due to sea trade, but the nation was relatively defenseless against seaborne invasions. It became dependent upon its floating wooden walls-its sizeable navy-for defense. After the Seven Years' War (17561763), the nation's flotilla evolved into the mightiest sea force in Europe. Manning these mechanical maritime marvels required an enormous number of skilled seamen and a host of support personnel. One method of procuring these men became storied, that of impressment. The common image of this undertaking is an unruly press gang wielding clubs under the direction of a sadistic naval officer, with a mission to abduct young men away from wives and family. The impressed served in a seaborne dungeon, for an undetermined sentence in an overcrowded wars hip; they were underfed and endured an occasional flogging. Of course, some would die a violent death or become permanently disabled for their king and country. ]. Ross Dancy presents evidence that this image is largely spurious, a misinterpretation of the Admiralty's personnel procurement data of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Maritime nations had a variety of seaborne institutions at their disposal: a merchant fleet for commerce, fishermen for sustenance, and a navy for defense, which, in time of war, might be supplemented by a privateer Beet. A square-rigged ship required experienced manpower-ideally volunteer seamen, largely from the civilian maritime sector, along with some inexperienced laborers. Merchant vessels were manned with a minimum number of sailors to maximize profits. The labor aboard these ships could be hard and the rewards inconsistent. Commercial fishing historically has been one of the most dangerous occupations. The boats they worked in were cramped, the labor was backbreaking, and the rewards from their catch unreliable. While life on a warship was undeniably crowded, there was a clear division oflabor that directed who would man the sails, work the guns, navigate and steer the ship. That shipboard life was comparatively easier, sailors were provided with a hammock, clothing, guaranteed wages, plus food that was perhaps more palatable and regular than many had ashore. As a result, finding volunteers was not all that difficult, SEA HISTORY 152,AUTUMN 2015
particularly when appeals to patriotism could be invoked. Recruiters looked for men with specific skill sets: petty officers, able-bodied seamen, and ordinary seamen. They also took landsmen onboard who had little or no sea knowledge, but could perform many necessary mundane functions and learn the ways of the ship from their more experienced shipmates. Recruitment occurred around seaports. The rosters of vessels of the period indicate that the vast majority of warship crews were volunteers from all four classes of sailor, the smallest cohort being landsmen. Recent computerization of these data, flawed by being incomplete or difficult to read because of their diverse spelling and handwriting, allows for quasistatistical analysis of these records. Naval impressment existed in two forms: the Impressment Service, a government draft board specifically assigned to recruit seamen, mostly experienced personnel; and the press gang, sometimes consisting of six to eight men, sometimes local hooligans who worked on a bounty, but headed by a naval lieutenant. They simply needed bodies and could occasionally assault some men and extend their reach into the countryside beyond the seaport areas to meet their quotas. This was particularly the case when the Quota Acts of 1785 and 1795 were the law. Dancy presents well-researched scholarly evidence that, as the Royal Navy be-
BOYD ELL
came the bulwark of Britain's defense, its seamen were mostly young volunteers. Impressment certainly did occur, but the author argues that this practice played a minor role in the evolution of the British Navy. The Myth ofthe Press Gang successfully challenges much of the impressment historiography of this era. LOUIS ARTHUR NORTO N
West Simsbury, Connecticut
Merchant Seamen~ Heath, 1860-1960: Medicine, Technology, Shipowners, and the State in Britain by Tim Carter (The Boyde!! Press, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK, 2014, 216pp, illus, biblio, notes, index, ISB N 978-1-84383-952-1; $120hc) Marine technology rapidly changed between 1860 and 1960, as did the risks of working upon the world's oceans. This was a time of transition from complex sailing vessels to mechanically powered vessels. Sailors faced dangers such as falling from rigging and being washed overboard , to other steam-powered perils that produced stokers with heat exhaustion, dehydration, ~ nd burns from steam scalds. (Many of these engine-based hazards diminished with the dawn of diesel power.) Life onboard ship was strictly hierarchical with chains of command that controlled all aspects of life. Hygiene was minimal and sanitation poor, and accommodations were often primitive and lacked privacy. Lack of fresh food srorage was
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The Myth of the Press Gang
Merchant Seamen's Health,
Volunteers, Impressment and the Naval Manpower Problem in the Late Eighteenth Century
Medicine, Technology, Shipowners and the State in Britain
J. ROSS DAN CY
TIM CARTER
1860- 1960
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.
Discusses the measures taken by reformers in this period to improve seamen's health and fitness, strugghng against vested interests and bureaucracies.
List price: $ 120; Discount price: $72 Hardcover, 59 line il/11s., 232 pp. lSBN: 978 1783270033
List price: $ 120; Discount price: $72 Hardcover, 12 b/ wa11d 7 li11e illus., 240 pp., ISBN: 978 184383952 1
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