This list of sailors includes any seagoing person who does not qualify for the list of sea captains. It includes both professional and amateur sailors.
Explorers[]
- Ernest Shackleton. Antarctic, was 3rd Mate in Union Castle
- James Cook, Sub-Antarctic, Pacific, North America, apprenticed on a Whitby collier
- Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi
Actors[]
- Raymond Bailey, American actor, Milburn Drysdale, on The Beverly Hillbillies.
- Carroll O'Connor, American actor, Archie Bunker on All in the Family
- Rupert Davies, British actor, title role on the BBC's Maigret
- Peter Falk, American actor, Columbo
- James Garner, American actor, Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files
- Sterling Hayden, American actor and author, Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove
- Jack Lord, American actor, Steve McGarret on Hawaii Five-O
- Denver Pyle, American actor, Uncle Jesse Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard
- George Sewell, English actor was a steward, and Frank Cottam on The Detectives
- Frederick Treves (actor), much loved English character actor, over a hundred credits in theatre, television, and film
- Clint Walker, American actor, Cheyenne Bodie on Cheyenne
- Jack Warden, American actor, Emmy Award winning, Academy Award nominated
Comedians[]
- Dave Broadfoot, Canadian comedian
- George Roper, English stand-up comedian best known for work on television series The Comedians.
Labor leaders[]
- Joseph Curran, American labor leader
- Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815–1882), wrote Two Years Before the Mast
- Andrew Furuseth (1854–1938), merchant seaman and labour leader
- Shannon J. Wall, American merchant seaman and labor leader
Maritime Industry[]
- Jeremiah O'Brien captain of privateer 'Unity' in Revolutionary War's first battle
- Captain John Bury, Canadian mariner involved in standardising international buoyage
- Harry McNish, Scottish carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
- Herbert Pitman, Third Officer of the Titanic.
- John Wallace Thomas, Newfoundland captain made Commander of the Order of the British Empire for actions during a Luftwaffe attack
Military[]
- Kingsmill Bates, British Distinguished Service Cross recipient
- Philip Bent, Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
- George H. O'Brien, Jr., Medal of Honor recipient in Korean War
- David Broadfoot, Scottish recipient of the George Cross
- Lionel Crabb, British Royal Navy frogman who vanished during a reconnaissance mission in 1956
- Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French Baron and rear admiral of the Navy, was helmsman early in his career
- Peter Horsley, British Air Marshal
- Lawrence Joel, Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient
- John Paul Jones, American naval officer
- "Yank" Levy, Canadian soldier, military instructor and author of a manual on guerrilla warfare
- Charles Andrew MacGillivary, Canadian Medal of Honor recipient
- Thomas McClelland, American naval officer
- Kim Malthe-Bruun, member of the Danish resistance movement
- Arthur Phillip, British naval officer, colonial administrator, Governor of New South Wales, and founder of the city of Sydney
- William Sanders, New Zealander recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Miguel Grau Seminario, renowned Peruvian naval officer and hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos
- John Young (naval officer), Naval Officer in American Revolutionary War
Musicians and composers[]
- Ken Colyer, British jazz trumpeter
- Suezenne Fordham, American Jazz pianist
- Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist in the original lineup of The Quarry Men
- Woody Guthrie, musician and songwriter, wrote This Land Is Your Land
- Chick Henderson (singer), English singer in the 1930s and 1940s, Begin the Beguine
- Cisco Houston, American folk singer
- Ferlin Husky, American country-pop singer, hit number one with Wings of a Dove
- Nelson Riddle, American bandleader, arranger and orchestrator, C'mon...Get Happy
- Dave Van Ronk, American folk singer nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street."
- Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Mexican composer of children's songs, 'Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor'
- Ted Weems, American bandleader and musician, directed the Merchant Marine Band
Notorious[]
- William Colepaugh, Nazi spy in World War II
- George Hennard, American mass murderer who claimed twenty-four victims at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas
- Fritz Sauckel, Nazi war criminal
- Duncan Scott-Ford, British merchant seaman hanged for treachery in World War II
- Perry Smith (murderer), made famous in Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood
Other[]
- Granville Conway, public servant, Presidential Medal for Merit recipient
- Harvey Cox, preeminent theologian and professor at Harvard Divinity School
- James Dougherty, first husband of Marilyn Monroe
- Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival
- David Fasold salvage expert, self-proclaimed "Arkologist"
- Freddie Lennon, father of English musician John Lennon
- Joseph D. Stewart, Vice Admiral, Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy
- Paul Teutul, Sr., American television personality
- Jordan Weisman, American game designer
- Abdul Awal Mintoo, Bengali Businessman and former President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Politics and activism[]
- Alvin Baldus, former Democratic member of Congress
- Traian Băsescu, President of Romania, inaugurated on 20 December 2004
- Gordon Canfield, Republican congressman from New Jersey
- Alfonso J. Cervantes, forty-third Mayor of Saint Louis, Missouri
- Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), author
- Mark Croucher, Director of Communications for the UK Independence Party, pub landlord, journalist, former radio officer
- Frederick Arthur Cobb, Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
- Arthur Davidson, British Labour Party Member of Parliament
- Jack O'Dell, prominent African-American member of the U.S. Civil Rights
- Jim Folsom, Democratic Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama
- Ian Doric Glachan, Australian politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
- Brian Haw, British peace activist
- Harry Haywood, a leading African American member of both the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)
- John Horner, British firefighter, trade unionist and politician
- Piet de Jong, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- Wayne Mapp, New Zealand politician
- Alfred von Niezychowski, Polish noble, a German Count, author and lecturer, and American politician
- Albert Owen, Welsh politician, Labour Party MP for Ynys Môn
- John Prescott, British Labour Party politician, Deputy Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Member of Parliament, was a steward and waiter
- Joseph Resnick, Democratic congressman from New York
- Montfort Stokes, Democratic Senator
- John S. Watson, African-American politician in New Jersey
- Terry Wynn, retired Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for North West England
- Emmanuel Iheanach: Minister Federal Republic of Nigeria, Master Mariner and was a sea captain
Producers[]
- Alex Bonner, American Emmy Award winning radio and television producer
- John Clark (actor/director), English actor, director, producer, and ex-husband of Lynn Redgrave
- John Kenley, former American theatrical producer
- Oliver Stone, three-time Academy Award-winning American film director and screenwriter.
Radio Industry[]
- Dave Cash (disc jockey), British disk jockey
- James Redmond (broadcaster), pioneer of modern public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
- Tommy Vance, British pop radio broadcaster
Real estate[]
- John Q. Hammons, American businessman and resort developer
Science, engineering, architecture[]
- Patrick Young Alexander, British aeronautical pioneer
- Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, Scottish physician, geographer zoologist and botanist
- Allan V. Cox, American chemist and geologist
- Norman Jaffe, American architect
- D. Holmes Morton, American physician specializing in genetic disorders
Social scientists[]
- Douglass Cecil North, American economist and Nobel Prize winner
Sports[]
- Bobby Atherton, Welsh international footballer
- Jim Bagby, Jr., major-league baseball pitcher
- Fred Blackburn (footballer), English footballer and coach
- Drew Bundini Brown, Muhammad Ali's assistant trainer and cornerman
- Dan Devine, American football coach
- Joe Gold, bodybuilding and fitness guru of Gold's Gym
- Cornelius Johnson, American Olympic medal-winning high jumper
- Charlie Keller, left fielder in Major League Baseball
- Frank Sinkwich, American footballer, won 1942 Heisman Trophy, 1944 NFL MVP
- Edwin Stratton, a British aikido teacher and the founder of Yoshinkan UK
- Agostino Straulino (1914–2004) Olympic champion and Italian admiral
- Jim Thorpe, American Olympic athlete
- Henk de Velde, Dutch seafarer known for his long solo-voyages around the world
- Matthew Webb, first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aid
Unclassified[]
- Crispus Attucks (1723–1770), victim of "Boston Massacre"
- Peter Blake (yachtsman) (1944–2001), winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the America's Cup and the Jules Verne Trophy
- Chay Blyth (born 1940), first westwards single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world 1971
- Jean-Charles de Borda (1733–1799), scientist and engineer working at sea
- William Harvey Carney (1842–1908), Civil War soldier previously a sailor
- Donald Crowhurst, lost at sea during the Golden Globe race.
