You may be interested in the origins of that old favourite sea shanty
Blood Red Roses. My researches have shown that the song owes its existence to the trade in Dutch bulbs.
Barges (mostly Dutch) would transport these bulbs from the lowlands of Holland to Lincolshire, where they would be grown, cut, and sent by coastal vessels to the island of Jersey (for the annual *Battle of the Flowers*).
This sea trade was discontinued during the war years, owing to the fall of Holland, and the dreaded U-Boat menace.
Flowers continued to be grown, however, smuggled into the country by the brave lads & lasses of the Dutch Underground Resistance. Shipped overland on bicycles (again, Dutch) and taken to Southhampton, then on to the Channel Islands. (The song *Daisy Daisy* or The Bicycle Made For Two, also comes from this era). The Germans were aware of this, and that is why they invaded the Channel Islands.
The vessels formerly employed in the flower trade now became free for trans-atlantic duties (Flower Class sloops?) and now carried lease-lend footwear for our brave lads in the trenches. The recently televised series *Das Boot* tells all about this period, albeit from the German perspective. The shanties *Blood Red Roses* & *Paddy Doyles Boots* came into being aboard these very vessels, which, incidentally, were transferred to inland waterways after the war.
You may still see barges decorated with flower paintings on sundry fittings & fixtures, and that is their origin also.
D.Horse.
Archivist extroadinaire.