Shanghaiing
Encyclopedia
Shanghaiing refers to the practice of conscripting men as sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...

s by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation
Intimidation
Intimidation is intentional behavior "which would cause a person of ordinary sensibilities" fear of injury or harm. It's not necessary to prove that the behavior was so violent as to cause terror or that the victim was actually frightened.Criminal threatening is the crime of intentionally or...

, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

 were known as crimps. Until 1915, unfree labor was widely used aboard American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 merchant ships. The related term press gang
Press gang
Press gang may refer to:*Impressment, the practice of 'pressing' men into military service*Press Gang, the British children's television series...

refers specifically to impressment
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...

 practices in Great Britain's Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

.

Background

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 on the American West Coast in the mid-19th century.

Crimps flourished in port cities like San Francisco in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

 and Astoria
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...

 in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, and Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 and Port Townsend
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...

 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.

First, once a sailor signed onboard a vessel for a voyage, it was illegal for him to leave the ship before the voyage's end. The penalty was imprisonment, the result of federal legislation enacted in 1790. This factor was weakened by the Maguire Act of 1895
Maguire Act of 1895
The Maguire Act of 1895 is a United States Federal statute that abolished the practice of imprisoning sailors who deserted from coastwise vessels. The act was sponsored by representative James G. Maguire of San Francisco, California....

 and the White Act of 1898
White Act of 1898
The White Act of 1898 is a United States Federal statute governing mariners in the United States Merchant Marine.Among other things, the act:* abolished the practice of imprisoning sailors who deserted from vessels in "American or nearby waters."...

, before finally being eradicated by the Seamen's Act
Seamen's Act
The Seamen's Act, formally known as Act to Promote the Welfare of American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States was designed to improve the safety and security of United States seamen....

 of 1915.

Second, the practice was driven by a shortage of labor, particularly of skilled labor on ships on the West Coast. With crews abandoning ships en masse because of the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

, a healthy body on board the ship was a boon.

Finally, 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
Blood money (term)
Blood money is money or some sort of compensation paid by an offender or his family group to the family or kin group of the victim.-Particular examples and uses:...

," 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 more profitable methods.

In some situations, the boarding master could receive the first two, three, or four months of wages of a man he 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 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.

Some crimps made as much as $9,500 per year in 1890s dollars, equivalent to about $220,000 in 2007 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
Vote early and vote often
Vote early and vote often is a generally tongue-in-cheek phrase used in relation to elections and the voting process. Though rarely considered a serious suggestion, the phrase theoretically encourages corrupt electoral activity, but is used mostly to suggest the occurrence of such corruption.The...

" 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.

The most infamous examples included Jim "Shanghai" Kelly
James Kelly (crimper)
James "Shanghai" Kelly was an American criminal of the 19th century who kidnapped men and forced them to work on ships. The terms "crimp" and "shanghaier" are used to describe this type of criminal. Kelly wore a red beard and had a fiery temper to match...

 and Johnny "Shanghai Chicken" Devine of San Francisco, and Joseph "Bunco" Kelly
Joseph Kelly (crimper)
Joseph "Bunko" Kelly was a Liverpudlian hotelier of the 19th century who kidnapped men and sold them to work on ships. The terms "crimp" and "shanghaier" are used to describe this type of criminal....

 of Portland. Stories of their ruthlessness are innumerable, and some have survived into print.

Another example of romanticized stories 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.

Ending the practice

Demand for manpower to keep ships sailing to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 and the Klondike
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....

 kept crimping a real danger into the early 20th century, but the practice was finally ended by a series of legislative reforms that spanned almost 50 years.

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 license of officers guilty of mistreating seamen.

In 1872, Congress passed the Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872
Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872
The Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872 was a United States law dealing with American mariners serving in the United States Merchant Marine.Among other things, the act:*was passed to combat crimps....

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
Dingley Act (shipping)
The Dingley Act of 1884 was a United States law introduced by U.S. Representative Nelson Dingley, Jr. of Maine dealing with American mariners serving in the United States Merchant Marine.Among other things, the act:*prohibited advances on wages, and...

came into effect. This law 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.

In 1915, Andrew Furuseth
Andrew Furuseth
Andrew Furuseth of Romedal, Norway was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. Furuseth was active in the formation of two influential maritime unions: the Sailors' Union of the Pacific and the International Seamen's Union, and served as the executive of both for decades.Furuseth was...

 and Senator Robert LaFollette
Robert M. La Follette, Sr.
Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" La Follette, Sr. , was an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and was also a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin...

 pushed through The Seamen's Act of 1915
Seamen's Act
The Seamen's Act, formally known as Act to Promote the Welfare of American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States was designed to improve the safety and security of United States seamen....

 that made crimping a federal crime, and finally put an end to it. This legislation was successful primarily because of the widespread use of steampowered vessels in the world's merchant marine services. Without acres of canvas to be furled and unfurled, the demand for unskilled labor greatly diminished.

Shanghaiing was normal practice in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

 during the 1950s and 60s as there was a lack of personnel for the nations fishing fleet, due to a large influx of Faroese fishermen able to work for less. Fishermen would be given vast amounts of alcohol and the boats would leave when the sailors were sleeping or too drunk to realize what was happening. As the Faroese
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

 fishermen returned to the Faroese Islands during the 1970s the practice stopped.

The verb "to shanghai"

The verb "to shanghai" joined the lexicon with "crimping" and "sailor thieves" in the 1850s. The most widely accepted theory of the word's origin is that it comes from the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 city of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

, a common destination of the ships with abducted crews. The term has since expanded to mean "kidnapped" or "induced to do something by means of fraud."

Notable crimps

  • Jim "Shanghai" Kelly
    James Kelly (crimper)
    James "Shanghai" Kelly was an American criminal of the 19th century who kidnapped men and forced them to work on ships. The terms "crimp" and "shanghaier" are used to describe this type of criminal. Kelly wore a red beard and had a fiery temper to match...

     of San Francisco
  • Johnny "Shanghai Chicken" Devine of San Francisco
  • Joseph "Bunco" Kelly
    Joseph Kelly (crimper)
    Joseph "Bunko" Kelly was a Liverpudlian hotelier of the 19th century who kidnapped men and sold them to work on ships. The terms "crimp" and "shanghaier" are used to describe this type of criminal....

     of Portland
  • "One-Eyed" Curtin
  • "Horseshoe" Brown
  • Dorothy Paupitz of San Francisco
  • Andy "Shanghai Canuck" Maloney of Vancouver
  • Anna Gomes of San Francisco
  • Thomas Chandler
  • James Laflin
  • Chris "Blind Boss" Buckley
    Christopher Augustine Buckley
    Christopher Augustine Buckley, Sr. , commonly referred to as Blind Boss Buckley, was a saloonkeeper and Democratic Party political boss in San Francisco, California. Though never holding public office, Buckley ruled the San Francisco Democratic Party apparatus in the late 19th century, a so-called...

    , the Democratic Party boss of San Francisco in the 1880s
  • William T. Higgins, Republican Party boss of San Francisco in the 1870s and '80s
  • "Shanghai Joe" of New Bedford, MA
  • Tom Codd the Shanghai Prince of New Bedford, MA

See also

  • Barbary Coast, San Francisco, California
    Barbary Coast, San Francisco, California
    Barbary Coast was a red-light district in old San Francisco, California. Geographically it constituted nine blocks bounded by Montgomery Street, Washington Street, Stockton Street, and Broadway...

  • Clipper
    Clipper
    A clipper was a very fast sailing ship of the 19th century that had three or more masts and a square rig. They were generally narrow for their length, could carry limited bulk freight, small by later 19th century standards, and had a large total sail area...

  • Impressment
    Impressment
    Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...

  • Involuntary servitude
    Involuntary servitude
    Involuntary servitude is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker's financial needs...

  • Maritime history of California
    Maritime history of California
    Maritime history of California is a term used to describe significant ships and uses of the Pacific Ocean near the California coast. This Maritime history includes the historical use of water craft such as: dugouts, canoes, sailing ships, steamships, fisheries, shipbuilding, Gold Rush shipping,...

  • Maritime history of the United States
  • Shanghai tunnels
    Shanghai tunnels
    The Shanghai Tunnels, less commonly known as the Portland Underground, are a group of passages running underneath Old Town/Chinatown down to the central downtown section of Portland, Oregon, United States. The tunnels connected the basements of many downtown hotels and bars, to the waterfront of...

     (Portland, Oregon
    Portland, Oregon
    Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

    ): Tunnels allegedly used to "shanghai" laborers for slave labor on ships in the early 20th century
  • Shanghaied in Astoria
    Shanghaied in Astoria
    Shanghaied In Astoria is a musical melodrama that is performed by the Astor Street Opry Company every summer in Astoria, Oregon, United States. It has run since 1984, and has been attended by over 55,000 people. Traditionally the play is performed three days a week from July to September...

    , a long-running musical comedy
  • The Big Valley
    The Big Valley
    The Big Valley is an American television Western which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969, which starred Barbara Stanwyck, as a California widowed mother. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman...

    - Redemption Road episode. A feature-length episode of the 1960s drama series covers this topic.

External links

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