List of sailors

This list of sailors includes any seagoing person who does not qualify for the list of sea captains. It includes both professional and amateur sailors.

Actors

• Raymond Bailey, American actor, Milburn Drysdale, on The Beverly Hillbillies
• Rupert Davies, British actor, title role on the BBC's Maigret
• Peter Falk, American actor, Columbo
• James Garner, American actor, Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files
• Sterling Hayden, American actor and author, Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove
• Jack Lord, American actor, Steve McGarret on Hawaii Five-O
• Carroll O'Connor, American actor, Archie Bunker on All in the Family
• Denver Pyle, American actor, Uncle Jesse Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard
• George Sewell, English actor, Frank Cottam on The Detectives; steward
• Frederick Treves, much loved English character actor with over a hundred credits in theatre, television, and film
• Clint Walker, American actor, Cheyenne Bodie on Cheyenne
• Jack Warden, American actor, Emmy Award-winning, Academy Award-nominated

Comedians

• Dave Broadfoot, Canadian comedian
• George Roper, English stand-up comedian best known for work on television series The Comedians

Explorers

• Erik the Red
• Bjorn Ironside
• Leif Erikson
• Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi
• James Cook, sub-Antarctic, Pacific, North America, apprenticed on a Whitby collier
• Ernest Shackleton. Antarctic, was third mate in the Union-Castle Line

Labor leaders

• Joseph Curran, American labor leader
• Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815–1882), wrote Two Years Before the Mast
• Andrew Furuseth (1854–1938), merchant seaman and labour leader
• Shannon J. Wall, American merchant seaman and labor leader

Maritime industry

• Captain John Bury, Canadian mariner involved in standardising international buoyage
• Harry McNish, Scottish carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
• Jeremiah O'Brien, captain of the privateer Unity in the first battle of the Revolutionary War
• Herbert Pitman, third officer of the Titanic
• John Wallace Thomas, Newfoundland captain made Commander of the Order of the British Empire for actions during a Luftwaffe attack
• Louis Ernest Sola, Federal Maritime Commissioner and yachtsman ^[1]

Military

• Kingsmill Bates, British Distinguished Service Cross recipient
• Philip Bent, Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
• David Broadfoot, Scottish recipient of the George Cross
• Lionel Crabb, British Royal Navy frogman who vanished during a reconnaissance mission first in 1956
• Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French Baron and rear admiral of the Navy; was a helmsman early in his career
• Peter Horsley, British Air Marshal
• Lawrence Joel, Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient
• John Paul Jones, American naval officer
• "Yank" Levy, Canadian soldier, military instructor and author of a manual on guerrilla warfare
• Charles Andrew MacGillivary, Canadian Medal of Honor recipient
• Kim Malthe-Bruun, member of the Danish resistance movement
• Thomas McClelland, American naval officer
• George S. Patton, American general
• George H. O'Brien Jr., Medal of Honor recipient in Korean War
• Arthur Phillip, British naval officer, colonial administrator, Governor of New South Wales, and founder of the city of Sydney
• William Sanders, New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross
• Miguel Grau Seminario, Peruvian naval officer and hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos
• John Young, naval officer in American Revolutionary War

Musicians and composers

• Ken Colyer, British jazz trumpeter
• Suezenne Fordham, American jazz pianist
• Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist in the original lineup of The Quarry Men
• Woody Guthrie, musician and songwriter, wrote "This Land Is Your Land"
• Chick Henderson, English singer in the 1930s and 1940s, "Begin the Beguine"
• Cisco Houston, American folk singer
• Ferlin Husky, American country-pop singer, hit number one with "Wings of a Dove"
• Nelson Riddle, American bandleader, arranger and orchestrator, "C'mon... Get Happy"
• Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Mexican composer of children's songs, "Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor"
• Dave Van Ronk, American folk singer nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street"
• Ted Weems, American bandleader and musician, directed the Merchant Marine Band
• Russ Conway, English pianist

Notorious

• William Colepaugh, Nazi spy in World War II
• George Hennard, American mass murderer who claimed twenty-three victims at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas
• Fritz Sauckel, Nazi war criminal
• Duncan Scott-Ford, British merchant seaman hanged for treachery in World War II
• Perry Smith, made famous in Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood

