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The Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872 was a United States law dealing with American mariners serving in the United States Merchant Marine.

Among other things, the act:

• was passed to combat crimps.
• required that a sailor had to sign on to a ship in the presence of a federal shipping commissioner.
• required that a seaman be paid off in person.

The presence of a shipping commissioner was intended to ensure the sailor wasn't "forcibly or unknowingly signed on by a crimp."

The legislation was modeled on England’s Merchant Shipping Act of 1854.

See also

• Shanghaiing
• Maritime history of the United States
• Slave Trade Acts

Notes

1. ^ Bauer, 1988:284.
2. Sullivan, Kathleen (2022). "Sailors, Crimps, and Commerce: Laws Protecting Seamen, 1866–1884". Journal of Policy History. 34 (4): 555–586. doi:10.1017/S0898030622000203. ISSN 0898-0306. S2CID 251955898.

References

• Bauer, K. Jack (1988). A Maritime History of the United States: The Role of America's Seas and Waterways. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina. ISBN 0-87249-519-1.
• "Andrew Furuseth Special Edition" (PDF). West Coast Sailors, March 12, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 15, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2007.

v t e Laws relating to the United States Merchant Marine
1870s	Shipping Commissioners Act of 1872
1880s	Dingley Act
1890s	Maguire Act of 1895 White Act of 1898
1910s	Seamen's Act
1920s	Jones Act Death on the High Seas Act
1930s	Merchant Marine Act of 1936
Current	Title 33 CFR Title 46 CFR

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