Maritime work song in general

Subject: Folklore: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Mar 20 - 07:31 PM

State of the art:

“A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty is a type of work song that was once commonly sung to accompany labor on board large merchant sailing vessels. The term shanty most accurately refers to a specific style of work song belonging to this historical repertoire. However, in recent, popular usage, the scope of its definition is sometimes expanded to admit a wider range of repertoire and characteristics, or to refer to a maritime work song in general.” [wiki]

More standard narrative:
The Advent and Development of Chanties

and
“...There are also several less-established theories regarding the origins of the sea shanty. Although there is little evidence to support this, some historians argue that the maritime musical form can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt...”
[Piratical Debauchery, Homesick Sailors and Nautical Rhythms, Reidler, 2017]

The 2400 year gap in evidence and theory is best explained by the modern standard shanty narrative's substitution of a genre label for a work practice. 19th century, English, merchant marine &c are not functional attributes. They are consumer preferences.

What follows is a list of references based on the thread title, beginning at the beginning*:

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Mar 20 - 07:37 PM

Paywalled & hard to get but a good place to start: 'Celeuma' in Christian Latin: Lexical and Literary Notes, Sheerin, 1982

*I use the 2400 year number in conversation not because nautical work song is that old, it's much older, rather because that's roughly where documented Western history picks up. It's a little late for 'Ancient' Egypt.

That said, the glossary and job titles were already well in place; it wasn't all that Greek in origins (just the vowels) and the Ptolemaic Kingdom (c.332 - 30BC) was Hellenistic. Alexander the Great was a Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharoah's Canals were the first 'Suez' canals.

i.e.: Pharaoh, great or high house. The Pharos of Alexandria was an Egyptian lighthouse. Latin for lighthouse is farus.

Most of the Old Testament was already firmed up by 300BC as well.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Mar 20 - 07:39 PM

“The rowers did not sit, but Stood in an inclining position. The practice was directed by a person called celeustes the Roman hortator remigum who was placed in the middle of them, and carried a staff, with which he gave the signal when his voice could not be heard. This signal was for the rowers to strike; and he encouraged them by a song or cry, called the celeusma. This was either sung by the rowers, or played upon instruments, or effected by a symphony of many or striking sonorous tones.”
[A Treatis on the Arts, Manf, Manners, Inst of the Greeks & Romans, Vol.I, Fosbroke, 1833, pp.211-212]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Mar 20 - 08:10 PM

“Next in turn are two "oar-masters" (toixarchoi), who are each responsible for the discipline and working of one of the long rowers' benches; and following in grade, though highly important, are the keleustes, and the trieraules, who, by voice and by flute respectively, will give the time and if needs be encouragement to the rowers. These are all the regular officers, but naturally for handling the sails and anchors some common sailors are desirable. The Invincible carries 17 of these….
[A Day in Old Athens, Davis, 1914, pp.131-132]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 07:03 AM

Rowing songs are all over but generally they aren't classed as shanties. Not sure why not.

Turangawaewae Regatta

Lots of Hebridean ones.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 10:20 AM

Gibb's researches show pretty conclusively that one of the contributory factors towards the advent of chanties was indeed slave rowing songs in the Caribbean, from about 1800 up to 1830. As I said in the other thread the major impetus came from the stevedores in the Gulf ports but there are a few textual connections with the earlier rowing songs like Sally Brown.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 10:43 AM

Origin is not necessarily identity. They got a special name because they often had a more elaborate form than had rowing songs, and because they seemed "new" to anglophone shipboard crews who sang them. (As the "Advent" thread shows, the word was not imposed from above, but came from "folk" speech.)

Are 19th-21st century "chanteys" so much like ancient Egyptian and other rowing songs that they don't "deserve" their own category?

Is it necessary or helpful to lump these phenomena together?

Their differences to me are obvious, but everyone's entitled to an opinion.

At what point does similarity become identity? The point is to communicate, in various contexts, what it is that we mean.

The futility of insisting on the "real" meaning of such categories is endlessly demonstrated on the "What is 'Folk'?" threads.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 11:11 AM

If you think of shanties as "songs to assist collective rhythmic coordination of work processes on board ship", rowing songs are surely part of that. Though obviously shanties can be much more varied in form than the rowing-song subgroup.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: RTim
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 11:44 AM

You all need to read Gibb Schreffler's newish book - "Boxing the Compass" - a Century and a Half of Discourse About Sailor's Chanties.

Occasional Papers in Folklore Number Six
Camsco Music and or Loomis House Press.

Not sure what the situation is now with Camsco since Dick's death.....but I suspect they are closed.
The book is NOT list at Loomis....??
Gibb may have some for sale...??

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 01:28 PM

Hear, hear!

Still available and worth every penny:

https://tinyurl.com/slvgo7v

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 02:17 PM

Gibb is most certainly the current guru. Though rowing songs undoubtedly contributed to the chanty corpus, I would personally not include them simply from the point of view that historically the chanty is specific to merchant ships and nothing else. I would also leave out the stevedore songs that contributed unless they were also demonstrated to have been also sung on ship. I accept that the stevedores worked on board the ships whilst in port and yes that means there was crucial overlap.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 02:26 PM

One aspect I'm interested in that doesn't get much coverage, is which seas, which ships, which trades were chanties generally used in. There are some sea merchant trades where chanties are very sparse if they occur at all, and I'm talking about records of actual chanties and references to them having been used.

We're all aware of the tea clippers, the wool trade, the meat run and the packet ships, the American Atlantic coastal trade, the trade between America and Europe, but there is very little mention of chanties in the whaling trade. I'm not aware of them being evident in the Baltic trade or to any extent in the North Sea, though latterly the Swedish and German ships used them on the longer trips. Chanties were certainly evident in the Pacific before the Panama Canal was built but perhaps not as much as in the Atlantic.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 08:37 PM

c.200BC – Three versions of Polybius on the Phoenicians/Carthaginians & the birth of the Roman navy. The original keleustes is translated as boatswain, flugelman &c:

“21. Now, however, those to whom the construction of the ships was committed were busy in getting them ready, and those who had collected the crews were teaching them to row on shore in the following fashion. Making the men sit on rowers-benches on dry land, in the same order as on the benches of the ships themselves, and stationing the fugle-man in the middle, they accustomed them to fall back all at once bringing their hands up to them, and again to come forward stretching out their hands, and to begin and finish these movements at the word of command of the fugle-man. When the crews had been trained, they launched the ships as soon as they were completed, and having practised for a brief time actual rowing at sea, they sailed* along the coast of Italy as their commander had ordered.

*It is often necessary to use the word "sail." but it should be borne in mind that the ships were propelled chiefly by oars.”
[The Histories of Polybius, Vol.I, Paton ed., 1922, p.57]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 08:41 PM

“II. The Trumpet, and what they call'd the Lituus, were what they us’d to make Signals a-board their Veffels; and fo was alfo the Celeufma, which was a Shout or Noife made by the Mariners when they were doing any thing with united Force; which Cry, according to Ariftophanes, was Rhippapé and Oop; but they had without doubt other Cries befide this. Inftead of the Voice they fometimes alfo made ufe of Stones, according to Xenophon, and ftruck them againft one another; but this Signal was probably on fome particular Occafion only. The Rowers had alfo their Cries, to make them keep time with their Oars, and to pull either harder or fofter, as there was Occafion; which Signal was alfo given by finging, and fometimes by Mufical Inftruments: For fo Afconius Pedianus fays, that to animate the Rowers they us'd Symphonies, and fometimes the Voice alone, and fometimes the Guitar.

III. The manner of exercifing the Sailors and Rowers, as well as Marines, both by Greeks and Romans, but efpecially by the laft, was very remarkable: Nor was it without long Practice that they arriv'd at the Art of doing fuch difficult Work with Eafe and Order. Xenophon takes particular Notice of their Dexterity, and fays that when they were feated in their Ranks they never embarrafs'd one another, but manag'd their Oars with great Order, and kept Stroke with all the Exactnefs imaginable. Thucydides alfo relates with great Accuracy, and in a very particular manner, the Exercife us’d by the Syracufians, when they were to engage the Athenians at Sea, who at that time were thought to excel all the reft of the Greeks in Naval Affairs.

The Romans alfo took a great deal of Care to exercife their Seamen and Marines; the manner of which Exercife Polybius thus defcribes: “So long as they that had the Care of fitting out a Fleet, fays he, were employ'd in Ship-building, others were providing Sea-men and Rowers, and exercis'd them at Land in this manner, that they might be fit for the Service: The Rowers they feated upon the Sea-fhore in the fame Rank and Order, as they were difpos'd in when they were a-board, and plac'd an Officer in the middle of them to give the Word of Command, and inftruct them to plunge and recover their Oars all together, and to leave off rowing in an Inftant whenever the Word was given for that purpofe. For the Commanders had their Celeufmata, which were the Signals when they were to begin to row,and when to leave off; and the Rowers had alfo their Cry in their Turn for the fame purpofe.” As to thofe that gave the Signal to the Rowers by finging, let's hear what Plutarch fays in the Life of Alcibiades: “Callipedes, fays he, an Actor in the Play-houfe, and in his Tragick Drefs and Buskins, and with all the Ornaments us’d by Actors upon the Stage, had the Command of the Rowers, and gave them their Signals in Song.”
[Antiquity Explained and Represented in Sculptures, Vol.III, Montfaucon, 1722, Pt.II, Bk.IV, p.174]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 08:47 PM

Oops my bad. One was a duplicate but two should do for now. What the Romans built was a rowing simulator:
USS Recruit (TDE-1)
USS Marlinspike

The science (one of them) is called cybernetics: the scientific study of control and communication in the animal and the machine.

Kybernetes, Gr. steersman or governor.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 09:10 PM

My friend Dick Holdstock has been working on a book since I met him in 1993. I think the book was about the British Merchant Marine at the time, since sailors in the British Navy didn't sing. But the subject of his book has always been elusive.

