PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Fidjit
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 03:38 AM

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 08:46 AM

If ferry boats counted, I'd qualify! From the early fifties we used to travel every summer from home in Lanarkshire to my mother's old home near Enniskillen. The boat trip, with Burns-Laird Lines from Lancefield Quay on the Broomielaw, Glasgow, to Donegal Quay on the River Laggan, Belfast was a major part of the holiday for us. Both rivers then had extensive working shipyards, and the quays and docks were jammed with ships of all shapes and sizes from all parts of the world. Opposite Lancefield Quay was where the Clyde steamers moored, usually the Queen Mary II. Occasionally the paddle steamer Waverley, arriving back from a trip "doon the watter", would have to moor alongside and off-load passengers through the QM II because there wasn't room to get to the quayside. Travelling overnight, we would be allowed to stay up until it got dark (about 11pm in the Scottish summer nights). Departing about 9pm, the Duke of Argyll (or the Royal Ulsterman) would take us slowly down the river, horn blasting to warn the Renfrew ferry of our approach. Then as the river widened out, we'd pass the disabled ex-servicemen's hospital at Erskine House in its open parkland, Dumbarton Rock on the other side, Gourock Rope Works' neon sign and eventually the Cloch Light at the "Tail o' the Bank". On the return journey there could be a stop at Shieldhall to off-load the live cattle cargo in the early morning before proceeding up-river. On the Belfast side, for a couple of years we watched the "Canberra" take shape. The first time we took the car over (1964?), it had to be loaded on and off by crane. By the time the QEII was being built at John Brown's yard, Dumbarton, Burns-Laird had changed over to RO-RO ferries, operating from Ardrossan, well down the Firth of Clyde. This made for a much shorter (and for me, much less interesting) journey.

Ross

Fidjit, you mentioned a seamen's strike in the sixties. Was there an earlier one too, possibly late fifties? I seem to remember my father having to get a plane home one year to make sure he got back to work in time.

Correction, June 16 2009:- The ships we travelled on would have been the MV "Royal Scotsman" and MV "Royal Ulsterman", pictured here with links to further information:- http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/GB_Pass_PCs_B.html

The "Duke of Argyll" was one of LMS's Heysham-Belfast ships, which had the next berth down along Donegal Quay. I also remember its sister ship "Duke of Lancaster", but can't say I ever saw the "Duke of Rothesay". After 1967 when the overnight services ceased, Burns & Laird brought in the Ro-Ro ferry MV "Lion", operating from Ardrossan, further down the Clyde. Very efficient (four hours instead of ten), very modern, but not half as much fun.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Fidjit
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 10:08 AM

Dunno Ross. Probably. There were always strikes going on.

Chas

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 11:14 AM

The Liberty ships, known in the MN as 'Sam' boats could be said to be 'the ships that won the war'. After scratching round to find any songs about them, and failing, I ended up writing this :-

They were designed by Pickersgill, built by Beth'lam Steel
Down the slip in just six weeks from the day they laid the keel
Crude as a sawn off shot gun, no elegance or style
They were cut off by the furlong, they were laid down by the mile.

Chorus
They were the Sam boats, the Sam boats, built in hundreds, built in scores
These ships built by Uncle Sam were the ships that won the war.

Now every yard in Britain was working day & night
But the 'wolf-packs' they were winning the North Atlantic fight
So Roosevelt said to Churchill 'If you'll send us the plans
We'll build all the ships you need, isolationists be damned'!

So they rolled, and, cut, and welded with their 'Yankee Doodle Day'
And down each slip they were launched, from Maine to Mobile Bay
With a single 'up & downer', greyhounds they were not
Yet 10,000 tons they carried at a speed of near 12 knots.

'Sam Tampa', and 'Sam Verra', they'd strange, outlandish names
But they carried tanks, they carried guns, shells and aeroplanes
But more than munitions, they carried faith & hope
The 'press' called them the Liberty ships, to their crews they were 'Sam Boats'.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Barry Finn
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 06:23 PM

Buzz Smith, a friend of my singing partner Neil Downey (of Finn & Haddie) wrote this song about 20yrs ago without ever putting a tune to it, so it just laid around. Neil just recently found it after all those yrs & now we've just started singing it to Neil's tune.
There was a thread some where about this convoy of WWII coal colliers called CW-9 but I can't seem to unearth it.

CW-9 (words, Buzz Smith, tune Neil Downey)

On the 7th of August a convoy set out
As evening fell over the Thames
Through Dover Straits was their perilous route
CW-9 was their name
Twenty Coast Colliers, nine ships of the line
Were sent to that hell on the sea
With a cargo that could've been carried by rail
Just to prove that the channel was free

Chorus:
The Admiralty said "it's a mater of pride
We don't give a damn for your coal"
Then sent them all off for a bloody good ride
Where the E-Boats & Stukas patrolled

As the cloudy dawn broke the 1st E-Boats appeared
To strike with torpedo & shell
And when back to France the Bosch bastards had steered
Six ships had been blown all to hell
Three of them crippled, their hulls badly holed
Three more to the bottom had dived
And still trapped below with their cargo of coal
All the brave men who needlessly died

Chorus

In the gloomy mid-morning the Stukas rained down
With Messerschmitts guarding their tail
But Spitfires & Hurricanes gave them no ground
Through lead rained around them like hail
Jerry kept coming until at mid-day
They broke through the cover at last
And in ten minutes flat to the Convoy's dismay
Eleven of the Colliers were smashed

Chorus

It was evening before the sad slaughter was o'er
For Jerry kept at them all day
And many brave sailors lay dead in their gore
Or drowned in a watery grave
When into Swanage they limped with the tide
Four Colliers were all that remained
The rest were the victims of the Admiralty's pride
Shot to hell or lying under the Main

Chorus

They bombed them, they starfed they, they blew them aside
While the blood & the coal mixed with brine
T'was a hell of a price for the Admiralty's pride
That was paid by CW-9


I guess that this song would fit in either a merchant navy or a navy catagory.

Wonderful thread

Barry

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:40 AM

Ron-

Barry and Neil did a great job of presenting the above song at the recent Borderline Mystic Sea Music Festival fundraiser.

Did you ever post "White Feathers" to this thread? That's another keeper that I believe you composed.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:36 AM

Charley, no, but I will.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 09:57 AM

Ron-

"White Feathers" is another haunting song. I find that the test of a good song is whether you still think of it long after you have heard it. What I heard was the rendition on the Folk Opera CD you sent me, titled BLOOD ON THE ICE. I suppose I'll just have to learn the damn thing now!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 12:02 PM

The [British] Merchant Navy lost more than 100% of its pre-war crew numbers, and yet there seems little in song [or poetry for that matter] about them. So for what it's worth here's one by me.

Some died quickly, some died slow
Some up on deck some down below
Where e're they died they died the same
And the price of petrol has gone up again.

Some died in the torpedoe's blast
Some starved in boats, some froze on rafts
Waiting for rescue that never came
And the etc.

Some died bravely, some did not.
How some died is best forgot
Screaming & frying in a sea of flame
And the etc

Some died in anger, some in hate
Some resigned unto their fate
Some died calling on Jesu's name
And the etc

Some tried fleeing from the attack
Some died cursing & firing back
To take revenge for their comrades slain
And the etc

Sun bleached skulls with empty eyes
Staring sightless to the skies
These are the reasons, the reasons plain
That the price of petrol has gone up again.

This was inspired by the David Low cartoon in the Daily Mirror
showing a blazing tanker, with a seaman clinging to a raft. The caption was 'the price of petrol has gone up again'. This very
nearly got the paper banned!

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 10:26 PM

Ron-

I believe the "Coaling Shanty" went down very well when I sang it at the late night sessions at the Mystic Sea Music Festival.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 11:06 PM

It was awesome, Charley

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 12:49 PM

Here's a link to a description of the battle around Convoy CW 9, though the song itself makes a very good job of it - thanks, Barry.

Charley, Ron asked me some time ago to send you a copy of Red Duster's "Farewell to the Clan Line" CD and our other material. I haven't forgotten, I just keep getting derailed by circumstances. Will get back to that shortly.

Ross

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 03:48 AM

Charley, glad 'Chanty for steam' was well received, as you know, whilst I enjoy all types of nautical songs, my particulat 'bent' is steam, either as a collector or writer. I never worked 'in sail', nor in coal fired ships, but, I sailed with plenty of blokes who had worked 'in coal' and it was from their tales that inspired 'Chanty for steam'. Incidentally if you could get hold of a copy of 'Victoria Drummond, Marine Engineer' I think you'd find it facinating. She sailed as 10th Engineer with Blue Funnel in 1922, & ended up as Chief on the China coast in the 1960s. Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 09:09 AM

Sorry, the GUEST above was me! Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 11:03 AM

Ron and Ross-

I did receive a copy of your CD Blood on the Ice and have been mining it ever since. So Red Duster's "Farewell to the Clan Line" CD would be a different one?

