Why impressment claims are hard to verify

The scale of American impressment claims is difficult to establish from the broad totals repeated in accounts of the War of 1812. Some merchant captains reportedly warned of a nonexistent Royal Navy ship so that frightened sailors would leave before reaching port, allowing the captain to avoid paying their wages. British captains preferred volunteers where they could get them. A reputation for taking valuable prizes could attract recruits by giving sailors a financial reason to choose a particular ship. Captains also claimed British sailors serving aboard American vessels, although British and American understandings of nationality differed. These recruitment practices and competing incentives complicate the interpretation of reported losses of American seamen. Searches for contraband also created opportunities for coercion: a captain who could not legally seize a merchant ship might still interfere with its crew to discourage trade with France. That last mechanism is offered as a possible explanation, rather than a demonstrated account of every search.