The press gang is generally regarded as the means by which the British navy solved the problem of recruiting enough seamen in the late eighteenth century. This book, however, based on extensive original research conducted primarily in a large number of ships' muster books, demonstrates that this view is false. It argues that, in fact, the overwhelming majority of seamen in the navy were there of their own free will. Taking a long view across the late eighteenth century but concentrating on the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815, the book provides great detail on the sort of men that were recruited and the means by which they were recruited, and includes a number of individuals' stories. It shows how manpower was a major concern for the Admiralty; how the Admiralty put in place a range of recruitment methods including the quota system; how it worried about depleting merchant shipping of sufficient sailors; and how, although most seamen were volunteers, the press gang was resorted to, especially during the initial mobilisation at the beginning of wars and to find certain kinds of particularly skilled seamen. The book also makes comparisons with recruitment methods employed by the navies of other countries and by the British army.
J. ROSS DANCY is Director of Graduate Studies in History and Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University
Table of Contents
Introduction
British Naval Administration
Manning Statistics
Volunteers
Impressment
The Quota Acts
Conclusion
Bibliography

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Myth of the : volunteers, impressment and the naval manpower problem in the late eighteenth century /cJ. Ross Dancy

Jeremiah R Dancy

Dancy, J. Ross

Boydell & Brewer, Incorporated

Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, 2015

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Reprint, 2018

lg2727580

producers:
iText by lowagie.com (r1.02b;p128)

{"isbns":["1783272899","9781783272891"],"last_page":227,"publisher":"Boydell Press"}

Overturns the generally held view that the press gang was the main means of recruiting seamen by the British navy in the late eighteenth century.SHORTLISTED for the Society for Nautical Research's prestigious Anderson Medal. The press gang is generally regarded as the means by which the British navy solved the problem of recruiting enough seamen in the late eighteenth century. This book, however, based on extensive original research conducted primarily in a large number of ships'muster books, demonstrates that this view is false. It argues that, in fact, the overwhelming majority of seamen in the navy were there of their own free will. Taking a long view across the late eighteenth century but concentrating on the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars of 1793-1815, the book provides great detail on the sort of men that were recruited and the means by which they were recruited, and includes a number of individuals'stories. It shows how manpower was a major concern for the Admiralty; how the Admiralty put in place a range of recruitment methods including the quota system; how it worried about depleting merchant shipping of sufficient sailors; and how, although most seamen were volunteers, the press gang was resorted to, especially during the initial mobilisation at the beginning of wars and to find certain kinds of particularly skilled seamen. The book also makes comparisons with recruitment methods employed by the navies of other countries and by the British army. J. Ross Dancy is Assistant Professor of History at Sam Houston State University.

"The press gang is generally regarded as the means by which the British [Navy] solved the problem of recruiting enough seamen in the late eighteenth century. This book, however, based on extensive original research conducted primarly in a large number of ships' muster books, demonstrates that this view is false. It argfues that, in fact, the overwhelming majority of seamen in the [Navy] were there of their own free will. Taking a large view across the late eighteenth century but concentrating on the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars of 1793-1815, the book provides great detail on the sort of men that were recruited and the means by which they were recruited, and includes a number of individual stories. It shows how manpower was a major concern for the Admiralty: how the Admiralty put in place a range of recruitment methods including the quota system; how it worried about depleting merchant shipping of sufficient sailors; and how, although most seamen were volunteers, the press gang was resortes to, especially during the initial mobilisation at the beginning of wars and to find certain kinds of particularly skilled seamen."--Back cover

Contents 8
Illustrations 10
Abbreviations 12
Preface 13
Introduction 16
1 British Naval Administration 26
2 Manning Statistics 43
3 Volunteers 71
4 Impressment 135
5 The Quota Acts 172
Conclusion 201
Bibliography 208
Index 224

2020-08-19