Shanghaiing Kidnapped Sailors For Cash

Shanghaiing, also called crimping, was a once common practice in which kidnappers forced people into serving as sailors against their will. In major port cities, especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the most successful crimpers could earn the equivalent of more than $300,000 in today’s money by supplying crews to shipmasters. Even as ships and labor systems modernized and reformers tried to stop it, this practice persisted until U.S. legislation in 1915 finally outlawed it.

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