Now, he titles his project Songs of the Struggle for British Political and Social Reform from 1765 to 1865. Whatever the case, he has introduced me to all sorts of songs (mostly songs of the sea) over the years, and I have treasured every moment of the time I have been able to spend with him.
If you have any questions about maritime work songs, you will find Dick most knowledgeable. His Website says you can contact him at http://www.dickholdstock.com/contact.php

He is one of the most delightful people I know.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 11:33 AM

Lest we get too focused on rowing & oar songs... from: Spanish sea shanties

"There were Roman/Hiberian maritime corporations & unions (codicarii & helciarii), and maritime work songs (chorus helciariorum) in the year zero.... Monte Testaccio"


Seneca the Younger(c.4 BC–AD65)
“Stridentum et moderator estedorum,
Curvorum, et chorus Helciariorum”
[The Epistles of Lucius Annæus Seneca, Vol.I, Morrel, 1786, p.199]

Marcus Valerius Martialis (c.40–AD101)
“Ne blando rota fit molefta fomno;
Quem nec rumpere nauticum celeufma
Nec clamor valet helciariorum.”
[Martial iv, 64]

So-called for the yokes they wore: helcium

See also:
towpath
hobbler
Steamboat coonjine songs
volga boatmen, stevedores, cotton screwers...ad infinitum

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Jack Campin
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 12:42 PM

There is a (possibly bogus) explanation of the Galician "alala" songs, that they derive from Greek and Phoenician rowing songs.

I wonder if anywhere in the vast unread corpus of Egyptian or Mesopotamian writings we have any boatmen's songs from the Nile or Euphrates 4000 years ago?

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 02:36 PM

Would depend on whether anyone thought it worthwhile noting them down. Since it seems that as recently as c.1910 Chaliapin was surprised to be asked to make a recording of the Song of the Volga Boatmen, which could certainly be described as at least an aquatic work-song, it's unlikely there were any "folk song collectors" in Ancient Egypt &c. Just a wee joke.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 06:17 PM

If these walls could talk...

Hardest to come by is music; the lyrics are not easy; it's mostly, but not all, literary references, heavy on the dictionaries &c.

If there is one (1) word for it all down through the ages it's celeusma, and Martial is the go-to citation – typical: Chanties of Capt. Tho. Forrest

“Ceffatis, pueri, nihilque môftis?
Vatreno, Eridanoque pigriores?
Quorum per vada tarda navigantes,
Lentos figitis ad celeufma remos.
Jam prono Phaëthonte fudat Æthon;
Exarfitque dies, et hora laffos
Interjungit equos meridiana.
At vos tam placidas vagi per undas,
Tuta luditis otium carina:
Non nautas puto vos, fed Argonautas.


Why, my lads, more fluggifh go,
Than Vatrenus, or the Po?
Think ye through their ftill ye fteer,
Drawling-oars to wait the chear?
Phaeton begins to fire,
Ethon lo! in full perfpire;
Now the noon-tide hour proceeds,
To repofe the panting fteeds.
Ye, ferene upon the wave,
Sun, and wind, and water brave.
No mere navigators now,
Ye are Argonauts,* I vow.”

*Argonauts, (in one fenfe) fluggifh mariners.c.95AD – The Epigrams of Martial
[A Voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan, Forrest, 1779, p.305)]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 06:18 PM

“Cessatis, pueri, nihilque nostis?
Vaterno, Rasinaque pigriores,
quorum per vada tarda navigantes
lentos tinguitis ad celeusma remos.
iam prono Phaethonte sudat Aethon
exarsitque dies et hora lassos
interiungit equos meridiana.
at vos tam placidas vagi per undas
tuta luditis otium carina,
non nautas puto vos, sed Argonautas.

Slack are ye, O youths, and no watermen, more sluggish than Vaternus and Rasina, along whose slow shallows ye float, and dip lazy oars in time to the boatswain's call. Already, while Phaethon slopes downwards, Aethon1 sweats, and the day has burst in flame, and the noontide hour unyokes weary steeds. But you, straying along waves so placid, play in idleness on a safe keel. Not tars do I hold you, but tarriers.2

1 One of the horses of the Sun.
2 Argonautas, which may be interpreted “Argonauts” or “lazy sailors”….”
[Martials Epigrams Vol.I, III. LXVII, Kerr, 1925, pp.206-207]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 06:20 PM

“THE LAZY BOATMEN

My lads, you naught of rowing know;
        You're lazy, I'm afraid.
More sluggish than the shallow tide
        Where dips your languid blade.

The sun has climbed to heaven's height,
        His steeds all panting seem
And now the hour of midday rest
        Unyokes the weary team.

You pull along the placid waves;
        But with instraightened back.
The boat is safe; you take your ease;
        Your tars not jack but slack.
[Martialis, The Twelve Books of Epigrams, Pott, Wright, 1925]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 06:22 PM

All the dictionary citations to follow notwithstanding Lazy Boatmen is not a celeusma. It's a novelty tourist complaint about slow service with a pun on argonaut for the punchline. Still works as a reference though.

As one can see from the spread of translations, heaven only knows how it might have rolled off the Latin tongue, or fidula, in AD100. Not as well as On Charinus one suspects:

“On Charinus.
Charinus is perfectly well,
and yet he is pale;
Charinus drinks sparingly,
and yet he is pale;
Charinus digests well,
and yet he is pale;
Charinus suns himself,
and yet he is pale;
Charinus dyes his skin,
and yet he is pale;
Charinus indulges in... infamous debauchery,
and yet he is pale.”
[Martial, 77]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,David
Date: 11 Mar 20 - 07:22 PM

Chanteys are a class of deep water sailor work songs. Rowing songs are just that- work songs used for rowing but not chanteys.Farm and field songs and waulking songs are work songs but not chanteys.
Chanteys are used for basically two jobs; heaving & hauling. The exception is the furling or bunting chantey which involves a quick upward lifting thrust of the sail onto the yard.
Hugill explained it years ago in Shanties From the Seven Seas and he publicly lectured on it almost 'til the day he died.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 04:42 PM

Longus (c.150AD?)

