ABSTRACT
In the many years since Melville wrote those lines in 1849, the seaman's lot has changed dramatically, but as a profession seafaring is not much more respectable now than it was then (Buckley 1982: 138; Sherar 1973; Forsyth and Gramling 1985; Forsyth 1987). This chapter is an historical analysis of the occupational stigma that has come to portray the American merchant seaman. It investigates the sources of the seaman's lowly social position.
