The Evil Necessity: British Naval Impressment in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

Index

351 Italicized page numbers refer to illustrations, and an “m” or a “t” following a page number denotes a map or a table, respectively. able seamen, 56, 126, 140, 168, 187, 212, 216; resistance to impressment, 176, 189, 200 (see also desertion; resistance ); skills of, 2, 53–55, 161, 164–66; as target of impressment system, 53–55, 58–59, 61, 66, 74–76, 78, 134, 172, 208; wages of, 2, 57–58, 144, 164, 172, 200 Adams, John, 3, 43, 242–43, 245, 302n5, 302n7 Adams, John Quincy, 250, 302n5 Adams, Samuel, 3, 39, 234–35, 236, 300n77 Admiralty, 30, 51, 58, 59, 60, 128, 165, 215; administration of impressment in the British Isles, 31, 62, 71, 75, 76, 79, 80, 84, 92, 230, 256n11; administration of impressment in the western hemisphere , 93, 99, 108, 112, 226, 118–19, 246; composition of, 25; correspondence with naval officers, 74, 76, 82, 105, 190, 228; handling of habeas corpus cases, 194–96; issuing of press warrants , 93, 99, 120; protections against impressment, 65, 127, 183–84, 220; receipt of petitions to release impressed seamen, 175, 192. See also British state Africa, 5m, 14; pirates from, 68; as site of desertion, 206; in triangle trade, 24, 64, 115, 118, 120, 206. See also black seamen; slavery agency, 3, 140–41, 161, 169–70, 282n5, 286n58 alcohol, 150, 206–7; aboard ships, 145, 162–63, 174, 198, 217; grog, 91–92, 151, 162; in resistance against press gangs, 178, 203; use in merchant recruiting, 67, 190; use in naval recruiting, 26, 128, 188. See also British navy: food rations of; taverns American Prohibitory Act, 244 American Revolution, 28t, 44t, 95, 122, 126, 129, 154, 164, 167, 174, 187, 197, 205, 236, 238, 243, 247; British naval desertion rates during, 160, 199, 204; British navy seamen lost to disease during, 148; impressment during, 76, 84, 97, 130, 131, 132, 133, 145–46, 175; influence of impressment on, 13, 105, 231, 235, 242, 244; numbers of British merchant and navy seamen during, 54, 80 Anglicization, 241 Anglo-Dutch Wars, 2, 24, 27, 29, 30, 35, 146 Anne, Queen, 2, 84, 108 Anson, Commodore George, 134 Antigua, 94m, 121; British naval squadron at, 95, 113, 117–18, 202–3, 224; impressment culture in, 117–18, 135, 219–20, 230; impressment disturbances in, 210, 219–20, 233 (see also riots: in West Indies); slave revolts in, 113 Asia, 14, 133–34, 135. See also China; India Atlantic history, 14, 257–58n28 Index 352 | i n d e x ballads, 84–85; and depictions of women going to sea, 157, 192; and opposition to impressment, 37, 90, 154, 167, 180; and triumphal portrayals of naval service, 47, 154–55 Barbados, 4m, 94m, 102, 195; impressment in, 107; men forcibly shipped to (“barbadosed”), 25; official protests against impressment, 104, 106, 109; tensions over impressment, 210, 218, 221; in triangle trade, 103–4 Barber, Francis, 142, 282n7 Barlow, Edward, 161, 206 Baugh, Daniel, 33 Bay of Honduras (Belize), 4m, 94m, 133, 206 Bermuda, 4m, 11, 94m, 120–21 Bishop, Matthew, 188 black seamen, 96, 152; in Atlantic merchant trades, 120–21, 122, 278n76; in British navy, 117, 120–22, 166, 174, 189, 279n81; impressment of, 13, 82, 84, 102, 121–22, 142, 145–46, 177, 256n12; resistance to impressment, 178, 234 Blackstone, William, 44, 215 Board of Trade, 68, 104, 106, 109, 111, 232, 276n46 Bollan, William, 236–37 Boston, 4m, 9, 94m, 124, 126, 129; British navy station ship at, 224; resistance to impressment in, 102–3, 104–5, 222–23, 225–34, 242; and shipping activity, 126–27, 180; as stopping place for British naval ships, 95, 111; Town Meeting, 13, 226–27, 229, 234 Boswell, James, 142, 283n7 Bristol (England), 5m, 63, 64, 69, 71, 72m, 77m, 118, 181, 238 British army, 144, 188, 205, 250; help in naval pressing operations, 82, 182, 201, 207, 216; policies concerning substitutes , 60; recruiting practices of, 10, 32, 59, 85; service obligation compared to navy, 45–46; sharing soldiers with navy, 120; use of black soldiers, 121 British Constitution, 44, 237, 243 British Empire, 68, 93, 99, 206, 207, 217, 235, 237; “blue water” orientation of, 6, 31, 93; as cause of impressment, 20, 31; contribution of impressment to, 1, 2, 3, 8, 13, 15, 49–50, 51, 66, 88, 112, 135, 143, 201, 241; dependence on unfree labor, 3–4, 6–7, 25, 35, 97, 115, 204, 239; importance of trade, 6, 23–24, 33, 52, 175; portrayals of...