Sailors, Crimps, and Commerce: Laws Protecting Seamen, 1866–1884

Abstract

Nineteenth-century seamen were subject to exploitation by boardinghouse keepers who recouped seamen’s debt by pocketing their advance wages from a future voyage. New York’s 1866 Act for the Better Protection of Seamen, the U.S. Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872, and the 1884 Dingley Act all purported to respond to this practice of “crimping,” but each of these acts simply allowed for new arrangements that continued to exact money from seamen. Even when corruption or collusion operated and were publicly known, such practices were tolerated because they continued to provide a steady supply of maritime labor, which promoted maritime commerce. This article considers the misleading political development of this legislation in the context of the early years of spoils reform.