Maritime work song in general

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:47 PM

“Now, with declining day, on every hand,
The loaded boats turn slowly to the land,
Spread the light sail, or ply the bending oar,
And seek warm shelter on the wooded shore;
The boat song rising with its wonted charm,
Imparts new vigour to each sturdy arm;
Hamlet and camp attend the well-known note,
Expect the spoil, and hail the welcome boat.”
[The Hireling and Slave, Grayson, 1854]
William John Grayson (1788–1863)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:48 PM

“...and the cries of itinerant venders of iced sherbet along the shore were re-echoed by the capstan songs of the sailors on board the anchored vessels.”
[Poore, The Russian Guardsman, Gleason's Pictorial, vol.6, no.1, 7 Jan 1854]

“...but in a trice the drum was heard, as the crew hurried around the capstan, while the top-men, busily engaged in furling sail an instant previous, hastened to undo their labors.”
[Poore, The Russian Guardsman, Gleason's Pictorial, vol.6, no.7, 18 Feb. 1854]
Benjamin Perley Poore (1820 –– 1887)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:50 PM

“The scene is really particularly exciting. The sea gulls are still wheeling about, and screaming over head; the busy crowds on the beach––for we are but a short distance from land—are still plainly visible; and the sea is covered with boats belonging to the different seines, the men in which are splashing, shouting, huzzaing, scolding, and “Yo-heave-ho-ing,” to one's heart's content.”
[Kettle of Fish, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol.21, 1854]


“When he parts with his wife to go on a cruise, no tear moistens his cheek: there is the honest pressure of the hand, the fervent kiss, and then he claps on the topsail-halliards, or walks round at the capstan to the lively sounds of music….”
[Greenwich Hospital, The Kerry Magazine, Vol.1, Old Sailor, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:52 PM

“The Steamer is off; ––Captain perched upon the wheel house, keeps a wary eye around, and gives hoarse, hurried orders through a speaking trumpet;––men in red shirts clatter rapidly about the deck;— heavy hawsers are let go and fall with a splash into the water, and sailors with a merry “yo-heave-ho,” haul and coil them on board.––...”
[The Orange Peddler, The Pioneer Or, California Monthly Magazine, 1854]


“The shallop grates high on the glist'ning sand,––
They mount; again it leaves the shallow strand;
With well-plied oar it cleaves the watery way,
And hails the vessel moor'd within the bay:
The capstan creaks, and sounds the sailor's song,
As merrily the anchor's heaved along….”
[The Masked Prisoner, Poems By Thomas Olindee, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Jul 23 - 11:53 PM

“CALOMAR. m. El cantar de los marinaros en las maniobras para que todas las fuerzas marchen á compas, á una.
SALOMA. f. La accion de salomar. Nautica opera canendo acta.
SALOMAR. n. a. Naut. Gritar el contramaestre ó guardian diciendo varias retahilas, para que al responder á ellas, tiren todos á un tiempo del cabo que tienen en la mano. Operam canendo praescribere in navibus.
ZALOMA. f. Saloma.
ZALOMAR. a. Salomar.”
[Novísimo Diccionario de la Lengua Castellana, López, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:00 PM

“The bustle of the ship passes dimly around them; the hurrying noise of the crew and officers running on their duty; the tramp and song of the men at the capstan bars; the bells ringing, as the hour for departure comes nearer and nearer...”
[The Newcomes, Thackeray, 1854]
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863)


“...The monotonous song with which they braced the yards or heaved the capstan, seemed to have no more life in it than the creaking of the ropes or the turning of the windlass;...”
[Old Sights with New Eyes, A Yankee, 1854]


“...and down Lake and Water Streets, nothing was to be heard but the clattering of carriages, the uproar of barter, the dolorous monotone of the sailors' cry, as they turned the creaking windlass, or tugged at the bowline of some floating craft, and other like common, but to an unpractised ear, discordant sounds.”
[Manley, The Emigrant Girl, The Ladies' Repository, Vol.22, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:01 PM

“...This monotonous beat* is so suggestive of musical emotion, that it seldom fails to excite some familiar air among the workmen as they deal their blows on the anvil, or the sailors who draw the windlass; it calls up the instinct of song and merry feeling when the trio or quartet of flails resounds through the rural air, and its operations are, perhaps, most striking in martial music, where the measured tread of the soldier keeps time to the beat of the drum, that in its turn follows the natural impulse of the Tact-feeling.”
[Harmony of Tone, Dwight's Journal of Music, vol.VI, no.11, 16 Dec 1854]

