The Brutal Reality of the Seattle Sailor Market
A waterfront insider describes the predatory schemes used to trap unsuspecting men into dangerous lives at sea.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
An insider, addressing a well-known waterfront captain, exposed the grim reality of the 'sailor market.' He detailed how a class of predatory individuals, often loitering around boarding houses or ships, target green-looking laborers or foreigners. If they can induce a victim to drink, it is only a short time before his senses are so permeated by Port Townsend whiskey that he is pliable to their schemes. Before the paralysis of the liquor wears off, the victim is taken before a shipping commissioner, forced to sign articles, and shipped off to sea. The whistleblower recalled an incident where a man, once sober and realizing he had been shanghaied, jumped into the water and tried to swim back to shore. He claimed this exploitation was a common practice, with the labor market being kept stiffly in favor of vessel owners through these forced contracts, though he predicted a change as the salmon season on the Columbia River closed, flooding the streets with more men than there were ships.
“Before the paralysis of the liquor wears off, he is taken before a shipping commissioner, forced to sign articles, and shipped off to sea.”
This account of 'shanghaiing' and waterfront labor exploitation in 1887 mirrors modern concerns regarding the precarious nature of gig work and human trafficking in global supply chains. Just as 19th-century sailors were trapped by debt and alcohol to fill gaps in ship crews, today's precarious workers often face systemic manipulation in the race to the bottom for labor costs.
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