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