Press Gangs

Groups employed to seize or compel men for naval service under the system of impressment.

Press gangs are especially associated with the Royal Navy during periods of war from the seventeenth to early nineteenth centuries. They acted under warrants and targeted men regarded as eligible seafarers, although coercion, disputed legality and abuse were common features of the system.

They did not simply recruit anyone at random under a universal naval power, and practices varied by period and jurisdiction. The subject is historical and distinct from voluntary naval recruitment or modern conscription law.