Mariners-L Archives

Archiver > Mariners > 2005-08 > 1122969449


From:
Subject: Re: [Mar] Marines and the press gang
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 03:57:29 EDT


Sybil

Marines were not subject to the press gang. They were recruited in the same
way the army raised men; the country was divided into districts and officers
and recruiting sergeants sent out to the local towns to recruit men. This
would involve putting up posters (usually stressing the wonderful life...the
money...the far away places); and setting up a 'rendezvous' (often a public
house) where the recruiting party could establish themselves. According to
Brian Lavery "this brought in a steady flow of recruits, probably driven by
unemployment or poor prospects in their own trade"
The main recruiting tool was apparently the offer of money - a bounty to be
paid on signing on. This apparently varied, but could be a substantial
amount. Finally it was not unusual to recruit foreigners (Malta provided many -
but during the Napoleonic wars, Poles, Swiss, Italians and Dutch all served...)
When this was insufficient, soldiers from other regiments were offered
bounties to transfer to the marines. On occasion army regiments were used as
marines onboard ships.

David H

This thread: