‘Crimp Town’ Sydney To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? Dexter, Gayne, ‘Crimp Town’ The Sun-herald, November 15, 1953, p. 73. Benjamin Wharton December, 2014 This paper examines the issues surrounding the practice of crimping sailors in Sydney during the nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries. 1 The extent to which the practice was carried out in Sydney will be explored with regard to its geographical span, temporal duration, and the demographic extent of those who were crimped. Within the exploration of the extent, reasons why crimping happened and what issues contributed to its decline will be explored. The majority of sources examined in this paper are contemporary newspaper articles, of which, a select number have been included in an appendix to gain a broader understanding of the topic. The practice will be examined within the context of the issues at large in society with regard to Sydney operating as a port, colonial Government legislation, religious benevolence and moral reform. These issues will also place Sydney within a global context with regard to the practice and how it was dealt with. The folklore tale of unsuspecting men going to the pub to have a few drinks and waking up on a clipper bound for Liverpool or ‘Frisco has captured the imagination of society for over a hundred years. From newspaper tales of those who escaped capture, to contemporary stage plays, and film, the story of the crimp as the treacherous devil of trickery, and the exploitation of ‘poor Jack’ the sailor or an unsuspecting victim of vice has long been an issue of intrigue 1 Crimping is best defined by Memorial University of Newfoundland as, ‘Managing the wages and labour of seafarers. The crimp would encourage seafarers to desert, thereby making it necessary for the crewless ship to sign-on a new crew. The crimps then provided a replacement crew for better wages, taking a cut in the form the advance. Sometimes this encouraged shanghaiing.’ A crimp is defined as, ‘a person who manages a seafarer's wages while on shore. This can include securing accommodations, arranging for a tab at pub, supplying prostitutes and finding a berth aboard an outbound ship. Crimps were often runners, or scouts, for masters of boarding houses.’ Sourced from, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, What was Sailortown?, https://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/articles/port-life/what-was-sailortown.php, viewed October 2014. Page 2 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? and suspicion. 2 To this day, pubs within ‘ol’sailortown’ ports around the world use this particular history to attract tourism and interest in the pub’s controversial history. In Sydney this is no different. One such hotel, The Hero of Waterloo, uses its ‘notorious past’ as a point of attraction. ‘Our famous cellar and tunnel’, which is classified by the Heritage Council and the National Trust, is believed to have been a secret tunnel leading to the harbour. It was supposedly used to smuggle rum in, and ‘shanghai’ out unknowing men to be bound for servitude aboard a ship. 3 The sensational history retold of shanghaiing unsuspecting and intoxicated men for labour on ships does have a historic truth; however, its existence is not as simplistic as retold in folklore. In Sydney, the history of the crimp incorporates the sailor, the reformer and philanthropist, the merchants and ship-owners, society, the authorities, and is embedded within issues of local and global consequence. As to why crimping occurred in Sydney is a complex issue. It was a result of issues that existed within the global practice of seafaring, local issues relating to Sydney operating as a port, and local opportunity. Crimping would have most likely begun in the colony by introduction of cultural practices from Britain. During the Napoleonic war era, Britain used crimps to impress sailors into service for the Royal Navy. Involuntary servitude by force from press-gangs was not received lightly in the public eye, and in 1794 and 1795 mobs of several thousand attacked crimps, crimping-houses and the constabulary in what is known as ‘The London Crimp Riots’. 4 2 Tom Cringle, ‘How we beat the Crimp ‘Prentice Sailor Man Works the Point To Land’s End From London Town.’ Sunday Times, December 26, 1930, p. 9. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle120802767 An 1843 play titled Life in Sydney; or, The Ran Dan Club: Richard Fotheringham , and Angela Turner, ed., Australian Plays for the Colonial Stage: 1834-1899 (Univ. of Queensland Press, 2006), pp. 41-42, 83-87. Charlie Chaplin starred in a short film: Shanghaied, silent film, Charlie Chaplin (1915 Essanay Studios). 3 Hero of Waterloo, History, http://heroofwaterloo.com.au/history/, viewed October 2014. It is most likely that tunnels leading from wharves to cellars were used for practicality of goods transport, not simply for illegal practices. Page 3 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? The riots left an everlasting negative sentiment towards the crimp. It is unknown whether or not the crimps of Sydney originally operated elsewhere from another established port; were originally sailors who were familiar with the trade and took advantage of an open market in the early years of the colony; or perhaps had no earlier experience and began their new trade in the colony. The main reason for the practice to begin in the colony is because Sydney was a port town, described in 1842 as ‘a maritime colony of a maritime nation’ 5 in which ‘maritime’ served as a lifeline, employment, and export income. 6 It was within this context of a globally connected maritime-based Sydney that crimping was able to establish itself and flourish. Without going into chronological detail of the growth of crimping, the major events that resulted in intervention will be discussed. Firstly, desertion was a major factor which appears to have highlighted the issue at large. Desertion was common in Sydney, and captains were always faced with the task of having to find new crews. 7 Sydney possessed an opportunistic appeal for foreign seamen to desert, and an 1839 newspaper article reported that within a fortnight up to four-hundred seamen had deserted. 8 One opportunity being, that higher wages were obtainable by securing a shore-based job or working in the New South Wales coastal or 4 G. R. Henning, ‘Fourpenny Dark and Sixpenny Red’, Labour History, no. 46 (May 1984), p. 52. The riots would have most likely been fresh in the memories of generations after, if not the riots at least the fear and resentment of press gangs would be passed down the generations with tales and ballads such as The Man-o’-War. Lyrics can be viewed from the internet source, Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music, The Press Gang/ The Man-o’-War/ On Board a Man-of-War, http://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/themanowar.html, viewed November 2014. 5 ‘Sailors.’ The Sydney Herald, March 30, 1842, p.2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12874437 6 Michael Quinlan, ‘Regulating Labour in a Colonial Context: Maritime Legislation in the Australian Colonies, 1788-1850’, Australian Historical Studies, vol. 29, no. 111 (1998), pp. 304-305. 7 Stan Hugill, Sailortown (Routledge & K. Paul, 1967), p. 278. G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 56. 8 ‘The Sailors’ Home’ The Sydney Morning Herald, April 22, 1839, p. 2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1525574 Page 4 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? whaling trade. 9 The gold rush era saw a high level of desertion also, not just in Sydney but Melbourne also which left some vessels entirely without crew. 10 However, it were the crimps and the publicans who were blamed for enticing the seamen off ships, and the Merchant Seamen Act of 1847, which was proposed to protect the seaman from extortion, was enacted as a response to desertion. 11 The act appeared to be a solution to the problem. However, in some respect, it created an institutionalised crimping system, with sailors being permitted to berth in particular licenced boarding-houses and lodgings when ashore, the boarding-house masters and their runners and crimps took advantage of the monopoly. The water police, who were first established by Act to combat crimping, also took advantage of the system. 12 A policeman on suspicion of a sailor being a deserter could apprehend them without warrant, and for each sailor apprehended he would in turn receive a reward. 13 Together, the lodging keepers and Water Police had established an institutionalised system of crimping. 14 Shipping regulations in Sydney supported the crimps trade also. Ship tonnage determined the required minimum amount of crew before departing Port Jackson, and it was here that the captains 9 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 55. 10 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 55. 11 The Merchant Seamen Act of 1847 (11 Vic. No. 23) as amended by The Water Police Act of 1853 (17 Vic. No. 36) – Repealed. The Statue Law Revision Act of 1908 (8 Edw. VII. No. 18), https://www.ozcase.library.qut.edu.au/qhlc/documents/qr_ship_merchant_1847_11_Vic_No23.pdf, viewed October 2014. The legislation restricted the movements of sailors ashore: where they could stay etc. 12 ‘”An Act for the further and better regulation and government of Seamen within the Colony of New South Wales and its Dependencies, and for establishing a Water Police” (4 Vict. 17) in 1840’, sourced from, G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 54. 13 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 56. M. Quinlan, op. cit., p. 306. 14 Dennis Gojak and Nadia Iacono, ‘The archaeology and history of the Sydney Sailors Home, The Rocks, Sydney’, Bulletin Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, vol.17, no. 1 (1993), p. 29. Page 5 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? required the services of the crimp, which maintained and enforced the system. 15 Captains were part to blame in the act of desertion, whereby, employing crimps to persuade sailors off the ship so as not to have to pay for duration in port. 16 According to the sources, captains and skippers appear to have been involved at a high level with working with crimps in a system of labour procurement and profiting from such activity. 