Introduction
In 1756, James Watt was not yet the creator of the first commercial steam engine, but a lowly maker of scientific instruments in London. The Seven Years’ War was just getting under way, and Watt was so afraid of being scooped up for service at sea or in some colonial plantation that he dared not go out of his door.
DURING Watt’s stay in London he was in a great measure prevented from stirring abroad by the hot press for sailors which was then going on.* As many as forty pressgangs were at work, seizing all able-bodied men they could lay hands on. In one night they took not fewer than a thousand men.
Nor were the kidnappers idle. These were the agents of the East India Company, who had crimping-houses* in different parts of the city for receiving the men whom they had seized upon for service in the Indian army.
Even when the demand for soldiers abated, the kidnappers continued their trade, and sold their unhappy victims to the planters in Pennsylvania and other North American colonies. Sometimes severe fights took place between the pressgangs and the kidnappers for possession of those who had been seized, the law and police being apparently powerless to protect them.
This practice was first legalised under Queen Elizabeth I. It was used by Cromwell to stock his New Model Army, and the Recruiting Act of 1703 confirmed the practice, naming rogues and vagabonds as fair game. Army impressment was discontinued in 1790, but the Navy went on using it until the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. Impressment can be made to sound quite civilised when rephrased as national service.
‘Crimping’ is another term for impressment. In the mid-nineteenth century, many sailors found themselves transported to China, giving rise to another term, ‘shanghai’.
Précis
When James Watt, inventor of the modern steam engine, was a young man working in London in 1756, he dared not go out for fear of roaming pressgangs, quite legally carrying able-bodied men off to sea or to the colonies as labour. Samuel Smiles, who recorded Watt’s fears, added that competing gangs would fight for their ‘stock’. (57 / 60 words)
When James Watt, inventor of the modern steam engine, was a young man working in London in 1756, he dared not go out for fear of roaming pressgangs, quite legally carrying able-bodied men off to sea or to the colonies as labour. Samuel Smiles, who recorded Watt’s fears, added that competing gangs would fight for their ‘stock’.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, may, must, otherwise, ought, since, whether.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Abate. Have. Then.
2 Nor. Part. Stir.
3 Being. Company. Take.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
Your Words ()
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