“There was one amongst them, that was the Celeustes or the hortator to ply, and he had certain nautic-odes, or Sea-songs: the rest like a Chorus all together strained their throats to a loud holla, and catcht his voice at certain intervals. While they did thus in the open Sea, the clamor vanisht, as being diffused in the vast ayr. But when they came under any Promontore, or into a flexuous, horned, hollow bay, there as the voice was heard stronger, so the Songs of the Celeusmata, or hortaments to the answering Marriners, fell clearer to the Land. The hollow valley below received into it self, that shrill sound as into an Organ, and by an imitating voice rendered from it self all that was said, all that was done, and every thing distinctly by it self; by it self the clattering of the Oars: by it self the whooping of the Sea-men: and certainly it was a most pleasant hearing. The Sound coming first from the Sea, the Sound from the Land ended so much the later, by how much it was slower to begin. Daphnis therefore taking special notice of the Musick attended wholly to the Sea, and was sweetly affected, endeavouring while the Pinnace glided by like a bird in the ayr, to preserve to himself some of those tones to play afterwards upon his Pipe.”
[Longus, Daphnus & Chloe, Thornley ed, 1657]

Lesbos

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 06:45 PM

Bit of naval architecture trivia.

Tessarakonteres: "...a very large catamaran galley reportedly built in the Hellenistic period by Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt (221-204BC.)" [wiki]

Note: Four thousand oarsmen, mostly for show. Probably the 'golden age' for rowing chorus size but at 16 million calories/day + beverage just for the propulsion, who can afford it? The Romans never went for the megaboat concept.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 06:59 PM

It's the year 0200AD. Origins revisted -

Stan Hugill (1906-1992)

“Early shantying was, from what we know, little more than primitive chanting and wild aboriginal cries to encourage the seamen to keep time and work harder, and the fierce elemental yells on a rope known as 'sing-outs' were to be heard even in modern times aboard sailing vessels and occasionally aboard steamers while some sailing ship shellbacks still remain to sing them.
                ***
Many research workers have delved into the past endeavouring to find ancient references to seamen singing at their work, but their efforts have produced little. Undoubtedly early seamen did sing at their work, but I rather fancy that in Greek and Roman galleys, triremes, and whatnot any singing that was done would be at the oars—rowing songs rather than heaving and hauling chants. Miss Lucy E. Broadwood, in the Journal of the Folk Song Society, writes in similar vein. Sir Maurice Bowra, who has kindly waded through many exisitng Greek texts on my behalf, has produced two sailor songs only, both from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and of these he writes: 'It is not certain that either of these pieces is a sea-shanty in the strict sense of the word, but the first looks as if it were sung by a group of sailors competing and the second is clearly a sailor's song.'”
[Hugill]

Safe to say Hugill & Longus disagree about the artistic mileage of the oar song.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 12 Mar 20 - 07:04 PM

Pt.II

“...although there is little evidence to support this, some historians argue that the maritime musical form can be traced as far back as Ancient Egypt...” [Reidler, see OP]

Wiki
“Etymology
The phenomenon of using songs or chants, in some form, to accompany sea labor preceded the emergence of the term "shanty" in the historical record of the mid-19th century.

Emergence
Singing or chanting has been done to accompany labor on seagoing vessels among various cultural groups at various times and in various places. A reference to what seems to be a sailor's hauling chant in The Complaynt of Scotland (1549) is a popularly cited example.

Work chants and "sing-outs"
There is a notable lack of historical references to anything like shanties, as they would come to be known, in the entirety of the 18th century. In the second half of the 18th century, English and French sailors were using simple chants to coordinate a few shipboard tasks that required unanimous effort.”


Where we're at:
Martial et al should suffice for a “maritime musical form” in general being a part of the military, business and artistic communities, including Hellenistic Egypt, since the first century AD, romanticism and all. Sheerin's notes & bibliography alone will do the trick, if you can get at it.

And it's still only 200AD.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 05:19 AM

See Hugill above: Oxyrhynchus Papyri (c.300AD)

Mudcat search draws a blank. Not much to go on:

Graeco-Egyptian Literary Papyri
Scroll #1383 – Sailor's Song (Late third century.)

“This interesting little poem, a prayer to the Rhodian winds for a calm voyage, apparently complete, is closely parallel to 425*, a brief invitation to sailors to compare the sea and the Nile, written in the second or third century...”

*Poetical Fragments:
Scroll #425 – No title – “...a short extract from some lyric poem copied out as a school exercise.”

Conchy note: Greek chorus has more phrases & tropes for 'enhorting the cohort' than the Eskimos do for 'it's cold outside.' In a later century the poet would be invoking St. Elmo.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 05:32 AM

Homer, Virgil, Ovid &c get worn thin in the modern references. Save it for later.

wikis:
Vulgate
Septuagint

Strong's Hebrew: 1959. hedad - a shout, shouting, cheer.

Strong's Greek: 2752. keleusma - a word of command, a call, an arousing outcry.

"...from Aeschylus and Herodotus down, an order, command, specifically, a stimulating cry, either that by which animals are roused and urged on by man, as horses by charioteers, hounds by hunters, etc., or that by which a signal is given to men, e. g. to rowers by the master of a ship (Lucian, tyr. or catapl. c.19), to soldiers by a commander (Thucydides 2,92; Proverbs 24:62.)”

2753. keleuó - command, order, direct, bid.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 05:37 AM

See also: Lyr Req: songs from 'Grapes of Wrath'

Book of Jeremiah (c.600BC)

“25:30. Et tu prophetabis ad eos (vel, contra eos) omnia verba hæc, et dices illis, Jehova ab excelso rugiet, et ex habitaculo sanctitatis gase edet vocem suam; rugiendo rugiet super habitaculum suum; celeusma (clamorem potius generaliter) quasi prementium torcular respondebit super cunctos incolas terræ.

25:30. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth."

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Mar 20 - 05:43 AM

Alala
Antiphon

Augustine of Hippo (354–430AD)
Sidonius Apollinaris (430–489AD)

“CELEUSMA (?e?e?e??, to call). In antiquity the celeusma was the shout or cry of boatmen, whereby they animated each other in the work of rowing; or, a kind of song, or formula, rehearsed or played by the master or others, to direct the strokes and movements of the mariners, as well as to encourage them to labour. The word is used by some early Christian writers in application to the hallelujah, which was sung in ecclesiastical assemblies. Apollinaris says, that the seamen used the word hallelujah as their signal, or celeusma, at their common labour; making the banks echo when they sung hallelujah to Christ. In the church, hallelujah was sung by all the people. St. Augustine says, it was the Christians' sweet celeusma, whereby they invited one another to sing praises to Christ.”
[An Ecclesiastical Dictionary, Explanatory of the History, Antiquities, Heresies, Sects, and Religious Denominations of the Christian Church, Farrar, 1853]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Mar 20 - 06:30 PM

The original, (also above:)

"Stridentum et moderator effedorum
Curuorum hinc chorus helciariorum,
Refponfantibus alleluja ripis,
AdChriftum leuat amnicum celeuma (leg.celeufma)
Sic, fic pfallite nauta vel viator.”
[Apollinarus, I. ep.10]


Jerome (347-420AD)

“It [Allelujah] was sung every day in Spain, except upon fast-days; though it was otherwise in the African Churches.” St. Jerome says it was used in private devotion, “For even the ploughman, at his labour, sung his Allelujahs.” And this was the signal, or call, among the monks' to their ecclesiastical assemblies: for one went about and sung Allelujah, and that was the notice to repair to their solemn meeting. Nay, Sidonius Apollinaris seems to intimate," that the seamen used it as their “signal,” or celeusma, at their common labour, making the banks echo while they sung Allelujah to Christ.”
[Origines Ecclesiasticae: or, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol.IV, Bingham, 1840]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Mar 20 - 06:41 PM

It's 500AD. The capital of the Eastern Empire moved to Constantinople c.330AD. The Western Empire collapsed c.470AD. The 'Dark Ages' are going to start off… literally… dark:

wikis:
Lake Ilopango
Extreme weather events of 535–536
Late Antique Little Ice Age (c.600-700AD)

Imagine rowing or towing Ptolemy IV's Tessarakonteres upstream in the rainy season.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 16 Mar 20 - 01:19 AM

It's a day early but here's one for the Irish:

Antiphonary of Bangor

Columbanus (540-614)?
oooor…
Colman nepos Cracavist (c.800)?

“Connections with Bobbio
On the basis of similarity in prosody, he (Colman) has also been identified as the composer of certain poems traditionally assigned to Columban, the saint and founder of Bobbio Abbey. These are Columbanus Fidolio, Ad Hunaldum, Ad Sethum, Praecepta vivendi, and the celeuma.” [wiki, Herren (2000)]

Heads up: The footnotes were written a long while after (1894 & 1914) St. Columbanus... or whomever:

“Boating Song.
Heia5 viri, nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!
        Arbiter6 effusi late maris ore sereno
        Placatum stravit pelagus posnitque procellam,7
        Edomitique vago sederuut pondere fluctus.
5 Heia, viri, nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!
        Annisu8 parili tremat ictibus acta carina.
        Nunc dabit arridens pelago concordia caeli
        Ventorum Inotu praegnanti9 eurrere velo.
Heia, viri, nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!
10         Aequora prora secet delphinis aemula saltu
        Atque gemat largum, promat seseque lacertis,
        Pone trahens canum deducat et orbita10 sulcum.
Heia, viri, nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!
        Aequore flet corus:11 “vocitemus nos tamen heia!
15         Convulsum remis spumet mare: nos tamen heia!
        Vocibus adsiduis litus resonet: tamen heia!

5 yoho!         6 the lord        7 blast.        8 pull                9 swelling.                10 track.                11north wind.