*Bone music.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:10 PM

“O! interj., du navire! ship a-hoy! manner of hailing a ship at sea whose name is unknown; –– ! d'en haut! aloft there! ahoy! mast-head there! –– ! hisse! ––! hale! –– saille! –– ride! mode of singing out, as a signal to hoisr, haul, rowse together on a rope or tackle.
SING OUT, v.a. donner la voix.
SONG, s (used when heavinh, hposting, &c., voix, f; mind the –– ! à la voix!
UN, DEUX, TROIS! interj. exclamation, or song, used by French seamen when hauling bowlines; in like manner English salors call out, haul-in! haul-to! haul-belay!
VOIX, f. voice; vote; song used by sailors when heaving, hoisting or hauling; donner la ––, to sing out; porte ––, speaking trumper; à la portée de ––, within hail, call; vive ––, parole; à la ––, mind the song!”
[A Naval and Military Technical Dictionary, French-English, and English-French, Burn, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:12 PM

“As I said before, we were having tea; in fact, strictly speaking, we had had tea, the lively rattle of the cups had ceased, the crew had melted from singing into sleep, we were lying back on our divans dreaming over Latakia, and silence reigned–– when suddenly the distant plash of oars, and the strain of an Arab boat-song broke lengthening on our ears. The reis, raising himself on one arm, and shaking back his capote from his head, listened; then murmuring to himself, "Merkeb Ingleez" (English boat,) lay down. again to sleep.”
[Another Trip to the East, Or, a Winter's Tour in Egypt and the Holy Land, 1854]



“...trunks, boxes and bales of goods strewed the decks. Men running, working, swearing, shouting; ropes creaking; sailors singing in measure as they hoisted goods from the hold and let them down, with a swing of the derrick and a turn of the windlass,...”
[Vara Or, The Child of Adoption, Hornblower, 1854]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:19 PM

“It was a narrow chance. For when in crossing the isle Hunilla gained the high land in the centre, she must then for the first have perceived our masts, and also marked that their sails were being loosed, perhaps even heard the echoing chorus of the windlass song. The strange ship was about to sail, and she behind….”
[Salvator R. Tarnmoor*, The Encantadas, or Enchanted Isles, Putnam's Monthly, Vol.3, 1854]
*pseud. Herman Melville
The Encantadas

The above released in serial form. Reissued in 1856 as The Piazza Tales, Herman Melville.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:22 PM

“A VISIT TO ALBEMARLE SOUND.*
...Sixty or seventy men are usually kept in employ. Two large bateaux† are sent out from the beach, containing each fifteen or sixteen men, to shoot the seine or net, which is usually about a mile in length. After going, side by side, to some distance from the shore, the seine is divided; half being placed in one boat, and half in the other. They then separate, and glance off in opposite directions, to shoot or drop the seine, and slowly return to the beach. Two hours are allowed to pass; and then the men on the shore commence drawing in the seine, by means of four capstans. A capstan is a kind of windlass. Four horses are attached to each, being made to wind up a rope, by walking round a post firmly fixed in the sand.

The process of dropping the seine is a very picturesque one, and its effect is increased by a custom, the boatmen have, of singing a wild and beautiful chant, as they go off. Now, the rest stop, and one sings a solo; and again, they all join in chorus. The captain stands at the prow, and gives his directions for their course. The rustic song is softened into melody, as it floats over the waters, and mingles, as the bateaux recede, with the dreamy dash of waves along the shore. Does it not remind you of “Tasso's echoes,” over the lagunes of Venice, when, of old, beneath the Italian moon, the gondoliers used to sing alternate stanzas, from the poem of the bard of Jerusalem?

* On the coast of North Carolina
† The French name for boat. Particularly applied to large, light, flat-bottomed boats.”
[Rambles about the Country, Ellet, 1854]
Elizabeth F. Ellet (1818 – 1877)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jul 23 - 10:23 PM

See also: The Advent & Development thread for 1854's ––
Melboune, and the Chincha Islands, Peck.
Musings on the Thames and the Port of London, The Leisure Hour, (Nov.)
Na Motu: Or, Reef-Roving in the South Seas, Perkins.
White's Serenaders, White's New Ethiopian Song Book.
and more.

And here for: chearly, cheerly, cheerily, cheer'ly &c &c –– Origins: Cheer'ly Man - history (Cheerily Man)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:24 PM

“...sailors singing to the tune of “Good bye, my love, good bye;”...”

“Again the sailor's song is heard above all other sounds, mingled with the noise of the capstan, and the pleasant clink of the huge cable as it slowly ascends.”

“If a breeze springs up, and he has to pull somewhat in a hurry, all the driving of the captain will not induce Jack to pull the rope until the burden of his song indicates the proper time. He pulls to a tune, and he does not believe in pulling in any other way. It is pleasant at sea to hear the sailors' songs. In the midnight hour, they have a peculiar charm; some have even a melodious air; but few will bear a closer scrutiny. The chorus has a charm for the ear, but the words of the song sometimes disgust it. If Jack is lazy, or sleepy, or indifferent about what he is doing, he does not sing; a silent pull is a feeble pull. In rough winds and heavy seas, it is always cheering to hear the song, because we know Jack is then doing his best. Up bound the sails amidst the dangers of a storm, in the bitterest cold, in midnight gales––up they cheerily fly, to the tune of
        “Hang boys, hang!” or,
        “Haul the bowling, the bowling haul;”

the pull and the tug being unanimously given with the utterance of the last word. There is more singing in a clipper than in any other ship, because there is more work to do. So hard indeed is the work, that it is rarely the crew ship for a second voyage in the same craft.”

“Crowded as our clipper was, yet on they press the shrouds: ropes pulled by twenty pair of hands, stimulated by the songs of twenty lusty voices, hoist and unfurl more canvass to the breeze, and the towering masts reverberate to their enormous pressure.”

“But the “cracking,” “pressing on,” “go-a-head” tactics of clipper sailing are fraught with peril, as the sailors sing––

        “She is bound to go all night,
        She is bound to go all day;”

and she does so, without much thought of what is before her.”
[At Sea in a Clipper*, The Leisure Hour, vol.IV, 1855]
* James Baines (clipper)(1854)

Origins: 'Haul on the Bowline' melody
Lyr Add: Hanging Johnny (from Great Lakes sailors)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:41 PM

““Why, I calculate, if you look right before your nose, young one, you'll see her as big as life,” he answered, pointing to a large ship lying along the quay, on board which a number of men were employed about the rigging; while others, with a peculiar song, were hoisting in the cargo. I found that the first were riggers, and that the others were dock-porters, and that neither belonged to the ship: the regular crew, with the exception of two mates and the cook, not being engaged till just before the ship was ready for sea.” [p.35]

“All the time we were at work, some of the men, with good voices, led a song, in the chorus of which we all joined; and, I must say, we worked away with a will. It was harder work when we had to haul out the bits of ice, the ship being towed into the canal. With a cheerful shout we completed our canal, and got the ships into a natural lane; and the rest following close upon our track, we worked our way along, for many miles, by what is called tracking*.

This operation is very similar to the way a canalboat is dragged along a canal, through the green fields of England; only, that men have, in the case I am describing, to do the work of horses*. A towrope was made fast to the fore-mast, and about a third of each ship's company were ordered to drag their respective ships ahead. Away we went, as usual, with song and laughter, tramping along the ice, for miles together, and towing our homes, like snails, after us.” [p.260]
[Peter the Whaler: His Early Life, and Adventures in the Arctic Regions and Other Parts of the World, Kingston, 1855]

*see above: Chorus helciariorum, warping, cordelling &c &c.
Whalers and chanteys?

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:42 PM

“The great green woods of Carnarvon seemed literally swarming alive with them, and, to add to the audience, a large steamer––arriving almost too late––as it scuffled to a safe position, exhibited a dense mass of black hats and showy bonnets, enlivened by a brass band, which was not unappropriately playing 'Rule Britannia,' the breeze wafting along with it the manly, joyous song of the sailors who, at the capstans on the opposite shore, were cheerily hauling in the hawsers upon which, for the moment, the thread of our destinies depended.”
[Stokers and Pokers, Head, 1855]
Sir Francis Bond Head, 1st Baronet KCH PC (1793 – 1875)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:44 PM

“The sailors had deserted the sailyards; they no longer made the capstan creak, relieving themselves by their monotonous songs, nor with the united efforts of their strong arms lifted heavy burdens on the deck. With their numerous oars they hastened to the shore, and joyful with the thought of the evening's pleasure, sang in an harmonious choir some lovely couplets of an Italian song. It was the hour of cessation from labor; all became still.”
[Paul and Julia Or, The Political Mysteries, Hypocrisy and Cruelty of the Leaders of the Church of Rome, Pitrat, 1855]


“Ortatóre, s.m. 1. one who encourages the sailors; 2. a steersman, pilot. V. timoniere.”
[A New Dictionary of the Italian and English Language, vol.1&2, Comelati, Davenport, 1855]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:53 PM

““Take in the mainsail!” “Go aloft and take a reef in the maintop!” “In with the fore-main, and let the trysail run!” followed each other in haste, as the sailors moved to the cheering music of their songs in the work of preparing the ship to wrestle with a southwester. Everything being made snug, we waited its coming.”
[Travels in the Californias, and Scenes in the Pacific Ocean, Farnham, 1844]
Thomas J. Farnham (1804 –– 1848)


“SALOMA OU CELEUMA, é a cantìga, ou gritaria que fazem os marinheiros, quando alam algum cabo; isto é prohibido nos navios de guerra.
SALOMEAR, celeumear.”
[Novo Diccionario da Marinha de Guerra e Mercante, Freitas, 1855]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 01:24 AM

“...But one thing is observable in all cigar and tobacco factories, the men neither are nor look cheerful; they rarely enjoy those bright animal spirits which other occupations induce. The sports of the field have scarcely any attraction for them; they are frequently noisy at the “board,” and a whole factory full may sometimes be heard shouting the same song; but it is a very different affair to a chorus round the capstan, or the melody a dozen negroes make whilst plying their hoes or picking off the suckers from the tobacco plants.”
[Health of Tobacco Manufacturers*, Notes and Queries, vol.xxi, Saturday, 18 August, 1855]

