The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162651 Message #3990374
Posted By: Lighter
02-May-19 - 12:19 PM
Thread Name: Chanteys in Royal Navy?
Subject: RE: Chanteys in Royal Navy?
James Russell Lowell, of course, was a prominent American poet of the day, and his essay refers to "Boston."
So it may well be that he was thinking of vessels of the U.S. Navy.
Of course, at its origin, the U.S. Navy naturally borrowed many practices from the RN.
Anyway, much of this thread misses the point. If RN seamen were allowed to sing at work in a rare emergencys, it doesn't alter the fact that the record is otherwise evidently *unanimous* that they were not permitted to sing chanteys at work.
If I find a proverbial black swan, it doesn't prove that all, or most, or a significant number of swans in the Northern Hemisphere are black.