** A crimp was a lot like a "sea-pimp," and these base bounty hunters practically ruled the Waterfronts of Portland and Astoria in the late 1800s. Originally a British slang term for "agent," crimps would act as maritime middlemen, using any means necessary to deliver warm (at times), usually drunken or unconscious bodies to awaiting sea captains. The resourceful crimp would then receive his "blood money," usually anywhere from $25 to $50 a head, sometimes going as high as $150, depending on the circumstances.
Crimping took on a variety of nefarious forms. Some crimps would befriend hapless strangers, invite them to one of the Waterfront’s many seedy saloons and slip their dupe a mickey (often a concoction comprised of brandy, gin, whisky and opium). Others would entice crews off of foreign ships with heady tales of hard cash, stiff drinks and wanton women, then go back and sell the unwitting seamen to other ships—sometimes even to the same ships—turning a substantial profit. More enterprising crimps or “landsharks” ran boardinghouses which extended credit to seamen in exchange for shipping them out, the sailors often incurring outlandish imaginary debts that would take them months at sea to pay off, leaving them penniless and primed for the next boardinghouse when they returned to port.
Crimping took on a variety of nefarious forms. Some crimps would befriend hapless strangers, invite them to one of the Waterfront’s many seedy saloons and slip their dupe a mickey (often a concoction comprised of brandy, gin, whisky and opium). Others would entice crews off of foreign ships with heady tales of hard cash, stiff drinks and wanton women, then go back and sell the unwitting seamen to other ships—sometimes even to the same ships—turning a substantial profit. More enterprising crimps or “landsharks” ran boardinghouses which extended credit to seamen in exchange for shipping them out, the sailors often incurring outlandish imaginary debts that would take them months at sea to pay off, leaving them penniless and primed for the next boardinghouse when they returned to port.