*New Orleans

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 01:26 AM

“Perhaps it was some such influence as above is attempted to be described, which, in Captain Delano's mind, hightened whatever, upon a staid scrutiny, might have seemed unusual; especially the conspicuous figures of four elderly grizzled negroes, their heads like black, doddered willow tops, who, in venerable contrast to the tumult below them, were couched sphynx-like, one on the starboard cat-head, another on the larboard, and the remaining pair face to face on the opposite bulwarks above the main-chains. They each had bits of unstranded old junk in their hands, and, with a sort of stoical self-content, were picking the junk into oakum, a small heap of which lay by their sides. They accompanied the task with a continuous, low, monotonous chant; droning and druling away like so many gray-headed bag-pipers playing a funeral march….

...This assistance proved valuable. Tattered sail and warped yards were soon brought into some trim. And no brace or halyard was pulled but to the blithe songs of the negroes.”
[Benito Cereno, Putnam's Monthly, Vol.6, 1855]
Benito Cereno

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 01:28 AM

“The advantage which poetry has over prose, in producing an impression, and a more abiding impression, is universally acknowledged. Accompanied by music, its power is doubtless increased; yet we believe that the effect so frequently produced upon the sensibilities by some national air or popular ballad, or by the soul-inspiring melody of the sea-song, which gives animation to the sailor as he heaves at the windlass, or which beguiles the long, lone months of the foreign voyage, arise generally from the sentiment of the song, rather than the mere modulation of the sounds which accompanies them….”
[Our Pastor, Or, Reminiscences of Rev. Edward Payson, D.D., Pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Portland, Me., Weston, 1855]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 01:30 AM

“...The capstan was then manned, and the anchor began to rise to the measured song of the sailors, and the sound of the tam-tam. An immense matting sail was unfurled, a packet of fireworks let off, and as the breeze caught the junk we began to glide rapidly over the blue waters of the lake Pou-yang.” [p.297]

“...By degrees, as we advanced, the bed of the river enlarged itself, and the Canton junks became more numerous. The sound of the oars and the shrill nasal song of the sailors filled the air with a wild and melancholy harmony, that we listened to with a mingled feeling of joy and sadness.” [pp.410-11]
[The Chinese Empire, vol.II, Huc, 1855]
Évariste Régis Huc (1813 – 1860)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 07:49 PM

“...Sleep after this is entirely out of the question, for any one at least who has been always accustomed to pass the night in peace, for the very possibility of further indulgence therein is entirely precluded by the combination of noises immediately over head; the coiling of heavy ropes, shrill screaming of the pipes at short intervals, the rude singing of the men, and the heavy stamp-and-go, and above all the deafening clat-clat of the capstan itself, are sufficient not only to keep the unfortunate landsman awake, but generally compel him to come up on deck, as the only means of escaping from the distracting din; once there all seems comparatively quiet, and all sensation of noise is lost in the excitement of the scene; the annoying monotony of the stamp-and-go is now heard with pleasure, and the before grumpy passenger will find himself walking the deck to the same step, and perhaps even going so far as to allow himself to be so carried away with the song, as to join in the chorus with a hum to himself, or perhaps a low whistle.”
[Five Years in the East, Hutton, 1847]
Frederick Hutton (Royal Navy officer) (1801 – 1866)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 07:51 PM

“...Sin embargo, el fondo de la lengua es latin, tanto que algunos pasajes presentan al mismo tiempo un sentido latino y otro portugués. Este y el español conservan voces derivadas del griego sin el intermedio del latin (2),…
(2) Tales son el artículo o y ho; celeuma grito de los marineros; maganão astuto; roman, granado, de roa; cara gana etc. Véase Jo. Pedro Ribeiro, Disiert. chronologicas criticas.”
[Historia Universal, tom.III, Cantù, 1855]



“On leva l'ancre au chant des matelots, et bientôt après, grâce à une fraîche brise du sud-est qui enflait les blanches voiles du léger navire, on perdit de vue la terre de France pour se retrouver le lendemain matin longeant les côtes d'Angleterre.”
[L'Autre Monde, Marie de Grandfort, 1855]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jul 23 - 07:53 PM

““It is most cheering,” says the. correspondent, “to meet a set of these jolly fellows 'working up a gun to the camp.' From a distance you hear some rough, hearty English chorus, borne on the breeze over the hillside. As you approach, the strains of an unmistakable Gosport fiddle, mingled with the squeaks of a marine fife, rise up through the unaccustomed vales of the Crimea. A cloud of dust on the ascent marks their coming and tugging up the monster gun in its cradle, with 'a stamp and go,' and strange cries, and oaths sworn by some thirty tars, all flushed with honest exercise; while the officer in charge tries to moderate their excessive energies, and to induce the two or three hairy Herculeses who are sitting astride on the gun, or on the few horses in front, with vine-leaves in their hats, or flowers in their hair, to dismount and leave off the music.”
[Russell, Our Men-o-War's Men, The Dublin University Magazine, vol.46, no.276, December, 1855]
[The War: From the Landing at Gallipoli to the Death of Lord Raglan, Russell, 1855]
William Howard Russell (1827 – 1907)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:14 PM

c.1803 – 1805
“After this performance was closed we returned to Cooptee, which we reached at midnight, our men keeping time with their songs to the stroke of their paddles.” [p.103]

