"I received a note early one morning from my chief mate that one
of my sailors, Edward Hulen, a fellow townsman whom I had known
from boyhood, had been impressed and taken on board of a British
frigate then being in port .... I immediately went on board my
ship and having there learned all the facts in the case,
proceeded to the frigate, where I found Hulen and in his presence
was informed by the first lieutenant of the frigate that he had
taken Hulen from my ship under a peremptory order from his
commander to visit every American ship in port and take from each
of them one or more of their seamen .... I then called upon
Captain Cook, who commanded the frigate, and sought first by all
the persuasive means that I was capable of using and ultimately
by threats to appeal to the Government of the place to obtain
Hulen's release, but in vain . . . . It remained for me only to
recommend Hulen to that protection of the lieutenant which a good
seaman deserves, and to submit to the high-handed insult thus
offered to the flag of my country which I had no means either of
preventing or resisting."

After several years' detention in the British Navy, Hulen
returned to Salem and lived to serve on board privateers in the
second war with England.

Several years' detention! This was what it meant to be a pressed
man, perhaps with wife and children at home who had no news of
him nor any wages to support them. At the time of the Nore Mutiny
in 1797, there were ships in the British fleet whose men had not
been paid off for eight, ten, twelve, and in one instance fifteen
years. These wooden walls of England were floating hells, and a
seaman was far better off in jail. He was flogged if he sulked