| 词源 |
press gangs. Impressment became prominent in American vocabularies before the War of 1812, when British sailors forci- bly removed British seamen from American vessels, claiming this was their right, and impressed American seamen into Brit- ish service at the same time, always explaining later that they took the Americans by mistake. Press gangs were the hired thugs who impressed seamen for service aboard British ships during the War of 1812 and had indeed done so since the late 17th century. |