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Sea shanties and maritime music

[The chanty] is not recreation, it is an essential part of the work on ship-board, it mastheads the topsail yards when making sail, it starts and weighs the anchor, it brings
down the main-tack with a will, it loads and unloads the cargo, it keeps the pumps a-going; in fact, it does all the work where unison and strength are required. I have
heard many an old salt say that a good chanty was worth an extra hand.


Laura Alexandrine Smith, The Music of the Waters, 1888

This Day in History (February 29, 1908)

This Day in History (January 8, 1806)

The death of Lord Nelson was a national tragedy like no other for England. "From Greenwich to Whitehall Stairs, on the 8th of January, 1806, in one of the greatest Aquatic Processions that ever was beheld on the River Thames" drifted the royal shallop (barge). The event is referenced in the modern lament, Carrying Nelson Home. Nelson is mentioned in nearly a dozen other songs.

Try a random shanty sampling

Magelhan
Forecastle song

There was an antique rotten hulk once,
A clipper ship named Magellan.
There was no time to brace in daytime,
Only at night the job was done.

Repeat fourth line in each verse

No matter how strung the gales were blowin'
Nothing was done during the day,
But when the bell struck: "Knock off work, boys!"
To stretch and haul we had to stay.

Sing' valle ralle, ralle ralle rala, rala, rala!
Sing' valle ralle, ralle ralle rala,
Valleri, valleri, vallera!

This was the way the skipper tricked us,
He liked this well and thought 'twas smart,
And when you'd just sat down for supper,
He roared: "All hands to the royal halyards!"
This order nightlong he kept saying,
We rushed to bowlines, sheets, and brace,
We heaved and hauled and kept on stretching,
We gained no inch, but a sweating face!

And on Good Friday he would tell us,
"This is no holiday for you!"
We had the stinkin' workday's pea soup,
Too much, was this, for the Magellan's crew.
We told the skipper: "Nothin' doin'!
No work today, we sing and dance!"
And then the wind shifted against us,
You should have seen the Old Man's glance.
Shakings
Capt. Whall provides the following partial songs under the heading "Shakings"

On the twenty-fourth November, boys,
'Twas in the Channel we lay
Awaiting for fresh orders, boys,
Our anchor for to weigh;
Bound for the coast of Africay,
Our orders there, also
Were for to kill and destroy, my boys,
Wherever we might go...

Timber droghers would sing:

Was you ever in Quebec a-launching timber on the deck?
Ch: Because we was a young thing lately left her mammy, O.

The West Indiaman had:

Give me the gal can dance fandango,
Ch: Running down to Cuba

Of such special shanties I have not made a collection, nor have I given shanties of other nations, such, for instance, as the Calashie whine of

Kis ki ma doo day cal as-sie
Ch: Kis ki ma doo-day

that rang in our ears all day long in Calcutta, and to which Sailor John gave a most improper rendering; or the "Good-bye" song of the Kanaka:

Good-bye, my [f]ennie, O li ah O ti a
Canso Strait
Fishing song

In Canso Strait our vessel lay:
We just arrived in from the Bay.
Our vessel built both stout and strong
To Gloucester she does belong.

We were homeward bound and ready for sea
When our drunken captain got on a spree.
He came on board and to us did say:
"Get your anchor, lads, and fill her away."

We filled her away at his command.
With all sails set we left the land,
Leaviny Sand Point all on our lee
As we sailed into a heavy sea.

The night came on and dark clouds lower;
The wind, did howl and breakers roar.
An angry squall and the angry sky
It put her down at half-mast high.

We kindly asked him to shorten sail
Or we'd all be lost in the heavy gale.
He turned and swore if the wind would blow
He'd show us how his boat could go:

"I am captain here and I will not fail
For to shoot the first man to touch a sail
Then up speaks one of our bravest men:
"There's nine of us right here at hand

"We'll reef her down and to sea we'll go,
If he interferes, lash him down below.
We'll reef her down to a steady steer
From those breaking waves as she disappears

We're heading up the Cape Shore now
As she knocks the white foam from her bow.
Ouu jib-sheet tore, in the wind it flew;
We hauled it down and bent our new.

We were homeward bound with great success
Like some lonely seagull seeking rest.
When I get home no more I'll sail
With a drunken captain in a heavy gale.
The Dreadnaught
Forecastle song

There is a flash packet, flash packet of fame,
She hails from New York and the Dreadnaught's her name,
She is bound to the westward... where the stormy winds blow,
Bound away in the Dreadnaught to the westward we'll go.

Now the Dreadnaught is hauling out of Waterloo dock,
Where the boys and the girls to the pierhead do flock,
They give her three cheers, as the tears down do flow,
Crying "God bless the Dreadnaught where'er she may go!"

Now the Dreadnaught she lies in the river Mersey,
Awaiting the tugboat to take her to sea,
Out around the Rock Light where the salt tides do flow,
Bound away to the westward in the Dreadnaught we'll go.

Now the Dreadnaughts a-howling down the wild Irish Sea,
Her passengers merry, with hearts full of glee;
Her sailors like lions walk the deck to and fro;
She's the Liverpool packet_O Lord, let her go!

Now the Dreadnaught is sailing the Atlantic so wide,
Where the high roaring seas roll along her black side,
With her sails tautly set for the Red Cross to show
She's the Liverpool packet-O Lord, let her go!

Now the Dreadnaught is crossing the Banks of Newfoundland,
Where the water's so green and the bottom's all sand,
Where the fishes of the ocean they swim to and fro,
She's the Liverpool packet-O Lord, let her go!

And now she is sailing down the Long Island shore,
Where the pilot will board us as he's oft done before.
"Fill away your main-topsail, board your main-tack also !"
She's the Liverpool packet-O Lord, let her go!

Now the Dreadnaughts arrived in New York once more.
Let's go ashore, shipmates, on the land we adore.
With wives and with sweethearts so happy we'll be,
And drink to the Dreadnaught wherever we be.

Now a health to the Dreadnaught and all her brave crew,
To bold Captain Samuels and his officers too;
Talk about your flash packets, Swallowtail and Black Ball,
The Dreadnaughts the flier that outsails them all.
Mainsail Café, 2026 Contact