ABSTRACT
Unemployment was the natural condition of New York’s seamen in the decade and one-half preceding the American Revolution. The transition from maritime prosperity to poverty began with the close of the French and Indian War. The termination of hostilities brought a decisive end to privateering, one of New York’s major war industries. Thousands of men, habituated to the regular receipt of prize money from the captains of hundreds of vessels, suddenly saw their jobs and their incomes eliminated.1
