Why wartime fleets needed sudden manpower

The gap between peacetime and wartime fleet establishments created sudden demand for sailors. Impressment grew from older feudal practice. After the British Civil Wars, authorities increasingly tried to recruit rather than impress soldiers, while naval mobilisation still required rapid expansion. The Royal Navy and merchant shipping drew upon much the same pool of people, so a naval expansion competed directly with commercial employment. An untrained landsman offered little immediate help in operating a sailing warship.