Stories that British warships stripped entire merchant vessels of their crews appear especially often in American accounts of impressment. Even Theodore Roosevelt's account did not provide the name of a ship on which the alleged practice could be checked. Merchant vessels already sailed with minimal crews. Removing everyone except a captain and a few mates would make a fully rigged ship extremely difficult to handle and could prevent it from reaching harbor. This plausibility argument does not prove that no exceptional case ever occurred. It tests a dramatic story against the practical labor needed to sail the vessel left behind.
Chapter · 26:36-28:06
A fully rigged merchant ship could not lose its whole crew safely
The claim that press gangs routinely removed entire merchant crews is tested against the small crews and demanding seamanship needed to bring a fully rigged ship into harbor.