Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)

Subject: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 03:51 PM

Found this 15th c. sea song, no title given, so I have taken the command words from stanza 2. It is incorrectly called a shanty in some sources.

"The following curious ballad, which is by far the earliest yet discovered....in a MS of the time of Henry VI, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge R iii 19.
Ships were fitted out, "from different ports, with cargos of pilgrims, to the shrine of St. James of Compostella;" the pilgrims seem to have been regarded as "articles of exportation."

Notes and ballad from J. O. Halliwell, 1841, "Early Naval Ballads of England," Percy Society, printed by C. Richards.
Canadian Libraries, on line, www.archive.org/details/earlynavalballad2halluoft

HOWE! HISSA!
15c Sea Song

Men may leve all gamys,
That saylen to Seynt Jamys;
For many a man hit gramys,
When they begin to sail.
2
For when they have take the see,
At Sandwyche, or at Wynchylsee,
Brystow, or where that hit bee,
Theyr herts begin to fayle.
3
Anone the mastyr commaundeth fast
To hys shyp-men in all the hast
To dress hem sone about the mast
Theyr takelyng to make.
4
With "Howe! hissa!" then they cry,
"What, howte! mate, thow stondyst to ny,
Thy felow may nat hale the by;"
Thus they begyn to crake.
5
A boy or tweyne anone up-styen,
And over thwarte the sayle-yerde lyen;-
"Y how! taylia!" the remenaunte cryen,
And pull with all theyr myght.
6
"Bestowe the boote, bote-swayne, anon,
That our pylgryms may pley thereon;
For som ar lyke to cowgh and grone,
Or hit be full mydnyght."
7
"Hale the bowelyne! now, vere the shete!-
Cooke, make redy anoone our mete,
Our pylgryms have no lust to ete,
I pray God yeve him rest."
8
"Go to the helm! what, howe! no nere?
Steward, felow! a pot of bere!"
"Ye shall have, sir, with good chere,
Anone all of the best."
9
"Y howe! trussa! hale in the brayles!
Thow halyst nat, be God, thow fayles
O se howe well owre good ship salyle!"
And thus they say among.
10
"Hale in the wartake!" Hit shall be done."
"Steward! cover the boorde anone,
And set bred and salt thereone,
And tarry nat to long."
11
Then cometh oone and seyth, "be mery;
Ye shall have a storme or a pery."
"Holde thow thy pese! thow canst no whery,
Thow medlyst wondyr sore."
12
Thys menewhyle the pylgryms ly,
And have theyr bowlys fast theym by,
And cry afthyr hote malvesy,
"Thow helps for to restore."
13
And som wold have a saltyd tost,
For they myght ete neyther sode ne rost;
A man myght sone pay for theyr cost,
As for oo day or twayne.
14
Some layde theyr bookys on theyr kne,
And rad so long they myght nat se,-
"Allas! myne hede woll cleve on thre!"
Thus seyth another certayne.
15
Then commeth owre owner lyke a lorde,
And speketk many a royall worde,
And dresseth hym to the hygh borde,
To see all thyng be well.
16
Anone he calleth a carpentere,
And biddeth hym bryng with hym hys gere,
To make the cabans here and there,
With many a febyl cell.
17
A sak of strawe wewre there ryght good,
For som must lyg theym in theyr hood;
I had as lefe be in the wood,
Without mete or drynk.
18
For when that we shall go to bedde,
The pumpe was nygh our bedde hede,
A man were as good to be dede,
As smell thereof the stynk.

[Oh, those were the days!]

Notes from privateer -
"Howe-hissa!~ is still used aboard deepwater-men as Ho-hissa! instead of Ho-hoist away!... Y-howe! taylia! is Yo--ho! tally! or Tally and belay!- which means hauling aft and making fast the sheet of a mainsailor foresail.

That website gives quite a different version from Halliwell, simplified and verses changed or omitted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 03:53 PM

Oops! Didn't close off the 'bold but I think it is readable.

