The widow whose kindness changed Britain

Torbay’s Press Gangs

During the wars against Napoleon, the villagers of Torbay could be forced into joining the Royal Navy. Kevin Dixon brings us the story.

Initially, while working and living conditions in the Royal Navy were certainly harsh, there were many volunteers.  e workload for individual sailors was often less than on merchant ships and volunteers were paid a bounty upon joining, two months’ wages in advance with better pay than on a merchant ship. Also, volunteering protected the sailor from any creditors.  e Quota System further maintained a steady supply of men; each county was required to supply volunteers. A county then o ered convicts the option of completing their sentence or volunteering. Areas with a naval connection produced high numbers of volunteers. 53% of Royal Navy volunteers were English, with Devon having the second highest number at 6%, after London’s 10%.  is rapidly changed in time of war when Britain’s navy increased from 135 ships in 1793, to 584 in 1812; and its personnel expanded from 36,000 seamen to 114,000.

Accordingly, Britain needed to quickly  nd crews for its ships. And so an impress service operated - the taking of men into the Navy by compulsion.  ose liable to impressment were “eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 18 and 55 years”. “Failure to allow oneself to be pressed” was initially punishable by hanging, although the punishment became less severe over time.

By the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, over half the Royal Navy’s sailors were pressed men. It’s further likely that among the ‘volunteers’ were pressed men who rede ned themselves to get the sign-up bonus. Most pressed men came from the Royal Navy’s practice of taking seamen from inbound British merchant ships or  shing boats. It was legal as long as the Navy replaced the man they took. Naval captains would often take the best seamen, replacing them with the less able from their own ship.

In 1805, the navy waited for the  eet to return from the Great Fishery on the Dogger Banks. 96  shing smacks were boarded by tenders waiting o Torbay and so many men were seized that room could not be found for them on board the navy’s ships. It was later reported that the sea interceptions had been so thorough that there was, “Not a single man found in Brixham liable for the impress”. In response, many merchant ships had hiding places constructed where their best crew could hide when approached by a naval vessel. Other captains o oaded their favoured crewmen in Irish ports before making  nal landfall in England.

On land those undertaking this forcible recruitment were the press gangs.  ey operated in cities and coastal towns and, as many seamen crossed the country by

stagecoach or wagon, gangs were also stationed at Okehampton, Liskeard and Exeter. Usually led by a naval o cer, seafaring men were recruited as part of the gang but landsmen were also used. An ability to use force was more important than background.

On shore, merchant seamen and  shermen were conspicuous.  ere was, “no disguising the fact that the sailor was a sailor. He was marked by characteristics that betrayed him. His bandy legs and rolling gait suggested irresistibly the way of a ship at sea”.  e potential recruit would  rst be asked to volunteer for naval service. If he refused, “he may be plied with alcohol or simply seized and taken”. Although the power of the Impressment Service to conscript was limited by law to seafarers, this was a broad de nition with around a quarter of the Bay’s adult male population being at risk of impressment.  ere was a widespread fear that civilians without any seafaring background were being taken away.  is belief was con rmed on May 6 1803 when, “shipwrights, a  shmonger, coal factor, grocer, cooper, ostler, shoemaker, constable, basket maker and many more” were taken in Brixham. All these men, however, had to be released because they were not seamen. It looks as though the Brixham folk were lucky. Court records show  ghts breaking out as people attempted to avoid wrongful impressment, particularly when press gangs instituted a ‘hot press’ (ignoring protections against impressment) in order to man the navy.

Local o cials often resisted impressment and the local populace would also band together to oppose their activities. In 1803, a press gang, attempting to impress

local quarrymen,  red on a crowd in Portland, killing four people. Nevertheless, the courts upheld impressment - it was deemed vital to the war e ort.

Brixham was targeted by the press gangs, as it was the Bay’s largest town with a population of around 3,700. In contrast, Paignton had 1600 residents and Torquay only 800. Brixham had many seafaring men on its streets and the press gangs could operate anonymously.  e town supplied the  eet, which required a marine guard to prevent, “scenes of drunkenness, obscenity, blasphemy and consequent casualties (by the men  ghting with each other and falling over precipices) which, to the disgrace of His Majesty’s Navy obtained heretofore in watering the  eet at Brixham.” In contrast, outsiders would have been more obvious in smaller and quieter Paignton and Torquay.

Of course, while the navy could forcibly recruit, it also lost 25% of those it seized to desertion each year - with surprisingly little di erence between volunteers and pressed men. Admiral Nelson noted that over ten years, more than 42,000 sailors had deserted.  e activities of the press gangs inevitably gave rise to legends. One was of recruiters dropping a King’s shilling into a man’s ale so he was deemed to have volunteered. Tavern owners would then put glass bottoms in their tankards.  is one isn’t true - impressing o cers were subject to  nes for using trickery and a volunteer, in theory at least, had time to change his mind.  e years of the press gang in Torbay came to an end with the surrender of Napoleon in 1814. Britain no longer had the need to impress sailors and never again used that means of forced recruitment. 

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