At its fourth meeting in 1885, the fledgling organization adopted the name Coast Sailor's Union and elected George Thompson its first president.

Andrew Furuseth, who had joined the union on June 3, 1885 was elected to its highest office in January 1887.

[citation needed] With the exception of a two-year period when he shipped out as a fisherman, he was secretary of the SUP until 1935.

[2] During this period, he successfully pushed for legislative reforms that eventually became the Seamen's Act of 1915.

Headquarters are in San Francisco [4] and the union has branch offices in Wilmington, California, Seattle, Washington, and Honolulu, Hawaii.