Massachusetts-born James H. Williams (1864-1927) was an African-American merchant seaman and labor leader. He went to sea in 1875 or '76 and spent at least a dozen years before the mast. As an officer of the Atlatic Coast Seamen's Union he was instrumental in the preparation of the White Act of 1898 which, in Williams's words, "revised the entire maritime code of the United States."

Williams published at least 37 articles about his seafaring career and the condition of American seamen. Most of these appeared in The Independent, a leading progressive periodical of the early 20th century. He also wrote an autobiography, edited by Warren F. Kuehl as Blow the Man Down! (N.Y.: Dutton, 1959).

Williams also assembled a manuscript collection of shanties. Many of these appeared in his article, "The Sailor's 'Chanties'" (Independent, July 8, 1909, p. 76 ff.). Kuehl quotes a few of Williams's shanties, as did Doerflinger.

The 1909 article includes the words only of the following shanties:

A Long Time Ago
Haul Away the Bowline
Boney was a Warrior
What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?
Fire Down Below!
Homeward Bound ("Good-bye, Fare You Well")
Reuben Rauzo [sic]
Whisky (Johnny)
Salt Horse Chanty ("Old Horse, Old Horse")
Blow the Man Down
A Yankee Ship Came Down the River ("Blow, Boys, Blow")

Williams mentions but does not give texts of "'Santa Ana and 'The Plains of Mexico'" (implying two different songs, but perhaps this is either an error a recognition of two tune patterns and differing verses), "South Australia," "Sally Brown," "Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her," "Rio Grande," "Roll the Cotton Down," "Mobile Bay," "Tommy's Gone and I'll Go Too," and both "California Gold" and "Banks of Sacramento," which seem to be another pair of duplicates.

Williams also gives texts of the following forebitters:

The "Cumberland's" Crew
The Cruise of the "Dreadnaught"
Paul Jones ("The Stately Southerner")
A Whaling Song ("The Coast of Peru")

Of shanties in general he makes the following especially interesting points:

"The following are some typical chanties and sea songs taken at random from the repertoire of that almost extinct functionary, the chanty man....It is a peculiar fact that chanties were never sung in any but British and American ships....

"Another thing is that, while many of these songs have stood the test of a century, or perhaps two, and have passed from lip to lip thousands of times over the airs to which they are sung, they have never changed.

"Still another somewhat remarkable fact is that thruout the whole list of known chanties there does not occur a single offensive word, and whenever and indecent language has been injected into one of our favorite chanties, it is at once expurgated by common consent.

"In presenting the following brief record of chanties I hav adhered as strictly as possible to the original text, and in this I have reason to believe that I am as near right as nay man can be.

"I can claim no authorship for these ancient sea songs.

"I only arranged them as we sang them, so they may be read, and I hope they will be appreciated.

"The glory of the sea has departed and chanties are sung no more."

Williams appends an original 67-line poem about shantying, written in the distinctive meter of Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha." In it he tells that he learned "these wond'rous sea-songs" from his shipmates Garry Owen and "Splitnose" Sweeney. If this is literally true, and Williams believed (erroneously) that the shanties never changed, it would seem to imply that he acquired most of his own repertoire on his first voyage in the mid '70s, and that his texts are essentially as he first heard them.