The Press Gang, Finnian McGurk, Dave Waddington,The Kings’ Shilling.

Impressment, colloquially, “the Press“, refers to the act of taking men into a navy by force and with or without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to the time of Edward I of England. The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, as well as some sailors from other nations. People liable to impressment were “eligible men of seafaring habits betwe