Royal press-ganging
also known as king's collectors, press-ganged, pressed into labour
A practice of the king's collectors and royal warships in Tress's world: when a royal vessel needs an extra hand it can compel debtors out of any island's debtor's prison and onto its crew. The men so taken are dropped at whichever port the warship next visits and may be pressed again by another. The practice is what swept Salay's father beyond her reach: she came back with the money to pay his creditors and found that the king's collectors had already taken him. STD:Tress:Ch 44