• Find People
  • Campus Map
  • PiratePort
  • A-Z
    • About
    • Submit
    • Browse
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   ScholarShip Home
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Master's Theses
    • View Item
    •   ScholarShip Home
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Master's Theses
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of The ScholarShipCommunities & CollectionsDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeDate SubmittedThis CollectionDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeDate Submitted

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Google Analytics Statistics

    Press Gang Revisited: Polarization, Nuance, and the Study of Impressment in the Royal Navy

    Thumbnail
    View/ Open
    HAZEL-MASTERSTHESIS-2016.pdf (1.551Mb)

    Show full item record
    Author
    Hazel, Ian
    Abstract
    Over the course of the long eighteenth century, Britain grew from an island nation with limited colonial holdings to a transatlantic imperial power. Because of this territorial expansion, the Royal Navy increased dramatically in size. In order to crew the increased number of ships, the ancient practice of impressment — forcing sailors and other maritime laborers into naval service — grew from a seasonal, occasional enterprise to a year-round, constant operation. Impressment was highly controversial, and drew criticism from some members of society, as well as resistance from seamen. This thesis uses long-form primary source documents, such as pamphlets, letters, and memoirs, to reassess the historiographical record and demonstrate that modern authors have created a falsely unambiguous perspective on the practice. Instead, contemporary responses were incredibly nuanced, with sailors, officers, and upper-class members of society all showing complex reactions to the practice.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10342/6025
    Subject
     Royal Navy; Press Gang; Maritime; Forced Labor; British Empire; Transatlantic; Atlantic History; Colonial History 
    Date
    2016-12-15
    Citation:
    APA:
    Hazel, Ian. (December 2016). Press Gang Revisited: Polarization, Nuance, and the Study of Impressment in the Royal Navy (Master's Thesis, East Carolina University). Retrieved from the Scholarship. (http://hdl.handle.net/10342/6025.)

    Display/Hide MLA, Chicago and APA citation formats.

    MLA:
    Hazel, Ian. Press Gang Revisited: Polarization, Nuance, and the Study of Impressment in the Royal Navy. Master's Thesis. East Carolina University, December 2016. The Scholarship. http://hdl.handle.net/10342/6025. April 23, 2021.
    Chicago:
    Hazel, Ian, “Press Gang Revisited: Polarization, Nuance, and the Study of Impressment in the Royal Navy” (Master's Thesis., East Carolina University, December 2016).
    AMA:
    Hazel, Ian. Press Gang Revisited: Polarization, Nuance, and the Study of Impressment in the Royal Navy [Master's Thesis]. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University; December 2016.
    Collections
    • History
    • Maritime Studies
    • Master's Theses
    Publisher
    East Carolina University

    xmlui.ArtifactBrowser.ItemViewer.elsevier_entitlement

    East Carolina University has created ScholarShip, a digital archive for the scholarly output of the ECU community.

    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Send Feedback