Another series of books by a marine engineer that I've been enjoying is by William McFee, published in the early 1900's.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 11:24 AM

Charley, "Farewell to the Clan Line" is a CD, which is basically my collected MN songs, plus some of our [Red Duster] compositions along with one or two songs by other writers and a narration between the songs. The songs 'The Old Trail' & 'Farewell to the Clan Line' are on this CD & were 'lifted' on to 'Blood on the Ice'.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: MARINER
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 05:58 PM

In reference to the query above re strikes. There was an unofficial strike in the 50s led by a group known as "The Reform Movement" if my memory serves me. Then in May of 1966 an official national strike was called by the N.U.S. By then many members of the Reform Movement were N.U.S. officials . I think it lasted about 8 weeks.
By the way, fidget ,what in the name of God were you doing on standby on a Castle boat in the middle of a national strike ?. I can understand keeping fire watches to protect the ship, but on standby ?

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: haddocker
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 05:03 PM

Hello,
    I haven't a great deal of time right now as I am off to dinner soon. But I didn't want to miss getting to this thread so that I could express my enthusiasm for the subject which it addresses. My friend and singing partner Barry told me of it and my exact words were "We've found a Gold mine!" As soon as I have more time I will be perusing the various offerings and entering into further dialogue.
   Thank you for bringing this collection forth. I hope it will elicit many more specimens worthy of note. For too long the "steel Navy" and the Merchant fleet have been largely overlooked by the singers of maritime music. I believe this thread indicates a Rennaisance of the highest order.
    I look forward to returning.
                   Fair winds and following seas,
                           Neil

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:49 PM

Neil-

Welcome aboard this thread!

Neil and his partner Barry form the traditional sea music duo Finn & Haddie, whose recent recording Fathom This! has received rave reviews from the sea music enthusiasts.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:28 AM

Welcome, Neil.
All contributions (or variants of anything above) also appreciated.
Look forward to more from you.
Ross

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 11:24 AM

A late, but most welcome, 'pier head jump, as Charley & Ross have already said great to 'have you aboard' Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: haddocker
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 11:42 AM

Thank you all. What is most exciting about all of this is that the invitation to "put your own tune to it" gives one some degree of poetic license. I expect Charley can certainly start us off with something, being the tunesmith that he is. If anyone can direct me to the "recommended" tunes which are mentioned in some of the posts, I would be most appreciative, as I am somewhat in the dark in relation to many of those mentioned.One particular value which these songs share is their rhyme and rythmn which lend themselves to composition. There is a tune that is probably just below the surface,and if one contemplates the spirit of the poem it will readily reveal itself.
                        Neil

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 12:51 PM

What I find particularly intriguing about this thread is the evidence it provides that sailors have continued to compose songs well into the 20th century, and beyond!

When Cyril Tawney was pulling together Grey Funnel Lines he was discouraged by the lack of broad response to his appeals for contemporary sea songs. However, when he was doing this, back in the 1970's, there was no internet to facilitate such research.

Long live Mudcat and associated music websites!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: LYR:ADD: High Tide at 4 AM
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 05:02 PM

Here's another one that I think works well as a song, composer by marine engineer William McFee, well known author of nautical stories in the early 20th century (copy and paste into WORD/TIMES/12 to line up chords):

By William McFee, 1909
From Reflections of Marsyas, by William McFee, © 1933, p. 63
Adapted for singing by Charlie Ipcar 11/7/09
Tune: after Make and Break Harbour by Stan Rogers

High Tide at 4 AM

G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------D
They've tipped and they've shoveled, they've trimmed and they've stored,
------------C----------------------------D
And she's down to her load-line as ever;
------G-----------------G7--------------C------------Bm
The bridge is swung round as she's leaving this town,
-------------D----------------------D7
And she's off to the dark o' the river.
------G------------------------------------------D
Fare-well to the grime and the dust of the tips,
---C-------------------------D7
It may be a month or for-ever:
-------G-----------------G7------------C---------------Bm
She's watched by the ships and the ghosts on the slips
---------D-----------------------D7---------G
As she ploughs through the dark o' the river.