“The bringing in of this fish exhibited a scene of universal festivity. As soon as the canoes appeared at the mouth of the cove, those on board of them singing a song of triumph to a slow air, to which they kept time with their paddles,...” [p.109]
[Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, Alsop, 1849]
John R. Jewitt (1783 – 1821)
Nootka Sound


“...Now crossing the stream are numerous ferryboats, with passengers fresh from the rest of sleep, buoyant and braced for the day's trials and duties. Now comes ringing upon the ear the merry sound of the sailor's song as the anchor is weighed, the sail spread to the breeze and the vessel's head pointed to the outward passage.”
[New York Bay, The Sailor's Magazine, and Naval Journal, vol.XXII, 1850]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:19 PM

See Advent thread for 1855's:
Nordhoff x3
Twelve Years a Slave, Northrup
The Yarn of the Watch, (Ballou's) Farnsworth
Negro Minstrelsy – Ancient and Modern, (Putnam's)
Mountains and Molehills, Marryat



“…It is, even from the verge of the level, melancholy flat whereon we stand; a cheerful and enlivening picture, which ever and anon receives an additional animation from the blithe song of the sailors at windlass or capstan, or the ferry-boat or wherry bearing their lively burden to and fro across the waters of the benign river.”
[E.F.R., A Visit to Scott Russell's Dockyard, Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, pt.1, 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:23 PM

“As morning dawned, I was awakened by the shrill sound of the boatswain's whistle merrily piping all hands to heave up anchor. Hastening upon deck, I found the men tumbling up the hatchways in high spirits, yet orderly, and with the quiet discipline observed on board a man-of-war. A portion of the crew manned the windlass and hove short, while others loosed the sails and stretched the halyards across the deck. This accomplished, Harry came upon deck and issued the order to heave up.' The windlass flew swiftly round to an animated song from the whole crew, and soon the anchor was sighted and fished, the jib was run up and the schooner's head fell rapidly off from the wind, the fore, main, and both topsails were mastheaded, and we began to hear the water rippling under our stern.”
[Saunders*, The Privateer, Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine, vol.III, no.1, January 1856]
*Frederick W. Saunders? (more follows.)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:24 PM

“The double break was shipped, and with both pumps in operation we rattled away merrily to the tune of a lusty pump song, the name of which I have forgotten, if indeed it ever had a name at all. The first few lines I remember were something after this fashion:
        “Giner-rul Taylor, so-o they say––
        Heave ho-o, my lads, heave ho––
        Made San-ta An-na run a-way,
        All on the pla-a-ins of Mex-i-co….”

“...Our windlass flew swiftly round to the tune of “Johnny Tameringo, John Tamaree,” and the anchor, that had been atrip all the afternoon, was speedily hanging by the ring-stopper.”
[Saunders, Snake-Hunting, Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, vol.XI, no.1, 5 July 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:25 PM

“The sailors call letting down an anchor, dropping it, and they use what is termed a capstan to draw it up, or as they say, heave it again. The capstan of a ship is formed like those frequently seen along shore, used for drawing up the boats above high-water mark; it has a moveable top, called the drumhead, with holes around the sides, into which long poles, called capstan bars, are inserted; at each of these several men place themselves, and pushing with all their strength in one direction, the machine moves round, and winds in the cable: stamp! stamp! they go, with a ho heave oh! keeping time with their feet and voices, generally to the accompaniment of a drum and fife, or a fiddle, if it be a merchant ship; and the capstan creaks and groans, and the cable comes slowly in, like a huge sea serpent, to be stowed away, coil upon coil, in its proper place below, on the orlop deck. And the good ship, with her anchor weighed, as it is termed, leaves her moorings, and with sails spread or funnels smoking, ploughs the deep, or, as a poet has said––

                “Walks the waters like a thing of life,
                And seems to dare the elements to strife.””
[The Sea-Side Lesson Book, Adams,1856]
Henry Gardiner Adams (1811–1881)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Jul 23 - 06:27 PM

c.1856
“Drays and baggage-vans were clattering hither and thither in a wild hurry, every now and then getting blocked and jammed together, and then, during ten seconds, one could not see them for the profanity, except vaguely and dimly. Every windlass connected with every forehatch from one end of that long array of steamboats to the other, was keeping up a deafening whiz and whir, lowering freight into the hold, and the half-naked crews of perspiring negroes that worked them were roaring such songs as 'De las' sack! De las' sack!!' inspired to unimaginable exaltation by the chaos of turmoil and racket that was driving everybody else mad.”
[Life on the Mississippi, Twain, 1876]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 29 Jul 23 - 02:08 PM

Nice extracts, Phil!

