Solid Fas' is a (west Indian) term to mean the Blackfish is caught fast to the line ("solid fas? Yes, she's solid fas"). A close version of this tune I believe has been recorded by the boarding party though their tune is closer to what Abraham's calls "All Through The Cold & Squally Weather" than how he's got "Solid Fas" recorded. I can't do the midi thing or post tunes but if Joe O or someone else can take it off their answering machine I'd be happy to put what I've got on it.

Hi Leeneia, Solid Fas' is also known as "World Of Misery".

Hugill says that Shenandoah this was one of the most popular shanties at capstan & windlass. I'd say that ships of today don't use the capstan in the same fashion as was done 100 yrs ago. They no longer sail with heavy cargo & short handed crews, you won't find 4 masted vessels of 3 to 4000 tons releying on capstan alone for raising anchor nor anchoring in deep water to off load that cargo with a scope of chain laid out at a 7 or 8 to 1 ratio so that when the tide & wind is working against the ship she's got to pull in a good 1000' of chain. This was very slow & took upwards of 8 hrs sometimes so I can't see that they'd being doing a power walk behind the capstan till maybe when the hook broke free & was up & down & by that time I can't see that they'd be capable of speeding up the process after all that.
Many other of the capstan shanties collected (Banks Of Newfoundland, The Liverpool Packet, The First Of The Emigrants).
Slower capstan shanties are far fewer than the ones with a quicker pace, I'd think that the conditions that would call for long, slow capstan shanties would be what a skipper would do his best to avoid too, alot easier for vessels of today. Barry