Heia, viri, etc. A boating song, of uncertain age, found in a Berlin MS. of the eighth century. There is frequent mention in the ancient writers of the nauticus cantus (e.g. Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. 35) of boatmen at the oar; and the practice of singing at work also appears to have been general. Thus Varro, cited by Nonius (56), speaks of the vine-dressers singing at the vintage, and the sarcinatrices in machinis, which one would like to translate, “the seamstresses over their sewing machines.” For the spirited lines given here, see Bährens, Poet. Lat. Min. iii. 167, and Peiper in the Rheinisches Museum, xxxii. 523.

nostrum. Agreeing with the second heia, “our yoho.””
[Roman Life in Latin Prose and Verse, Peck, Arrowsmith, 1894]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 16 Mar 20 - 01:21 AM

More of the same:

Heia Viri

“p.172
Provided by the king with a body of sturdy oarsmen, the pilgrims descended the Moselle to Coblenz, where their boats swung into the "wide and winding Rhine". When Columban saw how the rowers toiled at their oars to make head against the rapid current, the refrain of an ancient boat-song ran through his mind:

        Heia viri! nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!
        Courage, men! let the echo of our song reply courage!

He thought it would encourage the boatmen to bend more lustily to their work if the strokes of their oars were accompanied by some such strain. So in imitation of the old pagan song, and retaining in part its wording, he composed a Christian sailor's song, the only example of its kind that has come down to us.2 Just as the sailors—such is its theme—encourage one another to oppose stout hearts to wind and wave and shower, so should Christian men with firm faith and trust in God after the example of Christ resist and overcome the assaults of Satan:

                                1.
        En silvis caesa fluctu meat acta carina
        Bicornis Rheni,3 et pelagus perlabitur uncta.4
        Heia viri! nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!

                                2
        Extollunt venti flatus, nocet horridus imber,
        Sed vis apta virum superat sternitque procellam.
        Heia viri! nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!

p.173
                                3.
        Nam caedunt nimbi studio caeditque procella,
        Cuncta domat nisus, labor improbus omnis vincit.5
        Heia viri! nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!

                                4.
        "Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis,6
        O passi graviora, dabit Deus his quoque finem ".7
        Heia viri! nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!

                                5.
        Sic inimicus agit invisus corda fatigans,
        Ac male temptando quatit intima corde furore.
        Vestra, viri, Christum memorans mens personet heia!

                                6.
        State animo fixi hostisque spernite strophas,
        Virtutum vosmet armis defendite rite.
        Vestra, viri, Christum memorans mens personet heia!

                                7.
        Firma fides cuncta superat studiumque beatum,
        Hostis et antiquus cedens sua spicula frangit.
        Vestra, viri, Christum memorans mens personet heia!

                                8.
        Rex quoque virtutum rerum f ons summa potestas
        Certanti spondet, vincenti praemia donat.
        Vestra, viri, Christum memorans mens personet heia!

Notes
p.172
2 The text of this Carmen Navale was discovered by Dr. W. Meyer, Secretary of the City Library of Munich in a Leyden MS. of the tenth century. He sent it to Ernst Diimmler, who immediately recognized it as an imitation of the ancient Boat-Song discovered by him in a Berlin MS. From the name of the author on the margin the first part is cut off; the second part—banus has led Krusch and Gundlach (N. Archiv., XV, 514) to ascribe it to St. Columbanus, with all the more probability as in the Berlin MS. the ancient boat-song is immediately followed by Columban's Verses to Fidolius.
3 Verg. Aen., 8, 727.
4 Ibid., 91.

p.173
5 Verg. Georg., I, 145.
6 Aen., I, 207.
7 Aen., I, 199.
[The Life and Writings of Saint Columbanus (542-614), Metlake, 1914]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 16 Mar 20 - 01:26 AM

See Gibb on Lowlands and Hugill on origins (above.)

I'll say this for those wild & primitive pagan aboriginals… they clean up nice:

Lumen Vocale "Heia Viri"
Heia Viri – Anúna

“This version of the Roman rowing song was reputedly adapted by the Irish monk St. Columbanus (d. 615). This is one of his best known poems, and was probably inspired by his journey up the Rhine after his expulsion from Gaul.”
[McGlynn sheet music detail]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 09:42 PM

Earlier mention, refrain only:

“Dass dieses Verfahren unmethodisch ist, den Sinn des Gedichtes stört und die Entstehung der Verderbniss nicht erklärt, werde ich an anderm Orte ausführlicher zeigen. Die Collation de Handschriften, besonders die des so musterhaft schön gesschriebenen Bembinus, ist, wie mich eine Nachcollation derselben 1875 überzeugte, in so hohem Grade nachlässig ausgeführt, dass Bährens nicht einmal die Schreibung des Namens des Vergil richtig angibt; im Titel hat der Bembinus uirgilii, nicht wie Bährens behauptet Uergilii! Auch darüber an anderm Orte Näheres. – S.76ff. gibt Bährens drei Inedita. Mit Sicherheit ist davon nur dar Schifferlied aus dem codex Santenianus s. VIII – IX, 16 Hexameter mit dem viermaligen Refrain »heia, viri, nostrum reboans echo sonet heia!« dem Alterthum angehörig; bei den Versen über Baiae und über Lucretia aus einem Manuscript des 15. Jahrhunderts scheint dies sehr zweifelhaft zu sein.”
[Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der classischen Alterumswissenschaft, Bursian, 1877]


Also: #62 in The Hundred Best Poems (Lyrical) in Latin (MacKail ed, 1906.) Same lyrics as Peck-Arrowsmith with no footnotes & credit to: “Incerti Auctoris.”

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 09:46 PM

Norwegian Bokmål & Nynorsk: heiarop
1. shout of "heia!", a cheer.

Swedish: heja
1. (with på) cheer (on someone/something)
                Jag hejar på Manchester United.
                I cheer on Manchester United.
2. to greet by saying "hi!"


"The Scots (originally Irish, but by now Scotch) were at this time inhabiting Ireland, having driven the Irish (Picts) out of Scotland; while the Picts (originally Scots) were now Irish (living in brackets) and vice versa. It is essential to keep these distinctions clearly in mind (and verce visa)."
[1066 and All That]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 09:54 PM

“Cani, inquit, remigibus celeuma per fymphoniacos folebat, & per affam vocem, id eft, ore prolatam, vt in Argo naui per cytharam. poffumus etiam intelligere ad hoc fymphoniacos capi folere, vt in claffe pugnantibus clafficum canant, vnde ipfi tubæ claffis nomen pofitum eft clafficum.”
[Ioannis Antonii Valtrini Romani, Societatis Iesv, de re Militari Veterum Romanorum Libri Septem, 1597]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 10:04 PM

More on Greco-Roman maritime job-titles & infrastructure:

“The person who steered the ship and directed its course was called GUBERNATOR, the pilot, sometimes also MAGISTER, Virg. Æn. v. 176. Sil. iv. 719, or RECTOR, Lucan. Viii. 167. Virg. Æn. iii. 161. 176. He sat at the helm, Cic. Sen. 6.; on the top of the stern, dressed in a particular manner, Plaut. Mil. iv. 4.41. 45., and gave orders about spreading and contracting the sails (expandere vel contrahere vela), plying or checking the oars (incumbere remis vel eos inhibere), &c. Virg, v. 12. x. 218. Cic. Orat, i. 33. Att. xiii. 21.

It was his part to know the signs of the weather, to be acquainted with ports and places, and particularly to observe the winds and the stars, Ovid. Met. iii. 592. Lucan. viii. 172. Virg. Æn. iii. 201. 269, 513. For as the ancients knew not the use of the compass, they were directed in their voyages chiefly by the stars in the night-time, Horat. Od. ii. 16. 3., and in the day-time by coasts and islands which they knew. In the Mediterranean, to which navigation was then chiefly confined, they could not be long out of the sight of land. When overtaken by a storm, the usual method was to drive their ships on shore (in terram agere vel efficere), and when the danger was over, to set them afloat again by the strength of arms and levers. In the ocean they only cruised along the coast.

In some ships there were two pilots, Ælian. ix.40., who had an assistant called PRORETA, Plaut. Rud. iv. 3.75. i. e. Custos et tutela proræ, who watched at the prow, Ovid. Met. iii. 617.

He who had command over the rowers was called HORTATOR and PAUSARIUS (keleustes), Plaut. Merc. iv. 2. 4. Senec. Epist. 56. Ovid. Ibid., or Portisculus, Plaut. Asin. iii. 1. 15. Festus, which was also the name of the staff or mallet with which he excited or retarded them, (celeusmata vel hortamenta dabat), Plaut. Asin. iii. 1, 15. Isid. Orig. xix. 12. He did this also with his voice in a musical tone, that the rowers might keep time in their motions, Serv. ad Virg. Æn. iii. 128. Sil. v. 360. Valer. Flacc. i. 460. Martial. iii. 67. iv. 64. Quinctil. i. 10. 16. Stat. Theb. vi. 800. Ascon. in Cic. Divin. 17. Hence it is also applied to the commanders, Dio. l. 32. Those who hauled or pulled a rope, who raised a weight, or the like, called HELCIARII, used likewise to animate one another with a loud cry, Martial, ibid., hence Nauticus clamor, the cries or shouts of the mariners, Virg. Æn. iii. 128. v. 140. Lucan. ii. 688.
[Roman Antiquities, Adam, 1825]

Funerary Procession in the tomb of Qar (c.2350-2180BC)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 10:08 PM

“This active trade was maintained by well-organized ports on sea and river, with large fleets to serve them, and by a fine road network. From earliest times merchants and craftsmen organized themselves into corporations not unlike medieval guilds, and a the state came more and more to concern itself with commerce these became important features in an increasingly regimented society. In sea-ports like Narbonne and Arles the most imposing corporations were those of the traders by sea, the powerful navicularii; at river ports there were the nautae, the river shippers, barge owners, etc.—generally men of substance and weight in their city. Rather less august are the corporations of utricularii, lightermen, boatmen, etc., and the ratarii who were concerned in the building and use of rafts and may have worked ferries.

The utricularii seem to have been distinguished by their boats or rafts made buoyant by inflated skins, very useful in the navigation of the lagoons of the south. Such boats had been used by Hannibal when he crossed the Rhone. Many inscriptions of utricularii have been found, particularly in Provence, and at Narbonne and up the trubutaries of the Rhone (e.g. at Vaison on the Ouvèze). One intersting case is an identity disc from Cavaillon, with on one side the inscription Colle(gium) utri(clariorum) Cab(ellesnsium) L(uci) Valer(ii) Succes(si), and on the other a little model of an inflated skin.

