The Advent and Development of Chanties

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 07:40 PM

A much later, auxiliary reference to the last. Here the foreign observer is on the Gabon River. RH Milligan writes this in THE JUNGLE FOLK OF AFRICA, 1908.

Their singing, like their instrumental music, has not much "tune" to it, but there is always a stirring rhythm and a certain weird and touching quality, which impressed me the more because I could never quite understand it,—the same elusive charm that characterizes the singing of the negroes of the Southern States. I do not refer to the negro songs composed by white men, which are entirely different, but the melodies that the negro sings at his work. The native songs are of the nature of chants, and turn upon several notes of a minor scale. But it is not quite our minor scale. There is one prominent and characteristic note, which I confess defied me, though it may have been a minor third slightly flat. I found it very difficult to reduce their songs to musical notation.

He seems to refer to "blue" notes. Also raises the issue of what much earlier observers meant when they described "plaintive minor melodies" -- and the issue of interpreting their musical notations nowadays.

The words of most of the songs are improvised by the leading voice, and have a regular refrain in which all join. But if they wish to sing in chorus, as in their dance-songs, any words will serve the purpose and the same sentence may be repeated for an hour. "Our old cow she crossed the road " were luminous with propriety and sentiment in comparison with the words that they will sometimes sing in endless repetition. " The leopard caught the monkey's tail," "The roots grow underneath the ground," are samples of their songs. Their canoesongs I like best of all. The rhythm is appropriate and one almost hears the sound of the paddles. They sing nearly all the time as they use the paddle or the oar, and on a long journey they say it makes the hard work easier. If they should take a white man on a journey and, not being his regular workmen, should expect a "dash"—a fee, or present, in African vernacular—the leading voice will sing the white man's praises on the journey, alluding in particular to his benevolence, while the others all respond, seeking thus by barefaced flattery 'and good-natured importunity to shame the meanness out of him.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 07:27 PM

A contemporaneous reference to rowing song style in Sierra Leone, West Africa. 1834.

"But from each and all proceeded the rower's song. No negro spins his canoe through the water without a melody, and, if he be not alone, without the long wild chorus. All sing; and on the rivers of these glowing climes, where all is genial and laughing, as the song breaks upon his ear, the traveller forgets to be a critic. The voices may be harsh when near, the words uncouth, the artists terrible to look upon, the music startling from contempt of all artificial rule ; but, as the simple cadence comes floating over the water, and the strong chorus is mellowed by distance, when the unities of time and place are remembered, there is something inexpressibly affecting in the strange song; at least I found it so.

...

The words of these songs are generally extempore. My captain interpreted several for me. The prevailing subjects were love and irony; occasionally, as will be seen in the sequel, revenge and war formed the theme. A stanza is sung in a loud sostenuto recitative by a single voice ; and at its conclusion the whole crew rush into a stormy chorus, at the same instant springing at their oars with renewed vigour. Several of their effusions amused themselves highly; and, as the extempore verse concluded with some pungent and unexpected idea, shouts of laughter delayed their chorus."

THE WHITE MAN'S GRAVE (1836), by FH Rankin.pp199-201.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 06:41 PM

Using a capstan and some sort of jib-boom like a crane with heavy cargo would certainly make sense. If it was just the men pulling on the rope through pulley blocks it could slip back. On the other hand it just says 'harbour work' which could easily mean warping large vessels around the docks from one berth to another.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 05:31 PM

Caroline Gillman, in her "Preface" to RECOLLECTIONS OF A SOUTHERN MATRON (1852) says,

"The "SOUTHERN MATRON" was penned in the same spirit, and with the same object, as the "New England Housekeeper" - to present as exact a picture as possible of local habits and manners. Every part, except the "love passages," is founded in events of actual occurrence."   Charleston, S.C., 1837 (p. iii)

On page 76, she gives an account of a boat trip and the singing of a rowing song called "Hi de good boat Neely", with three verses:

"Hi de good boat Neely?
She row bery fast, Niss Neely!
An't no boat like a' Miss Neely,
        Ho yoi'!

