PRESS GANGS ON THE TYNE

Impressment,"the press" or the "press gang", is a type of conscription of people into a

military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion. The large size

of the British Royal Navy in the Age of Sail meant impressment was most commonly

associated with Great Britain and Ireland. It was used by the Royal Navy in wartime,

beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries as a means of crewing

warships, although legal sanction for the practice can be traced back to the time of Edward I

(1239-1307). The Royal Navy impressed many merchant sailors, as well as some sailors

from other nations, mostly European and American. People liable to impressment were

"eligible men of seafaring habits between the ages of 15 and 55 years". Non-seamen were

sometimes impressed as well, tales abound of men being dragged from their marriage beds

Seamen were not covered by Magna Carta and "failure to allow oneself to be pressed" was

punishable by hanging, although the punishment became less severe over time.The Magna

Carta of 1215, while a foundational document for liberty, had little direct impact on the

practice of press gangs. While the principles of Magna Carta eventually influenced legal

protections against arbitrary seizure and imprisonment, the impact on press gangs was

limited. The practice started as far back as the 13th Century and was encouraged in

Elizabethan times as a way to clear the streets of ever-rising numbers of unemployed.

In 1553 Queen Elizabeth I passed ‘’an Act touching politick considerations for the

maintenance of the Navy" which defined more clearly the liability of sailors who may be

forced to serve in the Navy and with the introduction of the Vagabonds Act of 1597 men of

disrepute (vagrants) found themselves drafted into service. In 1703, an act of Parliament

passed limiting the impressment of boys under 18 years to those who were not apprenticed.

The Act of 1705 was part of a larger series of acts that aimed to address the issue of

manning the Royal Navy during times of conflict. A further act of Parliament in 1740 raised

the maximum age to 55 and no foreigners could be forced into the Navy. However, these

restrictions were withdrawn by an act in 1779. From 1740, landsmen were legally exempt

from impressment, but this was on occasion ignored in wartime unless the person seized

was an apprentice or a "gentleman".

British courts heard cases and considered the legality of impressment at the end of the 18th

Century but ruled that it was legal if done in a regulated way, overseen by an officer holding

a king’s commission and with a warrant of impressment from the British Admiralty. A warrant

of the time read:

“We do hereby impower and direct you to impress, or cause to be impressed, so many

seamen, seafaring men and persons whose occupation and calling are to work in vessels

and boats upon rivers, as shall be necessary to man His Majesty’s Ships under your

command or any other of His Majesty’s Ships, giving unto each man so impressed One

Shilling for Prest money.”

(‘Press’ is a corruption of ‘prest’, meaning a loan or advance, when the victim was deemed

to have signed a contract by the act of taking the King’s Shilling).

The last law was passed in 1835 reaffirmed the power of the Press but limited the length of

service of a pressed man to five years, and added the provision that a man could not be

pressed twice.

Press gangs on the Tyne were a real concern, particularly in North Shields, due to its large

seafaring population. These groups would forcibly recruit men into the Royal Navy, and

Tyneside, with its strong seafaring tradition, was a target for their raids. In Newcastle,

Captain Bover, the Regulating Officer of the Port, was the most feared man in town. Only

keelmen who did a vital job transporting coal down river were excepted. Captain John Bover

R.N. (1714–1782) was the Regulating Captain of the Impress Service on Tyneside for 24

years during three wartime emergencies between 1758–1782 and the press gangs he

managed were responsible for the recruitment of thousands of regional seamen. Despite the

widespread opposition, litigation and violence impressment provoked, Bover was widely

admired in civil society for his efficiency and humanity. He was known for overseeing this

barbaric task with tact and discretion, eventually being honoured with a public funeral and

interment in St. Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle. Captain Bover is commemorated by a

plaque in the Cathedral. The fine words praising him were, however, penned by his son

George. By contrast he was a figure of fear in the eyes of regional seamen and his activities

denounced for their cruelty and injustice. The song ‘Captain Bover’ can be found in John

Stokoe’s book Songs and Ballads of Northern England

, Walter Scott Ltd, London and

Newcastle upon Tyne, 1893. Stokoe noted ‘’This beautiful fragment was picked up by Mr

Thomas Doubleday from a woman singing it in the streets. All attempts to recover more of it

have been fruitless’’.