- Russ Chauvenet (1920–2003), science fiction fan and amateur sailor
- Sir Francis Chichester, first single-handed circumnavigation of the world with just one port of call 1966-1967
- Charles Henry George Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk and 13th Earl of Berkshire, Apprentice on windjammer Mount Stewart. See Wikipedia article Charles Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk
- Samuel Leech (1798–1848), wrote of experiences in both Royal Navy and US Navy
- Robin Knox-Johnston (born 1939), first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world 1968-1969
- Doris Miller (1919–1943), cook that fought back at Pearl Harbor
- Jacob Nagle (1762–1841), well-traveled seaman who wrote a journal.
- Ellen McArthur British sailor and round the world record holder.
- Bernard Motissier (1925–1994) renowned French yachtsman and author of books about his voyages and sailing.
- Jure Šterk (1937–2009) Slovenian round-the-world sailor and author of books about his voyages and sailing.
Visual arts[]
- Richard Avedon, American photographer
- Johnny Craig, American comic book artist
- Paul Gauguin, French Post-Impressionist artist
- Joseph Stanley Kozlowski, American AB, portrait and watercolor artist
- James Nachtwey, American photojournalist and war photographer
- George Rodger, British photojournalist noted for work in Africa and death camps at Bergen-Belsen
- Ken Russell, an iconoclastic English film director
- Ernie Schroeder, American comic book artist
- Haskell Wexler, American Academy Award-winning cinematographer
- Wally Wood, American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher
Writers and publishers[]
- John Arthur Barry, Australian journalist and author
- John Blackburn (author), British novelist
- Peter Baynham, Welsh screenwriter, Academy Award-nominated. Co-writer of Borat
- Nathaniel Bowditch, author, The American Practical Navigator
- E. S. Campbell, American author, broadcaster and radio officer
- A. Bertram Chandler, Australian science fiction author of over 40 novels and 200 works of short fiction
- Brian Cleeve, English writer and popular TV broadcaster
- Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American author, Two Years Before the Mast
- Clare Francis, British novelist
- Allen Ginsberg, poet, Howl, Kaddish
- David Hackworth, retired United States Army colonel and prominent military journalist
- Kevin McClory, Irish screenwriter, producer, and director, Never Say Never Again,
- Herbert Huncke, American beat generation figure
- John L. Hess, prominent American journalist
- Bob Kaufman, American Beat poet and surrealist
- Jack Kerouac, American author, On The Road
- James Lennox Kerr, Scottish socialist author noted for his children's stories
- Jack London, American author, Call of the Wild
- Veeresh Malik, Indian businessman and writer
- John Masefield O.M., LL.D. Poet Laureate, sailing ship Apprentice
- Herman Melville, American author, Moby Dick
- Charles Muñoz, American poet, novelist, publisher, and radio officer
- Alun Owen, a British screenwriter, noted for writing The Beatles's film A Hard Day's Night
- Donn Pearce, author of Cool Hand Luke
- Dudley Pope, British writer of both nautical fiction and history
- Richard Scott Prather, American mystery novelist
- Otto Scott, American journalist and author
- Hubert Selby, Jr., American author
- James Sites, American novelist
- Joshua Slocum (1848-1909?), first single-handed circumnavigation of the world 1895 - 1898
- Gary Snyder, American poet
- Lyle Stuart, controversial American publisher
- Derek Turner, Irish magazine editor and freelance journalist
- Nedd Willard (1928– ), writer and journalist
- Charles Williams (U.S. author), writer of hardboiled crime fiction
- Robin Wilson (author), American science fiction author and university president
- Bernard Wolfe, American fiction writer
- Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet
- Altaf Shaikh, Pakistani Travelogue Writer and Novelist, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz.
See also[]
The original article can be found at List of sailors and the edit history here.