“...“I like your plan, Captain Fink,” said Bim. “There is only one thing I would add to it, which I hope you'll agree to, and the plan will be the joint production of two heads. To appear bold, and indifferent, and confident, I think our men should sing a boat song.”

“A boat song? My men can sing a Western river boat song, ten miles long, if that'll do.”

“And my men can sing any chorus that ever was invented. Now let us announce the result of our conference to his Lordship. Will you do it?””
[Border War: A Tale of Disunion, Jones, 1859]
John Beauchamp Jones (1810 – 1866)


“...That done, the anchor had to be heaved up, and about sixty men were set to work the capstan, while, to cheer them at their work, and to second their combined action, a fifer struck up an enlivening tune….”
[The Departure of the “Great Eastern.,” The Illustrated London News, vol.35, no.992, 10 Sept, 1859]