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press gang
press gang, the popular name for a group of seamen, under the command of an officer, who were employed in wartime to bring in men—and on at least one occasion a woman, Mary Anne Talbot—for service in the navy. Although connected by most people with the British Navy other nations employed similar methods of recruitment for their navies and the impressment of men for service in warships was widespread. In Britain these groups operated mainly in seaports, but occasionally visited inland towns to pick up seamen who may have been thought to reside or visit there, though during the Revolutionary (1793–1801) and Napoleonic (1803–1815) Wars against France the Sea Fencibles were exempt. Men thus taken were, in the British Navy, entered in the ship's muster-book (see muster, to) as landsmen, and were paid at a lower rate than those who had volunteered. Hot press was the name given to a condition of impressment when the need for men to man British warships was so acute that the press gangs were given instruction to take men regardless of any protections they might carry. When news of a hot press in any district got around, all likely men usually went into hiding until the danger was past.
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"press gang." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "press gang." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-pressgang.html "press gang." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-pressgang.html |
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Press Gang
PRESS GANGPRESS GANG. The British government never devised an orderly procedure for impressment, or conscription, for naval service. Instead, captains of shorthanded men-of-war sent armed details to scour British waterfronts or to board merchantmen to exercise direct and immediate conscription. Lieutenants commanding these "press gangs" were ruthlessly undiscriminating. Their use in colonial ports was only a minor cause of the American Revolution. However, Great Britain stepped up impressment efforts in the early nineteenth century to create a navy sufficiently large to fight France in the Napoleonic Wars. When British impressment was applied to American merchantmen after independence, impressment became a major cause of the War of 1812. BIBLIOGRAPHYStagg, J. C. A. Mr. Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy, and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. Jim DanHill/a. e. See alsoConscription and Recruitment ; Impressment of Seamen ; War of 1812 . |
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"Press Gang." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Press Gang." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803377.html "Press Gang." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803377.html |
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press gang
press gang • n. hist. a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy. • v. [tr.] (press-gang) chiefly hist. forcibly enlist (someone) into service in the army or navy. ∎ (press-gang someone into) force someone to do something: we press-ganged Simon into playing. |
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"press gang." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "press gang." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-pressgang.html "press gang." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-pressgang.html |
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press gang
press gang a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy.
v. (press-gang) forcibly enlist (someone) into service in the army or navy. |
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Cite this article
"press gang." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "press gang." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-pressgang.html "press gang." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O63-pressgang.html |
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press gang
press gang in the 18th and 19th centuries, a body of men employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "press gang." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "press gang." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-pressgang.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "press gang." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-pressgang.html |
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