Alex says he could not find an example in Theodore Roosevelt's book of a ship whose entire crew had been taken by the Royal Navy. He contrasts that with two incidents he tentatively recalls from a book by Nicholas Rogers. In that account, merchant captains allegedly announced a Royal Navy sighting, sent their crews away in boats for safety, and entered port without them. The sailors' absence on arrival then allowed the captains to avoid paying them. The example introduces wage evasion as a complication in interpreting accounts of impressment.
Notable Point · 2:34:01-2:35:18
Wage evasion complicates impressment narratives
An account of captains allegedly using a Royal Navy sighting to evade wages complicates a discussion of whole-crew impressment, although the book supplying the examples is recalled tentatively.