The seafaring life has always been a major part of Saint John and throughout history has proven to reveal some unsavory characters.
This includes the crimps, a group of men who would seek to recruit sailors in the port city during the 19th century, one way or another.
“Sailors were relentlessly pursued by [the crimps] whose tidy profits depended on the sailors spending their wages and advances and joining the vessels chosen,” wrote historian Judith Fingard in her book Jack in Port: Sailortowns of Eastern Canada.
“When the sailor tried to protest or escape… he was flouting a deeply entrenched structure of authority, which enjoyed what amounted to the force of law in the local community.”
What was crimping?
At the most basic level, crimping was the act of recruiting merchant sailors to work on ships.
But there’s a whole lot of nuance behind that definition.
When sailors signed up to a voyage they signed “articles,” essentially a contract to stay working with that ship until the journey is complete.
A crimp essentially tried to get that sailor to break that contract and desert.
LISTEN | How the crimps took over Saint John:
This is New Brunswick13:12The 19th century cartels that ran Saint John
In the Saint John of the 1800s, the boarding house keepers controlled the docks. History columnist James Upham explains the ruthless economy that was built on the backs of visiting sailors and the extortion of sea captains. » Read More
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