18
AUSTRALIAN SAILING (^) + YACHTING
APRIL-MAY 2015 MYSAILING.COM.AU
SEAFARING
Lord Nelson’s
famous flagship
Victory had 703
crewmembers on
her books whose
quarters were
on the lower gun
deck until battle
stations obliged
them to clear their
belongings quickly
or have them
thrown overboard.
PRESS GANGS
IN an era when workers had virtually no rights and
slavery was far from over, seamen were commonly
rounded up and ‘pressed’ into service by government-
authorised press gangs. If a victim resisted he was forcibly
taken; if he succumbed quietly he could expect no special
favours because either way all pressed men were destined
to spend years at sea often under appalling conditions.
Demand for press-ganged manpower mostly came from
ships of war whose crews numbered in their hundreds,
Nelson’s famous ship Victory, for example, having 703
men on her books of whom about 40 were over 40 years
of age and 100 were under 20. Amongst them was a child
of 10 with numerous other lads scarcely into their teens.
Half a total crew was typically volunteers or miscreants,
the latter known as ‘quota men’ who were sent to serve in
ships as an alternative to a jail term. The other half were
supplied by press-gangs.
Apart from senior ratings and junior officers who lived
on the orlop deck, most crewmembers lived on the lower
gun deck, each with an allotted space for his hammock
of just 355mm wide. Along with bedrolls, hammocks
were regularly placed in nets and taken up to the top
deck to be aired or used as flack protection devices
behind the bulwarks during battle.
Communal mess tables on the lower gun deck
were slung from ropes through deck-beam blocks
allowing them to be instantly hoisted out of the way
when clearing for action. This operation could be so
relentlessly urgent that all crewmembers’ furnishings
and personal belongings left lying around were hastily
thrown overboard in the interest of the ship’s urgent
conversion to fighting status. In establishing this status,
it is said that the entire gun decks of a large man-of-war
could be completely cleared of all obstructions and have
her guns firing within six minutes.
Efficiencies of movement at such a high standard from
a crew of reluctant malcontents were achieved by fear of
the lash at one extreme and anticipation of the daily rum
ration at the other, and there was always the possibility of
sharing prize money in the event of an enemy ship being
captured. The sharing of prize money was somewhat
biased in those days, some captains able to retire for
life on their share whilst a crewman’s share was scarcely
enough to buy a few drinks.
Packed in like sardines, crewmen had little recreational
space at the best of times and in any case their work was
often confined to the gun deck performing such tasks as
flaking down incoming anchor cable, maintaining the
galley fires and manning pumps and guns. Natural light
below decks came only as a glimmer through the gratings,
candles and lanterns being their main illumination, and
the opening of gun ports was often the only time truly
fresh air ventilated their deck.
Whether crewmembers of a fighting ship were quota
men, volunteers or victims of press-gangs their conditions
were often worse than shore-bound jailbirds, the latter
having a little more space and far less chance of being
blown to pieces by enemy cannon. And whilst there is no
doubt that press-ganging was a disgraceful period in the
history of ships, it is sobering to remember that a form of
press-ganging continues to be practiced in this day and
age by the most democratic of countries: Now it is called
‘conscription’, which is the law obliging young men and
women to sacrifice their life on the alter of war.
For all that, it cannot be denied that press gangs
contributed to Britain becoming the world’s most
powerful navy for over a century, and since ‘press ganging’
changed it’s name to ‘conscription, it remains a system
popular with today’s leaders. ✵
- Alan Lucas