Who gawing to row wid Miss Neely?
Can't catch a' dis boat Neely -
Nobody show he face wid Neely,
        Ho, yoi?

Maybe Maus Lewis take de oar for Neely,
Bery handsom boat Miss Neely!
Maus Lewis nice captain for Neely,
        Ho, yoi!

Here is the link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=1bJOTh_yVBcC&pg=PA76&dq=Hi+de+good+boat+Neely&cd=4#v=onepage&q=Hi%20de%20good%20boat%20Neely&f=

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 05:23 PM

Thanks, Steve, I was intending to revisit the passage to see what had struck me as unclear. I don't have the text with me, so I am entering here the passage as cited in Hugill's SfSS:

Our seamen having left the ship, the harbour work was performed by a gang of Negroes. These men will work the whole day at the capstan under a scorching sun with almost no intermission. They beguiled the time by one of them singing one line of an English song, or a prose sentence at the end of which all the rest join in a short chorus. The sentences which prevail with the gang we had aboard were as follows...

It can be fairly assumed that their songs were sung at the capstan, however it does not say explicitly. (For example, they may have used a capstan but along with other tools, too.) To be honest, I would assume the men working working the cargo by means of a capstan and whilst singing the songs. My only hang-up is the dissonance between the use of capstan here and what seems like a more sensible use of simple hauling on a rope as cited in similar cases (e.g. the excellent photo in Parrish's book). The cargo must have been very heavy, as for example in the sketch of loading timber through the bow-port, by capstan, that appears in Hugill's book. But I can't really say; can only accept with slight disappointment :) that, yes, it was a capstan they were using!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 04:12 PM

'In the 1811 Jamaica case, the capstan is vaguely alluded to'
How vaguely? Was the word 'capstan' used? Could the writer be confusing it with some sort of windlass, crab winch or even a type of cotton screw?

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 01:41 PM

Would the French, Metis, Iriquois, Hawaiian etc. voyageurs made any contribution?

What about the Irish slaves in Jamaica in 1600s? Intermarried and sadly purposly bred with other slaves. But music was supposed to have merged back then. mg

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:30 PM

Also from the early 30s is this reference:

"Waldie's Select Circulating Library," II (Dec.
24,1833), p. 581:

"The pirates pulled merrily for their schooner, singing in chorus the
well known West Indian canoe song:

"The captain's gone ashore;
The mate has got the key;
Hurrah! my jolly boys,-
'Tis grog time o' day!"

This "Grog Time of Day" is the song sung by the Jamaican stevedores in 1811. John M. has just demonstrated an instance of the same work-song being used for both rowing and corn-shucking. Here, there is something important, I think: a song being used for rowing and also for loading cargo. The next step in the "chain" may have been using such a song aboard ships.

In the 1811 Jamaica case, the capstan in vaguely alluded to. However, I am unclear why the stevedores would be using a capstan to load cargo. I can imagine it working, but, unless it was extremely heavy, that would seem less efficient than hauling the cargo to a height, in halyards fashion. In point of fact, another reference I've seen (it may come later) talks about loading in this hauling/hoisting fashion. And, even better, Lydia Parrish has a photo of chantey-singing stevedores from her Georgia Sea Islands community performing such an action, just as one would haul halyards on a ship.

It would be "nice" to imagine the 1811 stevedores were also doing that when singing "Grog Time", as it would establish a firmer link between the idea of a rowing action and a halyard-hauling action. However, I'm not sure that can be established. If the stevedores were singing "Grog Time" at the capstan, then it would not indicate any necessary or special "timed action" section to the song that helped it to jump from one similar task to another. No, it would just be a song, perhaps especially associated with work among West Indians, and with a steady rhythm to be sure, but not necessarilly bound to specific jobs. Of course, as has been noted, a song with special "timed points" is nonetheless easily adapted to capstan, regardless.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 09:15 AM

Thanks, John M., for starting off the 1830s with such an appropriate quote. It connects nicely to Basil Hall's reference to rowing in the same part of Georgia from 1828. And now we've lyrics -- plus a connection to the similarly-paradigmed (my notion) corn-shucking.