-------C-----------D----------------G----------Em
Fare-well to the grime and the dust of the tips,
---G-------------------------C
It may be a month or for-ever:
-------G-------------------------------------------------C
She's watched by the ships and the ghosts on the slips
---------D-----------------------D7---------G
As she ploughs through the dark o' the river.


She's one with the Mill and the Mine and the Mart;
Black coal is her cargo as ever:
But sneer as you will, she bears my heart still
'Way down in the dark o' the river;
So I pray to the Lord in my bed here ashore
A fair weather passage please give her,
For there's shipmates aboard I may see no more
Till we've passed through the Dark o' the River!

So I pray to the Lord in my bed here ashore
A fair weather passage please give her,
For there's shipmates aboard I may see no more
Till we've passed through the Dark o' the River!

Here's the original poem from where I first found it:

By William McFee, 1909
From Songs of the Sea and Sailors' Chanteys, edited by Robert Frothingham, published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Cambridge, US, © 1924, p. 134; first published in The New York Evening Post.

High Tide at 4 AM

They've tipped and they've shoveled, they've trimmed and they've stored,
And she's down to her load-line as ever;
The bridge is swung round and the pilot's aboard
And she's off to the dark o' the river.

Farewell to the grime and the dust of the tips,
It may be a month or for ever:
She's watched by the skeleton ghosts on the slips
As she ploughs through the dark o' the river.

She is one with the Mill and the Mine and the Mart;
Black coal is her cargo as ever:
You may sneer as you will, but she carries my heart
'Way down in the dark o' the river.

So I pray to the Lord in my bed here ashore
A fair weather passage to give her,
For there's shipmates aboard I may never see more
Till we've passed through the Dark o' the River!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 08:43 PM

I've just checked the chords to Make and Break Harbour" in Stan Rogers' songbook and it seems as if I've missed some (copy and paste into WORD/TIME/12 to line up chords):

G------------------------------Em------------------C-----------------------D
They've tipped and they've shoveled, they've trimmed and they've stored,
------------C----------------------------D
And she's down to her load-line as ever;
------G-----------------G7--------------C------------Bm
The bridge is swung round as she's leaving this town,
-------------D----------------------D7
And she's off to the dark o' the river.
------G-----------Em--------------C-----------D
Fare-well to the grime and the dust of the tips,
---C---------------------D--D7
It may be a month or for-ever:
-------G-----------------G7------------C---------------Bm
She's watched by the ships and the ghosts on the slips
---------D-----------------------D7---------G
As she ploughs through the dark o' the river.


-------C-----------D----------------G----------Em
Fare-well to the grime and the dust of the tips,
---G---------Em--------C
It may be a month or forever:
-------G-----------------Em------------G--------------C
She's watched by the ships and the ghosts on the slips
---------D-----------------------D7---------G
As she ploughs through the dark o' the river.

I'm still not sure of the Bm's but what the heck!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:26 PM

Refresh

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Anglogeezer
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 05:12 PM

This is a thread that I have followed with great interest.
That's what happens after a lifetime at sea (Clan Line/Union Castle/LOF/NSF) and an interest in folk music!
Here's a poem about the seamen that we lost during the war that I came across a few years ago. I always meant to put a tune to it but never did.

Jake

***********************
                        Heroes

                        by David Partridge (Botany Bay, Australia)

Don't speak to me of heroes, until you've heard the tale
Of Britain's merchant seamen who sailed through storm and gale
To keep those lifelines open in our nation's hour of need
When a tyrant cast a shadow, across our island breed.
Captains, greasers, cabinboys; mates and engineers
Heard the call to duty and cast aside their fears.
They stoked those hungry boilers and stood behind the wheel
While cooks and stewards manned the guns on coffins made of steel.

They moved in icy convoys from Scapa to Murmansk
And crossed the Western Ocean, never seeking thanks.
They sailed the South Atlantic, where raiders lay in wait
And kept the food lines open from Malta to the Cape.
Tracked by silent U-boats which hunted from below,
Shelled by mighty cannons and fighters flying low,
They clung to burning lifeboats where the sea had turned to flame
And watched their shipmates disappear to everlasting fame

I speak, not of a handful but thirty thousand plus,
Some whose names we'll never know, in whom we placed our trust.
They never knew the honour of medals on their chests
Or marching band and victory and glory and the rest.
The ocean is their resting place, their tombstone is the wind,
The seabird's cry their last goodbye to family and friends.
Freighters, troopships, liners and tankers by the score,
Fishing boats and coasters, two thousand ships and more
Flew the proud red duster as they sank beneath the waves
And took those countless heroes to their lonely, ocean graves.

Their legacy is freedom to those who hold it dear,
To walk with clear horizons and never hide in fear
So, when you speak of heroes, remember those at sea
From Britain's Merchant Navy, who died to keep us free.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 11:31 AM

Jake-

Thanks for contributing this. You should forward "Heroes" to one of the Merchant Navy Songs websites.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 03:37 AM

Jake, thanks for the poem, what a grand one, the MN 's role, and casualties in both WW1 & WW11 has been overlooked, both in history and in "folk music/poetry". And it's nice to hear from an ex Clansman.

Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 07:35 AM

Now Clan Line & Blue Funnel and Donaldson's have gone,
'Long with old Tosh & Josh, you know, Harrison's
And Palm Line & the Sugar Line and Shaw Saville are no more
But worse than that, I have heard 'Danny's Bar' has shut the door.
Ch.
Yes 'Danny's Bar' in Antwerp known to seamen near and far
And o what times we used to have down in 'Danny's Bar'.

From the outside it was nothing but the welcome once inside
When the girls met with 'sailor Jack' their joy they couldn't hide
The beer, the wine, the brandy too like water it would flow
But no more, because I've heard 'Danny's Bar' has shut the door.

O those 'ladies' sitting in that bar! So beautiful to see
And many a first trip 'prentice lad would take one on his knee. He'd think it was his birthday as she'd let him feel some more
But he won't be feeling now because 'Danny's Bar' has shut the door.

Then there'd be a shriek of horror, and his face turned a deathly pale
As he found to his dismay 'she' was not quite female.
And as he fled into the night with laughter we'd all roar.
But there's no laughter now because 'Danny's Bar' has shut the door.

Now 'old seadogs' will tell tales, some tall, but some are true
'Bout when they'd dock in Antwerp and that one place they all knew
And the happy times they have there, once they knew the score
But tales are all that's left now. 'Danny's Bar'ore! has shut the door.


Danny's Bar in Antwerp was one of the best known bars throughout the M.N., even to those who never went there! It was as well known as say Charlie Brown's in London, or 'Ma Gleason's' in New Zealand.
The events described above, did happen [many, many, times!].
But Danny's is no more, it fell victim to redevelopment, and the 'ladies'? Well no doubt they are still around somewhere.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST,nigel erricker
Date: 12 Oct 10 - 04:58 PM

Great to see some of these classics written down for posterity.

I can remember an S.S & A boat ( or was it Port Line) slipping
out of Napier one morning in the 1970's with the deckies singing as
they 'let go for'ard'.
There was much huffing and puffing in the local media about the
young girls going aboard at all hours and the hi jinks in the
'Cabana Hotel'. The TV turned up in time to film this ship
so the deckies gave a rousing version of 'When we get home we'll all get the sack, but we don't give a fuck 'cos we ain't coming back'

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 26 Oct 10 - 10:42 AM

Nigel, the line 'When we get home etc' is a line used in one of the many versions of 'M.V. Hardship'....

             The Bosun cried "smoko"
             The lads said "right o"
             Then down the gangway
             Shoreside did go.
             The Mate he stood screaming
             That we'd all get the sack
             But we don't give a damn
             'Cause we're not coming back

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 29 Oct 10 - 08:25 AM

I was checking up on David Partridge's "Heroes" poem posted by Jake (Anglogeezer) in January (somehow missed this at the time) and found this website:-

http://www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/index.htm

belonging to the Merchant Navy Association, Barry Branch. There's a Song Board:-

http://www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/Merchant_Songs.htm

and a Poem Board:-

http://www.ss-tregenna.co.uk/Poem_Board.htm

Lots of interesting material there.
Anybody know anything about David Partridge, author of "Heroes"?

