When you look at the history of Saint John you see a city built on the seafaring life. It also brought some unsavory characters to the port city. In the 19th century a group of men known as crimps took over the local sailing labour force. They ran a highly organized extortion ring on the waterfront. According to a recent historical feature from CBC News these men lured sailors away from their ships and forced desperate captains to pay inflated prices to get crews back.

What Was Crimping?

At the most basic level crimping involved recruiting merchant sailors to work on ships. When sailors signed up for a voyage they signed articles. This contract required them to stay with the ship until the journey ended. A crimp actively convinced the sailor to break that contract and desert.

Historian James Upham notes that crimps lured sailors into boarding houses with promises of good food and better wages. For a sailor facing another grueling month at sea the offer proved too good to refuse.

Once the ships lacked a crew the crimps approached the desperate captains. They extorted the captains to hire the crew back at much higher prices.

Maritime historian Faye Kert points out that crimps were never friends to the sailors. They acted friendly in the saloon but the sailor lost every time. The boarding house or the crimp always made the money.

The Saint John Cartel

Crimping happened in many port cities but it became especially organized in Saint John. The crimps formed the Boarding House Owners Association. They became politically active and accumulated massive wealth.

An 1846 article from the Times of London detailed the experience of Henry Serjeant. He was a ship master who experienced the Saint John crimping system firsthand. Serjeant reported that crimps descended on his crew the moment his ship docked. They convinced the men to leave and hid them up the country.

Serjeant testified to Custom House authorities to recover his crew. Officials issued warrants but local constables worked directly with the crimps. Nothing happened.

The crimps then returned to the anxious captain. They offered the crew back for a massive markup. In modern Canadian dollars the captains paid 880 dollars a month for sailors who normally earned 342 dollars.

The captains never saw the crew until a tugboat towed the ship out of the harbour. Serjeant found his new crew consisted of inexperienced men or emigrants dressed in sailor clothing.

Intimidation and Expansion

Crimps frequently used intimidation tactics to control the waterfront. Historian Judith Fingard wrote that crimps operated through gangs and employed runners to do their dirty work. In 1859 a gang of 15 to 20 crimps boarded the ship Reliance and attempted to remove the seamen by force.

The practice spread beyond Saint John. Ports in Newcastle and Chatham faced similar issues. An 1883 newspaper article noted that Saint John and Chatham criminals worked together to strip arriving ships of their entire crews.

Halifax also struggled with crimps. They operated heavily on a street known as Knock em down Row. This area featured numerous grog shops and bordellos. Crimps waited for impaired sailors to leave one bar and grabbed them before they reached the next.

The End of an Era

Captains and ship owners hated the crimps. Moral reformers also criticized them heavily. Valerie Burton is a maritime historian and retired chair of the Maritime Studies Research Unit at Memorial University. She explains that breaking a contract violated strong 19th century values. The crimps created the incentives for men to break those contracts.

Reformers established sailors homes in the 1850s to promote temperance and Christian morality. Sailors rejected these homes. They felt alienated by reformers who wanted to turn them into sober and serious men.

Ultimately technology ended the crimping era. The invention of steamships changed the industry. Sailors working on steamers spent very little time in port. They needed fewer facilities and had no time to fall into the traps set by the crimps.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly did a crimp do?

A crimp lured sailors away from their contracted ships using promises of better food and wages. They housed the sailors and then extorted ship captains to hire the men back at highly inflated prices.

Did the sailors benefit from the crimps?

No. While crimps offered temporary food and drink they ultimately exploited the sailors. The crimps took the majority of the inflated wages leaving the sailors with very little.

How did the crimps get away with this?

If you wonder how they avoided jail you need to look at their political power. The crimps organized into powerful groups like the Boarding House Owners Association. They gained political influence and often paid off local constables to ignore arrest warrants.

Why did crimping finally stop?

The transition from sailing ships to steamships ended the practice. Steamships required much shorter stays in port. This gave crimps no time to lure sailors away into boarding houses.