This reminds me of one of the Hornblower novels. C.S. Forester had Hornblower create a recruiting poster for a ship, early in Hornblower's career as a ship captain. Hornblower did a miserable job of writing anything remotely resembling an enticing invitation to join his ship. The beautiful part of the scene is that Hornblower recognized that he himself would not be tempted to join his own ship. He later ended up 'pressing merchant seaman from an East Indiaman on their way out to sea.

By the way, Forester seemed to capture accurately the reaction of those 'pressed, according to the other posts in this thread; that is, he showed the impressed seaman as generally accepting their fate, with only a few showing active resentment. I always thought he had mistakenly represented the reactions, until reading these posts and the links to other sites on the subject.

Thanks all.