JIm-

The question you raise is on the edge of what most of us "shantymen wantebees" have learned from our years of reading nautical song literature, and even listening to such primary informants as Stan Hugill. It should not be unexpected if some of us, myself included, are skeptical of your hypothesis. However, we all should be more cordial in our "dismissal" of such a hypothesis. Q does a good job of reviewing some songs, accepting that speaking tubes were used even on a few sailing ships but were hardly the general case. It's really hard for me to believe that the term "blow the man down" didn't imply striking someone down given its use in so many shanties.

I'd never run across "Kill the Man" as a substitute for "Blow the Man down." But maybe I'm misinterpreting what you are saying. We need a couple of brews from the Mudcat tavern so that this question may be more amicably settled.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble