USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Impressment, or “press gang” as it was more commonly known, was recruitment by force. It was a practice that directly affected the U.S. and was even one of the causes of the War of 1812. The British navy consistently suffered manpower shortages due to the low pay and a lack of qualified seamen.

Detailed explanation-2: -By British law, naval captains had the right to stop ships at sea, search for deserters and other British citizens, and force them to join the crews of warships-a practice called “impressment.” Some British captains seized almost any able-bodied, English-speaking sailors they could find.

Detailed explanation-3: -Impressment, colloquially “the press” or the “press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice.