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^[1]

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^[2]
• 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