Heavy traffic went as far as possible by river, and the nautae are extremely important all over Gaul and are known on the Rhone, Saône, Seine, Durance, Ardèche, Ouvèze, Loire, Aar, Moselle, Rhine. The nautae were responible for the portage of goods from one river to another, so owned wagons as well as ships and barges. A shipper from Vannes has left an inscription at Lyons showing that he belonged to the corporation of nautae both of Loire and the Saône.

There were also corporations of hauliers—helciarii whose painful task it was to tow barges upstream, and some attractive sculptures show them at work. Sidonius writes of the boatmen he heard singing as the towed their cargoes through Lyons.”
[Roman-Gaul, Brogan,1953]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 20 - 10:13 PM

Phil, this is great stuff. Can you get in touch with me?
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:11 AM

“Rowing oars have been used since the early Neolithic period. Wooden oars, with canoe-shaped pottery, dating from 5000–4500 BC have been discovered in a Hemudu culture site at Yuyao, Zhejiang, in modern China. In 1999, an oar measuring 63.4 cm (2 ft) in length, dating from 4000 BC, was unearthed in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.” [Rowing wiki]

Man'yoshu (c.750AD)
"492 Hearing the song of a boatman rowing up the river, on the second day. [xix: 4150]

In my morning bed I listen–
        Afar on Imizu's stream
Sings a boatman,
Plying his morning oars.”

The mansion of Yakamochi, Governor of Etchi, probably stood on the hill near the river of Imizu.


749–51 Referring to various things.[xv: 3627-0]

...As daylight came and the flood-tide reached us,
Cranes called flying to the reedy coast;
To leave the shore with morning calm,
Both our boatmen and rowers,
Laboured with loud cheers ;
And like the grebes we pushed our way
To see the dim, far isle of 'Home.'”
[The Man'yoshu, Yakamochi, Gakujutsu Shinkokai ed., 1965]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:20 AM

The 'Dark' Ages are reflected in the sources, or lack thereof, for now.

c.900 – The Icelanders/Danes/Norwegians colonized south-western Greenland. The West's maritime ecomony stretches from the American mainland to Asia Minor.

c.1000 The beginning of the age of sail, but not the end of the age of the oar & yoke:
Galley
Cog (ship)

Were the maryners glad or wrothe,
He made them seyle and rowe bothe;
That the galley gede so swyfte,
So doth the fowle by the lyfte.
[Richard Coer de Lyon (c.1300AD)]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:29 AM

Salve Regina (c.1100)
Lyr Req: Salve Regina

“It was set down in its current form at the Abbey of Cluny in the 12th century, where it was used as a processional hymn on Marian feasts. The Cistercians chanted the Salve Regina daily from 1218. It was popular at medieval universities as evening song, and according to Fr. Juniper Carol, it came to be part of the ritual for the blessing of a ship. While the anthem figured largely in liturgical and in general popular Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors.” [wiki]

Conchy note: There may be a measure of Adm. Columbus circular referencing re: "dear to sailors" connection. Still checking.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:40 AM

Jean de Joinville (1224-1317)
Erasmus (1466-1536)

“Peregrinatorium Religiosum – Manners and Customs on Shipboard – When the Priests and Clerks embarked, the Captain made them mount to the castle (round-top) of the ship, and chaunt psalms in praise of God, that he might be pleased to send them a prosperous voyage. They all with a loud voice sang the beautiful hymn of Veni Creator, from the beginning to the end, and while they were singing, the mariners set their sails in the name of God," [singing "Salve Regina,"] which was the Celeusma of the Middle Age. A Priest having said, that God and his mother would deliver them from all danger if processions were made three times on a Saturday, a procession round the mast was accordingly begun on that day.”
[British monachism, Fosbroke, 1817, p.441]


Conchy note: I'm having trouble getting at the Latin originals but... this is the first specific/exclusive mention of whatever a standard model heaving or hauling shanty might be. Compare/contrast the tone of the verbiage to Hugill on the Compostella 'peregrinatorium religiosum' of the same century (to follow.)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 03:50 PM

Hi, Phil
I don't like interrupting your excellent research but I think someone should point out that your subject 'Maritime work song in general' appears to have very tentative links to what you are posting.

The idea behind all of these 'work songs' is that the singing or chanting is an aid to the actual work. 'I acknowledge your 'might be' but all I see here is that the mariners were actually singing for other reasons than assisting their work. Seemingly totally religious reasons in this case.

The use of singing/chanting whilst rowing is well documented in many cultures.

Keep up the good work anyway.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 05:30 PM

Steve: It's the saints & scholars era of the celeusma. From the Greeks until the steam age, the only decrease in rowing song will be the size of the chorus. The two will cross paths at T.W. Higginson's oarsmen. There's a capstan or anchor vesper coming up as well. Longus' bunch chanting an alala to the 'Rhodian winds' isn't really a stretch.

It's certainly praise song. How did you divine your way to “totally” though? A cheer is a cheer is a cheer...

It'll get weirder at Reidler's Wagner (Heia! Yo-jo!) & Pirates of the Caribbean.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 05:34 PM

The "Compostella" stuff is here: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)

Also found under Pilgrim's Journey & other titles.