Politics and activism

• April Ashley, transgender rights activist
• Alvin Baldus, former Democratic member of Congress
• Traian Băsescu, President of Romania, inaugurated in 2004
• Gordon Canfield, Republican congressman from New Jersey
• Alfonso J. Cervantes, forty-third Mayor of Saint Louis, Missouri
• Frederick Arthur Cobb, Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
• Mark Croucher, Director of Communications for the UK Independence Party, pub landlord, journalist, former radio officer
• Arthur Davidson, British Labour Party Member of Parliament
• Jim Folsom, Democratic Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama
• Ian Glachan, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
• Brian Haw, British peace activist
• Harry Haywood, a leading African American member of both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)
• John Horner, British firefighter, trade unionist and politician
• Piet de Jong, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• Wayne Mapp, New Zealand politician
• Alfred von Niezychowski, Polish noble, German Count, author and lecturer, and American politician
• Jack O'Dell, prominent African-American member of the U.S. civil rights movement
• Albert Owen, Welsh politician, Labour Party MP for Ynys Môn
• John Prescott, British Labour Party politician, Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Member of Parliament, a steward and waiter
• Joseph Resnick, Democratic congressman from New York
• Montfort Stokes, Democratic Senator
• John S. Watson, New Jersey politician
• Terry Wynn, retired Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for North West England
• Zoltan Istvan, American journalist, political activist, and futurist ^[2]

Producers

• John Clark, English actor, director, producer, and ex-husband of Lynn Redgrave
• John Kenley, former American theatrical producer
• Oliver Stone, three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and screenwriter

Radio industry

• Dave Cash, British disk jockey
• James Redmond, pioneer of modern public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
• Tommy Vance, British pop radio broadcaster

Science, engineering, and architecture

• Patrick Young Alexander, British aeronautical pioneer
• Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, Scottish physician, geographer zoologist and botanist
• Allan V. Cox, American chemist and geologist
• Norman Jaffe, American architect
• D. Holmes Morton, American physician specializing in genetic disorders

Social scientists

• Douglass Cecil North, American economist and Nobel Prize winner

Sports

• Samuel Albrecht, Brazilian swimmer
• Bobby Atherton, Welsh international footballer
• Jim Bagby Jr., major-league baseball pitcher
• Fred Blackburn, English footballer and coach
• Drew Bundini Brown, Muhammad Ali's assistant trainer and cornerman
• Dan Devine, American football coach
• Joe Gold, bodybuilding and fitness guru of Gold's Gym
• Cornelius Johnson, American Olympic medal-winning high jumper
• Charlie Keller, left fielder in Major League Baseball
• Frank Sinkwich, American footballer, won 1942 Heisman Trophy, 1944 NFL MVP
• Agostino Straulino (1914–2004), Olympic champion and Italian admiral
• Jim Thorpe, American Olympic athlete
• Henk de Velde, Dutch seafarer known for his long solo voyages around the world
• Matthew Webb, first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aid

Visual arts

• Richard Avedon, American photographer
• Johnny Craig, American comic book artist
• Paul Gauguin, French Post-Impressionist artist
• Rockwell Kent, American painter
• Joseph Stanley Kozlowski, American AB, portrait and watercolor artist
• James Nachtwey, American photojournalist and war photographer
• George Rodger, British photojournalist noted for work in Africa and death camps at Bergen-Belsen
• Ken Russell, iconoclastic English film director
• Ernie Schroeder, American comic book artist
• Haskell Wexler, American Academy Award-winning cinematographer
• Wally Wood, American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher

Writers and publishers

• John Arthur Barry, Australian journalist and author
• Peter Baynham, Welsh screenwriter; Academy Award-nominated; co-writer of Borat
• John Blackburn, British novelist
• Nathaniel Bowditch, author, The American Practical Navigator
• E. S. Campbell, American author, broadcaster and radio officer
• A. Bertram Chandler, Australian science fiction author of over 40 novels and 200 works of short fiction
• Brian Cleeve, English writer and popular TV broadcaster
• E. E. Cowper, English novelist
• Frank Cowper, English yachtsman and author
• Olaudah Equiano, former slave turned abolitionist and writer of African descent
• Clare Francis, British novelist
• Allen Ginsberg, poet, "Howl", "Kaddish"
• David Hackworth, retired United States Army colonel and military journalist
• Richard Henry Dana Jr., American author, Two Years Before the Mast
• John L. Hess, American journalist
• Herbert Huncke, American beat generation figure
• Bob Kaufman, American Beat poet and surrealist
• Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet
• Jack Kerouac, American author, On The Road
• James Lennox Kerr, Scottish socialist author noted for his children's stories
• Jack London, American author, Call of the Wild
• Veeresh Malik, Indian businessman and writer
• John Masefield, O.M., LL.D., Poet Laureate, sailing ship apprentice
• Kevin McClory, Irish screenwriter, producer, and director, Never Say Never Again
• Herman Melville, American author, Moby Dick
• Charles Muñoz, American poet, novelist, publisher, and radio officer
• Alun Owen, British screenwriter, wrote The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night
• Michael Page, British Australian novelist and author of the Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were
• Donn Pearce, author of Cool Hand Luke
• Dudley Pope, British writer of both nautical fiction and history
• Richard Scott Prather, American mystery novelist
• Otto Scott, American journalist and author
• Hubert Selby Jr., American author
• Joshua Slocum (1848–1909?), first single-handed circumnavigation of the world, 1895-1898
• Gary Snyder, American poet
• Lyle Stuart, controversial American publisher
• Derek Turner, Irish magazine editor and freelance journalist
• Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens), author
• Nedd Willard (1926–2018), writer and journalist
• Charles Williams, writer of hardboiled crime fiction
• Robin Wilson, American science fiction author and university president
• Bernard Wolfe, American fiction writer

Other

• Popeye (created 1929) cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar
• Crispus Attucks (1723–1770), victim of the Boston Massacre
• Peter Blake (1944–2001), winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the America's Cup and the Jules Verne Trophy
• Chay Blyth (born 1940), completed the first westward single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world, 1971
• Jean-Charles de Borda (1733–1799), scientist and engineer working at sea
• William Harvey Carney (1842–1908), Civil War soldier, previously a sailor
• Russ Chauvenet (1920–2003), one of the founders of science fiction fandom; amateur sailor
• Sir Francis Chichester, completed the first single-handed circumnavigation of the world with just one port of call, 1966-1967
• Granville Conway, public servant, Presidential Medal for Merit recipient
• Harvey Cox, preeminent theologian and professor at Harvard Divinity School
• Donald Crowhurst, lost at sea during the Golden Globe race
• James Dougherty, first husband of Marilyn Monroe
• Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival
• David Fasold, salvage expert, self-proclaimed "arkologist"
• Charles Henry George Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk, 13th Earl of Berkshire, apprentice on windjammer Mount Stewart
• Robin Knox-Johnston (born 1939), completed the first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world, 1968-1969
• Sadie O. Horton, spent World War II working aboard a coastwise U.S. Merchant Marine barge, and posthumously received official veteran's status for her wartime service, becoming the first recorded female Merchant Marine veteran of World War II ^[3]
• Samuel Leech (1798–1848), wrote of experiences in both the Royal Navy and US Navy
• Freddie Lennon, father of English musician John Lennon
• Ellen MacArthur, British sailor and round-the-world record holder
• Doris Miller (1919–1943), cook who fought back at Pearl Harbor
• Abdul Awal Mintoo, Bengali businessman and former President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
• Bernard Motissier (1925–1994), French yachtsman and author of books about his voyages and sailing
• Jacob Nagle (1762–1841), well-traveled seaman who wrote a journal
• Altineu Pires (?-?), Brazilian navigation teacher, sailing author
• Jure Šterk (1937–2009), Slovenian round-the-world sailor and author of books about his voyages and sailing
• Joseph D. Stewart, Vice Admiral, Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy
• Paul Teutul Sr., American television personality
• Jordan Weisman, American game designer

See also

• Notable mariners
• Category:Sailors
• Category:Merchant navy
• Category:Water transport

References

1. "FMC's shipper commissioner". FreightWaves. 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
2. "A sailing novice throws caution to the wind". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 16, 2025.
3. "Horton first woman to earn veteran status as WWII merchant mariner". Daily Advance. 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-07.