FINE 18TH FOLK ART NAUTICAL MARITIME SAILOR PRESSGANG WEAPON ~ LATE 1700's

Description: FINE 18TH ART NAUTICAL MARITIME SAILOR PRESSGANG WEAPON ~ LATE 1700's FINE 18TH FOLK ART NAUTICAL MARITIME SAILOR PRESSGANG WEAPON ~ LATE 1700's FINE 18TH CENTURY FOLK ART NAUTICAL MARITIME SAILOR HANDMADE MIDSHIPMAN’S PRESSGANG WEAPON CIRCA MID – LATE 1700’S This is a rare and early 18th century naval midshipman's sailor handmade pressgang weapon in fine original condition. The ends are lead shaped weights in a large balloon shape on one end, and a slightly smaller balloon shape on the other end, connected by a round wooden shaft. This outer light tan surface of the shaft appears to be a branch or rod of an unknown wood with a natural dark aged patina showing a tan coloration underneath at a few wear spots. The components were readily available at little to no cost onboard sailing ships; wood, lead and string. It appears the two lead heads were attached when the lead was molten when the shaft was stuck into the lead heads to affix them to the shaft. The heads were then wrapped in cotton thread and then the string covered surface ends were covered originally in black tar to preserve the threads in place and also intended to help stun the victim without overly injuring them during being shanghaied and delivered to a sailing ship in the harbor for impromptu enlistment (see below). The heads now have a fine, naturally occurring patina from age with all the original black tar, with expected handling and light wear marks. This pocket sized “Bonker” measures 10 5/8 inches long overall with a 6-inch-long x 1/2" diameter shaft between the weights with a total weight of 8.2 ounces or 234 grams; and could easily be used to bonk someone on the head to render them unconscious. This would be perfect for any 18th C., weapons, sap, 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. HISTORY Naval pressgang weapons were used on 18th and 19th 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. Sailors also sometimes carried a handmade weapon to ward of potential Seaside assaults. 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 and indentured servitude. 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 the 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 the 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 $9,500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about $300,000 in today’s 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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Price: 236 USD

Location: Fairfield, California

End Time: 2024-09-07T05:45:55.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD