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"
• Peter Blake (yachtsman) (1944-2001), winner of the Whitbread Round the World Race, the America's Cup and the Jules Verne Trophy
• Chay Blyth (*1940), first westwards 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), science fiction fan and amateur sailor
• Sir Francis Chichester, first single-handed circumnavigation of the world with just one port of call 1966-1967
• Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882), wrote Two Years Before the Mast
• Samuel Leech (1798-1848), wrote of experiences in both Royal Navy and US Navy
• Robin Knox-Johnston (*1939), first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world 1968-1969
• Wayne Mapp, New Zealand politician
• Doris Miller (1919-1943), cook that fought back at Pearl Harbor
• Jacob Nagle (1762-1841), well-traveled seaman who wrote a journal
• Dudley Pope (1925-1997), merchant sailor and later a nautical writer
• Joshua Slocum (1848-1909?), first single-handed circumnavigation of the world 1895 - 1898
• Agostino Straulino (1914-2004) Olympic champion and Italian admiral