 After a failed merger with a different maritime group in 1988, the union merged with the Seafarers International Union of North America in 2001.The NMU was founded in May 1937 by Joseph Curran, who was at the time an able seaman and boatswain aboard the Panama Pacific Line ocean liner .He was a member of the International Seamen's Union (ISU) but was not active in the work of the union.