I am going to file in another rowing reference from the 1830s.

This is the one from TRANSATLANTIC SKETCHES (1833) by JE Alexander, in which a river trip in Guiana in 1831 is described )(cf. Pinckard's 1790s observation, above). There is a rowing song which is a variation of what is now known as "The Sailor Likes His Bottle O".

    De bottley oh ! de bottley oh !
    De neger like the bottley oh !
Right early in the marning, de neger like the bottley oh !
    A bottle o'rum, loaf a bread,
    Make de neger dandy oh!
Right early in de marning, de neger like de bottley oh !

The passage seems to also refer by title to "Velly well, yankee, velly well oh" , which may be the "Bear Away Yankee," which Abrahams
collected in the Caribbean in the 1960s.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 08:20 AM

Here is a reference to a rowing song from Fanny Kemble's JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE ON A GEORGIA PLANTATION IN 1838-1839:

http://books.google.com/books?id=w34FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22Jenny+gone+away&cd=3#v=onepage&q=%22Jenny%20gone%20away&f=false

The setting is a boat trip across the Altamaha River from the Georgia coast to the St. Simon's island. Kemble gives a detailed description of the boat, the process of rowing and of the singing, and offers these words:

"Jenny shake her toe at me,
   Jenny gone away;
Jenny shake her toe at me,
   Jenny gone away.
Hurrah! Miss Susy, oh!
   Jenny gone away;
Hurrah! Miss Susy, oh!
   Jenny gone away."

A bit further on she quotes a fragment from another song:

   "Fare you well, and good-by, oh, oh!
   I'm gin' away to leave you, oh, oh!"

The "Jenny gone away" reminds me of the song "Ginny's Gone to Ohio". Here is another reference to the "Jenny" song from a little later (sorry to jump the gun a bit) in 1843, on the occasion of a corn-shucking. Here you have a good description of a "corn-shucking shantyman"! (my label) :

http://books.google.com/books?id=cYAAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA244&dq=Jenny+gone+away&cd=6#v=onepage&q=Jenny%20gone%20away&f=false

And here's a footnote about the reference to Jenny "shaking her toe":

http://books.google.com/books?id=bFLiWrJo5_MC&pg=PA261&dq=Jenny+gone+away&lr=&cd=11#v=onepage&q=Jenny%20gone%20away&f=false

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 12:05 AM

errata:

"However by the beginning of the **19th** century, we might suppose sailing vessels with European crews were singing songs at the capstan..."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 10:13 PM

cont...

...women's names as per its custom. It could have been "O Sally Brown, oh oh, CHEERLY MAN!" "Oh Polly Walker oh oh, CHEERLY MAN!"

Let's move on to the 1830s and see how the picture evolves. Again, I don't think we can say for sure that the new halliard shanties were there yet (i.e. as per my criteria). We are yet in the realm of interpretation, where common sense suggests that something must have been around "a while" before it is mentioned in literature. Still, let's see what the literature has to say...with respect to 1830s now.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 10:08 PM

Stan Hugill, who had taken stock as well of his shanty-collecting predecessors, too, had turned up no shipboard work-song accounts from the 18th century. However by the beginning of the 18th century, we might suppose sailing vessels with European crews were singing songs at the capstan, though this work was also done to fife-playing. The earliest references I have seen to that is the supposedly 1810s mention of the phrase "Heave, heave, my brave boys, and in sight," from the poem, "Sailors' Song." However, work at the spoke windlass to a song is referenced even earlier, 1803-ish, in which the European crews "fixing their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the same instant; in which movement they are regulated by a sort of Song pronounced by one of the number."

Actually "singing" at halliards may have been less frequent. Elsewise it was just shouting, chanting, or otherwise too "primitive" to inspire mention. The first I am seeing may well be the "Cheerly" reference from Quebec, 1825. I also put stock in the claim from the UNITED SERVICES MAGAZINE, 1834, piece mentioned by Steve, which claims "Cheerly Men" was a hauling song in use for some time. Rather than assume that this means there was a repertoire of "halliard shanties" (plural(, I am inclined to believe that "Cheerly" was one of only very few chants that were standard material for this operation, e.g. aboard war ships of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars era. Let us not assume that "halyard shanties" as a class necessarily even existed yet. There may have only been "sing outs," for hand-over-hand hauling, or fife and drum playing for the stamp and go maneuver.