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Aug 23 - 12:31 AM

“...The war-song of the Harlaw has been already noticed; it is a rugged tissue of alliteration, every letter having a separate division in the remarkable string of adjectives which are connected to introduce a short exordium and grand finale. The Jorram, or boat-song, some specimens of which attracted the attention of Dr Johnson, was a variety of the same class. In this, every measure was used which could be made to time with an oar, or to mimic a wave, either in motion or sound. Dr Johnson discovered in it the proceleusmatic song of the ancients; it certainly corresponds in real usage with the poet's description:

                        “Stat margine puppis,
                Qui voce alternos nautarum temperet ictus,
                Et remis dictet sonitum pariterque relatis,
                Ad numerum plaudet resonantia cœrula tonsis.”

Alexander Macdonald excels in this description of verse. In a piece called Clanranald's Birlinn, he has summoned his utmost efforts in timing the circumstances of a voyage with suitable metres and descriptions. A happy imitation of the boat-song has been rendered familiar to the English reader by Sir Walter Scott, in the “Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! ieroe,” of the “Lady of the Lake.””
[The Modern Scottish Minstrel; Or, The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century, vol.2, 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Aug 23 - 12:32 AM

“272. CELEUMA, ROUENGE.
Rouenge, ramage, chant des rameurs.
Celeuma pro celeusma, cantus nautarum quem in prosperis præsertim concinebant.––Glossar. Vet. ex cod. reg. 521: celeuma, clamor nauticus, quem efficiunt quandoque nautæ propter turbationem cœli. (Gloss. Ducange.)
        Chez les anciens, Grecs et Latins, celeusma, Kn?evopa, a été employé pour signifier le chant des vendangeurs.”
[Remarques sur le Patois Suivies d'un Vocabulaire Latin-Français Inédit du XIVe Siècle, Escallier, 1856]


“THE FISHING SONG.
...The oar-stroke times the singing,
        The song falls with the oar,
And an echo in both is ringing,
        I thought to hear no more….”
[Putnam's Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art, vol.8, 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Aug 23 - 12:34 AM

“CALOMÀ, s.m. T.Mar. rallentamento e dicesi del corso della barca specialmente per dicesa.
CALOMÀR, V.T. Mar. V. Calumàr.
CALUMÀR o CALOMÀR…
Calumàr le corde o le gomene, detto in T. Mar, Calumare o Calomare le funi o le gomene vale Allentarle, ed anche Tirare da un luogo all'altro un cavo, una rete, una barca.”
[Dizionario del Dialetto Veneziano, Boerio, 1856]


“...Avrà a sinistra il Forte di Porta Murata, e a destra il Porto con una o due file di bastimenti, che fanno pompa delle vario pinte polene, e delle bandiere nazionali; il suo udito sarà allettato da liete canzoni marinaresche, e il suo odorato dalle cene preparate a bordo.”
[Cenni Sopra Livorno e i Suoi Contorni, 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 06 Aug 23 - 12:36 AM

“...The steam was hissing with a continuous drony hum from the safety-valves; the sailors were walking round with the capstan, with even tramp and cheerful song;...”
[Clifton Grey, Or, Love and War, Egan, 1856]
Pierce Egan the Younger (1814 – 1880)


“CÉLEUSTE, n. m. (x??evotnc; gr.) Ant. gr. Celui qui chantait sur un navire pour encourager les rameurs. || Celui qui donnait les ordres aux matelots, aux rameurs et aux autres employés d'un bâtiment au moyen d'un instrument.
CÉLEUSTIQUE, adj. f. (xe?evotixóc, impératif, qui commande; gr.) Il se dit de l'art de transmettre des signaux par des instruments de musique.
–– N. f. Cet art lui-même : La céleustique.”
[Dictionnaire Universel de la Langue Française, vol.I, Poitevin, 1856]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 02:14 AM

“For the conveyance of all this there was no means of transport except the horses of the field batteries, and though they worked from daylight till dark the progress was very slow. But for the blue jackets it would have been slower still. The zeal and hearty goodwill with which these gallant fellows dragged up their ships' guns to the front was really admirable. Sometime half a ship's crew might be seen harnessed to a huge sixty-eight pounder, and walking away with it cheerily to the tune of some well-known sea-song; while the ship's fiddler, seated astride of the gun, plied his bow vigorously.”
[Scenes in Camp and Field, Sketches of the War in the Crimea, Vol.I, 1857]
General Sir Richard Wilbraham KCB (1811–1900)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 02:15 AM

“...In paddling, the entire crew strike the water as one man. Time is kept by songs and choruses, in which all join. The greatest velocity of a New Zealand canoe is six miles per hour.”
[Stories of the Island World, Nordhoff, 1857]


“Every thing was new to her; the singing of the sailors as they worked at the capstan or pulled at the bowline, all, all was to her novel and strange.”
[The Crooked Elm, Or, Life by the Wayside, Higgins, 1857]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 02:18 AM

“35465. ZALOMA: Cancion que usan los marineros para unir sus esfuerzos cuando tiran de un cabo, etc.
34566. ZALOMAR: Cantar la Zaloma, es decir, compasear con la voz en tono prolongado, melancólico, el impulso de los marineros que trabajan en una maniobra.”
[Diccionario General del Notariado de España y Ultramar: T-Z, Casas, 1857]


“Celeuma, tis ó Celeusma, tis. n. Canto, grita ó algazara de marineros cuando descubren tierra ó paradivertir el trabajo.
Celeustes, æ. m. El cómitre de galera.”
[Novisimo Diccionario Manual Español-Latino y Latino-Español, Leandro de Cabadijar, 1857]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 02:20 AM

...So, when the shades of evening were gathering grandly and gloomily around the dismantled parapets, and Louisburgh lay in all the lovely and romantic light of a red and stormy sun-set, it seemed but fitting that the cable-chain of the anchor should clank to the windlass, and the die-away song of the mariner should resound above the calm waters, and the canvas stretch toward the land opposite, that seemed so tempting and delectable….”
[Cozzens, A Month With the Blue Noses, The Knickerbocker, vol.49, no.6, June 1857]
Frederick Swartwout Cozzens (1818 – 1869)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 02:22 AM

“...Past our boat, as we approached [sic] the landing*, dashed a heavy, full-modeled barge, pulled by a score of oarsmen––all black as night, poor fellows!––and apparently just arrived from Yarriba-Borgoo**, or possibly from the hippopotamiferous shores of reedy Lake Ngami––slaves, every soul of them. Afar off they announced their coming, by a wild boat-song, timed to their stroke; the words in the Congo dialect, as nearly as we could judge….”
[Pernambuco, The Williams Quarterly, vol.V., no.II, November, 1857]
Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

* Recife
**Yoruba & Borgu (roughly speaking: Modern Benin, Nigeria, & Togo)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 05:15 PM

“Heaving the lead in shoal water.
Most officers admire the fine seaman-like song which is usually given by the leadsman in the chains while giving the soundings; and as Jack prides himself very much on his song while heaving the lead, it would be a pity to curtail that pride in the slightest degree, while the ship has plenty of water under her keel; but when the ship gets into shoal water, there should be no song in heaving the lead, as there can be little doubt but many ships have bumped, in order to make the hauling-in of the lead-line tally with Jack's song. It must therefore be very desirable that when a ship gets into shoal water, that the man in the chains should simply call out the number of fathoms, half-fathoms, quarter-fathoms, or feet. By doing this, the lead is hove much quicker, and the attention of the leadsman is wholly taken up with the soundings, instead of having his attention divided between the soundings and the song.”
[Professional Recollections on Points of Seamanship, Discipline, &c, Liardet, 1849]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 05:18 PM

“...the sweeps were got out with a hearty good will, the schooner was swept 3 days and 3 nights, the crew emulating each other to see which could pull the hardest, and sing the best songs for the sweeps to keep time to. At length we arrived at Port Royal, having had nothing but calms, and having for the last few days lived upon bread dust alone.”
[The Midshipman's Companion, Liardet, 1851]



“...Ve' nel porto miriadi di feluche e di navicelle, le cui fiamme si spiegano sollevate da lieve venticello, che circola fischiando fra i cordami; sentì il grato odore esalante dalle alghe marine, il canto dei marinai che spiegano le larghe vele grige, umide ancora della notturna rugiada,...”
[Plik e Plok, o il Gitano e il Pirata. Racconti due. Nuova Versione Ital*, Sue, 1851]
Eugène Sue (1804 – 1857)

*Earlier edition not found to date.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 05:23 PM

“Unusual sounds were heard on all sides. The deep-toned chorus of the sailor––the creaking of the capstan, and the clanking of the iron cogs––the “heave-ho!” at the windlass, and the grating of the huge anchor-chain, as link after link rasped through the rusty ring––sounds that warned us to make ready for a change.”
[The Rifle Rangers Or, Adventures of an Officer in Southern Mexico, vol.1, Reid, 1850]
Thomas Mayne Reid (1818 – 1883)


c.1850
“Ogni notte, al cessar del vento, la barca avanza lentamente, spinta dai remi, al monotono canto dei marinai….”
[Viaggio in Egitto, nel Sudan, in Siria ed in Palestina, (1850 – 51.), Dandolo, 1854]
Emilio Dandolo (1830 – 1859)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 05:26 PM

“Ogni notte, al cessar del vento, la barca avanza lentamente, spinta dai remi, al monotono canto dei marinai….”
[Viaggio in Egitto, nel Sudan, in Siria ed in Palestina, (1850 – 51.), Dandolo, 1854]


“SALOMARE. (Marin.) Sa-lo-mà-re. N. ass. V. Spagn. Dare la voce. (Salomar presso gli Spagnuoli è cantare, come fanno i marinari, nell'atto della manovra. In ebr. tsahal alzar la voce, mandar suori la voce tieta, e jam mare.) (S)”
[Vocabolario Universale della Lingua Italiana, vol.VII, Bellini, 1855]
See also: Vol.II above.

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Aug 23 - 05:36 PM

“CHAPTER IV
...A shore-boat was alongside, into which Webbe presently jumped; the capstan was manned, and sent round with a stamp and go; the anchor was brought home, and in less than five minutes, I should suppose, after we left the cabin, the Scout was dropping down the river, helped with a light air from the northward.”
[Kirke Webbe: The Privateer Captain, Chambers's Journal, no.183, 4 July 1857]
Uncredited: William Russell (1806 – 1876)


“...In both places, the people were busy thrashing wheat, men and women manipulating light flails, in strokes regulated with mathematical precision by the stanzas of a song chanted by a single leader, as on board ship, and the refrain taken up joyously by the whole body….”
[Social Progress at the Antipodes, Chambers's Journal, no.183, 4 July 1857]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:18 PM

“*Celerrima snel (8). schif geschrey (9. >< celeuma).
Celeum-a, -o (76), ceulesma (88) (i. clamor naut-icus, -arum t messorum sim., aus celeusma) ein schiffers o. meyers liede o. gesang (110, sim. 132). een schippers of maijers leis (107). sch. efte meiers 1. efte sank (109). lyt (99), schefsane (8um.). schiff geschrei (88). g. der schiffleute so si in noten sind o. ein yglich not-g. (74). mermin (Gf. 2, 774).
*Ceulesma v. Celeuma.”
[Glossarium Latino-Germanicum, vol.II, Diefenbach, 1857]
[Glossarium Mediae at Infimae Latinitatis: A-Z, Charles Du Fresne Du Cange, 1857]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:19 PM

“...The village was startled from sleep again by our return, and the crew were sleeping upon the deck; but in a few moments there was no more noise, and the junk was floating down in the moonlight, while its choicer freight was clouded in the azure mist of Latakiá, and heard only the sakias and the throbbing oars, and, at times, the wild, satanic rowing-song of the men, which Satan Saleh led with his diabolical quaver and cry….” [p.247]

“The moon rose and hung golden over Arabia, as the sad, monotonous song of the crew trembled and died away; and with its slow, measure throb the Howadji's hearts beat homeward.” [p.233]

“...The victim was put below, the crew rose from squatting on the shore and came aboard, and with plaintive songs and beating oars we drifted down the river once more, and watched the dim Theban mountains melt slowly away into invisibility.” [p.339]

“...A solitary phantom bark glides singing past––its sail as dark below as above, twin-winged in air and water. Whither, whither, ye ghostly mariners? Why so sad your singing? Why so languid-weary the slow plash of oars?” [p.350]
[Nile Notes of a Howadji, vol.I, Curtis, 1857]
George William Curtis (1824 – 1892)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:21 PM

Min River, Fuzhou.
“...Imagine a gondola-style of craft, thirty feet long by six broad, with two sails, if the wind blows fair, and ten oarsmen, if that fails, carrying out the opposites as usual; they push instead of pull the oar, to the accompaniment of a most singularly inharmonious chant, which Tom Moore would have found far more difficult to give place to rhythm and music than the farfamed night song of the Canadian boatmen….”
[Young America Abroad in Europe, Asia, and Australia, Train, 1857]
George Francis Train (1829 – 1904)

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:21 PM

“...This night was passed in equally as unpleasant a manner as the former one, and the first sound I heard in the morning was the crew singing the well known anchor song

                "A hundred years ago."

The massive chain began to move through the hawse-hole, and was drawn up link by link with the powerful windlass, till it lay upon the deck many a fathom. The anchor was soon secured in its place….”
[A Voyage to Australia and New Zealand, Askew, 1857]

Subject: RE: Maritime work song in general
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:22 PM

“The oarsmen are a joyous race, such as is found all along the coast, singing songs in their broken English, and occasionally hitting the sides of the canoe with their paddles in cadence. They sing perhaps, “Man-o'-war come again, come again, come again,” with an occasional “whist,” and a long stroke of the paddle;––then “white man, good man, dash (give) a dollar, dollar, dollar,” “white offisher, dash dollar, big white dollar,”—and so on;––until they reach the more dangerous part of the surf, when the song is exchanged for a slow religious invocation, and at last we are landed on the beach. This we cross, take boat again upon the lagoon, and land at last in Badagry*.”
[African Proverbial Philosophy, Putnam's Magazine, October, 1857]

* Badagry, Lagos, Nigeria