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 11 - 04:53 AM

david collier.
when I was a small boy - say 1940-45, we welcomed many cpts/chief engineers/first mates from oil tankers into our house in Bristol. Many fell victim to U-Boats but a song survives in my memory- i think it came from Texas:
"i clicked with an indian lady,
she stood about six foot high.
the colour of her hair was sky blue pink
and she only had one eye.
come and have a zig-zag zula,
come and have a zig-zag zu.
and when i die dont bury me at all,
just pickle my feet in alcohol! "

very daring and exciting to a 4-9 year old boy and often sung by men living close to horrific death. just a fragment - i would like it to live on.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 07 Mar 11 - 05:59 AM

Dave, many thanks for your contribution. Songs 'made up' by MN men have been, almost, forgotton/ignored by collectors. This thread is an attempt to gather whatever is 'floating about' in folks memories. Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Mar 11 - 08:14 AM

Dave-

Your verse seems to combine some lines from the "Zula Warrior" originally from South Africa with some traditional Appalachian lines (the last two). Gotta love this stuff!

Do you remember any more?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST,ginger beer
Date: 09 May 11 - 06:20 AM

I finished my time and I thought it was fine
to pack up my bags for the sea
Signed on as a Junior on the MV Petunia
But I soon realized my folee

Chorus
Hey ho stand by to go
Keep the job running and get down below
The main engine is waiting
The oil's ciculating
For we are the bold Engineers

The second's a dog and the Chief's on the grog
and I'm wishing myself far from here
No use saying you're tired when the scavenge 's on fire
and the oil is pumped into the sea

The Mates plot the stars using Pluto and Mars
While we're down below sweating tears
It's no use what they're proving
Cos we wouldn't be moving
If not for the bold Engineers

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 May 11 - 07:31 AM

ginger beer-

"when the scavenge 's on fire"?

Now there's an interesting phrase.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Max Johnson
Date: 09 May 11 - 11:08 AM

It took me a while to dig this one out, but I eventually found it. Apologies if somebody has already posted it and I missed it.
The tune I heard it sung to was 'Maggie May'. I'm afraid I don't know who wrote it.

Oh, you've seen him in the street
Walkin' round on groggy feet
You've seen him clutch a lamp-post for support
Or you've seen him arm in arm
with a girl of doubtful charm
Who was leadin' Johnny safely into Port

You've reeled in disgust
When he grovelled in the dust,
You're revolted when you see him on the spree
But just you take a trip
On his lonely merchant ship
plowing furrows on a sub-infested sea

He fought the raging Hun
With a pipsqueak little gun
He ruined Adolf Hitler's mighty plan
Yes he's a menace he's a nut
He's the bloody limit but
He's just a merchant service sailorman

And when the war is over
You'll recall the straits of Dover
And all the other seven seas as well?
Where simple men like these
Brought home your bread and cheese
You will remember, wont you?
Will you Hell!!

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 09 May 11 - 11:23 AM

You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once - similarly with merchant navy songs, it seems!

Thanks for two great contribhutions, "ginger beer" and Max Johnson. Was there a tune to go with the "Bold Engineers" song, gb?

Any info on where and when you came across them?

Ross

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST,ginger beer
Date: 09 May 11 - 11:54 PM

I first heard the song in Shaw Savill in the early '70s. I can't remember which ship.
There was a tune but as far as I know it was it's own tune and not something well known.
The Scavenge's on fire...... fire in the scavenge air trunk which happened quite frequently in these old B&W 2 stroke exhaust piston type engines. Particularly the Shaw Savill C class ships eg Cedric, Canopic, Carnatic etc. Happy Days !

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Max Johnson
Date: 10 May 11 - 05:13 AM

I'm glag you like the song, Ross. I think I got it from a guy in a folk club somewhere who wrote it out for me when I said how much I liked it. That would probably be in the late '70s. He didn't write down the title so if it has one, I don't know it. No doubt I intended to sing it but sadly I never did.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 10 May 11 - 07:29 AM

ginger beer-

Thanks for the engineering explanation of "scavenge's on fire." It's nice to have some sense of what these terms mean.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 11 May 11 - 10:06 AM

There's a song above, posted by Fidjit (09 Apr 09), "Channels" by Graham Penny, which describes the feelings of a merchant seaman approaching home after a long trip away.

Sometime last year Ron brought me a song which also mentions the "channel fever". He had written it to the tune of "What a friend we have in Jesus" aka "When this bloody war is over". I have been looking out for something to sing to that tune, so I thanked him for the song, filed it away and promptly forgot about it!

Fortunately I re-discovered it about a month ago, and we used it to round off our presentation of "Farewell to the Clan Line" at the recent Shanty Festival at the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum, where it went down very well.

