A Free Trip to China — The Art of Shanghaiing in 19th Century America.On the West Coast of the

A Free Trip to China — The Art of Shanghaiing in 19th Century America.On the West Coast of the United States during the 1800’s there was a high demand for sailors, deckhands, and other ship laborers.  However many sailors abandoned their ships and crew in order to find riches in the gold fields of California or the Klondike.  With a shortage of crewman but a greater need for sailors, unscrupulous captains resorted to the practice of shanghaiing; the involuntary enlistment of men to a ship’s crew through either coercion, force, or trickery.The verb “to shanghai” originates with Chinese city of Shanghai, a common destination for men who were shanghaied themselves.  Shanghaiing was predominant in the west coast of the United States in the latter half of the 19th century, especially in the ports of San Francisco and Portland.  While not as common as on the west coast, east coast cities such as Boston and Philadelphia saw their own share of Shanghaiing as well. In the Georgian era and early Victorian era, the Royal Navy had its own official form of shanghaiing known as impressment or crimping. Most shanghaiing was conducted by boarding masters, special professionals whose job was to recruit crews for a ship.  Usually paid by the man, these boarding masters often resorted to very underhanded means to recruit a ship’s crew.  The techniques of Shanghaiing can range from simple and crude to elaborate and ingenious. A boarding master could simply wait outside a saloon until the patrons became too drunk to stand, and then abduct them without resistance.  Or the boarding master might form a “press gang”, jumping men in dark alleys, knocking them in the head with a club or blackjack and dragging them off into the dead of night to a waiting ship.  As demand for sailors increased, so did the techniques of Shanghaiing become more elaborate.  One infamous boarding master was a scoundrel and con man named Jim “Shanghai” Kelly.  Kelly owned a number of bars and saloons in the Barbary Coast (red light district) of San Francisco.  When a worthy candidate sought patronage at one of his saloons, Kelly would slip a bit of ether into his drink or perhaps offer him a free cigar laced with opium.  When the victim became disoriented or inebriated enough, Kelly pulled a lever which released a trap door at the bar, plunging the man down to the basement below.  A network of underground tunnels connected the many saloons and buildings of San Francisco, from which the victim would be secretly hauled away to the docks for awaiting ships. Portland, Oregon has a similar network of “shanghai tunnels” running through the underground of the city which was used extensively for the same purpose.  In another instance Shanghai Kelly advertised a special “booze cruise” to celebrate his birthday.  Renting a paddlesteamer he hosted a cruise for 100 strangers with free drinks provided.  Unbeknownst to the guest, the drinks were spiked with opium.  When the victims lost consciousness Shanghai Kelly met with waiting ships and offloaded his victims.  Perhaps the most notorious boarding master was Joseph “Bunco” Kelly, a con artist and Englishman who ran a series of hotels in Portland, Oregon from which he kidnapped men for maritime service.  From 1879 to 1894 he shanghaied 2,000 people, earning a small fortune for his services.  He holds the record for shanghaiing by rounding up 50 men in less than 3 hours.By 1900 shanghaiing was still a real danger due to increased trade and gold rushes in the Klondike and Australia.  In the early 20th century progressive lawmakers passed a series of laws regulating the practice of sailor recruitment.  Furthermore police and the secret service came down hard on boarding masters to end the practice of shanghaiing.  In 1915 the Seaman’s Act was passed ending shanghaiing by making the practice a federal crime and instituting stiff penalties for those convicted. -- source link

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