---

Fixed it.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 03:56 PM

www.bbprivateer.com/seashanty.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 05:39 PM

Q-

Very interesting find.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,bbprivateer
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 11:18 PM

The acutal discussion and the full version of this sea ballad is discussed at length here:
http://bbprivateer.com/howehiss.htm

In the introduction to shanties -- a partial version is given by William Wood.

It should be noted that:
The original text exists in Trinity College in Cambride,( MS.R,3,19,t.Hen.VI.) and is listed with Clene Maydenhod (From the Vernon MS.,ab.1370 A.D., in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

The version with notes is listed in entirety on this page.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:52 AM

More context at: Maritime work song in general

(No title.)
“                II.
From Trinity College Library, MS. R, 3, 19, containing Poems chiefly by Lydgate and Chaucer, written in the reign of Henry VI. on paper. -

Men may leve all gamys,
That saylen to Seynt Jamys;
For many a man hit gramys,
        When they begyn to sayle.

Ffor when they have take the see,
At Sandwyche, or at Wynchylsee,
At Brystow, or where that hit bee,
        Theyr herts begyn to fayle.

Anone the mastyr commaundeth fast
To hys shyp-men in all the hast,
To dresse hem Sone about the mast,
        Theyr takelyng to make.

With “howe! hissa " then they cry,
“What, howe! mate, thow stondyst to ny,
Thy felow may nat hale the by;”
        Thus they begyn to crake.

A boy or tweyn anone up-styen,
And overthwart the sayle-yerde lyen;—
“Y how ! taylia 1" the remenaunt cryen,
        And pull with all theyr myght.

“Bestowe the boote, bote-swayne, anon,
That our pylgryms may pley thereon;
Ffor som ar lyke to cowgh and grone,
        Or hit be full mydnyght.”

“Hale the bowelyne! now, vere the shete!—
Cooke, make redy anoon our mete,
Our pylgryms have no lust to ete,
        I pray God yeve hem rest.”

“Go to the helm what, howe no nere?
Steward, felow ! a pot of bere!”
“Ye shall have, sir, with good chere,
        Anone all of the best.”

“Y howe! trussal hale in the bravles
Thow halyst nat, be God, thow fayles,
O se howe well owre good shyp sayles!'
        And thus they say among.

“Hale in the wartake!” “Hit shal be done.”
“Steward! cover the boorde anone,
And set bred and salt thereone,
        And tarry nat to long.”

Then cometh oone and seyth, “be mery;
Ye shall have a storme or a pery.”
“Holde thow thy pese ! thow canst no whery,
        Thow medlyst wondyr sore.”

Thys mene whyle the pylgryms ly,
And have theyr bowlys fast theym by,
And cry aftyr hote malvesy,
        “Thow helpe for to restore.”

And som wold have a saltyd tost,
Ffor they myght ete neyther sode ne rost;
A man myght Sone pay for theyr cost,
        As for oo day or twayne.

Som layde theyr bookys on theyr kne,
And rad so long they myght nat se;—
“Allas! myne hede woll cleve on thre!”
        Thus seyth another certayne.

Then commethowre owner lyke a lorde,
And speketh many a royall worde,
And dresseth hym to the hygh borde,
        To see all thyng be well.

Anone he calleth a carpentere,
And byddyth hymbryng with hym hys gere,
To make the cabans here and there,
        With many a febyll cell,

A sak of strawe were there ryght good,
Ffor som must lyg theym in theyr hood;
I had as lefe be in the wood,
        Without mete or drynk.

For when that we shall go to bedde,
The pumpe was nygh our bedde hede,
A man were as good to be dede
        As smell therof the stynk.

                Explicit.
He that wyll in Eschepe ete a goose so fat,
        With harpe, pype, and song;
He must slepe in Newgate on a mat,
        Be the nyght never so long.
                                Secundum Aristotelem.
[Reliquiæ Antiquæ, Vol.I, Wright-Halliwell eds, 1841, pp.2-3]

wiki: Santiago de Compostela

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:55 AM

Bleh, forgot to check the crosslink: Maritime work song in general

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 12:57 AM

More Halliwell:

“                EARLY NAVAL BALLADS.
                THE EARLIEST SEA SONG.

