Pressed At Plymouth

Ten Years of Upper Canada..., by Thomas Ridout and Matilda Ridout Edgar:

"I told him [the Governor, with whom Ridout was conversing] of my being pressed at Plymouth [England], and only escaping by having his letters, at which he laughed heartily." 

[Excerpt from a letter written in London, England dated 17 April 1812]

Pre-War Provocation: The 1806 Murder Of Pierce....

...and the case of the Leander::

Source

The murder of [John] Pierce by order of a British naval officer although from the tranquillized and almost paralized state of public feeling it did not excite the same indignation as the massacre of Boston citizens by British troops before the revolutionary war yet it was no less an outrage upon humanity and national dignity than that barbarous deed. Source

Capt. Henry Whitby of the Leander was acquitted.

SOS Message In A Bottle

John Banks, a sailor impressed by the British, sent a rescue message via a bottle.  After it was found, the message was published.  Hopefully, help was on the way!

THE NEWSPAPER CLIPPING
Philadelphia June 27 - Extract of a letter from Bridgehampton, dated the 21st of June.  "A letter was found in a junk bottle on the Atlantic shore at Chatham, last Tuesday directed at the Collector in NYork.  The writer subscribes his name John Banks, if I mistake not; says he belongs at Hampton, Virginia, that he was impressed on board the Ramillies, as near as I can recollect, between 5 and 6 years ago; has an uncle and a brother in Hampton; and wishes the Collector to inform his friends that they may take measures to liberate him.  The letter was dated in April last."

July 12, 1813 - The enclosed paper will make you acquainted how the information was obtained of John Banks being on board the Ramillies, the person whose release I solicited you a few days to obtain ...I remain very respectfully your obedient servant.  Tho Newton   John Mason, Esq, C. S. P.

Image #91  

Ancestry.com. War of 1812 Papers, 1789-1815 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Original data: ‘War of 1812 Papers’ of the Department of State, 1789-1815; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M588, 7 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington. D.C.