Whaur hae ye been, my canny hinny?

Whaur hae ye been, my winsome man?

Whaur hae ye been, my canny hinny?

Whaur hae ye been, my winsome man?

I’ve been tae the nor’ard, cruisin’ back and for’ard,

I’ve been tae the nor’ard, cruisin’ sair and lang.

I’ve been tae the nor’ard, cruisin’ back and for’ard,

But I daur not gang ashore for fear of Bover and his gang.

Merchant seamen ashore from their ships (and usually conspicuous by their clothing, rolling

stride, tattoos and generally weathered appearance) were however another matter. Anyone

with seafaring experience encountered in the street would first be asked to volunteer for

service. If the potential recruit refused he was often plied with alcohol or simply seized.

The press gang came to Willie,

While he was all alone;

He bravely fought for liberty,

But there was three to one.

The blood it flowed in torrents,

He said "O pray kill me,

I'd rather die for Mary's sake

Than I'd put out to sea."

North and South Shields were regular victims of Press Gang raids, which were once a

common occurrence on the North East coast. Tyneside suffered badly from the Press Gangs

because of its large community of seamen and its reputation for experienced mariners

engaged in the region’s coal and whaling trades.

North Shields was particularly prone to Press Gang raids and in 1796, 250 mechanics and

seamen were pressed into service here during a single raid in which the town was cordoned

off by troops turned out from the garrison at Tynemouth. One of the naval vessels involved in

Press Gang raids such as this was ‘The Peggy’ remembered in the name of Peggy’s Hole

near the North Shields Fish Quay. Only London supplied more men for the Royal Navy than

the towns of North and South Shields, Newcastle and Sunderland.

The Tyneside folk song ‘Here’s the Tender Coming’ recalls the inherent fear of press gang

raids:

Here’s the Tender comin’,

Pressing all the men;

Oh dear hinny, what shall we dee then:

Here’s the tender comin’,

Off at Shields Bar

Here’s the tender comin’,

Full of men o’ war.

They will ship yer foreign,

that is what it means

Here’s the tender comin’,

full of Red Marines.

So hide me canny Geordie,

hide yorsel’ away,

Wait until the frigate makes for Druridge Bay,

If they tyek yer Geordie,

whe’s te’ win wor breed ?

Me and little Jacky

would better off be deed.

Families used their local knowledge and resourcefulness to hide men from the press gangs,

such as hiding them in peat stacks or using pre-arranged signs to alert them to the

presence of a press gang. Men pursued by the press gang employed cunning and skill to

evade capture, sometimes feigning injury to avoid being taken. Local communities often

rallied to protect their men, sometimes resorting to violence to resist the press gang. In one

instance, sailors in Shields, armed with weapons, attempted to seize a tender to rescue

pressed men, though they were ultimately unsuccessful. Another incident involved sailors

beating up a press gang officer.

Accounts in the ‘Newcastle Courant from 1793 give a vivid picture of such incidents:

‘’Monday the sailors at Shields, to the amount of 500, assembled in a riotous manner,

armed with swords, pistols, and other weapons, and made an attempt to seize the Eleanor

tender, in order to rescue the pressed men on board which was resisted successfully by the

efforts of the officers at this port. The seamen, next day, tried to come to Newcastle, but

hearing that a strong military force was ready to resist them, they wisely abandoned their

rash determination and went home, after having beaten up George Forster, one of the

press-gang, with the utmost cruelty, at Howden pans.’’

‘’On Tuesday last, the sailors of this port chased the press-gang from North Shields, with

the highest marks of contempt; - with their jackets reversed. They were escorted by a

numerous mob to Chirton-Bar, and who, on parting, gave them three cheers, but vowing

that, should they ever attempt to enter Shields, they should be torn limb from limb. The next

day their favourite, Captain Rothe, met and addressed them, and from his assurance and

the manner in which it was received, we have great reason to hope that all disquietude with

the gallant tars will be removed.’’

Midshipman George Vernon Jackson (aged 16, who was in charge of the press gang) said:

‘’I think we captured 70 fine young fellows. When the ship was on the point of leaving, it

was a sad sight; for boat-loads of women – wives, mothers, sisters, came alongside to say

goodbye to their captured relatives. I have often felt ashamed.’’

O the lousy cutter they’ve ta’en my laddie frae me

They pressed him far away foreign wi’ Nelson ayont the salt sea

They always come in the night they never come in the day

They always come in the night and steal the laddies away

The Northumbrian Minstrelsy - Bruce & Stokoe(1882)

In April 1755 a group of keelmen took a pleasure trip up river to Blaydon. Having spent some

time in the Winlaton hostelries they decided on a way to earn themselves some money. They

would impersonate the Press Gang and capture a few likely looking lads – not for the Navy

but to hold to ransom for money!

Having detained a few people they then proceeded to ask for ransom money which alerted

the locals to ask for their authority, but the keelmen had overlooked the fact that the men of

Winlaton, all being blacksmiths, were strong and not afraid of a fight. The keelmen were

soon overpowered and taken as prisoners to Newcastle where they were handed over and

kept overnight at Newcastle Keep. The next day they were all sent aboard the ‘Peggy’ a

Sloop-of-War and thus found that they had involuntarily joined the King’s Navy themselves,

leaving the Winlaton blacksmiths to enjoy a pint at home while they relayed the tale.

The “recruiters” preyed to a great extent upon men from the lower classes who were, more

often than not, vagabonds or even prisoners. Sources of supply were waterfront boarding

houses, brothels, and taverns whose owners victimised their own clientele.

Sometimes the pressed men took their revenge. When impressed seamen returned to port

in Sunderland in 1783 they sought out those who had informed on them to the press gangs.

These informers were then mounted on a long pole called a ‘stang’ ‘’and carried through the

principal streets, exposed to the insults and assaults of an enraged population, the women in

particular bedaubing them plentifully with dirt etc’’. Tyne seamen who refused to join the

strikes of 1792 and 1815 were humiliated in a similar fashion. These industrial actions (or

‘mutinies' as the civil authorities called them) were often against the unique threat of the

press gangs to the collier seamen. The first action took place in 1768 when hundreds of

North Shields seamen marched with colours flying to Sunderland and prevented any vessel

leaving port until their grievances were addressed. These included poor pay and the

dangerous overloading of vessels. All the major cases of systematic overloading of vessels

cited by Samuel Plimsoll in the 1870’s for his loading restrictions act were from the North

East. The press gangs were even employed by the civil authorities in peacetime to assist in

strike-breaking as late as 1822.

In the early 19th century the Royal Navy would halt American vessels to search for British

deserters and in the process would not infrequently impress naturalised American citizens

who were on board. This practice was among the grievances that helped bring about the

War of 1812. About 10,000 Americans found themselves impressed into service during the

Napoleonic Wars. An American song from the time to the tune ‘Yankee Doodle’ was:

To Press our Men they claim the right

But blast their Imposition

We'll let the rascals know, we'll fight

In Preference to submission

A statue to commemorate the memory of Dolly Peel (1783-1857) overlooks the River Tyne.

She was known as a fish wife, but was also a smuggler, poet and storyteller and served in

the Napoleonic wars. She lived in Shadwell Street in South Shields and on numerous

occasions hid her husband from press gangs (often under her skirts). Dolly Peel, whose

name at birth was Dorothy Appleby, was born on the riverside of South Shields.

In 1803, Dolly met a man named Cuthbert Peel and got married. Cuthbert was a fisherman

and as a fishwife she supported her husband’s career by selling his fish. This of course was

not a lucrative way to live so soon Dolly was soon forced to turn to “other” means to survive -

that is the bustling smuggling industry! Dolly soon began obtaining and illicitly selling a whole

range of smuggled goods, including brandy, cigars, tobacco and lace. She was known to

trade from Cullercoats to Marsden Grotto and beyond.