It's a version of the complaining or "dripping" songs that Ron found during his time at sea. This one is about Bank Line, owned by the ANDREW WEIR SHIPPING & TRADING CO. LTD. There's a comprehensive history here:- http://www.red-duster.co.uk/AWEIR.htm .

More notes follow the song.

The Red Duster , the website of the Merchant Navy Association (and no relation of our duo "Red Duster"!) is a great resource for info on ships and shipping.

Ross

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BANK LINE SONG (Andrew Weirs)
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 11 May 11 - 10:11 AM

THE BANK LINE SONG (ANDREW WEIRS)
(Ron Baxter) Tune:- What a Friend We have in Jesus

When this endless voyage is over no more tramp ships will I see
I will swear upon the Bible, Bank Line have seen the last of me.
No more trips around to Auckland, from Auckland round to Baltimore
Then round the world to San Francisco, Fiji, Guam and Singapore.

The clerk, down in the "Pool" office said "There's a berth with Andrew Weirs;
A nice wee run out there to Kiwi". He didn't say 'twould last two years.
Two years since we left the Humber, two years since I saw my wife;
My brother wrote "Some bloke keeps calling: rumours 'bout the two are rife".

Two years stuck down in the stoke-hold, shov'lling the dross the Chief has bought
Half the coal brass he will pocket; I hope one day that he gets caught.
Likewise the thieving old Chief Steward, though 4 and 3's our feeding rate
He feeds us rice and old dead donkeys, so his profit he can take.

Half the crew have gone "doo-lally"; the sparks was like that when we sailed;
Two stewards reckon they are married, the cook thinks he's the Prince of Wales.
But now we've got the "channel fever" we've got it hot and that's because
Tomorrow we pay off in the Mersey, so stick the Bank Line up your arse!

When this endless voyage is over no more tramp ships will I see
I will swear upon the Bible, Bank Line have seen the last of me.
No more trips around to Auckland, from Auckland round to Baltimore
Then round the world to San Francisco, Fiji, Guam and Singapore.
For now we've got the 'channel fever' we've got it hot and that's because
Tomorrow we pay off in the Mersey, so stick the Bank Line up your arse!

Andrew Weirs Bank Line were tramp ships, and notorious for long trips, two years was not uncommon. The "pool" was the Shipping Office where seamen went to "get a ship". They only had three chances; if they refused all three ships offered they were suspended. As in many companies the Chief Engineer was given a "coal allowance" to buy best steam coal, so if he could get cheap coal he'd pocket the difference . The "4 and 3" [four shillings and threepence] refers to the daily "rate" per man that the Chief Steward was allowed for feeding purposes. (RB)

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST,Rod Fountain
Date: 25 May 11 - 05:40 PM

Hi All,

I joined Clan Line in 1965 as a junior engineer, my first boat being the Clan Malcolm, a beautifully fitted out vessel with wood panelling and even a pink bathroom! I carried on with the Clan boats until 1973 and sailed on some fruit boats including the infamous Rustenburg Castle.

As regards songs and shanties, I recognise most of those posted, although I see no mention of 'The Lampton Worm' (it grewed an awfee size). I think it is a geordie song but I can't recall the rest of the lyrics.

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 26 May 11 - 05:20 AM

Rod, I agree with you about the Clan Malcolm, I sailed twice on her, firstly as a cadet & then as 3rd Mate. I 'escaped the 'Rusty Bucket' but got landed with the King Charles! As for the Lampton Worm it's probably in the Mudcat data base, unless there's a MN parody of it out there somewhere it would not be included in this thread. Nice to hear from an ex-Clansman. Ron

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 26 May 11 - 08:08 AM

The Lambton Worm is indeed in the database (click on the link to go there). No merchant navy parodies as far as I know. The song was popular in folk clubs in the seventies, haven't heard it much since.

Ross

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: GUEST,John Parry R/O
Date: 30 Aug 11 - 12:13 PM

My first trip deep-sea was with Boozy Bozy - he cheered us up by telling us the score two seconds after all the officers had thrown darts at the ship's dartboard simultaneously- but depressed us intensely by reciting Greville's Revenge every time the whisky bottle came out. Then the sneezin' started - lol !!

Subject: RE: PermaThread: Merchant Navy Songs
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Sep 11 - 04:21 PM

I'm curious if anyone has run across the chorus of this old drinking song about a spree in Singapore: click here!

Charley Noble