service so implacable that nothing less +drastic than the warrant and the hanger could cope with or subdue it. +Eradicated it never was. + +The keynote to the sailor's treatment in the Navy may be said to have +been profane abuse. Officers of all ranks kept the Recording Angel +fearfully busy. With scarcely an exception they were men of blunt +speech and rough tongue who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, +and the ordinary seaman something many degrees worse. These were +technicalities of the service which had neither use nor meaning +elsewhere. But to the navigation of the ship, to daily routine and the +maintenance of that exact discipline on which the Navy prided itself, +they were as essential as is milk to the making of cheese. Nothing +could be done without them. Decent language was thrown away upon a set +of fellows who had been bred in that very shambles of language, the +merchant marine. To them "'twas just all the same as High Dutch." They +neither understood it nor appreciated its force. But a volley of +thumping oaths, bellowed at them from the brazen throat of a +speaking-trumpet, and freely interlarded with adjectives expressive of +the foulness of their persons, and the ultimate state and destination +of their eyes and limbs, saved the situation and sometimes the ship. +Officers addicted to this necessary flow of language were sensible of +only one restraint. Visiting parties caused them embarrassment, and +when this was the case they fell back upon the tactics of the +commander who, unable to express himself with his usual fluency +because of the presence of ladies on the quarter-deck, hailed the +foreyard-arm in some such terms as these: "Foreyard-arm there! God +bless you! God bless you! God bless you! _You know what I mean!_" + +Hard words break no bones, and to quarter-deck language, as such, the +sailor entertained no rooted objection. What he did object to, and +object to with all the dogged insistence of his nature, was the fact +that this habitual flow of profane scurrility was only the prelude to +what, with grim pleasantry, he was accustomed to describe as "serving +out slops." Anything intended to cover his back was "slops" to the +sailor, and the punishments meted out to him covered him like a +garment. + +The old code of naval laws, the _Monumenta Juridica_ or _Black +Book_ of the Admiralty, contained many curious disciplinary +methods, not a few of which too long survived the age they originated +in. If, for instance, one sailor robbed another and was found guilty +of the crime, boiling pitch was poured over his head and he was +powdered with feathers "to mark him," after which he was marooned on +the first island the ship fell in with. Seamen guilty of undressing +themselves while at sea were ducked three times from the yard-arm--a +more humane use of that spar than converting it into a gallows. On +this code were based Admiral the Earl of Lindsay's "Instructions" of +1695. These included ducking, keel-hauling, fasting, flogging, +weighting until the "heart or back be ready to break," and "gogging" +or scraping the tongue with hoop-iron for obscene or profane swearing; +for although the "gentlemen of the quarter-deck" might swear to their +heart's content, that form of recreation was strictly taboo in other +parts of the ship. Here we have the origin of the brutal discipline of +the next century, summed up in the Consolidation Act of George II. +[Footnote: 22 George II. c. 33.]--an Act wherein ten out of thirty-six +articles awarded capital punishment without option, and twelve death +or minor penalties. + +Of the latter, the one most commonly in use was flogging at the +gangway or jears. This duty fell to the lot of the boatswain's mate. +[Footnote: "As it is the Custom of the Army to punish with the Drums, +so it is the known Practice of the Navy to punish with the Boatswain's +Mate."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. (afterwards Admiral) +Boscawen, 25 Feb. 1746-7.] The instrument employed was the +cat-o'-nine-tails, the regulation dose twelve lashes; but since the +actual number was left to the captain's discretion or malice, as the +case might be, it not infrequently ran into three figures. Thus John +Watts, able seaman on board H.M.S. _Harwich,_ Capt. Andrew +Douglas commander, in 1704 received one hundred and seventy lashes for +striking a shipmate in self-defence, his captain meanwhile standing by +and exhorting the boatswain's mate to "Swinge the Dog, for hee has a +Tough Hide"--and that, too, with a cat waxed to make it bite the +harder. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, +1704-5.] + +It was just this unearned increment of blows--this dash of bitter +added to the regulation cup--that made Jack's gorge rise. He was not +the sort of chap, it must be confessed, to be ruled with a feather. +"An impudent rascal" at the best of times, he often "deserved a great +deal and had but little." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1472--Capt. Balchen, 26 Jan. 1716-7.] But unmerited punishment, too +often devilishly devised, maliciously inflicted and inhumanly carried +out, broke the back of his sense of justice, already sadly +overstrained, and inspired him with a mortal hatred of all things +naval. + +For the slightest offence he was "drubbed at the gears"; for serious +offences, from ship to ship. If, when reefing topsails on a dark night +or in the teeth of a sudden squall, he did not handle the canvas with +all the celerity desired by the officer of the watch, he and his +fellow yardsmen were flogged _en bloc_. He was made to run the +gauntlet, often with the blood gushing from nose and ears as the +result of a previous dose of the cat, until he fell to the deck +comatose and at the point of death. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1466--Complaint of ye Abuse of a Sayler in the +_Litchfield_, 1704. In this case the man actually died.] Logs of +wood were bound to his legs as shackles, and whatever the nature of +his offence, he invariably began his expiation of it, the preliminary +canter, so to speak, in irons. If he had a lame leg or a bad foot, he +was "started" with a rope's-end as a "slacker." If he happened to be +the last to tumble up when his watch was called, the rattan [Footnote: +Carried at one time by both commissioned and warrant officers.] raised +weals on his back or drew blood from his head; and, as if to add +insult to injury, for any of these, and a hundred and one other +offences, he was liable to be black-listed and to lose his allowance +of grog. + +Some things, too, were reckoned sins aboard ship which, unhappily for +the sailor, could not well be avoided. Laughing, or even permitting +the features to relax in a smile in the official presence, was such a +sin. "He beats us for laughing," declare the company of the +_Solebay_, in a complaint against their commander, "more like +Doggs than Men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1435--Capt. +Aldred, 29 Feb. 1703-4.] One of the _Nymph's_ company, in or +about the year 1797, received three dozen for what was officially +termed "Silent Contempt"--"which was nothing more than this, that when +flogged by the boatswain's mate the man smiled." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petitions, 1793-7.] This was the +"Unpardonable Crime" of the service. + +Contrariwise, a man was beaten if he sulked. And as a rule the sailor +was sulky enough. Works of supererogation, such as polishing +everything polishable--the shot for the guns, in extreme cases, not +even excepted--until it shone like the tropical sun at noonday, left +him little leisure or inclination for mirth. "Very pretty to look at," +said Wellington, when confronted with these glaring evidences of +hyper-discipline, "but there is one thing wanting. I have not seen a +bright face in the ship." + +A painful tale of discipline run mad, or nearly so, is unfolded by +that fascinating series of sailor-records, the Admiralty Petitions. +Many of them, it must in justice be owned, bear unqualified testimony +to the kindness and humanity of officers; but in the great majority of +cases the evidence they adduce is overwhelmingly to the contrary. And +if their language is sometimes bombastic, if their style is almost +uniformly illiterate, if they are the productions of a band of +mutinous dogs standing out for rights which they never possessed and +deserving of a halter rather than a hearing, these are circumstances +that do not in the least detract from the veracity of the allegations +they advance. The sailor appealed to his king, or to the Admiralty, +"the same as a child to its father"; and no one who peruses the story +of his wrongs, as set forth in these documents, can doubt for a moment +that he speaks the truth with all a child's simplicity. + +The seamen of the _Reunion_ open the tale of oppression and +ill-usage. "Our Captain oblidges us to Wash our Linnen twice a week in +Salt Water and to put 2 Shirts on every Week, and if they do not look +as Clean as if they were washed in Fresh Water, he stops the person's +Grog which has the misfortune to displease him; and if our Hair is not +Tyd to please him, he orders it to be Cutt Off." On the +_Amphitrite_ "flogging is their portion." The men of the +_Winchelsea_ "wold sooner be Shot at like a Targaite than to +Remain." The treatment systematically meted out to the _Shannon's_ +crew is more than the heart "can Cleaverly Bear"--enough, in +short, to make them "rise and Steer the Ship into an Enemies +Port." The seamen of the _Glory_ are made wretched by "beating, +blacking, tarring, putting our heads in Bags," and by being +forced to "drink half a Gallon of Salt Water" for the most trivial +breaches of discipline or decorum. On the _Blanch,_ if they get +wet and hang or spread their clothes to dry, the captain "thros them +overboard." The _Nassau's_ company find it impossible to put the +abuse they receive on paper. It is "above Humanity." Though put on +board to fight for king and country, they are used worse than dogs. +They have no encouragement to "face the Enemy with a chearful Heart." +Besides being kept "more like Convicts than free-born Britons," the +_Nymph's_ company have an unspeakable grievance. "When Engaged +with the Enemy off Brest, March the 9th, 1797, they even Beat us at +our Quarters, though on the Verge of Eternity." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5l25--Petitions, 1793-7.] + +On the principle advanced by Rochefoucault, that there is something +not displeasing to us in the misfortunes of our friends, the sailor +doubtless derived a sort of negative satisfaction from the fact that +he was not the only one on shipboard liable to the pains and penalties +of irascibility, brutality and excessive disciplinary zeal. +Particularly was this true of his special friend the "sky-pilot" or +chaplain, that super-person who perhaps most often fell a victim to +quarter-deck ebullitions. Notably there is on record the case of one +John Cruickshank, chaplain of H.M.S. _Assurance,_ who was clapped +in irons, court-martialled and dismissed the service merely because he +happened to take--what no sailor could ever condemn him for-a drop too +much, and whilst in that condition insisted on preaching to the ship's +company when they were on the very point of going into action. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5265--Courts-Martial, 1704-5. +His zeal was unusual. Most naval chaplains thought "of nothing more +than making His Majesty's ships sinecures"] There is also that other +case of the "saucy Surgeon of the _Seahorse_" who incurred his +captain's dire displeasure all on account of candles, of which +necessary articles he, having his wife on board, thought himself +entitled to a more liberal share than was consistent with strict naval +economy; and who was, moreover, so "troblesome about his Provisions, +that if he did not always Chuse out of ye best in ye whole Ship," he +straightway got his back up and "threatened to Murder the Steward." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Blowers, 3 Jan. +1710-11.] Such interludes as these would assuredly have proved highly +diverting to the foremast-man had it not been for the cat and that +savage litter of minor punishments awaiting the man who smiled. + +In the matter of provisions, there can be little doubt that the sailor +shared to the full the desire evinced by the surgeon of the +_Seahorse_ to take blood-vengeance upon someone on account of +them. His "belly-timber," as old Misson so aptly if indelicately +describes it, was mostly worm-eaten or rotten, his drink indescribably +nasty. + +Charles II. is said to have made his breakfast off ship's diet the +morning he left the _Naseby,_ and to have pronounced it good; and +Nelson in 1803 declared it "could not possibly be improved upon." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580-Memorandum on the State of +the Fleet, 1803.] Such, however, was not the opinion of the chaplain +of the _Dartmouth,_ for after dining with his captain on an +occasion which deserves to become historic, he swore that "although he +liked that Sort of Living very well, as for the King's Allowance there +was but a Sheat of Browne Paper between it and Hell." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Misdemenors Comited by Mr Edward +Lewis, Chapling on Board H. M. Shipp Dartmouth, 1 Oct. 1702.] Which of +these opinions came nearest to the truth, the sequel will serve to +show. + +On the face of it the sailor's dietary was not so bad. A ship's +stores, in 1719, included ostensibly such items as bread, wine, beef, +pork, peas, oatmeal, butter, cheese, water and beer, and if Jack had +but had his fair share of these commodities, and had it in decent +condition, he would have had little reason to grumble about the king's +allowance. Unhappily for him, the humanities of diet were little +studied by the Victualling Board. + +Taking the beef, the staple article of consumption on shipboard, +cooking caused it to shrink as much as 45 per cent., thus reducing the +sailor's allowance by nearly one-half. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1495--Capt. Barrington, 23 Dec. 1770.] The residuum was +often "mere carrion," totally unfit for human consumption. "Junk," the +sailor contemptuously called it, likening it, in point of texture, +digestibility and nutritive properties, to the product of picked +oakum, which it in many respects strongly resembled. The pork, though +it lost less in the cooking, was rancid, putrid stuff, repellent in +odour and colour-particulars in which it found close competitors in +the butter and cheese, which had often to be thrown overboard because +they "stunk the ship." [Footnote: To disinfect a ship after she had +been fouled by putrid rations or disease, burning sulphur and vinegar +were commonly employed. Their use was preferable to the means adopted +by the carpenter of the _Feversham_, who in order to "sweeten +ship" once "turn'd on the cock in the hould" and through forgetfulness +"left it running for eighteen howers," thereby not only endangering +the vessel's safety, but incidentally spoiling twenty-one barrels of +powder in the magazine.--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2653--Capt. +Watson, 18 April 1741.] The peas "would not break." Boiled for eight +hours on end, they came through the ordeal "almost as hard as shott." +Only the biscuit, apart from the butter and cheese, possessed the +quality of softness. Damp, sea-water, mildew and weevil converted +"hard" into "soft tack" and added another horror to the sailor's mess. +The water he washed these varied abominations down with was frequently +"stuff that beasts would cough at." His beer was no better. It would +not keep, and was in consequence both "stinking and sour." [Footnote: +According to Raleigh, old oil and fish casks were used for the storing +of ship's beer in Elizabeth's reign.] Although the contractor was +obliged to make oath that he had used both malt and hops in the +brewing, it often consisted of nothing more stimulating than "water +coloured and bittered," and sometimes the "stingy dog of a brewer" +even went so far as to omit the "wormwood." + +Such a dietary as this made a meal only an unavoidable part of the +day's punishment and inspired the sailor with profound loathing. "Good +Eating is an infallible Antidote against murmuring, as many a +Big-Belly Place-Man can instance," he says in one of his petitions. +Poor fellow! his opportunities of putting it to the test were few +enough. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the so-called Banyan days +of the service, when his hateful ration of meat was withheld and in +its stead he regaled himself on plum-duff--the "plums," according to +an old regulation, "not worse than Malaga"--he had a taste of it. +Hence the banyan day, though in reality a fast-day, became indelibly +associated in his simple mind and vocabulary with occasions of +feasting and plenty, and so remains to this day. + +If the sailor's only delicacy was duff, his only comforts were rum and +tobacco, and to explore some unknown island, and discover therein a +goodly river of the famous Jamaica spirit, flowing deep and fragrant +between towering mountains of "pig tail," is commonly reputed to have +been the cherished wish of his heart. With tobacco the Navy Board did +not provide him, nor afford dishonest pursers opportunity to "make +dead men chew," [Footnote: Said of pursers who manipulated the Muster +Books, which it was part of their duty to keep, in such a way as to +make it appear that men "discharged dead" had drawn a larger quantity +of tobacco than was actually the case, the difference in value of +course going into their own pockets.] until 1798; but rum they allowed +him at a comparatively early date. When sickness prevailed on board, +when beer ran short or had to be turned over the side to preserve a +sweet ship, rum or wine was issued, and although the Admiralty at +first looked askance at the innovation, and at times left commanders +of ships to foot the bill for spirits thus served out, the practice +made gradual headway, until at length it ousted beer altogether and +received the stamp of official approval. Half a pint, dealt out each +morning and evening in equal portions, was the regular allowance--a +quantity often doubled were the weather unusually severe or the men +engaged in the arduous duty of watering ship. At first the ration of +rum was served neat and appreciated accordingly; but about 1740 the +practice of adding water was introduced. This was Admiral Vernon's +doing. Vernon was best known to his men as "Old Grog," a nickname +originating in a famous grogram coat he affected in dirty weather; and +as the rum and water now served out to them was little to their +liking, they marked their disapproval of the mixture, as well as of +the man who invented it, by dubbing it "grog." The sailor was not +without his sense of humour. + +The worst feature of rum, from the sailor's point of view, worse by +far than dilution, was the fact that it could be so easily stopped. +Here his partiality for the spirit told heavily against him. His grog +was stopped because he liked it, rather than because he deserved to +lose it. The malice of the thing did not make for a contented ship. + +The life of the man-o'-war's-man, according to Lord Nelson, was on an +average "finished at forty-five years." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Bad +food and strenuous labour under exceptionally trying conditions sapped +his vitals, made him prematurely old, and exposed him to a host of +ills peculiar to his vocation. He "fell down daily," to employ the old +formula, in spotted or putrid fevers. He was racked by agues, +distorted by rheumatic pains, ruptured or double-ruptured by the +strain of pulling, hauling and lifting heavy weights. He ate no meal +without incurring the pangs of acute indigestion, to which he was +fearfully subject. He was liable to a "prodigious inflammation of the +head, nose and eyes," occasioned by exposure. Scurvy, his most +inveterate and merciless enemy, "beat up" for him on every voyage and +dragged his brine-sodden body down to a lingering death. Or, did he +escape these dangers and a watery grave, protracted disease sooner or +later rendered him helpless, or a brush with the enemy disabled him +for ever from earning his bread. + +His surgeons were, as a rule, a sorry lot. Not only were they +deficient in numbers, they commonly lacked both professional training +and skill. Their methods were consequently of the crudest description, +and long continued so. The approved treatment for rupture, to which +the sailor was painfully liable, was to hang the patient up by the +heels until the prolapsus was reduced. Pepys relates how he met a +seaman returning from fighting the Dutch with his eye-socket "stopped +with oakum," and as late at least as the Battle of Trafalgar it was +customary, in amputations, to treat the bleeding stump with boiling +pitch as a cauterant. In his general attitude towards the sick and +wounded the old-time naval surgeon was not unlike Garth, Queen Anne's +famous physician. At the Kit Cat Club he one day sat so long over his +wine that Steele ventured to remind him of his patients. "No matter," +said Garth. "Nine have such bad constitutions that no physician can +save them, and the other six such good ones that all the physicans in +the world could not kill them." + +Many were the devices resorted to in order to keep the +man-o'-war's-man healthy and fit. As early as 1602 a magic electuary, +invented by one "Doctor Cogbourne, famous for fluxes," was by +direction of the Navy Commissioners supplied for his use in the West +Indies. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Barker, 14 +Oct. 1702.] By Admiral Vernon and his commanders he was dosed freely +with "Elixir of Vitriol," which they not only "reckoned the best +general medicine next to rhubarb," but pinned their faith to as a +sovereign specific for scurvy and fevers. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 161--Admiral Vernon, 31 Oct. 1741.] Lime-juice, known +as a valuable anti-scorbutic as early as the days of Drake and +Raleigh, was not added to his rations till 1795. He did not find it +very palatable. The secret of fortifying it was unknown, and oil had +to be floated on its surface to make it keep. Sour-crout was much more +to his taste as a preventive of scurvy, and in 1777, at the request of +Admiral Montagu, then Governor and Commander-in-Chief over the Island +of Newfoundland, the Admiralty caused to be sent out, for the use of +the squadron on that station, where vegetables were unprocurable, a +sufficient quantity of that succulent preparation to supply twelve +hundred men for a period of two months. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 471--Admiral Montagu, 28 Feb. 1777, and endorsement.] + +Rice the sailor detested. Of all species of "soft tack" it was least +to his liking. He nicknamed it "strike-me-blind," being firmly +convinced that its continued use would rob him of his eyesight. Tea +was not added to his dietary till 1824, but as early as 1795 he could +regale himself on cocoa. For the rest, sugar, essence of malt, essence +of spruce, mustard, cloves, opium and "Jesuits'" or Peruvian bark were +considered essential to his well-being on shipboard. He was further +allowed a barber-one to every hundred men-without whose attentions it +was found impossible to keep him "clean and healthy." + +With books he was for many years "very scantily supplied." It was not +till 1812, indeed, that the Admiralty, shocked by the discovery that +he had practically nothing to elevate his mind but daily association +with the quarter-deck, began to pour into the fleet copious supplies +of literature for his use. Thereafter the sailor could beguile his +leisure with such books as the _Old Chaplains Farewell Letter_, +Wilson's _Maxims, The Whole Duty of Man_, Seeker's _Duties of +the Sick_, and, lest returning health should dissipate the piety +begotten of his ailments, Gibson's _Advice after Sickness_. +Thousands of pounds were spent upon this improving literature, which +was distributed to the fleet in strict accordance with the amount of +storage room available at the various dockyards. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ Accountant-General, Misc. (Various), No. +l06--Accounts of the Rev. Archdeacon Owen, Chaplain-General to the +Fleet, 1812-7.] + +A fundamental principle of man-o'-war routine was that the sailor +formed no part of it for hospital purposes. Hence sickness was not +encouraged. If the sailor-patient did not recover within a reasonable +time, he was "put on shore sick," sometimes to the great terror of the +populace, who, were he supposed to be afflicted with an infectious +disease, fled from him "as if he had the plague." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 24 June 1740.] On shore +he was treated for thirty days at his country's charges. If incurable, +or permanently disabled, he was then turned adrift and left to shift +for himself. A clean record and a sufficiently serious wound entitled +him to a small pension or admission to Greenwich Hospital, an +institution which had religiously docked his small pay of sixpence a +month throughout his entire service. Failing these, there remained for +him only the streets and the beggar's rôle. + +His pay was far from princely. From 3d. a day in the reign of King +John it rose by grudging increments to 20s. a month in 1626, and 24s. +in 1797. Years sometimes elapsed before he touched a penny of his +earnings, except in the form of "slop" clothing and tobacco. Amongst +the instances of deferred wages in which the Admiralty records abound, +there may be cited the case of the _Dreadnought_, whose men in +1711 had four years' pay due; and of the _Dunkirk_, to whose +company, in the year following, six and a half years' was owing. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 8 March +1710-11. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Butler, 19 March, +1711-12,] And at the time of the Nore Mutiny it was authoritatively +stated that there were ships then in the fleet which had not been paid +off for eight, ten, twelve and in one instance even fifteen years. +"Keep the pay, keep the man," was the policy of the century--a sadly +mistaken policy, as we shall presently see. + +In another important article of contentment the sailor was hardly +better off. The system of deferred pay amounted practically to a +stoppage of all leave for the period, however protracted, during which +the pay was withheld. Thus the _Monmouth's_ men had in 1706 been +in the ship "almost six years, and had never had the opportunity of +seeing their families but once." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1468-Capt. Baker, 3 Nov. 1706.] In Boscawen's ship, the +_Dreadnought_, there were in 1744 two hundred and fifty men who +"had not set foot on shore near two year." Admiral Penrose once paid +off in a seventy-four at Plymouth, many of whose crew had "never set +foot on land for six or seven years"; [Footnote: Penrose (Sir V. C., +Vice-Admiral of the Blue), _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc.,_ 1824.] and Brenton, in his _Naval History_, +instances the case of a ship whose company, after having been +eleven years in the East Indies, on returning to England were +drafted straightway into another ship and sent back to that quarter of +the globe without so much as an hour's leave ashore. + +What was true of pay and leave was also true of prize-money. The +sailor was systematically kept out of it, and hence out of the means +of enjoyment and carousal it afforded him, for inconscionable periods. +From a moral point of view the check was hardly to his detriment. But +the Navy was not a school of morals, and withholding the sailor's +hard-earned prize-money over an indefinite term of years neither made +for a contented heart nor enhanced his love for a service that first +absorbed him against his will, and then, having got him in its +clutches, imposed upon and bested him at every turn. + +Although the prime object in withholding his pay was to prevent his +running from his ship, so far from compassing that desirable end it +had exactly the contrary effect. Both the preventive and the disease +were of long standing. With De Ruyter in the Thames in 1667, menacing +London and the kingdom, the seamen of the fleet flocked to town in +hundreds, clamouring for their wages, whilst their wives besieged the +Navy Office in Seething Lane, shrieking: "This is what comes of not +paying our husbands!" + +Essentially a creature of contradictions, the sailor rarely, if he +could avoid it, steered the course laid down for him, and in nothing +perhaps was this idiosyncrasy so glaringly apparent as in his +behaviour as his country's creditor. He "would get to London if he +could." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 12 +Dec. 1742.] "An unaccountable humour" impelled him "to quit His +Majesty's service without leave." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 480--Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, 12 Sept. 1746.] Once the +whim seized him, no ties of deferred pay or prize-money had power to +hold him back. The one he could obtain on conditions; the other he +could dispose of at a discount which, though ruinously heavy, still +left him enough to frolic on. + +The weapon of deferred pay was thus a two-edged one. If it hurt the +sailor, it also cut the fingers of those who employed it against him. +So exigent were the needs of the service, he could "run" with +impunity. For if he ran whilst his pay was in arrears, he did so with +the full knowledge that, barring untimely recapture by the press-gang, +he would receive a free pardon, together with payment of all dues, on +the sole condition, which he never kept if he could help it, of +returning to his ship when his money was gone. He therefore deserted +for two reasons: First, to obtain his pay; second, to spend it. + +The penalty for desertion, under a well-known statute of George I., +[Footnote: 13 George I., art. 7.] was death by hanging. As time went +on, however, discipline in this respect suffered a grave relapse, and +fear of the halter no longer served to check the continual exodus from +the fleet. If the runaway sailor were taken, "it would only be a +whipping bout." So he openly boasted. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Boscawen, 26 April 1743.] The "bout," it is +true, at times ran to six, or even seven hundred lashes--the latter +being the heaviest dose of the cat ever administered in the British +navy; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 12 Nov. 1765.] but even this terrible ordeal had no power to +hold the sailor to his duty, and although Admiral Lord St. Vincent, +better known in his day as "hanging Jervis," did his utmost to revive +the ancient custom of stretching the sailor's neck, the trend of the +times was against him, and within twenty-five years of the reaffirming +of the penalty, in the 22nd year of George II., hanging for desertion +had become practically obsolete. + +In the declining days of the practice a grim game at life and death +was played upon the deck of a king's ship lying in the River St. +Lawrence. The year was 1760. Quebec had only recently fallen before +the British onslaught. A few days before that event, at a juncture +when every man in the squadron was counted upon to play his part in +the coming struggle, and to play it well, three seamen, James Mike, +Thomas Wilkinson and William M'Millard by name, deserted from the +_Vanguard_. Retaken some months later, they were brought to +trial; but as men were not easy to replace in that latitude, the +court, whilst sentencing all three to suffer the extreme penalty of +the law, added to their verdict a rider to the effect that it would be +good policy to spare two of them. Admiral Lord Colvill, then +Commander-in-Chief, issued his orders accordingly, and at eleven +o'clock on the morning of the 12th of July the condemned men, preceded +to the scaffold by two chaplains, were led to the _Vanguard's_ +forecastle, where they drew lots to determine which of them should +die. The fatal lot fell to James Mike, who, in presence of the +assembled boats of the squadron, was immediately "turned off" at the +foreyard-arm. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord +Colvill, 10 July 1760; Captains' Logs, 1026--Log of H.M.S. +_Vanguard_.] + +Encouraged in this grim fashion, desertion assumed alarming +proportions. Nelson estimated that whenever a large convoy of merchant +ships assembled at Portsmouth, at least a thousand men deserted from +the fleet. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on +the State of the Fleet, 1803.] This was a "liberty they would take," +do what you could to prevent it. + +Of those who thus deserted fully one-third, according to the same high +authority, never saw the fleet again. "From loss of clothes, drinking +and other debaucheries" they were "lost by death to the country." Some +few of the remainder, after drinking His Majesty's health in a final +bowl, voluntarily returned on board and "prayed for a fair wind"; but +the majority held aloof, taking their chances and their pleasures in +sailorly fashion until, their last stiver gone, they fell an easy prey +to the press-gang or the crimp. + +While the crimp was to the merchant service what the press-gang was to +the Navy, a kind of universal provider, there was in his method of +preying upon the sailor a radical difference. Like his French compeer, +the recruiting sergeant of the Pont Neuf in the days of Louis the +Well-Beloved, wherever sailors congregated the crimp might be heard +rattling his money-bags and crying: "Who wants any? Who wants any?" +Where the press-gang used the hanger or the cudgel, the crimp employed +dollars. The circumstance gave him a decided "pull" in the contest for +men, for the dollars he offered, whether in the way of pay or bounty, +were invariably fortified with rum. The two formed a contraption no +sailor could resist. "Money and liquor held out to a seaman," said +Nelson, "are too much for him." + +In law the offence of enticing seamen to desert His Majesty's service, +like desertion itself, was punishable with death; [Footnote: 22 George +n. cap. 33.] but in fact the penalty was either commuted to +imprisonment, or the offender was dealt with summarily, without +invoking the law. Crimps who were caught red-handed had short shrift. +Two of the fraternity, named respectively Henry Nathan and Sampson +Samuel, were once taken in the Downs. "Send Nathan and Samuel," ran +the Admiralty order in their case, "to Plymouth by the first +conveyance. Admiral Young is to order them on board a ship going on +foreign service as soon as possible." Another time an officer, +boarding a boat filled with men as it was making for an Indiaman at +Gravesend, found in her six crimps, all of whom suffered the same +fate. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Bazeley, 7 +Feb. 1808. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. Bowater, 12 June +1796.] + +Men seduced by means of crimpage bounty were said to be "silver +cooped," and the art of silver cooping was not only practised at home, +it was world-wide. In whatever waters a British man-o'-war cast +anchor, there the crimp appeared, plying his crafty trade. His +assiduity paid a high compliment to the sterling qualities of the +British seaman, but for the Navy it spelt wholesale depletion. + +In home ports he was everywhere in evidence. No ship of war could lie +in Leith Roads but she lost a good part of her crew through his +seductions. "M'Kirdy & M'Lean, petty-fogging writers," were the chief +crimps at Greenock. Sheerness crimps gave "great advance money." +Liverpool was infested with them, all the leading merchant shippers at +Bristol, London and other great ports having "agents" there, who +offered the man-o'-war's-man tempting bounties and substantial wages +to induce him to desert his ship. A specially active agent of Bristol +shipowners was one Vernon Ley, who plied his trade chiefly at Exeter +and Plymouth, whence he was known to send to Bristol, in the space of +six months, as many as seventy or eighty men, whom he provided with +postchaises for the journey and 8 Pounds per man as bounty. James +White, a publican who kept the "Pail of Barm" at Bedminster, made a +close second in his activity and success. Spithead had its regular +contingent of crimps, and many an East India ship sailing from that +famous anchorage was "entirely manned" by their efforts, of course at +the expense of the ships of war lying there. At Chatham, crimpage +bounty varied from fifteen to twenty guineas per head; and at Cork, a +favourite recruiting ground for both merchantmen and privateers, the +same sum could be had any day, with high wages to boot. + +In the Crown Colonies a similar state of things prevailed. Queen's +ships visiting Jamaica in or about the year 1716 lost so heavily they +scarce dared venture the return voyage to England, their men having +"gone a-wrecking" in the Gulf of Florida, where one armed sloop was +reputed to have recovered Spanish treasure to the value of a hundred +thousand dollars. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Balchen, 13 May 1716.] Time did not lessen desertion in the island, +though it wrought a change in the cause. When Admiral Vernon was +Commander-in-Chief there in the forties, he lost five hundred men +within a comparatively short time--"seduced out," to use his own +words, "through the temptations of high wages and thirty gallons of +rum, and conveyed drunk on board from the punch-houses where they are +seduced." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 233--Admiral Vernon, +5 Sept. 1742. A rare recruiting sheet of 1780, which has for its +headpiece a volunteer shouting: "Rum for nothing!" describes Jamaica +as "that delightful Island, abounding in Rum, Sugar and Spanish +Dollars, where there is delicious living and plenty of GROGG and +PUNCH."] + +At Louisberg, in the Island of Cape Breton, the North American +Squadron in 1746 lost so many men through the seductions practised by +New England skippers frequenting that port, that Townsend, the admiral +in command, indited a strongly worded protest to Shirley, then +Governor of Massachusetts; but the latter, though deploring the "vile +behaviour" of the skippers in question, could do nothing to put a stop +to it. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Townsend, 17 Aug.; +Shirley, 12 Sept. 1746.] As a matter of fact he did not try. + +On the coast of Carolina many of the English merchantmen in 1743 paid +from seventeen to twenty guineas for the run home, and in addition "as +many pounds of Sugar, Gallons of Rum and pounds of Tobacco as pounds +in Money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1 1479-Capt. Bladwell, +1 July 1743.] + +The lust for privateering had much to answer for in this respect. So +possessed were the Virginians by the desire to get rich at the expense +of their enemies that they quite "forgot their allegiance to the +King." By the offer of inordinately high wages and rich prizes they +did their utmost to seduce carpenters, gunners, sailmakers and able +seamen from His Majesty's ships. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1480--Capt. Lord Alexander Banff, 21 Oct. 1744.] Any ship forced to +winter at Rhode Island, again, always counted upon losing enough men +to "disable her from putting to sea" when the spring came. Here, too, +the privateering spirit was to blame, Rhode Island being notorious for +its enterprise in that form of piracy. Another impenitent sinner in +her inroads upon the companies of king's ships was Boston, where "a +sett of people made it their Business" to entice them away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Askew, 27 Aug. 1748.] No ship +could clean, refit, victual or winter there without "the loss of all +her men." Capt. Young, of the _Jason_, was in 1753 left there +with never a soul on board except "officers and servants, widows' men, +the quarter-deck gentlemen and those called idlers." The rest had been +seduced at 30 Pounds per head. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2732--Capt. Young, 6 Oct. 1753. The "widows' men" here humorously +alluded to would not add much to the effectiveness of the depleted +company. They were imaginary sailors, borne on the ship's books for +pay and prize-money which went to Greenwich Hospital.] + +So it went on. Day in, day out, at home and abroad, this ceaseless +drain of men, linking hands in the decimation of the fleet with those +able adjutants Disease and Death, accentuated progressively and +enormously the naval needs of the country. For the apprehension and +return of deserters from ships in home ports a drag-net system of +rewards and conduct-money sprang into being; but this the sailor to +some extent contrived to elude. He "stuck a cockade in his hat" and +made shift to pass for a soldier on leave; or he laid furtive hands on +a horse and set up for an equestrian traveller. In the neighbourhood +of all great seaport towns, as on all main roads leading to that +paradise and ultimate goal of the deserter, the metropolis, +horse-stealing by sailors "on the run" prevailed to an alarming +extent; and although there was a time when the law strung him up for +the crime of borrowing horses to help him on his way, as it had once +hanged him for deserting, the naval needs of the country eventually +changed all that and brought him a permanent reprieve. Thenceforth, +instead of sending the happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care felon to the +gallows, they turned him over to the press-gang and so re-consigned +him, penniless and protesting, to the duty he detested. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT THE PRESS-GANG WAS. + + + +From the standpoint of a systematic supply of men to the fleet, the +press-gang was a legitimate means to an imperative end. This was the +official view. In how different a light the people came to regard the +petty man-trap of power, we shall presently see. + +Designed as it was for the taking up of able-bodied adults, the main +idea in the formation of the gang was strength and efficiency. It was +accordingly composed of the stoutest men procurable, dare-devil +fellows capable of giving a good account of themselves in fight, or of +carrying off their unwilling prey against long odds. Brute strength +combined with animal courage being thus the first requisite of the +ganger, it followed--not perhaps as a matter of course so much as a +matter of fact--that his other qualities were seldom such as to endear +him to the people. Wilkes denounced him for a "lawless ruffian," and +one of the newspapers of his time describes him, with commendable +candour and undeniable truth, as a "profligate and abandoned wretch, +perpetually lounging about the streets and incessantly vomiting out +oaths and horrid curses." [Footnote: _London Chronicle,_ 16 March +1762.] + +The getting of a gang together presented little difficulty. The first +business of the officer charged with its formation was to find +suitable quarters, rent not to exceed twenty shillings a week, +inclusive of fire and candle. Here he hung out a flag as the sign of +authority and a bait for volunteers. As a rule, they were easily +procurable. All the roughs of the town were at his disposal, and when +these did not yield material enough recourse was had to beat of drum, +that instrument, together with the man who thumped it, being either +hired at half-a-crown a day or "loaned" from the nearest barracks. +Selected members of the crowd thus assembled were then plied with +drink "to invite them to enter"--an invitation they seldom refused. + +It goes without saying that gangs raised in this manner were of an +exceedingly mixed character. On the principle of setting a thief to +catch a thief, seafaring men of course had first preference, but +landsmen were by no means excluded. The gang operating at Godalming in +1782 may be cited as typical of the average inland gang. It consisted +of three farmers, one weaver, one bricklayer, one labourer, and two +others whose regular occupations are not divulged. They were probably +sailors. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Boston, +Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] + +Landsmen entered on the express understanding that they should not be +pressed when the gang broke up. Sailor gangsmen, on the contrary, +enjoyed no such immunity. The most they could hope for, when their +arduous duties came to an end, was permission to "choose their ship." +The concession was no mean one. By choosing his ship discreetly the +gangsman avoided encounters with men he had pressed, thus preserving +his head unbroken and his skin intact. + +Ship-gangs, unlike those operating on land, were composed entirely of +seamen. For dash, courage and efficiency, they had no equal and few +rivals. + +Apart from the officers commanding it, the number of men that went to +the making of a gang varied from two to twenty or more according to +the urgency of the occasion that called it into being and the +importance or ill-repute of the centre selected as the scene of its +operations. For Edinburgh and Leith twenty-one men, directed by a +captain, two lieutenants and four midshipmen, were considered none too +many. Greenock kept the same number of officers and twenty men fully +employed, for here there was much visiting of ships on the water, a +fast cutter being retained for that purpose. The Liverpool gang +numbered eighteen men, directed by seven officers and backed by a +flotilla of three tenders, each under the command of a special +lieutenant. Towns such as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Great Yarmouth, Cowes +and Haverfordwest also had gangs of at least twenty men each, with +boats as required; and Deal, Dover and Folkstone five gangs between +them, totalling fifty men and fifteen officers, and employing as many +boats as gangs for pressing in the Downs. + +In the case of ship-gangs, operating directly from a ship of war in +harbour or at sea, the officers in charge were as a matter of course +selected from the available ward or gun-room contingent. Few, if any, +of the naval men whose names at one time or another spring into +prominence during the century, escaped this unpleasant but necessary +duty in their younger days. But on shore an altogether different order +of things prevailed. + + [Illustration: MANNING THE NAVY. Reproduced by kind permission from a +rare print in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley.] + +The impress service ashore was essentially the grave of promotion. +Whether through age, fault, misfortune or lack of influence in high +places, the officers who directed it were generally disappointed men, +service derelicts whose chances of ever sporting a second "swab," or +of again commanding a ship, had practically vanished. Naval men afloat +spoke of them with good-natured contempt as "Yellow Admirals," the +fictitious rank denoting a kind of service quarantine that knew no +pratique. + +Like the salt junk of the foremast--man, the Yellow Admiral got +fearfully "out of character" through over-keeping. With the service he +lost all touch save in one degrading particular. His pay was better +than his reputation, but his position was isolated, his duties and his +actions subject to little official supervision. With opportunity came +peculiar temptations to bribery and peculation, and to these he often +succumbed. The absence of congenial society frequently weighed heavy +upon him and drove him to immoderate drinking. Had he lived a +generation or so later the average impress officer ashore could have +echoed with perfect truth, and almost nightly iteration, the crapulous +sentiment in which Byron is said to have toasted his hosts when dining +on board H.M.S. _Hector_ at Malta:-- + + "Glorious Hector, son of Priam, + Was ever mortal drunk as I am!" + +[Footnote: The authenticity of the anecdote, notwithstanding the fact +that it was long current in naval circles, is more than doubtful. When +Bryon visited Malta in 1808 the _Hector_ was doing duty at +Plymouth as a prison-ship, and naval records disclose no other ship of +that name till 1864.] + +A lieutenant attached to the gang at Chester is responsible for a +piece of descriptive writing, of a biographical nature, which perhaps +depicts the impress officer of the century at his worst. Addressing a +brother lieutenant at Waterford, to which station his superior was on +the point of being transferred, "I think but right," says he, "to give +you a character of Capt. P., who is to be your Regulating Captain. I +have been with him six months here, and if it had not been that he is +leaving the place, I should have wrote to the Board of Admiralty to +have been removed from under his command. At first you'll think him a +Fine old Fellow, but if it's possible he will make you Quarrel with +all your Acquaintance. Be very Careful not to Introduce him to any +Family that you have a regard for, for although he is near Seventy +Years of Age, he is the greatest Debauchee you ever met with--a Man of +No Religion, a Man who is Capable of any Meanness, Arbitrary and +Tyrannicall in his Disposition. This City has been several times just +on the point of writing against him to the Board of Admiralty. He has +a wife, and Children grown up to Man's Estate. The Woman he brings +over with him is Bird the Builder's Daughter. To Conclude, there is +not a House in Chester that he can go into but his own and the +Rendezvous, after having been Six Months in one of the agreeablest +Cities in England." [Footnote: _Ad,_ 1. 1500--Lieut. Shuckford, 7 +March 1780.] + +Ignorant of the fact that his reputation had thus preceded him, Capt. +P. found himself assailed, on his arrival at Waterford, by a "most +Infamous Epitaph," emanating none knew whence, nor cared. This +circumstance, accentuated by certain indiscretions of which the +hectoring old officer was guilty shortly after his arrival, aroused +strong hostility against him. A mob of fishwives, attacking his house +at Passage, smashed the windows and were with difficulty restrained +from levelling the place with the ground. His junior officers +conspired against him. Piqued by the loss of certain perquisites which +the newcomer remorselessly swept away, they denounced him to the +Admiralty, who ordered an inquiry into his conduct. After a hearing of +ten days it went heavily against him, practically every charge being +proved. He was immediately superseded and never again employed--a sad +ending to a career of forty years under such men as Anson, Boscawen, +Hawke and Vernon. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Capt. +Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780, and enclosures constituting the inquiry.] Yet +such was the ultimate fate of many an impress officer. A stronger +light focussed him ashore, and habits, proclivities and weaknesses +that escaped censure at sea, were here projected odiously upon the +sensitive retina of public opinion. + +Of the younger men who drifted into the shore service there were some, +it need scarcely be said, who for obvious reasons escaped, or, rather, +did not succumb to the common odium. A notable example of this type of +officer was Capt. Jahleel Brenton, who for some years commanded the +gangs at Leith and Greenock. Though a man of blunt sensibilities and +speech, he possessed qualities which carried him out of the stagnant +back-water of pressing into the swim of service afloat, where he +eventually secured a baronetcy and the rank of Vice-Admiral. +Singularly enough, he was American-born. + +The senior officer in charge of a gang, commonly known as the +Regulating Captain, might in rank be either captain or lieutenant. It +was his duty to hire, but not to "keep" the official headquarters of +the gang, to organise that body, to direct its operations, to account +for all moneys expended and men pressed, and to "regulate" or inspect +the latter and certify them fit for service or otherwise. In this +last-named duty a surgeon often assisted him, usually a local +practitioner, who received a shilling a head for his pains. One or +more lieutenants, each of whom had one or more midshipmen at his beck +and call, served under the Regulating Captain. They "kept" the +headquarters and led the gang, or contingents of the gang, on pressing +forays, thus coming in for much of the hard work, and many of the +harder knocks, that unpopular body was liable to. Sometimes, as in the +case of Dover, Deal and Folkestone, several gangs were grouped under a +single regulating officer. + +The pay of the Regulating Captain was 1 Pound a day, with an +additional 5s. subsistence money. Lieutenants received their usual +service pay, and for subsistence 3s. 6d. In special cases grants were +made for coach-hire [Footnote: Capt. William Bennett's bill for the +double journey between Waterford and Cork, on the occasion of the +inquiry into the conduct of the Regulating Officer at the former +place, over which he presided, amounted to forty-three guineas--a sum +he considered "as moderate as any gentleman's could have been, laying +aside the wearing of my uniform every day." Half the amount went in +chaise and horse hire, "there being," we are told, "no chaises upon +the road as in England," and "only one to be had at Cork, all the rest +being gone to Dublin with the Lawyers and the Players, the Sessions +being just ended and the Play House broke up" (_Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Bennett, 24 March 1782). Nelson's bill for +posting from Burnham, Norfolk, to London and back, 260 miles, in the +year 1789, amounted to 19 Pounds, 55. 2d. (_Admiralty Records_ +Victualling Dept, Miscellanea, No. 26).] and such purposes as +"entertainments to the Mayor and Corporation, the Magistrates +and the Officers of the Regulars and the Militia, by way of return +for their civilities and for their assistance in carrying on the +impress." The grant to the Newcastle officers, under this head, in +1763 amounted to upwards of 93 Pounds. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bover, 6 March 1763, and endorsement.] + +"Road-money" was generally allowed at the rate of 3d. a mile for +officers and 1d. a mile for gangers when on the press; but as a matter +of fact these modest figures were often largely exceeded--to the no +small emolument of the regulating officer. Lieut. Gaydon, commanding +at Ilfracombe, in 1795 debited the Navy Board with a sum of 148 Pounds +for 1776 miles of travel; Capt. Gibbs, of Swansea, with 190 Pounds for +1561 miles; and Capt. Longcroft, of Haverfordwest, with 524 Pounds for +8388 miles--a charge characterised by Admiral M'Bride, who that year +reported upon the working of the impress, as "immense." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March 1795.] He +might well have used a stronger term. + +An item which it was at one time permissible to charge, possesses a +special interest. This was a bonus of 1s. a head on all men pressed--a +bonus that was in reality nothing more than the historic prest +shilling of other days, now no longer paid to pressed men, diverted +into the pockets of those who did the pressing. The practice, however, +was short-lived. Tending as it did to fill the ships with +unserviceable men, it was speedily discontinued and the historic +shilling made over to the certifying surgeon. + +The shore midshipman could boast but little affinity with his namesake +of the quarter-deck. John Richards, midshipman of the Godalming gang, +had never in his life set foot on board a man-of-war or been to sea. +His age was forty. The case of James Good, of Hull, is even more +remarkable. He had served as "Midshipman of the Impress" for thirty +years out of sixty-three. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1455--Capt. Acklom, 6 Oct. 1814. _Admiralty Records_ 1.1502-- +Capt. Boston, Report on Rendezvous, 1782.] The pay of these +elderly youths at no time exceeded a guinea a week. + +The gangsman was more variously, if not more generously remunerated. +At Deal, in 1743, he had 1s. per day for his boat, and "found +himself," or, in the alternative, "ten shillings for every good seaman +procured, in full for his trouble and the hire of the boat." At Dover, +in 1776, he received 2s. 6d. a day; at Godalming, six years later, +10s. 6d. a week; and at Exeter, during the American War of +Independence, when the demand for seamen was phenomenal, 14s. a week, +5s. for every man pressed, and clothing and shoes "when he deserved +it." Pay and allowances were thus far from uniform. Both depended +largely upon the scarcity or abundance of suitable gangsmen, the +demand for seamen, and the astuteness of the officer organising the +gang. Some gangs not on regular wages received as much as "twenty +shillings for each man impressed, and six-pence a mile for as many +miles as they could make it appear each man had travelled, not +exceeding twenty, besides (a noteworthy addition) the twelve-pence +press-money "; but if a man pressed under these conditions were found +to be unserviceable after his appearance on shipboard, all money +considerations for his capture were either withheld or recalled. On +the whole, considering the arduous and disagreeable nature of the +gangsman's calling, the Navy Board cannot be accused of dealing any +too generously by him. + +"If ever you intend to man the fleet without being cheated by the +captains and pursers," Charles II. is credited with having once said +to his council, "you may go to bed." What in this sense was true of +the service afloat was certainly not less true of that loosely +organised and laxly supervised naval department, the impress ashore. +Considering the repute of the officers engaged in it, and the +opportunities they enjoyed for peculation and the taking of +bribes--considering, above all, the extreme difficulty of keeping a +watchful eye upon officers scattered throughout the length and breadth +of the land, the wonder is, not that irregularities crept in, but that +they should have been, upon the whole, so few and so venial. + +To allow the gangsmen to go fishing for sea-fish or dredging for +oysters, as was commonly done when there was little prospect of a +catch on land, was no more heinous than the custom prevailing--to +everybody's knowledge--at King's Lynn in Norfolk, where the gang had +no need to go a-fishing because, regularly as the cobbles came in, the +midshipman attached to the gang appeared on the quay and had the +"insolence to demand Three of the Best Fysh for the Regulating +Captain, the Lieutenant and himself." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the Owners of the Fishing Cobbles of +Lynn, 3 March 1809.] And if, again, rating a gangsman in choicest +quarterdeck language were no serious offence, why should not the +Regulating Captain rate his son as midshipman, even though "not proper +to be employed as such." And similarly, granting it to be right to +earn half a sovereign by pressing a man contrary to law, where was the +wrong in "clearing him of the impress" for the same amount, as was +commonly done by the middies at Sunderland and Shields. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1557--Capt. Bell, 27 June 1806, enclosure.] +These were works of supererogation rather than sins against the +service, and little official notice was taken of them unless, as +in the case of Liverpool, they were carried to such lengths as to +create a public scandal. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579 +--Admiral Child, 30 Jan. 1800.] + +There were, as a matter of course, some officers in the service who +went far beyond the limits of such venial irregularities and, like +Falstaff, "misused the king's press damnably." Though according to the +terms of their warrant they were "to take care not to demand or +receive any money, gratuity, reward, or any other consideration +whatsoever for the sparing, exchanging or discharging any person or +persons impressed or to be impressed," the taking of "gratifications" +for these express purposes prevailed to a notorious extent. The +difficulty was to fasten the offence upon the offenders. "Bailed men," +as they were called, did not "peach." Their immunity from the press +was too dearly bought to admit of their indulging personal animus +against the officer who had taken their money. It was only through +some tangle of circumstance over which the delinquent had no control +that the truth leaked out. Such a case was that of the officer in +command of the _Mary_ tender at Sunderland, a lieutenant of over +thirty years' standing. Having pressed one Michael Dryden, a master's +mate whom he ought never to have pressed at all, he so far "forgot" +himself as to accept a bribe of 15 Pounds for the man's release, and +then, "having that day been dining with a party of military officers," +forgot to release the man. The double lapse of memory proved his ruin. +Representations were made to the Admiralty, and the unfortunately +constituted lieutenant was "broke" and black-listed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June 1798, and +endorsement.] + +Another species of fraud upon which the Admiralty was equally severe, +was that long practised with impunity by a certain regulating officer +at Poole. Not only did he habitually put back the dates on which men +were pressed, thus "bearing" them for subsistence money they never +received, he made it a further practice to enter on his books the +names of fictitious pressed men who opportunely "escaped" after adding +their quota to his dishonest perquisites. So general was +misappropriation of funds by means of this ingenious fraud that +detection was deservedly visited with instant dismissal. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1526--Capt. Boyle, 2 Oct. 1801, and +endorsement.] + +Though to the gangsman all things were reputedly lawful, some things +were by no means expedient. He could with impunity deprive almost any +ablebodied adult of his freedom, and he could sometimes, with equal +impunity, add to his scanty earnings by restoring that freedom for a +consideration in coin of the realm; but when, like Josh Cooper, +sometime gangsman at Hull, he extended his prerogative to the +occupants of hen-roosts, he was apt to find himself at cross-purposes +with the law as interpreted by the sitting magistrates. + +Amongst less questionable perquisites accruing to the gangsman two +only need be mentioned here. One was the "straggling-money" paid to +him for the apprehension of deserters--20s. for every deserter taken, +with "conduct" money to boot; the other, the anker of brandy +designedly thrown overboard by smugglers when chased by a gang engaged +in pressing afloat. Occasionally the brandy checked the pursuit; but +more often it gave an added zest to the chase and so hastened the +capture of the fugitive donors. + +To the unscrupulous outsider the opportunities for illicit gain +afforded by the service made an irresistible appeal. Sham gangs and +make-believe press-masters abounded, thriving exceedingly upon the +fears and credulity of the people until capture put a term to their +activities and sent them to the pillory, the prison or the fleet they +pretended to cater for. + +Their mode of operation seldom varied. They pressed a man, and then +took money for "discharging" him; or they threatened to press and were +bought off. One Philpot was in 1709 fined ten nobles and sentenced to +the pillory for this fraud. He had many imitators, amongst them John +Love, who posed as a midshipman, and William Moore, his gangsman, both +of whom were eventually brought to justice and turned over to His +Majesty's ships. + +The rôle adopted by these last-named pretenders was a favourite one +with men engaged in crimping for the merchant service. Shrewsbury in +1780 received a visit from one of these individuals--"a Person named +Hopkins, who appeared in a Lieutenant's Uniform and committed many +fraudulant Actions and Scandalous Abuses in raising Men," as he said, +"for the Navy." Two months later another impostor of the same type +appeared at Birmingham, where he scattered broadcast a leaflet, headed +with the royal arms and couched in the following seductive terms: +"Eleven Pounds for every Able Seaman, Five Pounds for every ordinary +Seaman, and Three Pounds for every Able-bodied Landsman, exclusive of +a compleat set of Sea Clothing, given by the Marine Society. All Good +Seamen, and other hearty young Fellows of Spirit, that are willing to +serve on board any of His Majesty's Vessels or Ships of War, Let them +with Chearfulness repair to the Sailors' Head Rendezvous in this Town, +where a proper Officer attends, who will give them every encouragement +they can desire. Now my Jolly Lads is the time to fill your Pockets +with Dollars, Double Doubloon's & Luidores. Conduct Money allowed, +Chest and Bedding sent Carriage Free." Soon after, the two united +forces at Coventry, whither Capt. Beecher desired to "send a party to +take them," but to this request the Admiralty turned a deaf ear. In +their opinion the game was not worth the candle. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780] + +Ex-midshipman Rookhad, who when dismissed the service took to boarding +vessels in the Thames and extorting money and liquor from the masters +as a consideration for not pressing their men, did not escape so +lightly. Him the Admiralty prosecuted. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 12. Process +was by information in the Court of King's Bench, for a misdemeanour.] + +It was in companies, however, that the sham ganger most frequently +took the road, for numbers not only enhanced his chances of obtaining +money, they materially diminished the risk of capture. One such gang +was composed of "eighteen desperate villians," who were nevertheless +taken. Another, a "parcel of fellows armed with cutlasses like a +pressgang," appeared at Dublin in 1743, where they boldly entered +public-houses on pretence of looking for sailors, and there extorted +money and drink. What became of them we are not told; but in the case +of the pretended gang whose victim, after handing over two guineas as +the price of his release, was pressed by a regularly constituted gang, +we learn the gratifying sequel. The real gang gave chase to the sham +gang and pressed every man of them. + +According to the "Humble Petition of Grace Blackmore of Stratford le +Bow, widow," on Friday the 29th of May, in an unknown year of Queen +Anne's reign, "there came to Bow ffaire severall pretended +pressmasters, endeavouring to impress." A tumult ensued. Murder was +freely "cryed out," apparently with good reason, for in the mêlée +petitioner's husband, then constable of Bow, was "wounded soe that he +shortly after dyed." [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic,_ Anne, +xxxvi. No. 17.] + +There were occasions when the sham gang operated under cover of a real +press-warrant, and for this the Admiralty was directly to blame. It +had become customary at the Navy Office to send out warrants, whether +to commanders of ships or to Regulating Captains, in blank, the person +to whom the warrant was directed filling in the name for himself. Such +warrants were frequently stolen and put to irregular uses, and of this +a remarkable instance occurred in 1755. + +In that year one Nicholas Cooke, having by some means obtained +possession of such a warrant, "filled up the blank thereof by +directing it to himself, by the name and description of Lieutenant +Nicholas Cooke, tho' in truth not a Lieutenant nor an Officer in His +Majesty's Navy," hired a vessel--the _Providence_ snow of +Dublin--and in her cruised the coasts of Ireland, pressing men. After +thus raising as many as he could carry, he shaped his course for +Liverpool, no doubt intending, on his arrival at that port, to sell +his unsuspecting victims to the merchant ships in the Mersey at so +much a head. Through bad seamanship, however, the vessel was run +aground at Seacombe, opposite to Liverpool, and Capt. Darby, of H.M.S. +_Seahorse_, perceiving her plight, and thinking to render +assistance in return for perhaps a man or two, took boat and rowed +across to her. To his astonishment he found her full of Irishmen to +the number of seventy-three, whom he immediately pressed and removed +to his own ship. The circumstance of the false warrant now came to +light, and with it another, of worse omen for the mock lieutenant. In +the hold a quantity of undeclared spirits was discovered, and this +fact afforded the Admiralty a handle they were not slow to avail +themselves of. They put the Excise Officers on the scent, and Cooke +was prosecuted for smuggling. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 101.] + +The most successful sham gang ever organised was perhaps that said to +have been got together by a trio of mischievous Somerset girls. The +scene of the exploit was the Denny-Bowl quarry, near Taunton. The +quarrymen there were a hard-bitten set and great braggarts, openly +boasting that no gang dare attack them, and threatening, in the event +of so unlikely a contingency, to knock the gangsmen on the head and +bury them in the rubbish of the pit. There happened to be in the +neighbouring town "three merry maids," who heard of this tall talk and +secretly determined to put the vaunted courage of the quarrymen to the +test. They accordingly dressed themselves in men's clothing, stuck +cockades in their hats, and with hangers under their arms stealthily +approached the pit. Sixty men were at work there; but no sooner did +they catch sight of the supposed gang than they one and all threw down +their tools and ran for their lives. + +Officially known as the Rendezvous, a French term long associated with +English recruiting, the headquarters of the gang were more familiarly, +and for brevity's sake, called the "rondy." Publicans were partial to +having the rondy on their premises because of the trade it brought +them. Hence it was usually an alehouse, frequently one of the shadiest +description, situated in the lowest slum of the town; but on +occasions, as when the gang was of uncommon strength and the number of +pressed men dealt with proportionately large, a private house or other +suitable building was taken for the exclusive use of the service. It +was distinguished by a flag--a Jack--displayed upon a pole. The cost +of the two was 27s., and in theory they were supposed to last a year; +but in towns where the populace evinced their love for the press by +hewing down the pole and tearing the flag in ribbons, these emblems of +national liberty had frequently to be renewed. At King's Lynn as much +as 13 Pounds was spent upon them in four years--an outlay regarded by +the Navy Board with absolute dismay. It would have been not less +dismayed, perhaps, could it have seen the bunting displayed by +rendezvous whose surroundings were friendly. There the same old Jack +did duty year after year until, grimy and bedraggled, it more +resembled the black flag than anything else that flew, wanting only +the skull and cross-bones to make it a fitting emblem of authorised +piracy. + +The rondy was hardly a spot to which one would have resorted for a +rest-cure. When not engaged in pressing, the gangsmen were a +roistering, drinking crew, under lax control and never averse from a +row, either amongst themselves or with outsiders. Sometimes the +commanding officer made the place his residence, and when this was the +case some sort of order prevailed. The floors were regularly swept, +the beds made, the frowsy "general" gratified by a weekly "tip" on +pay-day. But when, on the other hand, the gangsmen who did not "find +themselves" occupied the rondy to the exclusion of the officer, eating +and sleeping there, tramping in and out at all hours of the day and +night, dragging pressed men in to be "regulated" and locked up, and +diverting such infrequent intervals of leisure as they enjoyed by +pastimes in which fear of the "gent overhead" played no part--when +this was the case the rondy became a veritable bear-garden, a place of +unspeakable confusion wherein papers and pistols, boots and blankets, +cutlasses, hats, beer-pots and staves cumbered the floors, the lockers +and the beds with a medley of articles torn, rusty, mud-stained, +dirt-begrimed and unkept. + +Amongst accessories essential to the efficient activity of gangs +stationed at coast or river towns the boat had first place. Sometimes +both sail and row-boats were employed. Luggers of the old type, fast +boats carrying a great press of sail, served best for overhauling +ships; but on inland waterways, such as the Thames, the Humber or the +Tyne, a "sort of wherry, constructed for rowing fast," was the +favourite vehicle of pursuit. The rate of hire varied from 1s. a day +to two or more guineas a week, according to the size and class of +boat. At Cork it was "five shillings Irish" per day. + +Accessories of a less indispensable nature, occasionally allowed, +were, at Dartmouth and a few other places, cockades for the gangsmen's +hats, supplied at a cost of 1s. each; at Tower Hill a messenger, pay +20s. a week; and at Appledore an umbrella for use in rainy weather, +price 12s. 6d. + +The arms of the gang comprised, first, a press-warrant, and, second, +such weapons as were necessary to enforce it. + +In the literature of the eighteenth century the warrant is inseparably +associated with the short, incurvated service sword commonly known as +the cutlass or hanger; but in the press-gang prints of the period the +gangsmen are generally armed with stout clubs answering to Smollett's +"good oak plant." Apart from this artistic evidence, however, there is +no valid reason for believing that the bludgeon ever came into general +use as the ganger's weapon. As early as the reign of Anne he went +armed with the "Queen's broad cutlash," and for most gangs, certainly +for all called upon to operate in rough neighbourhoods, the hanger +remained the stock weapon throughout the century. In expeditions +involving special risk or danger, the musket and the pistol +supplemented what must have been in itself no mean weapon. + +As we have already seen, the earliest recorded press-warrants emanated +from the king in person, whilst later ones were issued by the king in +council and endorsed by the naval authorities. As the need of men +became more and more imperative, however, this mode of issue was found +to be too cumbersome and inexpeditious. Hence, by the time the +eighteenth century came in, with its tremendously enhanced demands on +behalf of the Navy, the royal prerogative in respect to warrants had +been virtually delegated to the Admiralty, who issued them on their +own initiative, though ostensibly in pursuance of His Majesty's Orders +in Council. + +An Admiralty warrant empowered the person to whom it was directed to +"impress" as many "seamen" as possibly he could procure, giving to +each man so impressed 1s. "for prest money." He was to impress none +but such as "were strong bodies and capable to serve the king"; and, +having so impressed such persons, he was to deliver them up to the +officer regulating the nearest rendezvous. All civil authorities were +to be "aiding and assisting" to him in the discharge of this duty. + +Now this document, the stereotyped press-warrant of the century, here +concisely summarised in its own phraseology, was not at all what it +purported to be. It was in fact a warrant out of time, an official +anachronism, a red-tape survival of that bygone period when pressing +still meant "presting" and force went no further than a threat. For +men were now no longer "prested." They were pressed, and that, too, in +the most drastic sense of the term. The king's shilling no longer +changed hands. Even in Pepys' time men were pressed "without money," +and in none of the accounts of expenses incurred in pressing during +the century which followed, excepting only a very few of the earlier +ones, can any such item as the king's shilling or prest-money be +discovered. Its abolition was a logical sequence of the change from +presting to pressing. + +The seaman, moreover, so far from being the sole quarry of the +warrant-holder, now sought concealment amongst a people almost without +exception equally liable with himself to the capture he endeavoured to +elude. Retained merely as a matter of form, and totally out of keeping +with altered conditions, the warrant was in effect obsolete save as an +instrument authorising one man to deprive another of his liberty in +the king's name. Even the standard of "able bodies and capable" had +deteriorated to such an extent that the officers of the fleet were +kept nearly as busy weeding out and rejecting men as were the officers +of the impress in taking them. + +Still, the warrant served. Stripped of its obsolete injunctions, it +read: "Go ye out into the highways and hedges, and water-ways, and +compel them to come in"--enough, surely, for any officer imbued with +zeal for His Majesty's service. + +Though according to the strict letter of the law as defined by various +decisions of the courts a press-warrant was legally executable only by +the officer to whom it was addressed, in practice the limitation was +very widely departed from, if not altogether ignored; for just as a +constable or sheriff may call upon bystanders to assist him in the +execution of his office, so the holder of a press-warrant, though +legally unable to delegate his authority by other means, could call +upon others to aid him in the execution of his duty. Naturally, the +gangsmen being at hand, and being at hand for that very purpose, he +gave them first preference. Hence, the gangsman pressed on the +strength of a warrant which in reality gave him no power to press. + +While the law relating to the intensive force of warrants was thus +deliberately set at naught, an extraordinary punctiliousness for legal +formality was displayed in another direction. According to tradition +and custom no warrant was valid until it had received the sanction of +the civil power. Solicitor-General Yorke could find no statutory +authority for such procedure. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 102.] He accordingly +pronounced it to be non-essential to the validity of warrants. +Nevertheless, save in cases where the civil power refused its +endorsement, it was universally adhered to. What was bad law was +notoriously good policy, for a disaffected mayor, or an unfriendly +Justice of the Peace, had it in his power to make the path of the +impress officer a thorny one indeed. "Make unto yourselves friends," +was therefore one of the first injunctions laid upon officers whose +duties unavoidably made them many enemies. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WHOM THE GANG MIGHT TAKE. + + + +In theory an authority for the taking of seafaring men only, the +press-warrant was in practice invested with all the force of a Writ of +Quo Warranto requiring every able-bodied male adult to show by what +right he remained at large. The difference between the theory and the +practice of pressing was consequently as wide as the poles. + +While the primary and ostensible objective of the impress remained +always what it had been from the outset, the seaman who had few if any +land-ties except those of blood or sex, from this root principle there +sprang up a very Upas tree of pretension, whose noxious branches +overspread practically every section of the community. Hence the +press-gang, the embodiment of this pretension, eventually threw aside +ostence and took its pick of all who came its way, let their +occupation or position be what it might. It was no duty of the +gangsman to employ his hanger in splitting hairs. "First catch your +man," was for him the greatest of all the commandments. Discrimination +was for his masters. The weeding out could be done when the pressing +was over. + +The classes hardest hit by this lamentable want of discrimination were +the classes engaged in trade. "Mr. Coventry," wrote Pepys some four +years after the Restoration, "showed how the medium of the men the +King hath one year with another employed in his navy since his coming, +hath not been above 3000 men, or at most 4000; and now having occasion +for 30,000, the remaining 26,000 _must be found out of the Trade of +the Nation_." Naturally. Where a nation of shopkeepers was +concerned it could hardly have been otherwise. They who go down to the +sea in ships and do business in great waters, returning laden with the +spoils of the commercial world, have perforce to render tribute unto +Caesar; but Mr. Commissioner Coventry little guessed, when he +enunciated his corollary with such nice precision, to what it was +destined to lead in the next hundred years or so. + +Under the merciless exactions of the press-gang Trade did not, +however, prove the submissive thing that was wont to stand at its +doors and cry: "Will you buy? will you buy?" or to bow prospective +customers into its rich emporiums with unctuous rubbing of hands and +sauve words. Trade knew its power and determined to use it. "Look you! +my Lords Commissioners," cried Trade, truculently cocking its hat in +the face of Admiralty, "I have had enough. You have taken my butcher, +my baker, my candlestick-maker, nor have you spared that worthy youth, +the 'prentice who was to have wed my daughter. My coachman, the driver +of my gilded chariot, goes in fear of you, and as for my sedan-chair +man, he is no more found. My colliers, draymen, watermen, the +carpenters who build my ships and the mariners who sail them, the +ablest of these my necessary helpers sling their hammocks in your +fleet. You have crippled the printing of my Bible and the brewing of +my Beer, and I can bear no more. Protect me from my arch-enemy the +foreigner if you must and will, but not, my Lords Commissioners, by +such monstrous personal methods as these." "Your servant!" said +Admiralty, obsequious before the only power it feared--"your servant +to command!" and straightway set about finding a remedy for the evils +Trade complained of. + +Now, to attain this end, so desirable if Trade were to be placated, it +was necessary to define with precision either whom the gang might +take, or whom it might not take; and here Admiralty, though +notoriously a body without a brain, achieved a stroke of genius, for +it brought down both birds with a single stone. Postulating first of +all the old _lex sine lege_ fiction that every native-born Briton +and every British male subject born abroad was legally pressable, it +laid it down as a logical sequence that no man, whatever his vocation +or station in life, was lawfully exempt; that exemption was in +consequence an official indulgence and not a right; and that apart +from such indulgence every man, unless idiotic, blind, lame, maimed or +otherwise physically unfit, was not only liable to be pressed, but +could be legally pressed for the king's service at sea. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. +26; and _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. +1805, well express the official view.] Having thus cleared the ground +root and branch, Admiralty magnanimously proceeded to frame a category +of persons whom, as an act of grace and a concession to Trade, it was +willing to protect from assault and capture by its emissary the +press-gang. + +These exemptions from the wholesale incidence of the impress were not +granted all at once. Embodied from time to time in Acts of Parliament +and so-called acts of official grace--slowly and painfully wrung from +a reluctant Admiralty by the persistent demands and ever-growing power +of Trade--they spread themselves over the entire century of struggle +for the mastery of the sea, from which they were a reaction, and, +touching the lives of the common people in a hundred and one intimate +points and interests, culminated at length in the abolition of that +most odious system of oppression from which they had sprung, and in a +charter of liberties before which the famous charter of King John +sinks into insignificance. + + [Illustration: THE PRESS-GANG SEIZING A VICTIM.] + +As a matter of policy the foreigner had first place in the list of +exemptions. He could volunteer if he chose, [Footnote: Strenuous +efforts were made in 1709 to induce the "Poor Palatines"--seven +thousand of them encamped at Blackheath, and two thousand in Sir John +Parson's brewhouse at Camberwell--to enter for the navy. But the +"thing was New to them to go aboard a Man of Warr," so they declined +the invitation, "having the Notion of being sent to Carolina." +--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Letters of Capt. Aston.] but +he must not be pressed. [Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] To +deprive him of his right in this respect was to invite unpleasant +diplomatic complications, of which England had already too many on her +hands. Trade, too, looked upon the foreigner as her perquisite, and +Trade must be indulged. Moreover, he fostered mutiny in the fleet, +where he was prone to "fly in the face" of authority and to refuse to +work, much less fight, for an alien people. If, however, he served on +board British merchant ships for two years, or if he married in +England, he at once lost caste, since he then became a naturalised +British subject and was liable to have even his honeymoon curtailed by +a visit from the press-gang. Such, in fact, was the fate of one +William Castle of Bristol in 1806. Pressed there in that year on his +return from the West Indies, he was discharged as a person of alien +birth; but having immediately afterwards committed the indiscretion of +taking a Bristol woman to wife, he was again pressed, this time within +three weeks of his wedding-day, and kept by express order of +Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, +23 July 1806.] + +For some years after the passing of the Act exempting the foreigner, +his rights appear to have been generally, though by no means +universally respected. "Discharge him if not married or settled in +England," was the usual order when he chanced to be taken by the gang. +With the turn of the century, however, a reaction set in. Pressed men +claiming to be of alien birth were thenceforth only liberated "if +unfit for service." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. +Young, 11 March 1756, endorsement, and numerous instances.] For this +untoward change the foreigner could blame none but himself. When taxed +with having an English wife, he could seldom or never be induced to +admit the soft impeachment. Consequently, whenever he was taken by the +gang he was assumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have +committed the fatal act of naturalisation. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Phillip, 26 Feb. 1805.] Alien seamen in +distress through shipwreck or other accidental causes, formed a humane +exception to this unwritten law. + +The negro was never reckoned an alien. Looked upon as a proprietary +subject of the Crown, and having no one in particular to speak up for +or defend him, he "shared the same fate as the free-born white man." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 482--Admiral Lord Colvill, 29 +Oct. 1762.] Many blacks, picked up in the West Indies or on the +American coast "without hurting commerce," were to be found on board +our ships of war, where, when not incapacitated by climatic +conditions, they made active, alert seamen and "generally imagined +themselves free." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 585--Admiral +Donnelly, 22 Feb. 1815.] Their point of view, poor fellows, was +doubtless a strictly comparative one. + +Theoretically exempt by virtue of his calling, whatever that might be, +the landsman was in reality scarcely less marked down by the gang than +his unfortunate brother the seafaring man; for notwithstanding all its +professions to the contrary, Admiralty could not afford to ignore the +potentialities of the reserve the landsman represented. Hence no +occupation, no property qualification, could or did protect him. As +early as 1705 old Justice, in his treatise on sea law, deplores +bitterly the "barbarous custom of pressing promiscuously landsmen and +seamen," and declares that the gang, in its purblind zeal, "hurried +away tradesmen from their houses, 'prentices and journeymen from their +masters' shops, and even housekeepers (householders) too." By 1744 the +practice had become confirmed. In that year Capt. Innes, of His +Majesty's armed sloop the _Hind_, applied to the Lords Commissioners +for "Twenty Landsmen from Twenty to Twenty-five years of Age." +The Admiralty order, "Let the Regulating Captains send them as +he desires," [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1983--Capt. Innes, +3 May 1744, and endorsement.] leaves no room for doubt as to the class +of men provided. They were pressed men, not volunteers. + +Nor is this a solitary instance of a practice that was rapidly growing +to large proportions. Many a landsman, in the years that followed, +shared the fate of the Irish "country farmer" who went into Waterford +to sell his corn, and was there pressed and sent on board the tender; +of James Whitefoot, the Bristol glover, "a timid, unformed young man, +the comfort and support of his parents," who, although he had "never +seen a ship in his life," was yet pressed whilst "passing to follow +his business," which knew him no more; and of Winstanley, the London +butcher, who served for upwards of sixteen years as a pressed man. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Bligh, 16 May 1781. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Duchess of Gordon, 14 Feb. 1804. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 584--Humble Petition of Betsey Winstanley, +2 Sept. 1814.] Wilkes' historic barber would have entered upon the +same enforced career had not that astute Alderman discovered, to the +astonishment of the nation at large, that a warrant which authorised +the pressing of seamen did not necessarily authorise the pressing of a +city tonsor. + +Amongst landsmen the harvester, as a worker of vital utility to the +country, enjoyed a degree of exemption accorded to few. Impress +officers had particular instructions concerning him. They were to +delete him from the category of those who might be taken. Armed with a +certificate from the minister and churchwardens of his parish, this +migratory farm-hand, provided always he were not a sailor masquerading +in that disguise, could traverse the length and breadth of the land to +all intents and purposes a free man. To him, as well as to the grower +of corn who depended so largely upon his aid in getting his crop, the +concession proved an inestimable boon. There were violations of the +harvester's status, it is true; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Memorial of Sir William Oglander, Bart., July 1796.] but these +were too infrequent to affect seriously the industry he represented. + +So far as the press was concerned, the harvester was better off than +the gentleman, for while the former could dress as he pleased, the +latter was often obliged to dress as he could, and in this lay an +element of danger. So long as his clothes were as good as the blood he +boasted, and he wore them with an aplomb suggestive of position and +influence, the gentleman was safe; but let his pretensions to +gentility lie more in the past than in the suit on his back, and woe +betide him! In spite of his protestations the gang took him, and he +was lucky indeed if, like the gentleman who narrates his experience in +the _Review_ for the both of February 1706, he was able to +convince his captors that he was foreign born by "talking Latin and +Greek." + +To the people at large, whether landsmen or seafarers, the Act +exempting from the press every male under eighteen and over fifty-five +years of age would have brought a sorely needed relief had not +Admiralty been a past-master in the subtle art of outwitting the law. +In this instance a simple regulation did the trick. Every man or boy +who claimed the benefit of the age-limit when pressed, was required to +prove his claim ere he could obtain his discharge. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. +43: "It is incumbent on those who claim to be exempted to prove the +facts."] The impossibility of any general compliance with such a +demand on the part of persons often as ignorant of birth certificates +as they were of the sea, practically wiped the exemption off the +slate. + +In the eyes of the Regulating Captain no man was older than he looked, +no lad as young as he avowed. Hence thousands of pressed men over +fifty-five, who did not look the age they could not prove, figured on +the books of the fleet with boys whose precocity of appearance gave +the lie to their assertions. George Stephens, son of a clerk in the +Transport Office, suffered impressment when barely thirteen; and the +son of a corporal in Lord Elkinton's regiment, one Alexander M'Donald, +was listed in the same manner while still "under the age of twelve." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Vice-Admiral Hunter, 10 +May 1813. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Butchart, 22 Jan. +1782, and enclosure.] The gang did not pause by the way to discuss +such questions. + +Apprentices fell into a double category--those bound to the sea, those +apprenticed on land. Nominally, the sea apprentice was protected from +the impress for a term of three years from the date of his indentures, +provided he had not used the sea before; [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. +6, re-affirmed 13 George II. cap. 17.] while the land apprentice +enjoyed immunity under the minimum age-limit of eighteen years. The +proviso in the first case, however, left open a loop-hole the impress +officer was never slow to take advantage of; and the minimum +age-limit, as we have just seen, had little if any existence in fact. +Apprentices pressed after the three years' exemption had expired were +never given up, nor could their masters successfully claim them in +law. They dropped like ripe fruit into the lap of Admiralty. On the +other hand, apprentices pressed within the three years' exemption +period were generally discharged, for if they were not, they could be +freed by a writ of Habeas Corpus, or else the masters could maintain +an action for damages against the Admiralty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 25.] +'Prentices who "eloped" or ran away from their masters, and then +entered voluntarily, could not be reclaimed by any known process at +law if they were over eighteen years of age. On the whole, the +position of the apprentice, whether by land or sea, was highly +anomalous and uncertain. Often taken by the gang in the hurry of +visiting a ship, or in the scurry of a hot press on shore, he was in +effect the shuttlecock of the service, to-day singing merrily at his +capstan or bench, to-morrow bewailing his hard fate on board a +man-o'-war. + +When it came to the exemption of seamen, Admiralty found itself on the +horns of a dilemma. Both the Navy and the merchant service depended in +a very large degree upon the seaman who knew the ropes--who could take +his turn at the wheel, scud aloft without going through the +lubber-hole, and act promptly and sailorly in emergency. To take +wholesale such men as these, while it would enormously enhance the +effectiveness of His Majesty's ships of war, must inevitably cripple +sea-borne trade. It was therefore necessary, for the well-being of +both services, to discover the golden mean. According to statute law +[Footnote: 13 George II. cap. 17.] every person using the sea, of what +age soever he might be, was exempt from the impress for two years from +the time of his first making the venture. The concession did not +greatly improve the situation from a trade point of view. It merely +touched the fringe of the problem, and Trade was insistent. + +A further concession was accordingly made. All masters, mates, +boatswains and carpenters of vessels of fifty tons and upwards were +exempted from the impress on condition of their going before a Justice +of the Peace and making oath to their several qualifications. This +affidavit, coupled with a succinct description of the deponent, +constituted the holder's "protection" and shielded him, or was +supposed to shield him, from molestation by the gang. Masters and +mates of colliers, and of vessels laid up for the winter, came under +this head; but masters or mates of vessels detected in running +dutiable goods, or caught harbouring deserters from the fleet, could +be summarily dealt with notwithstanding their protections. The same +fate befell the mate or apprentice who was lent by one ship to +another. + +In addition to the executive of the vessel, as defined in the +foregoing paragraph, it was of course necessary to extend protection +to as many of her "hands", as were essential to her safe and efficient +working. How many were really required for this purpose was, however, +a moot point on which ship-masters and naval officers rarely saw eye +to eye; and since the arbiter in all such disputes was the +"quarter-deck gentlemen," the decision seldom if ever went in favour +of the master. + +The importance of the coal trade won for colliers an early concession, +which left no room for differences of opinion. Every vessel employed +in that trade was entitled to carry one exempt able-bodied man for +each hundred units of her registered tonnage, provided it did not +exceed three hundred. The penalty for pressing such men was 10 Pounds +for each man taken. [Footnote: 2 & 3 Anne, cap. 6.] + +On the coasts of Scotland commanders of warships whose carpenters had +run or broken their leave, and who perhaps were left, like Capt. Gage +of the _Otter_ sloop, "without so much as a Gimblett on board," +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829-Capt. Gage, 29 Sept. +1742.] might press shipwrights from the yards on shore to fill the +vacancy, and suffer no untoward consequences; but south of the Tweed +this mode of collecting "chips" was viewed with disfavour. There, +although ship-carpenters, sailmakers and men employed in rope-walks +were by a stretch of the official imagination reckoned as persons +using the sea, and although they were generally acknowledged to be no +less indispensable to the complete economy of a ship than the +able-bodied seaman, legal questions of an extremely embarrassing +nature nevertheless cropped up when the scene of their activities +underwent too sudden and violent a change. The pressing of such +artificers consequently met with little official encouragement. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 2.] + +Where the Admiralty scored, in the matter of ship protections, and +scored heavily, was when the protected person went ashore. For when on +shore the protected master, mate, boatswain, carpenter, apprentice or +seaman no longer enjoyed protection unless he was there "on ship's +duty." The rule was most rigorously, not to say arbitrarily, enforced. +Thus at Plymouth, in the year 1746, a seaman who protested in broken +English that he had come ashore to "look after his master's +_sheep_" was pressed because the naval officer who met and +questioned him "imagined sheep to have no affinity with a ship!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2381--Capt. John Roberts, 11 +July 1746. Capt. Roberts was a very downright individual, and years +before the characteristic had got him into hot water. The occasion was +when, in 1712, an Admiralty letter, addressed to him at Harwich and +containing important instructions, by some mischance went astray and +Roberts accused the Clerk of the Check of having appropriated it. The +latter called him a liar, whereupon Roberts "gave him a slap in the +face and bid him learn more manners." For this exhibition of temper he +was superseded and kept on the half-pay list for some six years. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Brand, 8 March 1711-12. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2378, section 11, Admiralty note.] + +Any mate who failed to register his name at the rendezvous, as soon as +his ship arrived in port, did so at his peril. Without that formality +he was "not entitled to liberty." So strict was the rule that when +William Tassell, mate of the _Elizabeth_ ketch, was caught +drinking in a Lynn alehouse one night at ten o'clock, after having +obtained "leave to run about the town" until eight only, he was +immediately pressed and kept, the Admiralty refusing to declare the +act irregular. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Capt. +Bowyer, 25 July 1809, and enclosure.] + +In many ports it was customary for sailors to sleep ashore while their +ships lay at the quay or at moorings. The proceeding was highly +dangerous. No sailor ever courted sleep in such circumstances, even +though armed with a "line from the master setting forth his business," +without grave risk of waking to find himself in the bilboes. The Mayor +of Poole once refused to "back" press-warrants for local use unless +protected men belonging to trading vessels of the port were granted +the privilege of lodging ashore. "Certainly not!" retorted the +Admiralty. "We cannot grant Poole an indulgence _that other towns do +not enjoy_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. +Scott, 4 Jan. 1780, and endorsement.] + +In spite of the risk involved, the sailor slept ashore and--if he +survived the night--tried to steal back to his ship in the grey of the +morning. Now and then, by a run of luck, he made his offing in safety; +but more frequently he met the fate of John White of Bristol, who was +taken by the gang when only "about ninety yards from his vessel." + +The only exceptions to this stringent rule were certain classes of men +engaged in the Greenland and South Seas whale fisheries. Skilled +harpooners, linesmen and boat-steerers, on their return from a whaling +cruise, could obtain from any Collector of Customs, for sufficient +bond put in, a protection from the impress which no Admiralty +regulation, however sweeping, could invalidate or override. +Safeguarded by this document, they were at liberty to live and work +ashore, or to sail in the coal trade, until such time as they should +be required to proceed on another whaling voyage. If, however, they +took service on board any vessel other than a collier, they forfeited +their protections and could be "legally detained." [Footnote: 13 +George II. cap. 28. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 14 +March 1756. _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 42.] + +In one ironic respect the gang strongly resembled a boomerang. So +thoroughly and impartially did it do its work that it recoiled upon +those who used it. The evil was one of long standing. Pepys complained +of it bitterly in his day, asserting that owing to its prevalence +letters could neither be received nor sent, and that the departmental +machinery for victualling and arming the fleet was like to be undone. +With the growth of pressing the imposition was carried to absurd +lengths. The crews of the impress tenders, engaged in conveying +pressed men to the fleet, could not "proceed down" without falling +victims to the very service they were employed in. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755, and +numerous instances.] To check this egregious robbing of Peter to pay +Paul, both the Navy Board and the Government were obliged to "protect" +their own sea-going hirelings, and even then the protections were not +always effective. + +Between the extremes represented by the landsman who enjoyed nominal +exemption and the seaman who enjoyed none, there existed a middle or +amphibious class of persons who lived exclusively on neither land nor +water, but habitually used both in the pursuit of their various +callings. These were the wherry or watermen, the lightermen, bargemen, +keelmen, trowmen and canal-boat dwellers frequenting mainly the inland +waterways of the country. + +In the reign of Richard II. the jurisdiction of Admirals was denned as +extending, in a certain particular, to the "main stream of great +rivers nigh the sea." [Footnote: 15 Richard II. cap. 2.] Had the same +line of demarcation been observed in the pressing of those whose +occupations lay upon rivers, there would have been little cause for +outcry or complaint. But the Admiralty, the successors of the ancient +"Guardians of the Sea" whose powers were so clearly limited by the +Ricardian statute, gradually extended the old-time jurisdiction until, +for the purposes of the impress, it included all waterways, whether +"nigh the sea" or inland, natural or artificial, whereon it was +possible for craft to navigate. All persons working upon or habitually +using such waterways were regarded as "using the sea," and later +warrants expressly authorised the gangs to take as many of them as +they should be able, not excepting even the ferryman. The extension +was one of tremendous consequence, since it swept into the Navy +thousands of men who, like the Ely and Cambridge bargemen, were +"hardy, strong fellows, who never failed to make good seamen." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 April +1755.] + +Amongst these denizens of the country's waterways the position of the +Thames wherryman was peculiar in that from very early times he had +been exempt from the ordinary incidence of the press on condition of +his periodically supplying from his own numbers a certain quota of +able-bodied men for the use of the fleet. The rule applied to all +watermen using the river between Gravesend and Windsor, and members of +the fraternity who "withdrew and hid themselves" at the time of the +making of such levies, were liable to be imprisoned for two years and +"banished any more to row for a year and a day." [Footnote: 2 & 3 +Philip and Mary, cap. 16.] The exemption he otherwise enjoyed appears +to have conduced not a little to the waterman's proverbial joviality. +As a youth he spent his leisure in "dancing and carolling," thus +earning the familiar sobriquet of "the jolly young waterman." Even so, +his tenure of happiness was anything but secure. With the naval +officer and the gang he was no favourite, and few opportunities of +dashing his happiness were allowed to pass unimproved. In the person +of John Golden, however, they caught a Tartar. To the dismay of the +Admiralty and the officer responsible for pressing him, he proved to +be one of my Lord Mayor's bargemen. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2733-Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] + +Apart from the watermen of the Thames, the purchase of immunity from +the press by periodic levies met with little favour, and though the +levy was in many cases reluctantly adopted, it was only because it +entailed the lesser of two evils. The basis of such levies varied from +one man in ten to one in five--a percentage which the Admiralty +considered a "matter of no distress"; and the penalty for refusing to +entertain them was wholesale pressing. + +The Tyne keelmen, while ostensibly consenting to buy immunity on this +basis, seldom levied the quota upon themselves. By offering bounties +they drew the price of their freedom to work in the keels from outside +sources. Lord Thurlow confessed that he did not know what "working in +the keels" meant. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1752-77, No. 70.] There were' few in the fleet who +could have enlightened him of their own experience. The keelmen kept +their ranks as far as possible intact. In this they were materially +aided by the Mayor and Corporation of Newcastle, who held a "Grand +Protection" of the Admiralty, and in return for this exceptional mark +of their Lordships' favour did all they could to further the pressing +of persons less essential to the trade of the town and river than were +their own keelmen. + +On the rivers Severn and Wye there was plying in 1806 a flotilla of +ninety-eight trows, ranging in capacity from sixty to one hundred and +thirty tons, and employing five hundred and eighty-eight men, of whom +practically all enjoyed exemption from the press. It being a time of +exceptional stress for men, the Admiralty considered this proportion +excessive, and Capt. Barker, at that time regulating the press at +Bristol, was ordered to negotiate terms. He proposed a contribution of +trowmen on the basis of one in every ten, coupling the suggestion with +a thinly veiled threat that if it were not complied with he would set +his gangs to work and take all he could get. The Association of Severn +Traders, finding themselves thus placed between the devil and the deep +sea, agreed to the proposal with a reluctance they in vain endeavoured +to hide under ardent protestations of loyalty. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Barker, 24 April and 9 May 1806, and +enclosure.] + +In the three hundred "flats" engaged in carrying salt, coals and other +commodities between Nantwich and Liverpool there were employed, in +1795, some nine hundred men who had up to that time largely escaped +the attentions of the gang. In that year, however, an arrangement was +entered into, under duress of the usual threat, to the effect that +they should contribute one man in six, or at the least one man in +nine, in return for exemption to be granted to the remainder. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Admiral Pringle, Report on +Rendezvous, 2 April 1795.] + +Turf-boats plying on the Blackwater and the Shannon seem to have +enjoyed no special concessions. The men working them were pressed +when-ever they could be laid hold of, and if they were not always +kept, their discharge was due to reasons of physical unfitness rather +than to any acknowledged right to labour unmolested. Ireland's +contribution to the fleet, apart from the notoriously disaffected, was +of too much consequence to be played with; for the Irishman was +essentially a good-natured soul, and when his native indolence and +slowness of movement had been duly corrected by a judicious use of the +rattan and the rope's-end, his services were highly esteemed in His +Majesty's ships of war. + +In the category of exemptions the fisheries occupied a place entirely +their own. They were carefully fostered, but indifferently protected. + +Previous to the year 1729 the most important concession granted to +those engaged in the taking of fish was the establishing of two extra +"Fishe Dayes" in the week. The provision was embodied in a statute of +1563, whereby the people were required, under a penalty of, 3 Pounds +for each omission, "or els three monethes close Imprisonment without +Baile or Maineprise," to eat fish, to the total exclusion of meat, on +Fridays and Saturdays, and to content themselves with "one dish of +flesh to three dishes of fish" on Wednesdays. [Footnote: 5 Elizabeth, +cap. 5.] The enactment had no religious significance whatever; but in +order to avoid any suspicion of Popish tendencies it was deemed +advisable, by those responsible for the measure, to saddle it with a +rider to the effect that all persons teaching, preaching or +proclaiming the eating of fish, as enjoined by the Act, to be of +"necessitee for the saving of the soule of man," should be punished as +"spreaders of fause newes." The true significance of the measure lay +in this. The abolition of Romish fast-days had resulted, since the +Reformation, in an enormous falling off in the consumption of fish, +and this decrease had in turn played havoc with the fisheries. Now the +fisheries were in reality the national incubator for seamen, and +Cecil, Elizabeth's astute Secretary of State, perceiving in their +decadence a grave menace to the manning of prospective fleets, +determined, for that reason if for no other, to reanimate the dying +industry. The Act in question was the practical outcome of his +deliberations. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, Elizabeth, +vol. xxvii. Nos. 71 and 72, comprising Cecil's original memoranda.] + +An enactment which combined so happily the interests of the fisher +classes with those of national defence could not but be productive of +far-reaching consequences. The fishing industry not only throve +exceedingly because of it, it in time became, as Cecil clearly foresaw +it would become, a nursery for seamen and a feeder of the fleet as +unrivalled for the excellence of its material as it was inexhaustible +in its resources. Its prosperity was in fact its curse. Few exemptions +were granted it. Adventurers after whale and cod had special +concessions, suited to the peculiar conditions of their calling; but +with these exceptions craft of every description employed in the +taking or the carrying of fish, for a very protracted period enjoyed +only such exemptions as were grudgingly extended to sea-going craft in +general. The source of supply represented by the leviathan industry +was too valuable to be lightly restricted. + +On the other hand, it was too important to be lightly depleted. +Therefore under Cecil's Act establishing extra "Fishe Dayes," no +fisherman "using or haunting the sea" could be pressed off-hand to +serve in the Queen's Navy. The "taker," as the press-master was at +that time called, was obliged to carry his warrant to the Justices +inhabiting the place or places where it was proposed that the +fishermen should be pressed, and of these Justices any two were +empowered to "choose out such nomber of hable men" as the warrant +specified. In this way originated the "backing" or endorsing of +warrants by the civil power. At first obligatory only as regards the +pressing of fishermen, it came to be regarded in time as an essential +preliminary to all pressing done on land. + +No further provision of a special nature would appear to have been +made for the protecting of fisher folk from the press until the year +1729, when an exemption was granted which covered the master, one +apprentice, one seaman and one landsman for each vessel. [Footnote: 2 +George n. cap. 15.] In 1801, however, a sweeping change was +inaugurated. A statute of that date provided that no person engaged in +the taking, curing or selling of fish should be impressed. [Footnote: +41 George in. cap. 21.] The exemption came too late to prove +substantially beneficial to an industry which had suffered +incalculable injury from the then recent wars. The press-gang was +already nearing its last days. + +Prior to the Act of 1801 persons whose sole occupation was "to pick +oysters and mussels at low water" were accounted fishermen and +habitually pressed as "using the sea." + +The position of the smaller fry of fishermen is thrown into vivid +relief by an official communique of 1709 as opposed to an incident of +later date. "These poor people," runs the note, which was addressed to +a naval commander who had pressed a fisherman out of a boat of less +than three tons, "have been always protected for the support of their +indigent families, and therefore they must not Be taken into the +service unless there is a pressing occasion, _and then they will be +all forced thereinto_." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1.2377 +--Capt. Robinson, 4 Feb. 1708-9, and endorsement.] Captain +Boscawen, writing from the Nore in 1745, supplies the antithesis. He +had been instructed to procure half a dozen fishing smacks, each of +not less than sixty tons burden, for transport purposes. None were to +be had. "The reason the fishermen give for not employing vessels of +that size," he states, in explanation of the fact, "is that all the +young men are pressed, and that the old men and boys are not able to +work them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1481--Capt. +Boscawen, 23 Dec. 1745.] + +Conditions such as these in time taught the fisherman wisdom, and he +awoke to the fact that exemption for a consideration, as in the case +of workers on rivers and canals, was preferable to paying through the +nose. The Admiralty was never averse from driving a bargain of this +description. It saved much distress, much bad blood, much good money. +In this way Worthing fishermen bought exemption in 1780. The fishery +of that town was then in its infancy, the people engaged in it "very +poor and needy." They employed only sixteen boats. Yet they found it +cheaper to contribute five men to the Navy, at a cost of 40 Pounds in +bounties, than to entertain the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Alms, 2 Jan. 1780.] + +The Orkney fisherman bought his freedom, both on his fishing-grounds +and when carrying his catch to market, on similar terms; but being a +person of frugal turn of mind, he gradually developed the habit of +withholding his stipulated quota. The unexpected arrival in his midst +of an armed smack, followed by a spell of vigorous pressing, taught +him that to be penny-wise is sometimes to be pound-foolish. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 11 May 1798, and +Admiralty note.] + +On the Scottish coasts fishermen and ferrymen--the latter a numerous +class on that deeply indented seaboard--offered up one man in every +five or six on the altar of protection. The sacrifice distressed them +less than indiscriminate pressing. A prosperous people, they chose out +those of their number who could best be spared, supporting the +families thus left destitute by common subscription. Buss fishermen, +who followed the migratory herring; from fishing-ground to +fishing-ground, were in another category. Their contribution, when on +the Scottish coast, figured out at a man per buss, but as they were +for some inscrutable reason called upon to pay similar tribute on +other parts of the coast, they cannot be said to have escaped any too +lightly. Neither did the four hundred fishing-boats composing the Isle +of Man fleet. Their crews were obliged to surrender one man in every +seven. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, +Report on Rendezvous, 2 April 1795; Admiral Philip, Report on +Rendezvous, 1 Aug. 1801.] + +Opinions as to the value of material drawn from these sources differed +widely. The buss fisherman was on all hands acknowledged to be a +seasoned sailor; but when it came to those employed in smaller craft, +it was held that heaving at the capstan for a matter of only six or +seven weeks in the year could never convert raw lads into useful +seamen, even though they continued that healthful form of exercise all +their lives. This was the view entertained by the masters of +fishing-smacks smarting from loss of "hands." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Thomas Hurry, master, 3 March 1777.] + +Admiralty saw things in quite another light. "What you admit," said +their Lordships, expressing the counter-view, "it is our business to +prevent. We will therefore take these lads, who are admittedly of no +service to you save for hauling in your nets or getting your anchors, +and will make of them what you, on your own showing, can never +make--able seamen.": The argument, backed as it was by the strong arm +of the press-gang, was unanswerable. + +The fact that the fisherman passed much of his time on shore did not +free him from the press any more than it freed the waterman, or the +worker in keel or trow. In his main vocation he "used the sea," and +that was enough. For the use of the sea was the rule and standard by +which every man's liability to the press was supposed to be measured +and determined. + +Except in the case of masters, mates and apprentices to the sea, whose +affidavits or indentures constituted their respective safeguards +against the press, every person exempt from that infliction, whether +by statute law or Admiralty indulgence, was required to have in his +possession an official voucher setting forth the fact and ground of +his exemption. This document was ironically termed his "protection." + +Admiralty protections were issued under the hand of the Lord High +Admiral; ordinary protections, by departments and persons who +possessed either delegated or vested powers of issue. Thus each +Trinity House protected its own pilots; the Customs protected whale +fishermen and apprentices to the sea; impress officers protected +seamen temporarily lent to ships in lieu of men taken out of them by +the gangs. Some protections were issued for a limited period and +lapsed when that period expired; others were of perpetual "force," +unless invalidated by some irregular acton the part of the holder. No +protection was good unless it bore a minute description of the person +to whom it applied, and all protections had to be carried on the +person and produced upon demand. Thomas Moverty was pressed out of a +wherry in the Thames owing to his having changed his clothes and left +his protection at home; and John Scott of Mistley, in Suffolk, was +taken whilst working in his shirtsleeves, though his protection lay in +the pocket of his jacket, only a few yards away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Bridges, 11 August 1743. +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Capt. Ballard, 15 March 1804, and +enclosure.] + +The most trifling irregularity in the protection itself, or the +slightest discrepancy between the personal appearance of the bearer +and the written description of him, was enough to convert the +protection into so much waste paper and the bearer into a naval +seaman. North-country apprentices, whose indentures bore a 14s. stamp +in accordance with Scottish law, were pressed because that document +did not bear a 15s. stamp according to English law. A seaman was in +one instance described in his protection as "smooth-faced," that is, +beardless. The impress officer scrutinised him closely. "Aha!" said +he, "you are not smooth-faced. You are pockmarked"; and he pressed the +poor fellow for that reason. + +To be over-protected was as bad as having no protection at all. Thomas +Letting, a collier's man, and John Anthony of the merchant ship +_Providence_, learnt this fact to their cost when they were taken +out of their respective ships for having each two protections. In +short, the slightest pretext served. If a protection had but a few +more days to run; if the name, date, place or other essential +particular showed signs of "coaxing," that is, of having been "on +purpose rubbed out" or altered; if a man's description did not figure +in his protection, or if it figured on the back instead of in the +margin, or in the margin instead of on the back; if his face wore a +ruddy rather than a pale look, if his hair were red when it ought to +have been brown, if he proved to be "tall and remarkable thin" when he +should have been middle-sized and thick-set--in any of these, as in a +hundred and one similar cases, the bearer of the protection paid the +penalty for what the impress officer regarded as a "hoodwinking +attempt" to cheat the King's service of an eligible man. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the impress officer regarded every +pressable man as a person who made it his chief business in life to +defraud the Navy of his services on the "miserable plea of a +protection," it by no means followed that his zeal in pressing him on +that account had in every case the countenance or met with the +unqualified approval of the Admiralty. Thousands of men and boys taken +in this irresponsible fashion obtained their discharge, though with +more or less difficulty and delay, when the facts of the case were +laid before the naval authorities; and in general it may be said, that +although the Lords Commissioners were only too ready to wink at any +colourable excuse whereby another physical unit might be added to the +fleet, they nevertheless laid it down as a rule, inviolable at least +on paper, "never to press any man from protections," since it brought +"great trouble and clamour upon them." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 3. 50--Admiralty Minutes, 26 Feb. 1744-5.] To assert that +the rule was generally obeyed would be to turn the truth into a lie. +On the contrary, it was almost universally disregarded. Both officers +and gangs traversed it on every possible occasion, leaving the justice +or injustice of the act to the arbitrament of the higher tribunal. +Zeal for the service was no crime, and to release a man was always so +much easier than to catch him. + +"Pressing from protections," as the phrase ran in the service, did not +therefore mean that the Admiralty over-rode its own protections at +pleasure. It merely signified that on occasion more than ordinarily +stringent measures were adopted for the holding-up and examining of +all protected persons, or of as many of them as could be got at by the +gangs, to the end that all false or fraudulent vouchers might be +weeded out and the dishonest bearers of them consigned to another +place. And yet there were times when "pressing from protections" had +its plenary significance too. + +Lovers of prints who are familiar with Hogarth's "Stage Coach; or, a +Country Inn Yard," date 1747, will readily recall the two +"outsides"--the one a down-in-the-mouth soldier, the other a jolly +Jack-tar on whose bundle may be read the word "Centurion." Now the +_Centurion_ was Anson's flag-ship, and in this print Hogarth has +incidentally recorded the fact that her crew, on their return from +that famous voyage round the world, were awarded life-protections from +the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Anson, +24 July 1744.] + +The life-protection was an indulgence extended to few. Samuel Davidson +of Newcastle, sailor, aged fifty, who had "served for nine years +during the late wars," in 1777 made bold to plead that fact as a +reason why he should be freed from the attentions of the press-gang +for the rest of his life. But the Lords Commissioners refused to admit +the plea "unless he was in a position not inferior to that of chief +mate." On the other hand, Henry Love of Hastings, who had merely +served in a single Dutch expedition, but had the promise of Pitt and +Dundas that both he and those who volunteered with him should never be +pressed, was immediately discharged when that calamity befell him. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1449--Capt. Columbine, 21 July +1800.] + +The granting of extraordinary protections was thus something entirely +erratic and not to be counted upon. Captain Balchen in 1708 had +special protections for ten of his ship's company whom he desired to +bring to London as witnesses in a suit then pending against him; but +the building of the three earlier Eddystone lighthouses was allowed to +be seriously impeded by the pressing of the unprotected workmen when +on shore at Plymouth, and the keepers of the first erection of that +name were once carried off bag and baggage by the gang. + +Smeaton, who built the third Eddystone, protected his men by means of +silver badges, and his storeboat enjoyed similar immunity--presumably +with the consent of Admiralty--by reason of a picture of the +lighthouse painted on her sail. Other great constructors, as well as +rich mercantile firms, bought protection at a price. They supplied a +stipulated number of men for the fleet, and found the arrangement a +highly convenient one for ridding themselves of those who were useless +to them or had incurred their displeasure. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 583--Admiral Thornborough, 30 Nov. 1813.] + +Private protections, of which great numbers saw the light, were in no +case worth the paper they were written on. Joseph Bettesworth of Ryde, +Isle of Wight, Attorney-at-Law and Lord of the Manor of Ashey and +Ryde, by virtue of an ancient privilege pertaining to that Manor and +confirmed by royal Letters Patent, in 1790 protected some twenty +seafaring men to work his "Antient Ferry or Passage for the Wafting of +Passengers to and from Ride, Portsmouth and Gosport, in a smack of +about 14 tons, and a wherry." The regulating captain at the last-named +place asked what he should do about it. "Press every man as soon as +possible," replied their Lordships. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1506--Capt. John Bligh, June 1790, and enclosure.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT THE GANG DID AFLOAT. + + + +"A man we want, and a man we must have," was the naval cry of the +century. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Deposition of +John Swinburn, 28 July 1804.] + +Nowhere was the cry so loud or so insistent as on the sea, where every +ship of war added to its volume. In times of peace, when the demand +for men was gauged by those every-day factors, sickness, death and +desertion, it dwindled, if it did not altogether die away; but given a +war-cloud on the near horizon and the cry for men swelled, as +many-voiced as there were keels in the fleet, to a sudden clamour of +formidable proportions--a clamour that only the most strenuous and +unremitting exertions could in any measure appease. + +Every navy is argus-eyed, and in crises such as these, when the very +existence of the nation was perhaps at stake, it was first and +principally towards the crews of the country's merchant ships that the +eyes of the Navy were directed; for, shipboard life and shipboard duty +being largely identical in both services, no elaborate training was +required to convert the merchant sailor into a first-rate +man-o'-war's-man. The ships of both services were sailing ships. Both, +as a rule, went armed. Hence, not only was the merchant sailor an able +seaman, he was also trained in the handling of great guns, and in the +use of the cutlass, the musket and the boarding-pike. In a word, he +was that most valuable of all assets to a people seeking to dominate +the sea--a man-o'-war's-man ready-made, needing only to be called in +in order to become immediately effective. + +The problem was how to catch him--how to take him fresh and vigorous +from his deep-sea voyaging--how to enroll him in the King's Navy ere +he got ashore with a pocketful of money and relaxed his hardened +muscles in the uncontrolled debauchery he was so partial to after long +abstention. + +A device of the simplest yet of the most elaborate description met the +difficulty. It was based upon the fact that to take the sailor afloat +was a much easier piece of strategy than to ferret him out of his +hiding-places after he got ashore. The impress trap was therefore set +in such a way as to catch him before he reached the land. + +With infinite ingenuity and foresight sea-gangs were picketed from +harbour to harbour, from headland to headland, until they formed an +almost unbroken chain around the coasts and guarded the sailor's every +point of accustomed approach from overseas: This was the outer cordon +of the system, the beginning of the gauntlet the returning sailor had +to run, and he was a smart seaman indeed who could successfully +negotiate the uncharted rocks and shoals with which the coast was +everywhere strewn in his despite. + +The composition of this chain of sea-gangs was mixed to a degree, yet +singularly homogeneous. + +First of all, on its extreme outer confines, perhaps as far down +Channel as the Scillies, or as far north as the thirteen-mile stretch +of sea running between the Mull of Kintyre and the Irish coast, where +the trade for Liverpool, Whitehaven, Dublin and the Clyde commonly +came in, the homing sailor would suddenly descry, bearing down upon +him under press of sail, the trim figure of one of His Majesty's +frigates, or the clean, swift lines of an armed sloop. The meeting was +no chance one. Both the frigate and the sloop were there by design, +the former cruising to complete her own complement, the latter to +complete that of some ship-of-the-line at Plymouth, Spithead or the +Nore, to which she stood in the relation of tender. + +Tenders were vessels taken into the king's service "at the time of +Impressing Seamen." Hired at certain rates per month, they continued +in the service as long as they were required, often most unwillingly, +and were principally employed in obtaining men for the king's ships or +in matters relative thereto. In burden they varied from thirty or +forty to one hundred tons, [Footnote: This was the maximum tonnage for +which the Navy Board paid, but when trade was slack larger vessels +could be had, and were as a matter of fact frequently employed, at the +nominal tonnage rate.] the smaller craft hugging the coast and +dropping in from port to port, the larger cruising far beyond shore +limits. For deep-sea or trade-route cruising the smaller craft were of +little use. No ship of force would bring-to for them. + +While press-warrants were supplied regularly to every warship, no +matter what her rating, the supply of tenders was less general and +much more erratic. It was only when occasion demanded it, and then +only to ships of the first, second and third rate, that tenders were +assigned for the purpose of bringing their crews up to full strength. +The urgency of the occasion, the men to be "rose," the diplomacy of +the commander determined the number. A tender to each ship was the +rule, but however parsimonious the Navy Board might be on such +occasions, a carefully worded appeal to its prejudices seldom failed +to produce a second, or even a third attendant vessel. Boscawen once +had recourse to this ingenious ruse in order to obtain tender number +two. The Navy Board detested straggling seamen, so he suggested that, +with several tenders lying idle in the Thames, his men might be far +more profitably employed than in straggling about town. "Most +reprehensible practice!" assented the Board, and placed a second +vessel at his disposal without more ado. Lieut. Upton was immediately +put in charge of her and ordered seawards. He returned within a week +with twenty-seven men, pressed out of merchantmen in Margate Roads. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Letters of Capt. Boscawen, +July and August 1743.] + +The tender assigned to Boscawen on this occasion was the +_Galloper_, an American-built vessel, "rigged in the manner the +West Indians do their sloops." Her armament consisted of six +9-pounders and threescore small-arms, but as a sea-boat she belied her +name, for she was hopelessly sluggish under sail, and the great depth +of her waist, and her consequent liability to ship seas in rough +weather, rendered her "very improper" for cruising in the Channel. + +For her company she had a master, a mate and six hands supplied by the +owners, in addition to thirty-four seamen temporarily drafted into her +from Boscawen's ship, the _Dreadnought_. It was the duty of the +former to work the vessel, of the latter to do the pressing; but these +duties were largely interchangeable. All were under the command of the +lieutenant, who with forty-two men at his beck and call could +organise, on a pinch, five gangs of formidable strength and yet leave +sufficient hands, given fair weather, to mind the tender in their +temporary absence. Tender's men were generally the flower of a ship's +company, old hands of tried fidelity, equal to any emergency and +reputedly proof against bribery, rum and petticoats. Yet the +temptation to give duty the slip and enjoy the pleasures of town for a +season sometimes proved too strong, even for them, and we read of one +boat's-crew of eight, who, overcome in this way, were discovered after +many days in a French prison. Instead of going pressing in the Downs, +they had gone to Boulogne. + +On the commanders of His Majesty's ships the onus of raising men fell +with intolerable insistence. Nelson's greatest pleasure in his +promotion to Admiral's rank is said to have been derived from the fact +that with it there came a blessed cessation to the scurvy business of +pressing; and there were in the service few captains, whether before +or after Nelson's day, who could not echo with hearty approval the +sentiment of Capt. Brett of the _Roebuck_, when he said: "I can +solemnly declare that the getting and taking care of my men has given +me more trouble and uneasiness than all the rest of my duty." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Brett, 27 Oct. +1742.] + +Commanders of smaller and less effective ships found themselves on the +horns of a cruel dilemma did they dare to ask for tenders. Beg and +pray as they would, these were rarely allowed them save as a special +indulgence or a crying necessity. To most applications from this +source the Admiralty opposed a front well calculated "to encourage the +others." "If he has not men enough to proceed on service," ran its +dictum, "their Lordships will lay up the ship." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. Boyle, 1 March 1715-6, +endorsement, and numerous instances.] Faced with the summary loss of +his command, their Lordships' high displeasure, and consequent +inactivity and half-pay for an indefinite period, the captain whose +complement was short, and who could obtain neither men nor tender from +the constituted authority, had no option but to put to sea with such +hands as he already bore and there beat up for others. This, with +their Lordships' gracious permission, he accordingly did, thus adding +another unit to the fleet of armed vessels already prowling the Narrow +Seas on a similar errand. It can be readily imagined that such +commanders were not out for pleasure. + +To the great and incessantly active flotilla got together in this way, +the regulating captains on shore contributed a further large +contingent. Every seaport of consequence had its rendezvous, every +seaport rendezvous its amphibious gang or gangs who ranged the +adjacent coast for many leagues in swift bottoms whose character and +mission often remained wholly unsuspected until some skilful manoeuvre +laid them aboard their intended victim and brought the gang swarming +over her decks, armed to the teeth and resolute to press her crew. + +We have now three classes of vessels, of varying build, rig, tonnage +and armament, engaged in a common endeavour to intercept and take the +homing sailor. Let us next see how they were disposed upon the coast. + +Tenders from Greenwich and Blackwall ransacked the Thames below bridge +as far as Blackstakes in the river Medway, the Nore and the Swin +channel. Tenders from Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover watched the +lower Thames estuary, swept the Downs, and kept a sharp lookout along +the coasts of Kent and Sussex, of Essex and of Norfolk. To these +tenders from Lynn dipped their colours off Wells-on-Sea or Cromer, +whence they bore away for the mouth of Humber, where Hull tenders took +up the running till met by those belonging to Sunderland, +Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shields, which in turn joined up the cordon +with others hailing from Leith and the Firth of Forth. Northward of +the Forth, away to the extreme Orkneys, and all down the west coast of +Scotland through the two Minches and amongst the Hebrides, specially +armed sloops from Leith and Greenock made periodic cruises. Greenock +tenders, again, united with tenders from Belfast and Whitehaven in a +lurking watch for ships making home ports by way of the North Channel; +or circled the Isle of Man, ran thence across to Morecambe Bay, and so +down the Lancashire coast the length of Formby Head, where the Mersey +tenders, alert for the Jamaica trade, relieved them of their vigil. +Dublin tenders guarded St. George's Channel, aided by others from +Milford Haven and Haverfordwest. Bristol tenders cruised the channel +of that names keeping a sharp eye on Lundy Island and the Holmes, +where shipmasters were wont to play them tricks if they were not +watchful. Falmouth and Plymouth tenders guarded the coast from Land's +End to Portland Bill, Portsmouth tenders from Portland Bill to Beachy +Head, and Folkestone and Dover tenders from Beachy Head to the North +Foreland, thus completing the encircling chain. Nor was Ireland +forgotten in the general sea-rummage. As a converging point for the +great overseas trade-routes it was of prime importance, and tenders +hailing from Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, Cork and Limerick, or making +those places their chief ports of call, exercised unceasing vigilance +over all the coast. + +In this general scouring of the coastal waters of the kingdom certain +points were of necessity subjected to a much closer surveillance than +others. Particularly was this true of the sea routes followed by the +East and West India, and the Baltic, Virginia, Newfoundland, Dutch and +Greenland trades, where these converged upon such centres of +world-commerce as London, Poole, Bristol, Liverpool and the great +northern entrepôts on the Forth and Clyde, the Humber and the Tyne. A +tender stationed off Poole, when a Newfoundland fish-convoy was +expected in, never failed to reap a rich harvest. At Highlake, near +the mouth of the Mersey, many a fine haul was made from the sugar and +rum-laden Jamaica ships, the privateers and slavers from which +Liverpool drew her wealth. Early in the century sloops of war had +orders "to cruise between Beechy and the Downs to Impress men out of +homeward-bound Merchant Ships," and in 1755 Rodney's lieutenants found +the Channel "full of tenders." Except in times of profound peace--few +and brief in the century under review--it was rarely or never in any +other state. An ocean highway so congested with the winged vehicles of +commerce could not escape the constant vigilance of those whose +business it was to waylay the inward-bound sailor. + +A favourite station in the Channel was "at ye west end of ye Isle of +Wight, near Hurst Castle," where the watchful tender, having under her +eye all ships coming from the westward, as well as all passing through +the Needles, could press at pleasure by the simple expedient of +sending gangs aboard of them. At certain times of the year such ports +as Grimsby, Great Yarmouth, Lowestoft and Brixham came in for similar +attention. When the fleets were due back from the "Great Fishery" on +the Dogger Banks, tenders cruising off those ports netted more men +than they could find room for; and so heavy was the tribute paid in +this way by the fishermen of the last-named port in 1805, that "not a +single man was to be found in Brixham liable to the impress." Every +unprotected man, out of a total of ninety-six fishing-smacks then +belonging to the place, had been snapped up by the tenders and ships +of war cruising off the bay or further up-Channel. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +15 Sept.] + +The double cordon composed of ships and tenders on the cruise by no +means exhausted the resources called into play for the intercepting of +the sailor afloat. Still nearer the land was a third or innermost line +composed of boat-gangs operating, like so many of the tenders, from +rendezvous on shore, or from ships of war lying in dock or riding at +anchor. Less continuous than the outer cordon, it was not less +effective, and many a sailor who by strategy or good luck had all but +won through, struck his flag to the gang when perhaps only the cast of +a line separated him from shore and liberty. + +It was across the entrance to harbours and navigable estuaries that +this innermost line was most frequently and most successfully drawn. +Pill, the pilot station for the port of Bristol, threw out such a line +to the further bank of Avon and thereby caught many an able seaman who +had evaded the tenders below King Road. On Southampton Water it was +generally so impassable that few men who could in the slightest degree +be considered liable to the press escaped its toils. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +5 Aug. 1805.] Dublin Bay knew it well. A press "on float" +there, carried out silently and swiftly in the grey of a September +morning, 1801, whilst the mists still hung thick over the water, +resulted in the seizure of seventy-four seamen who had eluded the +press-smacks cruising without the bay; but of this number two proving +to be protected apprentices, the Lord Mayor sent the Water Bailiff of +the city, "with a detachment of the army," and took them by force out +of the hands of the gang. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1526--Capt. Brabazon, 16 Sept. 1801.] On the Thames, notwithstanding +the ceaseless activity of the outer cordons, the innermost line of +capture yielded enormously. The night of October the 28th, 1776, saw +three hundred and ninety-nine men, the greater part of them good +seamen, pressed by the boats of a single ship--the _Princess +Augusta_, Captain Sir Richard Bickerton commander, then fitting out +at Woolwich. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. +Bickerton, 29 Oct. 1776.] Such a raid was very properly termed a "hot +press." + +The amazing feature of this exploit is, that it should have been +possible at all, in view of what was going on in the Thames estuary +below a line drawn across the river's mouth from Foulness to +Sheerness-reach. Seawards of this line lay the two most famous +anchorages in the world, where ships foregathered from every quarter +of the navigable globe. Than the Nore and the Downs no finer +recruiting-ground could anywhere be found, and here the shore-gangs +afloat, and the boat-gangs from ships of war, were for ever on the +alert. No ship, whether inward or outward bound, could pass the Nore +without being visited. Nothing went by unsearched. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, 7 March 1756.] The +wonder is that any unprotected sailor ever found his way to London. + +Between the Nore and the North Foreland the conditions were equally +rigorous. Through all the channels leading to the sea, channels +affording anchorage to innumerable ships of every conceivable rig and +tonnage, the gangs roamed at will, exacting toll of everything that +carried canvas. Even the smaller craft left high and dry upon the +flats, or awaiting the tide in some sand-girt pool, did not escape +their hawk-like vigilance. + + [Illustration: SEIZING A WATERMAN ON TOWER HILL ON THE MORNING OF HIS +WEDDING DAY.] + +In the Downs these conditions reached their climax, for thither, in +never-ending procession, came the larger ships which were so fruitful +of good hauls. With the wind at north, or between north and east, few +ships came in and little could be done. But when the wind veered and +came piping out of the west or sou'-west, in they came in such numbers +that the gangs, however numerous they might be, had all their work cut +out to board them. A special tender, swift and exceedingly well-found, +was accordingly stationed here, whose duty it was to be "very watchful +that no vessel passed without a visit from the impress boats." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Orders of Vice-Admiral +Buckle to Capt. Yates, 29 April 1778.] In such work as this man-o'-war +boats were of little use. Just as they could not negotiate Deal beach +without danger of being reduced to matchwood, so they could not live +in the choppy sea kicked up in the Downs by a westerly gale. Folkstone +market boats and Deal cutters had to be requisitioned for pressing in +those waters. Their seaworthiness and speed made the Downs the crux of +inward-bound ships, whose only means of escaping their attentions was +to incur another danger by "going back of the Goodwins." + +The procedure of boat-gangs pressing in harbour or on rivers seldom +varied, unless it were by accident. As a rule, night was the time +selected, for to catch the sailor asleep conduced greatly to the +success and safety of the venture. The hour chosen was consequently +either close upon midnight, some little time after he had turned in, +or in the early morning before he turned out. The darker the night and +the dirtier the weather the better. Surprise, swiftly and silently +carried out, was half the battle. + +A case in point is the attempt made by Lieut. Rudsdale, of H.M.S. +_Licorne_, "to impress all men (without exception) from the ships +and vessels lying at Cheek Point above Passage of Waterford," in the +year '79. Putting-off in the pinnace with a picked crew at eleven +o'clock on a dark and tempestuous October night, he had scarcely left +the ship astern ere he overtook a boatload of men, how many he could +not well discern in the darkness, pulling in the direction he himself +was bound. Fearful lest they should suspect the nature of his errand +and alarm the ships at Passage, he ran alongside of them and pressed +the entire number, sending the boat adrift. Putting back, he set his +capture on board the _Licorne_ and once more turned the nose of +the pinnace towards Passage. There, dropping noiselessly aboard the +_Triton_ brig, he caught the hands asleep, pressed as many of +them as he had room for, and with them returned to the ship. +Meanwhile, the master of the _Triton_ armed what hands he had +left and met Rudsdale's second attempt to board him with a formidable +array of handspikes, hatchets and crowbars. A fusillade of bottles and +billets of wood further evinced his determination to protect the brig +against all comers, and lest there should be any doubt on that point +he swore roundly that he would be the death of every man in the +pinnace if they did not immediately sheer off and leave him in peace. +This the lieutenant wisely did. No further surprises were possible +that night, for by this time the alarm had spread, the pinnace was +half-full of missiles, and one of his men lay in the bottom of her +severely wounded. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 471--Deposition +of Lieut. Rudsdale, 24 Oct. 1779.] As it was, he had a very +fair night's work to his credit. Between the occupants of the +boat and those of the brig he had obtained close upon a score of men. + +The expedients resorted to by commanders of ships of war temporarily +in port and short of their tale of men are vividly depicted in a +report made to the Admiralty in 1711. "Three days ago, very +privately," writes Capt. Billingsley, whose ship, the _Vanguard_, +was then lying at Blackstakes, "I Sent two fishing Smacks with a +Lieutenant and some Men, with orders to proceede along the Essex +Coast, and downe as far as the Wallet, to the Naze, with directions to +take all the men out of Oyster Vessels and others that were not +Exempted. The project succeeded, and they are return'd with fourteen +men, all fit, and but one has ever been in the Service. The coast was +Alarm'd, and the country people came downe and fir'd from the Shore +upon the Smacks, and no doubt but they doe still take 'em to be +privateers." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. +Billingsley, 5 May 1711.] + +Pressing at sea differed materially in many of its aspects from +pressing on the more sheltered waters of rivers and harbours. Carried +out as a rule in the broad light of day, it was for that very reason +accompanied with a more open and determined display of force than +those quieter ventures which depended so largely for their success +upon the element of surprise. Situated as we are in these latter days, +when anyone who chooses may drive his craft from Land's End to John o' +Groats without hindrance, it is difficult to conceive that there was +ever a time when the whole extent of the coastal waters of the +kingdom, as ranged by the impress tender, was under rigorous martial +law. Yet such was unquestionably the case. Throughout the eighteenth +century the flag was everywhere in armed evidence in those waters, and +no sailing master of the time could make even so much as a day's run +with any certainty that the peremptory summons: "Bring to! I'm coming +aboard of you," would not be bawled at him from the mouth of a gun. + +The retention of the command of a tender depended entirely upon her +success in procuring men. As a rule, she was out for no other purpose, +and this being so, it is not to be supposed that the officer in charge +of her would do otherwise than employ the means ordained for that end. +Accordingly, as soon as a sail was sighted by the tender's lookout +man, a gun was loaded, shotted with roundshot, and run out ready for +the moment when the vessel should come within range. + +The first intimation the intended victim had of the fate in store for +her was the shriek of the roundshot athwart her bows. This was the +signal, universally known as such, for her to back her topsails and +await the coming of the gang, already tumbling in ordered haste into +the armed boat prepared for them under the tender's quarter. And yet +it was not always easy for the sprat to catch the whale. A variety of +factors entered into the problem and made for failure as often as for +success. Sometimes the tender's powder was bad--so bad that in spite +of an extra pound or so added to the charge, the shot could not be got +to carry as far as a common musket ball. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Shirley, 5 Nov. 1780, and numerous +instances.] When this was the case her commander suffered a double +mortification. His shot, the symbol of authority and coercion, took +the water far short of its destined goal, whilst the vessel it was +intended to check and intimidate surged by amid the derisive cat-calls +and laughter of her crew. + +Even with the powder beyond reproach, ships did not always obey the +summons, peremptory though it was. One pretended not to hear it, or to +misunderstand it, or to believe it was meant for some other craft, and +so held stolidly on her course, vouchsafing no sign till a second +shot, fired point-blank, but at a safe elevation, hurtled across her +decks and brought her to her senses. Another, perhaps some well-armed +Levantine trader or tall Indiaman whose crew had little mind to strike +their colours submissively at the behest of a midget press-smack, +would pipe to quarters and put up a stiff fight for liberty and the +dear delights of London town--a fight from which the tender, supposing +her to have accepted the gage of battle, rarely came off victor. Or +the challenged ship, believing herself to be the faster craft of the +two, clapped on all sail, caught an opportune "slatch of wind," and +showed her pursuer a clean pair of heels, the tender's guns meanwhile +barking away at her until she passed out of range. These were +incidents in the chapter of pressing afloat which every tender's +commander was familiar with. Back of them all lay a substantial fact, +and on that he relied for his supply of men. There was somehow a magic +in the boom of a naval gun that had its due effect upon most +ship-masters. They brought-to, however reluctantly, and awaited the +pleasure of the gang. But the sailor had still to be reckoned with. + +In order to invest the business of taking the sailor with some +semblance of legality, it was necessary that the commander of the +tender, in whose name the press-warrant was made out, or one of his +two midshipmen, each of whom usually held a similar warrant, should +conduct the proceedings in person; and the first duty of this officer, +on setting foot upon the deck of the vessel held up in the manner just +described, was to order her entire company to be mustered for his +inspection. If the master proved civil, this preliminary passed off +quickly and with no more confusion than was incidental to a general +and hasty rummaging of sea-chests and lockers in search of those magic +protections on which hung the immediate destiny of every man in the +ship, excepting only the skipper, his mate and that privileged person, +the boatswain. The muster effected, the officer next subjected each +protection to the closest possible scrutiny, for none who knew the +innate trickery of seamen would ever "take their words for it." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Boscawen, 20 March +1745-6.] Men who had no protections, men whose papers bore evident +traces of "coaxing" or falsification, men whose appearance and persons +failed to tally exactly with the description there written down--these +were set apart from their more fortunate messmates, to be dealt with +presently. To their ranks were added others whose protections had +either expired or were on the point of expiry, as well as skulkers who +sought to evade His Majesty's press by stowing themselves away between +or below decks, and who had been by this time more or less thoroughly +routed out by members of the gang armed with hangers. The two +contingents now lined up, and their total was checked by reference to +the ship's articles, the officer never omitting to make affectionate +inquiries after men marked down as "run," "drowned," or "discharged"; +for none knew better than he, if an old hand at the game, how often +the "run" man ran no further afield than some secure hiding-place +overlooked by his gangers, or how miraculously the "drowned" bobbed up +once more to the surface of things when the gang had ceased from +troubling. If the ship happened to be an inward-bound, and to possess +a general protection exempting her from the press only for the voyage +then just ending, that fact greatly simplified and abbreviated the +proceedings, for then her whole company was looked upon as the +ganger's lawful prey. In the case of an outward-bound ship, the +gang-officer's duty was confined to seeing that she carried no more +hands than her protection and tonnage permitted her to carry. All +others were pressed. Cowed by armed authority, or wounded and bleeding +in a lost cause as hereafter to be related, the men were hustled into +the boat with "no more violence than was necessary for securing them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437--Capt. Aldred, 12 June +1708.] Their chests and bedding followed, making a full boat; and so, +having cleared the ship of all her pressable hands, the gang prepared +to return to the tender. But first there was a last stroke of business +to be done. The gunner must have his bit. + +Up to this point, beyond producing the ship's papers for inspection +and gruffly answering such questions as were put to, him, the master +of the vessel had taken little part in what was going on. His turn now +came. By virtue of his position he could not be pressed, but there +existed a very ancient naval usage according to which he could be, and +was, required to pay for the powder and shot expended in inducing him +to receive the gang on board. In law the exaction was indefensible. +Litigation often followed it, and as the century grew old the practice +for that reason fell into gradual desuetude, a circumstance almost +universally deplored by naval commanders of the old school, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 13 Oct. 1795, and +Admiralty endorsement.] who were ever sticklers for respect to the +flag; but during the first five or six decades of the century the +shipmaster who had to be fired upon rarely escaped paying the shot. +The money accruing from his compliance with the demand, 6s. 8d., went +to the gunner, whose perquisite it was, and as several shots were +frequently necessary to reduce a crew to becoming submissiveness, the +gunners must have done very well out of it. Refusal to "pay the shot" +could be visited upon the skipper only indirectly. Another man or two +were taken out of him by way of reprisals, and the press-boat shoved +off--to return a second, or even a third time, if the pressed men +numbered more than she could stow. + +From this summary mode of depriving a ship of a part or the whole of +her crew two serious complications arose, the first of which had to do +with the wages of the men pressed, the second with what was +technically called "carrying the ship up," that is to say, sailing her +to her destination. + +According to the law of the land, the sailor who was pressed out of a +ship was entitled to his wages in full till the day he was pressed, +and not only was every shipmaster bound to provide such men with +tickets good for the sums severally due to them, tickets drawn upon +the owners and payable upon demand, but it was the duty of every +impress officer to see that such tickets were duly made out and +delivered to the men. Refusal to comply with the law in this respect +led to legal proceedings, in which, except in the case of foreign +ships, the Admiralty invariably won. Eminently fair to the sailor, the +provision was desperately hard on masters and owners, for they, after +having shipped their crews for the run or voyage, now found themselves +left either with insufficient hands to carry the ship up, or with no +hands at all. As a concession to the necessity of the moment a gang +was sometimes put on board a ship for the avowed purpose of pressing +her hands when she arrived in port; but such concessions were not +always possible, [Footnote: Nor were they always effective, as witness +the following: "Tuesday the 15th, the _Shandois_ sloop from +Holland came by this place (the Nore). I put 15 men on board her to +secure her Company till their Protection was expired. Soon after came +from Sheerness the Master Attendant's boat to assist me on that +service. I immediately sent her away with more Men and Armes for the +better Securing of the Sloop's Company, but that night, in Longreach, +the Vessel being near the Shore, and almost Calme, they hoisted the +boat out to tow the Sloop about, and all the Sloop's men, being 18, +got into her and Run ashore, bidding defiance to my people's +fireing."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, H.M.S. +_Argyle_, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] and common equity demanded that in +their absence ample provision should be made for the safety of vessels +suddenly disabled by the gang. This the Admiralty undertook to do, and +hence there grew up that appendage to the impress afloat generally +known as "men in lieu" or "ticket men." + +The vocation of the better type "man in lieu" was a vicarious sort of +employment, entailing any but disagreeable consequences upon him who +followed it. At every point on the coast where a gang was stationed, +and at many where they were not, great numbers of these men were +retained for service afloat whenever required. The three ports of +Dover, Deal and Folkestone alone at one time boasted no less than four +hundred and fifty of them, and when a hot press was in full swing in +the Downs even this number was found insufficient to meet the demand. +Mostly fishermen, Sea-Fencibles and others of a quasi-seafaring type, +they enjoyed complete exemption from the impress as a consideration +for "going in pressed men's rooms," received a shilling, and in some +cases eighteen-pence a day while so employed, and had a penny a mile +road-money for their return to the place of their abode, where they +were free, in the intervals between carrying ships up, to follow any +longshore occupation they found agreeable, save only smuggling. The +enjoyment of these privileges, and particularly the privilege of +exemption from the press, made them, as a class, notorious for their +independence and insolence--characteristics which still survive in not +a few of their descendants. Tenders going a-pressing often bore a +score or two of these privileged individuals as supers, who were +drafted into ships, as the crews were taken out, to assist the master, +mate and few remaining hands, were any of the latter left, in carrying +them up. Or, if no supers of this class were borne by the tender, she +"loaned" the master a sufficient number of her own company, duly +protected by tickets from the commanding officer, and invariably the +most unserviceable people on board, to work the ship into the nearest +port where regular "men in lieu" could be obtained. + +Had all "men in lieu" conformed to the standard of the better class +substitute of that name, the system would have been laudable in the +extreme and trade would have suffered little inconvenience from the +depredations of the gangs; but there was in the system a flaw that +generally reduced the aid lent to ships to something little better +than a mere travesty of assistance. That flaw lay in the fact that +Admiralty never gave as good as it took. Clearly, it could not. True, +it supplied substitutes to go in "pressed men's rooms," but to call +them "men in lieu" was a gross abuse of language. In reality the +substitutes supplied were in the great majority of cases mere scum in +lieu, the unpressable residuum of the population, consisting of men +too old or lads too young to appeal to the cupidity of the gangs, poor +creatures whom the regulating captains had refused, useless on land +and worse than useless at sea. + +In the general character of the persons sent in pressed men's rooms +Admiralty thus had Trade on the hip, and Trade suffered much in +consequence. More than one rich merchantman, rusty from long voyaging, +strewed the coast with her cargo and timbers because all the able +seamen had been taken out of her, and none better than old men and +boys could be found to sail her. Few seaport towns were as wise as +Sunderland, where they had a Society of Shipowners for mutual +insurance against the risks arising from the pressing of their men. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1541--Capt. Bligh, 8 Jan. 1807, +enclosure.] Elsewhere masters, owners and underwriters groaned under +the galling imposition; but the wrecker rejoiced exceedingly, thanking +the gangs whose ceaseless activities rendered such an outrageous state +of things possible. + +Whichever of these two classes the ticket man belonged to, he was an +incorrigible deserter. "Thirteen out of the fifteen men in lieu that I +sent up in the _Beaufort_ East-Indiaman," writes the disgusted +commander of the _Comet_ bombship, from the Downs, "have never +returned. As they are not worth inquiring for, I have made them run." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Burvill, 4 Sept. +1742. A man-o'-war's-man was "made run" when he failed to return to +his ship after a reasonable absence and an R was written over against +his name on the ship's books.] Such instances might be multiplied +indefinitely. Once the ticket man had drawn his money for the trip, +there was no such thing as holding him. The temptation to spend his +earnings in town proved too strong, and he went on the spree with +great consistency and enjoyment till his money was gone and his +protection worthless, when the inevitable overtook him. The ubiquitous +gang deprived him of his only remaining possession, his worthless +liberty, and sent him to the fleet, a ragged but shameless derelict, +as a punishment for his breach of privilege. + +The protecting ticket carried by the man in lieu dated from 1702, when +it appears to have been first instituted; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1433--Capt. Anderson, 5 April 1702.] but even when the +bearer was no deserter in fact or intention, it had little power to +protect him. No ticket man could count upon remaining unmolested by +the gangs except the undoubted foreigner and the marine, both of whom +were much used as men in lieu. The former escaped because his alien +tongue provided him with a natural protection; the latter because he +was reputedly useless on shipboard. In the person of the marine, +indeed, the man in lieu achieved the climax of ineptitude. It was an +ironical rule of the service that persons refusing to act as men in +lieu should suffer the very fate they stood in so much danger of in +the event of their consenting. Broadstairs fishermen in 1803 objected +to serving in that capacity, though tendered the exceptional wage of +27s. for the run to London. "If not compelled to go in that way," they +alleged, "they could make their own terms with shipmasters and have as +many guineas as they were now offered shillings." Orders to press them +for their contumacy were immediately sent down. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Carter, 16 Aug. 1803.] + +By the year 1811 the halcyon days of the man in lieu were at an end. +As a class he was then practically extinct. Inveterate and +long-continued pressing had drained the merchant service of all +able-bodied British seamen except those who were absolutely essential +to its existence. These were fully protected, and when their number +fell short of the requirements of the service the deficiency was +supplied by foreigners and apprentices similarly exempt. So few +pressable men were to be found in any one ship that it was no longer +considered necessary to send ticket men in their stead when they were +taken out, and as a matter of fact less than a dozen such men were +that year put on board ships passing the Downs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1453--Capt. Anderson, 31 Aug. 1811.] +Pressing itself was in its decline, and as for the vocation of the man +in lieu, it had gone never to return. + +Ships and tenders out for men met with varied fortunes. In the winter +season the length of the nights, the tempestuous weather and the cold +told heavily against success, as did at all times that factor in the +problem which one old sea-dog so picturesquely describes as "the room +there is for missing you." Capt. Barker, of the _Thetis_, in 1748 +made a haul of thirty men off the Old-Head of Kinsale, but lost his +barge in doing so, "it blowed so hard." Byng, of the _Sutherland_, +grumbled atrociously because in the course of his run up-Channel +in '42 he was able to press "no more than seventeen." Anson, +looking quite casually into Falmouth on his way down-Channel, +found there in '46 the _Betsey_ tender, then just recently +condemned, and took out of her every man she possessed at the cost of +a mere hour's work, ignorant of the fact that when pressing eight of +those men the commander of the _Betsey_ had been "eight hours +about it." It was all a game of chance, and when you played it the +only thing you could count upon was the certainty of having both the +sailor and the elements dead against you. + + [Illustration: JACK IN THE BILBOES. From the painting by Morland.] + +But if the "room there is for missing you," conspiring with other +unfavourable conditions, rendered pressing afloat an uncertain and +vexatious business, the chances of making a haul were on the other +hand augmented by every ship that entered or left the Narrow Seas, not +even excepting the foreigner. The foreign sailor could not be pressed +unless, as we have seen, he had naturalised himself by marrying an +English wife, but the foreign ship was fair game for every hunter of +British seamen.--An ancient assumption of right made it so. + +From the British point of view the "Right of Search" was an eminently +reasonable thing. Here was an island people to whose keeping Heaven +had by special dispensation committed the dominion of the seas. To +defend that dominion they needed every seaman they possessed or could +produce. They could spare none to other nations; and when their +sailors, who enjoyed no rights under their own flag, had the temerity +to seek refuge under another, there was nothing for it but to fire on +that flag if necessary, and to take the refugee by armed force from +under its protection. This in effect constituted the time-honoured +"Right of Search," and none were so reluctant to forego the +prerogative, or so keen to enforce it, as those naval officers who saw +in it a certain prospect of adding to their ships' companies. The +right of search was always good for another man or two. + +It was often good for a great many more, for the foreign skipper was +at the best an arrant man-stealing rogue. If a Yankee, he hated the +British because he had beaten them; if a Frenchman or a Hollander, +because they had beaten him. His animus was all against the British +Navy, his sympathies all in favour of the British sailor, in whom he +recognised as good, if not a better seaman than himself. He +accordingly enticed him with the greatest pertinacity and hid him away +with the greatest cunning. + +Every impress officer worth his salt was fully alive to these facts, +and on all the coast no ship was so thoroughly ransacked as the ship +whose skipper affected a bland ignorance of the English tongue or +called Heaven to witness the blamelessness of his conduct with many +gesticulations and strange oaths. Lieut. Oakley, regulating officer at +Deal, once boarded an outward-bound Dutch East-Indiaman in the Downs. +The master strenuously denied having any English sailors on board, but +the lieutenant, being suspicious, sent his men below with instructions +to leave no part of the ship unsearched. They speedily routed out +three, "who discovered that there were in all thirteen on board, most +of them good and able seamen." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +3363--Lieut. Oakley, 8 Dec. 1743.] The case is a typical one. + +Another source of joy and profit to the gangs afloat were the great +annual convoys from overseas. For safety's sake merchantmen in times +of hostilities sailed in fleets, protected by ships of war, and when a +fleet of this description was due back from Jamaica, Newfoundland or +the Baltic, that part of the coast where it might be expected to make +its land-fall literally swarmed with tenders, all on the _qui +vive_ for human plunder. They were seldom disappointed. The +Admiralty protections under which the ships had put to sea in the +first instance expired with the home voyage, leaving the crews at the +mercy of the gangs. If, that is to say, the commanders of the +convoying men-o'-war had not forestalled them, or the ships' companies +were not composed, as in one case we read of, of men who were all +"either sick or Dutchmen." + +The privateer had to be approached more warily than the merchantman, +since the number of men and the weight of metal she carried made her +an ugly customer to deal with. She was in consequence notorious for +being the sauciest craft afloat, and though "sauce" was to the naval +officer what a red rag is to a bull, there were few in the service who +did not think twice before attempting to violate the armed sanctity of +the privateer. At the same time the hands who crowded her deck were +the flower of British seamen, and in this fact lay a tremendous +incentive to dare all risks and press her men. Her commission or +letter of marque of course protected her, but when she was +inward-bound that circumstance carried no weight. + +Against such an adversary the tender stood little chance. When she +hailed the privateer, the latter laughed at her, threatening to sink +her out of hand, or, if ordered to bring to, answered with all the +insolent contempt of the Spanish grandee: "Mariana!" Accident +sometimes stood the tender in better stead, where the pressing of +privateer's-men was concerned, than all the guns she carried. Capt. +Adams, cruising for men in the Bristol Channel, one day fell in with +the Princess Augusta, a letter of marque whose crew had risen upon +their officers and tried to take the ship. After hard fighting the +mutiny was quelled and the mutineers confined to quarters, in which +condition Adams found them. The whole batch, twenty-nine in number, +was handed over to him, "though 'twas only with great threats" that he +could induce them to submit, "they all swearing to die to a man rather +than surrender." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. +Adams, 28 June 1745.] + +A year or two prior to this event this same ship, the Princess +Augusta, had a remarkable adventure whilst sailing under the merchant +flag of England. On the homeward run from Barbadoes, some fifty +leagues to the westward of the Scillies, she fell in with a Spanish +privateer, who at once engaged and would undoubtedly have taken her +but for an extraordinary occurrence. Just as the trader's assailants +were on the point of boarding her the Spaniard blew up, strewing the +sea with his wreckage, but leaving the merchantman providentially +unharmed. Capt. Dansays, of H.M.S. the _Fubbs_ yacht, who +happened to be out for men at the time in the chops of the Channel, +brought the news to England. Meeting with the trader a few days after +her miraculous escape, he had boarded her and pressed nine of her +crew. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 +Feb. 1741-2.] + +From the smuggling vessels infesting the coasts the sea-going gangs +drew sure returns and rich booty. In the south and east of England +people who were "in the know" could always buy tobacco, wines and +silks for a mere song; and in Cumberland, in the coast towns there, +and inland too, the very beggars are said to have regaled themselves +on tea at sixpence or a shilling the pound. These commodities, as well +as others dealt in by runners of contrabrand, were worth far more on +the water than on land, and none was so keenly alive to the fact as +the gangsman who prowled the coast. Animated by the prospect of double +booty, he was by all odds the best "preventive man" the country ever +had. + +There was a certainty, too, about the pressing of a smuggler that was +wanting in other cases. The sailor taken out of a merchant ship, or +the fisherman out of a smack, might at the eleventh hour spring upon +you a protection good for his discharge. Not so the smuggler. There +was in his case no room for the unexpected. No form of protection +could save him from the consequences of his trade. Once caught, his +fate was a foregone conclusion, for he carried with him evidence +enough to make him a pressed man twenty times over. Hence the gangsman +and the naval officer loved the smuggler and lost no opportunity of +showing their affection. + +"Strong Breezes and Cloudy," records the officer in command of H.M.S. +_Stag_, a twenty-eight gun frigate, in his log. "Having made the +Signal for Two Strange Sail in the West, proceeded on under Courses & +Double Reeft Topsails. At 1 sett the Jibb and Driver, at 3 boarded a +Smugling Cutter, but having papers proving she was from Guernsey, and +being out limits, pressed one Man and let her go." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2734--Log of H.M.S. _Stag_, Capt. Yorke +commander, 5 Oct. 1794.] + +"Friday last," says the captain of the _Spy_ sloop of war, "I +sail'd out of Yarmouth Roads with a Fleet of Colliers in order to +press Men, & in my way fell in with Two Dutch Built Scoots sail'd by +Englishmen, bound for Holland, one belonging to Hull, call'd the +_Mary_, the other to Lyn, call'd the _Willing Traveller_. I +search'd 'em and took out of the former 64 Pounds 14. and out of the +latter 300 Pounds 6, all English Money, which I've deliver'd to the +Collector of Custome at Yarmouth. I likewise Imprest out of the Two +Vessells seven men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1438 +--Capt. Arnold, 29 May 1727. The exporting of coin was illegal.] + +"In the execution of my orders for pressing," reports Capt. Young, +from on board the Bonetta sloop under his command, "I lately met with +two Smuglers, & landing my boats into a Rocky Bay where they were +running of Goods, the Weather came on so Violent I had my pinnace +Stove so much as to be rendered unservisable. They threw overboard all +their Brandy, Tea and Tobacco, of which last wee recover'd about 14 +Baggs and put it to the Custom house. In Endeavouring to bring one of +them to Sail, my Boatswain, who is a very Brisk and Deserving Man, had +his arm broke, so that tho' wee got no more of their Cargo, it has +broke their Voyage and Trade this bout." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 6 April 1739.] + +On the 13th of December 1703, George Messenger, boatswain of the +_Wolf_ armed sloop, whilst pressing on the Humber descried a +"keel" lying high and dry apart from the other shipping in the river, +where it was then low water. Boarding her with the intention of +pressing her men, he found her deserted save for the master, and +thinking that some of the hands might be in hiding below--where the +master assured him he would find nothing but ballast--he "did order +one of his Boat's crew to goe down in the Hold and see what was +therein"; who presently returned and reported "a quantity of wool +conceal'd under some Coales a foot thik." The exportation of wool +being at that time forbidden under heavy penalties, the vessel was +seized and the master pressed--a course frequently adopted in such +circumstances, and uniformly approved. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1465--Deposition of George Messenger, 20 Dec. 1703. +Owling, ooling or wooling, as the exportation of wool contrary to law +was variously termed, was a felony punishable, according to an +enactment of Edward III., with "forfeiture of life and member." So +serious was the offence considered that in 1565 a further enactment +was formulated against it. Thereafter any person convicted of +exporting a live ram, lamb or sheep, was not only liable to forfeit +all his goods, but to suffer imprisonment for a year, and at the end +of the year "in some open market town, in the fulness of the market on +the market day, to have his right hand cut off and nailed up in the +openest place of such market." The first of these Acts remained in +nominal force till 1863.] + +While the gangs afloat in this way lent their aid in the suppression +of smuggling, they themselves were sometimes subjected to disagreeable +espionage on the part of those whose duty it was to keep a special +lookout for runners of contraband goods. An amusing instance of this +once occurred in the Downs. The commanding officer of H.M.S. +_Orford_, discovering his complement to be short, sent one of his +lieutenants, Richardson by name, in quest of men to make up the +deficiency. In the course of his visits from ship to ship there +somehow found their way into the lieutenant's boat a fifteen-gallon +keg of rum and ten bottles of white wine. Between seven and eight +o'clock in the evening he boarded an Indiaman and went below with the +master. Scarcely had he done so, however, when an uproar alongside +brought him hurriedly on deck--to find his boat full of strange faces. +A Customs cutter, in some unaccountable way getting wind of what was +in the boat, had unexpectedly "clapt them aboard," collared the +man-o'-war's-men for a set of rascally smugglers, and confiscated the +unexplainable rum and wine, becoming so fuddled on the latter, which +they lost no time in consigning to bond, that one of their number fell +into the sea and was with difficulty fished out by Richardson's +disgusted gangsmen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. +Brown, 30 July 1727, and enclosures.] + +The only inward-bound ship the gangsmen were forbidden to press from +was the "sick ship" or vessel undergoing quarantine because of the +presence, or the suspected presence, on board of her of some +"catching" disease, and more particularly of that terrible scourge the +plague. Dread of the plague in those days rode the country like a +nightmare, and just as the earliest quarantine precautions had their +origin in that fact, so those precautions were never more rigorously +enforced than in the case of ships trading to countries known to be +subject to plague or reported to be in the grip of it. The Levantine +trader suffered most severely in this respect. In 1721 two vessels +from Cyprus, where plague was then prevalent, were burned to the +water's edge by order of the authorities, and as late as 1800 two +others from Morocco, suspected of carrying the dread disease in the +hides composing their cargo, were scuttled and sent to the bottom at +the Nore. This was quarantine _in excelsis_. Ordinary preventive +measures went no further than the withdrawal of "pratique," as +communication with the shore was called, for a period varying usually +from ten to sixty-five days, and during this period no gang was +allowed to board the ship. + +The seamen belonging to such ships always got ashore if they could; +for though the penalty for deserting a ship in quarantine was death, +[Footnote: 26 George II. cap. 6.] it might be death to remain, and the +sailor was ever an opportunist careless of consequences. So, for that +matter, was the gangsman. Knowing well that Jack would make a break +for it the first chance he got, he hovered about the ship both day and +night, alert for every movement on board, watchful of every ripple on +the water, taunting the woebegone sailors with the irksomeness of +their captivity or the certainty of their capture, and awaiting with +what patience he could the hour that should see pratique restored and +the crew at his mercy. Whether the ship had "catching" disease on +board or not might be an open question. There was no mistaking its +symptoms in the gangsman. + +Stangate Creek, on the river Medway, was the great quarantine station +for the port of London, and here, in the year 1744, was enacted one of +the most remarkable scenes ever witnessed in connection with pressing +afloat. The previous year had seen a recrudescence of plague in the +Levant and consequent panic in England, where extraordinary +precautions were adopted against possible infection. In December of +that year there lay in Stangate Creek a fleet of not less than a dozen +Levantine ships, in which were cooped up, under the most exacting +conditions imaginable, more than two hundred sailors. At Sheerness, +only a few miles distant, a number of ships of war, amongst them +Rodney's, were at the same time fitting out and wanting men. The +situation was thus charged with possibilities. + +It was estimated that in order to press the two hundred sailors from +the quarantine ships, when the period of detention should come to an +end, a force of not less than one hundred and fifty men would be +required. These were accordingly got together from the various ships +of war and sent into the Creek on board a tender belonging to the +_Royal Sovereign_. This was on the 15th of December, and quarantine +expired on the 22nd. + +The arrival of the tender threw the Creek into a state of +consternation bordering on panic, and that very day a number of +sailors broke bounds and fell a prey to the gangs in attempting to +steal ashore. Seymour, the lieutenant in command of the tender, did +not improve matters by his idiotic and unofficerlike behaviour. Every +day be rowed up and down the Creek, in and out amongst the ships, +taunting the men with what he would do unless they volunteered, when +the 22nd arrived, and he was free to work his will upon them. He would +have them all, he assured them, if he had to "shoot them like small +birds." + +By the 22nd the sailors were in a state of "mutinous insolence." When +the tender's boats approached the ships they were welcomed "with +presented arms," and obliged to sheer off in order to obtain "more +force," so menacing did the situation appear. Seeing this, and either +mistaking or guessing the import of the move, the desperate seamen +rushed the cabins, secured all the arms and ammunition they could lay +hands on, hoisted out the ship's boats, and in these reached the shore +in safety ere the tender's men, by this time out in strength, could +prevent or come up with them. The fugitives, to the number of a +hundred or more, made off into the country to the accompaniment, we +are told, of "smart firing on both sides." With this exchange of shots +the curtain falls on the "Fray at Stangate Creek." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1480--Capt. Berkeley, 30 Dec. 1744, and +enclosure.] In the engagement two of the seamen were wounded, but all +escaped the snare of the fowler, and in that happy denouement our +sympathies are with them. + +Returning transports paid immediate and heavy tribute to the gangs +afloat. Out of a fleet of such vessels arriving at the Nore in 1756 +two hundred and thirty men, "a parcel of as fine fellows as were ever +pressed," fell to the gangs. Not a man escaped from any of the ships, +and the boats were kept busy all next day shifting chests and bedding +and putting in ticket men to navigate the depleted vessels to London. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 6, 7 and 8 +July 1756.] A similar press at the Cove of Cork, on the return of the +transports from America in '79, proved equally productive. Hundreds of +sailors were secured, to the unspeakable grief of the local crimps, +who were then offering long prices in order to recruit Paul Jones, at +that time cruising off the Irish coast. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1499--Letters of Capt. Bennett, 1779.] + +The cartel ship was an object of peculiar solicitude to the sea-going +gangsman. In her, after weary months passed in French, Spanish or +Dutch prisons, hundreds of able-bodied British seamen returned to +their native land in more or less prime condition for His Majesty's +Navy. The warmest welcome they received was from the waiting gangsman. +Often they got no other. Few cartels had the extraordinary luck of the +ship of that description that crept into Rye harbour one night in +March 1800, and in bright moonlight landed three hundred lusty +sailor-men fresh from French prisons, under the very nose of the +battery, the guard at the port head and the _Clinker_ gun-brig. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1449--Capt. Aylmer, 9 March +1800.] + +Of all the seafaring men the gangsman took, there was perhaps none +whom he pressed with greater relish than the pilot. The every-day +pilot of the old school was a curious compound. When he knew his +business, which was only too seldom, he was frequently too many sheets +in the wind to embody his knowledge in intelligent orders; and when he +happened to be sober enough to issue intelligent orders, he not +infrequently showed his ignorance of what he was supposed to know by +issuing wrong ones. The upshot of these contradictions was, that +instead of piloting His Majesty's ships in a becoming seamanly manner, +he was for ever running them aground. Fortunately for the service, an +error of this description incapacitated him and made him fair game for +the gangs, who lost no time in transferring him to those foremast +regions where ship's grog was strictly limited and the captain's quite +unknown. William Cook, impressed upon an occasion at Lynn, with +unconscious humour styled himself a landsman. He was really a pilot +who had qualified for that distinction by running vessels ashore. + +In the aggregate this unremitting and practically unbroken +surveillance of the coast was tremendously effective. Like Van Tromp, +the vessels and gangs engaged in it rode the seas with a broom at +their masthead, sweeping into the service, not every man, it is true, +but enormous numbers of them. As for their quality, "One man out of a +merchant ship is better than three the lieutenants get in town." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2379--Capt. Roberts, 27 June +1732.] This was the general opinion early in the century; but as the +century wore on the quality of the man pressed in town steadily +deteriorated, till at length the sailor taken fresh from the sea was +reckoned to be worth six of him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +EVADING THE GANG. + + + +As we have just seen, it was when returning from overseas that the +British sailor ran the gravest risk of summary conversion into +Falstaff's famous commodity, "food for powder." + +Outward bound, the ship's protection--that "sweet little cherub" +which, contrary to all Dibdinic precedent, lay down below--had spread +its kindly aegis over him, and, generally speaking, saved him harmless +from the warrant and the hanger. But now the run for which he has +signed on is almost finished, and as the Channel opens before him the +magic Admiralty paper ceases to be of "force" for his protection. No +sooner, therefore, does he make his land-fall off the fair green hills +or shimmering cliffs than his troubles begin. He is now within the +outer zone of danger, and all about him hover those dreaded sharks of +the Narrow Seas, the rapacious press-smacks, seeking whom they may +devour. Conning the compass-card of his chances as they bear down upon +him and send their shot whizzing across his bows, the sailor, in his +fixed resolve to evade the gang at any cost, resorted first of all to +the most simple and sailorly expedient imaginable. He "let go all" and +made a run for it. That way lay the line of least resistance, and, +with luck on his side, of surest escape. + +Three modes of flight were his to choose between--three modes +involving as many nice distinctions, plus a possible difference with +the master. He could run away in his ship, run away with her, or as a +last resort he could sacrifice his slops, his bedding, his pet monkey +and the gaudy parrot that was just beginning to swear, and run from +her. Which should it be? It was all a toss-up. The chance of the +moment, instantly detected and as instantly acted upon, determined his +choice. + +The sailor's flight in his ship depended mainly upon her sailing +qualities and the master's willingness to risk being dismasted or +hulled by the pursuer's shot. Granted a capful of wind on his beam, a +fleet keel under foot, and a complacent skipper aft, the flight direct +was perhaps the means of escape the sailor loved above all others. The +spice of danger it involved, the dash and frolic of the chase, the joy +of seeing his leaping "barky" draw slowly away from her pursuer in the +contest of speed, and of watching the stretch of water lying between +him and capture surely widen out, were sensations dear to his heart. + +Running away _with_ his ship was a more serious business, since +the adoption of such a course meant depriving the master of his +command, and this again meant mutiny. Happily, masters took a lenient +view of mutinies begotten of such conditions. Not infrequently, +indeed, they were consenting parties, winking at what they could not +prevent, and assuming the command again when the safety of ship and +crew was assured by successful flight, with never a hint of the irons, +indictment or death decreed by law as the mutineer's portion. + +These modes of flight did not in every instance follow the +hard-and-fast lines here laid down. Under stress of circumstance each +was liable to become merged in the other; or both, perhaps, had to be +abandoned in favour of fresh tactics rendered necessary by the +accident or the exigency of the moment. The _Triton_ and _Norfolk_ +Indiamen, after successfully running the gauntlet of the Channel +tenders, in the Downs fell in with the _Falmouth_ man-o'-war. +The meeting was entirely accidental. Both merchantmen were +congratulating themselves on having negotiated the Channel without the +loss of a man. The _Triton_ had all furled except her fore and +mizen topsails, preparatory to coming to an anchor; but as the wind +was strong southerly, with a lee tide running, the _Falmouth's_ +boats could not forge ahead to board her before the set of the tide +carried her astern of the warship's guns, whereupon her crew mutinied, +threw shot into the man-o'-war's boats, which had by this time drawn +alongside, and so, making sail with all possible speed, got clear +away. Meantime a shot had brought the _Norfolk_ to on the +_Falmouth's_ starboard bow, where she was immediately boarded. On +her decks an ominous state of things prevailed. Her crew would not +assist to clew up the sails, the anchor had been seized to the +chain-plates and could not be let go, and when the gang from the +_Falmouth_ attempted to cut the buoy ropes with which it was +secured, the "crew attacked them with hatchets and treenails, made +sail and obliged them to quit the ship." Being by that, time astern of +the _Falmouth's_ guns, they too made their escape. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1485--Capt. Brett, 25 June 1755.] + +Never, perhaps, did the sailor adopt the expedient of running away, +ship and all, with so malicious a goodwill or so bright a prospect of +success, as when sailing under convoy. In those days he seldom +ventured to "risk the run," even to Dutch ports and back, without the +protection of one or more ships of war, and in this precaution there +was danger as well as safety; for although the king's ships +safeguarded him against the enemy if hostilities were in progress, as +well as against the "little rogues" of privateers infesting the coasts +and the adjacent seas, no sooner did the voyage near its end than the +captains of the convoying ships took out of him, by force if +necessary, as many men as they happened to require. This was a _quid +pro quo_ of which the sailor could see neither the force nor the +fairness, and he therefore let slip no opportunity of evading it. + +"Their Lordships," writes a commander who had been thus cheated, "need +not be surprised that I pressed so few men out of so large a Convoy, +for the Wind taking me Short before I got the length of Leostaff +(Lowestoft), the Pilot would not take Charge of the Shipp to turn her +out over the Stamford in the Night, which Oblig'd me to come to an +Anchor in Corton Road. This I did by Signal, but the Convoy took no +Notice of it, and all of them Run away and Left me, my Bottom being +like a Rock for Roughness, so that I could not Follow them." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Letters of Capt. Young, +1742.] + +Supposing, however, that all these manoeuvres failed him and the gang +after a hot chase appeared in force on deck, the game was not yet up +so far as the sailor was concerned. A ship, it is true, had neither +the length of the Great North Road nor yet the depth of the Forest of +Dean, but all the same there was within the narrow compass of her +timbers many a lurking place wherein the artful sailor, by a judicious +exercise of forethought and tools, might contrive to lie undetected +until the gang had gone over the side. + +About five o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th of June 1756, Capt. +William Boys, from the quarter-deck of his ship the _Royal +Sovereign_, then riding at anchor at the Nore, observed a snow on +fire in the five-fathom channel, a little below the Spoil Buoy. He +immediately sent his cutter to her assistance, but in spite of all +efforts to save her she ran aground and burnt to the water's edge. Her +cargo consisted of wine, and the loss of the vessel was occasioned by +one of her crew, who was fearful of being pressed, hiding himself in +the hold with a lighted candle. He was burnt with the ship. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1487--Capt. Boys, 26 June 1756. Oddly +enough, a somewhat similar accident was indirectly the cause of Capt. +Boys' entering the Navy. In 1727, whilst the merchantman of which he +was then mate was on the voyage home from Jamaica, two mischievous +imps of black boys, inquisitive to know whether some liquor spilt on +deck was rum or water, applied a lighted candle to it. It proved to be +rum, and when the officers and crew, who were obliged to take to the +boats in consequence, were eventually picked up by a Newfoundland +fishing vessel, unspeakable sufferings had reduced their number from +twenty-three to seven, and these had only survived by feeding on the +bodies of their dead shipmates. In memory of that harrowing time Boys +adopted as his seal the device of a burning ship and the motto: "From +Fire, Water and Famine by Providence Preserved."] + +Barring the lighted candle and the lamentable accident which followed +its use, the means of evading the gang resorted to in this instance +was of a piece with many adopted by the sailor. He contrived cunning +hiding-places in the cargo, where the gangsmen systematically +"pricked" for him with their cutlasses when the nature of the vessel's +lading admitted of it, or he stowed himself away in seachests, lockers +and empty "harness" casks with an ingenuity and thoroughness that +often baffled the astutest gangsman and the most protracted search. +The spare sails forward, the readily accessible hiding-hole of the +green-hand, afforded less secure concealment. Pierre Flountinherre, +routed out of hiding there, endeavoured to save his face by declaring +that he had "left France on purpose to get on board an English +man-of-war." Frenchman though he was, the gang obliged him. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1510--Capt. Baskerville, 5 Aug. 1795.] + +In his endeavours to best the impress officers and gangsmen the sailor +found a willing backer in his skipper, who systematically falsified +the ship's articles by writing "run," "drowned," "discharged" or +"dead" against the names of such men as he particularly desired to +save harmless from the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1525--Capt. Berry, 31 March 1801.] This done, the men were +industriously coached in the various parts they were to play at the +critical moment. In the skipper's stead, supposing him to be for some +reason unfit for naval service, some specially valuable hand was +dubbed master. Failing this substitution, which was of course intended +to save the man and not the skipper, the ablest seaman in the ship +figured as mate, whilst others became putative boatswain or carpenter +and apprentices--privileged persons whom no gang could lawfully take, +but who, to render their position doubly secure, were furnished with +spurious papers, of which every provident skipper kept a supply at +hand for use in emergencies. When all hands were finally mustered to +quarters, so to speak, there remained on deck only a "master" who +could not navigate the ship, a "mate" unable to figure out the day's +run, a "carpenter" who did not know how to handle an adze, and some +make-believe apprentices "bound" only to outwit the gang. And if in +spite of all these precautions an able seaman were pressed, the real +master immediately came forward and swore he was the mate. + +Such thoroughly organised preparedness as this, however, was the +exception rather than the rule, for though often attempted, it rarely +reached perfection or stood the actual test. The sailor was too +childlike by nature to play the fraud successfully, and as for the +impress officer and the gangsman, neither was easily gulled. Supposing +the sailor, then, to have nothing to hope for from deception or +concealment, and supposing, too, that it was he who had the rough +bottom beneath him and the fleet keel in pursuit, how was he to outwit +the gang and evade the pinch? Nothing remained for him but to heave +duty by the board and abandon his ship to the doubtful mercies of wind +and wave. He accordingly went over the side with all the haste he +could, appropriating the boats in defiance of authority, and leaving +only the master and his mate, the protected carpenter and the +apprentices to work the ship. Many a trader from overseas, summarily +abandoned in this way, crawled into some outlying port, far from her +destination, in quest--since a rigorous press often left no others +available--of "old men and boys to carry her up." There is even on +record the case of a ship that passed the Nore "without a man +belonging to her but the master, the passengers helping him to sail +her." Her people had "all got ashore by Harwich." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Bouler, 18 Feb. 1725-6.] + +Few shipowners were so foolhardy as to incur the risk of being thus +hit in the pocket by the sailor's well-known predilection for French +leave when in danger of the press. Nor were the masters, for they, +even when not part owners, had still an appreciable stake in the +safety of the ships they sailed. As between masters, owners and men +there consequently sprang up a sort of triangular sympathy, having for +its base a common dread of the gangs, and for its apex their +circumvention. This apex necessarily touched the coast at a point +contiguous to the ocean tracks of the respective trades in which the +ships sailed; and here, in some spot far removed from the regular +haunts of the gangsman, an emergency crew was mustered by those +indefatigable purveyors, the crimps, and held in readiness against the +expected arrival. + +Composed of seafaring men too old, too feeble, or too diseased to +excite the cupidity of the most zealous lieutenant who eked out his +pay on impress perquisites; of lads but recently embarked on the +adventurous voyage of their teens; of pilots willing, for a +consideration, to forego the pleasure of running ships aground; of +fishermen who evaded His Majesty's press under colour of Sea-Fencible, +Militia, or Admiralty protections; and of unpressable foreigners whose +wives bewailed them more or less beyond the seas, this scratch +crew--the Preventive Men of the merchant service--here awaited the +preconcerted signal which should apprise them that their employer's +ship was ready for a change of hands. + +For safety's sake the transfer was generally effected by night, when +that course was possible; but the untimely appearance of a press-smack +on the scene not infrequently necessitated the shifting of the crews +in the broad light of day and the hottest of haste. On shore all had +been in readiness perhaps for days. At the signal off dashed the +deeply laden boats to the frantic ship, the scratch crew scrambled +aboard, and the regular hands, thus released from duty, tumbled +pell-mell into the empty boats and pulled for shore with a will +mightily heartened by a running fire of round-shot from the smack and +of musketry from her cutter, already out to intercept the fugitives. +Then it was:-- + + "Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard to wind'ard; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! there's a ganger hard a-lee; + Cheerily, lads, cheerily! else 'tis farewell home and kindred, + And the bosun's mate a-raisin' hell in the King's Navee. + Cheerily, lads, cheerily ho! the warrant's out, the hanger's drawn! + Cheerily, lads, so cheerily! we'll leave 'em an _R_ in pawn!" + +[Footnote: When Jack deserted his ship under other conditions than +those here described, an _R_ was written against his name to +denote that he had "run." So, when he shirked an obligation, monetary +or moral, by running away from it, he was said to "leave an _R_ +in pawn."] + +The place of muster of the emergency men thus became in turn the +landing-place of the fugitive crew. Its whereabouts depended as a +matter of course upon the trade in which the ship sailed. The spot +chosen for the relief of the Holland, Baltic and Greenland traders of +the East Coast was generally some wild, inaccessible part abutting +directly on the German Ocean or the North Sea. London skippers in +those trades favoured the neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, where the +maze of inland waterways constituting the Broads enabled the shifty +sailor to lead the gangs a merry game at hide and seek. King's Lynners +affected Skegness and the Norfolk lip of the Wash. Of the men who +sailed out of Hull not one in ten could be picked up, on their return, +by the gangs haunting the Humber. They went ashore at Dimlington on +the coast of Holderness, or at the Spurn. The homing sailors of Leith, +as of the ports on the upper reaches of the Firth of Forth, enjoyed an +immunity from the press scarcely less absolute than that of the Orkney +Islanders, who for upwards of forty years contributed not a single man +to the Navy. Having on either hand an easily accessible coast, +inhabited by a people upon whose hospitality the gangs were chary of +intruding, and abounding in lurking-places as secure as they were +snug, the Mother Firth held on to her sailor sons with a pertinacity +and success that excited the envy of the merchant seaman at large and +drove impress officers to despair. The towns and villages to the north +of the Firth were "full of men." On no part of the north coast, +indeed, from St. Abb's Head clear round to Annan Water, was it an easy +matter to circumvent the canny Scot who went a-sailoring. He had a +trick of stopping short of his destination, when homeward bound, that +proved as baffling to the gangs as it was in seeming contradiction to +all the traditions of a race who pride themselves on "getting there." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, Report on +Rendezvous, 2 April 1795, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] + +In the case of outward-bound ships, the disposition of the two crews +was of course reversed. The scratch crew carried the ship down to the +stipulated point of exchange, where they vacated her in favour of the +actual crew, who had been secretly conveyed to that point by land. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Lord Nelson, +Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] Whichever way the trick +was worked, it proved highly effective, for, except from the sea, no +gang durst venture near such points of debarkation and departure +without strong military support. + +There still remained the emergency crew itself. The most decrepit, +crippled or youthful were of course out of the question. But the +foreigner and our shifty friend the man in lieu were fair game. +Entering largely as they did into the make-up of almost every scratch +crew, they were pressed without compunction whenever and wherever +caught abusing their privileges by playing the emergency man. To keep +such persons always and in all circumstances was a point of honour +with the Navy Board. It had no other means of squaring accounts with +the scratch crew. + +The emergency man who plied "on his own" was more difficult to deal +with. Keepers of the Eddystone made a "great deal of money" by putting +inward-bound ships' crews ashore; but when one of their number, +Matthew Dolon by name, was pressed as a punishment for that offence, +the Admiralty, having the fear of outraged Trade before its eyes, +ordered his immediate discharge. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 2732--Capt. Yeo, 25 July 1727.] + +The pilot, the fisherman and the longshoreman were notorious offenders +in this respect. Whenever they saw a vessel bound in, they were in the +habit of putting off to her and of first inciting the crew to escape +and then hiring themselves at exorbitant rates to work the vessel into +port. On such mischievous interlopers the gangsman had no mercy. He +took them whenever he could, confident that when their respective +cases were stated to the Board, that body would "tumble" to the +occasion. + +Any attempt at estimating the number of seafaring men who evaded the +gangs and the call of the State by means of the devices and +subterfuges here roughly sketched into the broad canvas of our picture +would prove a task as profitless as it is impossible of +accomplishment. One thing only is certain. The number fluctuated +greatly from time to time with the activity or inactivity of the +gangs. When the press was lax, there arose no question as there +existed no need of escape; when it was hot, it was evaded +systematically and with a degree of success extremely gratifying to +the sailor. Taking the sea-borne coal trade of the port of London +alone, it is estimated that in the single month of September 1770, at +a time when an exceptionally severe press from protections was in full +swing, not less than three thousand collier seamen got ashore between +Yarmouth Roads and Foulness Point. As the coal trade was only one of +many, and as the stretch of coast concerned comprised but a few miles +out of hundreds equally well if not better adapted to the sailor's +furtive habits, the total of escapes must have been little short of +enormous. It could not have been otherwise. In this grand battue of +the sea it was clearly impossible to round-up and capture every +skittish son of Neptune. + +On shore, as at sea, the sailor's course, when the gang was on his +track, followed the lines of least resistance, only here he became a +skulk as well as a fugitive. It was not that he was a less +stout-hearted fellow than when at sea. He was merely the victim of a +type of land neurosis. Drink and his recent escape from the gang got +on his nerves and rendered him singularly liable to panic. The +faintest hint of a press was enough to make his hair rise. At the +first alarm he scuttled into hiding in the towns, or broke cover like +a frightened hare. + +The great press of 1755 affords many instances of such panic flights. +Abounding in "lurking holes" where a man might lie perdue in +comparative safety, King's Lynn nevertheless emptied itself of seamen +in a few hours' time, and when the gang hurried to Wells by water, +intending to intercept the fugitives there, the "idle fishermen on +shore" sounded a fresh alarm and again they stampeded, going off to +the eastward in great numbers and burying themselves in the thickly +wooded dells and hills of that bit of Devon in Norfolk which lies +between Clay-next-the-Sea and Sheringham. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 29 March and 21 April 1755.] + +A similar exodus occurred at Ipswich. The day the warrants came down, +as for many days previous, the ancient borough was full of seamen; but +no sooner did it become known that the press was out than they +vanished like the dew of the morning. For weeks the face of but one +sailor was seen in the town, and he was only ferreted out, with the +assistance of a dozen constables, after prolonged and none too legal +search. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Brand, 26 +Feb. 1755.] + +How effectually the sailor could hide when dread of the press had him +in its grip is strikingly illustrated by the hot London press of 1740. +On that occasion the docks, the riverside slums and dens, the river +itself both above and below bridge, were scoured by gangs who left no +stratagem untried for unearthing and taking the hidden sailor. When +the rigour of the press was past not a seaman, it is said, was to be +found at large in London; yet within four-and-twenty hours sixteen +thousand emerged from their retreats. [Footnote: Griffiths, +_Impressment Fully Considered_.] + +The secret of such effectual concealment lay in the fact that the +nature of his hiding-place mattered little to the sailor so long as it +was secure. Accustomed to quarters of the most cramped description on +shipboard, he required little room for his stowing. The roughest bed, +the worst ventilated hole, the most insanitary surroundings and +conditions were all one to him. He could thus hide himself away in +places and receptacles from which the average landsman would have +turned in fear or disgust. In quarry, clay-pit, cellar or well; in +holt, hill or cave; in chimney, hayloft or secret cell behind some +old-time oven; in shady alehouse or malodorous slum where a man's life +was worth nothing unless he had the smell of tar upon him, and not +much then; on isolated farmsteads and eyots, or in towns too remote or +too hostile for the gangsman to penetrate--somewhere, somehow and of +some sort the sailor found his lurking-place, and in it, by good +providence, lay safe and snug throughout the hottest press. + +Many of the seamen employed in the Newfoundland trade of Poole, +gaining the shore at Chapman's Pool or Lulworth, whiled away their +stolen leisure either in the clay-pits of the Isle of Purbeck, where +they defied intrusion by posting armed sentries at every point of +access to their stronghold, or--their favourite haunt--on Portland +Island, which the number and ill-repute of the labourers employed in +its stone quarries rendered well-nigh impregnable. To search for, let +alone to take the seamen frequenting that natural fortress--who of +course "squared" the hard-bitten quarrymen--was more than any gang +durst undertake unless, as was seldom the case, it consisted of some +"very superior force." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581 +--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 5 Aug. 1805.] + +With the solitary exception of Falmouth town, the Cornish coast was +merely another Portland Neck enormously extended. From Rame Head to +the Lizard and Land's End, and in a minor sense from Land's End away +to Bude Haven in the far nor'-east, the entire littoral of this remote +part of the kingdom was forbidden ground whereon no gangsman's life +was worth a moment's purchase. The two hundred seins and twice two +hundred drift-boats belonging to that coast employed at least six +thousand fishermen, and of these the greater part, as soon as the +fishing season was at an end, either turned "tinners" and went into +the mines, where they were unassailable, + + [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 28 Sept. 1805.] or betook themselves to their +strongholds at Newquay, St. Ives, Newland, Mousehole, Coversack, +Polpero, Cawsand and other places where, in common with smugglers, +deserters from the king's ships at Hamoaze, and an endless succession +of fugitive merchant seamen, they were as safe from intrusion or +capture as they would have been on the coast of Labrador. It was +impossible either to hunt them down or to take them on a coast so +"completely perforated." A thousand "stout, able young fellows" could +have been drawn from this source without being missed; but the gangs +fought shy of the task, and only when they carried vessels in distress +into Falmouth were the redoubtable sons of the coves ever molested. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 9 March +1795. _Admiralty Records_ 1. 578--Petition of the Inhabitants of +the Village of Coversack, 31 Jan. 1778.] + +On the Bristol Channel side Lundy Island offered unrivalled facilities +for evasion, and many were the crews marooned there by far-sighted +skippers who calculated on thus securing them against their return +from Bristol, outward bound. The gangs as a rule gave this little +Heligoland a wide berth, and when carried thither against their will +they had a disconcerting habit of running away with the press-boat, +and of thus marooning their commanding officer, that contributed not a +little to the immunity the island enjoyed. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Aylmer, 22 Dec. 1743.] + +The sailor's objection to Lundy was as strong as the gangsman's. From +his point of view it was no ideal place to hide in, and the effect +upon him of enforced sojourn there was to make him sulky and mutinous. +Rather the shore with all its dangers than an island that produced +neither tobacco, rum, nor women! He therefore preferred sticking to +his ship, even though he thereby ran the risk of impressment, until +she arrived the length of the Holmes. + +These islands are two in number, Steep Holme and Flat Holme, and so +closely can vessels approach the latter, given favourable weather +conditions, that a stone may be cast on shore from the deck. The +business of landing and embarking was consequently easy, and though +the islands themselves were as barren as Lundy of the three +commodities the sailor loved, he was nevertheless content to terminate +his voyage there for the following reasons. Under the lee of one or +other of the islands there was generally to be found a boat-load of +men who were willing, for a suitable return in coin of the realm, to +work the ship into King Road, the anchorage of the port of Bristol. +The sailor was thus left free to gain the shore in the neighbourhood +of Uphill, Weston, or Clevedon Bay, whence it was an easy tramp, not +to Bristol, of which he steered clear because of its gangs, but to +Bath, or, did he prefer a place nearer at hand, to the little town of +Pill, near Avon-mouth. + +A favourite haunt of seafaring men, fishermen, pilots and pilots' +assistants, with a liberal sprinkling of that class of female known in +sailor lingo as "brutes," this lively little town was a place after +Jack's own heart. The gangsmen gave it a wide berth. It offered an +abundance of material for him to work upon, but that material was a +trifle too rough even for his infastidious taste. The majority of the +permanent indwellers of Pill, as well as the casual ones, not only +protected themselves from the press, when such a course was necessary, +by a ready use of the fist and the club, but, when this means of +exemption failed them, pleaded the special nature of their calling +with great plausibility and success. They were "pilots' assistants," +and as such they enjoyed for many years the unqualified indulgence of +the naval authorities. The appellation they bore was nevertheless +purely euphemistic. As a matter of fact they were sailors' assistants +who, under cover of an ostensible vocation, made it their real +business, at the instigation and expense of Bristol shipowners, to +save crews harmless from the gangs by boarding ships at the Holmes and +working them from thence into the roadstead or to the quays. They are +said to have been "very fine young men," and many a longing look did +the impress officers at Bristol cast their way whilst struggling to +swell their monthly returns. So essentially necessary to the trade of +the place were they considered to be, however, that they were allowed +to checkmate the gangs, practically without molestation or hindrance, +till about the beginning of the last century, when the Admiralty, +suddenly awaking to the unpatriotic nature of a practice that so +effectually deprived the Navy of its due, caused them to be served +with a notice to the effect that "for the future all who navigated +ships from the Holmes should be pressed as belonging to those ships." +At this threat the Pill men jeered. Relying on the length of pilotage +water between King Road and Bristol, they took a leaf from the +sailor's log and ran before the press-boats could reach the ships in +which they were temporarily employed. For four years this state of +things continued. Then there was struck at the practice a blow which +not even the Admiralty had foreseen. Tow-paths were constructed along +the river-bank, and the pilots' assistants, ousted by horses, fell an +easy prey to the gangs. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +Bath had no gang, and was in consequence much frequented by sailors of +the better class. In 1803--taking that as a normal year--the number +within its limits was estimated at three hundred--enough to man a +ship-of-the-line. The fact being duly reported to the Admiralty, a +lieutenant and gang were ordered over from Bristol to do some +pressing. The civic authorities--mayor, magistrates, constables and +watchmen--fired with sudden zeal for the service, all came forward "in +the most handsome manner" with offers of countenance and support. In +the purlieus of the town, however, the advent of the gang created +panic. The seamen went into prompt hiding, the mob turned out in +force, angry and threatening, resolved that no gang should violate the +sanctuary of a cathedral city. Seeing how the wind set, the mayor and +magistrates, having begun by backing the warrant, continued backing +until they backed out of the affair altogether. The zealous watchmen +could not be found, the eager constables ran away. Dismayed by these +untimely defections, the lieutenant hurriedly resolved "to drop the +business." So the gang marched back to Bristol empty-handed, followed +by the hearty execrations of the rabble and the heartier good wishes +of the mayor, who assured them that as soon as he should be able to +clap the skulking seamen in jail "on suspicion of various +misdemeanours," he would send for them again. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 3 and 11 July 1803.] We do not +learn that he ever did. + +To Bristol no unprotected sailor ever repaired of his own free will, +for early in the century of pressing the chickens of the most +notorious kidnapping city in England began to come home to roost. The +mantle of the Bristol mayor whom Jeffreys tried for a "kidnapping +knave" fell upon a succession of regulating captains whose doings put +their civic prototype to open shame, and more petitions and protests +against the lawlessness of the gangs emanated from Bristol than from +any other city in the kingdom. + +The trowmen who navigated the Severn and the Wye, belonging as they +did mainly to extra-parochial spots in the Forest of Dean, were exempt +from the Militia ballot and the Army of Reserve. On the ground that +they came under the protection of inland navigation, they likewise +considered themselves exempt from the sea service, but this contention +the Court of Exchequer in 1798 completely overset by deciding that the +"passage of the River Severn between Gloucester and Bristol is open +sea." A press-gang was immediately let loose upon the numerous tribe +frequenting it, whereupon the whole body of newly created sailors +deserted their trows and fled to the Forest, where they remained in +hiding till the disappointed gang sought other and more fruitful +fields. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, +Report on Rendezvous, 14 April 1805.] + +Within Chester gates the sailor for many years slept as securely as +upon the high seas. No householder would admit the gangsmen beneath +his roof; and when at length they succeeded in gaining a foothold +within the city, all who were liable to the press immediately deserted +it--"as they do every town where there is a gang"--and went "to reside +at Parkgate." Parkgate in this way became a resort of sea-faring men +without parallel in the kingdom--a "nest" whose hornet bands were +long, and with good reason, notorious for their ferocity and +aggressiveness. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. +Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] An attempt to establish a rendezvous here in +1804 proved a failure. The seamen fled, no "business" could be done, +and officer and gang were soon withdrawn. + +In comparison with the seething Deeside hamlet, Liverpool was tameness +itself. Now and then, as in 1745, the sailor element rose in arms, +demanding who was master; but as a rule it suffered the gang, if not +gladly, at least with exemplary patience. Homing seamen who desired to +evade the press in that city--and they were many--fled ashore from +their ships at Highlake, a spot so well adapted to their purpose that +it required "strict care to catch them." From Highlake they made their +way to Parkgate, swelling still further the sailor population of that +far-famed nest of skulkers. + +Cork was a minor Parkgate. A graphic account of the conditions +obtaining in that city has been left to us by Capt. Bennett, of H.M.S. +_Lennox_, who did port duty there from May 1779 till March 1783. +"Many hundreds of the best Seamen in this Province," he tells us, +"resort in Bodys in Country Villages round about here, where they are +maintained by the Crimps, who dispose of them to Bristol, Liverpool +and other Privateers, who appoint what part of the Coast to take them +on Board. They go in Bodys, even in the Town of Cork, and bid defiance +to the Press-gangs, and resort in houses armed, and laugh at both +civil and military Power. This they did at Kinsale, where they +threatened to pull the Jail down in a garrison'd Town." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. Bennett, 12 and 26 April +1782.] These tactics rendered the costly press-gangs all but useless. +A hot press at Cork, in 1796, yielded only sixteen men fit for the +service. + +Space fails us to tell of how, owing to a three days' delay in the +London post that brought the warrants to Newhaven in the spring of +'78, the "alarm of soon pressing" spread like wildfire along that +coast and drove every vessel to sea; of how "three or four hundred +young fellows" belonging to Great Yarmouth and Gorleston, who had no +families and could well have been spared without hindrance to the +seafaring business of those towns, thought otherwise and took a little +trip of "thirty or forty miles in the country to hide from the +service"; or of how Capt. Routh, of the rendezvous at Leeds, happened +upon a great concourse of skulkers at Castleford, whither they had +been drawn by reasons of safety and the alleged fact that + + "Castleford woman must needs be fair, + Because they wash both in Calder and Aire," + +and after two unsuccessful attempts at surprise, at length took them +with the aid of the military. These were everyday incidents which were +accepted as matters of course and surprised nobody. Nevertheless the +vagaries of the wayward children of the State, who chose to run away +and hide instead of remaining to play the game, cost the naval +authorities many an anxious moment. _They_ had to face both +evasion and invasion, and the prevalence of the one did not help to +repel the other. + +His country's fear of invasion by the French afforded the seafaring +man the chance of the century. Pitt's Quota Bill put good money in his +pocket at the expense of his liberty, but in Admiral Sir Home Popham's +great scheme for the defence of the coasts against Boney and his +flat-bottomed boats he scented something far more to his advantage and +taste. + +From the day in 1796 when Capt. Moriarty, press-gang-officer at Cork, +reported the arrival of the long-expected Brest fleet off the Irish +coast, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1621--Capt. Crosby, 30 +Dec. 1796.] the question how best to defend from sudden attack so +enormously extended and highly vulnerable a seaboard as that of the +United Kingdom, became one of feverish moment. At least a hundred +different projects for compassing that desirable end at one time or +another claimed the attention of the Navy Board. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Knowles, 25 Jan. 1805.] One +of these was decidedly ingenious. It aimed at destroying the French +flotilla by means of logs of wood bored hollow and charged with +gunpowder and ball. These were to be launched against the invaders +somewhat after the manner of the modern torpedo, of which they were, +in fact, the primitive type and original. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Rear-Admiral Young, 14 Aug. 1803, and secret +enclosure, as in the Appendix. The Admiral's "machine," as he termed +it, though embodying the true torpedo idea of an explosive device to +be propelled against an enemy's ship, was not designed to be so +propelled on its own buoyancy, but by means of a fishing-boat, in +which it lay concealed. Had his inventive genius taken a bolder flight +and given us a more finished product in place of this crudity, the +Whitehead torpedo would have been anticipated, in something more than +mere principle, by upwards of half a century.] + +Meantime, however, the Admiralty had adopted another plan--Admiral +Popham, already famous for his improved code of signals, its +originator. On paper it possessed the merits of all Haldanic +substitutes for the real thing. It was patriotic, cheap, simple as +kissing your hand. All you had to do was to take the fisherman, the +longshoreman and other stalwarts who lived "one foot in sea and one on +shore," enroll them in corps under the command (as distinguished from +the control) of naval officers, and practise them (on Sundays, since +it was a work of strict necessity) in the use of the pike and the +cannon, and, hey presto! the country was as safe from invasion as if +the meddlesome French had never been. The expense would be trivial. +Granting that the French did not take alarm and incontinently drop +their hostile designs upon the tight little island, there would be a +small outlay for pay, a trifle of a shilling a day on exercise days, +but nothing more--except for martello towers. The boats it was +proposed to enroll and arm would cost nothing. Their patriotic owners +were to provide them free of charge. + +Such was the Popham scheme on paper. On a working basis it proved +quite another thing. The pikes provided were old ship-pikes, rotten +and worthless. The only occasion on which they appear to have served +any good purpose was when, at Gerrans and St. Mawes, the Fencibles +joined the mob and terrified the farmers, who were ignorant of the +actual condition of the pikes, into selling their corn at something +less than famine prices. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +579--Capt. Spry, 14 April 1801.] Guns hoary with age, requisitioned +from country churchyards and village greens where they had rusted, +some of them, ever since the days of Drake and Raleigh, were dragged +forth and proudly grouped as "parks of artillery." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1513--Capt. Bradley, 21 Aug. 1796.] Signal +stations could not be seen one from the other, or, if visible, +perpetrated signals no one could read. The armed smacks were equally +unreliable. In Ireland they could not be "trusted out of sight with a +gun." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 +Oct. 1803.] In England they left the guns behind them. The weight, the +patriotic owners discovered, seriously hampered the carrying capacity +and seaworthiness of their boats; so to abate the nuisance they hove +the guns overboard on to the beach, where they were speedily buried in +sand or shingle, while the appliances were carried off by those who +had other uses for them than their country's defence. The vessels thus +armed, moreover, were always at sea, the men never at home. When it +was desired to practise them in the raising of the sluice-gates which, +in the event of invasion, were to convert Romney Marsh into an inland +sea, no efforts availed to get together sufficient men for the +purpose. Immune from the press by reason of their newly created status +of Sea-Fencibles, they were all elsewhere, following their +time-honoured vocations of fishing and smuggling with industry and +gladness of heart. As a means of repelling invasion the Popham scheme +was farcical and worthless; as a means of evading the press it was the +finest thing ever invented. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Reports on Sea-Fencibles, 1805; Admiral Lord +Keith, Sentiments upon the Sea-Fencible System, 7 Jan. 1805.] The only +benefits the country ever drew from it, apart from this, were two. It +provided the Admiralty with an incomparable register of seafaring men, +and some modern artists with secluded summer retreats. + +It goes without saying that a document of such vital consequence to +the seafaring man as an Admiralty protection did not escape the +attention of those who, from various motives, sought to aid and abet +the sailor in his evasion of the press. Protections were freely lent +and exchanged, bought and sold, "coaxed," concocted and stolen. +Skilful predecessors of Jim the Penman imitated to the life the +signatures of Pembroke and Sandwich, Lord High Admirals, and of the +lesser fry who put the official hand to those magic papers. "Great +abuses" were "committed that way." Bogus protections could be obtained +at Sunderland for 8s. 6d., Stephenson and Collins, the disreputable +schoolmasters who made a business of faking them, coining money by the +"infamous practice." In London "one Broucher, living in St. Michael's +Lane," supplied them to all comers at 3 Pounds apiece. Even the Navy +Office was not above suspicion in this respect, for in '98 a clerk +there, whose name does not transpire, was accused of adding to his +income by the sale of bogus protections at a guinea a head. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Abbs, 5 Oct. 1798.] + +American protections were the Admiralty's pet bugbear. For many years +after the successful issue of the War of Independence a bitter +animosity characterised the attitude of the British naval officer +towards the American sailor. Whenever he could be laid hold of he was +pressed, and no matter what documents he produced in evidence of his +American birth and citizenship, those documents were almost invariably +pronounced false and fraudulent. There were weighty reasons, however, +for refusing to accept the claim of the alleged American sailor at its +face value. No class of protection was so generally forged, so +extensively bought and sold, as the American. Practically every +British seaman who made the run to an American port took the +precaution, during his sojourn in that land of liberty, to provide +himself with spurious papers against his return to England, where he +hoped, by means of them, to checkmate the gang. The process of +obtaining such papers was simplicity itself. All the sailor had to do, +at, say, New York, was to apply himself to one Riley, whose other name +was Paddy. The sum of three dollars having changed hands, Riley and +his client betook themselves to the retreat of some shady Notary +Public, where the Irishman made ready oath that the British seaman was +as much American born as himself. The business was now as good as +done, for on the strength of this lying affidavit any Collector of +Customs on the Atlantic coast would for a trifling fee grant the +sailor a certificate of citizenship. Riley created American citizens +in this way at the rate, it is said, of a dozen a day, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1523-Deposition of Zacharias Pasco, 20 +Jan. 1800.] and as he was only one of many plying the same lucrative +trade, the effect of such wholesale creations upon the impress service +in England, had they been allowed to pass unchallenged, may be readily +conceived. + +The fraud, worse luck for the service, was by no means confined to +America. Almost every home seaport had its recognised perveyor of +"false American passes." At Liverpool a former clerk to the Collector +of Customs for Pembroke, Pilsbury by name, grew rich on them, whilst +at Greenock, Shields and other north-country shipping centres they +were for many years readily procurable of one Walter Gilly and his +confederates, whose transactions in this kind of paper drove the Navy +Board to desperation. They accordingly instructed Capt. Brown, +gang-officer at Greenock, to take Gilly at all hazards, but the +fabricator of passes fled the town ere the gang could be put on his +track. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1549--Capt. Brown, 22 +Aug. 1809.] + +Considering that every naval officer, from the Lord High Admiral +downwards, had these facts and circumstances at his fingers' end, it +is hardly suprising that protections having, or purporting to have, an +American origin, should have been viewed with profound distrust +--distrust too often justified, and more than justified, by +the very nature of the documents themselves. Thus a gentleman of +colour, Cato Martin by name, when taken out of the _Dolly_ +West-Indiaman at Bristol, had the assurance to produce a white man's +pass certifying his eyes, which were undeniably yellow, to be a soft +sky-blue, and his hair, which was hopelessly black and woolly, to be +of that well-known hue most commonly associated with hair grown north +of the Tweed. It was reserved, however, for an able seaman bearing the +distinguished name of Oliver Cromwell to break all known records in +this respect. When pressed, he unblushingly produced a pass dated in +America the 29th of May and viséd by the American Consul in London on +the 6th of June immediately following, thus conferring on its bearer +the unique distinction of having crossed the Atlantic in eight days at +a time when the voyage occupied honester men nearly as many weeks. To +press such frauds was a public benefit. On the other hand, one +confesses to a certain sympathy with the American sailor who was +pressed because he "spoke English very well." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2734--Capt. Yorke, 8 March 1798.] + +Believing in the simplicity of his heart that others were as gullible +as himself, the fugitive sailor sought habitually to hide his identity +beneath some temporary disguise of greater or less transparency. That +of farm labourer was perhaps his favourite choice. The number of +seamen so disguised, and employed on farms within ten miles of the +coast between Hull and Whitby prior to the sailing of the Greenland +and Baltic ships in 1803, was estimated at more than a thousand +able-bodied men. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral +Phillip, Report on Rendezvous, 25 April 1804.] Seamen using the +Newfoundland trade of Dartmouth were "half-farmer, half-sailor." When +the call of the sea no longer lured them, they returned to the land in +an agricultural sense, resorting in hundreds to the farmsteads in the +Southams, where they were far out of reach of the gangs. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, Report on Rendezvous, +28 Feb. 1795] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WHAT THE GANG DID ASHORE. + + + +In his endeavours to escape the gang the sailor resembled nothing so +much as that hopelessly impotent fugitive the flying-fish. For both +the sea swarmed with enemies bent on catching them. Both sought to +evade those enemies by flight, and both, their ineffectual flight +ended, returned to the sea again whether they would or not. It was +their fate, a deep-sea kismet as unavoidable as death. + +The ultimate destination of the sailor who by strategy or accident +succeeded in eluding the triple line of sea-gangs so placed as to head +him off from the coast, was thus never in doubt. His longest flights +were those he made on land, for here the broad horizon that stood the +gangs in such good stead at sea was measurably narrower, while +hiding-places abounded and were never far to seek. All the same, in +spite of these adventitious aids to self-effacement, the predestined +end of the seafaring man sooner or later overtook him. The gang met +him at the turning of the ways and wiped him off the face of the land. +In the expressive words of a naval officer who knew the conditions +thoroughly well, the sailor's chances of obtaining a good run for his +money "were not worth a chaw of tobacco." + +For this inevitable finish to all the sailor's attempts at flight on +shore there existed in the main two reasons. The first of these lay in +the sailor himself, making of him an unconscious aider and abettor in +his own capture. Just as love and a cough cannot be hid, so there was +no disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by +characteristics that infallibly betrayed him. His bandy legs and +rolling gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea, and no +"soaking" in alehouse or tavern could eliminate the salt from the +peculiar oaths that were as natural to him as the breath of life. +Assume what disguise he would, he fell under suspicion at sight, and +he had only to open his mouth to turn that suspicion into certainty. +It needed no Sherlock Holmes of a gangsman to divine what he was or +whence he came. + +The second reason why the sailor could never long escape the gangs was +because the gangs were numerically too many for him. It was no +question of a chance gang here and there. The country swarmed with +them. + +Take the coast. Here every seaport of any pretensions in the way of +trade, together with every spot between such ports known to be +favoured or habitually used by the homing sailor as a landing-place, +with certain exceptions already noted, either had its own particular +gang or was closely watched by some gang stationed within easy access +of the spot. In this way the whole island was ringed in by gangs on +shore, just as it was similarly ringed in by other gangs afloat. + +"If their Lordships would give me authority to press here," says +Lieut. Oakley, writing to the Sea Lords from Deal in 1743, "I could +frequently pick up good seamen ashoar. I mean seamen _who by some +means escape being prest by the men of war and tenders_." + +In this modest request the lieutenant states the whole case for the +land-gang, at once demonstrating its utility and defining its +functions. Unconsciously he does more. He echoes a cry that +incessantly assailed the ears of Admiralty: "The sailor has escaped! +Send us warrants and give us gangs, and we will catch him yet." + +It was this call, the call of the fleet, that dominated the situation +and forced order out of chaos. The men must be "rose," and only method +could do it. The demand was a heavy one to make upon the most +unsystematic system ever known, yet it survived the ordeal. The coast +was mapped out, warrants were dispatched to this point and that, +rendezvous were opened, gangs formed. No effort or outlay was spared +to take the sailor the moment he got ashore, or very soon after. + +In this systematic setting of land-traps that vast head-centre of the +nation's overseas trade, the metropolis, naturally had first place. +The streets, and especially the waterside streets, were infested with +gangs. At times it was unsafe for any able-bodied man to venture +abroad unless he had on him an undeniable protection or wore a dress +that unmistakeably proclaimed the gentleman. The general rendezvous +was on Tower Hill; but as ships completing their complement nearly +always sent a gang or two to London, minor rendezvous abounded. St. +Katherine's by the Tower was specially favoured by them. The +"Rotterdam Arms" and the "Two Dutch Skippers," well-known taverns +within that precinct, were seldom without the bit of bunting that +proclaimed the headquarters of the gang. At Westminster the "White +Swan" in King's Street usually bore a similar decoration, as did also +the "Ship" in Holborn. + +A characteristic case of pressing by a gang using the last-named house +occurred in 1706. Ransacking the town in quest of pressable subjects +of Her Majesty, they came one day to the "Cock and Rummer" in Bow +Street, where a big dinner was in progress. Here nothing would suit +their tooth but mine host's apprentice, and as ill-luck would have it +the apprentice was cook to the establishment and responsible for the +dinner. Him they nevertheless seized and would have hurried away in +spite of his master's supplications, protests and offers of free +drinks, had it not been for the fact that a mob collected and forcibly +prevented them. Other gangs hurrying to the assistance of their +hard-pressed comrades--to the number, it is said, of sixty men--a free +fight ensued, in the course of which a burly constable, armed with a +formidable longstaff, was singled out by the original gang, doubtless +on account of the prominent part he took in the fray, as a fitting +substitute for the apprentice. By dint of beating the poor fellow till +he was past resistance they at length got him to the "Ship," where +they were in the very act of bundling him into a coach, with the +intention of carrying him to the waterside below bridge, and of their +putting him on board the press-smack, when in the general confusion he +somehow effected his escape. [Footnote: "A Horrible Relation," +_Review_, 17 March 1705-6.] Such incidents were common enough not +only at that time but long after. + +At Gravesend sailors came ashore in such numbers from East India and +other ships as to keep a brace of gangs busy. Another found enough to +do at Broadstairs, whence a large number of vessels sailed in the +Iceland cod fishery and similar industries. Faversham was a port and +had its gang, and from Margate right away to Portsmouth, and from +Portsmouth to Plymouth, nearly every town of any size that offered +ready hiding to the fugitive sailor from the Channel was similarly +favoured. Brighton formed a notable exception, and this circumstance +gave rise to an episode about which we shall have more to say +presently. + +To record in these pages the local of all the gangs that were +stationed in this manner upon the seaboard of the kingdom would be as +undesirable as it is foreign to the scope of this chapter. Enough to +repeat that the land, always the sailor's objective in eluding the +triple cordon of sea-borne gangs, was ringed in and surrounded by a +circle of land-gangs in every respect identical with that described as +hedging the southern coast, and in its continuity almost as unbroken +as the shore itself. Both sea-gangs and coast-gangs were amphibious, +using either land or sea at pleasure. + +Inland the conditions were the same, yet materially different. What +was on the coast an encircling line assumed here the form of a vast +net, to which the principal towns, the great cross-roads and the +arterial bridges of the country stood in the relation of reticular +knots, while the constant "ranging" of the gangs, now in this +direction, now in that, supplied the connecting filaments or threads. +The gangs composing this great inland net were not amphibious. Their +most desperate aquatic ventures were confined to rivers and canals. +Ability to do their twenty miles a day on foot counted for more with +them than a knowledge of how to handle an oar or distinguish the +"cheeks" of a gaff from its "jaw." + +Just as the sea-gangs in their raids upon the land were the Danes and +"creekmen" of their time, so the land-gangsman was the true highwayman +of the century that begot him. He kept every strategic point of every +main thoroughfare, held all the bridges, watched all the ferries, +haunted all the fairs. No place where likely men were to be found +escaped his calculating eye. + +He was an inveterate early riser, and sailors sauntering to the fair +for want of better employment ran grave risks. In this way a large +number were taken on the road to Croydon fair one morning in September +1743. For actual pressing the fair itself was unsafe because of the +great concourse of people; but it formed one of the best possible +hunting-grounds and was kept under close observation for that reason. +Here the gangsman marked his victim, whose steps he dogged into the +country when his business was done or his pleasure ended, never for a +moment losing sight of him until he walked into the trap all ready set +in some wayside spinny or beneath some sheltering bridge. + +Bridges were the inland gangsman's favourite haunt. They not only +afforded ready concealment, they had to be crossed. Thus Lodden +Bridge, near Reading, accounted one of the "likeliest places in the +country for straggling seamen," was seldom without its gang. Nor was +the great bridge at Gloucester, since, as the first bridge over the +Severn, it drew to itself all the highroads and their users from Wales +and the north. To sailors making for the south coast from those parts +it was a point of approach as dangerous as it was unavoidable. Great +numbers were taken here in consequence. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 58l--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 14 April +1805.] + +So of ferries. The passage boats at Queensferry on the Firth of Forth, +watched by gangs from Inverkeithing, yielded almost as many men in the +course of a year as the costly rendezvous at Leith. Greenock ferries +proved scarcely less productive. But there was here an exception. The +ferry between Glenfinart and Greenock plied only twice a week, and as +both occasions coincided with market-days the boat was invariably +crowded with women. Only once did it yield a man. Peter Weir, the hand +in charge, one day overset the boat, drowning every soul on board +except himself. Thereupon the gang pressed him, arguing that one who +used the sea so effectively could not fail to make a valuable addition +to the fleet. + +Inland towns traversed by the great highroads leading from north to +south, or from east to west, were much frequented by the gangs. +Amongst these Stourbridge perhaps ranked first. Situated midway +between the great ports of Liverpool and Bristol, it easily and +effectually commanded Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Bridgnorth, Bewdley, +Kidderminster and other populous towns, while it was too small to +afford secure hiding within itself. The gangs operating from +Stourbridge brought in an endless procession of ragged and +travel-stained seamen. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500 +--Letters of Capt. Beecher, 1780.] + +From ports on the Bristol Channel to ports on the English Channel, and +the reverse, many seamen crossed the country by stage-coach or wagon, +and to intercept them gangs were stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and +Exeter. Taunton and Salisbury also, as "great thoroughfares to and +from the west," had each its gang, and a sufficient number of sailors +escaped the press at the latter place to justify the presence of +another at Romsey. Andover had a gang as early as 1756, on the +recommendation of no less a man than Rodney. + +Shore gangs were of necessity ambulatory. To sit down before the +rendezvous pipe in hand, and expect the evasive sailor to come of his +own accord and beg the favour of being pressed, would have been a +futile waste of time and tobacco. The very essence of the gangman's +duty lay in the leg-work he did. To that end he ate the king's +victuals and wore the king's shoe-leather. Consequently he was early +afoot and late to bed. Ten miles out and ten home made up his daily +constitutional, and if he saw fit to exceed that distance he did not +incur his captain's displeasure. The gang at Reading, a strategic +point of great importance on the Bath and Bristol road, traversed all +the country round about within a radius of twenty miles--double the +regulation distance. That at King's Lynn, another centre of unmeasured +possibilities, trudged as far afield as Boston, Ely, Peterborough and +Wells-on-Sea. And the Isle of Wight gang, stationed at Cowes or Ryde, +now and then co-operated with a gang from Portsmouth or Gosport and +ranged the whole length and breadth of the island, which was a noted +nest of deserters and skulkers. "Range," by the way, was a word much +favoured by the officers who led such expeditions. Its use is happy. +It suggests the object well in view, the nicely calculated distance, +the steady aim that seldom missed its mark. The gang that "ranged" +rarely returned empty-handed. + +On these excursions the favourite resting-place was some secluded nook +overlooking the point of crossing of two or more highroads; the +favourite place of refreshment, some busy wayside alehouse. Both were +good to rest or refresh in, for at both the chances of effecting a +capture were far more numerous than on the open road. + +The object of the gang in taking the road was not, however, so much +what could be picked up by chance in the course of a day's march, as +the execution of some preconcerted design upon a particular person or +place. This brings us to the methods of pressing commonly adopted, +which may be roughly summarised under the three heads of surprise, +violence and the hunt. Frequently all three were combined; but as in +the case of gangs operating on the waters of rivers or harbours, the +essential element in all pre-arranged raids, attacks and predatory +expeditions was the first-named element, surprise. In this respect the +gangsmen were genuine "Peep-o'-Day Boys." The siege of Brighton is a +notable case in point. + +The inhabitants of Brighton, better known in the days of the +press-gang as Brighthelmstone, consisted largely of fisher-folk in +respect to whom the Admiralty had been guilty of one of its rare +oversights. For generations no call was made upon them to serve the +king at sea. This accidental immunity in course of time came to be +regarded by the Brighton fisherman as his birthright, and the +misconception bred consequences. For one thing, it made him +intolerably saucy. He boasted that no impress officer had power to +take him, and he backed up the boast by openly insulting, and on more +than one occasion violently assaulting the king's uniform. With all +this he was a hardy, long-lived, lusty fellow, and as his numbers were +never thinned by that active corrector of an excessive birth-rate, the +press-gang, he speedily overstocked the town. An energetic worker +while his two great harvests of herring and mackerel held out, he was +at other times indolent, lazy and careless of the fact that his +numerous progeny burdened the rates. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 580--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 31 Dec. +1804.] These unpleasing circumstances having been duly reported to the +Admiralty, their Lordships decided that what the Brighton fisherman +required to correct his lax principles and stiffen his backbone was a +good hot press. They accordingly issued orders for an early raid to be +made upon that promising nursery of man-o'-war's-men. + +The orders, which were of course secret, bore date the 3rd of July +1779, and were directed to Capt. Alms, who, as regulating officer at +Shoreham, was likewise in charge of the gang at Newhaven under Lieut. +Bradley, and of the gang at Littlehampton under Lieut. Breedon. At +Shoreham there was also a tender, manned by an able crew. With these +three gangs and the tender's crew at his back, Alms determined to lay +siege to Brighton and teach the fishermen there a lesson they should +not soon forget. But first, in order to render the success of the +project doubly sure, he enlisted the aid of Major-General Sloper, +Commandant at Lewes, who readily consented to lend a company of +soldiers to assist in the execution of the design. + +These preparations were some little time in the making, and it was not +until the Thursday immediately preceding the 24th of July that all was +in readiness. On the night of that day, by preconcerted arrangement, +the allied forces took the road--for the Littlehampton gang, a matter +of some twenty miles--and at the first flush of dawn united on the +outskirts of the sleeping town, where the soldiers were without loss +of time so disposed as to cut off every avenue of escape. This done, +the gangs split up and by devious ways, but with all expedition, +concentrated their strength upon the quay, expecting to find there a +large number of men making ready for the day's fishing. To their +intense chagrin the quay was deserted. The night had been a +tempestuous one, with heavy rain, and though the unfortunate gangsmen +were soaked to the skin, the fishermen all lay dry in bed. Hearing the +wind and rain, not a man turned out. + +By this time the few people who were abroad on necessary occasions had +raised the alarm, and on every hand were heard loud cries of +"Press-gang!" and the hurried barricading of doors. For ten hours +"every man kept himself locked up and bolted." For ten hours Alms +waited in vain upon the local Justice of the Peace for power to break +and enter the fishermen's cottages. His repeated requests being +refused, he was at length "under the necessity of quitting the town +with only one man." So ended the siege of Brighton; but Bradley, on +his way back to Newhaven, fell in with a gang of smugglers, of whom he +pressed five. Brighton did not soon forget the terrors of that +rain-swept morning. For many a long day her people were "very shy, and +cautious of appearing in public." The salutary effects of the raid, +however, did not extend to the fishermen it was intended to benefit. +They became more insolent than ever, and a few years later marked +their resentment of the attempt to press them by administering a sound +thrashing to Mr. Midshipman Sealy, of the Shoreham rendezvous, whom +they one day caught unawares. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1445-46--Letters of Capt. Alms.] + +The surprise tactics of the gang of course varied according to +circumstances, and the form they took was sometimes highly ingenious. +A not uncommon stratagem was the impersonation of a recruiting party +beating up for volunteers. With cockades in their hats, drums rolling +and fifes shrilling, the gangsmen, who of course had their arms +concealed, marched ostentatiously through the high-street of some +sizable country town and so into the market-place. Since nobody had +anything to fear from a harmless recruiting party, people turned out +in strength to see the sight and listen to the music. When they had in +this way drawn as many as they could into the open, the gangsmen +suddenly threw off their disguise and seized every pressable person +they could lay hands on. Market-day was ill-adapted to these tactics. +It brought too big a crowd together. + +A similar ruse was once practised with great success upon the +inhabitants of Portsmouth by Capt. Bowen of the _Dreadnought_, in +connection with a general press which the Admiralty had secretly +ordered to be made in and about that town. Dockyard towns were not as +a rule considered good pressing-grounds because of the drain of men +set up by the ships of war fitting out there; but Bowen had certainly +no reason to subscribe to that opinion. Late on the night of the 8th +of March 1803, he landed a company of marines at Gosport for the +purpose, as it was given out, of suppressing a mutiny at Fort +Monckton. The news spread rapidly, drawing crowds of people from their +homes in anticipation of an exciting scrimmage. This gave Bowen the +opportunity he counted upon. When the throngs had crossed Haslar +Bridge he posted marines at the bridge-end, and as the disappointed +people came pouring back the "jollies" pressed every man in the crowd. +Five hundred are said to have been taken on this occasion, but as the +nature of the service forbade discrimination at the moment of +pressing, nearly one-half were next day discharged as unfit or exempt. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1057--Admiral Milbanke, 9 March +1803.] + +Sometimes, though not often, it was the gang that was surprised. All +hands would perhaps be snug in bed after a long and trying day, when +suddenly a thunderous knocking at the rendezvous door, and stentorian +cries of: "Turn out! turn out there!" coupled with epithets here +unproducible, would bring every man of them into the street in the +turn of a handspike, half-dressed but fully armed and awake to the +fact that a party of belated seamen was coming down the road. The +sailors were perhaps more road-weary than the gangsmen, and provided +none of them succeeded in slipping away in the darkness, or made a +successful resistance, in half-an-hour's time or less the whole party +would be safe under lock and key, cursing luck for a scurvy trickster +in delivering them over to the gang. + +The sailor's well-known partiality for drink was constantly turned to +account by the astute gangsman. If a sailor himself, he laid aside his +hanger or cudgel and played the game of "What ho! shipmate" at the +cost of a can or two of flip, gently guiding his boon companion to the +rendezvous when he had got him sufficiently corned. Failing these +tactics, he adopted others equally effective. At Liverpool, where the +seafaring element was always a large one, it was a common practice for +the gangs to lie low for a time, thus inducing the sailor to believe +himself safe from molestation. He immediately indulged in a desperate +drinking bout and so put himself entirely in their power. Whether +rolling about the town "very much in liquor," or "snugly moored in +Sot's Bay," he was an easy victim. + +Another ineradicable weakness that often landed the sailor in the +press-room was his propensity to indulge in "swank." Two jolly tars, +who were fully protected and consequently believed themselves immune +from the press, once bought a four-wheeled post-chaise and hired a +painter in Long Acre to ornament it with anchors, masts, cannon and a +variety of other objects emblematic of the sea. In this ornate vehicle +they set out, behind six horses, with the intention of posting down to +Alnwick, where their sweethearts lived. So impatient were they to get +over the road that they could not be prevailed upon, at any of the +numerous inns where they pulled up for refreshment, to stop long +enough to have the wheels properly greased, crying out at the delay: +"Avast there! she's had tar enough," and so on again. Just as they +were making a triumphal entry into Newcastle-upon-Tyne the wheels took +fire, and the chaise, saturated with the liquor they had spilt in the +course of their mad drive, burst into flames fore and aft. The sailors +bellowed lustily for help, whereupon the spectators ran to their +assistance and by swamping the ship with buckets of water succeeded in +putting out the fire. Now it happened that in the crowd drawn together +by such an unusual occurrence there was an impress officer who was +greatly shocked by the exhibition. He considered that the sailors had +been guilty of unseemly behaviour, and on that ground had them +pressed. Notwithstanding their protections they were kept. + +In his efforts to swell the returns of pressed men the gangsman was +supposed--we may even go so far as to say enjoined--to use no more +violence than was absolutely necessary to attain his end. The question +of force thus resolved itself into one of the degree of resistance he +encountered. Needless to say, he did not always knock a man down +before bidding him stand in the king's name. Recourse to measures so +extreme was not always necessary. Every sailor had not the pluck to +fight, and even when he had both the pluck and the good-will, hard +drinking, weary days of tramping, or long abstinence from food had +perhaps sapped his strength, leaving him in no fit condition to hold +his own in a scrap with the well-fed gangsman. The latter consequently +had it pretty much his own way. A firm hand on the shoulder, or at the +most a short, sharp tussle, and the man was his. But there were +exceptions to this easy rule, as we shall see in our next chapter. + +Hunting the sailor was largely a matter of information, and +unfortunately for his chances of escape informers were seldom wanting. +Everywhere it was a game at hide-and-seek. Constables had orders to +report him. Chapmen, drovers and soldiers, persons who were much on +the road, kept a bright lookout for him. The crimp, habitually given +to underhand practices, turned informer when prices for seamen ruled +low in the service he usually catered for. His mistress loved him as +long as his money lasted; when he had no more to throw away upon her +she perfidiously betrayed him. And for all this there was a reason as +simple as casting up the number of shillings in the pound. No matter +how penniless the sailor himself might be, he was always worth that +sum at the rendezvous. Twenty shillings was the reward paid for +information leading to his apprehension as a straggler or a skulker, +and it was largely on the strength of such informations, and often +under the personal guidance of such detestable informers, that the +gang went a-hunting. + +Apart from greed of gain, the motive most commonly underlying +informations was either jealousy or spite. Women were the greatest +sinners in the first respect. Let the sailorman concealed by a woman +only so much as look with favour upon another, and his fate was +sealed. She gave him away, or, what was more profitable, sold him +without regret. There were as good fish in the sea as ever came out. +Perhaps better. + +On the wings of spite and malice the escapades of youth often came +home to roost after many years. Men who had run away to sea as lads, +but had afterwards married and settled down, were informed on by +evil-disposed persons who bore them some grudge, and torn from their +families as having used the sea. Stephen Kemp, of Warbelton in Sussex, +one of the many who suffered this fate, had indeed used the sea, but +only for a single night on board a fishing-boat. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1445--Capt. Alms, 9 June 1777.] + +In face of these infamies it is good to read of how they dealt with +informers at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There the role was one fraught with +peculiar danger. Rewards were paid by the Collector of Customs, and +when a Newcastle man went to the Customs-House to claim the price of +some sailor's betrayal, the people set upon him and incontinently +broke his head. One notorious receiver of such rewards was "nearly +murther'd." Thereafter informers had to be paid in private places for +fear of the mob, and so many persons fell under suspicion of playing +the dastardly game that the regulating captain was besieged by +applicants for "certificates of innocency." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Letters of Capt. Bover, 1777.] + + + [Illustration: ONE OF THE RAREST OF PRESS-GANG RECORDS. +A play-bill announcing the suspension of the Gang's operations on +"Play Nights"; in the collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley, by whose kind +permission it is reproduced.] + + +Informations not infrequently took the form of anonymous +communications addressed by the same hand to two different gangs at +one and the same time, and when this was the case, and both gangs +sallied forth in quest of the skulker, a collision was pretty sure to +follow. Sometimes the encounter resolved itself into a running fight, +in the course of which the poor sailor, who formed the bone of +contention, was pressed and re-pressed several times over between his +hiding-place and one or other of the rendezvous. + +Rivalry between gangs engaged in ordinary pressing led to many a +stirring encounter and bloody fracas. A gang sent out by H.M.S. +_Thetis_ was once attacked, while prowling about the waterside +slums of Deptford, by "three or four different gangs, to the number of +thirty men." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1502--Capt. +Butcher, 29 Oct. 1782.] There was a greater demand for bandages than +for sailors in Deptford during the rest of the night. + +The most extraordinary affair of this description to be met with in +the annals of pressing is perhaps one that occurred early in the reign +of Queen Anne. Amongst the men-of-war then lying at Spithead were +the _Dorsetshire_, Capt. Butler commander, and the _Medway_. +Hearing that some sailors were in hiding at a place a little distance +beyond Gosport, Capt. Butler dispatched his 1st and 2nd lieutenants, +in charge of thirty of his best men, with instructions to take them +and bring them on board. It so happened that a strong gang was at the +same time on shore from the _Medway_, presumably on the same +errand, and this party the Dorsetshires, returning to their ship with +the seamen they had taken, found posted in the Gosport road for the +avowed purpose of re-pressing the pressed men. By a timely detour, +however, they reached the waterside "without any mischief done." + +Meanwhile, a rumour had somehow reached the ears of Capt. Butler to +the effect that a fight was in progress and his 1st lieutenant killed. +He immediately took boat and hurried over to Gosport, where, to his +relief, he found his people all safe in their boats, but on the Point, +to use his own graphic words, "severall hundred People, some with +drawn Swords, some with Spitts, others with Clubbs, Staves & +Stretchers. Some cry'd 'One & All!' others cry'd 'Medways!' and some +again swearing, cursing & banning that they would knock my People's +Brains out. Off I went with my Barge to the Longboat," continues the +gallant captain, "commanding them to weigh their grappling & goe with +me aboard. In the meantime off came about twelve Boats full with the +_Medway's_ men to lay my Longboat aboard, who surrounded us with +Swords, Clubbs, Staves & divers Instruments, & nothing would do but +all our Brains must be Knock't out. Finding how I defended the +Longboat, they then undertook to attack myselfe and people, One of +their Boats came upon the stern and made severall Blows at my Coxwain, +and if it had not been for the Resolution I had taken to endure all +these Abuses, I had Kill'd all those men with my own Hand; but this +Boat in particular stuck close to me with only six men, and I kept a +very good Eye upon her. All this time we were rowing out of the +Harbour with these Boats about us as far as Portsmouth Point, my +Coxwain wounded, myselfe and People dangerously assaulted with Stones +which they brought from the Beech & threw at us, and as their Boats +drop'd off I took my opportunity & seized ye Boat with the Six Men +that had so attack'd me, and have secured them in Irons." With this +the incident practically ended; for although the Medways retaliated by +seizing and carrying off the _Dorsetshire's_ coxwain and a crew +who ventured ashore next day with letters, the latter were speedily +released; but for a week Capt. Butler--fiery old Trojan! who could +have slain a whole boat's-crew with his own hand--remained a close +prisoner on board his ship. "Should I but put my foot ashoar," we hear +him growl, "I am murther'd that minute." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Butler, 1 June 1705.] + +With certain exceptions presently to be noted, every man's hand was +against the fugitive sailor, and this being so it followed as a matter +of course that in his inveterate pursuit of him the gangsman found +more honourable allies than that nefarious person, the man-selling +informer. The class whom the sailor himself, in his contempt of the +good feeding he never shared, nicknamed "big-bellied placemen"--the +pompous mayors, the portly aldermen and the county magistrate who knew +a good horse or hound but precious little law, were almost to a man +the gangsman's coadjutors. Lavishly wined and dined at Admiralty +expense, they urbanely "backed" the regulating captain's warrants, +consistently winked at his glaring infractions of law and order, and +with the most commendable loyalty imaginable did all in their power to +forward His Majesty's service. Even the military, if rightly +approached on their pinnacle of lofty superiority, now and then +condescended to lend the gangsman a hand. Did not Sloper, +Major-General and Commandant at Lewes, throw a whole company into the +siege of Brighton? + +These post-prandial concessions on the part of bigwigs desirous of +currying favour in high places on the whole told heavily against the +sorely harassed object of the gangsman's quest, rendering it, amongst +other things, extremely unsafe for him to indulge in those +unconventional outbursts which, under happier conditions, so uniformly +marked his jovial moods. At the playhouse, for example, he could not +heave empty bottles or similar tokens of appreciation upon the stage +without grave risk of incurring the fate that overtook Steven David, +Samuel Jenkins and Thomas Williams, three sailors of Falmouth town +who, merely because they adopted so unusual a mode of applauding a +favourite, were by magisterial order handed over to Lieut. Box of +H.M.S. _Blonde_, with a peremptory request that they should be +transferred forthwith to that floating stage where the only recognised +"turns" were those of the cat and the capstan. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1537--Capt. Ballard, 13 Dec. 1806.] + +Luckily for the sailor and those of other callings who shared his +liability to the press, the civil authorities did not range themselves +on the gangsman's side with complete unanimity. Local considerations +of trade, coupled with some faint conception of the hideous injustice +the seafaring classes groaned under, and groaned in vain, here and +there outweighed patriotism and dinners. Little by little a +cantankerous spirit of opposition got abroad, and every now and then, +at this point or at that, some mayor or alderman, obsessed by this +spirit beyond his fellows and his time, seized such opportunities as +office threw in his way to mark his disapproval of the wrongs the +sailor suffered. Had this attitude been more general, or more +consistent in itself, the press-gang would not have endured for a day. + +The role of Richard Yea and Nay was, however, the favourite one with +urban authorities. Towns at first not "inclinable to allow a +pressing," afterwards relented and took the gang to their bosom, or +entertained it gladly for a time, only to cast it out with contumely. +A lieutenant who was sent to Newcastle to press in 1702 found "no +manner of encouragement there"; yet seventy-five years later the +Tyneside city, thanks to the loyal co-operation of a long succession +of mayors, and of such men as George Stephenson, sometime +Deputy-Master of the Trinity House, had become one of the riskiest in +the kingdom for the seafaring man who was a stranger within her gates. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. Bover, 11 Aug. +1778.] + +The attitude of Poole differed in some respects from that of other +towns. Her mayors and magistrates, while they did not actually oppose +the pressing of seamen within the borough, would neither back the +warrants nor lend the gangs their countenance. The reason advanced for +this disloyal attitude was of the absurdest nature. Poole held that in +order to press twenty men you were not at liberty to kill the +twenty-first. That, in fact, was what had happened on board the +_Maria_ brig as she came into port there, deeply laden with fish +from the Banks, and the corporation very foolishly never forgot the +trivial incident. + +It did not, of course, follow that the Poole sailor enjoyed freedom +from the press. Far from it. What he did enjoy was a reputation that, +if not all his own, was yet sufficiently so to be shared by few. Bred +in that roughest of all schools, the Newfoundland cod fishery, he was +an exceptionally tough nut to crack. + + "If Poole were a fish pool + And the men of Poole fish, + There'd be a pool for the devil + And fish for his dish," + +was how the old jibe ran, and in this estimate of the Poole man's +character the gangs fully concurred. They knew him well and liked him +little, so when bent on pressing him they adopted no squeamish +measures, but very wisely "trusted to the strength of their right arms +for it." Some of their attempts to take him make strange reading. + +About eight o'clock on a certain winter's evening, Regulating Captain +Walbeoff, accompanied by Lieut. Osmer, a midshipman and eight +gangsmen, broke into the house of William Trim, a seafaring native of +the place whom they knew to be at home and had resolved to press. +Alarmed by the forcing of the door, and only too well aware of what it +portended, Trim made for the stairs, where, turning upon his pursuers, +he struck repeatedly and savagely at the midshipman, who headed them, +with a red-hot poker which he had snatched out of the fire at the +moment of his flight. He was, however, quickly overpowered, disarmed +and dragged back into the lower room, where his captors threw him +violently to the floor and with their hangers took effective measures +to prevent his escape or further opposition. His sister happened to be +in the house, and whilst this was going on the lieutenant brutally +assaulted her, presumably because she wished to go to her brother's +assistance. Meanwhile Trim's father, a man near seventy years of age, +who lived only a stone's-throw away, hearing the uproar, and being +told the gang had come for his son, ran to the house with the +intention, as he afterwards declared, of persuading him to go quietly. +Seeing him stretched upon the floor, he stooped to lift him to his +feet, when one of the gang attacked him and stabbed him in the back. +He fell bleeding beside the younger man, and was there beaten by a +number of the gangsmen whilst the remainder dragged his son off to the +press-room, whence he was in due course dispatched to the fleet at +Spithead. The date of this brutal episode is 1804; the manner of it, +"nothing more than what usually happened on such occasions" in the +town of Poole. [Footnote _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Admiral +Phillip, Inquiry into the Conduct of the Impress Officers at Poole, 13 +Aug. 1804.] + +For this deplorable state of things Poole had none but herself to +thank. Had she, instead of merely refusing to back the warrants, taken +effective measures to rid herself of the gang, that mischievous body +would have soon left her in peace. Rochester wore the jewel of +consistency in this respect. When Lieut. Brenton pressed a youth there +who "appeared to be a seafaring man," but turned out to be an exempt +city apprentice, he was promptly arrested and deprived of his sword, +the mayor making no bones of telling him that his warrant was "useless +in Rochester." With this broad hint he was discharged; but the people +proved less lenient than the mayor, for they set about him and beat +him unmercifully. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 301--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, No. 42: Deposition of Lieut. Brenton.] + +Save on a single occasion, already incidentally referred to, civic +Liverpool treated the gang with uniform kindness. In 1745, at a time +when the rebels were reported to be within only four miles of the +city, the mayor refused to back warrants for the pressing of sailors +to protect the shipping in the river. His reason was a cogent one. The +captains of the _Southsea Castle_, the _Mercury_ and the _Loo_, +three ships of war then in the Mersey, had just recently +"manned their boats with marines and impressed from the shore near +fifty men," and the seafaring element of the town, always a formidable +one, was up in arms because of it. This so intimidated the mayor that +he dared not sanction further raids "for fear of being murder'd." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Letters of Capt. Amherst, +Dec. 1745.] His dread of the armed sailor was not shared by Henry +Alcock, sometime mayor of Waterford. That gentleman "often headed the +press-gangs" in person. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1500--Capt. Bennett, 13 Nov. 1780.] + +Deal objected to the press for reasons extending back to the reign of +King John. As a member of the Cinque Ports that town had constantly +supplied the kings and queens of the realm, from the time of Magna +Charta downwards, with great numbers of able and sufficient seamen +who, according to the ancient custom of the Five Ports, had been +impressed and raised by the mayor and magistrates of the town, acting +under orders from the Lord Warden, and not by irresponsible gangs from +without. It was to these, and not to the press as such, that Deal +objected. The introduction of gangs in her opinion bred disorder. +Great disturbances, breaches of the peace, riots, tumults and even +bloodshed attended their steps and made their presence in any +peaceably disposed community highly undesirable. Within the memory of +living man even, Deal had obliged no less than four hundred seamen to +go on board the ships of the fleet, and she desired no more of those +strangers who recently, incited by Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, +had gone a-pressing in her streets and grievously wounded divers +persons. [Footnote: _State Papers Domestic_, Anne, xxxvi: No. 24: +Petition of the Mayor, Jurats and Commonalty of the Free Town and +Borough of Deal.] + +In this commonsense view of the case Deal was ably supported by Dover, +the premier Cinque Port. Dover, it is true, so far as we know never +embodied her objections to the press in any humble petition to the +Queen's Majesty. She chose instead a directer method, for when the +lieutenant of the _Devonshire_ impressed six men belonging to a +brigantine from Carolina in her streets, and attempted to carry them +beyond the limits of the borough, "many people of Dover, in company +with the Mayor thereof, assembled themselves together and would not +permit the lieutenant to bring them away." The action angered the +Lords Commissioners, who resolved to teach Dover a lesson. Orders were +accordingly sent down to Capt. Dent, whose ship the _Shrewsbury_ +man-o'-war was then in the Downs, directing him to send a gang ashore +and press the first six good seamen they should meet with, taking +care, however, since their Lordships did not wish to be too hard upon +the town, that the men so pressed were bachelors and not householders. +Lieut. O'Brien was entrusted with this delicate punitive mission. He +returned on board after a campaign of only a few hours' duration, +triumphantly bearing with him the stipulated hostages for Dover's +future good behaviour--"six very good seamen, natives and inhabitants, +and five of them bachelors." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1696--Capt. Dent, 24 Aug. 1743.] The sixth was of course a +householder, a circumstance that made the town's punishment all the +severer. + +Its effects were less salutary than the Admiralty had anticipated. +True, both Dover and Deal thereafter withdrew their opposition to the +press so far as to admit the gang within their borders; but they kept +a watchful eye upon its doings, and every now and then the old spirit +flamed out again at white heat, consuming the bonds of some poor devil +who, like Alexander Hart, freeman of Dover, had been irregularly +taken. On this occasion the mayor, backed by a posse of constables, +himself broke open the press-room door. A similar incident, occurring +a little later in the same year, so incensed Capt. Ball, who aptly +enough was at the time in command of the _Nemesis_, that he +roundly swore "to impress every seafaring man in Dover and make them +repent of their impudence." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. +301--Law Officers' Opinions, 1784-92, No. 44; _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1507--Capt. Ball, 15 April 1791.] + +Where the magistrate had it most in his power to make or mar the +fugitive sailor's chances was in connection with the familiar fiction +that the Englishman's house is his castle. To hide a sailor was to +steal the king's chattel--penalty, 5 Pounds forfeited to the parish; +and if you were guilty of such a theft, or were with good reason +suspected of being guilty, you found yourself in much the same case as +the ordinary thief or the receiver of stolen goods. A search warrant +could be sworn out before a magistrate, and your house ransacked from +cellar to garret. Without such warrant, however, it could not be +lawfully entered. In the heat of pressing forcible entry was +nevertheless not unusual, and many an impress officer found himself +involved in actions for trespass or damages in consequence of his own +indiscretion or the excessive zeal of his gang. The defence set up by +Lieut. Doyle, of Dublin, that the "Panel of the Door was Broke by +Accident," would not go down in a court of law, however avidly it +might be swallowed by the Board of Admiralty. + +More than this. The magistrate was by law empowered to seize all +straggling seamen and landsmen and hand them over to the gangs for +consignment to the fleet. The vagabond, as the unfortunate tramp of +those days was commonly called, had thus a bad time of it. For him all +roads led to Spithead. The same was true of persons who made +themselves a public nuisance in other ways. By express magisterial +order many answering to that description followed Francis Juniper of +Cuckfield, "a very drunken, troublesome fellow, without a coat to his +back," who was sent away lest he should become "chargeable to the +parish." The magistrate in this way conferred a double benefit upon +his country. He defended it against itself whilst helping it to defend +itself against the French. Still, the latter benefit was not always +above suspicion. The "ignorant zeal of simple justices," we are told, +often impelled them to hand over to the gangs men whom "any old woman +could see with half an eye to be properer objects of pity and charity +than fit to serve His Majesty." + +"Send your myrmidons," was a form of summons familiar to every gang +officer. As its tone implies, its source was magisterial, and when the +officer received it he hastened with his gang to the Petty Sessions, +the Assizes or the prison, and there took over, as an unearned +increment of His Majesty's fleet, the person of some misdemeanant +willing to exchange bridewell for the briny, or the manacled body of +some convicted felon who preferred to swing in a hammock at sea rather +than on the gallows ashore. + +A strangely assorted crew it was, this overflow of the jails that +clanked slowly seawards, marshalled by the gang. Reprieves and +commutations, if by no means universal in a confirmed hanging age, +were yet common enough to invest it with an appalling sameness that +was nevertheless an appalling variety. Able seamen sentenced for +horse-stealing or rioting, town dwellers raided out of night-houses, +impostors who simulated fits or played the maimed soldier, fishermen +in the illicit brandy and tobacco line, gentlemen of the road, makers +of "flash" notes and false coin, stealers of sheep, assaulters of +women, pickpockets and murderers in one unmitigated throng went the +way of the fleet and there sank their vices, their roguery, their +crimes and their identity in the number of a mess. + +Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too--youths barely in their +teens, guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people +who passed in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine +service on Sunday" and remaining impenitent and obdurate when +confronted with all the "terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and +dark cells" pertaining to a well-equipped city jail. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534, 1545--Capt. Barker, 1 March 1805, 20 +Aug. 1809, and numerous instances.] The turning over of such young +reprobates to the gang was one of the pleasing duties of the +magistrate. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +AT GRIPS WITH THE GANG. + + + +When all avenues of escape were cut off and the sailor found himself +face to face with the gang and imminent capture, he either surrendered +his liberty at the word of command or staked it on the issue of a +fight. + +His choice of the latter alternative was the proverbial turning of the +worm, but of a worm that was no mean adversary. Fear of the gang, +supposing him to entertain any, was thrown to the winds. Fear of the +consequences--the clink, or maybe the gallows for a last +land-fall--which had restrained him in less critical moments when he +had both room to run and opportunity, sat lightly on him now. In red +realism there flashed through his brain the example of some doughty +sailor, the hero of many an anchor-watch and forecastle yarn, who had +fought the gang to its last man and yet come off victor. The swift +vision fired his blood and nerved his arm, and under its obsession he +stood up to his would-be captors with all the dogged pluck for which +he was famous when facing the enemy at sea. + +In contests of this description the weapon perhaps counted for as much +as the man who wielded it, and as its nature depended largely upon +circumstances and surroundings, the range of choice was generally wide +enough to please the most elective taste. Pressing consequently +introduced the gangsman to some strange weapons. + +Trim, the Poole sailor whose capture is narrated in the foregoing +chapter, defended himself with a red-hot poker. In what may be termed +domestic as opposed to public pressing, the use of this homely utensil +as an impromptu liberty-preserver was not at all uncommon. Hot or +cold, it proved a formidable weapon in the hands of a determined man, +more especially when, as was at that time very commonly the case, it +belonged to the ponderous cobiron or knobbed variety. + +Another weapon of recognised utility, particularly in the vicinity of +docks, careening-stations and ship-yards, was the humble tar-mop. +Consisting of a wooden handle some five or six feet in length, though +of no great diameter, terminating in a ball of spun-yarn forming the +actual mop, this implement, when new, was comparatively harmless. No +serious blow could then be dealt with it; but once it had been used +for "paying" a vessel's bottom and sides it underwent a change that +rendered it truly formidable. The ball of ravellings forming the mop +became then thoroughly, charged with tar or pitch and dried in a rough +mass scarcely less heavy than lead. In this condition it was capable +of inflicting a terrible blow, and many were the tussels decided by +it. A remarkable instance of its effective use occurred at Ipswich in +1703, when a gang from the _Solebay_, rowing up the Orwell from +Harwich, attempted to press the men engaged in re-paying a collier. +They were immediately "struck down with Pitch-Mopps, to the great +Peril of their Lives." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436 +--Capt. Aldred, 6 Jan. 1702-3.] + +The weapon to which the sailor was most partial, however, was the +familiar capstan-bar. In it, as in its fellow the handspike, he found +a whole armament. Its availability, whether on shipboard or at the +waterside, its rough-and-ready nature, and above all its heft and +general capacity for dealing a knock-down blow without inflicting +necessarily fatal injuries, adapted it exactly to the sailor's +requirements, defensive or the reverse. It was with a capstan-bar that +Paul Jones, when hard pressed by a gang on board his ship at +Liverpool, was reputed to have stretched three of his assailants dead +on deck. Every sailor had heard of that glorious achievement and +applauded it, the killing perhaps grudgingly excepted. + +So, too, did he applaud the hardihood of William Bingham, that +far-famed north-country sailor who, adopting pistols as his weapon, +negligently stuck a brace of them in his belt and walked the streets +of Newcastle in open defiance of the gangs, none of which durst lay a +hand on him till the unlucky day when, in a moment of criminal +carelessness that could never be forgiven, he left his weapons at home +and was haled to the press-room fighting, all too late, like a fiend +incarnate. + +Not to enlarge on the endless variety of chance weapons, there +remained those good old-standers the musket, the cutlass and the +knife, each of which, in the sailor's grasp, played its part in the +rough-and-tumble of pressing, and played it well. A case in point, +familiar to every seaman, was the last fight put up by that famous +Plymouth sailor, Emanuel Herbert, another fatalist who, like Bingham, +believed in having two strings to his bow. He accordingly provided +himself with both fuzee and hanger, and with these comforting +bed-fellows retired to rest in an upper chamber of the public-house +where he lodged, easy in the knowledge that whatever happened the door +of his crib commanded the stairs. From this stronghold the gang +invited him to come down. He returned the compliment by inviting them +up, assuring them that he had a warm welcome in store for the first +who should favour him with a visit. The ambiguity of the invitation +appears to have been thrown away upon the gang, for "three of my +people," says the officer who led them, "rushed up, and the gun +missing fire, he immediately run one of them through the body with the +hanger"--a mode of welcoming his visitors which resulted in Herbert's +shifting his lodgings to Exeter jail, and in the wounded man's speedy +death. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1473--Capt. Brown, 4 +July 1727.] + +Here was a serious contingency indeed; but whatever deterrent effect +the fatal issue of this affair, as of many similar ones, may have had +upon the sailor's use of lethal weapons when attacked by the gang, +that effect was largely, if not altogether, neutralised by the upshot +of the famous Broadfoot case, which, occurring some sixteen years +later, gave the scales of justice a decided turn in the sailor's +favour and robbed the killing of a gangsman of its only terror, the +shadow of the gallows. The incident in question opened in Bristol +river, with the boarding of a merchant-man by a tender's gang. As they +came over the side Broadfoot met them, blunderbuss in hand. Being +there to guard the ship, he bade them begone, and upon their +disregarding the order, and closing in upon him with evident intent to +take him, he clapped the blunderbuss, which was heavily charged with +swanshot, to his shoulder and let fly into the midst of them. One of +their number, Calahan by name, fell mortally wounded, and Broadfoot +was in due course indicted for wilful murder. [Footnote: +_Westminster Journal_, 30 April 1743.] How he was found not +guilty on the ground that a warrant directed to the lieutenant gave +the gang no power to take him, and that he was therefore justified in +defending himself, was well known to every sailor in the kingdom. No +jury thereafter ever found him guilty of a capital felony if by chance +he killed a gangsman in self-defence. The worst he had to fear was a +verdict of manslaughter--a circumstance that proved highly inspiriting +to him in his frequent scraps with the gang. + +There was another aspect of the case, however, that came home to the +sailor rather more intimately than the risk of being called upon to +"do time" under conditions scarcely worse than those he habitually +endured at sea. Suppose, instead of his killing the gangsman, the +gangsman killed him? He recalled a case he had heard much palaver +about. An able seaman, a perfect Tom Bowling of a fellow, brought to +at an alehouse in the Borough--the old "Bull's Head" it was--having a +mind to lie snug for a while, 'tween voyages. However, one day, being +three sheets in the wind or thereabouts, he risked a run and was made +a prize of, worse luck, by a press-gang that engaged him. Their boat +lay at Battle Bridge in the Narrow Passage, and while they were +bearing down upon her, with the sailor-chap in tow, what should Jack +do but out with his knife and slip it into one of the gangers. 'Twas +nothing much, a waistcoat wound at most, but the ganger resented the +liberty, and swearing that no man should tap his claret for nix, he +ups with his cudgel and fetches Jack a clip beside the head that lost +him the number of his mess, for soon after he was discharged dead +along of having his head broke. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1486--Lieut. Slyford, 24 Nov. 1755. "Discharged dead," abbreviated to +"DD," the regulation entry in the muster books against the names of +persons deceased.] + +Risks of this sort raised grave issues for the sailor--issues to be +well considered of in those serious moments that came to the most +reckless on the wings of the wind or the lift of the waves at sea, +what time drink and the gang were remote factors in the problem of +life. But ashore! Ah! that was another matter. Life ashore was far too +crowded, far too sweet for serious reflections. The absorbing business +of pleasure left little room for thought, and the thoughts that came +to the sailor later, when he had had his fling and was again afoot in +search of a ship, decidedly favoured the killing of a gangsman, if +need be, rather than the loss of his own life or of a berth. The +prevalence of these sentiments rendered the taking of the sailor a +dangerous business, particularly when he consorted in bands. + +In that part of the west country traversed by the great roads from +Bristol to Liverpool, and having Stourbridge as its approximate +centre, ambulatory bands proved very formidable. The presence of the +rendezvous at Stourbridge accounted for this. Seamen travelled in +strength because they feared it. Two gangs were stationed there under +Capt. Beecher, and news of the approach of a large party of seamen +from the south having one day been brought in, he at once made +preparations for intercepting them. Lieut. Barnsley and his gang +marched direct to Hoobrook, a couple of miles south of Kidderminster, +a point the seamen had perforce to pass. His instructions were to wait +there, picking up in the meantime such of the sailor party as lagged +behind from footsoreness or fatigue, till joined by Lieut. Birchall +and the other gang, when the two were to unite forces and press the +main body. Through unforeseen circumstances, however, the plan +miscarried. Birchall, who had taken a circuitous route, arrived late, +whilst the band of sailors arrived early. They numbered, moreover, +forty-six as against eleven gangsmen and two officers. Four to one was +a temptation the sailors could not resist. They attacked the gangs +with such ferocity that out of the thirteen only one man returned to +the rendezvous with a whole skin. Luckily, there were no casualties on +this occasion; but a few days later, while two of Barnsley's gangsmen +were out on duty some little distance from the town, they were +suddenly attacked by a couple of sailors, presumably members of the +same band, who left one of them dead in the road. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Capt. Beecher, 12 July and 4 Aug. +1781.] + +Owing to its close proximity to the Thames, that remote suburb of +eighteenth century London known as Stepney Fields was much frequented +by armed bands of the above description, who successfully resisted all +attempts to take them. The master-at-arms of the _Chatham_ +man-o'-war, chancing once to pass that way, came in for exceedingly +rough usage at their hands, and when next day a lieutenant from the +same ship appeared upon the scene with a gang at his back and tried to +press the ringleaders in that affair, they "swore by God he should +not, and if he offered to lay hands on them, they would cut him down." +With this threat they drew their cutlasses, slashed savagely at the +lieutenant, and "made off through the Mobb which had gathered round +them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2579--Capt. Townshend, +21 April 1743.] + +A spot not many miles distant from Stepney Fields was the scene of a +singular fray many years later. His Majesty's ship _Squirrel_ +happened at the time to be lying in Longreach, and her commander, +Capt. Brawn, one day received intelligence that a number of sailors +were to be met with in the town of Barking. He at once dispatched his +1st and 2nd lieutenants with a contingent of twenty-five men and +several petty officers, to rout them out and take them. They reached +Barking about nine o'clock in the evening, the month being July, and +were not long in securing several of the skulkers, who with many of +the male inhabitants of the place were at that hour congregated in +public-houses, unsuspicious of danger. The sudden appearance in their +midst of so large an armed force, however, coupled with the outcry and +confusion inseparable from the pressing of a number of men, alarmed +the townsfolk, who poured into the streets, rescued the pressed men, +and would have inflicted summary punishment upon the intruders had not +the senior officer, seeing his party hopelessly outnumbered, tactfully +drawn off his force. This he did in good order and without serious +hurt; but just as he and his men were congratulating themselves upon +their escape, they were suddenly ambushed, at a point where their road +ran between high banks, by a "large concourse of Irish haymakers, to +the number of at least five hundred men, all armed with sabres +[Footnote: So in the original, but "sabres" is perhaps an error for +"scythes."] and pitchforks," who with wild cries and all the +Irishman's native love of a shindy fell upon the unfortunate gangsmen +and gave them a "most severe beating." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Brawn, 3 July 1803.] + +Attacks on the gang, made with deliberate intent to rescue pressed men +from its custody, were by no means confined to Barking. The informer +throve in the land, but notwithstanding his hostile activity the +sailor everywhere had friends who possessed at least one cardinal +virtue. They seldom hung back when he was in danger, or hesitated to +strike a blow in his defence. + +There came into Limehouse Hole, on a certain day in the summer of +1709, a vessel called the _Martin_ galley. How many men were in +her we do not learn; but whatever their number, there was amongst them +one man who had either a special dread of the press or some more than +usually urgent occasion for wishing to avoid it. Watching his +opportunity, he slipped into one of the galley's boats, sculled her +rapidly to land, and there leapt out--just as a press-gang hove in +sight ahead! It was a dramatic moment. The sailor, tacking at sight of +the enemy, ran swiftly along the river-bank, but was almost +immediately overtaken, knocked down, and thrown into the press-boat, +which lay near by. "This gather'd a Mob," says the narrator of the +incident, "who Pelted the Boat and Gang by throwing Stones and Dirt +from the Shoar, and being Pursued also by the Galley's men, who +brought Cutlasses in the Boat with them to rescue their Prest Man, the +Gang was at last forc'd to betake themselves to a Corn-lighter, where +they might stand upon their Defence. The Galley's men could not get +aboard, but lay with their Boat along the side of the Lighter, where +they endeavouring to force in, and the Gang to keep them out, the Boat +of a sudden oversett and some of the Men therein were Drown'd. Three +of the Press-Gang were forc'd likewise into the Water, whereof 'tis +said one is Drown'd and the other two in Irons in the New Prison. The +remaining part of the Gang leapt into a Wherry, the Galley's men +pursuing them, but, not gaining upon them, they gave over the +Pursuit." The pressed man all this while was laughing in his sleeve. +"He lay on the other side of the Lighter, in the Tender's boat, whence +he made his escape." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1437 +--Capt. Aston, 10 Aug. 1709.] + +In their efforts to restore the freedom of the pressed man, the +sailor's friends did not confine their attention exclusively to the +gang. When they turned out in vindication of those rights which the +sailor did not possess, they not infrequently found their diversion in +wrecking the gang's headquarters or in making a determined, though +generally futile, onslaught upon the tender. Respectable people, who +had no particular reason to favour the sailor's cause, viewed these +ebullitions of mingled rage and mischief with dismay, stigmatising +those who so lightheartedly participated in them as the "lower +classes" and the "mob." + +Few towns in the kingdom boasted--or reprobated, as the case might +be--a more erratically festive mob than Leith. As far back as 1709 +Bailie Cockburn had advised the inhabitants of that burgh to "oppose +any impressor," and seizing the occasion of the "Impressure of an +Apprentice Boy," had set them an example by arresting the pinnace of +Her Majesty's ship _Rye_, together with her whole crew, thirteen +in number, and keeping them in close confinement till the lad was +given up. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2448--Capt. Shale, 4 +Jan. 1708-9.] The worthy Bailie was in due time gathered unto his +fathers, and with the growth of the century gangs came and went in +endless succession, but neither the precept nor the example was ever +forgotten in Leith. Much pressing was done there, but it was done +almost entirely upon the water. To transfer the scene of action to the +strand meant certain tumult, for there the whim of the mob was law. +Now it pulled the gang-officer's house about his ears because he dared +to press a shipwright; again, it stoned the gang viciously because +they rescued some seamen from a wreck--and kept them. Between whiles +it amused itself by cutting down the rendezvous flag-staff; and if +nothing better offered, it split up into component parts, each of +which became a greater terror than the whole. One night, when the +watch had been set and all was quiet, a party of this description, +only three in number, approached the rendezvous and respectfully +requested leave to drink a last dram with some newly pressed men who +were then in the cage, their quondam shipmates. Suspecting no ulterior +design, the guard incautiously admitted them, whereupon they dashed a +quantity of spirits on the fire, set the place in a blaze, and carried +off the pressed men amid the hullabaloo that followed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1516-9--Letters of Capt. Brenton, 1797-8; +Lieut. Pierie, 2 Feb. 1798.] + +If Leith did this sort of thing well, Greenock, her commercial rival +on the Clyde, did it very much better; for where the Leith mob was but +a sporadic thing, erupting from its slummy fastnesses only in response +to rumour of chance amusement to be had or mischief to be done, +Greenock held her mob always in hand, a perpetual menace to the +gangsman did he dare to disregard the Clydeside ordinance in respect +to pressing. That ordinance restricted pressing exclusively to the +water; but it went further, for it laid it down as an inviolable rule +that members of certain trades should not be pressed at all. + +It was with the Trades that the ordinance originated. There was little +or no Greenock apart from the Trades. The will of the Trades was +supreme. The coopers, carpenters, riggers, caulkers and seamen of the +town ruled the burgh. Assembled in public meeting, they resolved +unanimously "to stand by and support each other" in the event of a +press; and having come to this decision they indited a trite letter to +the magistrates, intimating in unequivocal terms that "if they +countenanced the press, they must abide by the consequences," for once +the Trades took the matter in hand "they could not say where they +would stop." With the worthy burgesses laying down the law in this +fashion, it is little wonder that the gangs "seldom dared to press +ashore," or that they should have been able to take "only two coopers +in ten months." + +For the Trades were as good as their word. The moment a case of +prohibited pressing became known they took action. Alexander Weir, +member of the Shipwrights' Society, was taken whilst returning from +his "lawful employ," and immediately his mates, to the number of +between three and four hundred, downed tools and marched to the +rendezvous, where they peremptorily demanded his release. Have him +they would, and if the gang-officer did not see fit to comply with +their demand, not only should he never press another man in Greenock, +but they would seize one of the armed vessels in the river, lay her +alongside the tender, where Weir was confined, and take him out of her +by force. Brenton was regulating captain there at the time, and to +pacify the mob he promised to release the man--and broke his word. +Thereupon the people "became very riotous and proceeded to burn +everything that came in their way. About twelve o'clock they hauled +one of the boats belonging to the rendezvous upon the Square and put +her into the fire, but by the timely assistance of the officers and +gangs, supported by the magistrates and a body of the Fencibles, the +boat was recovered, though much damaged, and several of the +ringleaders taken up and sent to prison." The affair did not end +without bloodshed. "Lieut. Harrison, in defending himself, was under +the necessity of running one of the rioters through the ribs." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1508--Letters of Capt. Brenton, +1793.] + +Though Bailie Cockburn once "arrested" the pinnace of a man-o'-war at +Leith, the attempted burning of the Greenock press-boat is worthy of +more than passing note as the only instance of that form of +retaliation to be met with in the history of home pressing. In the +American colonies, on the other hand, it was a common feature of +demonstrations against the gang. Boston was specially notorious for +that form of reprisal, and Governor Shirley, in one of his masterly +dispatches, narrates at length, and with no little humour, how the mob +on one occasion burnt with great éclat what they believed to be the +press-boat, only to discover, when it was reduced to ashes, that it +belonged to one of their own ringleaders. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 38l8--Shirley to the Admiralty, 1 Dec. 1747.] + +The threat of the Greenock artificers to lay alongside the tender and +take out their man by force of arms was one for which there existed +abundant, if by no means encouraging precedent. Long before, as early, +indeed, as 1742, the keelmen frequenting Sunderland had set them an +example in that respect by endeavouring, some hundreds strong, to haul +the tender ashore--an attempt coupled with threats so dire that the +officer in command trembled in his shoes lest he and his men should +all "be made sacrifices of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Allen, 13 March 1741-2.] Nothing so dreadful happened, +however, for the attempt, like that made at Shoreham a few years +later, when there "appear'd in Sight, from towards Brighthelmstone, +about two or three Hundred Men arm'd with different Weapons, who +came with an Intent to Attack the _Dispatch_ sloop," failed +ignominiously, the attackers being routed on both occasions by a +timely use of swivel guns and musketry. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1482--Lieut. Barnsley, 25 March 1746.] + +Similar disaster overtook the organisers of the Tooley Street affair, +of which one Taylor, lieutenant to Capt. William Boys of the _Royal +Sovereign_, was the active cause. At the "Spread-Eagle" in Tooley +Street he and his gang one evening pressed a privateersman--an insult +keenly resented by the master of the ship. He accordingly sent off to +the tender, whither the pressed man had been conveyed for security's +sake, two wherries filled with armed seamen of the most piratical +type. The fierce fight that ensued had a dramatic finish. "Two Pistols +we took from them," says the narrator of the incident, in his quaint +old style, "and three Cutlasses, and Six Men; but one of the Men took +the Red Hott Poker out of the Fire, and our Men, having the Cutlasses, +Cutt him and Kill'd him in Defence of themselves." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1488--Lieut. Taylor, 1 April 1757.] + +In attacks of this nature the fact that the tender was afloat told +heavily in her favour, for unless temporarily hung up upon a mud-bank +by the fall of the tide, she could only be got at by means of boats. +With the rendezvous ashore the case was altogether different. Here you +had a building in a public street, flaunting its purpose provocatively +in your very face, and having a rear to guard as well as a front. For +these reasons attacks on the rendezvous were generally attended with a +greater measure of success than similar attempts directed against the +tenders. The face of a pressed man had only to show itself at one of +the stoutly barred windows, and immediately a crowd gathered. To the +prisoner behind the bars this crowd was friendly, commiserating or +chaffing him by turns; but to the gangsmen responsible for his being +there it was invariably and uncompromisingly hostile, so much so that +it needed only a carelessly uttered threat, or a thoughtlessly lifted +hand, to fan the smouldering fires of hatred into a blaze. When this +occurred, as it often did, things happened. Paving-stones hurtled +through the curse-laden air, the windows flew in fragments, the door, +assailed by overwhelming numbers, crashed in, and despite the stoutest +resistance the gang could offer the pressed man was hustled out and +carried off in triumph. + +The year 1755 witnessed a remarkable attack of this description upon +the rendezvous at Deal, where a band of twenty-seven armed men made a +sudden descent upon that obnoxious centre of activity and cut up the +gang most grievously. As all wore masks and had their faces blackened, +identification was out of the question. A reward of 200 Pounds, +offered for proof of complicity in the outrage, elicited no +information, and as a matter of fact its perpetrators were never +discovered. + +In Capt. McCleverty's time the gang at Waterford was once very roughly +handled whilst taking in a pressed man, and Mr. Mayor Alcock came +hurrying down to learn what was amiss. He found the rendezvous beset +by an angry and dangerous gathering. "Sir," said he to the captain, +"have you no powder or shot in the house?" McCleverty assured him that +he had. "Then, sir," cried the mayor, raising his voice so that all +might hear, "do you make use of it, and I will support you." The crowd +understood that argument and immediately dispersed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Deposition of Lieut. M Kellop, +1780.] + +Had the Admiralty reasoned in similar terms with those who beat its +gangsmen, converted its rendezvous into match-wood and carried off its +pressed men, it would have quickly made itself as heartily feared as +it was already hated; but in seeking to shore up an odious cause by +pacific methods it laid its motives open to the gravest +misconstruction. Prudence was construed into timidity, and with every +abstention from lead the sailor's mobbish friends grew more daring and +outrageous. + +One night in the winter of 1780, whilst Capt. Worth of the Liverpool +rendezvous sat lamenting the temporary dearth of seamen, Lieut. +Haygarth came rushing in with a rare piece of news. On the road from +Lancaster, it was reported, there was a whole coach-load of sailors. +The chance was too good to be lost, and instant steps were taken to +intercept the travellers. The gangs turned out, fully armed, and took +up their position at a strategic point, just outside the town, +commanding the road by which the sailors had to pass. By and by along +came the coach, the horses weary, the occupants nodding or asleep. In +a trice they were surrounded. Some of the gangsmen sprang at the +horses' heads, others threw themselves upon the drowsy passengers. +Shouts, curses and the thud of blows broke the silence of the night. +Then the coach rumbled on again, empty. Its late occupants, fifteen in +number, sulkily followed on foot, surrounded by their captors, who, as +soon as the town was reached, locked them into the press-room for the +rest of the night, it being the captain's intention to put them on +board the tender in the Mersey at break of day. + +In this, however, he was frustrated by a remarkable development in the +situation. Unknown to him, the coach-load of seamen had been designed +for the _Stag_ privateer, a vessel just on the point of sailing. +News of their capture reaching the ship soon after their arrival in +the town, Spence, her 1st lieutenant, at once roused out all his +available men, armed them, to the number of eighty, with cutlass and +pistol, and led them ashore. There all was quiet, favouring their +design. The hour was still early, and the silent, swift march through +the deserted streets attracted no attention and excited no alarm. At +the rendezvous the opposition of the weary sentinels counted for +little. It was quickly brushed aside, the strong-room door gave way +beneath a few well-directed blows, and by the time Liverpool went to +breakfast the _Stag_ privateer was standing out to sea, her crew +not only complete, but ably supplemented by eight additional occupants +of the press-room who had never, so far as is known, travelled in that +commodious vehicle, the Lancaster coach. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 7, 300--Law Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 19.] + +The neighbouring city of Chester in 1803 matched this exploit by +another of great audacity. Chester had long been noted for its +hostility to the gang, and the fact that the local volunteer +corps--the Royal Chester Artillery--was composed mainly of ropemakers, +riggers, shipwrights and sailmakers who had enlisted for the sole +purpose of evading the press, did not tend to allay existing friction. +Hence, when Capt. Birchall brought over a gang from Liverpool because +he could not form one in Chester itself, and when he further +signalised his arrival by pressing Daniel Jackson, a well-known +volunteer, matters at once came to an ugly head. The day happened to +be a field-day, and as Birchall crossed the market square to wait upon +the magistrates at the City Hall, he was "given to understand what +might be expected in the evening," for one of the artillerymen, +striking his piece, called out to his fellows: "Now for a running +ball! There he goes!" with hissing, booing and execrations. At seven +o'clock one of the gang rushed into the captain's lodgings with +disquieting news. The volunteers were attacking the rendezvous. He +hurried out, but by the time he arrived on the scene the mischief was +already done. The enraged volunteers, after first driving the gang +into the City Hall, had torn down the rendezvous colours and staff, +and broken open the city jail and rescued their comrade, whom they +were then in the act of carrying shoulder-high through the streets, +the centre of a howling mob that even the magistrates feared to face. +By request Birchall and his gang returned to Liverpool, counting +themselves lucky to have escaped the "running ball" they had been +threatened with earlier in the day. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Birchall, 29 Dec. 1803.] + +Another town that gave the gang a hot reception was Whitby. As in the +case of Chester the gang there was an importation, having been brought +in from Tyneside by Lieuts. Atkinson and Oakes. As at Chester, too, a +place of rendezvous had been procured with difficulty, for at first no +landlord could be found courageous enough to let a house for so +dangerous a purpose. At length, however, one Cooper was prevailed upon +to take the risk, and the flag was hung out. This would seem to have +been the only provocative act of which the gang was guilty. It +sufficed. Anticipation did the rest; for just as in some individuals +gratitude consists in a lively sense of favours to come, so the +resentment of mobs sometimes avenges a wrong before it has been +inflicted. + +On Saturday the 23rd of February 1793, at the hour of half-past seven +in the evening, a mob of a thousand persons, of whom many were women, +suddenly appeared before the rendezvous. The first intimation of what +was about to happen came in the shape of a furious volley of brickbats +and stones, which instantly demolished every window in the house, to +the utter consternation of its inmates. Worse, however, was in store +for them. An attempt to rush the place was temporarily frustrated by +the determined opposition of the gang, who, fearing that all in the +house would be murdered, succeeded in holding the mob at bay for an +hour and a half; but at nine o'clock, several of the gangsmen having +been in the meantime struck down and incapacitated by stones, which +were rained upon the devoted building without cessation, the door at +length gave way before an onslaught with capstan-bars, and the mob +swarmed in unchecked. A scene of indescribable confusion and fury +ensued. Savagely assaulted and mercilessly beaten, the gangsmen and +the unfortunate landlord were thrown into the street more dead than +alive, every article of furniture on the premises was reduced to +fragments, and when the mob at length drew off, hoarsely jubilant over +the destruction it had wrought, nothing remained of His Majesty's +rendezvous save bare walls and gaping windows. Even these were more +than the townsfolk could endure the sight of. Next evening they +reappeared upon the scene, intending to finish what they had begun by +pulling the house down or burning it to ashes; but the timely arrival +of troops frustrating their design, they regretfully dispersed. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2739--Lieut. Atkinson, 26 Feb. +and 27 June 1793.] + +Out at sea the sailor, if he could not set the tune by running away +from the gang, played up to it with great heartiness. To sink the +press-boat was his first aim. With this end in view he held stolidly +on his course, if under weigh, betraying his intention by no sign till +the boat, manoeuvring to get alongside of him, was in the right +position for him to strike. Then, all of a sudden, he showed his hand. +Clapping his helm hard over, he dexterously ran the boat down, leaving +the struggling gangsmen to make what shift they could for their lives. +Many a knight of the hanger was sent to Davy Jones in this summary +fashion, unloved in life and cursed in the article of death. + +The attempt to best the gang by a master-stroke of this description +was not, it need hardly be said, attended with uniform success. A miss +of an inch or two, and the boat was safe astern, pulling like mad to +recover lost ground. In these circumstances the sailor recalled how he +had once seen a block fall from aloft and smash a shipmate's head, and +from this he argued that if a suitable object such as a heavy +round-shot, or, better still, the ship's grindstone, were deftly +dropped over the side at the psychological moment, it must either have +a somewhat similar effect upon the gangsmen below or sink the boat by +knocking a hole in her bottom. The case of the _John and +Elizabeth_ of Sunderland, that redoubtable Holland pink whose +people were "resolved sooner to dye than to be impressed," affords an +admirable example of the successful application of this theory. + +As the _John and Elizabeth_ was running into Sunderland harbour +one afternoon in February 1742, three press-boats, hidden under cover +of the pier-head, suddenly darted out as she surged past that point +and attempted to board her. They met with a remarkable repulse. For +ten minutes, according to the official account of the affair, the air +was filled with grindstones, four-pound shot, iron crows, handspikes, +capstan-bars, boat-hooks, billets of wood and imprecations, and when +it cleared there was not in any of the boats a man who did not bear +upon his person some bloody trace of that terrible fusillade. They +sheered off, but in the excitement of the moment and the mortification +of defeat Midshipmen Clapp and Danton drew their pistols and fired +into the jeering crew ranged along the vessel's gunwhale, "not +knowing," as they afterwards pleaded, "that there was any balls in the +pistols." Evidence to the contrary was quickly forthcoming. A man fell +dead on the pink's deck, and before morning the two middies were safe +under lock and key in that "dismal hole," Durham jail. It was a +notable victory for the sailor and applied mechanics. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Allen, 13 March 1741-2, and +enclosure.] + +The affair of the _King William_ Indiaman, a ship whose people +kept the united boats'-crews of two men-of-war at bay for nearly +twenty-four hours, carried the sailor's resistance to the press an +appreciable step further and developed some surprising tactics. +Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon of a day in September +1742, two ships came into the Downs in close order. They had been +expected earlier in the day, and both the _Shrewsbury_ frigate +and the _Shark_ sloop were on the lookout for them. A shot from +the former brought the headmost to an anchor, but the second, the +_King William_, hauled her wind and stood away close to the +Goodwins, out of range of the frigate's guns. Here, the tide being +spent and the wind veering ahead, she was obliged to anchor, and the +warships' boats were at once manned and dispatched to press her men. +Against this eventuality the latter appear to have been primed "with +Dutch courage," as the saying went, the manner of which was to broach +a cask of rum and drink your fill. On the approach of the press-boats +pandemonium broke loose. The maddened crew, brandishing their +cutlasses and shouting defiance, assailed the on-coming boats with +every description of missile they could lay hands on, not excepting +that most dangerous of all casual ammunition, broken bottles. +The _Shrewsbury's_ mate fell, seriously wounded, and finding +themselves unable to face the terrible hail of missiles, the boats +drew off. Night now came on, rendering further attempts temporarily +impossible--a respite of which the Indiaman's crew availed themselves +to confine the master and break open the arms-chest, which he had +taken the precaution to nail down. With morning the boats returned to +the attack. Three times they attempted to board, and as often were +they repulsed by pistol and musketry fire. Upon this the _Shark_, +acting under peremptory orders from the _Shrewsbury_, ran down to +within half-gunshot of the Indiaman and fired a broadside into her, +immediately afterwards repeating the dose on finding her still +defiant. The ship then submitted and all her men were pressed save +two. They had been killed by the _Shark's_ gun-fire. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1829--Capt. Goddard, 22 Sept. and 16 Oct., +and his Deposition, 19 Oct. 1742.] + +With the appearance of the gang on the deck of his ship there was +ushered in the last stage but one of the sailor's resistance to the +press afloat. How, when this happened, all hands were mustered and the +protected sheep separated from the unprotected goats, has been fully +described in a previous chapter. These preliminaries at an end, "Now, +my lads," said the gang officer, addressing the pressable contingent +in the terms of his instructions, "I must tell you that you are at +liberty, if you so choose, to enter His Majesty's service as +volunteers. If you come in in that way, you will each receive the +bounty now being paid, together with two months' advance wages before +you go to sea. But if you don't choose to enter volunteerly, then I +must take you against your wills" + +It was a hard saying, and many an old shellback--ay! and young one +too--spat viciously when he heard it. Conceive the situation! Here +were these poor fellows returning from a voyage which perhaps had cut +them off from home and kindred, from all the ordinary comforts and +pleasures of life, for months or maybe years; here were they, with the +familiar cliffs and downs under their hungry eyes, suddenly confronted +with an alternative of the cruellest description, a Hobson's choice +that left them no option but to submit or fight. It was a +heartbreaking predicament for men, and more especially for sailor-men, +to be placed in, and if they sometimes rose to the occasion like men +and did their best to heave the gang bodily into the sea, or to drive +them out of the ship with such weapons as their hard situation and the +sailor's Providence threw in their way--if they did these things in +the gang's despite, they must surely be judged as outraged husbands, +fathers and lovers rather than as disloyal subjects of an exacting +king. They would have made but sorry man-o'-war's-men had they +entertained the gang in any other way. + +Opposed to the service cutlass, the sailor's emergency weapon was but +a poor tool to stake his liberty upon, and even though the numerical +odds chanced to be in his favour he often learnt, in the course of his +pitched battles with the gang, that the edge of a hanger is sharper +than the corresponding part of a handspike. Lucky for him if, with his +shipmates, he could then retreat to close quarters below or between +decks, there to make a final stand for his brief spell of liberty +ashore. This was his last ditch. Beyond it lay only surrender or +death. + +The death of the sailor at the hands of the gang introduces us to a +phase of pressing technically known as the accidental, wherein the +accidents were of three kinds--casual, unavoidable, and +"disagreeable." + +The casual accident was one that could be neither foreseen nor +averted, as when Capt. Argles, returning to England on the breaking up +of the Limerick rendezvous in 1814, was captured by an American +privateer "well up the Bristol Channel," a place where no one ever +dreamed of falling in with such an enemy. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 17 Aug. 1814.] + +To the unavoidable accident every impress officer and agent was liable +in the execution of his duty. It could thus be foreseen in the +abstract, though not in the instance. Hence it could not be avoided. +Wounds given and received in the heat and turmoil of pressing came +under this head, provided they did not prove fatal. + +The accident "disagreeable" was peculiar to pressing. It consisted in +the killing of a man, by whatever means and in whatever manner, whilst +endeavouring to press him, and the immediate effect of the act, which +was common enough, was to set up a remarkable contradiction in terms. +The man killed was not the victim of the accident. The victim was the +officer or gangsman who was responsible for striking him off the roll +of His Majesty's pressable subjects, and who thus let himself in for +the consequences, more or less disagreeable, which inevitably +followed. + +While it was naturally the ambition of every officer engaged in +pressing "to do the business without any disagreeable accident +ensuing," he preferred, did fate ordain it otherwise, that the +accident should happen at sea rather than on land, since it was on +land that the most disagreeable consequences accrued to the +unfortunate victim. These embraced flight and prolonged expatriation, +or, in the alternative, arrest, preliminary detention in one of His +Majesty's prisons, and subsequent trial at the Assizes. What the +ultimate punishment might be was a minor, though still ponderable +consideration, since, where naval officers or agents were concerned, +the law was singularly capricious. [Footnote: As in Lacie's case, 25 +Elizabeth, where a mortal wound having been inflicted at sea, whereof +the party died on land, the prisoner was acquitted because neither the +Admiralty nor a jury could inquire of it.] At sea, on the other hand, +the conditions which on land rendered accidents of this nature so +uniformly disagreeable, were almost entirely reversed. How and why +this was so can be best explained by stating a case. + +The accident in point occurred in the year 1755, and is associated +with the illustrious name of Rodney. The Seven Years War was at the +time looming in the near future, and England's secret complicity in +the causes of that tremendous struggle rendered necessary the placing +of her Navy upon a footing adequate to the demands which it was +foreseen would be very shortly made upon it. In common with a hundred +other naval officers, Rodney, who was then in command of the _Prince +George_ guardship at Portsmouth, had orders to proceed without loss +of time to the raising of men. One of his lieutenants was accordingly +sent to London, that happy hunting-ground of the impress officer, +while two others, with picked crews at their backs, were put in charge +of tenders to intercept homeward-bounds. This was near the end of May. + + [Illustration: ANNE MILLS. Who served on board the _Maidstone_ +in 1740.] + +On the 1st of June, in the early morning, one of these tenders--the +_Princess Augusta_, Lieut. Sax commander--fell in, off Portland +Bill, with the _Britannia_, a Leghorn trader of considerable +force. In response to a shot fired as an intimation that she was +expected to lay-to and receive a gang on board, the master, hailing, +desired permission to retain his crew intact till he should have +passed that dangerous piece of navigation known as the Race. To this +reasonable request Sax acceded and the ship held on her course, +closely followed by the tender. By the time the Race was passed, +however, the merchant-man's crew had come to a resolution. They should +not be pressed by "such a pimping vessel" as the _Princess +Augusta_. Accordingly, they first deprived the master of the +command, and then, when again hailed by the tender, "swore they would +lose their lives sooner than bring too." The Channel at this time +swarmed with tenders, and to Sax's hint that they might just as well +give in then and there as be pressed later on, they replied with +defiant huzzas and the discharge of one of their maindeck guns. The +tender was immediately laid alongside, but on the gang's attempting to +board they encountered a resistance so fierce that Sax, thinking to +bring the infuriated crew to their senses, ordered his people to fire +upon them. Ralph Sturdy and John Debusk, armed with harpoons, and John +Wilson, who had requisitioned the cook's spit as a weapon, fell dead +before that volley. The rest, submitting without further ado, were at +once confined below. + +Now, three questions of moment are raised by this accident: What +became of the ship? what was done with the dead men? and what +punishment was meted out to the lieutenant and his gang? The crew once +secured under hatches, the safety of the ship became of course the +first consideration. It was assured by a simple expedient. The gang +remained on board and worked the vessel into Portsmouth harbour, +where, after her hands had been taken out--Rodney the receiver--"men +in lieu" were put on board, as explained in our chapter on pressing +afloat, and with this make-shift crew she was navigated to her +destination, in this instance the port of London. + +As persons killed at sea, the three sailors who lay dead on the ship's +deck did not come within the jurisdiction of the coroner. That +official's cognisance of such matters extended only to high-water mark +when the tide was at flood, or to low-water mark when it was at ebb. +Beyond those limits, seawards, all acts of violence done in great +ships, and resulting in mayhem or the death of a man, fell within the +sole purview and jurisdiction of the Station Admiral, who on this +occasion happened to be Sir Edward Hawke, commander of the White +Squadron at Portsmouth. Now Sir Edward was not less keenly alive to +the importance of keeping such cases hidden from the public eye than +were the Lords Commissioners. Hence he immediately gave orders that +the bodies of the dead men should be taken "without St. Helens" and +there committed to the deep. Instead of going to feed the Navy, the +three sailors thus went to feed the fishes, and another stain on the +service was washed out with a commendable absence of publicity and +fuss. + +There still remained the lieutenant and his gang to be dealt with and +brought to what, by another singular perversion of terms, was called +justice. On shore, notwithstanding the lenient view taken of such +accidents, an indictment of manslaughter, if not of murder, would have +assuredly followed the offence; and though in the circumstances it is +doubtful whether any jury would have found the culprits guilty of the +capital crime, yet the alternative verdict, with its consequent +imprisonment and disgrace, held out anything but a rosy prospect to +the young officer who had still his second "swab" to win. That was +where the advantage of accidents at sea came in. On shore the +judiciary, however kindly disposed to the naval service, were +painfully disinterested. At sea the scales of justice were held, none +too meticulously, by brother officers who had the service at heart. +Under the judicious direction of Admiral Osborn, who in the meantime +had succeeded Sir Edward Hawke in the Portsmouth command, Lieut. Sax +and his gang were consequently called upon to face no ordeal more +terrible than an "inquiry into their proceedings and behaviour." +Needless to say, they were unanimously exonerated, the court holding +that the discharge of their duty fully justified them in the discharge +of their muskets. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5925--Minutes +at a Court-Martial held on board H.M.S. _Prince George_ at +Portsmouth, 14 Nov. 1755. Precedent for the procedure in this case is +found in _Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, +1733-56, No. 27.] When such disagreeable accidents had to be +investigated, the disagreeable business was done--to purloin an apt +phrase of Coke's--"without prying into them with eagles' eyes." + +But it is time to leave the trail of blood and turn to a more +agreeable phase of pressing. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GANG AT PLAY. + + + +The reasons assigned for the pressing of men who ought never to have +made the acquaintance of the warrant or the hanger were often as +far-fetched as they are amusing. "You have no right to press a person +of my distinction!" warmly protested an individual of the superior +type when pounced upon by the gang. "Lor love yer! that's the wery +reason we're a-pressin' of your worship," replied the grinning minions +of the service. "We've such a set of black-guards aboard the tender +yonder, we wants a toff like you to learn 'em manners." + +The quixotic idea of inculcating manners by means of the press +infected others besides the gangsman. In a Navy whose officers not +only plumed themselves on representing the _ne plus ultra_ of +etiquette, but demanded that all who approached them should do so +without sin either of omission or commission, the idea was universal. +Pride of service and pride of self entered into its composition in +about equal proportions; hence the sailing-master who neglected to +salute the flag, or who through ignorance, crass stupidity, or malice +aforethought flew prohibited colours, was no more liable to be taught +an exemplary lesson than the bum-boatman who sauced the officer of the +watch when detected in the act of smuggling spirits or women into one +of His Majesty's ships. + +For all such offenders the autocracy of the quarter-deck, from the +rigid commander down to the very young gentleman newly joined, kept a +jealous lookout, and many are the instances of punishment, swift and +implacable, following the offence. Insulted dignity could of course +take it out of the disrespectful fore-mastman with the rattan, the cat +or the irons; but for the ill-mannered outsider, whether pertaining to +sea or land, the recognised corrective was His Majesty's press. A +solitary exception is found in the case of Henry Crabb of Chatham, a +boatman who rejoiced in incurable lameness; rejoiced because, although +there were many cripples on board the Queen's ships in his day, his +infirmity was such as to leave him at liberty to ply for hire "when +other men durst not for feare of being Imprest." He was an impudent, +over-reaching knave, and Capt. Balchen, of the _Adventure_ +man-o'-war, whose wife had suffered much from the fellow's abusive +tongue and extortionate propensities, finding himself unable to press +him, brought him to the capstan and there gave him "eleven lashes with +a Catt of Nine Tailes." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1466--Capt. Balchen, 10 March 1703-4.] + +A letter written in the early forties-a letter as breezy as the sea +from which it was penned--gives us a striking picture of the old-time +naval officer as a teacher of deportment. Cruising far down-Channel, +Capt. Brett, of the _Anglesea_ man-o'-war, there fell in with a +ship whose character puzzled him sorely. He consequently gave chase, +but the wind falling light and night coming on, he lost her. Early +next morning, as luck would have it, he picked her up again, and +having now a "pretty breeze," he succeeded in drawing within range of +her about two o'clock in the afternoon, when he fired a shot to bring +her to. The strange sail doubtless feared that she was about to lose +her hands, for instead of obeying the summons she trained her +stern-chasers on the _Anglesea_ and for an hour and a half blazed +away at her as fast as she could load. "They put a large marlinespike +into one of their guns," the indignant captain tells us, "which struck +the carriage of the chase gun upon our forecastle, dented it near two +inches, then broke asunder and wounded one of the men in the leg, and +had it come a yard higher, must infallibly have killed two or three. +By all this behaviour I concluded she must be an English vessel taken +by the Spaniards. However, when we came within a cable's length of him +he brought to, so we run close under his stern in order to shoot a +little berth to leeward of him, and at the same time bid them hoist +their boats out. Our people, as is customary upon such occasions, were +then all up upon the gunhill and in the shrouds, looking at him. Just +as we came under his quarter he pointed a gun that was sticking out a +little abaft his main-shrouds right at us, and put the match to it, +but it happened very luckily that the gun blew. A fellow that was +standing on the quarter-deck then took up a blunderbuss and presented +it, which by its not going off must have missed fire. As it was almost +impossible, they being stripp'd and bareheaded, besides having their +faces besmeared with powder, for us to judge them by their looks, I +concluded they must be a Parcell of Light-headed Frenchmen run mad, +and thinking it by no means prudent to let them kill my men in such a +ridiculous manner, I ordered the marines, who were standing upon the +quarter-deck with their musquets shoulder'd, to fire upon them. As +soon as they saw the musquets presented they fell flat upon the decks +and by that means saved themselves from being kill'd. Some of our +people at the same time fired a 9-pounder right into his quarter, upon +which they immediately submitted. I own I never was more surprised in +all my life to find that she was an English vessel, tho' my surprise +was lessened a good deal when I came to see the master and all his +fighting men so drunk as to be scarce capable of giving a rational +answer to any question that was asked them. I was very glad to find +that none of them were hurt; _but I found out the man who presented +the blunderbuss, and upon his behaving saucily when I taxed him with +it, I took him out of the vessel._" [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1479--Capt. Brett, 17 April 1743. The captain's use of +gender is philologically instructive. Not till later times, it seems, +did ships lose the character of a "strong man armed" and take on, +uniformly, the attributes of the skittish female.] + + [Illustration: SAILORS CAROUSING. From the mezzotint after J. Ibbetson.] + +So abhorrent a condiment was "sauce" to the naval palate, whether of +officer or impress agent, that its use invariably brought its own +punishment with it. "You are no gentleman!" said Gangsman Dibell to +one Hartnell, a currier who accidentally jostled him whilst he was +drinking in a Poole taproom. "No, nor you neither!" replied Hartnell. +The retort cost him a most disagreeable experience. Dibell and his +comrades collared him and dragged him off to the rendezvous, where he +was locked up in the black-hole till the next day. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Inquiry into the Conduct of the +Impress Officers at Poole, 13 Aug. 1804.] + +At Waterford Capt. Price went one better than this, for a man who was +totally unfit for the service having one day shown him some trifling +disrespect, the choleric old martinet promptly set the gang upon him +and had him conveyed on board the tender, "where," says Lieut. +Collingwood, writing a month later, "he has been eating the king's +victuals ever since." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501 +--Lieut. Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] Punishment enough, surely! + +One night at Londonderry, as Lieut. Watson was making his way down to +the quay for the purpose of boarding the _Hope_ tender, of which +he was commander, he accidentally ran against a couple of strangers. + +"Hallo! my lads," cried he, "who and what are you?" + +"I am what I am," replied one of them, insolently. + +The lieutenant, who had been dining, fired up at this and demanded to +know if language such as that was proper to be addressed to a king's +officer. + +"As you please," said he of the insolent tongue. "If you like it +better, I'll say I'm a piece of a man." + +"So I see by your want of manners," retorted the lieutenant. "Come +along with me, my brave piece! I know those who will make a whole man +of you before they're done." + +With that he seized the fellow, meaning to take him to his boat, which +lay near by, but the pressed man, watching his chance, tripped him up +and made off. Next day there was a sequel. The lieutenant "was taken +possession of by the Civil Power" on a charge of assault. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1531--Lieut. Watson, 27 Oct. 1804.] + +Another officer who met with base ingratitude from a pressed man whose +manners he attempted to reform was Capt. Bethel of the _Phoenix_. +At the Nore he was once grossly abused by the crew of a Customs-House +boat, and in retaliation took one of their number and carried him to +sea. Peremptory orders reaching him at one of the Scottish ports, +however, he discharged the man and paid his passage south. He was +immediately sued for false imprisonment and cast in heavy damages. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1493--Capt. Bethel, 29 Aug. +1762.] + +Capt. Brereton, of the _Falmouth_, was "had" in similar fashion +by the master of an East-Indiaman whom he pressed at Manilla because +of his insolence, and who afterwards, by a successful suit at law, let +him in for 400 Pounds damages and costs. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1494--Capt. Brereton, 18 Oct. 1765.] + +This was turning the tables of etiquette on its professors with a +vengeance. + +Such costly lessons in the art of politeness, however, did not in the +least abash the naval officer or deter him from the continued +inculcation of manners. Young fellows idly roystering on the river +could not be permitted to miscall with impunity the gorgeous admiral +passing in his twelve-oared barge, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 577--Admiral the Marquis of Carmarthen, 24 June 1710.] nor irate +shipmasters who flouted the impress service of the Crown as a +"pitiful" thing and its officers as "little scandalous creatures," be +allowed to go scot-free. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +2379--Capt. Robinson, 21 Feb. 1725-6.] At whatever cost, the dignity +of the service must be maintained. + +Nowhere did the use of invective attain such extraordinary perfection +as amongst those who plied their vocations on the country's busy +waterways. Here "sauce" was reduced to a science and vituperation to a +fine art. Thames watermen and Tyne keelmen in particular acquired an +astounding proficiency in the choice and application of abusive +epithets, but of the two the keelman carried off the palm. The +wherryman, it is true, possessed a ripe vocabulary, but the fact that +it embraced only a single dialect seriously handicapped him in his +race with the keelman, who had no less than three to draw upon, all +equally prolific. Between "keelish," "coblish" and "sheelish," the +respective dialects of the north-country keelman, pilot and tradesman, +he had at his command a source of supply unrivalled in vituperative +richness, abundance and variety. With these at his tongue's end none +could touch, much less outdo him in power and scope of abusive +description. He became in consequence of these superior advantages so +"insupportably impudent" that the only known cure for his complaint +was to follow the prescription of Capt. Atkins of the _Panther_, +and "take him as fast as you could ketch him"; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1438--Capt. Atkins, 23 Dec. 1720.] but even this +drastic method of curbing his tongue was robbed of much of its +efficacy by the jealous care with which he was "protected." + +Failure to amain, that is, to douse your topsail or dip your colours +when you meet with a ship of war--the marine equivalent for raising +one's hat--constituted a gross contempt of the king's service. The +custom was very ancient, King John having instituted it in the second +year of his reign. At that time, and indeed for long after, the salute +was obligatory, its omission entailing heavy penalties; [Footnote: A +copy of the original proclamation may be seen in Lansdowne MSS., +clxxi, f. 218, where it is also summarised in the following terms: +_"Anno 2 regni Johannis regis: Frends not amaining at the j sumons +but resisting the King his lieutenant, the L. Admirall or his +lieutenant, to lose the ship and goods, & theire bodies to be +imprisoned."_] but with the advent of the century of pressing +another means of inspiring respect for the flag, now exacted as a +courtesy rather than a right, came into vogue. The offending vessel +paid for its omission in men. + +If you were anything but a king's ship, and flew a flag that only +king's ships were entitled to fly, you were guilty, in the eyes of +every right-seeing naval officer, of another piece of ill manners so +gross as to be deserving of the severest punishment the press was +capable of inflicting upon you. You might fly the "flag and Jack +white, with a red cross (commonly called St. George's cross) passing +quite through the same"; likewise the "ensign red, with the cross in a +canton of white at the upper corner thereof, next to the staff"; but +if you presumed to display His Majesty's Jack, commonly called the +Union Jack, or any other of the various flags of command flown by +ships of war or vessels employed in the naval service, swift +retribution overtook you. Similarly, the inadvertent hoisting of your +colours "wrong end uppermost," or in any other manner deemed +inconsistent with the dignity of the service which permitted you to +fly them, laid you open to reprisals of the most summary nature. +Before you realised the heinousness of your offence, a gang boarded +you and your best man or men were gone beyond recall. The joy of +waterside weddings--occasions prolific in the display of wrong +colours--was often turned into sorrow in this way. + +Inability to do the things you professed to do involved grave risk of +making intimate acquaintance with the gang. If, for example, you were +a skipper and navigated your vessel more like a 'prentice than a +master hand, some one belonging to you was bound, in waters swarming +with ships of war, to pay the piper sooner or later. "A few days ago," +writes Capt. Archer of the _Isis_, "a ship called the _Jane_, +Stewart master, ran on board of us in a most lubberly manner +--for which, as is customary on such occasions, I took four of +his people." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1448--Capt. +Archer, 17 May 1795.] + +Ability to handle a musical instrument sometimes proved as fatal to +one's liberty as inability to handle a ship. Queen Anne was directly +responsible for this. Almost immediately after her accession she +signed a warrant authorising the pressing of "drummers, fife and haut +boys for sea and land." [Footnote: _Home Office Military Entry +Books_, clxviii, f. 406.] Though the authorisation was only +temporary, the practice thus set up continued long after its origin +had been relegated to the scrap-heap of memory, and not only +continued, but was interpreted in a sense much broader than its royal +originator ever intended it should be. This tendency to take an ell in +lieu of the stipulated inch was illustrated as early as 1705, when +Lieut. Thomson, belonging to the _Lickfield_, chancing to meet +one Richard Bullard, fiddler, "persuaded him to go as far as Woolwich +with him, to play a tune or two to him and some friends who had a mind +to dance, saying he would pay him for it"--which he did, when tired of +dancing, by handing him over to the press-gang. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1467--Capt. Byron, 13 July 1705.] + +In 1781, again, a "stout lad of 17" was pressed at Waterford because, +as a piper, he was considered likely to be "useful in amusing the +new-raised men"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1501--Lieut. +Collingwood, 18 March 1781.] and as late as 1807 a gang at Portsmouth, +acting under orders from Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, took one Madden, a +blind man, because of his "qualification of playing on the Irish +bagpipes." His affliction saved him. He was discharged, and the amount +of his pay and victualling was deducted from Sir Robert's wages as a +caution to him to be more careful in future. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Sir Robert Bromley, 1 Dec. 1808.] + +Perhaps the oddest reasons ever adduced in justification of specific +acts of pressing were those put forward in the cases of James Baily, a +Gosport ferry-man who was pressed on account of his "great +inactivity," and of John Conyear, exempt passenger on the packet-boat +plying between Dartmouth and Poole, subjected to the same process +because, as the officer responsible ingenuously put it when called to +book for the act, if Conyear had not been on board, "another would, +who might have been a proper person to serve His Majesty." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1451--Capt. Argles, 4 May 1807; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 2485--Capt. Scott, 13 March 1780.] + +An ironical interest attaches to the pressing of John Hagin, a youth +of nineteen who cherished an ambition to go a-whaling. Tramping the +riverside at Hull one day in search of a ship, he accidentally met one +of the lieutenants employed in the local impress service, and +mistaking him for the master of a Greenland ship, stepped up to him +and asked him for a berth. "Berth?" said the obliging officer. "Come +this way;" and he conducted the unsuspecting youth to the rendezvous. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Ackton, 23 March +1814.] + +Before you took a voyage for the benefit of your health in those days +it was always advisable to satisfy yourself as to the nature of the +cargo the vessel carried or intended to carry, otherwise you were +liable to be let in for a longer voyage than health demanded. Richard +Gooding of Bawdsey, in the county of Suffolk, a twenty-one-year-old +yeoman who knew nothing of the iniquities practised in ships, in an +evil hour acted on the advice of his apothecary and ran across to +Holland for the sake of his health, which the infirmities of youth +appear to have undermined. All went well until, on the return trip, +just before Bawdsey Ferry hove in sight, down swooped a revenue +cutter's boat with an urgent request that the master should open up +his hatches and disclose what his hold contained. He demurred, +alleging that it held nothing of interest to revenue men; but on their +going below to see for themselves they discovered an appreciable +quantity of gin. Thereupon the master wickedly declared Gooding to be +the culprit, and he was pressed on suspicion of attempting to run a +cargo of spirits. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1530--Capt. +Broughton, 20 April 1803, and enclosure.] + +Into the operations of the gang this element of suspicion entered very +largely, especially in the pressing of supposed sailors. To carry +about on your person any of the well-known marks of the seafaring man +was to invite certain disaster. When pressed, like so many others, +because he was "in appearance very much like a sailor," John Teede +protested vehemently that he had never been to sea in his life, and +that all who said he had were unmitigated liars. "Strip him," said the +officer, who had a short way with such cases. In a twinkling Teede's +shirt was over his head and the sailor stood revealed. Devices +emblematic of love and the sea covered both arms from shoulder to +wrist. "You and I will lovers die, eh?" said the officer, with a +twinkle, as he spelt out one of the amatory inscriptions. "Just so, +John! I'll see to that. Next man!" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1522--Description of a Person calling himself John Teede, 28 Dec. +1799.] + +Bow-legged men ran the gravest of risks in this respect, and the goose +of many a tailor was effectually cooked because of the damning fact, +which no protestations of innocence of the sea could mitigate, that +long confinement to the board had warped his legs into a fatal +resemblance to those of a typical Jack-tar. Harwich once had a mayor +who, after vowing that he would "never be guilty of saying there was +no law for pressing sailors," as a convincing proof that he knew what +was what, and was willing to provide it to the best of his ability, +straightway sent out and pressed--a tailor! [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1436--Capt. Allen, 26 March 1706.] + +The itinerant Jewish peddler who hawked his wares about the country +suffered grievously on this account. However indisputably Hebraic his +name, his accent and his nose might be, those evidences of nationality +were Anglicised, so to speak, by the fact that his legs were the legs +of a sailor, and the bandy appendages so characteristic of his race +sooner or later brought the gang down upon him in full cry and landed +him in the fleet. + +In the year 1780 the fishing town of Cromer was thrown into a state of +acute excitement by the behaviour of a casual stranger--a great, +bearded man of foreign aspect who, taking a lodging in the place, +resorted daily to the beach, where he walked the sands "at low water +mark," now writing with great assiduity in a book, again gesticulating +wildly to the sea and the cliffs, whence the suspicious townsfolk, +then all unused to "visitors" and their eccentricities, watched his +antics in wonder and consternation. The principal inhabitants of the +place, alarmed by his vagaries, constituted themselves a committee of +safety, and with the parson at their head went down to interview him; +and when, in response to their none too polite inquiries, he flatly +refused to give any account of himself, they by common consent voted +him a spy and a public menace, telling each other that he was +undoubtedly engaged in drawing plans of the coast in order to +facilitate' the landing of some enemy; for did not the legend run:-- + + "He who would Old England win, + Must at Weybourn Hope begin?" + +and was not the "Hoop," as it was called locally, only a few miles to +the northward? No time was to be lost. Post-haste they dispatched a +messenger to Lieut. Brace at Yarmouth, begging him, if he would save +his country from imminent danger, to lose not a moment in sending his +gang to seize the suspect and nip his fell design in the bud. With +this alarming request Brace promptly complied, and the stranger was +dragged away to Yarmouth. Arraigned before the mayor, he with +difficulty succeeded in convincing that functionary that he was +nothing more dangerous than a stray agriculturist whom the Empress +Catherine had sent over from Russia to study the English method of +growing-turnips! [Footnote: _State Papers_, Russia, cv.--Lieut. +Brace, 18 Aug. 1780.] + +The unhandsome treatment meted out to the inoffensive Russian is of a +piece with the whole aspect of pressing by instigation, of which it is +at once a specimen and a phase. The incentive here was suspicion; but +in the fertile field of instigation motives flourished in forms as +varied as the weaknesses of human nature. + +Thomas Onions, respectable burgess of Bridgnorth, engaged in working a +trow from that place to Bristol, fell under suspicion owing to the +mysterious disappearance of a portion of the cargo, which consisted of +china. The rest of the crew being metaphorically as well as literally +in the same boat, the consignee's agent, on the trow's arrival at +Bristol, hinted at a more than alliterative connection between china +and chests, which he was proceeding to search when Onions objected, +very rightly urging that he had no warrant. "Is it a warrant you're +wanting?" demanded the baffled agent. "Very well, we'll see if we +cannot find one." With that he stepped ashore and hurried to the +rendezvous, where he knew the officers, and within the hour the gang +added Onions to the impress stock-pot. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1542--Memorial of the Inhabitants and Burgesses of +Bridgnorth, 12 March 1808.] + +Much the same motive led to the pressing of Charles M'Donald, a +north-country youth of education and property. His mother wished him +to enter the army, but his guardians, piqued by her insistence, "had +him kidnapped on board the impress tender at Shields, under pretence +of sending him on a visit." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1537--Capt. Bland, 29 Nov. 1806, and enclosure.] + +An "independent fortune of fourteen hundred pounds," bequeathed to him +by his "Aunt Elizabeth," was instrumental in launching John Stillwell +of Clerkenwell upon a similar career. His step-mother and uncle +desired to retain possession of the money, of which they were +trustees; so they suborned the gang and the young man disappeared. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1539--Capt. Burton, 25 April +1806, and enclosure.] + +A more legitimate pastime of the gang was the pressing of incorrigible +sons. George Clark of Birmingham and William Barnicle of Margate, the +one a notorious thief, the other the despair of his family because of +his drunken habits, were two out of many shipped abroad by this cheap +but effectual means, the instigator of the gang being in each case the +lad's own father. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1537--Jeremiah +Clark, 30 July 1806; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1547--Lieut. Dawe, 4 Sept. +1809.] The distracting problem, "What to do with our sons?" was in this +way amazingly simplified. + +In thus utilising the gang as a means of retaliating upon those who +incurred their displeasure, both naval officers and private +individuals, had they been arraigned for the offence, could have +pleaded in justification of their conduct the example of no less +exalted a body than the Admiralty itself. The case of the bachelor +seamen of Dover, pressed because of an official animus against that +town, was as notorious as their Lordships' futile attempt to teach the +Brighton fishermen respect for their betters, or their later orders to +Capt. Culverhouse, of the Liverpool rendezvous, instructing him "to +take all opportunities of impressing seafaring men belonging to the +Isle of Man," as a punishment for the "extreme ill-conduct of the +people of that Island to His Majesty's Officers on the Impress +Service." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 3. 148--Admiralty +Minutes, 11 Oct. 1803.] The Admiralty method of paying out anyone +against whom you cherished a grudge possessed advantages which +strongly commended it to the splenetic and the vindictive. For suppose +you lay in wait for your enemy and beat or otherwise maltreated him: +the chances were that he would either punish you himself or invoke the +law to do it for him; while if you removed him by means of the garrot, +the knife or the poisoned glass, no matter how discreetly the deed was +done the hangman was pretty sure to get you sooner or later. But the +gang--it was as safe as an epidemic! The fact was not lost upon the +community. People in almost every station of life appreciated it at +its true worth, and, encouraged by the example of the Admiralty, +availed themselves of the gang as the handiest, speediest and safest +of mediums for wiping out old scores. + +On shipboard, where life was more cramped and men consequently came +into sharper contact than on shore, resentments were struck from daily +intercourse like sparks from steel. Like sparks some died, impotent to +harm their object; but others, cherished in bitterness of spirit +through many a lonely watch, flashed into malicious action with that +hoped-for opportunity, the coming of the gang. John Gray, carpenter of +a merchant ship, in a moment of anger threatened to cut the skipper +down with an axe. This happened under a West-Indian sun. Months +afterwards, as the ship swung lazily into Bristol river and the gang +came aboard, the skipper found his opportunity. Beckoning to the +impress officer, he pointed to John Gray and said: "Take that man!" +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, 22 June +1808, and enclosure.] Gray never again lifted an axe on board a +merchant vessel. + +Certain amenities which once passed between the master and the mate of +the _Lady Shore_ serve to throw an even broader light upon the +origin of quarrels at sea and the methods of settling them then in +vogue. The _Lady Shore_ was on the passage home from Quebec when +the master one day gave certain sailing directions which the mate, who +was a sober, careful seaman, thought fit to disregard on the ground +that the safety of the ship would be endangered if he followed them. +The master, an irascible, drunken brute, at this flew into a passion +and sought to ingraft his ideas of seamanship upon the mate through +the medium of a handspike, with which he caught him a savage blow +"just above the eye, cutting him about three inches in length." It was +in mid-ocean that this lesson in navigation was administered. By the +time Scilly shoved its nose above the horizon the skipper's "down" on +the mate had reached an acute stage. His resentment of the latter's +being the better seaman had now deepened into hatred, and to this, as +the voyage neared its end, was added growing fear of prosecution. At +this juncture a man-o'-war hove in sight and signalled an inspection +of hands. "Get your chest on deck, Mr. Mate," cried the exultant +skipper. "You are too much master here. It is time for us to part." +Taken out of the ship as a pressed man, the mate was ultimately +discharged by order of the Admiralty; but the skipper had his revenge. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 583--Matthew Gill to Admiral +Moorsom, 15 Jan. 1813.] + +A riot that occurred at King's Lynn in the year '55 affords a striking +instance of the retaliatory use of the gang on shore. In the course of +the disturbance mud and stones were thrown at the magistrates, who had +come out to do what they could to quell it. Angered by so gross an +indignity, they supplied the gang with information that led to the +pressing of some sixty persons concerned in the tumult, but as these +consisted mainly of "vagrants, gipsies, parish charges, maimed, halt +and idiots," the magisterial resentment caused greater rejoicings at +Lynn than it did at Spithead, where the sweepings of the borough were +eventually deposited. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920 +--Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, 8 June 1755.] + +There is a decided smack of the modern about the use the gang was put +to by the journeymen coopers of Bristol. Considering themselves +underpaid, they threatened to go on strike unless the masters raised +their wages. In this they were not entirely unanimous, however. One of +their number stood out, refusing to join the combine; whereupon the +rest summoned the gang and had the "blackleg" pressed for his +contumacy. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1542--Capt. Barker, +20 Aug. 1808, and enclosure.] + +In pressing William Taylor of Broadstairs the gang nipped in the bud +as tender a romance as ever flourished in the shelter of the Kentish +cliffs, which is saying not a little. Taylor was only a poor +fisherman, and when he dared to make love to the pretty daughter of +the Ramsgate Harbour-Master, that exalted individual, who entertained +for the girl social ambitions in which fishermen's shacks had no +place, resented his advances as insufferable impertinence. A word to +Lieut. Leary, his friend at the local rendezvous, did the rest. Taylor +disappeared, and though he was afterwards discharged from His +Majesty's ship Utrecht on the score of his holding a Sea-Fencible's +ticket, the remedy had worked its cure and the Harbour-Master was +thenceforth free to marry his daughter where he would. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1450--Capt. Austen, 23 Sept. 1803.] + +So natural is the transition from love to hate that no apology is +needed for introducing here the story of Sam Burrows, the ex-beadle of +Chester who fell a victim to the harsher in much the same manner as +Taylor did to the gentler passion. Burrows' evil genius was one Rev. +Lucius Carey, an Irish clergyman--whether Anglican or Roman we know +not, nor does it matter--who had contracted the unclerical habit of +carrying pistols and too much liquor. In this condition he was found +late one night knocking in a very violent manner at the door of the +"Pied Bull," and swearing that, while none should keep him out, any +who refused to assist him in breaking in should be shot down +forthwith. Burrows, the ex-beadle, happened to be passing at the +moment. He seized the drunken cleric and with the assistance of James +Howell, one of the city watchmen, forcibly removed him to the +watch-house, whence he was next day taken before the mayor and bound +over to appear at the Sessions. Now it happened that certain members +of the local press-gang were Carey's boon companions, so no sooner did +he leave the presence of the mayor than he looked them up. That same +evening Burrows was missing. Carey had found him a "hard bed," +otherwise a berth on board a man-o'-war. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1532--Capt Birchall, 17 July 1804, and enclosures.] + +In the columns of the _Westminster Journal_, under date of both +May 1743, we read of a sailor who, dying at Ringsend, was brought to +Irishtown church-yard, near Dublin, for burial. "When they laid him on +the ground," the narrative continues, "the coffin was observed to +stir, on which he was taken up, and by giving him some nourishment he +came to himself, and is likely to do well." Whether this sailor was +ever pressed, either before or after his abortive decease, we are not +informed; but there is on record at least one well-authenticated +instance of that calamity overtaking a person who had passed the +bourne whence none is supposed to return. + +In the year 1723 a young lad whose name has not been preserved, but +who was at the time apprentice to a master sailmaker in London, set +out from that city to visit his people, living at Sandwich. He appears +to have travelled afoot, for, getting a "lift" on the road, he was +carried into Deal, where he arrived late at night, and having no money +was glad to share a bed with a seafaring man, the boatswain of an +Indiaman then in the Downs. From this circumstance sprang the events +which here follow. Along in the small hours of the night the lad +awoke, and finding the room stuffy and day on the point of breaking, +he rose and dressed, purposing to see the town in the cool of the +morning. The catch of the door, however, refused to yield under his +hand, and while he was endeavouring to undo it the noise he made +awakened the boatswain, who told him that if he looked in his breeches +pocket he would find a knife there with which he could lift the latch. +Acting on this hint, the lad succeeded in opening the door, and +thereupon went downstairs in accordance with his original intention. +When he returned some half-hour later, as he did for the purpose of +restoring the knife, which he had thoughtlessly slipped into his +pocket, the bed was empty and the boatswain gone. Of this he thought +nothing. The boatswain had talked, he remembered, of going off to his +ship at an early hour, in order, as he had said, to call the hands for +the washing down of the decks. The lad accordingly left the house and +went his way to Sandwich, where, as already stated, his people lived. + +Meantime the old inn at Deal, and indeed the whole town, was thrown +into a state of violent commotion by a most shocking discovery. Going +about their morning duties at the inn, the maids had come to the bed +in which the boatswain and the apprentice had slept, and to their +horror found it saturated with blood. Drops of blood, together with +marks of blood-stained hands and feet, were further discovered on the +floor and the door of the chamber, down the stairs, and along the +passage leading to the street, whence they could be distinctly traced +to the waterside, not so very far away. Imagination, working upon +these ghastly survivals of the hours of darkness, quickly +reconstructed the crime which it was evident had been committed. The +boatswain was known to have had money on him; but the youth, it was +recalled, had begged his bed. It was therefore plain to the meanest +understanding that the youth had murdered the boatswain for his money +and thrown the body into the sea. + +At once that terrible precursor of judgment to come, the hue and cry +was raised, and that night the footsore apprentice lay in Sandwich +jail, a more than suspected felon, for his speedy capture had supplied +what was taken to be conclusive evidence of his guilt. In his pocket +they discovered the boatswain's knife, and both it and the lad's +clothing were stained with blood. Asked whose blood it was, and how it +came there, he made no answer. Asked was it the boatswain's knife, he +answered, "Yes, it was," and therewith held his peace. In face of such +evidence, and such an admission, he stood prejudged. His trial at the +Assizes was a mere formality. The jury quickly found him guilty, and +sentence of death was passed upon him. + +The day of execution came. Up to this point Fate had set her face +steadfastly against our apprentice lad; but now, in the very hour and +article of death, she suddenly relented and smiled upon him. The +dislocating "drop" was in those days unknown. When you were hanged, +you were hanged from a cart, which was suddenly whisked from under +you, leaving you dangling in mid-air like a kind of death-fruit +nearly, but not quite, ready to fall. Much depended on the +executioner, and that grim functionary was in this case a raw hand, +unused to his work, who bungled the job. The knot was ill-adjusted, +the rope too long, the convict tall and lank. This last circumstance +was no fault of the executioner's, but it helped. When they turned him +off, the lad's feet swept the ground, and his friends, gathering round +him like guardian angels, bore him up. Cut down at the end of a tense +half-hour, he was hurried away to a surgeon's and there copiously +bled. And being young and virile, he revived. + +Trudging to Portsmouth some little time after, with the intention of +for ever leaving a country to which he was legally dead, he fell in +with one of the numerous press-gangs frequenting that road, and was +sent on board a man-o'-war. There, in course of time, he rose to be +master's mate, and in that capacity, whilst on the West-India station, +was transferred to another ship. On this ship he met the surprise of +his life--if life can be said to hold further surprises for one who +has died and lived again. As he stepped on deck the first person he +met was his old bed-fellow, the boatswain. + +The explanation of the amazing series of events which led up to this +amazing meeting is very simple. On the evening of that fateful night +at Deal the boatswain, who had been ailing, was let blood. In his +sleep the bandage slipped and the wound reopened. Discovering his +condition when awakened by the apprentice, he rose and left the house, +intending to have the wound re-dressed by the barber-surgeon who had +inflicted it, with more effect than discretion, some hours earlier. At +the very door of the inn, however, he ran into the arms of a +press-gang, by whom he was instantly seized and hurried on board ship. +[Footnote: Watts, _Remarkable Events in the History of Man_, +1825.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WOMEN AND THE PRESS-GANG. + + + +The medieval writer who declared women to be "capable of disturbing +the air and exciting tempests" was not indulging a mere quip at the +expense of that limited storm area, his own domestic circle. He +expressed what in his day, and indeed for long after, was a cardinal +article of belief--that if you were so ill-advised as to take a woman +to sea, she would surely upset the weather and play the mischief with +the ship. + +To this ungallant superstition none subscribed more heartily than the +sailor, though always, be it understood, with a mental reservation. +Unlike many landsmen who held a similar belief, he limited the malign +influence of the sex strictly to the high-seas, where, for that +reason, he vastly preferred woman's room to her company; but once he +was safe in port, woman in his opinion ceased to be dangerous, and he +then vastly preferred her company to her room. + +For her companionship he had neither far to seek nor long to wait. It +was a case of + + "Deal, Dover and Harwich, + The devil gave his daughter in marriage." + +All naval seaports were full of women, and to prevent the supply from +running short thoughtful parish officials--church-wardens and other +well-meaning but sadly misguided people--added constantly to the +number by consigning to such doubtful reformatories the undesirable +females of their respective petty jurisdictions. The practice of +admitting women on board the ships of the fleet, too--a practice as +old as the Navy itself--though always forbidden, was universally +connived at and tacitly sanctioned. Before the anchor of the returning +man-of-war was let go a flotilla of boats surrounded her, deeply laden +with pitiful creatures ready to sell themselves for a song and the +chance of robbing their sailor lovers. No sooner did the boats lay +alongside than the last vestige of Jack's superstitious dread of the +malevolent sex went by the board, and discipline with it. Like monkeys +the sailors swarmed into the boats, where each selected a mate, +redeemed her from the grasping boatman's hands with money or blows +according to the state of his finances or temper, and so brought his +prize, save the mark! in triumph to the gangway. It was a point of +honour, not to say of policy, with these poor creatures to supply +their respective "husbands," as they termed them, with a drop of +good-cheer; so at the gangway they were searched for concealed liquor. +This was the only formality observed on such occasions, and as it was +enforced in the most perfunctory manner imaginable, there was always +plenty of drink going. Decency there was none. The couples passed +below and the hell of the besotted broke loose between decks, where +the orgies indulged in would have beggared the pen of a Balzac. +[Footnote: Statement of Certain Immoral Practices, 1822.] + +During the earlier decades of the century these conditions, monstrous +though they were, passed almost unchallenged, but as time wore on and +their pernicious effects upon the _morale_ of the fleet became +more and more appalling, the service produced men who contended +strenuously, and in the end successfully, with a custom that, to say +the least of it, did violence to every notion of decency and clean +living. In 1746 the ship's company of the _Sunderland_ complained +bitterly because not even their wives were "suffer'd to come aboard to +see them." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Brett, +22 Feb. 1745-6.] It was a sign of the times. By the year '78 the +practice had been fined down to a point where, if a wherry with a +woman in it were seen hovering in a suspicious manner about a ship of +war, the boatman was immediately pressed and the woman turned on +shore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Capt. Boteler, 18 +April 1778.] Another twenty years, and the example of such men as +Jervis, Nelson and Collingwood laid the evil for good and all. The +seamen of the fleet themselves pronounced its requiescat when, drawing +up certain "Rules and Orders" for their own guidance during the mutiny +of '97, they ordained that "no woman shall be permitted to go on shore +from any ship, but as many come in as pleases." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--A Detail of the Proceedings on Board +the _Queen Charlotte_ in the Year 1797.] + +An unforeseen consequence of thus suppressing the sailor's impromptu +liaisons was an alarming increase in the number of desertions. On +shore love laughs at locksmiths; on shipboard it derided the +boatswain's mate. To run and get caught meant at the worst "only a +whipping bout," and, the sailor's hide being as tough as his heart was +tender, he ran and took the consequences with all a sailor's stoicism. +In this respect he was perhaps not singular. The woman in the case so +often counts for more than the punishment she brings. + +Few of those who deserted their ships for amatory reasons had the +luck--viewing the escapade from the sailor's standpoint--that attended +the schoolmaster of the _Princess Louisa_. Going ashore at +Plymouth to fetch his chest from the London wagon, he succumbed to the +blandishments of an itinerant fiddler's wife, whom he chanced to meet +in the husband's temporary absence, and was in consequence "no more +heard of." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478--Capt. Boys, 5 +April 1742.] + +Had it always been a case of the travelling woman, the sailor's flight +in response to the voice of the charmer would seldom have landed him +in the cells or exposed his back to the caress of the ship's cat. +Where he was handicapped in his love flights was this. The haunt or +home of his seducer was generally known to one or other of his +officers, and when this was not the case there were often other women +who gladly gave him away. "Captain Barrington, Sir," writes "Nancy of +Deptford" to the commander of a man-o'-war in the Thames, "there is a +Desarter of yours at the upper water Gate. Lives at the sine of the +mantion house. He is an Irishman, gose by the name of Youe (Hugh) +MackMullins, and is trying to Ruing a Wido and three Children, for he +has Insenuated into the Old Woman's faver so far that she must +Sartingly come to poverty, and you by Sarching the Cook's will find +what I have related to be true and much oblidge the hole parrish of +St. Pickles Deptford." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1495 +--Capt. Barrington, 22 Oct. 1771, enclosure.] + +A favourite resort of the amatory tar was that extra-parochial spot +known as the Liberty of the Fleet, where the nuptial knot could be +tied without the irksome formalities of banns or licence. The fact +strongly commended it to the sailor and brought him to the precinct in +great numbers. + +"I remember once on a time," says Keith, the notorious Fleet parson, +"I was at a public-house at Ratcliffe, which was then full of Sailors +and their Girls. There was fiddling, piping, jigging and eating. At +length one of the Tars starts up and says: 'Damn ye, Jack! I'll be +married just now; I will have my partner.' The joke took, and in less +than two hours Ten Couples set out for the Flete. They returned in +Coaches, five Women in each Coach; the Tars, some running before, some +riding on the Coach Box, and others behind. The Cavalcade being over, +the Couples went up into an upper Room, where they concluded the +evening with great Jollity. The landlord said it was a common thing, +when a Fleet comes in, to have 2 or 3 Hundred Marriages in a week's +time among the Sailors." [Footnote: Keith, Observations on the Act for +Preventing Clandestine Marriages, 1753.] + +In the "Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life," a play produced at Covent +Garden Theatre in 1755, Trueblue is pressed, not in, but out of the +arms of his tearful Nancy. The situation is distressingly typical. The +sailor's happiness was the gangsman's opportunity, however Nancy might +suffer in consequence. + +For the average gangsman was as void of sentiment as an Admiralty +warrant, pressing you with equal avidity and absence of feeling +whether he caught you returning from a festival or a funeral. To this +callosity of nature it was due that William Castle, a foreign denizen +of Bristol who had the hardihood to incur the marital tie there, was +called upon, as related elsewhere, to serve at sea in the very heyday +of his honeymoon. Similarly, if four seamen belonging to the +_Dundee_ Greenland whaler had not stolen ashore one night at +Shields "to see some women," they would probably have gone down to +their graves, seawards or landwards, under the pleasing illusion that +the ganger was a man of like indulgent passions with themselves. The +negation of love, as exemplified in that unsentimental individual, was +thus brought home to many a seafaring man, long debarred from the +society of the gentler sex, with startling abruptness and force. The +pitiful case of the "Maidens Pressed," whose names are enrolled in the +pages of Camden Hotten, [Footnote: Hotten, List of Persons of Quality, +etc., who Went from England to the American Plantations.] is in no way +connected with pressing for naval purposes. Those unfortunates were +not victims of the gangsman's notorious hardness of heart, but of +their own misdeeds. Like the female disciples of the "diving hand" +stated by Lutterell [Footnote: Lutterell, Historical Relation of State +Affairs, 12 March 1706.] to have been "sent away to follow the army," +they were one and all criminals of the Moll Flanders type who "left +their country for their country's good" under compulsion that differed +widely, both in form and purpose, from that described in these pages. + +To assert, however, that women were never pressed, in the enigmatic +sense of their being taken by the gang for the manning of the fleet, +would be to do violence to the truth as we find it in naval and other +records. As a matter of fact, the direct contrary was the case, and +there were in the kingdom few gangs of which, at one time or another +in their career, it could not be said, as Southey said of the gang at +Bristol, that "they pressed a woman." + +The incident alluded to will be familiar to all who know the poet as +distinguished from the Bard of Avon. It is found in the second +"English Eclogue," under the caption of the "Grandmother's Tale," and +has to do with the escapade, long famous in the more humorous annals +of Southey's native city, of blear-eyed Moll, a collier's wife, a +great, ugly creature whose voice was as gruff as a mastiff's bark, and +who wore habitually a man's hat and coat, so that at a few yards' +distance you were at a loss to know whether she was man or woman. + + "There was a merry story told of her, + How when the press-gang came to take her husband + As they were both in bed, she heard them coming, + Drest John up in her nightcap, and herself + Put on his clothes and went before the captain." + +A case of pressing on all-fours with this is said to have once +occurred at Portsmouth. A number of sailors, alarmed by the rumoured +approach of a gang while they were a-fairing, took it into their +heads, so the story goes, to effect a partial exchange of clothing +with their sweethearts, in the hope that the hasty shifting of +garments would deceive the gang and so protect them from the press. It +did. In their parti-garb make-up the women looked more sailorly than +the sailors themselves. The gang consequently pressed them, and there +were hilarious scenes at the rendezvous when the fair recruits were +"regulated" and the ludicrous mistake brought to light. + +It was not only on shore, however, or on special occasions such as +this, that women played the sailor. A naval commander, accounting to +the Admiralty for his shortness of complement, attributes it mainly to +sickness, partly to desertion, and incidentally to the discharge of +one of the ship's company, "who was discovered to be a woman." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1503--Capt. Burney, 15 Feb. +1782.] + +His experience is capped by that of the master of the _Edmund and +Mary_, a vessel engaged in carrying coals to Ipswich. Shrewdly +suspecting one of his apprentices, a clever, active lad, to be other +than what he seemed, he taxed him with the deception. Taken unawares, +the lad burst into womanly tears and confessed himself to be the +runaway daughter of a north-country widow. Disgrace had driven her to +sea. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xxx. 1813, p. 184.] + +These instances are far from being unique, for both in the navy and +the mercantile marine the masquerading of women in male attire was a +not uncommon occurrence. The incentives to the adoption of a mode of +life so foreign to all the gentler traditions of the sex were various, +though not inadequate to so surprising a change. Amongst them +unhappiness at home, blighted virtue, the secret love of a sailor and +an abnormal craving for adventure and the romantic life were perhaps +the most common and the most powerful. The question of clothing +presented little difficulty. Sailors' slops could be procured almost +anywhere, and no questions asked. The effectual concealment of sex was +not so easy, and when we consider the necessarily intimate relations +subsisting between the members of a ship's crew, the narrowness of +their environment, the danger of unconscious betrayal and the risks of +accidental discovery, the wonder is that any woman, however masculine +in appearance or skilled in the arts of deception, could ever have +played so unnatural a part for any length of time without detection. +The secret of her success perhaps lay mainly in two assisting +circumstances. In theory there were no women at sea, and despite his +occasional vices the sailor was of all men the most unsophisticated +and simple-minded. + +Conspicuous among women who threw the dust of successful deception in +the eyes of masters and shipmates is Mary Anne Talbot. Taking to the +sea as a girl in order to "follow the fortunes" of a young naval +officer for whom she had conceived a violent but unrequited affection, +she was known afloat as John Taylor. In stature tall, angular and +singularly lacking in the physical graces so characteristic of the +average woman, she passed for years as a true shellback, her sex +unsuspected and unquestioned. Accident at length revealed her secret. +Wounded in an engagement, she was admitted to hospital in consequence +of a shattered knee, and under the operating knife the identity of +John Taylor merged into that of Mary Anne Talbot. [Footnote: Times, 4 +Nov. 1799.] + +It is said, perhaps none too kindly or truthfully, that the lady +doctor of the present day no sooner sets up in practice than she +incontinently marries the medical man around the corner, and in many +instances the sailor-girl of former days brought her career on the +ocean wave to an equally romantic conclusion. However skilled in the +art of navigation she might become, she experienced a constitutional +difficulty in steering clear of matrimony. Maybe she steered for it. + +A romance of this description that occasioned no little stir in its +day is associated with a name at one time famous in the West-India +trade. Through bankruptcy the name suffered eclipse, and the +unfortunate possessor of it retired to a remote neighbourhood, taking +with him his two daughters, his sole remaining family. There he +presently sank under his misfortunes. Left alone in the world, with +scarce a penny-piece to call their own, the daughters resolved on a +daring departure from the conventional paths of poverty. + +Making their way to Portsmouth, they there dressed themselves as +sailors and in that capacity entered on board a man-o'-war bound for +the West Indies. At the first reduction of Curaçoa, in 1798, as in +subsequent naval engagements, both acquitted themselves like men. No +suspicion of the part they were playing, and playing with such +success, appears to have been aroused till a year or two later, when +one of them, in a brush with the enemy, was wounded in the side. The +surgeon's report terminated her career as a seaman. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT.] + + + Meanwhile the other sister contracted tropical fever, and whilst +lying ill was visited by one of the junior officers of the ship. +Believing herself to be dying, she told him her secret, doubtless with +a view to averting its discovery after death. He confessed that the +news was no surprise to him. In fact, not only had he suspected her +sex, he had so far persuaded himself of the truth of his suspicions as +to fall in love with one of his own crew. The tonic effect of such +avowals is well known. The fever-stricken patient recovered, and on +the return of the ship to home waters the officer in question made his +late foremast hand his wife. [Footnote: Naval Chronicle, vol. viii. +1802, p. 60.] + +Of all the veracious yarns that are told of girl-sailors, there is +perhaps none more remarkable than the story of Rebecca Anne Johnson, +the girl-sailor of Whitby. One night a hundred and some odd years ago +a Mrs. Lesley, who kept the "Bull" inn in Halfmoon Alley, Bishopsgate +Street, found at her door a handsome sailor-lad begging for food. He +had eaten nothing for four and twenty hours, he declared, and when +plied with supper and questions by the kind-hearted but inquisitive +old lady, he explained that he was an apprentice to the sea, and had +run from his ship at Woolwich because of the mate's unduly basting him +with a rope's-end. "What! you a 'prentice?" cried the landlady; and +turning his face to the light, she subjected him to a scrutiny that +read him through and through. + +Next day, at his own request, he was taken before the Lord Mayor, to +whom he told his story. That he was a girl he freely admitted, and he +accounted for his appearing in sailor rig by asserting that a brutal +father had apprenticed him to the sea in his thirteenth year. More +astounding still, the same unnatural parent had actually bound her, +the sailor-girl's, mother, apprentice to the sea, and in that capacity +she was not only pressed into the navy, but killed at the battle of +Copenhagen, up to which time, though she had followed the sea for many +years and borne this child in the meantime, her sex had never once +been called in question. [Footnote: _Naval Chronicle_, vol. xx. +1808, p. 293.] + +While woman was thus invading man's province at sea, that universal +feeder of the Navy, the pressgang, made little or no appeal to her as +a sphere of activity. On Portland Island, it is true, Lieut. McKey, +who commanded both the Sea-Fencibles and the press-gang there, rated +his daughter as a midshipman; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, 15 April 1805] but with +this exception no woman is known to have added the hanger to her +adornment. The three merry maids of Taunton, who as gangsmen put the +Denny Bowl quarrymen to rout, were of course impostors. + +But if the ganger's life was not for woman, there was ample +compensation for its loss in the wider activities the gang opened up +for her. The gangsman was nothing if not practical. He took the poetic +dictum that "men must work and women must weep"--a conception in his +opinion too sentimentally onesided to be tolerated as one of the +eternal verities of human existence--and improved upon it. By virtue +of the rough-and-ready authority vested in him he abolished the +distinction between toil and tears, decreeing instead that women +should suffer both. + +"M'Gugan's wife?" growled Capt. Brenton, gang-master at Greenock, when +the corporation of that town ventured to point out to him that +M'Gugan's wife and children must inevitably come to want unless their +bread-winner, recently pressed, were forthwith restored to +them,--"_M'Gugan's wife is as able to get her bread as any woman in +the town!_" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Brenton, +15 Jan. 1795.] + +For two hundred and fifty years, off and on--ever since, in fact, the +press-masters of bluff King Hal denuded the Dorset coast of fishermen +and drove the starving women of that region to sea in quest of food +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Henry VIII_.: Lord Russell to +the Privy Council, 22 Aug. 1545.]--the press-gang had been laboriously +teaching English housewives this very lesson, the simple economic +truth that if they wanted bread for themselves and their families +while their husbands were fagging for their country at sea, they must +turn to and work for it. Yet in face of this fact here was M'Gugan's +wife trying to shirk the common lot. It was monstrous! + +M'Gugan's wife ought really to have known better. The simplest +calculation, had she cared to make it, would have shown her the utter +futility of hoping to live on the munificent wage which a grateful +country allowed to M'Gugan, less certain deductions for M'Gugan's +slops and contingent sick-benefit, in return for his aid in protecting +it from its enemies; and almost any parish official could have told +her, what she ought in reason to have known already, that she was no +longer merely M'Gugan's wife, dependent upon his exertions for the +bread she ate, but a Daughter of the State and own sister to thousands +of women to whom the gang in its passage brought toil and poverty, +tears and shame--not, mark you, the shame of labour, if there be such +a thing, but the bedraggled, gin-sodden shame of the street, or, in +the scarce less dreadful alternative, the shame of the goodwife of the +ballad who lamented her husband's absence because, worse luck, sundry +of her bairns "were gotten quhan he was awa'." + +Lamentable as this state of things undoubtedly was, it was +nevertheless one of the inevitables of pressing. You could not take +forcibly one hundred husbands and fathers out of a community of five +hundred souls, and pay that hundred husbands and fathers the barest +pittance instead of a living wage, without condemning one hundred +wives and mothers to hard labour on behalf of the three hundred +children who hungered. Out of this hundred wives and mothers a certain +percentage, again, lacked the ability to work, while a certain other +percentage lacked the will. These recruited the ranks of the outcast, +or with their families burdened the parish. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Memorial of the Churchwardens and Overseers of +the Poor of the Parish of Portsmouth, 3 Dec 1793, and numerous +instances.] The direct social and economic outcome of this mode of +manning the Navy, coupled with the payment of a starvation wage, was +thus threefold. It reversed the natural sex-incidence of labour; it +fostered vice; it bred paupers. The first was a calamity personal to +those who suffered it. The other two were national in their calamitous +effects. + +In that great diurnal of the eighteenth-century navy, the Captains' +Letters and Admirals' Dispatches, no volume can be opened without +striking the broad trail of destitution, misery and heart-break, to +mention no worse consequences, left by the gang. At nearly every turn +of the page, indeed, we come upon recitals or petitions recalling +vividly the exclamation involuntarily let fall by Pepys the +tender-hearted when, standing over against the Tower late one summer's +night, he watched by moonlight the pressed men sent away: "Lord! how +some poor women did cry." + +A hundred years later and their heritors in sorrow are crying still. +Now it is a bed-ridden mother bewailing her only son, "the principal +prop and stay of her old age"; again a wife, left destitute "with +three hopeful babes, and pregnant." And here, bringing up the rear of +the sad procession--lending to it, moreover, a touch of humour in +itself not far removed from tears--comes Lachlan M'Quarry. The gang +have him, and amid the Stirling hills, where he was late an indweller, +a motley gathering of kinsfolk mourn his loss--"me, his wife, two +Small helpless Children, an Aged Mother who is Blind, an Aged Man who +is lame and unfit for work, his father in Law, and a sister Insane, +with his Mother in Law who is Infirm." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1454--The Humble Petition of Jullions Thomson, Spouse +to Lachlan M'Quarry, 2 May 1812.] The fact is attested by the minister +and elders of the parish, being otherwise unbelievable; and Lachlan is +doubtless proportionately grieved to find himself at sea. Men whose +wives "divorced" them through the medium of the gang--a not uncommon +practice--experienced a similar grief. + +Besides the regular employment it so generously provided for wives +bereft of their lawful support, the press-gang found for the women of +the land many an odd job that bore no direct relation to the earning +of their bread. When the mob demolished the Whitby rendezvous in '93, +it was the industrious fishwives of the town who collected the stones +used as ammunition on that occasion; and when, again, Lieut. M'Kenzie +unwisely impressed an able seaman in the house of Joseph Hook, +inn-keeper at Pill, it was none other than "Mrs. Hook, her daughter +and female servant" who fell upon him and tore his uniform in shreds, +thus facilitating the pressed man's escape "through a back way." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Lieut. M'Kenzie, 20 Oct. +1805.] + +The good people of Sunderland at one time indulged themselves in the +use of a peculiar catch-phrase. Whenever any feat of more than +ordinary daring came under their observation, they spoke of it as "a +case of Dryden's sister." The saying originated in this way. The +Sunderland gang pressed the mate of a vessel, one Michael Dryden, and +confined him in the tender's hold. One night Dryden's sister, having +in vain bribed the lieutenant in command to let him go, at the risk of +her life smuggled some carpenter's tools on board under the very +muzzles of the sentinel's muskets, and with these her brother and +fifteen other men cut their way to freedom. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 2740--Lieut. Atkinson, 24 June and 10 July 1798.] + +A tender lying in King Road, at the entrance to Bristol River, was the +scene of another episode of the "Dryden's sister" type. Going ashore +one morning, the lieutenant in command fell from the bank and broke +his sword. It was an ill omen, for in his absence the hard fate of the +twenty pressed men who lay in the tender's hold, "all handcuft to each +other," made an irresistible appeal to two women, pressed men's wives, +who had been with singular lack of caution admitted on board. Whilst +the younger and prettier of the two cajoled the sentinel from his +post, the elder and uglier secured an axe and a hatchet and passed +them unobserved through the scuttle to the prisoners below, who on +their part made such good use of them that when at length the +lieutenant returned he found the cage empty and the birds flown. The +shackles strewing the press-room bore eloquent testimony to the manner +of their flight. The irons had been hacked asunder, some of them with +as many as "six or seven Cutts." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 12 May 1759.] + +Never, surely, did the gang provide an odder job for any woman than +the one it threw in the way of Richard Parker's wife. The story of his +part in the historic mutiny at the Nore is common knowledge. Her's, +being less familiar, will bear retelling. But first certain incidents +in the life of the man himself, some of them hitherto unknown, call +for brief narration. + +Born at Exeter in or about the year 1764, it is not till some nineteen +years later, or, to be precise, the 5th of May 1783, that Richard +Parker makes his debut in naval records. On that date he appears on +board the _Mediator_ tender at Plymouth, in the capacity of a +pressed man. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. +9307--Muster Book of H.M. Tender the _Mediator_.] + +The tender carried him to London, where in due course he was delivered +up to the regulating officers, and by them turned over to the +_Ganges_, Captain the Honourable James Lutterell. This was prior +to the 30th of June 1783, the date of his official "appearance" on +board that ship. On the _Ganges_ he served as a midshipman--a +noteworthy fact [Footnote: Though one of rare occurrence, Parker's +case was not altogether unique; for now and then a pressed man by some +lucky chance "got his foot on the ladder," as Nelson put it, and +succeeded in bettering himself. Admiral Sir David Mitchell, pressed as +the master of a merchantman, is a notable example. Admiral Campbell, +"Hawke's right hand at Quiberon," who entered the service as a +substitute for a pressed man, is another; and James Clephen, pressed +as a sea-going apprentice, became master's-mate of the Doris, and +taking part in the cutting out of the Chevrette, a corvette of twenty +guns, from Cameret Bay, in 1801, was for his gallantry on that +occasion made a lieutenant, fought at Trafalgar and died a captain. On +the other hand, John Norris, pressed at Gallions Reach out of a +collier and "ordered to walk the quarter-deck as a midshipman," proved +such a "laisie, sculking, idle fellow," and so "filled the sloop and +men with vermin," that his promoter had serious thoughts of "turning +him ashore."--_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, undated +letter, 1741.]--till the 4th of September following, when he was +discharged to the _Bull-Dog_ sloop by order of Admiral Montagu. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10614--Muster +Book of H.M.S. _Ganges_.] + +His transfer from the _Bull-Dog_ banished him from the +quarter-deck and sowed within him the seeds of that discontent which +fourteen years later made of him, as he himself expressed it, "a +scape-goat for the sins of many." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 5339--Dying Declaration of the Late Unfortunate Richard Parker, 28 +June 1797.] He was now, for what reason we do not learn, rated as an +ordinary seaman, and in that capacity he served till the 15th of June +1784, when he was discharged sick to Haslar Hospital. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ Ships' Musters, 1. 10420, 10421--Muster Books +of H.M. Sloop _Bull-Dog_.] + +At this point we lose track of him for a matter of nearly fourteen +years, but on the 31st of March 1797, the year which brought his +period of service to so tragic a conclusion, he suddenly reappears at +the Leith rendezvous as a Quota Man for the county of Perth. +Questioned as to his past, he told Brenton, then in charge of that +rendezvous, "that he had been a petty officer or acting lieutenant on +board the _Mediator_, Capt. James Lutterell, at the taking of +five prizes in 1783, when he received a very large proportion of +prize-money." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Capt. +Brenton, 10 June 1797.] The inaccuracies evident on the face of this +statement are unquestionably due to Brenton's defective recollection +rather than to Parker's untruthfulness. Brenton wrote his report +nearly two and a half months after the event. + +After a period of detention on board the tender at Leith, Parker, in +company with other Quota and pressed men, was conveyed to the Nore in +one of the revenue vessels occasionally utilised for that purpose, and +there put on board the _Sandwich_, the flag-ship for that +division of the fleet. At half-past nine on the morning of the 12th of +May, upon the 2nd lieutenant's giving orders to "clear hawse," the +ship's company got on the booms and gave three cheers, which were at +once answered from the _Director_. They then reeved yard-ropes as +a menace to those of the crew who would not join them, and trained the +forecastle guns on the quarter-deck as a hint to the officers. The +latter were presently put on shore, and that same day the mutineers +unanimously chose Parker to be their "President" or leader. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard Parker: +Deposition of Lieut. Justice.] The fact that he had been pressed in +the first instance, and that after having served for a time in the +capacity of a "quarter-deck young gentleman" he had been +unceremoniously derated, singled him out for this distinction. There +was amongst the mutineers, moreover, no other so eligible; for +whatever Parker's faults, he was unquestionably a man of superior +ability and far from inferior attainments. + +The reeving of yard-ropes was his idea, though he disclaimed it. An +extraordinary mixture of tenderness and savagery, he wept when it was +proposed to fire upon a runaway ship, the _Repulse_, but the next +moment drove a crowbar into the muzzle of the already heavily shotted +gun and bade the gunner "send her to hell where she belonged." "I'll +make a beefsteak of you at the yard-arm" was his favourite threat. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5339--Court-Martial on Richard +Parker: Depositions of Capt. John Wood, of H.M. Sloop _Hound_, +William Livingston, boat-swain of the _Director_, and Thomas +Barry, seaman on board the _Monmouth._] It was prophetic, for +that way, as events quickly proved, lay the finish of his own career. + +At nine o'clock on the morning of the 30th of June Parker, convicted +and sentenced to death after a fair trial, stood on the scaffold +awaiting his now imminent end. The halter, greased to facilitate his +passing, was already about his neck, and in one of his hands, which +had been freed at his own request, he held a handkerchief borrowed for +the occasion from one of the officers of the ship. This he suddenly +dropped. It was the preconcerted signal, and as the fatal gun boomed +out in response to it he thrust his hands into his pockets with great +rapidity and jumped into mid-air, meeting his death without a tremor +and with scarce a convulsion. Thanks to the clearness of the +atmosphere and the facility with which the semaphores did their work +that morning, the Admiralty learnt the news within seven minutes. +[Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, Manchester, 1797.] Now +comes the woman's part in the drama on which the curtain rose with the +pressing of Parker in '83, and fell, not with his execution at the +yard-arm of the _Sandwich_, as one would suppose, but four days +after that event. + +In one of his spells of idleness ashore Parker had married a Scotch +girl, the daughter of an Aberdeenshire farmer--a tragic figure of a +woman whose fate it was to be always too late. Hearing that her +husband had taken the bounty, she set out with all speed for Leith, +only to learn, upon her arrival there, that he was already on his way +to the fleet. At Leith she tarried till rumours of his pending trial +reached the north country. The magistrates would then have put her +under arrest, designing to examine her, but the Admiralty, to whom +Brenton reported their intention, vetoed the proceeding as +superfluous. The case against Parker was already complete. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Capt. Brenton, 15 June 1797, and +endorsement.] Left free to follow the dictates of her tortured heart, +the distracted woman posted south. + +Eating his last breakfast in the gun-room of the _Sandwich_, +Parker talked affectionately of his wife, saying that he had made his +will and left her a small estate he was heir to. Little did he dream +that she was then within a few miles of him. + +The _Sandwich_ lay that morning above Blackstakes, the headmost +ship of the fleet, and at the moment when Parker leapt from her +cathead scaffold a boat containing his wife shot out into the stream. +He was run up to the yard-arm before her very eyes. She was again too +late. + +He hung there for an hour. Meantime, with a tenacity of purpose as +touching as her devotion, the unhappy woman applied to the Admiral for +the body of her husband. She was denied, and Parker's remains were +committed to the new naval burial ground, beyond the Red-Barrier Gate +leading to Minster. The burial took place at noon. By nightfall the +grief-stricken woman had come to an amazing resolution. _She would +steal the body_. + +Ten o'clock that night found her at the place of interment. Save for +the presence of the sentinel at the adjoining Barrier Gate, the +loneliness of the spot favoured her design, but a ten-foot palisade +surrounded the grounds, and she had neither tools nor helpers. +Unexpectedly three women came that way. To them she disclosed her +purpose, praying them for the love of God to help her. Perhaps they +were sailors' wives. Anyhow, they assented, and the four +body-snatchers scaled the fence. + + [Illustration: MARY ANNE TALBOT. Dressed as a sailor.] + + +The absence of tools, as it happened, presented no serious impediment +to the execution of their design. The grave was a shallow one, the +freshly turned mould loose and friable. Digging with their hands, they +soon uncovered the coffin, which they then contrived to raise and +hoist over the cemetery gates into the roadway, where they sat upon it +to conceal it from chance passers-by till four o'clock in the morning. +It was then daylight. The neighbouring drawbridge was let down, and, a +fish-cart opportunely passing on its way to Rochester, the driver was +prevailed upon to carry the "lady's box" into that town. A guinea +served to allay his suspicions. + +Three days later a caravan drew up before the "Hoop and Horseshoe" +tavern, in Queen Street, Little Tower Hill. A woman alighted +--furtively, for it was now broad daylight, whereas she had +planned to arrive while it was still dark. A watchman chanced to pass +at the moment, and the woman's strange behaviour aroused his +suspicions. Pulling aside the covering of the van, he looked in and +saw there the rough coffin containing the body of Parker, which the +driver of the caravan had carried up from Rochester for the sum of six +guineas. Later in the day the magistrates sitting at Lambeth Street +Police Court ordered its removal, and it was deposited in the vaults +of Whitechapel church. [Footnote: Trial and Life of Richard Parker, +Manchester, 1797.] + +Full confirmation of this extraordinary story, should any doubt it, +may be found in the registers of the church in question. Amongst the +burials there we read this entry: "_July, 1797, Richard Parker, +Sheerness, Kent, age 33. Cause of death, execution. This was Parker, +the President of the Mutinous Delegates on board the fleet at the +Nore. He was hanged on board H.M.S._ Sandwich _on the 30th day of +June_." [Footnote: Burial Registers of St. Mary Matfellon, +Whitechapel, 1797.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +IN THE CLUTCH OF THE GANG. + + + +Once the gang had a man in its power, his immediate destination was +either the rendezvous press-room or the tender employed as a +substitute for that indispensable place of detention. + +The press-room, lock-up or "shut-up house," as it was variously +termed, must not be confounded with the press-room at Newgate, where +persons indicted for felony, and perversely refusing to plead, were +pressed beneath weights till they complied with that necessary legal +formality. From that historic cell the rendezvous press-room differed +widely, both in nature and in use. Here the pressed men were confined +pending their dispatch to His Majesty's ships. As a matter of course +the place was strongly built, heavily barred and massively bolted, +being in these respects merely a commonplace replica of the average +bridewell. Where it differed from the bridewell was in its walls. +Theoretically these were elastic. No matter how many they held, there +was always room within them for more. As late as 1806 the press-room +at Bristol consisted of a cell only eight feet square, and into this +confined space sixteen men were frequently packed. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report on Rendezvous, +14 March 1806.] + +Nearly everywhere it was the same gruesome story. The sufferings of +the pressed man went for nothing so long as the pressed man was kept. +Provided only the bars were dependable and the bolts staunch, anything +would do to "clap him up in." The town "cage" came in handy for the +purpose; and when no other means of securing him could be found, he +was thrust into the local prison like a common felon, often amidst +surroundings unspeakably awful. + +According to the elder Wesley, no "seat of woe" on this side of the +Bottomless Pit outrivalled Newgate except one. [Footnote: London +Chronicle, 6 Jan. 1761.] The exception was Bristol jail. A filthy, +evil-smelling hole, crowded with distempered prisoners without medical +care, it was deservedly held in such dread as to "make all seamen fly +the river" for fear of being pressed and committed to it. For when the +eight-foot cell at the rendezvous would hold no more, Bristol pressed +men were turned in here--to come out, if they survived the +pestilential atmosphere of the place, either fever-stricken or +pitiful, vermin-covered objects from whom even the hardened gangsman +shrank with fear and loathing. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1490--Capt. Brown, 4 Aug. 1759.] Putting humane considerations +entirely aside, it is well-nigh inconceivable that so costly an asset +as the pressed man should ever have been exposed to such sanitary +risks. The explanation doubtless lies in the enormous amount of +pressing that was done. The number of men taken was in the aggregate +so great that a life more or less was hardly worth considering. + +Of ancient use as a county jail, Gloucester Castle stood far higher in +the pressed man's esteem as a place of detention than did its sister +prison on the Avon. The reason is noteworthy. Richard Evans, for many +years keeper there, possessed a magic palm. Rub it with silver in +sufficient quantity, and the "street door of the gaol" opened before +you at noonday, or, when at night all was as quiet as the keeper's +conscience, a plank vanished from the roof of your cell, and as you +stood lost in wonder at its disappearance there came snaking down +through the hole thus providentially formed a rope by the aid of +which, if you were a sailor or possessed of a sailor's agility and +daring, it was feasible to make your escape over the ramparts of the +castle, though they towered "most as high as the Monument." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Brown, 28 April and 26 May +1759.] + +In the absence of the gang on road or other extraneous duty the +precautions taken for the safety of pressed men were often very +inadequate, and this circumstance gave rise to many an impromptu +rescue. Sometimes the local constable was commandeered as a temporary +guard, and a story is told of how, the gang having once locked three +pressed men into the cage at Isleworth and stationed the borough +watchman over them, one Thomas Purser raised a mob, demolished the +door of the cage, and set its delighted occupants free amid frenzied +shouts of: "Pay away within, my lads! and we'll pay away without. Damn +the constable! He has no warrant." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. 99.] + +In strict accordance with the regulations governing, or supposed to +govern, the keeping of rendezvous, the duration of the pressed man's +confinement ought never to have exceeded four-and-twenty hours from +the time of his capture; but as a matter of fact it often extended far +beyond that limit. Everything depended on the gang. If men were +brought in quickly, they were as quickly got rid of; but when they +dribbled in in one's and two's, with perhaps intervals of days when +nothing at all was doing, weeks sometimes elapsed before a batch of +suitable size could be made ready and started on its journey to the +ships. + +All this time the pressed man had to be fed, or, as they said in the +service, subsisted or victualled, and for this purpose a sum varying +from sixpence to ninepence a day, according to the cost of provisions, +was allowed him. On this generous basis he was nourished for a hundred +years or more, till one day early in the nineteenth century some +half-score of gaunt, hungry wretches, cooped up for eight weary weeks +in an East-coast press-room during the rigours of a severe winter, +made the startling discovery that the time-honoured allowance was +insufficient to keep soul and body together. They accordingly +addressed a petition to the Admiralty, setting forth the cause and +nature of their sufferings, and asking for a "rise." A dozen years +earlier the petition would have been tossed aside as insolent and +unworthy of consideration; but the sharp lesson of the Nore mutiny +happened to be still fresh in their Lordships' memories, so with +unprecedented generosity and haste they at once augmented the +allowance, and that too for the whole kingdom, to fifteen-pence a day. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1546--Petition of the Pressed +Men at King's Lynn, 27 Jan. 1809, and endorsement.] + +It was a red-letter day for the pressed man. A single stroke of the +official pen had raised him from starvation to opulence, and +thenceforward, when food was cheap and the purchasing power of the +penny high, he regaled himself daily, as at Limerick in 1814, on such +abundant fare as a pound of beef, seven and a half pounds of potatoes, +a pint of milk, a quart of porter, a boiling of greens and a mess of +oatmeal; or, if he happened to be a Catholic, on fish and butter twice +a week instead of beef. The quantity of potatoes is worthy of remark. +It was peculiar to Ireland, where the lower classes never used bread. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1455--Capt. Argles, 1 March +1814.] + +Though faring thus sumptuously at his country's expense, the pressed +man did not always pass the days of his detention in unprofitable +idleness. There were certain eventualities to be thought of and +provided against. Sooner or later he must go before the "gent with the +swabs" and be "regulated," that is to say, stripped to the waist, or +further if that exacting officer deemed it advisable, and be +critically examined for physical ailments and bodily defects. In this +examination the local "saw-bones" would doubtless lend a hand, and to +outwit the combined skill of both captain and surgeon was a point of +honour with the pressed man if by any possibility it could be done. +With this laudable end in view he devoted much of his enforced leisure +to the rehearsal of such symptoms and the fabrication of such defects +as were best calculated to make him a free man. + +For the sailor to deny his vocation was worse than useless. The +ganger's shrewd code--"All as says they be land-lubbers when I says +they baint, be liars, and all liars be seamen"--effectually shut that +door in his face. There were other openings, it is true, whereby a +knowing chap might wriggle free, but officers and medicoes were +extremely "fly." He had not practised his many deceptions upon them +through long years for nothing. They well knew that on principle he +"endeavoured by every stratagem in his power to impose"--that he was, +in short, a cunning cheat whose most serious ailments were to be +regarded with the least sympathy and the utmost suspicion. Yet in +spite of this disquieting fact the old hand, whom long practice had +made an adept at deception, and who, when he was so inclined, could +simulate "complaints of a nature to baffle the skill of any +professional man," [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1540--Capt. +Barker, 5 Nov. 1807.] rarely if ever faced the ordeal of regulating +without "trying it on." Often, indeed, he anticipated it. There was +nothing like keeping his hand in. + +Fits were his great stand-by, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1534--Capt. Barker, 11 Jan. 1805, and many instances.] and the time he +chose for these convulsive turns was generally night, when he could +count upon a full house and nothing to detract from the impressiveness +of the show. Suddenly, at night, then, a weird, horribly inarticulate +cry is heard issuing from the press-room, and at once all is uproar +and confusion. Unable to make himself heard, much less to restore +order, and fearing that murder is being done amongst the pressed men, +the sentry hastily summons the officer, who rushes down, half-dressed, +and hails the press-room. + +"Hullo! within there. What's wrong?" + +Swift silence. Then, "Man in a fit, sir," replies a quavering voice. + +"Out with him!" cries the officer. + +Immediately, the door being hurriedly unbarred, the "case" is handed +out by his terrified companions, who are only too glad to be rid of +him. To all appearances he is in a true epileptic state. In the light +of the lantern, held conveniently near by one of the gangsmen, who +have by this time turned out in various stages of undress, his +features are seen to be strongly convulsed. His breathing is laboured +and noisy, his head rolls incessantly from side to side. Foam tinged +with blood oozes from between his gnashing teeth, flecking his lips +and beard, and when his limbs are raised they fall back as rigid as +iron. [Footnote: Almost the only symptom of _le grand mal_ which +the sailor could not successfully counterfeit was the abnormal +dilation of the pupils so characteristic of that complaint, and this +difficulty he overcame by rolling his eyes up till the pupils were +invisible.] + +After surveying him critically for a moment the officer, if he too is +an old hand, quietly removes the candle from the lantern and with a +deft turn of his wrist tips the boiling-hot contents of the tallow cup +surrounding the flaming wick out upon the bare arm or exposed chest of +the "case." When the fit was genuine, as of course it sometimes was, +the test had no particular reviving effect; but if the man were +shamming, as he probably was in spite of the great consistency of his +symptoms, the chances were that, with all his nerve and foreknowledge +of what was in store for him, the sudden biting of the fiery liquid +into his naked flesh would bring him to his feet dancing with pain and +cursing and banning to the utmost extent of his elastic vocabulary. + +When this happened, "Put him back," said the officer. "He'll do, alow +or aloft." + +Going aloft at sea was the true epileptic's chief dread. And with good +reason, for sooner or later it meant a fall, and death. + +In the meantime other enterprising members of the press-room community +made ready for the scrutiny of the official eye in various ways, +practising many devices for procuring a temporary disability and a +permanent discharge. Some, horrible thought! "rubbed themselves with +Cow Itch and Whipped themselves with Nettles to appear in Scabbs"; +others "burnt themselves with oil of vitriol" to induce symptoms with +difficulty distinguishable from those of scurvy, that disease of such +dread omen to the fleet; whilst others emulated the passing of the +poor consumptive of the canting epitaph, whose "legs it was that +carried her off." Bad legs, indeed, ran a close race with fits in the +pressed man's sprint for liberty. They were so easily induced, and so +cheaply. The industrious application of the smallest copper coin +procurable, the humble farthing or the halfpenny, speedily converted +the most insignificant abrasion of the skin into a festering sore. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 20 June +1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1544--Capt. Bowyer, 18 Dec. 1808; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1451--A. Clarke, Examining Surgeon at +Dublin, 18 May 1807; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1517--Letters of +Capt. Brenton, March and April 1797, and many instances.] + +Here and there a man of iron nerve, acting on the common belief that +if you had lost a finger the Navy would have none of you, adopted a +more heroic method of shaking off the clutch of the gang. Such a man +was Samuel Caradine, some time inhabitant of Kendal. Committed to the +House of Correction there as a preliminary to his being turned over to +the fleet for crimes that he had done, he expressed a desire to bid +farewell to his wife. She was sent for, and came, apparently not +unprepared; for after she had greeted her man through the iron door of +his cell, "he put his hand underneath, and she, with a mallet and +chisel concealed for the purpose, struck off a finger and thumb to +render him unfit for His Majesty's service." [Footnote: _Times_, +3 Nov. 1795.] + +A stout-hearted fellow named Browne, who hailed from Chester, would +have made Caradine a fitting mate. "Being impressed into the sea +service, he very violently determined, in order to extricate himself +therefrom, to mutilate the thumb and a finger of his left hand; which +he accomplished by repeatedly maiming them with an old hatchet that he +had obtained for that purpose. He was immediately discharged." +[Footnote: _Liverpool Advertiser_, 6 June 1777.] Such men as +these were a substantial loss to the service. Fighting a gun shoulder +to shoulder, what fearful execution would they not have wrought upon +the "hereditary enemy"! + +It did not always do, however, to presume upon the loss of a +forefinger, particularly if it were missing from the left hand. Capt. +Barker, while he was regulating the press at Bristol, once had +occasion to send into Ilchester for a couple of brace of convicts who +had received the royal pardon on condition of their serving at sea. +Near Shepton Mallet, on the return tramp, his gangsmen fell in with a +party armed with sticks and knives, who "beat and cut them in a very +cruel manner." They succeeded, however, in taking the ringleader, one +Charles Biggen, and brought him in; but when Barker would have +discharged the fellow because his left forefinger was wanting, the +Admiralty brushed the customary rule aside and ordered him to be kept. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1528--Capt. Barker, 28 July +1803, and endorsement.] + +The main considerations entering into the dispatch of pressed men to +the fleet, when at length their period of detention at headquarters +came to an end, were economy, speed and safety. Transport was +necessarily either by land or water, and in the case of seaport, river +or canal towns, both modes were of course available. Gangs operating +at a distance from the sea, or remote from a navigable river or canal, +were from their very situation obliged to send their catch to market +either wholly by land, or by land and water successively. Land +transport, though always healthier, and in many instances speedier and +cheaper than transport by water, was nevertheless much more risky. +Pressed men therefore preferred it. The risks--rescue and +desertion--were all in their favour. Hence, when they "offered +chearfully to walk up," or down, as the case might be, the seeming +magnanimity of the offer was never permitted to blind those in charge +of them to the need for a strong attendant guard. [Footnote: In the +spring of 1795 a body of Quota Men, some 130 strong, voluntarily +marched from Liverpool to London, a distance of 182 miles, instead of +travelling by coach as at first proposed. Though all had received the +bounty and squandered it in debauchery, not a man deserted; and in +their case the danger of rescue was of course absent. _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1511--Capt. Bowen, 21 April 1795.] The men would have +had to walk in any case, for transport by coach, though occasionally +sanctioned, was an event of rare occurrence. A number procured in +Berkshire were in 1756 forwarded to London "by the Reading machines," +but this was an exceptional indulgence due to the state of their feet, +which were already "blistered with travelling." + +Even with the precaution of a strong guard, there were parts of the +country through which it was highly imprudent, if not altogether +impracticable, to venture a party on foot. Of these the thirty-mile +stretch of road between Kilkenny and Waterford, the nearest seaport, +perhaps enjoyed the most unenviable reputation. No gang durst traverse +it; and no body of pressed men, and more particularly of pressed +Catholics, could ever have been conveyed even for so short a distance +through a country inhabited by a fanatical and strongly disaffected +people without courting certain bloodshed. The naval authorities in +consequence left Kilkenny severely alone. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1529--Capt. Bowen, 12 Oct. 1803.] + +The sending of men overland from Appledore to Plymouth, a course +frequently adopted to avoid the circuitous sea-route, was attended +with similar risks. The hardy miners and quarrymen of the intervening +moorlands loved nothing so much as knocking the gangsman on the head. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, Report +on Rendezvous, 22 Sept. 1805.] + +The attenuated neck of land between the Mersey and the Dee had an evil +reputation for affairs of this description. Men pressed at Chester, +and sent across the neck to the tenders or ships of war in the Mersey, +seldom reached their destination unless attended by an exceptionally +strong escort. The reason is briefly but graphically set forth by +Capt. Ayscough, who dispatched three such men from Chester, under +convoy of his entire gang, in 1780. "On the road thither," says he, +"about seven miles from hence, at a village called Sutton, they were +met by upwards of one Hundred Arm'd Seamen from Parkgate, belonging to +different privateers at Liverpool. An Affray ensued, and the three +Impress'd men were rescued by the Mobb, who Shot one of my Gang +through the Body and wounded two others." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1446--Capt. Ayscough, 17 Nov. 1780.] Parkgate, it will +be recalled, was a notorious "nest of seamen." The alternative route +to Liverpool, by passage-boat down the Dee, was both safer and +cheaper. To send a pressed man that way, accompanied by two of the +gang, cost only twelve-and-six. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +580--Admiral Phillip, 14 Sept. 1804.] + +Mr. Midshipman Goodave and party, convoying pressed men from Lymington +to Southampton, once met with an adventure in traversing the New +Forest which, notwithstanding its tragic sequel, is not without its +humorous side. They had left the little fishing village of Lepe some +miles behind, and were just getting well into the Forest, when a +cavalcade of mounted men, some thirty strong, all muffled in +greatgoats and armed to the teeth, unexpectedly emerged from the wood +and opened fire upon them. Believing it to be an attempt at rescue, +the gang closed in about their prisoners, but when one of these was +the first to fall, his arm shattered and an ear shot off, the +gangsmen, perceiving their mistake, broke and fled in all directions. +Not far, however. The smugglers, for such they were, quickly rounded +them up and proceeded, not to shoot them, as the would-be fugitives +anticipated, but to administer to them the "smugglers' oath." This +they did by forcing them on their knees and compelling them, at the +point of the pistol and with horrible execrations, to "wish their eyes +might drop out if they told their officers which way they, the +smugglers, were gone." Having extorted this unique pledge of secrecy +as to their movements, they rode away into the Forest, unaware that +Mr. Midshipman Goodave, snugly ensconced in the neighbouring ditch, +had seen and heard all that passed--a piece of discretion on his part +that later on brought at least one of the smugglers into distressing +contact with the law. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1778-83, No. 18: Informations of Shepherd Goodave, +1 Oct. 1779.] + +Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch +pressed men from seaport towns by land--as at Exmouth, where the +entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle +all shipping up, or shut it out, for days together--so the dangers +peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them +from inland towns by water. This was the case at Stourbridge. Handed +over to contractors responsible for their safe-keeping, the numerous +seamen taken by the gangs in that town and vicinity were delivered on +board the tenders in King Road, below Bristol--conveyed thither by +water, at a cost of half a guinea per head. This sum included +subsistence, which would appear to have been mainly by water also. To +Liverpool, the alternative port of delivery, carriage could only be +had by land, and the risks of land transit in that direction were so +great as to be considered insuperable, to say nothing of the cost. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Letters of Capt. Beecher, +1780.] + +At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships +made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men +was of course to put them immediately on ship-board; but when no ship +was thus available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign +or on other prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case +of rendezvous lying so far afield as to render land transport +impracticable, but to forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In +this way there grew up a system of sea transport that centred from +many distant and widely separated points of the kingdom upon those +great entrepôts for pressed men, the Hamoaze, Spithead and the Nore. + +Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped +to these destinations as "passengers" on colliers and merchant +vessels, their escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more +gangsmen, according to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they +had no escort at all, the masters being simply bound over to make good +all losses arising from any cause save death, capture by an enemy's +ship or the act of God. From King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per +head, by this means of transport, was 2 Pounds, 15s., including +victualling; from Hull, 2 Pounds 12s. 6d.; from Newcastle, 10s. 6d. +The lower rates for the longer runs are explained by the fact that, +shipping facilities being so much more numerous on the Humber and the +Tyne, competition reduced the cost of carriage in proportion to its +activity. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Phillip, +3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] + +In spite of every precaution, such serious loss attended the shipping +of men in this manner as to force the Admiralty back upon its own +resources. Recourse was accordingly had, in the great majority of +cases, to that handy auxiliary of the fleet, the hired tender. Tenders +fell into two categories--cruising tenders, employed exclusively, or +almost exclusively, in pressing afloat after the manner described in +an earlier chapter, and tenders used for the double purpose of +"keeping" men pressed on land and of conveying them to the fleet when +their numbers grew to such proportions as to make a full and +consequently dangerous ship. In theory, "any old unmasted hulk, unfit +to send to sea, would answer to keep pressed men in." [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795.] In +practice, the contrary was the case. Fitness for sea, combined with +readiness to slip at short notice, was more essential than mere cubic +capacity, since transhipment was thus avoided and the pressed man +deprived of another chance of taking French leave. + +One all-important consideration, in the case of tenders employed for +the storing and detention of pressed men prior to their dispatch to +the fleet, was that the vessel should be able to lie afloat at low +water; for if the fall of the tide left her high and dry, the risk of +desertion, as well as of attack from the shore, was enormously +increased. Whitehaven could make no use of man-storing tenders for +this reason; and at the important centre of King's Lynn, which was +really a receiving station for three counties, it was found "requisite +to have always a vessel below the Deeps to keep pressed men aboard," +since their escape or rescue by way of the flats was in any anchorage +nearer the town a foregone conclusion. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1486--Capt. Baird, 27 Feb. 1755.] + +On board the tenders the comfort and health of the pressed man were no +more studied than in the strong-rooms and prisons ashore. A part of +the hold was required to be roughly but substantially partitioned off +for his security, and on rare occasions this space was fitted with +bunks; but as the men usually arrived "all very bare of +necessaries"--except when pressed afloat, a case we are not now +considering--any provision for the slinging of hammocks, or the +spreading of bedding they did not possess, came to be looked upon as a +superfluous and uncalled-for proceeding. Even the press-room was a +rarity, save in tenders that had been long in the service. Down in the +hold of the vessel, whither the men were turned like so many sheep as +soon as they arrived on board, they perhaps found a rough platform of +deal planks provided for them to lie on, and from this they were at +liberty to extract such sorry comfort as they could during the weary +days and nights of their incarceration. Other conveniences they had +none. When this too was absent, as not infrequently happened, they +were reduced to the necessity of "laying about on the Cables and +Cask," suffering in consequence "more than can well be expressed." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. A'Court, 22 April +1741; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 11 Feb. 1777, and +Captains' Letters, _passim_.] It is not too much to say that +transported convicts had better treatment. + +Cooped up for weeks at a stretch in a space invariably crowded to +excess, deprived almost entirely of light, exercise and fresh air, and +poisoned with bad water and what Roderick Random so truthfully called +the "noisome stench of the place," it is hardly surprising that on +protracted voyages from such distant ports as Limerick or Leith the +men should have "fallen sick very fast." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1444--Capt. Allen, 4 March 1771, and Captains' Letters, +_passim_.] Officers were, indeed, charged "to be very careful of +the healths of the seamen" entrusted to their keeping; yet in spite of +this most salutary regulation, so hopelessly bad were the conditions +under which the men were habitually carried, and so slight was the +effort made to ameliorate them, that few tenders reached their +destination without a more or less serious outbreak of fever, +small-pox or some other equally malignant distemper. Upon the fleet +the effect was appalling. Sickly tenders could not but make sickly +ships. + +If the material atmosphere of the tender's hold was bad, its moral +atmosphere was unquestionably worse. Dark deeds were done here at +times, and no man "peached" upon his fellows. Out of this deplorable +state of things a remarkable legal proceeding once grew. Murder having +been committed in the night, and none coming forward to implicate the +offender, the coroner's jury, instead of returning their verdict +against some person or persons unknown, found the entire occupants of +the tender's hold, seventy-two in number, guilty of that crime. A +warrant was actually issued for their apprehension, though never +executed. To put the men on their trial was a useless step, since, in +the circumstances, they would have been most assuredly acquitted. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 300--Law Officers' Opinions, +1778-83, No. 20.] Just as assuredly any informer in their midst would +have been murdered. + +The scale of victualling on board the tenders was supposed to be the +same as on shore. "Full allowance daily" was the rule; and if the +copper proved too small to serve all at one boiling, there were to be +as many boilings as should be required to go round. Unhappily for the +pressed man, there was a weevil in his daily bread. While it was the +bounden duty of the master of the vessel to feed him properly, and of +the officers to see that he was properly fed, "officers and masters +generally understood each other too well in the pursery line." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Admiral M'Bride, 19 March +1795.] Rations were consequently short, boilings deficient, and though +the cabin went well content, the hold was the scene of bitter +grumblings. + +Nor were these the only disabilities the pressed man laboured under. +His officers proved a sore trial to him. The Earl of Pembroke, Lord +High Admiral, foreseeing that this would be the case, directed that he +should be "used with all possible tenderness and humanity." The order +was little regarded. The callosity of Smollett's midshipman, who spat +in the pressed man's face when he dared to complain of his sufferings, +and roughly bade him die for aught he cared, was characteristic of the +service. Hence a later regulation, with grim irony, gave directions +for his burial. He was to be put out of the way, as soon as might be +after the fatal conditions prevailing on board His Majesty's tenders +had done their work, with as great a show of decency as could be +extracted from the sum of ten shillings. + +Strictly speaking, it was not in the power of the tender's officers to +mitigate the hardships of the pressed man's lot to any appreciable +extent, let them be as humane as they might. For this the pressed man +himself was largely to blame. An ungrateful rogue, his hide was as +impervious to kindness as a duck's back to water. Supply him with +slops [Footnote: The regulations stipulated that slops should be +served out to all who needed them; but as their acceptance was held to +set up a contract between the recipient and the Crown, the pressed man +was not unnaturally averse from drawing upon such a source of supply +as long as any chance of escape remained to him.] wherewith to cover +his nakedness or shield him from the cold, and before the Sunday +muster came round the garments had vanished--not into thin air, +indeed, but in tobacco and rum, for which forbidden luxuries he +invariably bartered them with the bumboat women who had the run of the +vessel while she remained in harbour. Or allow him on deck to take the +air and such exercise as could be got there, and the moment your back +was turned he was away _sans congé_. Few of these runaways were +as considerate as that Scotch humorist, William Ramsay, who was +pressed at Leith for beating an informer and there put on board the +tender. Seizing the first opportunity of absconding, "Sir," he wrote +to the lieutenant in command, "I am so much attached to you for the +good usage I have received at your hands, that I cannot think of +venturing on board your ship again in the present state of affairs. I +therefore leave this letter at my father's to inform you that I intend +to slip out of the way." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1524.--Capt. Brenton, 20 Oct. 1800.] + +When that clever adventuress, Moll Flanders, found herself booked for +transportation beyond the seas, her one desire, it will be recalled, +was "to come back before she went." So it was with the pressed man. +The idea of escape obsessed him--escape before he should be rated on +shipboard and sent away to heaven only knew what remote quarter of the +globe. It was for this reason that irons were so frequently added to +his comforts. "Safe bind, safe find" was the golden rule on board His +Majesty's tenders. + +How difficult it was for him to carry his cherished design into +execution, and yet how easy, is brought home to us with surprising +force by the catastrophe that befell the _Tasker_ tender. On the +23rd of May 1755 the _Tasker_ sailed out of the Mersey with a +full cargo of pressed men designed for Spithead. She possessed no +press-room, and as the men for that reason had the run of the hold, +all hatches were securely battened down with the exception of the +maindeck scuttle, an opening so small as to admit of the passage of +but one man at a time. Her crew numbered thirty-eight, and elaborate +precautions were taken for the safe-keeping of her restless human +freight. So much is evident from the disposition of her guard, which +was as follows:-- + +_(a)_ At the open scuttle two sentries, armed with pistol and +cutlass. Orders, not to let too many men up at once. + +_(b)_ On the forecastle two sentries, armed with musket and +bayonet. Orders, to fire on any pressed man who should attempt to swim +away. + +_(c)_ On the poop one sentry, similarly armed, and having similar +orders. + +_(d)_ On the quarter-deck, at the entrance to the great cabin, +where the remaining arms were kept, one sentry, armed with cutlass and +pistol. Orders, to let no pressed man come upon the quarter-deck. + +There were thus six armed sentinels stationed about the ship--ample to +have nipped in the bud any attempt to seize the vessel, but for two +serious errors of judgment on the part of the officer responsible for +their disposition. These were, first, the discretionary power vested +in the sentries at the scuttle; and, second, the inadequate guard, a +solitary man, set for the defence of the great cabin and the arms it +contained. Now let us see how these errors of judgment affected the +situation. + +Either through stupidity, bribery or because they were rapidly making +an offing, the sentries at the scuttle, as the day wore on, admitted a +larger number of pressed men to the comparative freedom of the deck +than was consistent with prudence. The number eventually swelled to +fourteen--sturdy, determined fellows, the pick of the hold. One of +them, having a fiddle, struck up a merry tune, the rest fell to +dancing, the tender's crew who were off duty caught the infection and +joined in, while the officers stood looking on, tolerantly amused and +wholly unsuspicious of danger. Suddenly, just when the fun was at its +height, a splash was heard, a cry of "Man overboard!" ran from lip to +lip, and officers and crew rushed to the vessel's side. They were +there, gazing into the sea, for only a minute or two, but by the time +they turned their faces inboard again the fourteen determined men were +masters of the ship. In the brief disciplinary interval they had +overpowered the guard and looted the cabin of its store of arms. That +night they carried the tender into Redwharf Bay and there bade her +adieu. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 920--Admiral Sir Edward +Hawke, 3 June 1755, and enclosures.] To pursue them in so mountainous +a country would have been useless; to punish them, even had they been +retaken, impossible. As unrated men they were neither mutineers nor +deserters, [Footnote: By 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6, pressed men could be +apprehended and tried for desertion by virtue of the Queen's shilling +having been forced upon them at the time they were pressed, but as the +use of that coin fell into abeyance, so the Act in question became +gradually a dead-letter. Hay, Murray, Lloyd, Pinfold and Jervis, Law +Officers of the Crown, giving an opinion on this important point in +1756, held that "pressed men are not subject to the Articles (of War) +until they are actually rated on board some of His Majesty's +ships."--_Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, +1756-77, No. 3, Case 2.] and the seizure of the tender was at the +worst a bloodless crime in which no one was hurt save an obdurate +sentry, who was slashed over the head with a cutlass. + +The boldness of its inception and the anticlimaxical nature of its +finish invest another exploit of this description with an interest all +its own. This was the cutting out of the _Union_ tender from the +river Tyne on the 12th April 1777. The commander, Lieut. Colville, +having that day gone on shore for the "benefit of the air," and young +Barker, the midshipman who was left in charge in his absence, having +surreptitiously followed suit, the pressed men and volunteers, to the +number of about forty, taking advantage of the opportunity thus +presented, rose and seized the vessel, loaded the great guns, and by +dint of threatening to sink any boat that should attempt to board them +kept all comers, including the commander himself, at bay till nine +o'clock in the evening. By that time night had fallen, so, with the +wind blowing strong off-shore and an ebb-tide running, they cut the +cables and stood out to sea. For three days nothing was heard of them, +and North Shields, the scene of the exploit and the home of most of +the runaways, was just on the point of giving the vessel up for lost +when news came that she was safe. Influenced by one Benjamin Lamb, a +pressed man of more than ordinary character, the rest had relinquished +their original purpose of either crossing over to Holland or running +the vessel ashore on some unfrequented part of the coast, and had +instead carried her into Scarborough Bay, doubtless hoping to land +there without interference and so make their way to Whitby or Hull. In +this design, however, they were partly frustrated, for, a force having +been hastily organised for their apprehension, they were waylaid as +they came ashore and retaken to the number of twenty-two, the rest +escaping. Lamb, discharged for his good offices in saving the tender, +was offered a boatswain's place if he would re-enter; but for poor +Colville the affair proved disastrous. Becoming demented, he attempted +to shoot himself and had to be superseded. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1497--Capt. Bover, 13 April 1777, and enclosures.] + +All down through the century similar incidents, crowding thick and +fast one upon another, relieved the humdrum routine of the pressed +man's passage to the fleet, and either made his miserable life in a +measure worth living or brought it to a summary conclusion. Of minor +incidents, all tending to the same happy or unhappy end, there was no +lack. Now he sweltered beneath a sun so hot as to cause the pitch to +boil in the seams of the deck above his head; again, as when the +_Boneta_ sloop, conveying pressed men from Liverpool to the +Hamoaze in 1740, encountered "Bedds of two or three Acres bigg of Ice +& of five or Six foot thicknesse, which struck her with such force +'twas enough to drive her bows well out," he "almost perished" from +cold. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2732--Capt. Young, 8 Feb. +1739-40.] To-day it was broad farce. He held his sides with laughter +to see the lieutenant of the tender he was in, mad with rage and +drink, chase the steward round and round the mainmast with a loaded +pistol, whilst the terrified hands, fearing for their lives, fled for +refuge to the coalhole, the roundtops and the shore. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1498--Complaint of the Master and Company of +H. M. Hired Tender _Speedwell_, 21 Dec. 1778.] To-morrow it was tragedy. +Some "little dirty privateer" swooped down upon him, as in the case +of the _Admiral Spry_ tender from Waterford to Plymouth, [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1500--Dickson, Surveyor of Customs at the Cove +of Cork, April 1780.] and consigned him to what he dreaded infinitely +more than any man-o'-war--a French prison; or contrary winds, swelling +into a sudden gale, drove him a helpless wreck on to some treacherous +coast, as they drove the _Rich Charlotte_ upon the Formby Sands in +1745, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 4 Oct. +1745.] and there remorselessly drowned him. + +Provided he escaped such untoward accidents as death or capture by the +enemy, sooner or later the pressed man arrived at the receiving +station. Here another ordeal awaited him, and here also he made his +last bid for freedom. + +Taking the form of a final survey or regulating, the ordeal the +pressed man had now to face was no less thoroughgoing than its +precursor at the rendezvous had in all probability been superficial +and ineffective. Eyes saw deeper here, wits were sharper, and in this +lay at once the pressed man's bane and salvation. For if genuinely +unfit, the fact was speedily demonstrated; whereas if merely shamming, +discovery overtook him with a certainty that wrote "finis" to his last +hope. Nevertheless, for this ordeal, as for his earlier regulating at +the rendezvous, the sailor who knew his book prepared himself with +exacting care during the tedium of his voyage. + +No sooner was he mustered for survey, then, than the most +extraordinary, impudent and in many instances transparent impostures +were sprung upon his examiners. Deafness prevailed to an alarming +extent, dumbness was by no means unknown. Men who fought desperately +when the gang took them, or who played cards with great assiduity in +the tender's hold, developed sudden paralysis of the arms. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1464--Capt. Bloyes, Jan. 1702-3; _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, 26 Sept. 1711. An extraordinary +instance of this form of malingering is cited in the "Naval +Sketch-Book," 1826.] Legs which had been soundness itself at +the rendezvous were now a putrefying mass of sores. The itch broke out +again, virulent and from all accounts incurable. Fits returned with +redoubled frequency and violence, the sane became demented or idiotic, +and the most obviously British, losing the use of their mother tongue, +swore with many gesticulatory _sacrés_ that they had no English, +as indeed they had none for naval purposes. Looking at the miserable, +disease-ridden crew, the uninitiated spectator was moved to tears of +pity. Not so the naval officer. In France, when a prisoner of war, +learning French there without a master, he had heard a saying that he +now recalled to some purpose: _Vin de grain est plus doux que n'est +pas vin de presse_--"Willing duties are sweeter than those that are +extorted." The punning allusion to the press had tickled his fancy and +fixed the significant truism in his memory. From it he now took his +cue and proceeded to man his ship. + +So at length the pressed man, in spite of all his ruses and +protestations, was rated and absorbed into that vast agglomeration of +men and ships known as the fleet. Here he underwent a speedy +metamorphosis. It was not that he lost his individuality and became a +mere unit amongst thousands. Quite the contrary. Friends, creditors or +next-of-kin, concocting petitions on his behalf, set forth in +heart-rending terms the many disabilities he suffered from, together +with many he did not, and prayed, with a fervour often reaching no +deeper than their pockets, that he might be restored without delay to +his bereaved and destitute family. Across the bottom right-hand corner +of these petitions, conveniently upturned for that purpose, the +Admiralty scrawled its initial order: "Let his case be stated." The +immediate effect of this expenditure of Admiralty ink was magical. It +promoted the subject of the petition from the ranks, so to speak, and +raised him to the dignity of a "State the Case Man." + +He now became a person of consequence. The kindliest inquiries were +made after his health. The state of his eyes, the state of his limbs, +the state of his digestion were all stated with the utmost minuteness +and prolixity. Reams of gilt-edged paper were squandered upon him; and +by the time his case had been duly stated, restated, considered, +reconsidered and finally decided, the poor fellow had perhaps voyaged +round the world or by some mischance gone to the next. + +In the matter of exacting their pound of flesh the Lords Commissioners +were veritable Shylocks. Neither supplications nor tears had power to +move them, and though they sometimes relented, it was invariably for +reasons of policy and in the best interests of the service. Men +clearly shown to be protected they released. They could not go back +upon their word unless some lucky quibble rendered it possible to +traverse the obligation with honour. Unprotected subjects who were +clearly unfit to eat the king's victuals they discharged--for +substitutes. + + [Illustration: The Press Gang, or English Liberty Displayed.] + +The principle underlying their Lordships' gracious acceptance of +substitutes for pressed men was beautifully simple. If as a pressed +man you were fit to serve, but unwilling, you were worth at least two +able-bodied men; if you were unfit, and hence unable to serve, you +were worth at least one. This simple rule proved a source of great +encouragement to the gangs, for however bad a man might be he was +always worth a better. + +The extortions to which the Lords Commissioners lent themselves in +this connection--three, and, as in the case of Joseph Sanders of +Bristol, [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1534--Capt. Barker, 4 +Jan. 1805, and endorsement.] even four able-bodied men being exacted +as substitutes--could only be termed iniquitous did we not know the +duplicity, roguery and deep cunning with which they had to cope. Upon +the poor, indeed, the practice entailed great hardship, particularly +when the home had to be sacrificed in order to obtain the discharge of +the bread-winner who had been instrumental in getting it together; but +to the unscrupulous crimp and the shady attorney the sailor's +misfortune brought only gain. Buying up "raw boys," or Irishmen who +"came over for reasons they did not wish known"--rascally persons who +could be had for a song--they substituted these for seasoned men who +had been pressed, and immediately, having got the latter in their +power, turned them over to merchant ships at a handsome profit. At +Hull, on the other hand, substitutes were sought in open market. The +bell-man there cried a reward for men to go in that capacity. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--George Crowle, Esq., M.P. +for Hull, 28 Dec. 1739.] + +Even when the pressed man had procured his substitutes and obtained +his coveted discharge, his liberty was far from assured. In theory +exempt from the press for a period of at least twelve months, he was +in reality not only liable to be re-pressed at any moment, but to be +subjected to that process as often as he chose to free himself and the +gang to take him. A Liverpool youth named William Crick a lad with +expectations to the amount of "near 4000 Pounds," was in this way +pressed and discharged by substitute three times in quick succession. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Rear-Admiral Child, 8 Aug. +1799.] Intending substitutes themselves not infrequently suffered the +same fate ere they could carry out their intention. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1439--Lieut. Leaver, 5 Jan. 1739-40, and +numerous instances.] + +The discharging of a pressed man whose petition finally succeeded did +not always prove to be the eminently simple matter it would seem. Time +and tide waited for no man, least of all for the man who had the +misfortune to be pressed, and in the interval between his appeal and +the order for his release his ship, as already hinted, had perhaps put +half the circumference of the globe between him and home; or when the +crucial moment arrived, and he was summoned before his commander to +learn the gratifying Admiralty decision, he made his salute in batches +of two, three or even four men, each of whom protested vehemently that +he was the original and only person to whom the order applied. An +amusing attempt at "coming Cripplegate" in this manner occurred on +board the _Lennox_ in 1711. A woman, who gave her name as Alice +Williams, having petitioned for the release of her "brother," one John +Williams, a pressed man then on board that ship, succeeded in her +petition, and orders were sent down to the commander, Capt. Bennett, +to give the man his discharge. He proceeded to do so, but to his +amazement discovered, first, that he had no less than four John +Williamses on board, all pressed men; second, that while each of the +four claimed to be the man in question, three of the number had no +sister, while the fourth confessed to one whose name was not Alice but +"Percilly"; and, after long and patient investigation, third, that one +of them had a wife named Alice, who, he being a foreigner domiciled by +marriage, had "tould him she would gett him cleare" should he chance +to fall into the hands of the press-gang. In this she failed, for he +was kept. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1470--Capt. Bennett, +2 Dec. 1711.] + +Of the pressed man's smiling arrest for debts which he did not owe, +and of his jocular seizure by sheriffs armed with writs of Habeas +Corpus, the annals of his incorporation in the fleet furnish many +instances. Arrest for fictitious debt was specially common. In every +seaport town attorneys were to be found who made it their regular +practice. Particularly was this true of Bristol. Good seamen were +rarely pressed there for whom writs were not immediately issued on the +score of debts of which they had never heard. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 579--Admiral Philip, 5 Dec. 1801.] To warrant such +arrest the debt had to exceed twenty pounds, and service, when the +pressed man was already on shipboard, was by the hands of the Water +Bailiff. + +The writ of Habeas Corpus was, in effect, the only legal check it was +possible to oppose to the impudent pretensions and high-handed +proceedings of the gang. While H.M.S. _Amaranth_ lay in dock in +1804 and her company were temporarily quartered on a hulk in Long +Reach, two sheriff's officers, accompanied by a man named Cumberland, +a tailor of Deptford, boarded the latter and served a writ on a seaman +for debt. The first lieutenant, who was in charge at the time, refused +to let the man go, saying he would first send to his captain, then at +the dock, for orders, which he accordingly did. The intruders +thereupon went over the side, Cumberland "speaking very insultingly." +Just as the messenger returned with the captain's answer, however, +they again put in an appearance, and the lieutenant hailed them and +bade them come aboard. Cumberland complied. "I have orders from my +captain," said the lieutenant, stepping up to him, "to press you." He +did so, and had it not been that a writ of Habeas Corpus was +immediately sworn out, the Deptford tailor would most certainly have +exchanged his needle for a marlinespike. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1532--Lieut. Collett, 13 Feb. 1804.] + +Provocative as such redemptive measures were, and designedly so, they +were as a rule allowed to pass unchallenged. The Lords Commissioners +regretted the loss of the men, but thought "perhaps it would be as +well to let them go." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 7. 302--Law +Officers' Opinions, 1783-95, No. 24.] For this complacent attitude on +the part of his captors the pressed man had reason to hold the Law +Officers of the Crown in grateful remembrance. As early as 1755 they +gave it as their opinion--too little heeded--that to bring any matter +connected with pressing to judicial trial would be "very imprudent." +Later, with the lesson of twenty-two years' hard pressing before their +eyes, they went still further, for they then advised that a subject so +contentious, not to say so ill-defined in law, should be kept, if not +altogether, at least as much as possible out of court. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 7. 298--Law Officers' Opinions, 1733-56, No. +99; _Admiralty Records_ 7. 299--Law Officers' Opinions, 1756-77, +No. 70.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HOW THE GANG WENT OUT. + + + +Not until the year 1833 did belated Nemesis overtake the press-gang. +It died the unmourned victim of its own enormities, and the manner of +its passing forms the by no means least interesting chapter in its +extraordinary career. + +Summarising the causes, direct and indirect, which led to the final +scrapping of an engine that had been mainly instrumental in manning +the fleet for a hundred years and more, and without which, whatever +its imperfections, that fleet could in all human probability never +have been manned at all, we find them to be substantially these:-- + +_(a)_ The demoralising effects of long-continued, violent and +indiscriminate pressing upon the Fleet; + +_(b)_ Its injurious and exasperating effects upon Trade; + +_(c)_ Its antagonising effect upon the Nation; and + +_(d)_ Its enormous cost as compared with recruiting by the +good-will of the People. + +Frederick the Great, it is related, being in one of his grim humours +after the dearly bought victory of Czaslaw, invited the neighbouring +peasantry to come and share the spoil of the carcases on the field of +battle. They responded in great numbers; whereupon he, surrounding +them, pressed three hundred of the most promising and "cloathed them +immediately from the dead." [Footnote: _State Papers Foreign, +Germany,_ vol. cccxl.--Robinson to Hyndford, 31 May 1742.] In this +way, Ezekiel-like, he retrieved his losses; but to the regiments so +completed the addition of these resurrection recruits proved +demoralising to a degree, notwithstanding the Draconic nature of the +Prussian discipline. In like manner the discipline used in the British +fleet, while not less drastic, failed conspicuously to counteract the +dry-rot introduced and fostered by the press-gang. In its efforts to +maintain the Navy, indeed, that agency came near to proving its ruin. + +On the most lenient survey of the recruits it furnished, it cannot be +denied that they were in the aggregate a desperately poor lot, +unfitted both physically and morally for the tremendous task of +protecting an island people from the attacks of powerful sea-going +rivals. How bad they were, the epithets spontaneously applied to them +by the outraged commanders upon whom they were foisted abundantly +prove. Witness the following, taken at random from naval captains' +letters extending over a hundred years:-- + +"Blackguards." + +"Sorry poor creatures that don't earn half the victuals they eat." + +"Sad, thievish creatures." + +"Not a rag left but what was of such a nature as had to be destroyed." + +"150 on board, the greatest part of them sorry fellows." + +"Poor ragged souls, and very small." + +"Miserable poor creatures, not a seaman amongst them, and the fleet in +the same condition." + +"Unfit for service, and a nuisance to the ship." + +"Never so ill-manned a ship since I have been at sea. The worst set I +ever saw." + +"Twenty-six poor souls, but three of them seamen. Ragged and half +dead." + +"Landsmen, boys, incurables and cripples. Sad wretches great part of +them are." + +"More fit for an hospital than the sea." + +"All the ragg-tagg that can be picked up." + +In this last phrase, "All the rag-tag that can be picked up," we have +the key to the situation; for though orders to press "no aged, +diseased or infirm persons, nor boys," were sufficiently explicit, yet +in order to swell the returns, and to appease in some degree the +fleet's insatiable greed for men, the gangs raked in recruits with a +lack of discrimination that for the better part of a century made that +fleet the most gigantic collection of human freaks and derelicts under +the sun. + +Billingsley, commander of the _Ferme_, receiving seventy pressed +men to complete his complement in 1708, discovers to his chagrin that +thirteen are lame in the legs, five lame in the hands, and three +almost blind. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1469--Capt. +Billingsley, 5 May 1708.] Latham, commanding the _Bristol_, on +the eve of sailing for the West Indies can muster only eighteen seamen +amongst sixty-eight pressed men that day put on board of him. As for +the rest, they are either sick, or too old or too young to be of +service--"ragged wretches, bad of the itch, who have not the least +pretensions to eat His Majesty's bread." Forty of the number had to be +put ashore. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 161--Admiral +Watson, 26 Feb. 1754.] Admiral Mostyn, boarding his flagship, the +_Monarch_, "never in his life saw such a crew," though the +_Monarch_ had an already sufficiently evil reputation in that +respect, insomuch that whenever a scarecrow man-o'-war's man was seen +ashore the derisive cry instantly went up: "There goes a +_Monarch_!" So hopelessly bad was the company in this instance, +it was found impossible to carry the ship to sea. "I don't know where +they come from," observes the Admiral, hot with indignation, "but +whoever was the officer who received them, he ought to be ashamed, for +I never saw such except in the condemned hole at Newgate. I was three +hours and a half mustering this scabby crew, and I should have +imagined that the Scum of the Earth had been picked up for this ship." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 480--Admiral Mostyn, 1 and 6 +April 1755.] The vigorous protest prepares us for what Capt. Baird +found on board the _Duke_ a few years later. The pressed men +there exhibited such qualifications for sea duty as "fractured +thigh-bone, idiocy, strained back and sickly, a discharged soldier, +gout and sixty years old, rupture, deaf and foolish, fits, lame, +rheumatic and incontinence of urine." [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1490--Capt. Baird, 22 May 1759.] + +That most reprehensible practice, the pressing of cripples for naval +purposes, would appear to have had its origin in the unauthorised +extension of an order issued by the Lord High Admiral, in 1704, to the +effect that in the appointment of cooks to the Navy the Board should +give preference to persons so afflicted. For the pressing of boys +there existed even less warrant. Yet the practice was common, so much +so that when, during the great famine of 1800, large numbers of youths +flocked into Poole in search of the bread they could not obtain in the +country, the gangs waylaid them and reaped a rich harvest. Two hundred +was the toll on this occasion. As all were in a "very starving, +ragged, filthy condition," the gangsmen stripped them, washed them +thoroughly in the sea, clad them in second-hand clothing from the +quay-side shops, and giving each one a knife, a spoon, a comb and a +bit of soap, sent them on board the tenders contented and happy. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Capt. Boyle, 2 June 1801.] +These lads were of course a cut above the "scum of the earth" so +vigorously denounced by Admiral Mostyn. Beginning their career as +powder-monkeys, a few years' licking into shape transformed them, as a +rule, into splendid fighting material. + +The utter incapacity of the human refuse dumped into the fleet is +justly stigmatised by one indignant commander, himself a patient +long-sufferer in that respect, as a "scandalous abuse of the service." +Six of these poor wretches had not the strength of one man. They could +not be got upon deck in the night, or if by dint of the rope's-end +they were at length routed out of their hammocks, they immediately +developed the worst symptoms of the "waister"--seasickness and fear of +that which is high. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1471--Capt. +Billop, 26 Oct. 1712.] Bruce, encountering dirty weather on the Irish +coast, when in command of the _Hawke_, out of thirty-two pressed +men "could not get above seven to go upon a yard to reef his courses," +but was obliged to order his warrant officers and master aloft on that +duty. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1477--Capt. Bruce, 6 Oct. +1741.] Belitha, of the _Scipio_, had but one man aboard him, out +of a crew of forty-one, who was competent to stand his trick at the +wheel; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1482--Capt. Belitha, 15 +July 1746.] Bethell, of the _Phoenix_, had many who had "never +seen a gun fired in their lives"; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ +1. 1490--Capt. Bethell, 21 Aug. 1759.] and Adams, of the +_Bird-in-hand_, learnt the fallacy of the assertion that that +_rara avis_ is worth two in the bush. Mustered for drill in +small-arms, his men "knew no more how to handle them than a child." +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Adams, 7 Oct. +1744.] For all their knowledge of that useful exercise they might have +been Sea-Fencibles. + +Yet while ships were again and again prevented from putting to sea +because, though their complements were numerically complete, they had +only one or no seaman on board, and hence were unable to get their +anchors or make sail; [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1478 +--Capt. Boys, 14 April 1742; _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1512--Capt. +Bayly, 21 July 1796, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] while +Bennett, of the _Lennox_, when applied to by the masters of +eight outward-bound East-India ships for the loan of two hundred +and fifty men to enable them to engage the French privateers by +whom they were held up in the river of Shannon, dared not lend +a single hand lest the pressed men, who formed the greater +part of his crew, should rise and run away with the ship; [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. 1779.] +Ambrose, of the _Rupert_, cruising off Cape Machichaco with a +crew of "miserable poor wretches" whom he feared could be of "no +manner of use or service" to him, after a short but sharp engagement +of only an hour's duration captured, with the loss of but a single +man, the largest privateer sailing out of San Sebastian--the _Duke +of Vandome_, of twenty-six carriage guns and two hundred and two +men, of whom twenty-nine were killed; [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1439--Capt. Ambrose, 7 July and 26 Sept. 1741.] and +Capt. Amherst, encountering a heavy gale in Barnstable Pool, off +Appledore, would have lost his ship, the low-waisted, over-masted +_Mortar_ sloop, had it not been for the nine men he was so lucky +as to impress shortly before the gale. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 1440--Capt. Amherst, 12 Dec. 1744.] Anson regarded +pressed men with suspicion. When he sailed on his famous voyage round +the world his ships contained only sixty-seven; but with his +complement of five hundred reduced by sickness to two hundred and one, +he was glad to add forty of those undesirables to their number out of +the India-men at Wampoo. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +1439--Capt. Anson, 18 Sept. 1740, and 7 Dec. 1742.] These, however, +were seamen such as the gangs did not often pick up in England, where, +as we have seen, the able seaman who was not fully protected avoided +the press as he would a lee shore. + +In addition to the sweepings of the roads and slums, there were in His +Majesty's ships many who trod the decks "wide betwixt the legs, as if +they had the gyves on." Peculiar to the seafaring man, the tailor and +the huckstering Jew, the gait of these individuals, who belonged +mostly to the sailor class, was strongly accentuated by an +adventitious circumstance having no necessary connection with +Israelitish descent, the sartorial board or the rolling deep. They +were in fact convicts who had but recently shed their irons, and who +walked wide from force of habit. Reasons of policy rather than of +mercy explained their presence in the fleet. The prisons of the +country, numerous and insanitary though they were, could neither hold +them all nor kill them; America would have no more of them; and penal +settlements, those later garden cities of a harassed government, were +as yet undreamt of. In these circumstances reprieved and pardoned +convicts were bestowed in about equal proportions, according to their +calling and election, upon the army and the navy. + +The practice was one of very respectable antiquity and antecedents. By +a certain provision of the Feudal System a freeman who had committed a +felony, or become hopelessly involved in debt, might purge himself of +either by becoming a serf. So, at a later date, persons in the like +predicament were permitted to exchange their fetters, whether of debt +or iron, for the dear privilege of "spilling every drop of blood in +their bodies" [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of +the Convicts on board the _Stanislaus_ hulk, Woolwich, 18 May +1797.] on behalf of the sovereign whose clemency they enjoyed. Broken +on the wheel of naval discipline, they "did very well in deep water." +Nearer land they were given, like the jailbirds they were, to "hopping +the twig." [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 2733--Capt. Young, +21 March 1776.] + +The insolvent debtor, who in the majority of cases had studied his +pleasures more than his constitution, was perhaps an even less +desirable recruit than his cousin the emancipated convict. In his +letters to the Navy Board, Capt. Aston, R.N., relates how, immediately +after the passing of the later Act [Footnote: 4 & 5 Anne, cap. 6.] for +the freeing of such persons from their financial fetters, he "gave +constant attendance for almost two years at the sittings of the Courts +of Sessions in London and Surrey," lying in wait there for such +debtors as should choose the sea. From the Queen's Bench Prison, the +Clink, Marshalsea, Borough Compter, Poultry Compter, Wood Street +Compter, Ludgate Prison and the Fleet, he obtained in that time a +total of one hundred and thirty-two, to whom in every case the +prest-shilling was paid. They were dear at the price. Bankrupt in +pocket, stamina and health, they cumbered the ships to the despair of +commanders and were never so welcome as when they ran away. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 1436--Letters of Capt. Aston, 1704-5.] + +The responsibility for jail-bird recruiting did not of course rest +with the gangs. They saw the shady crew safe on board ship, that was +all. Yet the odium of the thing was theirs. For not only did +association with criminals lower the standard of pressing as the gangs +practised it, it heightened the general disrepute in which they were +held. For an institution whose hold upon the affections of the people +was at the best positively negative, this was a serious matter. Every +convict whom the gang safeguarded consequently drove another nail in +the coffin preparing for it. The first and most lasting effect of the +wholesale pumping of sewage into the fleet was to taint the ships with +a taint far more deadly than mere ineptitude. A spirit of ominous +restlessness prevailed. Slackness was everywhere observable, coupled +with incipient insubordination which no discipline, however severe, +could eradicate or correct. At critical moments the men could with +difficulty be held to their duty. To hold them to quarters in '97, +when engaging the enemy off Brest, the rattan and the rope's-end had +to be unsparingly used. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. +5125--Petition of the Company of H.M.S. _Nymph_, 1797.] In no +circumstances were they to be trusted. Given the slightest opening, +they "ran" like water from a sieve. To counteract these dangerous +tendencies the Marines were instituted. Drafted into the ships in +thousands, they checked in a measure the surface symptoms of +disaffection, but left the disease itself untouched. The fact was +generally recognised, and it was no uncommon circumstance, when the +number of pressed men present in a ship was large in proportion to the +unpressed element, for both officers and marines to walk the deck day +and night armed, fearful lest worse things should come upon them. +[Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 1499--Capt. Bennett, 22 Sept. +1799, and Captains' Letters, _passim_.] What they anticipated was +the mutiny of individual crews. But a greater calamity than this was +in store for them. + +In the wholesale mutinies at Spithead and the Nore the blow fell with +appalling suddenness, notwithstanding the fact that in one form or +another it had been long foreseen. Fifty-five years had elapsed since +Vernon, scenting danger from the existing mode of manning the fleet, +had first sounded the alarm. He dreaded, he told the Lords +Commissioners in so many words, the consequences that must sooner or +later ensue from adherence to the press. [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 578--Vice-Admiral Vernon, 27 Jan. 1742-3.] Though the +utterance of one gifted with singularly clear prevision, the warning +passed unheeded. Had it been made public, it would doubtless have met +with the derision with which the voice of the national prophet is +always hailed. Veiled as it was in service privacy, it moved their +Lordships to neither comment nor action. Action, indeed, was out of +the question. The Commissioners were helpless in the grip of a system +from which, so far as human sagacity could then perceive, there was no +way of escape. Let its issue be what it might, they could no more +replace or reconstruct it than they could build ships of tinsel. + +Other warnings were not wanting. For some years before the +catastrophic happenings of '97 there flowed in upon the Admiralty a +thin but steady stream of petitions from the seamen of the fleet, each +of them a rude echo of Vernon's sapient warning. To these, coming as +they did from an unconsidered source, little if any significance was +attached. Beyond the most perfunctory inquiry, in no case to be made +public, they received scant attention. The sailor, it was thought, +must have his grievances if he would be happy; and petitions were the +recognised line for him to air them on. They were accordingly +relegated to that limbo of distasteful and quickly forgotten things, +their Lordships' pigeon-holes. + +Yet there was amongst these documents at least one which should have +given the Heads of the Navy pause for serious thought. It was +the petition of the seamen of H.M.S. _Shannon_, [Footnote: _Admiralty +Records_ 1. 5125--Petition of the Ship's Company of the _Shannon_, 16 +June 1796.] in which there was conveyed a threat that afterwards, when +the mutiny at the Nore was at its height, under the leadership of a +pressed man whose coadjutors were mainly pressed men, came within an +ace of resolving itself in action. That threat concerned the desperate +expedient of carrying the revolted ships into an enemy's port, and of +there delivering them up. Had this been done--and only the Providence +that watches over the destinies of nations prevented it--the act would +have brought England to her knees. + +At a time like this, when England's worst enemies were emphatically +the press-gangs which manned her fleet with the riff-raff of the +nation and thus made national disaster not only possible but hourly +imminent, the "old stander" and the volunteer were to her Navy what +salt is to the sea, its perpetual salvation. Such men inculcated an +example, created an _esprit de corps_, that infected even the +vagrant and the jail-bird, to say nothing of the better-class seaman, +taken mainly by gangs operating on the water, who was often content, +when brought into contact with loyal men, to settle down and do his +best for king and country. Amongst the pressed men, again, desertion +and death made for the survival of the fittest, and in this residuum +there was not wanting a certain savour. Subdued and quickened by +man-o'-war discipline, they developed a dogged resolution, a +super-capacity not altogether incompatible with degeneracy; and to +crown all, the men who officered the resolute if disreputable crew +were men in whose blood the salt of centuries tingled, men unrivalled +for sea-sagacity, initiative and pluck. If they could not uphold the +honour of the flag with the pressed man's unqualified aid, they did +what was immeasurably greater. They upheld it in spite of him. + +Upon the trade of the nation the injury inflicted by the press-gang is +rightly summed up in littles. Every able seaman, every callow +apprentice taken out of or forcibly detained from a merchant vessel +was, _ipso facto,_ a minute yet irretrievably substantial loss to +commerce of one kind or another. Trade, it is true, did not succumb in +consequence. Possessed of marvellous recuperative powers, she did not +even languish to any perceptible degree. Nevertheless, the detriment +was there, a steadily cumulative factor, and at the end of any given +period of pressing the commerce of the nation, emasculated by these +continuous if infinitesimal abstractions from its vitality, was +substantially less in bulk, substantially less in pounds sterling, +than if it had been allowed to run its course unhindered. + +British in name, but Teutonic in its resentments, trade came to regard +these continual "pin-pricks" as an intolerable nuisance. It was not so +much the loss that aroused her anger as the constant irritation she +was subjected to. This she keenly resented, and the stream of her +resentment, joining forces with its confluents the demoralisation of +the Navy through pressing, the excessive cost of pressing and the +antagonising effects of pressing upon the nation at large, contributed +in no small degree to that final supersession of the press-gang which +was in essence, if not in name, the beginning of Free Trade. + +To the people the impress was as an axe laid at the root of the tree. +There was here no question, as with trade, of the mere loss of hands +who could be replaced. Attacking the family in the person of its +natural supporter and protector, the octopus system of which the gangs +were the tentacles struck at the very foundations of domestic life and +brought to thousands of households a poverty as bitter and a grief as +poignant as death. + +If the people were slow to anger under the infliction it was because, +in the first place, the gang had its advocates who, though they could +not extol its virtues, since it had none, were yet able, and that with +no small measure of success, to demonstrate to a people as insular in +their prejudices as in their habitat that, but for the invincible Navy +which the gang maintained for their protection, the hereditary enemy, +the detested French, would most surely come and compel them one and +all to subsist upon a diet of frogs. What could be seriously urged +against the gang in face of an argument such as that? + +Patriotism, moreover, glowed with ardent flame. Fanned to twofold heat +by natural hatred of the foreigner and his insolent challenge of +insular superiority, it blinded the people to the truth that liberty +of the subject is in reality nothing more than freedom from +oppression. So, with the gang at their very doors, waiting to snatch +away their husbands, their fathers and their sons, they carolled "Rule +Britannia" and congratulated themselves on being a free people. The +situation was unparalleled in its sardonic humour; and, as if this +were not enough, the "Noodle of Newcastle," perceiving vacuously that +something was still wanting, supplied the bathetic touch by giving out +that the king, God bless him! could never prevail upon himself to +break through the sacred liberties of his people save on the most +urgent occasions. [Footnote: _Newcastle Papers_--Newcastle to +Yorke, 27 Feb. 1749-50.] + +The process of correcting the defective vision of the nation was as +gradual as the acquisition of the sea-power the nation had set as its +goal, and as painful. In both processes the gang participated largely. +To the fleet it acted as a rude feeder; to the people as a ruder +specialist. Wielding the cutlass as its instrument, it slowly and +painfully hewed away the scales from their eyes until it stood +visualised for what it really was--the most atrocious agent of +oppression the world has ever seen. For the operation the people +should have been grateful. The nature of the thing they had cherished +so blindly filled them with rage and incited them to violence. + +Two events now occurred to seal the fate of the gang and render its +final supersession a mere matter of time rather than of debate or +uncertainty. The mutiny at the Nore brought the people face to face +with the appalling risks attendant on wholesale pressing, while the +war with America, incurred for the sole purpose of upholding the right +to press, taught them the lengths to which their rulers were still +prepared to go in order to enslave them. In the former case their +sympathies, though with the mutineers, were frozen at the +fountain-head by fear of invasion and that supposititious diet of +frogs. In the latter, as in the ancient quarrel between Admiralty and +Trade, they went out to the party who not only abstained from pressing +but paid the higher wages. + +While the average cost of 'listing a man "volunteerly" rarely exceeded +the modest sum of 30s., the expense entailed through recruiting him by +means of the press-gang ranged from 3s. 9d. per head in 1570 +[Footnote: _State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth_, vol. lxxiii. f. +38: Estimate of Charge for Pressing 400 Mariners, 1570.] to 114 Pounds +in 1756. Between these extremes his cost fluctuated in the most +extraordinary manner. At Weymouth, in 1762, it was at least 100 +Pounds; at Deal, in 1805, 32 Pounds odd; at Poole, in the same year, +80 Pounds. [Footnote: _London Chronicle_, 16-18 March, 1762; +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 581--Admiral Berkeley, 14 Feb. and 5 Aug. +1805.] From 1756 the average steadily declined until in 1795 it +touched its eighteenth century minimum of about 6 Pounds. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 579--Average based on Admirals' Reports on +Rendezvous, 1791-5.] A sharp upward tendency then developed, and in +the short space of eight years it soared again to 20 Pounds. It was at +this figure that Nelson, perhaps the greatest naval authority of his +time, put it in 1803. [Footnote: _Admiralty Records_ 1. 580 +--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, 1803.] + +Up to this point we have considered only the prime cost of the pressed +man. A secondary factor must now be introduced, for when you had got +your man at an initial cost of 20 Pounds--a cost in itself out of all +proportion to his value--you could never be sure of keeping him. +Nelson calculated that during the war immediately preceding 1803 +forty-two thousand seamen deserted from the fleet. [Footnote: +_Admiralty Records_ 1. 580--Memorandum on the State of the Fleet, +1803.] Assuming, with him, that every man of this enormous total was +either a pressed man or had been procured at the cost of a pressed +man, the loss entailed upon the nation by their desertion represented +an outlay of 840,000 Pounds for raising them in the first instance, +and, in the second, a further outlay of 840,000 Pounds for replacing +them. + +In this estimate there is, however, a substantial error; for, +approaching the question from another point of view, let us suppose, +as we may safely do without overstraining the probabilities of the +case, that out of every three men pressed at least one ran from his +rating. Now the primary cost of pressing three men on the 20 Pound +basis being 60 Pounds, it follows that in order to obtain their +ultimate cost to the country we must add to that sum the outlay +incurred in pressing another man in lieu of the one who ran. The total +cost of the three men who ultimately remain to the fleet consequently +works out at 80 Pounds; the cost of each at 26 Pounds, 13s. 4d. Hence +Nelson's forty-two thousand deserters entailed upon the nation an +actual expenditure, not of 1,680,000 Pounds, but of nearly two and a +quarter millions. + +Another fact that emerges from a scrutiny of these remarkable figures +is this. Whenever the number of volunteer additions to the fleet +increased, the cost of pressing increased in like ratio; whenever the +number of volunteers declined, the pressed man became proportionally +cheaper. Periods in which the pressed man was scarce and dear thus +synchronise with periods when the volunteer was plentiful; but +scarcity of volunteers, reacting upon the gangs, and conducing to +their greater activity, brought in pressed men in greater numbers in +proportion to expenditure and so reduced the cost per head. In this +logical though at first sight bewildering interrelation of the laws of +supply and demand, we have in a nutshell the whole case for the cost +of pressing as against the gang. Taking one year with another the +century through, the impress service, on a moderate estimate, employed +enough able-bodied men to man a first-rate ship of the line, and +absorbed at least enough money to maintain her, while the average +number of men raised, taking again one year with another, rarely if +ever exceeded the number of men engaged in obtaining them. With +tranquillity at length assured to the country, with trade in a state +of high prosperity, the shipping tonnage of the nation rising by leaps +and bounds and the fleet reduced to an inexigent peace footing, why +incur the ruinous expense of pressing the seaman when, as was now the +case, he could be had for the asking or the making? + +For Peace brought in her train both change and opportunity. The +frantic dumping of all sorts and conditions of men into the fleet +ceased. Necessity no longer called for it. No enemy hovered in the +offing, to be perpetually outmanoeuvred or instantly engaged. Until +that enemy could renew its strength, or time should call another into +being, the mastery of the seas, the dear prize of a hundred years of +strenuous struggle, remained secure. Our ships, maintained +nevertheless as efficient fighting-machines, became schools of leisure +wherein--a thing impossible amid the perpetual storm and stress of +war--the young blood of the nation could be more gradually inured to +the sea and tuned to fighting-pitch. Science had not yet linked hands +with warfare. Steam, steel, the ironclad, the super-Dreadnought and +the devastating cordite gun were still in the womb of the future; but +the keels of a newer fleet were nevertheless already on the slips, and +with the old order the press-gang, now for ever obsolete, went the way +of all things useless. + +Its memory still survives. Those who despair of our military system, +or of our lack of it, talk of conscription. They alone forget. A +people who for a hundred years patiently endured conscription in its +most cruel form will never again suffer it to be lightly inflicted +upon them. + + + + +APPENDIX + +ADMIRAL YOUNG'S TORPEDO + + +DEAR NEPEAN,--I enclose a little project for destroying the Enemy's +Flatboats if they venture over to our Coast, which you may shew, if +you please, to your Sea Lords as coming from some anonymous +correspondent. If they can improve upon it so as to make it useful, I +shall be glad of it; and if they think it good for nothing, and throw +it in the fire, there is no harm done. As the conveying an Army must +require a very great number of Boats, which must be very near each +other, if many such vessels as I propose should get among them, they +must necessarily commit great havoc. I cannot ascertain whether the +blocks or logs of wood would be strong enough to throw the shot +without bursting, or whether they would not throw the shot though they +should burst. I think they would not burst, and so do some Officers of +Artillery here; but that might be ascertained by experiment at any +time. This sort of Fire-vessel will have the advantage of costing very +little; and of being of no service to the Enemy should it fall into +their hands. + +W. YOUNG. LEWES, 14 _Aug_. 1803. + + + [Illustration: Admiral Young's Torpedo. From the Original Drawing at +the Public Record Office.] + +_Secret_ + +"The success of an attempt to land an Army on an Enemy's Coast, whose +Army is prepared to prevent it, will depend in a great degree on the +regularity of the order in which the Boats, or Vessels, are arranged, +that carry the Troops on Shore; everything therefore which contributes +to the breaking of that order will so far contribute to render success +more doubtful; especially if, in breaking the order, some of the Boats +or Vessels are destroyed. For this purpose Fireships well managed will +be found very useful; I should therefore think that, at all the King's +Ports, and at all places where the Enemy may be expected to attempt a +landing with Ships of War or other large Vessels, considerable +quantities of materials for fitting Fireships according to the latest +method should be kept ready to be put on board any small Vessels on +the Enemy's approach; but, as such Vessels would have little or no +effect on Gunboats or Flatboats, machines might be made for the +purpose of destroying them, by shot, and by explosion. The Shot should +be large, but as they will require to be thrown but a short distance, +and will have only thin-sided Vessels to penetrate, Machines strong +enough to resist the effort of the small quantity of Powder necessary +to throw them may probably be made of wood; either by making several +chambers in one thick Block, as No. 1, or one chamber at each end of a +log as No. 2, which may be used either separately, or fastened +together. The Vents should communicate with each other by means of +quick Match, which should be very carefully covered to prevent its +sustaining damage, or being moved by things carried about. Such +Machines, properly loaded, may be kept in Fishing boats or other small +vessels near the parts of the Coast where the Enemy may be expected to +land; or in secure places, ready to be put on board when the Enemy are +expected. The Chambers should be cut horizontally, and the Machine +should be so placed in the Vessel as to have them about level with the +surface of the water; under the Machine should be placed a +considerable quantity of Gunpowder; and over it, large Stones, and +bags of heavy shingle, and the whole may be covered with fishing nets, +or any articles that may happen to be on board. Several fuses, or +trains of Match, should communicate with the Machine, and with the +powder under it, so managed as to ensure those which communicate with +the Machine taking effect upon the others, that the shot may be thrown +before the Vessel is blown up. The Match, or Fuses, should be +carefully concealed to prevent their being seen if the Vessel should +be boarded.... If these Vessels are placed in the front of the Enemy's +Line, and not near the extremities of it, it would be scarcely +possible for them to avoid the effects of the explosion unless, from +some of them exploding too soon, the whole armament should stop. Every +Machine would probably sink the Boat on each side of it, and so do +considerable damage to others with the shot; and would kill and wound +many men by the explosion and the fall of the stones.... As the +success of these Vessels will depend entirely upon their not being +suspected by the Enemy, the utmost secrecy must be observed in +preparing the Machines and sending them to the places where they are +to be kept. A few confidential men only should be employed to make +them, and they should be so covered as to prevent any suspicion of +their use, or of what they contain." + + + +INDEX + +Adams, Capt., + +_Admiral Spry_ tender, + +_Adventure_, H.M.S., + +Ages below eighteen and over fifty-five exempt, + +Alcock, Henry, Mayor of Waterford, + +Alms, Capt., + +_Amaranth_, H.M.S., + +Ambrose, Capt., + +Amherst, Capt, + +_Amphitrite_, H.M.S., + +Andover, the press-gang at, + +_Anglesea_, H.M.S., + +Anne, Queen, impresses foreign seamen, + arms of press-gang under, + drummers and fifers pressed for navy in her reign, + sailors unwilling to serve, + +Anson, Admiral Lord, + +Anthony, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Appledore, press-gang at, 72, + +Apprentices, exempt from impressment only in some circumstances, + in North-country pressed because their indentures bore Scotch 14s. +stamp instead of English 15s., + +Archer, Capt, + +Arms of the press-gang, + +_Assurance_, H.M.S., + +Aston, Capt, + +Atkinson, Lieut., + +Ayscough, Capt., + +Baily, James, a ferryman, pressed for his inactivity, + +Baird, Capt, + +Balchen, Capt., + +Ball, Capt., + +Banyan days, + +Bargemen impressed in thousands, + +Barker, Capt., regulating officer at Bristol, + midshipman. + +Barking, the press-gang at, + +Barnicle, William, + +Barnsley, Lieut., + +Barrington, Capt., + +Bath, Bristol gang's fruitless attempt at, + +Bawdsey, + +_Beaufort_, East Indiaman, + +Beecher, Capt, + +Bennett, Capt, + +Bertie, Capt, + +Bethell, Capt, paid damages for wrongfully impressing, + +Bettesworth, John, claims privilege of granting private protections to +Ryde and Portsmouth ferrymen, + +Biggen, Charles, + +Billingsley, Capt., + +Bingham, William, + +Birchall, Lieut., + +_Bird-in-hand_, H.M.S., + +Birmingham, sham gangs at, + +_Black Book_ of the Admiralty, + +Blackstone, Sir W., + +Blackwater, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Blanche_, H.M.S., + +Blear-eyed Moll, + +_Blonde_, H.M.S., + +Boats for the press-gang, + +Boat steerers on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Boatswains, conditions of exemption, + +_Bonetta_ sloop, + +Boscawen, Capt., + +Boston, Mass., + +Bounty system, the, + +Bowen, Capt., + +Box, Lieut, + +Boys, Capt., + +Brace, Lieut., + +Bradley, Lieut, + +Brawn, Capt., + +Breedon, Lieut., + +Brenton, Capt. Jahleel, afterwards Vice-Admiral, + +Brenton, E. P., _Naval History_, + +Brenton, Lieut, + +Brereton, Capt., + +Brett, Capt, 110, + +Bridges a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +Brighton, the press-gang at, + +Bristol, the press-gang at, + +Bristol jail as press-room, + +_Bristol_, H.M.S., + +_Britannia_ trading vessel, three of the crew shot in resisting + the press-gang, the ship captured and taken to port, + the affair not within the coroner's purview, the bodies + buried at sea, court-martial acquits officers, + +Brixham, the press-gang at, + +Broadfoot case, the, + +Broadstairs fishermen, + the press-gang at, +Bromley, Capt. Sir Robert, + +Bullard, Richard, a fiddler persuaded to go to Woolwich to + play and for payment was handed to the gang, + +_Bull-Dog_ sloop, + +Burchett, Josiah, _Observations on the Navy_, + +Burrows, Sam, + +Butler, Capt., + +Byron, Lord, + +Calahan, a gangsman, killed in attempting an arrest, + +Cambridge bargemen, press-gang among, + +Campbell, Admiral, + +Cape Breton, + +Caradine, Samuel, + +Carey, Rev. Lucius, + +Carmarthen, Admiral the Marquis of, + +Carolina, + +Carpenters, conditions of exemption, + on warships on coast of Scotland could be replaced by shipwrights +pressed from the yards, + +Carrying the ship up, + +Cartel ships, + +Castle, William, an alien, impressed on his honeymoon, + +Castleford, the press-gang at, + +Cawsand safe from the press-gang, + +Cecil, William, Lord Burleigh, + +_Centurion_, H.M.S., Anson's flagship, whose crew on their return +had life-protection from the press, + +Chaplains, + +Charles II., + +Chatham, crimpage at, + +_Chatham_, H.M.S., + +Chester, the press-gang at + +_Chevrette_ corvette, + +Clapp, Midshipman, + +Clark, George, + +Clephen, James, + +_Clincher_ gun-brig, + +Cockburn, Bailie, of Leith, + +Cogbourne's electuary, + +Coke, Sir E., + +Collingwood, Admiral Lord, + Lieut, + +Colvill, Admiral Lord, + +Colville, Lieut., + +Convoys, + +Conyear, John, + +Cooper, Josh, + +Cork, crimpage at, + the press-gang at, + +Comet bomb ship, + +Cornwall, the press-gang in, + +Coversack, safe from the press-gang, + +Coventry, Mr. Commissioner, + +Coventry, sham gangs at, + +Cowes, press-gang at, + +Crabb, Henry, + +Crews depleted by the press-gang, + +Crick, William, + +Crimps, + as sham gangsmen, + +Cromer, the suspicions of the inhabitants, + bring the press-gang, + to take a noted Russian, + +Crown Colonies, desertions in, + + +Croydon, the press-gang around, + + +Cruickshank, John, chaplain, + +Culverhouse, Capt., + +Customs, Board of, + +Dansays, Capt., + +Danton, Midshipman, + +Darby, Capt., + +Dartmouth, H.M.S., + +Dartmouth, press-gang at, + +Davidson, Samuel, of Newcastle, + applies for life protection + +"DD," discharged dead, in muster books against names of persons +deceased, + +Deal, press-gang at, + +cutters, + +Death of sailor in resisting impress, "accidental", + +Debusk, John, shot by the press-gang, + on the Britannia, + +Dent, Capt., + +Deptford, the press-gang at, + +Desertion from the Navy, + +Devonshire, H.M.S., + +Dipping the flag, + +Director, H.M.S., + +Discipline in the Navy, + +Disinfecting a ship, + +Dispatch sloop, + +Dolan, Edward, + +Dominion and Laws of the Sea., + See Justice, A., + +Dorsetshire, H.M.S., + +Douglas, Capt. Andrew, + +Dover, press-gang at, + +Downs, crimpage in the, + +press-gang in, + +Doyle, Lieut, + +Dreadnought, H.M.S., + +Drummers pressed for the Navy, + +Dryden, Michael, illegally pressed, + +Dryden's sister, + +Dublin, sham gangs at, + the press-gang at, + +Duke, H.M.S., + +Duke of Vandome, H.M.S., + +Duncan case, the, + +Dundas, Henry, + +Dundonald, Lord, Autobiography, + +Dunkirk, H.M.S., + +Eccentricity leads to impressment, + +Eddystone lighthouse, building delayed through impressment of workmen, + builders of the third, protected, + keepers at, put inward-bound, + ships' crews ashore, + +Edinburgh, press-gang at, + +Edmund and Mary Collier, + +Edward III. on the Navy, + +Elizabeth, Queen, + +Elizabeth ketch, + +Ely bargemen, press-gang among, + +Emergency crews of men unfit for pressing supplied to merchant-men by +the crimps, + +Emergency men working on their own account, + places of muster for, + +English Eclogues. See Southey, R., + +Evading the press-gang. See under Press-gang, How it was evaded., + +Evans, Richard, keeper of Gloucester Castle, + +Exemption from impressment, not a right, + of foreigners, + negroes not included, + of landsmen only theoretical, + property no qualification for exemption, + of harvesters, + of gentlemen, judged by appearances, + below 18 and over 55 years, + of apprentices dependent on circumstances, + of merchant seamen dependent on circumstances, + of masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters dependent on + circumstances, + of some of crew of whalers, + of Thames wherrymen by quota system, + of Tyne keelman by the same, + of Severn and Wye trow-men by 10% levy, + did not extend to turf boats on Shannon and Blackwater, + special for four on each fishing vessel, and later for all engaged + in taking, curing, and selling fish, + of Worthing fishermen for a levy, + of Scottish and Manx fishermen, on similar terms, + worthless without a document of protection, + +Exeter, the press-gang at, + +_Falmouth_, H.M.S., + +Falmouth, press-gang at, + +Faversham, the press-gang at, + +_Ferme_, H.M.S., + +Ferries, a favourite haunt of the press-gang, + +_Feversham_, H.M.S., + +Fifers pressed for the Navy, + +Fire on ship board, + +Fisheries, carefully fostered, + three fish days made compulsory, + became a great nursery for seamen, + few exemptions granted, at first special concessions only to the + whale and cod fisheries, + later only such number as the warrant specified might be taken, and + these the Justices chose; in 1801 no person employed in taking, + curing, or selling fish could be impressed, + with their best men impressed, only small smacks could be worked, + a quota system preferred by the fishermen of some ports, + in Cornwall, the men turned tinners in the off-season, + +Flags, flying without authority, + omission to dip, + +Fleet, Liberty of, + +Folkstone market-boats, + +Folkstone, press-gang at, + +Forcible entry by the press-gang illegal, + +Foreigners impressed, + theoretically exempt, + married to English wives considered naturalised, + in emergency crews, + +Frederick the Great, + +Freeholders at one time exempt from impressment, + +_Fubbs_, H.M.S., + +Gage, Capt., + +_Galloper_, tender to the _Dreadnought_, + +_Ganges_, H.M.S., + +Garth, Dr., + +Gaydon, Lieut., + +Gentlemen exempt from the impress, but judged by appearance and +manner, + +Gibbs, Capt., + +_Glory_, H.M.S., + +Gloucester, the press-gang at, + +Gloucester Castle used as press-room, + the keeper's magic palm, + +Godalming, the press-gang at, + +Golden, John, Lord Mayor's bargeman, wrongfully impressed, + +Good, James, midshipman, + +Goodave, Midshipman, + +Gooding, Richard, + +Gosport, the press-gang at, + +Gravesend, the press-gang at, + +Gray, John, + +Great Yarmouth, press-gang at, + +Greenock, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + Trades Guild, + +Greenock ferries, the press-gang at, + +Greenwich Hospital, + + +Grimsby, the press-gang at, + + +Habeas Corpus, writs of, as means of arresting, and so freeing, +pressed men for debts not owing, + +Half-pay officers, their projects and inventions, + +Hamoaze, the, an entrepôt for pressed men, + +Harpooners exempt from impressment, + +Harrison, Lieut., + +Hart, Alexander, + +_Harwich_, H.M.S., + +Haverfordwest, press-gang at, + +Hawke, Admiral Sir Edward, + +_Hawke_, H.M.S., + +Haygarth, Lieut., + +Health and illness, + +_Hector_, H.M.S., + +Herbert, Emanuel, + +_Hind_ armed sloop, + +_Historical Relation of State Affairs_. See Lutterell, N., + +Hogarth's "Stage Coach," + +Hook, Joseph, + +_Hope_ tender, + +Hotten, J. C., _List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from +England to the American Plantations_, + +Hull, press-gang at, + +Humber, the press-gang on, + +Hurst Castle, the press-gang at, + +Ilfracombe, the press-gang at, + +Impressment. See Pressed labour., + +Informers, + +Inland waterways and the gang + at one time without the jurisdiction of the admirals, + +Innes, Capt, + +Ipswich, the press-gang at, + +_Isis_, H.M.S., + +Isle of Man fishermen, + +Jackson, Daniel, pressed from the Chester Volunteers, + +Jamaica, + +_Jason_, H.M.S., + +Jervis, John, Earl of St. Vincent, + +Jews, pressed on account of bandy legs, + +_John and Elizabeth_ pink, + +John, King, impressment under, + +Johnson, Rebecca Anne, + +Jones, Paul, + +Justice, A., _Dominion and Laws of the Sea_, + +Keith, A., parson of the Fleet, + _Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages_, + +Kilkenny, the press-gang at, + +King's Lynn, press-gang at, + +Kingston, William, case of, + +_King William_, Indiaman, + +_Lady Shore_, the, + +Landsmen exempt only in theory, + +Latham, Capt., + +Law officers' opinions on pressing, + +Leave, stoppage of, + +Leeds, the press-gang at, + +Leith, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + +_Lennox_, H.M.S., + +Letting, John, pressed with two protections on him, + +Lewis, Edward, chaplain, + +Libraries, ships', + +_Lichfield_, H.M.S., + +Licorne, H.M.S., + +Limehouse Hole, the press-gang at, + +Lindsay, Admiral the Earl of, _Instructions_, + +Linesmen on whalers exempt from impressment, + +Liskeard, the press-gang at, + +_List of Persons of Quality, etc., who went from England to the +American Plantations_. See Hotten, J. C., + +_Litchfield_, H.M.S., + +Littlehampton, the press-gang at, + +Liverpool, crimpage at, + press-gang at, + +Lodden Bridge, the press-gang at, + +London, the press-gang in, + +Londonderry, the press-gang at, + +Longcroft, Capt, + +_Loo_, H.M.S., + +Love, Henry, gets life protection as promised by Pitt and Dundas, + +Lowestoft, the press-gang at, + +Lulworth, + +Lundy Island, safe from the press-gang, but not to the sailors' + liking, + crews marooned on, + +Lutterell, N., _Historical Relation of State Affairs_, + Capt. Hon. Jas., + +Lymington, the press-gang at, + +M'Bride, Admiral, + +M'Cleverty, Capt., + +M'Donald, Alexander, impressed under the age of twelve, + Charles, + +M'Gugan's wife, + +M'Kenzie, Lieut., + +M'Quarry, Lachlan, + +Magna Carta, its provisions contrary to impressment, + +Mansfield, Lord, + +Margate, the press-gang at, + +_Maria_ brig, + +Marines, + +Marooned crews on Lundy Island, + +_Martin_ galley, + +_Mary_ smuggler, + +Masters, conditions of exemption, + +Mastery of the sea, a necessity for England, + +Mates, conditions of exemption, + +Medway, press-gang on, + +_Medway_, H.M.S., + +Men in lieu, + +Merchant seamen, conditions of exemption, + unprotected when sleeping ashore, + the most valuable asset to the Navy, + +Merchant service, hard conditions of crews, + +_Mercury_, H.M.S., + +Messenger, George, + +Mike, James, hanged for desertion, + +Moll Flanders, + +_Monarch_, H.M.S., + +_Monmouth_, H.M.S., + +_Monumenta Juridica_, + +Morals in the Navy, + improved by Jervis, Nelson, and Collingwood, + +Moriarty, Capt, + +_Mortar_ sloop, + +Mostyn, Admiral, + +_Mediator_ tender, + +Mitchell, Admiral Sir D., + +Montagu, Admiral, + +Mousehole, safe from the press-gang, + +Moverty, Thomas, pressed, not having protection on him, + +Nancy of Deptford, + +_Naseby_, H.M.S., + +_Nassau_, H.M.S., + +_Naval History_. See Brenton, E. P., + +Navy, the growth of, in 18th century, + natural sources of supply of crews, + hard conditions of service in, + discipline in, + provisions in, + comforts in, + +Negroes not exempt from impressment, + +Nelson, Admiral Lord, + +_Nemesis_, H.M.S., + +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, press-gang at, + grand protection enjoyed by, + +New England, + +Newgate compared with the press-room, + +Newhaven, the press-gang at, + +Newland, safe from the press-gang, + +Newquay, safe from the press-gang, + +Nore, the press-gang at the, + the mutiny at, + an entrepôt for pressed-men, + +_Norfolk_, Indiaman, + +Norris, John, + +North Forland, press-gang at, + +_Nymph_, H.M.S., + + +Oakley, Lieut., + +Oaks, Lieut., + +O'Brien, Lieut., + +_Observations on Corporeal Punishment, Impressment, etc._ See +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., + +_Observations on the Act for Preventing Clandestine Marriages._ +See Keith, A., + +_Observations on the Navy._ See Burchett, J., + +Okehampton, the press-gang at, + +Onions, Thomas, + +_Orford_, H.M.S., + +Orkney fishermen, + +Osborne, Admiral, + +Osmer, Lieut., + +_Otter_ sloop, + +Oyster vessels, + + +_Pallas_, H.M.S., + +Parker, Richard, president of the mutineers at the Nore, + +Parkgate, a resort of seamen, + +Paying off discharged entire crews, + +Paying the shot, + +Pay of sailors, + deferred, + +Pembroke, Earl of, Lord High Admiral, + +Penrose, Admiral Sir V. C., _Observations on Corporeal Punishment, +Impressment, etc._, + +Pepys, S., + +Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, + +Petitions of seamen of the Fleet and others, + +_Phoenix_, H.M.S., + +Pill, a favourite haunt of sailors, and shunned by gangsmen, + +Pilots, + +Pitt, William, + +Plymouth, the press-gang at, + +Polpero, safe from the press-gang, + +Poole, press-gang at, + mayor refuses to back press-warrants, + +Popham, Admiral Sir Home, his scheme for coast defence, + +Portland Bill, press-gang off, + +Portland Island, + +Portsmouth, desertions at, + the press-gang at, + +Post-chaise, sailors in, + +Press-boats sunk at sea, + +Pressed labour (see also Press-gang), + antiquity of, + for civil occupations, + for warfare, + means of enforcing, + contrary to the spirit of Magna Carta, + penalties for resistance, + derivation of the term, + the classes from which drawn, + exemptions from, + necessity of, in English Navy, + its crippling effect on trade, + +Press-gang, the + why it was a necessity for the Navy, + its services not needed by some captains, + what it was, + the official and the popular views, + the class of men it was composed of, + its quarters, landsmen joining the land force not to be pressed + for sea service, + ship-gangs entirely seamen, varying numbers in gang, + the officers, + the shore service the grave of promotion, + general character of officers ashore, + duties of the Regulating Captain, + pay and road money, etc., + perquisites, peculation, and bribery in the service, + sham-gangs, + the rendezvous, + boat's arms, + press warrant, + whom the gang might take, + primarily those who used the sea, + later on trade suffers from the gang, + exemption granted as an indulgence, + the foreigner first exempted, + but not if he had an English wife, and was soon assumed to have + one, + negroes not exempt, landsmen theoretically only, + harvesters were exempt if holding a certificate, + gentlemen exempt if dressed as such, + only those proved to be between eighteen and fifty-five, + the position of apprentices was uncertain, + to press merchant seamen was resented by trade, + masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters were exempt, + colliers were exempt up to a certain proportion, + ship protections did not count on shore, + mate was not entitled to liberty unless registered at the + rendezvous, + harpooners were protected out of season on land or on colliers, + the press-gang preyed upon its fellows, + watermen, bargemen, and canal boat-dwellers were considered to use + the see, + Thames watermen and some others exempt if certain quota of men + supplied, + large numbers pressed from Ireland, + fishermen indifferently protected, but fisheries fostered, + all protected persons bound to carry their protection on them, + an error in protection invalidated it, + protections often disregarded, + special protections, + its activities afloat, + the merchant seamen the principal quest, + the chain of sea-gangs, + the outer rings, frigates pressing for their own crews and armed + sloops as tenders to ships of the line, and the vessels employed + by regulating captains at the large ports, + the inner ring of boat-gangs in harbour or on rivers; + their methods., + methods of pressing at sea, + complications arising from pressing at sea, + their varied success., + and the right to search foreign vessels for English seamen, + and convoys, + and privateers, + and smugglers, + smuggling by, + and ships in quarantine, + and transports, + and cartel ships, + and pilots, + how it was evaded, + in the ship, with her or from her, + or a combination, + hiding on board from, + evasions assisted by the skipper, + and men in lieu and foreigners in emergency crews, + pilots and fisherman taken by, when acting as emergency men, + evaded by desertion from the ship, + evaded by hiding on land and changing quarters, + Cornwall dangerous for, + safe retreats from, + empowered to take Severn and Wye trow-men, + unsuccessful efforts of, + evaded by borrowed, forged, and American protections and by + disguises, + what it did ashore, + the sailor betrayed by marked characteristics; + sailors outnumbered on shore by the gang, + its object the pressing of sailors who escaped the seagangs, + its London rendezvous and taverns used. + the inland distribution of, + the class of places selected for operations of, + the land-gangs necessarily ambulatory, + its resting and refreshment places chosen for purposes of capture, + the methods adopted, + a hot press at Brighton, + a ruse at Portsmouth, + how the sailors' liking for drink was turned to account, + the amount of violence used, + outside assistance to, + rivalry between gangs, + assisted by mayors and county magistrates, + assisted by the military, + townsmen who sided with the sailors against, + brutal behaviour of, at Poole, + resisted at Deal and Dover, + forcible entry by, illegal, + magistrates consign vagabonds and disorderly persons to, + how it was resisted, + various weapons used against, + gangs-men killed by sailors resisting them, + sailors killed by gangsmen, + by armed bands of seamen, + by the populace in attempting to impress, + pressed-men recaptured from, + tenders attacked, + rendezvous attacked, + press-boats attacked and sunk, + resistance when the press-gang had come abroad, + the hardship of impressment on arrival from long voyage, + the only means of resistance, + a sailor's death in such case "accidental," casual, unavoidable, + or disagreeable, + a case in point, + at play, + humorous reason given for impressing a person, + inculcating manners by means of the press, + the respect due to naval officers, + the outsider liable to be pressed for breach of naval etiquette, + rudeness to the press-gang treated the same way, + damages from officers for wrongful impressment, failure to dip the + flag, or flying an unauthorised flag, might lead to pressing + from that crew, + unseamanlike management of a ship laid the crew open to pressing, + pipers and fiddlers, etc., impressed, + ridiculous reasons given for impressing, + unsuspecting passenger in a smuggler declared owner of contraband + and pressed, + tattoo marks and bandy legs lead to pressing, + any eccentricity sufficient to ensure the attention of the + press-gang, + used by trustees to keep heirs from their money, and by parents to + rid them of incorrigible sons, + used for purposes of retaliation, + used by strikers to get rid of a "blackleg." + used by stern parent to part his daughter and her lover, + a drunken cleric's revenge by means of, + by pressing a sailor, causes his late bedfellow to be hanged as + his murderer, + and women, + of women and sailors in general, + lack of sentiment in gangsmen, + women impressed by, + women masquerading as men to go to sea, + women in the gang, + the hardship brought on women by the gang, + fostered vice and bred paupers, + women who released sailors from the press-gang, + the devotion of Richard Parker's wife, + In the clutch of, + the press-room, what it was; strongly built and small as it might + be, could hold any number, + Bristol gaol and Gloucester Castle used as press-rooms, + inadequate precautions for retaining pressed men on the road, + regulations for rendezvous, + victualling in the press-room, + regulating or examining for fitness for service, + fabricated ailments and defects, + dispatching pressed men to the fleet, + tenders hired for transport of pressed men, + comfort and health of pressed men on tenders, + the victualling of pressed men on tenders, + prevention of escape, + an attempt to escape-with the Tasker tender escapes from, + The Union tender cut out from the Tyne by the pressed men, + various excitements aboard + a final examination, + petitions, + substitutes, + How the gang went out, + causes of withdrawal of press-gang, + the increasingly bad quality of the product, + the spirit of restlessness and mutiny engendered, + the injury to trade, + only continued so long by the apathy of the people, + the cost of impressing, + +Press-Gang, or Love in Low Life, The, + +Press warrants, + forged, + +Presting, the original term and its meaning, + +Prest money, + +Price, Capt, + +Prince George guardship at Portsmouth, + +Princess Augusta, a letter of marque, + +Princess Augusta tender, + +Princess Louisa, H.M.S, + +Privateers, loss of seamen by, + pressing from, + recapture of pressed crew of, + +Prize money, + +Profane abuse of crews by officers, + +Protections, for masters, mates, boatswains, and carpenters, + worthless, if the holder were ashore, + bound to be always carried, + slightest error in description invalidated, + were often disregarded, + special, + for men in lieu, + for crews of convoys and privateers expired on arrival in home waters, + lent, bought, and exchanged, + American, + +Provisions in the Navy, + +Quarantine, + +Queensferry, the press-gang at, + +Quota men, + +"R" for "run" in ships' books to denote deserter, + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, + +Ramsgate, the press-gang at, + +Reading, the press-gang at, + +Registration of seamen, + +Regulating, i.e. examination of pressed-men for fitness, + ailments and defects fabricated or assumed, + +Regulating captains, + character of a, + +Repulse, H.M.S., + +Rendezvous, + attacked, + regulations of, + +Rescue of pressed men from the gang, + +Reunion, H.M.S., + +Rhode Island, + +Rice, + +Richard II, + +Richards, John, midshipman, + +Richardson, Lieut, + +Right of search, + +Roberts, Capt. John, + +Rochester, the press-gang at, + +Rodney, Admiral Lord, + +Roebuck, H.M.S., + +Romsey, the press-gang at, + +Routh, Capt, + +_Royal Sovereign_, H.M.S., + +_Ruby_ gunship, + +Rudsdale, Lieut., + +Rum, + +_Rupert_, H.M.S., + +Russia, impressment in, + +Russian Navy, + +Ryde, the Lord of the Manor, claimed the privilege of private +protections for his ferrymen to Portsmouth and Gosport, + the press-gang at, + +_Rye_, H.M.S., + +Rye, the press-gang at, + + +Sailor, the word disfavoured by Navy Board, + a creature of contradictions, + +St. Ives, safe from the press-gang, + +St. Lawrence River, deserters in, + +St. Vincent, Earl of. See Jervis, J, + +Salisbury, the press-gang at, + +Sanders, Joseph, + +_Sandwich_, H.M.S., flag-ship at the Nore, + +Sax, Lieut, + +_Scipio_, H.M.S., + +Scott, John, pressed when his protection was lying in his coat beside +him, + +Scottish fishermen, + +_Seahorse_, H.M.S., + +"Serving out slops," + +Severn trow-men, exempted from impress by 10% levy, + Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Seymour, Lieut., + +Sham gangs, + +_Shandois_ sloop, + +_Shannon_, H.M.S., + +Shannon, men working turf boats on, not exempt, + +_Shark_, sloop, + +"She" applied to a ship, a recent use, + +Sheerness, crimpage at, + +Shields, press-gang at, + +Ships, impressment of, + +Shipwrights in Scotch yards could be pressed as carpenters on +warships, + +Shirley, Governor, + +Shoreham, the press-gang at, + +_Shrewsbury_, H.M.S., + +Shrewsbury, sham gangs at, + +Sloper, Major-General, + +Smeaton, John, + +Smugglers, crew of, pressed, + unsuspecting passenger declared owner and pressed, + +_Solebay_, H.M.S., + +Southampton, the press-gang at, + +Southey, Robt, _English Eclogues_, + +_Southsea Castle_, H.M.S., + +Spithead, crimpage at, + an entrepôt for pressed men, + +_Spy_ sloop of war, + +_Squirrel_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_, H.M.S., + +_Stag_ privateer, + +Stangate Creek, the fray at, + +Stephens, George, impressed at thirteen, + +Stephenson, George, + +Stepney Fields, press-gang at, + +Stillwell, John, + +Stourbridge, the press-gang at, + +Strike-me-blind. See Rice, + +Sturdy, Ralph, shot by the pressgang on the _Britannia_, + +Sunderland, press-gang at, + +Surgeons, + +Swansea, + + +Tailors pressed on account of bandy legs, + +Talbot, Mary Anne, + +_Tasker_ tender, + +Tassell, William, a protected mate, pressed ashore, + +Taunton, Denny-Bowl quarry, near--three girls as sham gang, + the press-gang at, + +Taylor, Lieut, + +Taylor, William, + +Teede, John, undone by tattoo marks, + +Tenders, + attacked, + hired for transport of pressed men, + the health and comfort of pressed men on, + their victualling, + attempts to escape from and with, + +Thames, press-gang on the, + wherrymen exempted by levy of one in five, + +_Thetis_, H.M.S., + +Thomson, Lieut, + +Thurlow, Lord, + +Ticket men. See Men in lieu, + +Tobacco, + +Trading classes the greatest sufferers from impressment, + not without resentment, + various trades gradually exempted, + +Tramps. See Vagabonds, + +Transports, + +Travelling, cost of, + +_Trial and Life of Richard Parker_, + +Trim, William, + +Trinity House, + +_Triton_ brig, + +_Triton_, Indiaman, + +Turning over of crews, + +Tyne keelman exempt from impress by levy--the men supplied being +obtained by them by bounties, + + +_Union_ tender, + +_Utrecht_, H.M.S., + + +Vagabonds handed over to the press-gang, + +_Vanguard_, H.M.S., + +Vernon, Admiral, + +Victualling in the press-room, + +Virginia, + + +Wages due to sailors to date of impressment, + +Walbeoff, Capt, + +Ward, Ned, _Wooden World Dissected_, + +Waterford, press-gang at, + +Watermen's language, + +Watson, Lieut, + +Watts, John, punished with 170 lashes, + +Weapons used against the press-gang, + +Weir, Alexander, + +Wellington, Duke of, + +Whalers, some of crew of, exempt from impressment, + +Whitby, the press-gang at, + +White, John, pressed at Bristol ninety yards from his vessel, + +Whitefoot, James, impressed at Bristol, + +Whitworth, Charles, Envoy to Russia, + +"Widows' men." + +Williams, John, + +_Willing Traveller_ smuggler, + +Wilson, John, shot by the press-gang on the _Britannia_, + +_Winchelsea_, H.M.S., + +Winstanley, London butcher, served as pressed man 16 years, + +_Wolf_ armed sloop, + +Women and the Press-gang, + See also under Press-gang, "The Press-gang and Women." + +_Wooden World Dissected_. See Ward, Ned, + +Wool, illegal export of, + +Worth, Capt, + +Worthing fishermen, + +Wye trow-men exempted from impress by 10% levy, + +Court of Exchequer rules the reverse, + +Yarmouth Roads, the press-gang in, + +"Yellow Admirals." + +Yorke, Sol. Gen, + +Young, Admiral, + his torpedo, + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE PRESS-GANG AFLOAT AND ASHORE *** + +This file should be named 8pgaa10.txt or 8pgaa10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8pgaa11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8pgaa10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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