Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I came on it after listening to Bob Roberts recording and was a bit surprised t the 'tweaking' in the version shown. It may be accepted practice to remove terms that would cause offence these days although from a historical perspective it gives completely the wrong impression of contemporary attitudes. What caused me to write though was the complete hash made of the storyline. Even supposing the ships left from Sydney rather than the more likely Adelaide, being together at the Heads wouldn't warrant a mention, they left on the same tide and would have had tugs to get them into the seaway. The original mentions being 'neck and neck' at the Snares which is much more relevant, and why 'fifteen knots' rather than 'a steady seventeen or so'? The omitted phrase 'Climbing the trades' is not only a wonderfully evocative line but also places the ships where they are most likely to meet up again after taking different routes North from the Cape and through the doldrums. The final verse shown though is complete nonsense, the Ramirees are roughly 150nm SSW of St Maire strait! Cicely Fox Smith knew her subject, but I'm afraid Webber and Fentiman don't.

PeteM