Isaac Hull's retaliation for losing merchant sailors

An account of Isaac Hull's merchant service describes a British warship taking British sailors from his American vessel. The warship's shortage of men far from home made passing merchant traffic an accessible source of experienced seafarers. Shared language and better merchant pay also helped explain why British sailors worked aboard American ships. Hull then reportedly found a smaller British merchantman and took men from it to replace those he had lost. His retaliation repeated the coercive practice that had deprived his own vessel of sailors. The story illustrates how a dispute over recruitment could pass from one merchant crew to another.