Was Popeye The Sailor Man–
[ul]
[li]Navy[/li][li]Merchant Marine[/li][li]Coast Guard (some of his B&W cartoons show him in a CG similar uniform)[/li][li]Or a fisherman?[/li][/ul]
Pretty much “all of the above,” according to item #16 in this Popeye FAQ.
I’m going for Navy, as his normal dress looks like Winter Working blues, and I know I’ve seen both him and Bluto in Summer Whites on occasion.
The obvious differences are the result of artistic license…
Popeye originally wasn’t in any branch of service - he was a privately employed sailor. Popeye made his first appearance in 1929 in the comic strip Thimble Theater when Castor Oyl (Olive’s brother) hired Popeye to be the entire crew of a ship to take Castor and his pals to Dice Island. In those days Popeye didn’t wear a military uniform. When World War II came his portrayal in movies changed - he wore a uniform and from that point on was usually shown as being in the navy.
After (presumably) working aboard merchant vessels from boyhood on, by the time the Oyls met him he was self-employed. In fact from his various adventures he became quite wealthy; first owning his own ship, then eventually trying several different businesses ashore after he and Olive became a serious item. He served with merit in the Navy during WW2 (but I’ve never heard definitively which theater), and proudly wore his whites for years afterwards. He hasn’t had to work as a sailor for decades but still loves the sea, and he and Olive travel around the globe quite frequently.
He worked as a waiter for a while, until he found the forty thieves’ treasure cave. He’s probably still living off that haul. Plus he’s got all of Sinbad the Sailor’s loot.
Sadly, he is back in rehab for his lifelong addiction to spinach.
I misread that at first as “whaler”. He tried whaling exactly once, but was too softhearted to kill a mother whale with a calf.
In his more callow youth he would, however, deal a mature whale a seismic blow with his fist, causing the whale to spontaneously fragment into dozens of pre-canned sardines.
This brings the question of Popeye vs. Chuck Norris. 
Popeye won the sailor suit in a poker game with Donald Duck. Where he got the pants is unknown; rumors that they were originally the property of Harold Hamgravy (missing, presumed deceased) remain unsubstantiated.
Popeye. No contesk.
(An’ if you havvint alreddy, be sure ta buy Warner Home Video’s collekshun of Popeye cartoons an’ Fantagraphics’s two volumes of the Segar strips. You won’t be diskappointed.)
I’d agree with that…in college I found a huge hard cover book of old Segar Popeye strips. I loved it. I remember wanting to actually buy it from the library, but of course it wasn’t for sale. I wish they still made whimsical adventures like that for ol’ Popeye.
Pun or dialect? You make the call.
Once Popeye got into a fight with Mario.
The power of spinach and the power of mushrooms.
Several Multiverses were laid to waste. 
Lettuce know how it turned out.
So?
Go hunt online, then buy em.
You can, ya knowsk!
Rather than look for the out of print ones, I suggest Fantagraphic’s two new volumes- I Yam What I Yam and Blow Me Down. I’ve never seen Fantagraphic’s original Popeye books, but based on what I’ve read, these ones improve upon them by having dailys and Sundays in one book (plus Segar’s Sunday topper Sappo as an extra bonus) and also starting the Popeye chronology a bit earlier with more of the pre-Popeye whiffle hen story (which is almost like a Road Runner cartoon 20 years before there were Road Runner cartoons.)
I didn’t mean it as a pun, but it’s a good one, since those disks don’t diskappoint. A-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!