Shanghaied?

[Jraysray]

The other night my wife woke me up to alot of murmuring, twitching and general nonsense going on. I woke her up and asked what she was dreaming about. She said someone broke into the house and she and I had to shanghai him.

My question is, what does shanghai mean and when the hell did she become a pirate?

AAAARRRRGGGG….

Did I spell this correctly?

[gcarter]

To "Shanghai" someone was for a ships crew to capture men in port to increase their crew size. A "kidnapping", if you would.
This was mainly done in the age of sail, or early steam ships because of their high demand for manpower. No one would ever sign on to one of these ships of their own free will.

[TuxedoPk]

What a day, the Patriots lose, Lenny agrees with me, and now I'm about to agree with George

Everything George says is correct. The reason for the term 'Shanghi' to describe this action had to do with the fact that many of the ships that needed staffing were for what were considered to be undesireable voyages such as San Francisco to Shanghi.

The process of kidnapping sailors became essentially a form of slave trade in this country where sailors would be given alcohol and drugs and then knocked out only to find themselves waking at sea. This led to the forming of the Seamen's Institute in the 1890s as a safe haven for sailors.

I've only read a summary and not the decision itself but in 1897 the US Supreme Court in Robertson v. Baldwin actually established foundations on how such a system could be allowed to exist (Shanghiing also included financial entrapment of sailors by advancing salaries to their creditors directly prior to a voyage).

THE COURT EXCLUDED CIVILIAN SAILORS ON MERCHANT SHIPS FROM THE 13TH AMENDMENT'S PROTECTION AGAINST INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE WITH THE EXTRAORDINARY RATIONALE THAT SEAMEN ARE... . . . DEVICIENT IN THAT FULL AND INTELLIGENT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTS THAT IS ACCREDITED TO ORDINARY ADULTS, AND THEREFORE MUST BE PROTECTED FROM THEMSELVES IN THE SAME SENSE IN WHICH MINORS AND WARDS ARE ENTITLED TO THE PROTECTION OF THEIR PARENTS AND GUARDIANS.

Q. I'm not a Freudian, but are you sure your wife isn't trying to tell you something?

[gcarter]

Shanghaing was a practice mainly of American ships.
But, during the Napolionic wars, the Brits had "press gangs" which were parties of the ships crew that were sent into the ports and nearby towns to "impress men into the Royal Navy". You see, the ships couldn't leave port till they had a certain minimum number of crew aboard. Of course, during the war, there were very few men walking around anyway. Mainly farmers and shop keepers. They must've made a heck of a crew.
Same deal, different name.

[Jraysray]

Q. I'm not a Freudian, but are you sure your wife isn't trying to tell you something?

Too funny, I was thinking the same thing!