It was a great sing, seems to be the way it's headed. Well attended & well sung. Already looking forward to the next one.


Hey Jeri, I thought you & Sinsull did quite a good job (especially since that it was our 1st go at it) taking & leading the high refrain. Thanks


Wouldn't mind hearing some more stories from Captain Bunker. I'm amazed at his knowledge of events pertaining to the sea & the ships, the sailors & the waterfronts. There's more that a song or 2 there, more like a book.


Hi Charley, the "Come Down You Roses" I got from the Boarding Party. It was picked up in 1935 by Lomax in Nassau, Bahamas. It was sung there in 2 parts, a high lead & the Basser would come from underneath.


Hi SINSULL, I left out the 2nd verse (it's been many yrs since I sang this) it's as follows.

The song is also known as Captain Roger's Cruelty.


"Twas on the quarterdeck they laid him

Gagged him with an iron bar

Wasn't that most cruel usage

To put apron a British tar".

The Martha & Jane, a barque, homeward bound put into Barbados for repairs in 1856. Captain Henry Rogers came onboard to assume command as did Andrew Rose. While still in harbor 2nd mate Charles Seymore found fault with able seaman Rose & beat him. Rose jumped ship but was returned by the police. Once out to sea Rose was beaten again by Seymore along with the captain & 1st mate William Miles. This kind of abuse became almost daily. For singing a hymn he was gagged by an iron bolt for 1 1/2 hrs. The captain taught his dog to bite him tearing out pieces of his flesh. The first mate was the one sending him aloft while whipping him up & down the rigging. Also he was put in a water cask, the top put on leaving only the bunghole as source of air then the cask was rolled round the deck then lashed to the bulwarks for 12 hrs. Finally, Rose was suspended from the mainmast by a rope round his neck until near suffocation. 2 or 3 days later Rose lost his reasoning & died. His body was dragged to the ship's side at the end of a rope & thrown overboard without ceremony. The ship arrived at Liverpool on June 9, 1857. Rose's shipmates went to the police the captain & both mates were arrested & stood trial. The log showed that Rose died due to his "going rotten inside". With evidence from the seaman the 3 were found guilty & sentenced to death. The mate's sentences were commuted to imprisonment but not Rogers. On Sept 12 a crowd of 20-30 thousand gathed for the execution outside of Kirkdale (now Walton) Gaol, included many sailors one cheering "luff, luff & weather hell" while another saying "My word he'll a different man on THAT quarterdeck than he was on the Martha & Jane". From the 'Oxford book of Sea Songs'.

Colcord mentions that British sailors would taunt Yanks with "Blow, Boys, Blow" & that Yanks would counter with "Andrew Rose".


Really good to see/hear you Tinker. Knowing how far away you are, at 1st I could swear it just couldn't have been you. Sometimes it's nice to be wrong.


Hi Night Owl, nice to see you in this thread, it's been long time since hearing from you last. Hope you'll find an excuse to make one of these sessions. It'd be good to see you again. I'm working hard on that excuse.

Good night all, Barry