Why impressment gave way to professional service

What ended the press system?

Its decline followed the growth of a more technical, professional Navy that retained trained personnel through longer engagements and reserves.

Napoleon's surrender in 1814 removed the immediate wartime need for impressment. By the Crimean War and the middle of the nineteenth century, naval service increasingly depended on trained personnel serving multi-year engagements and moving between ships. Steam-powered warships made it costly to discharge skilled crews after a conflict and recruit replacements when another began. Retaining a professional service and maintaining trained reserves offered a different way to expand for war. These changes explain why the older system ceased to be useful.