Shanghaiing, also known as crimping, is the forced conscription of sailors or maritime laborers through coercion, kidnapping, or deception. Though this seems straightforward, forcing maritime workers aboard has never been as straightforward as marching them up the gangway.
Often, captains would commit Shanghaiing by drugging unsuspecting men who seemed capable of working a ship. Then, they’d bring them aboard and leave port before the involuntary sailors regained consciousness. In this situation, the Shanghaied victim had two choices: They could continue forced labor at sea, or they could get off the boat.
Unfortunately, ship captains weren’t willing to turn their vessels around for a sailor they spent so much effort kidnapping. As such, the indentured person would have to take their chances amidst the rough waters of the ocean, making it a near-suicidal exit.
Vessel owners, their captains, or those hired to drug workers in their stead, would find victims in taverns close to port. Most commonly, they’d join bar-goers at a table and share with them opium-laced whiskey. And, worst of all, it was entirely legal.
The act of Shanghaiing was most common in the Pacific Northwest during the 1890s and early 1900s, primarily due to an absence of volunteer sailors. The need was so deep that the Supreme Court ruled that the 13th Amendment didn’t apply to forced maritime labor.
In 1906, however, Congress outlawed Shanghaiing with the Act to Prohibit Shanghaiing in the United States. This made it illegal to drug, beat, or threaten those into working aboard — this time without interference from the Supreme Court.