My contention is that "halyard chanties" constituted a major, new class of work-song. It was one that added tons of repertoire to shipboard worksongs AND, I think, probably inspired the paradigm by which one was expected to customarilly sing whilst doing any work aboard ship -- i.e. "chanties." I think this particular kind of shanty, which is clearly distinct from capstan songs and perhaps even from the "barely removed from a sing-out" style of "Cheerly Men," was introduced concurrently with the term "chanty" and, as I said, with this new notion of songs as an essential "tool" of sailing. With that paradigm in place, the repertoire of songs continued to grow until it flattened out and, finally, shanties were killed by steam.

So while they were preceded by the distinctly different heaving songs of capstan and windless, and, I believe presently, also distinct from the few standardized hauling chants, the halyard chanties (which I like to call "chanties, proper")came about later. The aim here is to discover when / how/ from where they came about. The sense it that the time period was early 19th century, so I am trying to steer this course from he early end of that.

So far, it is African Diaspora rowing songs that are shaping up as closest progenitors to "chanties, proper" in this time period and geographic setting. However, because of my prejudices, I may be turning up more links to those.

If anyone has any other references from this time period, 1800s-1820s, from a likely geographic area, that could suggest *immediate* progenitors to the new halliard chanties, I would love to see them. So far, with respect to pulling chanties from this period, I only see definite references to "Cheerly Men" and to the "Sally Brown, oh, ho." In my opinion at this point, those may not represent the classic halyard chanty forms that were to emerge. According to another interpretation, they may be among the very earliest, which were to develop as time went on. (As I stated earlier, I tend to think that at this point in history, the new halyard chanty form did not so much evolve as it was taken over wholesale from another work activity. And for that reason, I don't feel a need for continuity between "Cheerly" and the later songs.) Incidentally, "Cheerly" and "Sally Brown" -- considering that we've no basis to assume the Sally Brown of this reference was the latter-day chanty -- may be closely related. "Cheerly" (along with "Haul Her Away," "Nancy Fanana" etc) mentions nam

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:39 PM

Case NOT closed in my books. :)

But I don't wish to get into it just now, ha ha!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:25 PM

Damn! That got away from me in the middle of an important sentence! While I was revising it too!

Hill recalls that in 1843 the soloist among cotton-screwers was called the "shantier," which he derives "from the French word chanteur, a vocalist."

The more I think about this, the better it sounds. (Disregard the final paragraph of my last post as needlessly hypothetical.) *If* Hill is right about "shantier" in Mobile in 1843, and *if* the word "shantier" came from N.O. (I don't know how many French speakers were screwing cotton in Mobile in the 1840s - presumably very few), an anglicization of "chanteur" might be the source.

In that case, "shanty" would be a back formation from "shantier," on the assumption that a "shantier" was one who "shanties" and that the special songs he sings are properly called "shanties."

That would neatly explain the troublesome sound change from "ch" to "sh," and would replace the improbable idea that English-speaking seamen would have mysteriously adopted a French command to "Chantez!"

Lyman doesn't explicitly endorse the "chanteur" etymology, which is why I missed it the first time through. But yes, I think "shanty" could have come from "chanteur" through "shantier." (Hill seems to be the only writer to use "shantier," but since "chanteur" is indeed French for a male singer, the etymology of to "shanty," etc., is quite plausible.)

Case closed? It's tempting to say so.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:05 PM

Thanks, Steve. The article by Lyman that Gibb cites is pretty well known (well, to some people). Presumably it incorporates some later thoughts.

