Maritime Underworld

One of the darkest chapters of the American West sees the lawless rise and fiery fall of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast, vividly explored in this eye-opening true-crime history of underworld murder and kidnapping, a relentless pursuit of justice, and maritime adventures beyond parallel.

Thriving between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was an outpost of the West known as the Barbary Coast, where gangs ruled and national laws were flouted. For nearly seven decades, the most ruthless gangsters, hardened sex workers, and vicious waterfront thugs called this coastal den of thieves and murderers home. 

This shadowy district gave birth to a unique and especially egregious crime, perpetrated on the guileless and strong-bodied young men who were lured to brothels and saloons, preyed on and drugged by crimps, and, if they survived, enslaved for brutal labor on sailing vessels bound for the high seas. Hundreds of thousands of victims were “shanghaied,” as it was called, which was legal well into the 20th century.

Exhaustively researched, Maritime Underworld exposes the stories of the evil crimps, like the notorious prizefighter Johnny Devine and Irish cabin boy James Laflin, who ruined lives for riches and pleasures beyond their imaginations. But their underworld cartel was challenged by the momentous endeavor of Andrew Furuseth, who sacrificed 35 years of his life to liberate sailors from slavery and who would become known as “The Abraham Lincoln of the Seas.”

Bestselling author Matthew Black brings to life one of the wildest chapters in American history and the incredible triumphs and tribulations of the human spirit amid the lawlessness, sin, and vice of the Barbary Coast. This is the story of America, told through the eyes of ruthless capitalists, the most ardent freedom fighters, and the masses of men caught in between.