17 In the lead up to arrival in a port, the captains and skippers would abuse the sailors to a level that they would voluntary desert the ship and forfeit any pay that was owed to them. The system of crimping in Sydney relied on the international merchant shipping, as well as local regulations and legislation in order to carry out their trade which lasted for a period of over a hundred years. 18 The temporal duration of the practice of crimping in Sydney appears to have begun in the early nineteenth-century and finished in the early twentieth-century. We know of its existence from reports regarding it as an issue of concern to shipping and sailors in Sydney. G. Henning states that, ‘the Sydney business community made public its concern about desertion and crimping in the 1830s, although there were suggestions that complaints had also been made before this.’ 19 Primary sources from newspaper articles support this notion. Articles published in 1839 were written to raise public awareness of the issue and seek support for the establishment of the Sailors’ Home. 20 Within these articles the issue of crimping appears to have been an ever- 15 G. R. Henning, op. cit., pp. 53-54. 16 ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 17 Refer to sources provided in the Appendix. 18 New South Wales Government State Records Archives Investigator, Shipping Master’s Office, http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/entity.aspx?path=%5Cagency%5C3519, viewed October 2014. 19 20 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 54. ‘The Sailors’ Home’ The Sydney Morning Herald, April 22, 1839, p. 2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1525574; Page 6 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? growing problem and not a sudden appearance. Henning supports this notion that the practice began earlier and describes a case of an eight year old boy who was impressed for service when taken from Port Jackson in 1811. However, he states that it was more an act akin to the pressgang than the crimp. 21 Regardless of definition, the issue of maritime-based forced-labour procurement outside of the convict system was present in Sydney as early as 1811. The crimping practice in Sydney appears to have diminished around 1900-1910. One factor owing to the decline was the 1904 - 1906 Royal Commission on the Navigation Bill which resulted in a recommendation to restrict a seamen’s engagement exclusively to a government appointed superintendent. 22 There is also evidence in newspaper articles that suggest the decline by around 1906. Two published articles dated 1906 were written by former crimps in retrospect, and appear to have been written at liberty without fear of persecution. 23 Another article, Navigation Bill, published in 1910, refers to the practice in Newcastle as having been ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, April 22, 1839, p. 3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32163751; ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Sydney Herald, May 27, 1839, p. 2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/12860263; ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Australian, May 30, 1839, p.3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle36859744 The Sydney Sailors’ Home, constructed in 1864 and remains in Circular Quay to this day, was a form of alternative solution to the problems and risks for sailors when in port. It sought to provide safe accommodation combined with religious instruction to provide a basis of moral reform. ‘It was established as a non-exploitative, charitable institution for the comfort of sailors.’ Sourced from, Dennis Gojak and Nadia Iacono, ‘The archaeology and history of the Sydney Sailors Home, The Rocks, Sydney’, Bulletin Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, vol.17, no. 1 (1993), pp. 31. 21 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 54. 22 G. R. Henning, op. cit., pp. 66-67. 23 ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 ; ‘The Millionare Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 Page 7 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘…practically stamped out by modern shipping methods and modern police supervision.’ 24 Although it refers to Newcastle, the ‘modern shipping methods’ – the change from sail powered vessels to steam power – was a global phenomenon and therefore would have also affected Sydney’s crimping operations also. Other factors impacted on crimping at this time which, rather than having been influenced by global progression in technological change, were linked to Sydney-specific issues. In 1900 Sydney had just come out of a decade long depression which had provided many unemployed men to recruit as seamen. Sydney had also just had a plague, which an article, Crimp Town, published in 1953, provides further information as to how this affected crimping in Sydney. The author wrote of a crimp named Slugger Ball who operated from the Bristol Hotel on Sussex Street, and that in 1900 due to an outbreak of the plague, ‘Sydney Harbour Trust resumed the noxious area and became owner of the Bristol with 20 other pubs.’ 25 The Bristol, along with twenty other pubs having been resumed would have affected the crimps’ operations greatly as, according to an early 1990s newspaper article, seventy-percent of hotels and pubs, along with boarding-houses and lodgings in the vicinity, known as ‘sailortown’, were involved in the practice of crimping and shanghaiing. 