William Fender (16 Sydenham Street, Barry Docks, South Wales, first shipped in 1878, last voyage 1900) was on a ship called the Ingomar when she docked in Valparaiso, Chile in October 1885. It was there that he learned Lowlands (A Dollar And A Half), and James Madison Carpenter noted him singing it:

I wish I was in Mobile Bay
(CHORUS) Lowlands, Lowlands away my John
Screwing cotton all the day
(CHORUS) My dollar and a half a day

I thought I heard our old man say            
That two pound ten won't pay my way   

I courted a girl called Minnie Grey
But a yellow guy stole her away

Stole here away, left me in pain
I`ll never see my love again

I wish I was in sunny Spain
I would go on the spree again

A dollar a day is a poor man's pay
A dollar a day is a poor man's pay

Then rise her up from down below
Then shake her up where the cold winds blow

In Mobile Bay I heard them say
Tomorrow you'll be on your way

Carpenter said: "It is to be regretted that no true idea can be given on paper of the wonderful shading which shanty men of real genius sometimes gave to the song by their subtle and delicate variations of time and expression."

Mick Tems