Sailors’ Union of the Pacific Building

The Coast Seamen’s Union of the Pacific Coast and the Steamship Sailors’ Union merged in 1891 to form the Sailors’ Union of the Pacific (SUP). 

The union’s headquarters are in San Francisco, California. It currently maintains offices in Seattle, Washington; Wilmington, California; and Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

The SUP building on Harrison Street in San Francisco. 3 August 2024.

Inscription on the SUP building. Note that it says, “ORGANIZED MARCH 6 1885,” which was the date that the Coast Seamen’s Union of the Pacific Coast was formed. 3 August 2024.

Bust of Harry Lundeberg in front of the SUP building. 3 August 2024.

The text below Mr. Lundeberg’s bust reads:

HARRY LUNDEBERG
1901–1957
HE WAS INDEED A MAN WHO CROWDED
INTO A SHORT LIFE NO GLITTERING
PROMISE, BUT UNSELFISH SERVICE
AND GENERAL ACHIEVEMENT FOR
THE CAUSE HE CALLED HIS OWN
ERECTED BY
SAILORS UNION OF THE PACIFIC
DEDICATED JAN. 28, 1958

Bust of Andrew Furuseth outside the SUP building. 3 August 2024.

The text below Mr. Furuseth’s bust reads:

ANDREW FURUSETH
1854–1938
EMANCIPATOR OF SEAMEN
“YOU CAN PUT ME IN JAIL, BUT YOU
CANNOT GIVE ME NARROWER QUARTERS
THAN AS A SEAMAN I HAVE ALWAYS HAD.
YOU CANNOT GIVE ME COARSER FOOD THAN
I HAVE ALWAYS EATEN. YOU CANNOT MAKE
ME LONELIER THAN I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN”
ERECTED BY
SAILORS’ UNION OF THE PACIFIC
DEDICATED SEPT. 1, 1941

Compass rose inlay in the pavement in front of the SUP building entrance. Sadly, it needs some repair. 3 August 2024.

The union established a presence in Hawai‘i in 1900. 

The Hawaiian Star published the article “THE UNION HERE AT LAST” on its front page on 31 July 1900.

The Sailors’ Union of the Pacific, an organization having a membership of about 4,000, successor of the Coast Seamen’s Union and the Steamship Men’s Protective Association, has come to Honolulu and established headquarters, preparatory to organizing a branch of the union here. J. P. Rasmussen, agent of the union, sent here from San Francisco to look after the work, is now making preparations for the organization. The union will enter the lists here as it has on the Coast, against the shipping master business, and its members claim that there will be no more pickings here for shipping masters when the union is ready for business. The union ships crews free of any charge to either captain or men, and in some of the Coast cities it has run the shipping masters out of business altogether.

Rasmussen has occupied quarters at the corner of King and Nuuanu streets. He says there will be no shipping masters on the beach when he gets through with his work, and that it was at the request of seamen who have been to Honolulu, that he was sent here to organize a branch. A majority of the men now in the harbor are members of the union, and they are expected to affiliate with the branch at once.