I'm researching a "story" that was recently told to me - an ancestor of mine had been in jail and was "selected/hired" to work as part of a ship's crew from England. I believe the destination was Bermuda. He managed to escape and "gained passage" on another ship to the east coast of Canada.

I'm curious to know if ship's captains used this as a solution to fill out his "crew". Apparently, my ancestor was "chosen" because of his physical size & being in good shape.

If anyone is familiar with this type of "story", please reply.