Bigler's Crew, The [Laws D8]
DESCRIPTION: The Bigler sets out for Buffalo from Milwaukee. A number of minor incidents are described, and the Bigler's lack of speed sarcastically remarked upon: "[We] MIGHT have passed the whole fleet there -- IF they'd hove to and wait"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: ship travel humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws D8, "The Bigler's Crew"
Rickaby 47, "The Bigler's Crew" (1 text)
Dean, pp. 19-20, "The Bigler's Crew" (1 text)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 129-135, "The Timber Drogher Bigler" (1 text plus excerpts from several other versions, 1 tune); p. 135, "The Stone Scow" (1 text, which Walton considered a separate adaption of this song but which has the same chorus and is exactly the same sort of plot as "The Bigler," so there seems litle reason to split them)
Warner 19, "Jump Her, Juberju" (this version rather heavily folk processed); 20, "The Bigler" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 141, "The Cruise of the Bigler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 46, "The Bigler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 174-175, "Bigerlow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 200-202, "The Cruise of the Bigler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 105-108, "The Bigler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 843-845, "The Bigler's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 611, BIGLRCRW*
Roud #645
RECORDINGS:
Stanley Baby, "The Trip of the 'Bigler'" (on GreatLakes1)
Harry Barney, "The Timber Drogher Bigler" (1938; on WaltonSailors)
Sam Larner, "The Dogger Bank" (on SLarner02)
Asa M. Trueblood, "The TImber Drogher Bigler" (1938; on WaltonSailors)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Light on Cape May" (tune, lyrics)
cf. "The Crummy Cow" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Crummy Cow (File: HHH501)
The Light on Cape May (File: Doe130)
NOTES: According to Julius F. Wolff, Jr., Lake Superior Shipwrecks, Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., Duluth, 1990, p. 42, a ship named J. Bigler was lost near Marquette, Michigan in 1884, but he was unable to find many other details. Walton said that the John Bigler was built in Detroit in 1866 and was wrecked in 1884, confirming Wolff's account. I know of no proof that this was "the" Bigler, but it seems likely.
According to one of Walton's informants, the song's description of the Bigler's sailing qualities is fairly accurate. The ship was built to carry waneys (partly cut logs), and like most such ships (known as timber droghers), she was narrow, with high sides, to fit through the Welland Canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario. Most such ships were rather slow. The Bigler carried more sail than most, but also had an extremely square bow, making her hard to steer and meaning that the extra sail did little to improve her speed.
Walton considers this the most popular of all the Great Lakes songs, and prints "The Stone Scow" as a parody on this basic pattern. Looking at the versions, I suspect this has in fact happened many times -- sailors would take "The Bigler" and supply details of their own voyages. I am not aware of any of these variants which have "taken off," and for the moment am classifying "The Stone Scow" and other similar variants here. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LD08