FINE 18TH c. NAUTICAL MARITIME MIDSHIPMANS BRAIDED SHAFT+MACRAME PRESSGANG TOOL

Description

FINE 18TH c. NAUTICAL MARITIME MIDSHIPMANS BRAIDED SHAFT+MACRAME PRESSGANG TOOL
FINE 18TH c. NAUTICAL MARITIME MIDSHIPMANS BRAIDED SHAFT+MACRAME PRESSGANG TOOL
EXTREMELY FINE & RARE HAND MADE LARGE & HEAVY-DUTY 18th CENTURY
FOLK ART NAUTICAL MARITIME SAILOR HANDMADE
BALEEN WRAPPED MIDSHIPMAN’S PRESSGANG TOOL
This is an exceptionally fine, rare, and early 18th century naval midshipman's sailor handmade pressgang tool in fine original condition. The ends are lead shaped weights; a large ovoid shape on one end is 1 7/8” long x 1 1/8” wide, and a smaller ball shape on the other end is 1 7/8” long x 1 1/8” wide. The end weights are cast lead that was molten when the rod was stuck into the lead head to affix it to the shaft. The macramé braided string covered surface ends were intended to help stun the miscreant without overly injuring them; and were originally black tarred with almost all of the naturally occurring patina that shows very little use for its extreme age. The end weights have thin cord in horizontal rows that are connected with heavy cord in vertical patterns. The cord macrame has been flattened during the taring process to seal the ends. There is one small nick to the surface of the small end (see image) that shows the inside antique string strands that demonstrate it’s age. The two macramé ends are connected by a semi flexible round 1/2” diameter rod that is probably a reed or a piece of flexible material. This rod had the signature crosshatched natural baleen material in a braided cross check pattern that is found on whaling ships with access to this material, and used primarily in the late 1700’s and early 1800s prior to the heyday of whaling in the 1850’s-1860’s. These strips are fragile when dried out over 1-2 centuries, and most have broken strands. This piece has one small spot where the outer delicate braided shell has been broken just below the large head (see image) that reveals the inside shaft that is old as dirt, and untouched as found.
This is a hefty bonker that measures 11.5 inches long, and the total weight is 8.3 ounces or 236 grams. Naval pressgang tools were used on 18
th
and 19
th
century Sailing ships for keeping sailors in line, as well as being useful during a boarding attack. They were also carried by sailors as a self-defense weapon when in port, which may account for the exceptional condition of this piece that was obviously, “put up” a very long time ago. This piece is in remarkable condition and is the best condition piece from this period I have ever seen. They were also used for pressgang “recruitment” work on land, i.e., the practice of illegally using a press gang tool on an unsuspecting victim, tie him up and take him aboard a ship as an unwilling sailor, signing his name, and collecting a bounty. This would be perfect for any 18
th
-19
th
C., weapons, Nautical, Maritime, Folk Art, Handmade, Object D’ Art collection and display it as a desk accessory, paperweight or conversation piece in any office, den or Man cave.
