Impressment

The arresting and retaining mariners for the king’s service.

1 Bla. Com. 420; 3 Steph. Com. 594.

It was "the mode formerly resorted to of manning the British navy. The practice had not only the sanction of custom; but the force of law, for many acts of parliament, from the reign of Philip and Mary to that of George III., had been passed to regulate the system of Impressment. Impressment consisted in seizing by force, for service in the royal navy, seamen, river-watermen, and at times landsmen, when state emergencies rendered them necessary. An armed party of reliable men, commanded by of Bcers, usually proceeded to such bouses In the seaport towns as were supposed to bo the resort of the seafaring population, laid violent liands on all eligible men and conveyed them forcibly to the ships of war in the harbor. As It was not in the nature of sailor.s to yield without a struggle, many terrible fights took place between the press-gangs and their Intended victims — combats in which lives were often lost. In point of Justice there is little, if anything, to be said for Impressment, which had not even the merit of an Impartial selection from the whole available population;” Int. Cyc.