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.

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: -The impressment or forcible seizure of American seamen by the British Royal Navy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries has traditionally been viewed as a primary cause of the War of 1812.

Detailed explanation-4: -Britain’s insistence on pressing sailors into naval service sprang in part from its wars against Napoleon. The number of seaman needed to crew British ships nearly tripled between 1793 and 1812, from 36, 000 to 114, 000.

Detailed explanation-5: -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. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means.