By John G. M. Sharp
At USGenWeb Archives
All rights reservedAPPENDIX
The Royal Navy used impressment extensively in British North America from 1775 to 1815. Its press gangs sparked resistance, riots and political turmoil in seaports. Nevertheless, the Royal Navy extended the reach of its press gangs into coastal areas of British North America by the early 19th century.
A Press Gang in Operation,
"The Liberty of the Subject," James Gillray 1779John Davis of Abel (1774-1853) of New Castle, Delaware, served in the merchant vessel Fidelity and in 1791 was with her in the port of Martinique where the Fidelity was surrounded by a British press gang. Davis and other American seamen were forcibly taken and conveyed to the HMS Ceres. There they were accused of being British citizens and told they were to be forcibly conscripted.
In the month of February 1797, I belonged to the Ship Fidelity, Captain Charles Weems, lying in the harbor of St. Pierre Martinique. About one o’clock Sunday morning, I was awakened by a noise on the deck, and going up, I found the ship in possession of a press gang. In a few minutes all hands were forced on board the Ceres frigate. We were ordered on the gun deck until day light by which time about 80 Americans were collected.
Soon after sunrise, the ship’s crew was ordered into the cabin to be overhauled. Each was questioned as to his name &c when I was called on for my place of birth and I answered "New Castle. Delaware". The captain offered not to hear the last; but said "Aye, Newcastle, well he’s a collier; the very man. I warrant him a sailor" "Send him down to the doctor" Upon which a petty officer – whom I recognized as one of the press gang made answer "Sir I know this fellow" "He is a schoolmate of mine and his name is Kelly. He was born in Belfast. Tom, you know me well enough so don’t sham Yankee anymore"
The next was a Prussian who had come aboard in Hamburg as a carpenter of the Fidelity in September, 1796 – He offered when questioned not to understand English; but answered in Dutch. Upon which the captain laughed and said "this is no Yankee. Send him down and let the quartermaster put in with the Dutchmen; they will understand him and the boatswain will learn him to talk English" He was accordingly kept. I was afterwards discharged by the order of Admiral Harvey on application of Mr. Craig, at that time American vice consul. I further observed that a full one-third of the crew were impressed Americans. 11. National Intelligencer (Washington D.C.) 12 October 1813, p. 3.
Impress Service: the act of taking men into a Royal Navy by force, with or without notice, was common practice in the 18th and early 19th century and effected families and communities. People liable to impressment were sailors; however, tradesmen with no connection to the sea were sometimes impressed as in this 23 April 1791 petition of Mary Quick. Her petition gives us a rare glimpse of the emotional devastation and economic harm, press gangs brought on the spouses of sailors, family life and overwhelmingly the poor and working class.2
2. The Petition of Mary Quick, wife of Michael Quick, 23 April 1791 (ADM 1/5119/16) British National Archives
That your Petitioner’s Husband is a Housekeeper a the Parish of St. Giles and by Trade a Coach Spring Maker, having wrought seven years at that Branch of Business with his Master Mr. Wildey, as it will appear by the annexed Certificate.
That her said Husband is no seaman, nor seafaring man, nor ever worked upon the water, nor in any business relating thereto.—
That notwithstanding thereof the said Michael Quick was impressed into His Majesty’s Sea Service, and now lies on board a Tender [boat, or larger ship used to transport men/supplies to and from shore or to another vessel] in the River—
That your Petitioner with two small children (and she is pregnant with a third) have no other support than the exertions of her said Husband, of which she is deprived by his detention as aforesaid, and which must soon bring her and them to ruin unless he is speedily released there from.
Your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that you will be pleased to grant her relief by giving such orders as may be the means of restoring the said Michael Quick to his distressed family and as in duty bound she will ever pray—
Signed by Janet Seton, for Mary Quick
No 26 Tower Street, Seven DialsImpress Service Tenders: The muster roll of HMS Hermione shows many of the sailors forcibly conscripted were taken aboard a tender such as City of Cork Tender, Dover Tender where under close guard they were taken to HMS Hermione.
A Press Gang seizing a London Waterman,
while a middle class couple looks onMany of the seamen aboard the HMS Hermione were impressed and began their naval service locked in a tender in which they were conveyed them to their new home. William Robinson (1787-c.1836), a volunteer, age 20, born in Farnham, Surrey, served in the HMS Revenge at Trafalgar and left a vivid account of this, his first experience in the Royal Navy.3
3. W. Robinson, (Jack Nastyface), Nautical Economy or forecastle recollections of events during the last war (London, 1836) pp. 25-26.
Whatever may be said about this boasted land of liberty, whenever a youth resorts to receiving ship for shelter and hospitality, he, from that moment, must take leave of the liberty to speak, or to act; he may think, but he must confine his thoughts to the hold of his mind, and never suffer them to escape the hatchway of utterance. On being sent on board the receiving ship, it was for the first time I began to repent of the rash step I had taken, but it was of no avail, submission to the events of fate was my only alternative, murmuring or remonstrating, I soon found, would be folly. After having been examined by the doctor, and reported seaworthy, I was ordered down to the hold, where I remained all night (May 1805) with my companions in wretchedness, and the rats running over us in numbers. When released, we were ordered into the admiral’s tender, which was to convey us to the Nore. Here we were called over by name, nearly two hundred, including a number of the Lord Mayor's Men, a term given to those who enter to relieve themselves from public charge.
Upon getting on board this vessel, we were ordered down in the hold, and the gratings put over us; as well as a guard of marines placed round the hatchway, with their muskets loaded and fixed bayonets, as though we had been culprits of the first degree, or capital convicts. In this place we spent the day and following night huddled together, for there was not room to sit or stand separate: indeed, we were in a pitiable plight, for numbers of them were sea-sick, some retching, others were smoking, whilst many were so overcome by the stench, that they fainted for want of air. As soon as the officer on deck understood that the men below were overcome with foul air, he ordered the hatches to be taken off, when day-light broke in upon us; and a wretched appearance we cut, for scarcely any of us were free from filth and vermin.
William Robinson provides a glimpse of how he survived his horrible introduction to naval life. Like many new recruits he used both his will and determination and buried all feelings and emotions.
By this regular system of duty, I became inured to the roughness and hardships of a sailor’s life. I had made up my mind to be obedient, however irksome to my feelings, and our ship being on the Channel station, I soon began to pick up knowledge of seamanship.4
4. Robinson, p. 38.
After a tender was filled to capacity, it was sent to one of the major naval bases where the newly pressed men were placed on receiving ships commonly an older naval vessel and from there they were assigned to any vessel which had vacancies.5 The men were then transported to the HMS Victory, a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy.
5. Laverty, pp. 122-123.
British Law and Impressment
By British law, naval captains had the right to stop ships at sea, search for deserters and other British citizens and force them to join the crews of warships. They were allowed to “Impress such Seamen, Seafaring men, and other persons described in the Press warrant sent herewith, as will not enter voluntarily and are not regularly protected, or hereafter excepted, provided they are able and fit for His Majesties service”.6
6. Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Impressment, https://americanhistory.si.edu/on-the-water/maritime-nation/defending-independence/impressment
Black seaman William Godfrey in his 19 August 1799 letter to the Congress of the United States described his being impressed into the British service in HMS Mars. In doing so he related many an impressed sailor’s dilemma. The problem being, that is, if an impressed seaman signed a Royal Navy vessel muster roll, he was no longer considered impressed but a volunteer. By signing the muster, impressed man made himself eligible for bounty and a share in any prize money. Godfrey writes,
Permit me to inform you that I am detained and obliged to serve on board of the Mars ship of War now lying at Plymouth, I was impressed by Sir Edward Pellew and treated very ill because I would enter with him. Neither I knowing myself to be an American as well for the reason I do not wish to serve them.7
7. Bolster, W. Jeffrey. "Letters by African American Sailors, 1799-1814." The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 1, 2007, pp. 167–82. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4491606 accessed 7 Sept. 2023
Appeals
Between 1797 and 1810, more than 2,553 American seamen were freed from bondage. However, as Joshua Wolf points out, the entire process was drawn out and years could pass between an applicant submitting a petition and a decision. During the nineteen years of Anglo-American discord over impressment, 25 percent of appellants were granted their release from the Royal Navy. Another 2 percent deserted when the opportunity presented itself, 10 percent became casualties of war, and the Royal Navy retained nearly two-thirds of all seamen taken off American vessels.8
8. Wolf, Joshua, "The Misfortune to Get Pressed: The Impressment of American Seamen and the Ramifications on the United States, 1793-1812, Temple University, PHD dissertation 2013, p. 44, https://scholarshare.temple.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12613/4048/TETDEDXWolf-temple-0225E-12189.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
IMPRESSED AMERICANS
30 August 1794
IMAGES
(click to enlarge)
1. William Brigstock
2. Appeal
3. Muster, 1797 HMS Hermione, p. 21* * * * * *
John "Jack" G. M. Sharp resides in Concord, California. He worked for the United States Navy for thirty years as a civilian personnel officer. Among his many assignments were positions in Berlin, Germany, where in 1989 he was in East Berlin the day the infamous wall was opened. He later served as Human Resources Officer in South West Asia (Bahrain). He returned to the United States in 2001 and was on duty at the Naval District of Washington on 9/11. He has a lifelong interest in history and has written extensively on the Washington, Norfolk and Pensacola Navy Yards, labor history and the history of African Americans. His previous books include African Americans in Slavery and Freedom on the Washington Navy Yard 1799 -1865, Morgan Hannah Press 2011 and History of the Washington Navy Yard Civilian Workforce 1799-1962, 2004.
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/browse-by-topic/heritage/washington-navy-yard/pdfs/WNY_History.pdf
and the first complete transcription of the Diary of Michael Shiner Relating to the History of the Washington Navy Yard, 1813-1869, 2007/2015 online:
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/d/diary-of-michael-shiner.html
His most recent work includes Register of Patients at Naval Hospital Washington DC 1814 With The Names of American Wounded From The Battle of Bladensburg 2018,
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/register-patients-naval-hospital-washington-dc-1814.html
The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Naval Training Station Hampton Roads and the Norfolk Naval Hospital (202) https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/g/the-great-influenza-pandemic-of-1918-at-the-norfolk-naval-shipyard-naval-training-station-hampton-roads-ad-the-norfolk-naval-hosptial.html
The last four works were all published by the Naval History and Heritage Command.
He recently served as consulting historian, for Animating History, on the film version, Diary of Michael Shiner (2024), https://animatinghistory.com/films/michaelshiner/
John served on active duty in the United States Navy, including Vietnam service. He received his BA and MA in History from San Francisco State University with honors. He can be reached at sharpjg@yahoo.com