The following curious ballad, which is by far the earliest yet discovered on this subject, was first pointed out by Mr. Wright, in a manuscript of the time of Henry VI. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, R. iii. 19. The key to the subject of it may be found in a singular letter printed in Sir Henry Ellis's Original Letters, Second Series, vol. i. p. 110, from which it appears that ships were every year fitted out from different ports, with cargoes of pilgrims, to the shrine of St. James of Compostella; for, strange as it may seem, pilgrims at this time were really, as Sir Henry Ellis observes, articles of exportation.”
[Early English Poetry, Ballads and Pop. Lit, Early Naval Ballads, Halliwell, 1841, pp.3-4]

Note: Too many footnotes to transcribe here. Lyrics are a repeat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 01:17 AM

“The earliest reference to a sing-out—the wild yell seamen would raise when hauling a rope hand-over-hand, a sort of embryo shanty—is to be found in a manuscript of the time of Henry VI, recording the passage in 1400 of a ship loaded with pilgrims towards the port of the shrine of St. James of Compostella….

>partial lyrics from Halliwell, as above<

...This in modern English would read something like:

Now the Old Man gives the order for the crowd,
To get to their stations (about the mast) and make sail,
'Haul away! Hoist 'er up! They cry,
'Hey mate, keep clear o' me!
Can't haul with you blowin' down me bleedin' neck!'
Croaked the older shellbacks.
A couple of deckboys climb aloft,
And overhaul the buntlines,
'Yo ho! Tail on the fall! the rest sing out,
And pull with all their beef.”
[Hugill foreword]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 04:04 PM

The 'sing-out' was certainly a precursor of the chanty, but I'm not happy with the description 'a sort of embryo shanty'.

To me the iterated phrases in the ballad look more like orders being given than actual call and response, apart from 'Yo ho! Tail on the fall' which is presumably as written, a 'sing-out'. Unfortunately there is nothing to indicate whether there is any repetition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 05:40 PM

More background:

“The shrine of S. James, brother of S. John the Evangelist, whose body is said to have been brought from Compostella to Santiago in Galicia, Spain, was much frequented by pilgrims (who acquired the name Jacobitœ or Jacobipetœ1) as early as the ninth century. It seems also to have been regarded by citizens of London with especial favour, if we may judge from the wills before us. English travellers usually went thither direct by sea; the inconveniences of the voyage arising from overcrowding, sea-sickness, &c., have been graphically portrayed in a poem of the fifteenth century by one who had evidently experienced them2”

1 Fosbrooke, ‘British Monachism,’ p.469
2 The Stacions of Rome and the Pilgrim‘s Sea Voyage,’ ed. by Dr. Furnivall (Early Eng. Text 800., 1867).
[Calendar of Wills Proved and Enrolled in the Court of Husting, London, A.D. 1258-A.D. 1688: A.D. 1358-1688, 1890]

Did anybody save the Privateer article?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: cnd
Date: 19 Mar 20 - 10:51 PM

Phil, you may read a copy of the Privateer article as of 2009 here: https://web.archive.org/web/20090510035239/http://www.bbprivateer.com/seashanty.htm

They also have a 2nd copy from 2008. Looks like a picture got lost in the archival process but all the text is still there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 20 Mar 20 - 07:33 PM

Thanks!

Looks like we've captured all of the Howe! Hissa! stuff already.

Most of the rest is either forebitter or for the officer's mess, interesting for the sea-going musical instrument references.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Mar 20 - 05:25 PM

Ho, hisse! is French for Pull! or whatever you say in English when hoisting in unison...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 21 Mar 20 - 07:06 PM

I was saving this for later in the other thread but, now that you mention it: Chantons Ensemble-Ho Hiss eh ho

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Howe! Hissa! (Shanty)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 23 Mar 20 - 05:30 PM

Adorable! (I wrote that in French, btw.)