Impressment in Nova Scotia

Impressment by the Royal Navy in Nova Scotia happened primarily during the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Guard boats patrolled Halifax harbour day and night and they boarded all incoming and outgoing vessels.^[1] The Navy always struggled with desertion in Nova Scotia, and it often threatened to use impressment as a punishment for communities that harboured and assisted deserters.^[2] The Navy used guard boats as floating press gangs, conscripting every fiftieth man out of ships entering the harbour. It even pressed Americans from cartels and prison hulks. Warships shot at vessels to bring them to, damaging their sails and rigging, and at least one fisherman was pressed while checking his nets.^[2]

British warships sent armed press gangs into Halifax, where they fought with townspeople.^[1] The incidents were frequently violent and people were killed. The press gangs would drive all before them in the streets. The press gangs would bind recruits' hands behind their backs and march them through the street like criminals.^[1]

Impressment caused socioeconomic problems in Nova Scotia. For sailors, it was often a violent and life-altering experience. They potentially faced years in the service, forced separation from their families and friends, and death through disease and combat. Civil and personal liberties were suspended for the good of the British war effort.^[3] Generally, impressment victims were young men from poor and middle-class backgrounds. Often impacting sailors and fishermen, they supported family members and widowed mothers, and were often married with young children. Dozens of families in Liverpool alone were torn apart by impressment during the Napoleonic Wars.^[4]