May 3, 2010: Shanghai'd!!

The question: "What do you mean by saying 'I was shanghai'd!!'?"

What I learned:
In the late 1800's - 1900's, American ships needed sailors to travel trade routes, especially bound to China, but because of the Gold Rush, most able bodied men didn't want to go to sea. They headed for the West Coast where, at some point, many of them were tricked, drugged, liquored up, or otherwise made to join a sea-crew against their will.

Most were brought aboard by boarding masters or 'crimps' and their cronies. They were paid by the body and it really didn't matter how they got those bodies. Further, back then, it was illegal to leave a ship's crew before the voyage was over - and some of those voyages were never over.

...

In other news, I didn't learn much this weekend because my fiance's brother is very sick and we were sort of waiting by the phone to see if we should go to visit him (he lives about 3 hours away with Chris' family). We didn't go, but it was pretty tense for a bit. I feel so horribly for him. I wish I could learn more about his cancer, but it is so rare that it doesn't even have an encyclopedia entry. Not wiki, nothing. :(

And today is just one of those days, so my learning is stunted. Sorry if it was too short, but I promise better learning in the future.