Sunday 2 January 00:15 ie just after midnight on Saturday 1 January BBC RADIO 4 Shaking Up the Shanty repeat

The musical duo The Rheingans Sisters compose a contemporary sea shanty for an unusual cargo boat that has ditched diesel in favour of sails. De Gallant borrows technology from the past to sail toward a more sustainable future and so it seems fitting that the musical duo The Rheingans Sisters should write a song that borrows from traditional shanties to create a contemporary song that sings of the boat’s progressive journey. They set off to understand the shanty genre by speaking to Gerry Smyth, a shanty expert based at Liverpool John Moores University, but then decide to break all the rules!

In Sailor Song: The Shanties and Ballads of the High Seas acclaimed writer, playwright and musician Gerry Smyth presents the words and music of some 40 ‘heaving or hauling’ working shanties and 10 off-duty sea songs and ballads. The meanings and history of each song is revealed alongside thematic sections exploring celebrated shantymen, song types and traditions as well as the influence these songs have had on the folk music movement, rock music and the modern shanty revival. The volume is illustrated with specially commissioned artworks by popular folk artist Jonny Hannah alongside many previously unpublished artworks from the holdings of the British Library.