26 The geographical extent of crimping within Sydney was intensively contained within the ‘sailortown’ 27 region of Sydney. ‘Sailortown’, rather than having been a specifically designated 24 ‘Navigation Bill. “Blood Money”. Combating a Serious [text blurred].Wiping out the Crimp.’ Clarence and Richmond Examiner, September 1, 1910, p. 3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle61526770 25 New South Wales Government Environment & Heritage, “Bristol Arms” Hotel including interior, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2423913, viewed October 2014. Gayne Dexter, ‘Crimp Town’ The Sun-herald, November 15, 1953, p. 73. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1530978 26 27 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 56. ‘Sailortown’ was a term widely used by nineteenth-century writers to describe a location that consisted mostly of a large concentration of pubs, boarding-houses and brothels, as well as an area of crime, and Page 8 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? section of town, was an area within society that grew to cater for the needs of sailors and maritime trades. Generally it is understood to exist as an extension of wharf areas which spread landward. In Sydney, the extent of sailortown from the east began in Woolloomooloo, across to Circular Quay, throughout the Rocks and to Darling Harbour. 28 Darling Harbour extends to areas on the surrounding foreshore such as, Millers Point, Pyrmont, and across the harbour into Balmain also. 29 Within the Rocks area boarding-houses were along Lower Fort Street. Argyll Cut boarding-houses and pubs where known in particular for crimping and shanghaiing.30 ‘Clean and respectable’ common lodging-houses were in Cumberland, Gloucester, and Harrington Streets, where as the lesser quality ‘sixpenny’ lodging-houses were located in Clarence, Goulburn, Kent, and Sussex streets. 31 On Kent and Sussex streets, The Hole in the Wall, and The Bristol Arms were well known sailors pubs, Sussex street in particular as its connected to seafaring labour and maritime industries. However, it was not a designated area for such, Sourced from Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, What was Sailortown?, https://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/articles/port-life/what-was-sailortown.php, viewed October 2014. 28 ‘A George Brown, a lodging-house keeper at Woolloomooloo, has been fined £20 for harbouring seamen from the ship Knight of the Garter.’ Sourced from, ‘A Crimp Punished.’, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner’s Advocate, April 20, 1886, p. 5. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/138797456 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 54.; G. Dexter, Ibid., p. 73. 29 G. Dexter, Ibid., p. 73. One example of a hotel and boarding-house in Balmain was The Rob Roy Hotel (also known as the Oriental) which was ‘…a famous haunt of sailors…’ and was seen as ‘unsavoury’ by locals who called it by nickname the ‘Bloodhouse’: Historical Articles about James Craig, John “Sharkey” Keen, http://www.shf.org.au/explore-the-fleet/our-operational-vessels/james-craig-1874-tall-ship/historical-articlesabout-james-craig/john-sharkey-keen/, viewed August 2014. Bonnie Davidson, Kathy Hamey, and Debby Nicholls, Called to the Bar: 150 Years of Pubs in Balmain & Rozelle (The Balmain Association, 1991), p. 0. 30 G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 54.; G. Dexter, Ibid., p. 73. 31 Jane Lydon, ‘Archaeology in The Rocks, Sydney, 1979-1993:from Old Sydney Gaol to Mrs Lewis’ Boardinghouse’, Australasian Historical Archaeology, vol. 11 (1993), p. 37. It is also important to note that boarding and lodging-houses were not only resided in by sailors. Stan Hugill writes on this remark of ‘respectable’ as, ‘…being only in the comparative sense!’ S. Hugill, op. cit., p. 279. Page 9 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? located immediately behind the waterfront to Darling Harbour. 32 Also, adjacent to Circular Quay on George Street were famous sailortown pubs known as the Naval Brigade, and the Blue Anchor. 33 From these sources an understanding of the perimeter of ‘sailortown’ in Sydney can be gained. It appeared to have been a self-determining zone which followed the working length of Sydney’s foreshore. Within in this zone the crimps utilised the pubs, hotels, boardinghouses, lodgings, and wharf infrastructure to carry out their work. Although the geographical extent of where crimps worked their craft was mixed with general society and was not exclusive to sailors and their vendors alone, it appears from sources that the general community did not fear or protest against the existence of the crimps in their midst. There was no apparent moral panic like that of London in the previous century. Sydney citizens appear to have not felt threatened, and could view the issue externally as opposed to being directly affected by it. One source suggests how practice was viewed by society in the colony. An 1843 stage play titled, Life in Sydney; or, The Ran Dan Club, expressed curiosity on the subject, similar to how it is a curiosity in the Rocks today. In the play, the protagonist Tom, takes a visiting friend for drinks in the Rocks, to, ‘…see life as low as ever you did in St Giles in London’, and to ‘…come along for the crimp shops.’ 