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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Naval forces & warfare
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The Myth of the Press Gang - Volunteers, Impressment and the Naval Manpower Problem in the Late Eighteenth Century (Paperback)
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The Myth of the Press Gang - Volunteers, Impressment and the Naval Manpower Problem in the Late Eighteenth Century (Paperback)
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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 detailon 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 rangeof 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
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