Merchant wages and false impressment alarms

A merchant captain could benefit financially if some men left before the ship docked. In the arrangement described here, completing the voyage and earning payment depended on taking part in docking. A genuine naval impressment would still bring a demand from the Navy for the men's outstanding pay. The possible evasion was to raise an alarm about an approaching Royal Navy ship and offer worried sailors a boat ashore. Once they had left voluntarily, the master could claim they had failed to complete the voyage and withhold payment. Some crews really did flee approaching warships, so a short-handed arrival does not establish deception. The suspicion is that supposed mistakes by lookouts also gave unscrupulous masters a way to avoid wages.