Evading Impressment
Escaping from a pressgang was not an easy thing to do. You might manage to escape a crimper and not take his shilling. And maybe you were even exempt from pressment, which meant that you had a letter from the admiralty (rather from the sick and hurt board) exempting you from service because of a serious health problem. However, this was dissolved in 1803 because there were simply too few men and so those who were considered unfit were allowed to be forced back into service. This process was called Hot Press.
The Neglected Tar, c. 1800, evokes the effects of impressment on a seaman's family and home. (x)
But now we come to how you could actively escape a pressgang and you had to be very creative, because the men could not be tricked so easily. As in this case from Cork, where a desperate man tried to fake his own escape to avoid being caught by the active pressgang of a local warship. However, the poor soul had not reckoned with the Lieutenant on duty. He had gone so far as to go into the church and, surrounded by all the mourners, open the coffin and pull the not-so-dead man out of it and take him with him. Bell, an already experienced sailor from Newcastle, was caught in 1813 and briefly stored in a room of a government building while the press gang went on with their business. Bell almost ended up back in the Navy if it weren't for his sister. She had managed to gain access to him and was there with him to tase the clothes. Now a rather tall and much stronger woman than before left the building and disappeared. A little later it came out what had happened and since women were not allowed to be pressed, she was released.
The liberty of the subject, by James Gillray, 1779 (x)
Thanks to a jack trick, a young sailor who had just been discharged from the navy escaped a press gang in 1815. They picked him up in London and just as they were about to take him away, he slipped out of his jacket and ran away. Of course, the press gang ran after him and right into the arms of a group of workers who had placed themselves protectively in front of the fleeing man. Eventually, a big brawl broke out and both groups parted badly battered. The victim himself managed to escape and was not seen again.
The Pressgang, by George Morland, 1790 (x)
Another type of rescue was the fictitious arrest. The pressed one was accused by his friends of having committed a minor crime or another minor offense against them, which required a trial and thus took him out of the press gang. It quickly turned out that there was no evidence against him and so he was released, hoping that the press gang had already moved on. But of course they were not stupid and some lieutenants were so smart and just waited in front of the prison to collect the seemingly lost loot. Out of about 10 fictitious arrests, about 5 were recaptured.
The press gang seizing a waterman of Tower Hill on the morning of his marriage day. Illustration from The Comprehensive History of England (Gresham Publishing, 1902) (x)
Another method was to sign in as a fisherman. There were agents and lawyers who drew up these papers and were in contact with fishermen who earned some money with each new crew member, even if the member never showed up for duty. But this way the men were protected from serving in the Navy.
