How do I avoid the Press Gang?
or
A Gentleman’s guide to staying out of His Majesty’s Royal Navy.
Press Gang [n.] A company of men under an officer detailed to force men into military or naval service.
Fairs
were considered one of the best places for the British Navy to press
new sailors because there were always plenty of young men in attendance
eager to spend their money and impress their ladies. How do I get out of
it you ask?
Follow these simple rules:
1.) Be extremely young or very old.
There
actually were age restrictions for pressing sailors into service.
Generally they avoided the very young and very old, but in times of a
‘Hot Press’ like during wartime, sometimes these restrictions were
overlooked to meet quotas.
2.) Have money in your pockets to buy your way out.
Gentlemen
were supposed to be exempt from being pressed and could buy their way
out of service OR they could get out of it by offering up one of their
male servants in their stead. Make sure to have plenty of bribe money in
your pockets!
3.) Be sick or otherwise deemed unfit for service.
You‘ll
have to be able to pass a rudimentary medical exam by a Navy Doctor to
be admitted into the service. If you’re unwell and a risk to the rest of
the ship, or have some other sort of dangerous pre-existing condition
that renders you unfit for duty, you’re free to go.
4.) Run like mad.
Seriously, if they can’t catch you, they can’t press you.
From the Custom House it is but a few steps to Tower-hill. Well, there is a view of it, and of the Tender, which is an old man-of-war, riding at anchor on the Thames, for the purpose of receiving impressed men for the king’s service.
From: City Scenes, by William Darton
Transcribed from the 1828 Harvey and Darton edition by David Price
The Press-gang.
From the Custom House it is but a few steps to Tower-hill. Well, there is a view of it, and of the Tender, which is an old man-of-war, riding at anchor on the Thames, for the purpose of receiving impressed men for the king’s service.
Say, Mr. Lieutenant, before I surrender,
By what right you take me on board of your tender?
In the peaceable trader I rather would be,
And no man-of-war, Sir, I thank you, for me.
From: City Scenes, by William Darton
Transcribed from the 1828 Harvey and Darton edition by David Price
Don't forget:
Pressgang Week features special posts TWICE A DAY.
Come back at NOON (cst) for the second post!
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