This list of sailors includes any seagoing person who does not qualify for the list of naval commanders and/or list of sea captains. It includes both professional and amateur sailors.
- Crispus Attucks (1723-1770), victim of "Boston Massacre"
- 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), science fiction fan and amateur sailor
- Richard Henry Dana, Jr (1815-1882), wrote Two Years Before the Mast
- Wayne Mapp, New Zealand politician
- Doris Miller (1919-1943), cook that fought back at Pearl Harbor