Hi Q, nice thread. Seldom (according to maritime folklore) do the names of landmarks, islands, rocks (1 exception being the Lime Light Rock being changes to Ida Lewis Rock Light, Newport, RI), coves, harbors, capes, points, inlets etc change. It'll be interesting to see what has been changed & hopefully accompanied with the reasoning.


The First of the Emigrants (Bound for Australia). In Hugill's version, copied in part below (from the DT), there a few place names, from Doerflinger's collection I'll printed names places not mentioned: Gravesend, Nor, Foreland, St Helena, the "Channel of Old England", "Semaphore and the southern Shores, the 'Heads and into Sydney Harbor'.   

BOUND TO AUSTRALIA


1. I'm leaving old England, the land that I love
And I'm bound for across the sea;
Oh, I'm bound for Australia, the land of the free
Where there'll be a welcome for me.

Ch. So fill up your glasses an' drink what ye please,
For whatever's the damage I'll pay,
So be easy an' free, whilst you're drinkin' wid me,
Sure I'm a man you don't meet every day!

2. When I board me ship for the south'ard to go,
She'll be looking so trim and so fine,
And I'll land me aboard, wid me bags and me stores,
From the dockside they'll cast off each line.

3. To Land's End we'll tow, with our boys all so tight,
Wave a hearty goodbye to the shore,
An' we'll drink the last drop to our country's green land,
An' the next day we'll curse [nurse] our heads sore.

4. We'll then drop the tugs and sheet tops'ls home taut,
An' the hands will crowd sail upon sail,
Wid a sou'wester strong, boys, we'll just tack along,
By the morn many jibs will turn pale.

5. We'll beat past the Ushant and then down the Bay,
Where the west wind it blows fine an' strong,
We'll soon hit the Trades an' we should make good time,
To the south'ard then we'll roll along.

6. Round the Cape we will roll, take our flyin' kites in,
For the Forties will sure roar their best,
An' then run our Eastin' wid yards all set square,
Wid the wind roaring out of the west.

7. We'll then pass Cape Looin all shipshape an' trim,
Then head up for Adelaide Port,
Off Semaphore Roads we will there drop our hook,
An' ashore, boys, we'll head for some sport.


Hi Charlie

I do a sing a song 'Slav Ho' (not about the Chinchas but does mention them). I only had 1 verse & the chorus (from the singing of E MacColl) from about 25 odd yrs. ago. It being such a fantastic song I wrote 4 more verses. I never heard anyone sing this up until maybe 7 yrs ago at Mystic's seaport festival. David Parry   did a different version that I found to be in Hugill's bible called the 'Saltpeter Shanty' both versions came from the Guano & Saltpeter Trades off the West Coast of South America according to Hugill.


"Old Pedro the crimp, boys, we know him of old

CH: Oh, roll (alt. Slav ho) (2x)

He's priming his vino & doping his beer

To the Chinchas he'll ship us if we don't stand clear

CH: Oh, roll, rock her bars

    Heave'er high-O rock her bars

Alt CH: Slav ho, sla-vi-ta, vraimen-ti-go slee-ga slav ho(from J Colcord who has it from Captain Robinson' The Bellman.


Seeing that I only fair enough with my native tongue I particularly try not to stray into other languages that I can kill by just the opening of my mouth. I now sing the non alt. version, I did leave a few of the old verses that I wrote in there though. Remind me if you want & I'll sing it next time we meet.

Some other geographical or land mark shanties, there's 3 versions (Liverpool, London & Bristol)of "Whip Jamboree" some different versions of "Rolling Home" & the there's the family that includes " Farewell & Adieu to you Spanish Ladies".

Ranzo Rae would be another that covers different islands, countries & ports

RANZO RAE (copied from the DT)

We're bound for Valpariser with a load of rusty razors,
Ranzo ranzo, hurray hurray!

We're bound for Venezuela with a load of drunken tailors,
I love me Ranzo Rae

We're bound for Santiager with a load of German lager,
We're bound for Buenos Aires for a load of green canaries,

We're bound for San Francisco with a cargo of Nabisco,
We're bound for Yokahama with a load of grand pianos,

We're loaded down with curios from China and the Indies, oh
We'll soon be seeing all them girls, the girls we so adore, timme

We've sailed the whole world over like a proper deep sea rover,
We'll pass the cliffs of Dover, and then we'll be in clover,

Happy trails

Barry