As a woman, she was not to be underestimated, known for her strong stature and being

fearless. Later, however, her husband advanced his career and joined the Merchant Navy.

The turn of the 19th century saw a new crisis emerge which required sailors to be recruited

into the Royal Navy, that is the Napoleonic Wars. Cuthbert was consequentially conscripted

to serve on the HMS Amelia. Worse still, their son was also recruited. Fearing for her

husband and son, and not wanting to be apart from them, Dolly decided to “smuggle herself”

upon the HMS Amelia. However, on being discovered by the crew, she was assigned to work

as a nurse for injured sailors, a job she embraced and she was given a legitimate right to

stay and pardoned for “naval interference.” Peel’s unexpected and extraordinary service in

the Navy gave her legendary status.

In her later years, Dolly continued to live with her husband on the banks of the River Tyne on

Lookham Stairs, where she died aged 76 in 1857. Her legacy in the town has continued to

live on, with a statue being created to honor her in 1987, as well as a pub in her own name,

The Dolly Peel.

Another famous local character was Jack Crawford, born in Sunderland in 1775. He worked

on the keels with his father until aged 11 he joined the ‘Peggy’ at South Shields and is

believed to have later been pressed into HMS Venerable. At the Battle of Camperdown

against the Dutch in 1797 part of the Venerable’s main top gallant mast was felled including

Admiral Duncan’s Union flag (which would be taken as a sign of surrender). Despite being

under heavy fire, Jack ‘shinned’ up the mast and nailed the colours to the top (giving rise to

the phrase ‘nailing your colours to the mast’). Jack was later presented to King George lll

and given a silver medal and he was granted a pension of £30 per year for his bravery.

He died of cholera in Sunderland in 1831 aged 56 and is commemorated by a bronze statue

in Mowbray Park, Sunderland, unveiled in 1890 by Admiral Duncan’s grandson.

He also has a mural dedicated to him on the side of a pub in Church Street East.

In the 1700s there were no less than seven major wars the Navy had to mobilize for,

culminating in Great Britain’s climactic showdown with Napoleon’s naval forces at the Battle

of Trafalgar in 1805, when the Royal Navy had about 115,000 personnel. The solution was

impressment and It only ended after Napoleon’s fall in 1815 when as many as 75% of the

sailors in the Navy were impressed men, nearly half of them North Countrymen.

Of course many of these never saw their wives and families again.

Have you seen ought of my bonny lad?

Are you sure he’s well-o?

He’s gone o’er lang wi’ a stick in his hand,

He’s gone to row the keel-o.

Yes I hae seen your bonny lad,

’Twas on the sea I spied him.

His grave is green but not wi’ grass

And you’ll never lie beside him.

A very rare song, collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1904 was ‘All things are quite

silent’. The haunting first verse tells how the press-gang breaks in on a scene of idyllic peace

and tranquillity and unceremoniously snatches a man from his marriage bed.

All things are quite silent, each mortal at rest,

As me and my true love was snug in one nest.

A bold set of ruffians they entered into our cave,

And forced my dear jewel to plough the salt wave.

I begged for my sailor as I’d begged for my life.

But they’d not listen to me although a fond wife,

Saying, “The king must have sailors, to the seas he must go.”

And they left me lamenting in sorrow and woe.

Through green fields and meadows we oft times did walk,

And with sweet conversations of love we did talk,

While the birds in the woodland so sweetly did sing,

And the young thrushes’ voices made the valleys to ring.

Though my love has left me I’ll not be cast down.

Who knows but some day my love might return?

And will make me amends for my sorrow and strife,

And me and my true love will be happy for life.

Although Britain abandoned the practice of impressment in 1815, press gangs remained

legal until the early 1900s and the various laws authorising impressment of men into the

Navy have never been repealed.

Jim Mageean, Cullercoats 2025