What do you do with a drunken sailor early in the morning? Shanghai them, of course.

While not too common in 21st century Port Townsend, shanghaiing sailors was big business in the 1890s.

“We have a lovely sordid past here,” said Angie Bartlett, Jefferson County Historical Society & Museum membership manager and research coordinator.

Bartlett is the mastermind behind a new kidnapping ring taking shape in Port Townsend known as Key City Jail Break: Escape the Museum. But instead of selling off unsuspecting sailors to captains at port, the soon-to-be-scandalous kidnapping racket will transport participants back through time.

It all takes place in the historic jail in the basement of the museum, located at 540 Water St. inPort Townsend as part of Port Townsend Main Street Program’s Haunted Histories and Mysteries program Nov. 1-2.

“I have heard a couple of people mention this would be a cool setting for an escape room,” said Bartlett. “We have the infrastructure. It is awesome. We didn’t even have to do a ton of work to make it look creepy. It is ready to go and asking for it.”

What is an escape room?

An escape room is a locked space in which (willing) participants must work collaboratively to find clues and solve mysteries in order to escape, Bartlett said.

“The occupants of all three cells have to work together. They have to communicate what they find. Sometimes they have to pass keys through the cells and put puzzle pieces together or read letters that have clues in them.”

Since the game takes place in a museum, it incorporates elements of historical fact, Bartlett said, adding it is a fun way to learn history.

“There are definitely some elements of real history packed in as part of the puzzles and the immersive environment. It takes place in 1892, so you have to use your imagination a little bit because you are about to be shanghaied by the crimper Maxwell Levy. He was one of the most successful crimpers here and made a ton of money drugging sailors and selling them off to captains.”

Levy, known as the “king of crimpers,” supplied sailors, willing or otherwise, to captains in port with impunity for almost two decades. He was never convicted of a crime.

Levy, a native of San Francisco, arrived in Port Townsend in the late 1880s after prospecting in Alaska. Soon after arrival, Levy divorced the wife he had married in Alaska and wed Lucy Hogg, the daughter of a sea captain. The union didn’t last, and Hogg married Ed Sims, deputy U.S. shipping commissioner.

Sims and Levy became friends, and with Sims’ help, Levy purchased a share in New Sailor’s Home, a boarding house and saloon near the wharf on Water Street. After spending their money on vice, Levy would “cover” the sailors’ expenses, allowing them to stay in the boarding house until they could repay him with earnings from their next sailing gig. The captain deducted the amount they owed and repaid Levy before paying the sailor.

Captains also paid Levy a fee for each man received, sometimes as much as $50, a lucrative albeit shady arrangement. Once a sailor discovered they would be making the trip and working solely to repay their debt to Levy, they would often need “persuasion” to take the job.

Levy found various tricks, most of them illegal, to force the sailors aboard. With Sims in his pocket, Levy never had to worry about legal ramifications.

In accordance with a law passed in 1895, sailors had to be fully sober and cognizant of what they were doing when they signed up. Their signature also had to be witnessed by the consul of the country that owned the ship or by a U.S. shipping commissioner. Sims, in such cases, was a rubber stamp.

As the ringleader, Levy was not directly involved in shanghaiing the sailors. He left the bulk of the dirty work to his “runners,” who were not above using brute force.

The runners would wait until a man blacked out from drinking too much booze, or even sped the process along by placing a couple of “knock-out drops” in their drinks. Once the man was out cold, they dumped him into a skiff and rowed him out to the waiting ship. When the sailor awoke they were already out to sea.

For those participating in the game at the museum, they find themselves about to be transported to a waiting ship by the runners. They have one hour to make a jailbreak.

“They have to escape through the old exercise yard,” Bartlett said.

If the gamers begin to hear sea shanties in the dark, they have failed, Bartlett said.

“You get shanghaied.”

If they win, however, participants will get plenty of bragging rights, Bartlett said.

Panic button

The participants will be locked into the cells, so the game isn’t for those who are afraid of confined spaces or being trapped, Bartlett said.

“Since you are actually going to be locked in the cells, there will be two docents here that will hopefully disappear and not be distracting to make sure everything is going OK. They all have keys to the cells in their pockets. Anytime anyone feels uncomfortable or has a panic attack, they will let them out immediately.”

Bartlett has conducted a few test runs in advance of Haunted Histories and Mysteries. The game will then be offered throughout the autumn and winter months.

“It will probably be on Saturdays, but we haven’t figured out the schedule just yet,” Bartlett said. “You can purchase tickets on our website.”

The cells have been decorated in period-appropriate furniture and historically accurate accoutrements, Bartlett said.

“I also wanted to throw in the element of the Chinese community because not a lot of people realize we actually had a Chinatown before they got kicked out and their area got burned down. There are Chinese coins that are actually from that time period that are part of the puzzle as well. I have tried to make it as authentic as possible, but it is fun and interactive.”

For more information, call 360-385-1003.