Andrew Furuseth (March 17, 1854 – January 22, 1938) of Åsbygda, Hedmark, Norway[1] was a merchant seaman and an American labor leader.

Although he was ultimately unsuccessful in this bid, he did develop skills with the English, German, Dutch and French languages, which not only brought him employment at the time but would become very useful later in his life.

Furuseth went to sea in 1873[5] and sailed aboard ships under the Norwegian, Swedish, British, and American flags until coming ashore in San Francisco, California, in August 1880.

The Coast Seamen's Union was formed while Furuseth was at sea, but he joined within three months of its formation, on June 3, 1885.

One of many examples was in 1897, when the British four-masted ship Gifford was lying at Port Townsend, Washington, about to depart to round Cape Horn.

He took part in the founding meeting of the Asiatic Exclusion League in May 1905, which was almost immediately successful in pressuring the San Francisco Board of Education to segregate Asian school children.

The act promoted the living and working conditions of seamen serving in the United States Merchant Marine, specifically applying to vessels in excess of 100 gross tons.

The unions within the ISU faced "continual changeover in the makeup and leadership",[2] and weathered the historical periods of the Great Depression and World War I.

[2] The strike of 1919 was a great success for Furuseth, resulting in the highest peacetime wages ever for deep sea sailors.

Furuseth charged that "radicals" from the Industrial Workers of the World were infiltrating the SUP[2] and demanded they cease activities with the Maritime Federation.

He unsuccessfully attempted to mediate, pleading "With confidence and justice we can settle this strike within 24 hours and without bloodshed.

[12] Furuseth's body was cremated and his ashes scattered on March 21, 1938, aboard the SS Schoharoe in the mid-Atlantic, "as far from land as possible", according to his own request.

The ship's master, before the assembled crew, said, "Fellow shipmates, we are assembled here to execute the wish to [sic] Andrew Furuseth, venerable man, an unselfish worker for the betterment of seamen, who through legal means has done more to secure improved conditions under which you can work than any other man.