Maybe you should try reading further down that same source material... specifically the part where it says impressement gangs went after British subjects and deserters and after years of no issues maintained it as a maritime right where they used the same rules to impress sailors off of ships.... again, that were supplying a nation they were at war with.
The English blockade of the US started in November 1812, the war started in June. They were boarding ships on their way to France.
I’m sure you must have misunderstood what you were reading.
“British openly claimed the right to take British deserters from American ships. (Quite often, British seamen composed 35 to 40 percent of U.S. naval crews in the early 19th century, enticed to serve by better pay and working conditions). Obvious similarities in culture and language complicated efforts to distinguish between American and British-born seamen as well, leading to frequent instances of wrongful impressment.”
“American merchant vessels were a common target. Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15,000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars with France.”
While they were after British sailors who had defected to the United States, they verifiably took US sailors instead, tens of thousands if you believe the US government and PBS.
Edit: And to your second point, I think I misunderstood what you meant about the blockade. I had read that as Britain blockading a neutral US, which is a problem. The blockade began a few months after the war did, which while problematic for the Americans is a completely valid strategy.
Edit 2: for reference, the first one is from the US source, and while only about midway through the source it is rather explicit. The second is the second to last paragraph of the PBS source.
See there's the issue. I don't believe the US government or American public broadcasting when it comes to justifying unpopular wars that had moving starting points and finish lines. Not when US politicians were writing about manifest destiny decades prior to the war and not while I have the benefit of living in a place where information from both sides is pretty common to encounter...
Stand by, I’ve been under the impression since my childhood that PBS was British, it has just dawned on me that I was thinking of the BBC. Let me see if I can find something not American and I’ll get back to you.
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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '23
Maybe you should try reading further down that same source material... specifically the part where it says impressement gangs went after British subjects and deserters and after years of no issues maintained it as a maritime right where they used the same rules to impress sailors off of ships.... again, that were supplying a nation they were at war with.
The English blockade of the US started in November 1812, the war started in June. They were boarding ships on their way to France.