Impressment
From PotC Wiki
(Redirected from Press-gang)
Impressment, colloquially known as press-ganging was the act of conscripting people to serve in the navy or aboard pirate ships. It was commonly used by the Royal Navy as of the early 17th century, but was ultimately abandoned in Britain in 1814. It was similar to the merchant navy practice of "shanghaiing"; using trickery to coerce sailors into joining a crew.
Pintel and Ragetti were pressed into service by the English Navy, but jumped ship a year later. Jack Sparrow assumed Bootstrap Bill Turner had been shanghaied into service by Davy Jones, though Turner admitted he freely chose to serve aboard the Flying Dutchman.
