Working the Waters

a Very Rough Draft

Nicholas Griffes

To be impressed.

            To be impressed is for one to be forced into military service against ones will, much like conscription.  The evolution from impressments to conscription the typical impressed person was between 15 and 55, and of seafaring habits.  Though there were instances in times of war that non-seafarers were impressed into service, or even criminals.

            Though the landlubbers and criminals were only a last resort if not enough able-bodied seamen could not be found, either by boarding and taking seamen off of merchant ships or by scrounging around in a port.  The impress Gangs would go after drunks, vagabonds or a person in the wrong place at the wrong time.  As a last resort they would go to the local prison and ask if there were any able bodied seamen there.  Then after rather then are impressed, seamen would volunteer.  Even if you were seamen of a different nationality you were not safe.  If you felt impress unfairly you could submit a complaint to the admiralty.  In a good number of cases the complaint was successful and the person was discharged.  On the other hand desertion was a huge factor, in both the impressed and the volunteers for the first couple of months.  Then after a year the level of desertion was negligible, having to leave ones friends and quite a bit of money in some cases.  The English impressments of American sailors in to their navy, was one of the key factors other then invading US soil for the war of 1812.  Somewhere around 6000, American sailors were impressed by the British Navy.  Then shortly after at the end of the Napoleonic wars the practice of impressments was never used again.

            Form this point on the term used is conscription. The first use of this word can be traced back to the French revolution.  It is the French version of impressments during the Napoleonic wars.  Many countries between then and now have used conscription under different names the US used the Draft the Soviets and there satellites where some of the biggest conscriptions.  The use of conscription in democracies is a very touchy subject.

            In the modern world the only counties with conscription are too small to sustain a professional army of sufficient size, it also help to lessen the need for outside help.

            Through out history many countries and empires used some sort of forced military service.  Though now the biggest conscriptions rely on professional armies