Over in another thread   thread.cfm?threadid=126347&messages=1 where I have been working on trying to imagine what shanties might have been sung on board the bark, "Julia Ann", on her three and half voyages from San Francisco to Sydney in the early 1850's, I was looking at the "early" references to sea shanties in the literature. Of course I came across Dana's famous list and then Hugill's famous list of Dana's list and his discussion of the "Lost Shanties". But then I hit a snag.

As near as I can tell, Hugill attributes three extra shanties to Dana that I have been unable to find anywhere in Dana, including his TO CUBA AND BACK and his THE SEAMAN'S FRIEND. They are: "Roll the Old Chariot", "Cheer Up, Sam", and "Neptune's Raging Fury". I have scanned fairly carefully the "Two Years Before the Mast" and I just don't see them.

In his 1961 edition of SHANTIES FROM THE SEVEN SEAS, Hugill discusses Dana on pages 9-10. And on page 562, where he gives us "Cheer Up, Sam", he says, "Another shore-song popular even in Dana's day aboard ship as a capstan song was the minstrel ditty "Cheer Up, Sam"." In neither place does he give any page numbers in Dana.

In his 1969 edition of SHANTIES AND SAILORS' SONGS, he says on page 6, with regard to "Neptune's Raging Fury", "Whether this latter has any connection with the lost shanty bearing the same title and referred to by Dana in his TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST is rather doubtful." On pages 48-49, he again lists the songs from Dana, including "Roll the Old Chariot" and "Neptune's Raging Fury" and says, "Elsewhere, he [Dana] gives "Cheer Up Sam" (which is really a minstrel song) as a shanty that they used."

In doing a Google search on "Cheer Up, Sam", I came across a number of literary references to this song, and interestingly enough a number of quotes of this line in various Australian newspapers from the 19th century. It does seem to have been well known. I did not come across a source for it. The other two songs have been well documented outside of Dana.

I did find this note in the 4th edition of W.B. Whall's SEA SONGS AND SHANTIES (1920). It is on page two of that edition as an endnote following the song "Shenandoah". Whall says:

"This was not the only "song," by any means, which was used as a shanty. Dana told us long ago that one of the shanties used in his day was -

                         "Cheer up, Sam,
                         Don't let your spirits go down," etc.

which was made familiar to by the old Christy Minstrels."

So, have I just missed the references in Dana to these three shanties, or are they not there?