Sea shanties of the early 1700s?

[Billy Leech]

Hi,

For a writing project I'm working on (same one I was asking about the ships for), I'm trying to figure out what sea shanties would've been around by 1721. As far as I can tell, "All For Me Grog" and "Health To The Company" were written after 1721, and I'm wondering if there are any others out there I could use.

Thanks!

[MorganTyre]

Salty Dick claims the Crabfish to have been first published in 1620 and is still around to some degree (I personally first heard it a dozen or so years ago from a sailor friend).

Crabfish lyrics - warning NSFW

[Bos'n Cross]

"Captain kidds farewell to the seas" was written right after his death,the "maid of amsterdam" is absoululy ok, as well as some earlier versions of "blow the man down" unfortunatly, most shanties that we sing today are from the nineteenth century , though many of those are probably based on earlier songs....we just may not have the proof yet....im sure there are others..i just cant think of them all now......hope it helps some.....

Edited March 10, 2010 by Cross

[Billy Leech]

It does indeed. Much appreciated!

[Captain McCool]

Also, as I recall, "Henry Martin" is a very old song, and is based on an even older one that goes back to... I believe the Elizabethan period. Though I s'pose it's not technically a shanty, but a ballad.

Edited March 8, 2010 by Captain McCool

[jollyjacktar]

While neither of these songs were chanties per say they were both very popular amongst seamen of the late seventeenth century. One is "The Famous Fight at Malago" (1666) and the other is "Neptune's Raging Fury; or the Gallant Seaman's Sufferings" (1635) You can find documentation as well as tunes online. I want to say I found them on a Californian University's site. They had scans of Samuel Peyps' ballad collection and have almost all the items scanned online. If I can find the link I will post it. Now on second thought both of those tunes while ballads could be used as windlass or capstan chanties.

Yours & co.

CJ

[MarkG]

Hi,

For a writing project I'm working on (same one I was asking about the ships for), I'm trying to figure out what sea shanties would've been around by 1721. As far as I can tell, "All For Me Grog" and "Health To The Company" were written after 1721, and I'm wondering if there are any others out there I could use.

Thanks!

Down Among the Dead Men is attribute to John Dyer - 1700-1758. The tune is even earlier - to around 1700.

The Downfall of Piracy was written around 1719 about Blackbeard's last stand. It is rumored that Ben Franklin wrote it.

Mark

[Bos'n Cross]

down among the dead men is a gggrrreeaattttt song......loves it soooo much.......

[hurricane]

Having found Samuel's broadsheets from the 1600 to 1700 period, I can see why these ditties are no longer popular. I must've looked through a hundred or so now.

http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/

-- Hurricane

[Black William]

Having found Samuel's broadsheets from the 1600 to 1700 period, I can see why these ditties are no longer popular. I must've looked through a hundred or so now.

http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/

-- Hurricane

Thanks for posting the link. There are some interesting ones in there, though I haven't tried playing any of them yet. I liked "A Hot EngagementBetweenA French Privateer, and an English Fire-Ship" about a ship being pressed by a French privateer - from the point of view of the ship!

Black William

[MarkG]

I've got a couple more for you:

Spanish Ladies - the link says 1796 but I've seen it listed as earlier elsewhere.

We Be Three Poor Mariners

Mark

[MadMike]

Info on period tunes on the Contemplator.com website (by country)-

http://www.contemplator.com/bycount.html

One of my favorites, said to originate from the late 1600's or early 1700's-

Whiskey in the Jar

And of course, it's St. Patrick's Day.

Yours, &c.

Mike

[Silver]

"whiskey in the jar" with me sport'n jenny, what better song would a sailor want?

[Dread Pyrate Greyhound]

My personal Favorite ballade is ''Captain Ward" There are several versions The origonal was written by Child and registered around 1680. Essentually it relates the story of a battle between a King's ship and a pirate named Captain Ward. In some versions he writes a letter to the King asking for pardon for him and his men, in others he plunders a ship and "Bids them tell the King'' but the king commisions a man'o'war to be built called the Rainbow or sometimes Royale Rainbow which hunts him down and after as running battle the Rainbow finds it cannont defeat Ward who says "go hom go home' cries captain ward 'And tell your king for me, if he reigns king all on the land than I am king of sea"

Here is a site with lyrics and info: http://www.contemplator.com/sea/ward.html

[PoD]

I just posted links to a set of music books from 1719 here if any of them are any use

[Henry Martin]

According to www.contemplator.com, here are some of my favorite tunes and the approximate times they first appeared:

The Golden Vanity - 1685

Farewell and Adieu (All ye dear Spanish Ladies) - No approximate date for the song, but first mentioned in the log of The Nellie in 1796.

The Mermaid - Mid 1700's

Miss Bailey's Ghost - Credited by George Colman the elder (1732-1794) (Burl Ive's claims the song goes back to the 16th Century)

The Bay of Biscay-O! - Based on a tune circa 1660

And, because I'm a whore (but, aren't we all?) the last of these three are on my new CD, Henry Martin: Around the Bay...

here's a clip of The Bay of Biscay-O!

Edited December 26, 2010 by Henry Martin

[Fox]

"Captain kidds farewell to the seas" was written right after his death,the "maid of amsterdam" is absoululy ok,

Maid of Amsterdam is often thought to date from about 1609 because, according to shanty authority W.B. Whall, it appeared in Thomas Heywood's play of that year, The Rape of Lucrece. Unfortunately, Whall was mistaken, and no such song appears in the play. Whether or not there's another source which dates it to before the GAoP, I don't know.

Captain Kidd appears in print, as you say, right after his death.

[Bos'n Cross]

nnnnnoooooooooooo.........*cries in a huddled mass........thankfully, i have sense discovered a college resource for 17th century broadsides.........which i now use instead.....English Broadside Ballad Archive thanks for pointing that out master foxe, it shall be noted and not used.......i like this on better anyway! Villany Rewarded, or the Pirates Last Farewell

[Fox]

If it's any consolation, I too cried in a huddled mass when I went through the whole play looking for the original words only to find it wasn't there.

[Bos'n Cross]

i may have to cry more.......i might need to go through The Beggar's Opera to see if another of my favorite songs is aaaaacccttuuaalllllyy there...... *shudders

[hurricane]

Interesting to note that in Stan Hugill's "Shanties from the Seven Seas" he writes that sailors never would have sang shanties while on land - it was considered bad luck. Instead, they typically sang popular ballads, love songs and patriotic songs from their respective homelands. If you haven't seen it is is a very thorough book on the subject.

[PoD]

nnnnnoooooooooooo.........*cries in a huddled mass........thankfully, i have sense discovered a college resource for 17th century broadsides.........which i now use instead.....English Broadside Ballad Archive thanks for pointing that out master foxe, it shall be noted and not used.......i like this on better anyway! Villany Rewarded, or the Pirates Last Farewell

I was hoping that the books i posted the links too might have the tunes to these ballads in them as they are usually sung to the music of other more popular songs. I must get round to looking.

[Capt Thighbiter]

That's my issue with a lot of these ballads - sung to the tune of " XYZXYZXYZ" and if'n ye know not the tune, it's just so much poetry. Luckily, the site you gave has some MP3's of folks singing the tune, making it ever so more useful. A good resource, says I.