Gibb-

I'm curious if any one here has or can find more clues to the origin of the rowing shanty "Haul Awa." It's unclear if the reference by Thomas Burke to the song being "an old Malayan chanty" means that it was originally a traditional Malayan rowing song or sung by sailors who frequented that part of the world. The author of LIMEHOUSE NIGHTS, Thomas Burke, was not himself a deep-water sailor but a writer who grew up in London's sailortown. The fragment Burke transcribed is as follows:

Love is kind to the least of men . . .
Eee-awa! Eee-awa!

Here's the song as it's now sung with some notes:

HAUL AWA'

(Traditional after singing of Lucy Simpson and Robin Roberts (now Robin Howard)
Recorded by the Boarding Party on 'TIS OUR SAILING TIME, © 2000 Folk Legacy Records, Inc.)

Love is kind to the least of men,
Haul awa', haul awa',
Though he be but a drunken tar
Haul awa', awa'.

Once I had a star-eyed maid…
I was content with her to lay…

In the comfort of her bed…
Let me lay until I'm dead…

Take my body to the shore…
Star-eyed maid, I'll sail no more…

Here's my blessing (story) – let it be…
May you love as she loved me…*

Love is kind to the least of men…
Though he be but a drunken tar…*

* New verses added by Lucy Simpson

Notes edited from CD:

Robin learned the song from a Massachusetts woman, a Mrs. Walsh, who had gotten it in turn from "a retired clipper ship sailor." Robin recorded the chorus as "Ee awa."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble