How a lucrative kidnapping industry once fueled the world's great port cities
In short: In the 19th century, sailors didn't just face storms and pirates; they faced crimps. These professional kidnappers used trickery and violence to force men into maritime service, turning the act of 'shanghaiing' into a highly profitable, organized criminal enterprise.
The practice of shanghaiing, or crimping, flourished during the mid-1unth century, driven by a desperate shortage of skilled sailors. On the American West Coast, the California Gold Rush caused crews to abandon ships en masse, creating a vacuum that crimps were eager to fill. These kidnappers operated through boarding masters who were paid 'by the body.' This incentive structure, often referred to as 'blood money,' encouraged masters to use intimidation, fraud, or even rendering men unconscious to secure new crew members.
The economics of crimping were remarkably sophisticated. Beyond the immediate profit of forging signatures on ship articles, enterprising crimps could collect the first several months of a sailor's wages. They also exploited the system of maritime advances; since sailors could not be trusted with cash, debts for goods and services were owed directly to the ship's captain. This allowed crimps to inflate prices on essential supplies, essentially skimming wealth from the vessel's budget. Some top-tier crimps earned as much as $9,500 annually, which equates to roughly $340,000 in 2025.
Eradicating the practice required decades of legislative warfare. While the 1790 federal law made it illegal for sailors to leave a ship before a voyage ended, crimps used political influence and legal loopholes to persist. It wasn't until the Seamen's Act of 1915, pushed by Andrew Furuseth and Senator Robert M. La Follette, that crimping became a federal crime. This legal victory, combined with the shift from sail to steam-powered vessels—which reduced the need for unskilled labor—and the increased dangers of submarine warfare in WWI, finally dismantled the industry.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Shanghaiing
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