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

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

Author: www.offbeatoregon.com (finn @ offbeatoregon.com) January 23, 2026 Duration: 9:31
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)

The Offbeat Oregon History Podcast is a daily service from the Offbeat Oregon History newspaper column. Each weekday morning, a strange-but-true story from Oregon's history from the archives of the column is uploaded. An exploding whale, a few shockingly scary cults, a 19th-century serial killer, several very naughty ladies, a handful of solid-brass con artists and some of the dumbest bad guys in the history of the universe. Source citations are included with the text version on the Web site at https://offbeatoregon.com.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Offbeat Oregon History podcast
Podcast Episodes
The Oregonians who flew
over Tokyo with Doolittle (2 of 3) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:09
Robert S. Clever, Everett “Brick” Holstrom, Henry “Hank” Potter and Robert G. Emmens were four Oregon aviators who did the Beaver State proud in what seemed like a suicide mission over enemy territory. (Pendleton, Umatil…
Famous ‘Doolittle Raid’ roots in Pendleton air base (1 of 3) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:51
Oregon played a vital role in America's answer to Pearl Harbor — the daring daylight airstrike on Tokyo and other Japanese cities that provided a much-needed morale boost during the dark days of 1942. (Pendleton, Umatill…
Mona Bell was like Annie Oakley with an edge [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:16
Although she's most remembered for being the mistress of a famous man, journalist and rodeo performer Mona Bell Hill was, on her own, one of the most interesting people ever to live in Oregon — and, to the government, on…
Columbia River was a wild, frothy, dangerous place once [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 6:37
The Columbia, the Great river of West, was known for spectacular scenery and phenomenal fishing; Oregon has traded that for a placid, lake-like waterway and cheap hydroelectric power. (For text and pictures, see https://…
Storm-tossed ships shared a double date with destiny [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:04
The Mindora and the Merrithew had docked next to each other in San Francisco, arrived within a few days of each other, wrecked within a few hours of each other, and washed up on the beach within a few miles of each other…
“Roaring 20s” murder solved by cop’s diligence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:32
Caught by a railroad “bull,” the thief shot his way out and ran for it. But an accurate shot by the dying guard and some persistent police work brought the bad guy to justice in a pistol-waving scene in a seedy Albina ho…
Oregon’s highest, smallest city once had its jail stolen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:16
Because of how it's chartered, the ghost town of Greenhorn remained an incorporated city even when its population was zero — but it couldn't defend its city hoosegow from the midnight raiders of Canyon City one summer ni…
Miracle saved sailors from death on Columbia bar [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:46
As they hung in the riggings of the sailing ship Etoile du Matin waiting for death, they felt their ship start to break apart — but the piece that broke off first was the keel, enabling the ship to float upriver to safet…