List of sailors

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.

Actors

 * Raymond Bailey, American actor, Milburn Drysdale, on The Beverly Hillbillies
 * 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
 * Carroll O'Connor, American actor, Archie Bunker on All in the Family
 * Denver Pyle, American actor, Uncle Jesse Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard
 * George Sewell, English actor, Frank Cottam on The Detectives; steward
 * Frederick Treves, much loved English character actor with 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

Explorers

 * Erik the Red
 * Bjorn Ironside
 * Leif Erikson
 * Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi
 * James Cook, sub-Antarctic, Pacific, North America, apprenticed on a Whitby collier
 * Ernest Shackleton. Antarctic, was third mate in the Union-Castle Line

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

 * Captain John Bury, Canadian mariner involved in standardising international buoyage
 * Harry McNish, Scottish carpenter on Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
 * Jeremiah O'Brien, captain of the privateer Unity in the first battle of the Revolutionary War
 * 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
 * Louis Ernest Sola, Federal Maritime Commissioner and yachtsman

Military

 * Kingsmill Bates, British Distinguished Service Cross recipient
 * Philip Bent, Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * David Broadfoot, Scottish recipient of the George Cross
 * Lionel Crabb, British Royal Navy frogman who vanished during a reconnaissance mission first in 1956
 * Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French Baron and rear admiral of the Navy; was a 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
 * Kim Malthe-Bruun, member of the Danish resistance movement
 * Thomas McClelland, American naval officer
 * George S. Patton, American general
 * George H. O'Brien Jr., Medal of Honor recipient in Korean War
 * 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, Peruvian naval officer and hero of the Naval Battle of Angamos
 * John Young, 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, 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"
 * Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Mexican composer of children's songs, "Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor"
 * Dave Van Ronk, American folk singer nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street"
 * Ted Weems, American bandleader and musician, directed the Merchant Marine Band
 * Russ Conway, English pianist

Notorious

 * William Colepaugh, Nazi spy in World War II
 * George Hennard, American mass murderer who claimed twenty-three 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, made famous in Truman Capote's non-fiction novel In Cold Blood
 * Randy Man Can, Sea of Thieves, captain of the Duke (Xbox)

Politics and activism

 * April Ashley, transgender rights activist
 * Alvin Baldus, former Democratic member of Congress
 * Traian Băsescu, President of Romania, inaugurated in 2004
 * Gordon Canfield, Republican congressman from New Jersey
 * Alfonso J. Cervantes, forty-third Mayor of Saint Louis, Missouri
 * Frederick Arthur Cobb, Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom
 * Mark Croucher, Director of Communications for the UK Independence Party, pub landlord, journalist, former radio officer
 * Arthur Davidson, British Labour Party Member of Parliament
 * Jim Folsom, Democratic Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama
 * Ian 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
 * Emmanuel Iheanach, Minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria, Master Mariner, sea captain
 * Piet de Jong, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
 * Wayne Mapp, New Zealand politician
 * Alfred von Niezychowski, Polish noble, German Count, author and lecturer, and American politician
 * Jack O'Dell, prominent African-American member of the U.S. civil rights movement
 * 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, a steward and waiter
 * Joseph Resnick, Democratic congressman from New York
 * Montfort Stokes, Democratic Senator
 * John S. Watson, New Jersey politician
 * Terry Wynn, retired Labour Party Member of the European Parliament for North West England

Producers

 * John Clark, 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, British disk jockey
 * James Redmond, pioneer of modern public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom
 * Tommy Vance, British pop radio broadcaster
 * Brad “Boom Boom” Barrett, Radio Broadcaster and show host as well as Director of Programming in Honolulu Hawaii At KSSK, KKUA, as well As other radio stations.

Real estate

 * John Q. Hammons, American businessman and resort developer

Science, engineering, and 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

 * Samuel Albrecht, Brazilian swimmer
 * Bobby Atherton, Welsh international footballer
 * Jim Bagby Jr., major-league baseball pitcher
 * Fred Blackburn, 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
 * 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

Visual arts

 * Richard Avedon, American photographer
 * Johnny Craig, American comic book artist
 * Paul Gauguin, French Post-Impressionist artist
 * Rockwell Kent, American painter
 * 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, 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
 * Peter Baynham, Welsh screenwriter; Academy Award-nominated; co-writer of Borat
 * John Blackburn, British novelist
 * 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
 * E. E. Cowper, English novelist
 * Frank Cowper, English yachtsman and author
 * Olaudah Equiano, former slave turned abolitionist and writer of African descent
 * Clare Francis, British novelist
 * Allen Ginsberg, poet, "Howl", "Kaddish"
 * David Hackworth, retired United States Army colonel and military journalist
 * Richard Henry Dana Jr., American author, Two Years Before the Mast
 * John L. Hess, American journalist
 * Herbert Huncke, American beat generation figure
 * Bob Kaufman, American Beat poet and surrealist
 * Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet
 * 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
 * Kevin McClory, Irish screenwriter, producer, and director, Never Say Never Again
 * Herman Melville, American author, Moby Dick
 * Charles Muñoz, American poet, novelist, publisher, and radio officer
 * Alun Owen, British screenwriter, wrote The Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night
 * Michael Page, British Australian novelist and author of the Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were
 * 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
 * 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
 * Mark Twain (born Samuel Clemens), author
 * Nedd Willard (1926–2018), writer and journalist
 * Charles Williams, writer of hardboiled crime fiction
 * Robin Wilson, American science fiction author and university president
 * Bernard Wolfe, American fiction writer

Other

 * Popeye (created 1929) cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar
 * Crispus Attucks (1723–1770), victim of the Boston Massacre
 * Peter Blake (1944–2001), winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the America's Cup and the Jules Verne Trophy
 * Chay Blyth (born 1940), completed the first westward 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
 * Russ Chauvenet (1920–2003), one of the founders of science fiction fandom; amateur sailor
 * Sir Francis Chichester, completed the first single-handed circumnavigation of the world with just one port of call, 1966-1967
 * Granville Conway, public servant, Presidential Medal for Merit recipient
 * Harvey Cox, preeminent theologian and professor at Harvard Divinity School
 * Donald Crowhurst, lost at sea during the Golden Globe race
 * James Dougherty, first husband of Marilyn Monroe
 * Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival
 * David Fasold, salvage expert, self-proclaimed "arkologist"
 * Charles Henry George Howard, 20th Earl of Suffolk, 13th Earl of Berkshire, apprentice on windjammer Mount Stewart
 * Robin Knox-Johnston (born 1939), completed the first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world, 1968-1969
 * Sadie O. Horton, spent World War II working aboard a coastwise U.S. Merchant Marine barge, and posthumously received official veteran's status for her wartime service, becoming the first recorded female Merchant Marine veteran of World War II
 * Samuel Leech (1798–1848), wrote of experiences in both the Royal Navy and US Navy
 * Freddie Lennon, father of English musician John Lennon
 * Ellen MacArthur, British sailor and round-the-world record holder
 * Doris Miller (1919–1943), cook who fought back at Pearl Harbor
 * Abdul Awal Mintoo, Bengali businessman and former President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry
 * Bernard Motissier (1925–1994), French yachtsman and author of books about his voyages and sailing
 * Jacob Nagle (1762–1841), well-traveled seaman who wrote a journal
 * Altineu Pires (?-?), Brazilian navigation teacher, sailing author
 * Jure Šterk (1937–2009), Slovenian round-the-world sailor and author of books about his voyages and sailing
 * Joseph D. Stewart, Vice Admiral, Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy
 * Paul Teutul Sr., American television personality
 * Jordan Weisman, American game designer