Shanghaiing or crimping is the practice of kidnapping people to serve as sailors by coercive techniques such as trickery, intimidation, or violence. Those engaged in this form of kidnapping were known as crimps. The related term press gang refers specifically to impressment practices in the United Kingdom's Royal Navy.
The Seafarers International Union or SIU is an organization of 12 autonomous labor unions of mariners, fishermen and boatmen working aboard vessels flagged in the United States or Canada. Michael Sacco was its president from 1988 until 2023. The organization has an estimated 35,498 members and is the largest maritime labor organization in the United States. Organizers founded the union on October 14, 1938. The Seafarers International Union arose from a charter issued to the Sailors Union of the Pacific by the American Federation of Labor as a foil against loss of jobs to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its Communist Party-aligned faction.
Michael Sacco was an American labor leader from Brooklyn, New York. He was appointed as the president of the Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL-CIO in June 1988 by the SIUNA Executive Board.
Joseph Curran was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. He was founding president of the National Maritime Union from 1937 to 1973, and a vice president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
The Seamen's Act, formally known as Act to Promote the Welfare of American Seamen in the Merchant Marine of the United States or Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, was designed to improve the safety and security of United States seamen and eliminate shanghaiing.
Shannon J. Wall was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader. He was president of the National Maritime Union from 1973 to 1990. His father and mother ran a small dry cleaning company.
The SS California strike was a strike aboard the ocean liner SS California from 1 to 4 March 1936 as the ship lay docked in San Pedro, California. The strike led to the demise of the International Seamen's Union and the creation of the National Maritime Union.
The National Maritime Union (NMU) was an American labor union founded in May 1937. It affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in July 1937. After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America in 2001.
Paul Hall was an American labor leader from Inglenook in Jefferson County, Alabama. He was a founding member and president of the Seafarers International Union (SIU) from 1957 to 1980. He was the senior vice president of the AFL–CIO at the time of his death.
Harrald Olaf Lundeberg was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader.
The Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education is a merchant marine educational facility in Piney Point, Maryland, which is affiliated with the Seafarers International Union. Founded in 1967 in Brooklyn, New York as "The Seafarers' Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship", the Paul Hall Center is the largest training facility for deep sea merchant seafarers and inland waterways boatmen in the United States. The school was moved to the 60-acre (240,000 m2) plot at the confluence of the Potomac River and St. George's Creek at the Piney Point location in 1991, and at the same time renamed after former SIU president Paul Hall.
Andrew Furuseth of Åsbygda, Hedmark, 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.
The International Seamen's Union (ISU) was an American maritime trade union which operated from 1892 until 1937. In its last few years, the union effectively split into the National Maritime Union and Seafarer's International Union.
The maritime history of the United States is a broad theme within the history of the United States. As an academic subject, it crosses the boundaries of standard disciplines, focusing on understanding the United States' relationship with the oceans, seas, and major waterways of the globe. The focus is on merchant shipping, and the financing and manning of the ships. A merchant marine owned at home is not essential to an extensive foreign commerce. In fact, it may be cheaper to hire other nations to handle the carrying trade than to participate in it directly. On the other hand, there are certain advantages, particularly during time of war, which may warrant an aggressive government encouragement to the maintenance of a merchant marine.
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.
The Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872 was a United States law dealing with American mariners serving in the United States Merchant Marine.
The maritime history of the United States (1800–1899) saw an expansion of naval activity.
The United States merchant marine forces matured during the maritime history of the United States (1900–1999).
SS Andrew Furuseth was a Liberty ship built for the United States Maritime Commission during World War II. The ship was named in honor of American merchant seaman and labor organizer Andrew Furuseth. The ship was assigned by the War Shipping Administration to Matson Navigation Company who operated it throughout the war in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Andrew Furuseth was one of 220 Liberty ships converted to carry a limited number of troops or prisoners of war.
The 1936 Pacific Coast maritime workers' strike was a 99-day strike of sailors and longshore workers from October 1936 to February 1937 located on the West Coast of the United States. The strike involved over 37,000 workers and paralyzed the entire Pacific Coast shipping industry.
