A Shanghai’d sailor was a kidnapped sailor. “Crimps” like Shanghai Kelly and many others worked the waterfront; drugging or knocking sailors unconscious, loading them on Whitehall rowboats and sending them out to ships waiting at anchor. When the sailors came to their senses they were bound for distant, dead-end ports (the port of Shanghai was the most remote, and the name stuck). Working off their inflated ship-board debts for gear and clothing, hapless sailors spent years at the mercy of tyrannical captains until they could win their freedom.

The Shanghai system provided support for the all-important maritime economy of San Francisco during the Gold Rush and boom years of the late 1800’s. After gold was discovered in California, there was a huge migration to a part of the world that was still very isolated. California could only be reached by a dangerous passage, either around “the Horn” or overland across the US. The goods that came and went from the west coast had to come by ship, and ships needed crew to work the sails. Unfortunately for the captains and owners of the ships, the trip to California was a one way journey for the crew. As soon as a ship dropped anchor in San Francisco bay, the men would head ashore to try their luck in the gold fields, or just enjoy the sin-soaked life of the Barbary Coast. Those empty ships couldn’t sail themselves, they needed crew, and if a captain couldn’t find sailors by fair means, he turned to a more violent way of getting men on board – Shanghai’ing!

-Is “Shanghai’ing” a slur against Asians?

The term refers to the most remote place a kidnapped sailor could end up, and that’s how it got labeled a “Shanghai”. There’s no record of Chinese involvement in the Shanghai trade, either as victims or perpetrators. There are numerous examples of bigotry and discrimination in San Francisco history, but the Shanghai trade exploited sailors, and did so without regard to race or ethnicity!