The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124766   Message #2757362
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
01-Nov-09 - 01:25 PM
Thread Name: Sailortown? (origin of term)
Subject: RE: Sailortown? (origin of term)
Charley,

That chantey verse probably came into TOM DRAKE from Masefield's A SAILOR'S GARLAND (1908) which has the same one exactly. SInce, as you earlier pointed out, Masefield was known to use "sailor town" in a literary context, I am not sure whether it was traditional to the chantey or if he used some poetic license.