PRESSGANG HISTORY
Naval pressgang weapons were used on 18
th
and 19
th
century Sailing ships for keeping sailors in line, as well as being useful during a boarding attack, or use by a ner’ do good or scoundrel to relieve a sailor fresh to port of his earnings; made easier by the common practices of sailors heading for the nearest Seaport tavern. They were also used for pressgang 'recruitment' work on land, i.e., the practice of illegally using violence with a “bonker” type press gang weapon an unsuspecting victim, bonk him on the head to make him unconscious, tie him up and take him aboard a ship as an unwilling sailor. Few people knew how to swim, and once a sailor signed on board (or a crimp forged his signature) a vessel for a voyage, it was illegal for him to leave the ship before the voyage's end under the penalty of imprisonment as the result of federal legislation enacted in 1790. Shanghaiing was the practice of illegally using trickery, intimidation, or violence to put an unwilling sailor on a ship. Those that practiced the “trade” were called crimps. The role of crimps and the spread of the practice of shanghaiing resulted from a combination of laws, economic conditions, and the shortage of experienced sailors in England and on the American West Coast in the mid-19th century. The practice was especially driven by a shortage of labor on the West Coast, particularly of skilled labor on ships. With crews abandoning ships en masse because of the California Gold Rush, a healthy body on board the ship was a prized asset. Crimps flourished in port cities like London and Liverpool in England as well as San Francisco in California, Portland, and Astoria in Oregon, also Seattle and Port Townsend in Washington. On the West Coast, Portland eventually surpassed San Francisco for shanghaiing. On the East Coast, New York easily led the way, followed by Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
Shanghaiing was made possible by the existence of boarding masters, whose job it was to find crews for ships. Boarding masters were paid "by the body," and thus had a strong incentive to place as many seamen on ships as possible. This pay was called "blood money," and was just one of the revenue streams available. These factors set the stage for the crimp: a boarding master who uses trickery, intimidation, or violence to put a sailor on a ship. The most straightforward method for a crimp to shanghai a sailor was to render him unconscious, forge his signature on the ship's articles, and pick up his "blood money." This approach was widely used, but there were also more profitable methods. In some situations, the boarding master could receive the first two, three, or four months of wages of the man he “signed up” and shipped out. Sailors were able to get an advance against their pay for an upcoming voyage to allow them to purchase clothes and equipment; but the advance wasn't paid directly to the sailor because he could simply abscond with the money. Instead, those to whom money was owed could claim it directly from the ship's captain. An enterprising crimp, already dealing with a seaman, could supplement his income by supplying goods and services to the seaman at an inflated price, and collecting the debt from the sailor's captain.
Before 1865, maritime labor laws primarily enforced stricter discipline onboard ships. However, after 1865, this began to change. In 1868, New York State started cracking down on sailors' boardinghouses. They declined in number from 169 in 1863 to 90 in 1872. Then in 1871, Congress passed legislation to revoke license of officers guilty of mistreating seamen. Congress passed the Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872 to combat crimps. Under this act, a sailor had to sign on to a ship in the presence of a federal shipping commissioner. The presence of a shipping commissioner was intended to ensure the sailor wasn't "forcibly or unknowingly signed on by a crimp. In 1884, the Dingley Act came into effect, a law that prohibited the practice of seamen taking advances on wages. It also limited the making of seamen's allotments to only close relatives. However, the crimps fought back. In 1886, a loophole to the Dingley Act was created, allowing boardinghouse keepers to receive seamen's allotments. This factor was weakened by the Maguire Act of 1895 and the White Act of 1898. Some crimps made as much as ,500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about 0,000 in todays dollars. The crimps were well positioned politically to protect their lucrative trade. The keepers of boardinghouses for sailors supplied men on election day to go from one polling place to another, "voting early and often" for the candidate who would vote in their interest. In San Francisco, men such as Joseph "Frenchy" Franklin and George Lewis, long-time crimps, were elected to the California state legislature, an ideal spot to assure that no legislation was passed that would have a negative impact on their business. Some examples included Jim "Shanghai" Kelly and Johnny "Shanghai Chicken" Devine of San Francisco, and Joseph "Bunco" Kelly of Portland. Stories of their ruthlessness are innumerable, and some have survived into print. One egregious example involves the "birthday party" Shanghai Kelly threw for himself, in order to attract enough victims to man a notorious sailing ship named the Reefer and two other ships. Demand for manpower to keep ships sailing to Alaska and the Klondike Gold Strike kept crimping a real danger in the late 1890’s into the early 20th century. The widespread adoption of steam powered vessels in the world's merchant marine services in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries radically altered the economics of seafaring. Without acres of canvas to be furled and unfurled, the demand for unskilled labor, and, by extension, crimping, greatly diminished. The sinking of the RMS Titanic, followed by onset of World War I, which made the high seas a much more dangerous place due to the threat of submarine attack, provided the final impetus to stamp out the practice. The practice of crimping was finally ended by a series of legislative reforms that spanned almost 50 years. In 1915, Andrew Furuseth and Senator Robert M. La Follette Sr. pushed through the Seamen's Act of 1915 that made crimping a federal crime, and finally put an end to it.
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