Shanghaiing in Portland: P-town's time as shanghaiing capital of the world (2 of 2) episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 23, 2026 · 9 MIN

Shanghaiing in Portland: P-town's time as shanghaiing capital of the world (2 of 2)

from Offbeat Oregon History podcast · host Finn J.D. John

AS OF THE time of this writing, there is some disagreement over the status of Oregon’s largest city. It all came to a head last month when the President of the United States referred to it as “war-ravaged Portland” in a Tweet, and locals responded by going on Amazon and buying every inflatable frog costume they could get their hands on. Interesting times, indeed! A little over 100 years ago, though, you could have made the case that parts of Portland were — not war-ravaged, exactly, but probably the most dangerous city in North America in which to go out drinking. But the risk you ran wasn’t getting killed, injured, or — uh, ravaged. It was the risk of waking up the next morning with a splitting headache and a bad case of seasickness, on board a barque headed for Liverpool. With an angry first mate screaming at you to get up and get to work and probably giving you a few kicks in the ribs to drive the point home that, whatever you thought your occupation was last night, this morning you were a sailor. (For text and pictures, see https://offbeatoregon.com/2511a1006c.portland-shanghaiing-capital-of-world-710.076.html)

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 23, 2026

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Shanghaiing in Portland: P-town's time as shanghaiing capital of the world (2 of 2)

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