The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #162651 Message #4003214
Posted By: GUEST,Observer
03-Aug-19 - 10:24 PM
Thread Name: Chanteys in Royal Navy?
Subject: RE: Chanteys in Royal Navy?
GROAN, read the link related to the latest from Phil. and see how it compares to the title of this thread.
HMS Challenger - a steam Frigate - so she had steam driven capstans [No Capstan shanties required], Steam bilge pumps {No pumping shanties required[ - In short nothing more required by any "musician" on board than to "entertain" the crew.
No shanties required in the Royal Navy because of the following factors:
1. Useless to work the ship while in action stations, so why encourage the practice at all.
2. Crews of Royal Navy ships vastly outnumbered crews of merchant vessels [Composite Clipper had a crew of 34 men, a Royal Navy 74 carried a crew of 550 men], so more than enough hands available to satisfactorily complete any seaman-like evolution and fight the ship without the need for musical accompaniment.