34 Following Tom is Jane, who wishes to see where they go and in her dialogue describes the crimp house as ‘…where runaway sailors 32 New South Wales Government Environment & Heritage, “Bristol Arms” Hotel including interior, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2423913, viewed October 2014. 33 S. Hugill, op. cit., p. 282. 34 The play was never performed as it was banned by the Colonial Secretary for containing ‘matter of a libellous character’. The play provides useful insight into social life in Sydney during the Rocks, and in particular here it provides information pertaining to ’crimp-houses’, how they operated and who frequented them. Richard Fotheringham , and Angela Turner, ed., op. cit., pp. 41-42, 83-87. It is not clear from the source whether or not this ‘crimp shop’ is a pub that harbours sailors, or is a private residence that harbours sailors and has a bar, or if it is a licenced boarding-house vernacularly called a ‘crimp house’. Richard Fotheringham , and Angela Turner, ed., op. cit., pp. 83-84. Page 10 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? are harboured.’ 35 The script, particularly Jane’s, provides information relating to the function of the crimp shop as harbouring sailors that have deserted their ship. There exists a possibility that society, particularly those who lived amongst the activity knew how the system operated and did not take notice of the hyperbole associated with the Sailors’ Home, nor recognise it as an issue that required intervention – especially by a temperance orientated middle-class solution. As well as these possible factors, within the sources there appears to be a demographic selection for crimping, which, did not, except to name a few, include Sydney locals. With regard to the demographic extent of those that were crimped in Sydney, the sources provide insight into who were involved in the system, and of those who were usual targets or for the crimp or Shanghaier. Only those within the region of sailortown were potential clients or victims of crimps. Of the victims, from the sources both primary and secondary, four categories appear to have existed. These being: deepwater sailors, foreign seamen and out’o’towners; black or Islander seamen; drunks, vagabonds and accidentals; and those that were specially contracted. Deepwater sailors and foreign sailors were prime targets, as opposed to local coastal sailors who could avoid the trappings and tricks of the crimp, and did not necessarily require his services. 36 As well as being easier to trick, foreigners were preferred to British seamen because they were more sober, industrious and docile. 37 Within Sydney there also existed a specialised trade of black crew who were induced ashore and sold to captains for £5 a head. Both foreigners and blacks had a poor understanding of English, which would have 35 Ibid. 36 Royal Commission found that men employed in coastal service were not touched. G. R. Henning, op. cit., p. 71. Ibid., p. 70. 37 Ibid., p. 65. Page 11 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? most likely been taken advantage of. 38 It is not just language that separated a sailor for crimping. Outsiders, such as bushmen were targets for shanghaiing. During the Royal Easter Show, which, was Slogger’s ‘harvest’, they would go to the Rocks for a ‘wet’ and waterfront brawls, and finish up aboard a ship. 39 One article of a crimp’s confession of trade discusses the type of non-sailor that would be crimped out of necessity. He describes them as ‘deadbeats…they are not sailors, neither are they sojers, but have perhaps loafed through a voyage or two, and don’t care how the cat jumps...’ 40 Within the confessions, whether as part of storytelling or not, accidents whereby they have ‘shanghaied the wrong man’ are told. There are the exceptions also, who were not the usual ‘victims’ for a Shanghaier or crimp. According to one source, The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade, the confessor crimp explained that, ‘…many people have come to me for help. Rich people want to get rid of their troublesome relatives. Fine ladies think it would be good for their bad boys to go to sea.’ He also retells the fascinating story where he proudly ‘shipped a fellow once’. 41 Generally those that were affected by crimping were deepwater sailors and foreigners, with a few outsiders, accidental shanghaiing’s, and some commissioned. However, with regard to the Sydney citizens, there did not appear to be a threat, and appears to mostly have affected the leading ship owners, masters of ships, and merchants who pressed for laws to deal with desertion and crimping. 42 38 Ibid., p. 65-66. 39 Gayne Dexter, op. cit., p. 73. Stan Hugill, op. cit., p. 279. 40 ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 41 ‘The Millionare Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 42 M. Quinlan, op. cit., p. 311. Page 12 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? In conclusion, by analysis of both primary and secondary sources an understanding of the extent of crimping can be ascertained. With regard to its temporal duration, it appears that crimping began early in the colony with the first recorded press-gang activity occurring in 1811, and that by the 1830s crimping in Sydney had become a concern to the leaders of the shipping industry. The end of crimping occurred around the same time as the decline of sail power. As well as global technological changes, Sydney’s depression and plague epidemic affected the workforce and the precinct in which the practice flourished. The precinct, or ‘sailortown’, where crimping occurred, existed from Woolloomooloo in the east to Darling Harbour and Balmain in the west, and followed the working foreshore between through Circular Quay and the Rocks. These areas grew to accommodate the needs of a transient and local maritime labour force. Crimping appeared to not affect the local labour force, nor the local population except for an accidental and planned few. The majority of those affected were foreigners and outsiders to Sydney, namely, bushmen. The crimping trade that occurred in Sydney flourished and declined due to both global consequences relating to the shipping industry and from local force including legislation, economy, and plague. Page 13 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? References Primary Sources ‘A Crimp Punished.’, Newcastle Morning Herald and Miner’s Advocate, April 20, 1886, p. 5. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/138797456 Cringle, Tom, ‘How we beat the Crimp ‘Prentice Sailor Man Works the Point To Land’s End From London Town.’ Sunday Times, December 26, 1930, p. 9. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120802767 Dexter, Gayne, ‘Crimp Town’ The Sun-herald, November 15, 1953, p. 73. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page1530978 Historical Articles about James Craig, John “Sharkey” Keen, http://www.shf.org.au/explore-the-fleet/our-operational-vessels/james-craig-1874-tallship/historical-articles-about-james-craig/john-sharkey-keen/, viewed August 2014. ‘Navigation Bill. “Blood Money”. Combating a Serious [text blurred].Wiping out the Crimp.’ Clarence and Richmond Examiner, September 1, 1910, p. 3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61526770 New South Wales Government Environment & Heritage, “Bristol Arms” Hotel including interior,http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.as px?ID=2423913, viewed October 2014. ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser, April 22, 1839, p. 3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32163751 ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Sydney Herald, May 27, 1839, p. 2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/12860263 ‘Sailors’ Home.’ The Australian, May 30, 1839, p.3. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36859744 Page 14 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘Sailors’ The Sydney Herald, March 30, 1842, p.2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12874437 Shanghaied, silent film, Charlie Chaplin (1915 Essanay Studios) ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle114086533 ‘The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.newsarticle115677811 The Merchant Seamen Act of 1847 (11 Vic. No. 23) as amended by The Water Police Act of 1853 (17 Vic. No. 36) – Repealed. The Statue Law Revision Act of 1908 (8 Edw. VII. No. 18), https://www.ozcase.library.qut.edu.au/qhlc/documents/qr_ship_merchant_1847_11_V ic_No23.pdf, viewed October 2014. ‘The Sailors’ Home’ The Sydney Morning Herald, April 22, 1839, p. 2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1525574 Secondary Sources Davidson, Bonnie, Kathy Hamey, and Debby Nicholls, Called to the Bar: 150 Years of Pubs in Balmain & Rozelle (The Balmain Association, 1991). Fotheringham, Richard, and Angela Turner, ed., Australian Plays for the Colonial Stage: 1834-1899 (University of Queensland Press, 2006). Gojak, Dennis, and Nadia Iacono, ‘The archaeology and history of the Sydney Sailors Home, The Rocks, Sydney’, Bulletin Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, vol.17, no. 1 (1993), pp. 27-32. Page 15 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? Henning, G. R., ‘Fourpenny Dark and Sixpenny Red’, Labour History, no. 46 (May 1984), pp. 52-71. Hero of Waterloo, History, http://heroofwaterloo.com.au/history/, viewed October 2014. Lydon, Jane, ‘Archaeology in The Rocks, Sydney, 1979-1993: from Old Sydney Gaol to Mrs Lewis’ Boarding-house’, Australasian Historical Archaeology, vol. 11 (1993), pp. 33-42. Hugill, Stan, Sailortown (Routledge & K. Paul, 1967). Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music, The Press Gang/ The Man-o’-War/ On Board a Man-of-War, http://mainlynorfolk.info/watersons/songs/themanowar.html, viewed November 2014. Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland, What was Sailortown?, https://www.mun.ca/mha/mlc/articles/port-life/what-was-sailortown.php, viewed October 2014. New South Wales Government Environment & Heritage, “Bristol Arms” Hotel including interior, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID= 2423913, viewed October 2014. New South Wales Government State Records Archives Investigator, Shipping Master’s Office, http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/entity.aspx?path=%5Cagency%5C3519, viewed October 2014. Quinlan, Michael, ‘Regulating Labour in a Colonial Context: Maritime Legislation in the Australian Colonies, 1788-1850’, Australian Historical Studies, vol. 29, no. 111 (1998), pp. 303-324. Page 16 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? Appendix The Crimp’s Story, 1906. The first article on page 22, The Crimp’s Story, provides an interesting insight into the workings of a crimp and insight into some of the issues concerning the trade. The description of the ‘modern sailor’ provides a useful comparison to how the sailor is portrayed in articles relating to the promotion of the Sailors’ Home. It also recounts humorous operations that he had carried out, as well as unsuccessful situations. ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 The Millionaire Crimp, 1906. The second article on page 22, The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade., retells proudly the achievements of his workings in procuring labour for ships by way of trickery. He appears to defend his character by distinguishing himself apart from a shanghaier. ‘The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 Between the Devil and Deep Sea, 1911. The third article on page 25, ‘Between Devil and Deep Sea, Amazing Confession of a Boardinghouse “Crimp” and “Shanghaier.” How Crews Were Supplied. What Sailors have Suffered, is more negative in tone than the previous two. It implicates crimping as an in-humane treatment to men with titles such as, ‘what sailors have suffered’, and ‘we traded on their misery’. Page 17 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘Between Devil and Deep Sea, Amazing Confession of a Boarding-house “Crimp” and “Shanghaier.” How Crews Were Supplied. What Sailors have Suffered.’ Globe, May 31, 1911, p. 1. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98388417 Crimp Town, 1953. The fourth article on page 27, Crimp Town, is written much later than the other articles and is further removed from the issue. It was written in an historical sense. It provides information regarding ‘sailortown’ of Sydney, who was involved, and how it worked. Dexter, Gayne, ‘Crimp Town’ The Sun-herald, November 15, 1953, p. 73. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1530978 Sailors, 1842. The fifth article on page 28, Sailors, is written in praise of the Sailors’ Home built on George Street at Circular Quay. The language and perception of the romantic image of a sailor provides an interesting contrast to that described in the first article. The article is also useful as it highlights the religious-based approach to providing aid to the sailors through ‘religious instruction’ as its ‘obvious duty’. It is a typical example of articles published throughout the nineteenth-century that supported the works of the Sailors’ Home. ‘Sailors.’ The Sydney Herald, March 30, 1842, p.2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12874437 Page 18 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 Page 19 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 Page 20 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Crimp’s Story. How it Works. (by one who has worked it.)’ Evening News, August 25, 1906, p. 10. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114086533 Page 21 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 Page 22 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 Page 23 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘The Millionaire Crimp. His Confessions. Secrets of a Strange Trade.’ Evening News, December 22, 1906, p. 13. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115677811 Page 24 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘Between Devil and Deep Sea, Amazing Confession of a Boarding-house “Crimp” and “Shanghaier.” How Crews Were Supplied. What Sailors have Suffered.’ Globe, May 31, 1911, p. 1. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98388417 Page 25 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘Between Devil and Deep Sea, Amazing Confession of a Boarding-house “Crimp” and “Shanghaier.” How Crews Were Supplied. What Sailors have Suffered.’ Globe, May 31, 1911, p. 1. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article98388417 Page 26 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? Dexter, Gayne, ‘Crimp Town’ The Sun-herald, November 15, 1953, p. 73. Retrieved October 2014 from http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/page/1530978 Page 27 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney? ‘Sailors.’ The Sydney Herald, March 30, 1842, p.2. Retrieved October 2014 from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12874437 Page 28 of 28 Benjamin Wharton. December 2014. Crimp Town Sydney: To what extent was the practice of crimping sailors carried out in Sydney?