So far as it relates to "shanty/ chantey," Lyman's later article chiefly reports his discovery of the word "chantey-man" in Nordhoff. He offers only two bits of evidence to support a French derivation. First, "chantey-men" were known to Nordhoff in N.O. at the same time as the hoosiers were singing their own chants. (N.O. makes a French influence conceivable.) Second, Frederick S. Hill in 1893 recalls that fifty years earlier, in Mobile, the singing cotton-screwers were led by a man they called the "shantier," which Hill derives from

It is possibly significant that the first English appearance of "shanty/ chantey" is in the apparent compound "chantey-man" rather than standing by itself, but with so little evidence available it may mean nothing.

It would be much more impressive if there existed a French word in use in N.O. or the Gulf or Caribbean area that sounded something like "chanteyman" or "chantey gang" and also meant something vaguely related or relatable. In that case, "chantey" could have been a back formation from, say, "chanteyman." But there seem to be no candidates.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 06:55 PM

I'll assume it's still worth giving the full letter even though we have a later article by him.

The second account is by Charles Nordhoff in 'The Merchant Vessel' (1855) of loading at mobile about 1848:
'Five hands compose a gang, four to work the screws, and one to do the headwork.....The foreman begins the song, and at the end of every two lines the screw is forced to make one revolution, thus gaining perhaps two inches. Singing, or 'chanting', as it is called, is an invariable accompaniment to working in cotton, and many of the screw- gangs have an endless collection of songs, rough and uncouth, both in words and melody, but answering well the purpose of making all pull together, and enlivening the heavy toil. the foreman is the 'chanty-man' who sings the song, the gang only joining in the chorus, which comes in at the end of every line, and at the end of which again comes the pull at the screw handles. One song generally suffices to bring home the screw, when a new set is got upon the bale, and a fresh song is commenced.
'The 'chants', as may be supposed, have more rhyme than reason in them. the tunes are generally plain and montonous, as are most of the capstan tunes of sailors....The men who yearly resort to Mobile Bay to screw cotton are, as may be imagined, a rough set. they are mostly English and Irish sailors, who, leaving their vessels here, remain until they have saved a hundred or two dollars, then ship for Liverpool, London, or whatever port may be their favourite, there to spree it all away, and return to work out another supply.'

Thus, in 1844, Hill recognised 'shantier' as a french word; in 1848 Nordhoff found the term as 'chanty-man'; neither used 'shanty' for the song itself, although Nordhoff commented on the similarity of the screw-gang songs to the capstan songs afloat. By 1861 the shanty-man's song had become the shanty. the word 'shantyman' and ;shanty' are ceretainly American in origin, and belong in the 'Dictionary of American English'.                         JOHN LYMAN

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 06:33 PM

P3
The two principal Gulf cotton ports from 1830 to 60 were New Orleans and Mobile, both settled by the French; both still celebrate Mardi gras. I have not found any accounts of loading at New Orlaeans in this period, but there are two of Mobile that illustrate clearly both the source of the term and the circumstances of its transfer to a working song afloat. the first is from 'Twenty Years at sea, by F S Hill (1893), describing a visit to Mobile in 1844;

'the cotton....was now to be forced into the ship, in the process of stowing by the stevedores by very powerful jackscrews, each operated by a gang of four men, one of them the 'shantier', as he was called, from the French word 'chanteur', a vocalist. this man's sole duty was to lead in the rude songs, largely improvised, to the music of which his companions screwed the bales into their places....
'A really good shantier received larger pay than the other men in the gang, although his work was much less laborious. their songs which always had a lively refrain or chorus, were largely what are now called topical, and often not particularly chaste.'

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:55 PM

I wonder how that article by Lyman compares with his later one:
"Chantey and Limey"
Source: American Speech, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Oct., 1955), pp. 172-175. It may be more accessible on-line, FWIW

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:46 PM

Thanks, Steve, that is useful to have it stated with that phrase, vague though it may be. I have been assuming, too, from other secondary sources, that "Cheerly Men" is "older." However, I would like to build up a picture from the ground, too. I am trying to hold both things in play: intuitive sense of how old things might be, and corroborating evidence.

No doubt as I turn to more literature from later decades there will be additional suggestive phrases such as "time out of mind" that add to the "intuitive sense" side. As for the hard evidence side, I am at least pleased so far to the 1825 reference with lyrics to "Cheerly" which e.g. does not appear in Hugill's work.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:45 PM

Okay so far, next paragraph.

One of the arguments against deriving shanty as a song from the French 'chanter' is the change in pronunciation; another is the difficulty of explaining how a French word could have crossed the channel as alate as 1830. However, shanty as a houseis from the French 'chantier' (timberyard), via the wood-choppers' cabins in Fr-Canadian logging camps, so there need be no doubts about French 'ch-' becoming English 'sh-'. Mencken, in 'The American Langiage', derives shanty as song from French 'chanter' but calls it 'not American', and the word is not in the 'Dictionary of American English'.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:39 PM

Shanty term origins.
Letter by John Lyman in MM vol 38 (1952) answering the query of 1911.

This query asked for info. on the source of the word and the date of its first use for a working song afloat. the NED's oldest example is 1869 but Capt Whall recalled its use from his first going to sea in 1861. in vol 9 of MM L G Carr laughton traced the development of shantying to the Gulf cotton trade in the period 1830-60, but was forced to accept rather unconvincing connexions with shanty in the sense of a crudely built house or tavern as the origin of the term.


Fingers crossed!!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:34 PM

Jonathan,
I just typed out the first paragraph of the MM article, wisely posted it and it vanished. I'll try once more and if it vanishes again I'll have to email it to you.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 05:25 PM

Gibb,
See my post above. It would appear that the revenue cutters were using 'Cheerly Men' for 'time out of mind' prior to 1834. I interpret that to be at least as far back as 1800.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: mikesamwild
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 09:22 AM

I've just been reading 'Origins of the Popular Style' about popular music by Peter van der Merwe, Oford Clarendon press, 1989


He gives some interesting links to Arab and African worksong and also seesm to think that the middle eastern influence would have spread widely in Europe and Africa and he thinks older Hebridean work songs woud be tied ino that tradition.


So when indentured Irish and Scottish 'servants' met African slaves in the camericas there could have been fertile ground for work songs.

Does anyone remember work songs when Michael Palin was on that Slow Boat from Arabia to India?

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Gibb Sahib
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 09:21 AM

Last post was me, sorry.

John M. -- Thanks for that link to Epstein's book. The section on worksongs that you referenced gives nice context to these late 18th/early 19th sightings of New World Black work-songs. It also provides even earlier references that are very similar. At this point, I don't feel the urge to reproduce any more from these years (unless they have lyrics or great detail.) In fact, they are amazingly consistant (redundant!?). And I don't think I've ever seen the word "extempore" used so many times!

The "extempore" quality was clearly (to my reading) something foreign (or at least very notable) to the observers. I wonder if, in the coming decades, when non-Blacks adopted some of the Black songs/practices, this *aesthetic* was transfered as well. We know there was much *variation* in the chanties shared by later sailors, but was it quite to this degree? Did the process of petrification of verses begin only in the 20th century revivals, or had a sort of standardization already begun as soon as the genre crossed cultures? Something to think about when looking at later 19th century examples of chanties.

John, thanks also for the Southern & Wright volume. I'd found that one earlier, and I've been gradually breaking out the various relevant bits, which I will try to sort by decade as they come.

Gibb

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 09:08 AM

Here's a reference to singing of Black cotton-stowers in Savannah, in a letter from 1818. No detail, just that,

No business being done in Savannah during the summer, or sickly months, it is now all activity; nothing is heard near the water but the negroes' song while stowing away the cotton...

REMARKS MADE DURING A TOUR THROUGH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...(1817-1819), published 1821, by William Tell Harris, pg. 69

So at least we know that as early as the 1810s, the singing whilst cotton-stowing was going on, albeit nothing of its form.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 06:45 AM

Here is some excellent and extended bibliography in AFRICAN-AMERICAN TRADITIONS IN SONG, SERMON, TALE, AND DANCE 1600s - 1920, by Southern & Wright:

   http://books.google.com/books?id=GQC7pBjAsCAC&pg=PA45&dq=Aaron,+The+Light+and+Truth+of+Slavery&lr=&cd=7#v=onepage&q=Aaron%2C%20T

This link gives you the beginning of the section on "The Song", which includes many references to worksongs.

The title of Dena Epstein's book, referred to above is SINFUL TUNES AND SPIRITUALS: BLACK FOLK MUSIC TO THE CIVIL WAR. See Chapter 9.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: IanC
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 04:58 AM

Not sure why people don't read the previous threads here (and there are a lot of good ones about shanties). Here's an entry from then 1540s.

Complaynt

;-)

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:53 PM

That does it for the references I have, at present, to "shanty sightings" attributed to the 1820s and a few decades earlier. More could turn up if one searches creatively with different criteria. I realize it is not a lot to go on, but I would be interested, at this point, to try to think about the scene only based on the available evidence (there must be a bit more I am overlooking?), and try to block out our later impressions. Pretend the 1830s have not happened yet. What do we have?

1780s-90s:

General references to African and New World Black work-songs, from Mali, Grenada.

1800s:

General references to African-American work-songs and their style, from Martinique;
Rowing songs from Georgia, South Carolina, Guyana, Surinam;
Windlass songs, aboard vessels with sailors incl. from Northumberland and Holland.

1810s:

2 stevedore songs from Jamaica that resemble chanteys;
African-American rowing songs from Antigua, Virgin Islands;
Singing and fife-playing at the capstan on a British war ship.

1820s:

Rowing songs, from Georgia, Virginia, St. Thomas;
A version of "Cheerly Men" for topsail halyards on a brig near Quebec;
Fictional capstan shantying in the Arctic; capstan (?) song of British tars in London; chant for pulling known to an ex-British navy man. [I've also seen another reference to the phrase "British capstan song" from 1825.]

Anything more, strictly from these time periods?
Analysis to come later! ;)

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:23 PM

And from Lighter again. The publication date is 1826, but Lighter's biographical info suggest the singer might have learned this Sally Brown "sailors' chant" anytime between 1808 and then.

*SNIP*
Isaac Starr Clason, "Horace in New-York," 1826, p. 46: "The present Manager of the Chatham Garden Theatre, was formerly a Lieutenant in the British Navy. He was afterwards on the boards of the Norwich Company in England. He was principally applauded for singing a common sailors' chant in character, having a sort of 'Sally Brown, oh, ho,' chorus; and requiring the action of pulling a rope, spitting upon the hand, and the accompaniment of a horrid yell. In private life, both Mr. and Mrs. Wallack were much respected."

Clason's use of the word "chant" is almost as significant as "Sally Brown," "pulling a rope," and "a horrid yell." This could be the earliest clear reference to a "sea shanty as we know it," complete with Hugill-style "hitch"!
*SNIP*

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:17 PM

More 1820s...

*SNIP*
"Waldie's select circulating library", Volume 1 (12 March 1833)

It's an account of an Italian visitor to London, observing sailors singing in a pub, circa 1826, I believe. Apparently they were singing this idly or for fun. The impression is made that it was a work song. However, it does seem a bit highly developed for that. And the lyrics say "haul," whereas such a long form suggests to me a task like capstan work. It may have been that this was a hauling song, just not a timed-pull one -- i.e. it was a stamp 'n' go. Quite probably these were navy men, as the sentiments suggest.

Here's the first verse.

British sailors have a knack
      Haul way, yeo ho, boys!
Of pulling down a Frenchman's jack,
    'Gainst any odds, you know, boys
Come three to one, right sure am I
If we can't beat 'em, still we try
To make old England's colours fly,
    Haul away, yeo ho boys

The rest can be found here, pg. 133
*SNIP*

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 11:08 PM

Continuing with 1820s, here are examples already dredged up by folks on the SF-Sydney thread, which I'd like to file here. We begin with another Afro-Caribbean rowing song.

WEST INDIA SKETCH BOOK, vol 1, by Trelawney Wentworth (Published 1834 or earlier?). It appears to refer to events possibly of 1822 or earlier. They are headed for the island of Saint Thomas.

For some distance they had pulled at an easy rate and in silence, as if made unconscious of the work they were engaged in, by the absorbing interest of the passing scenes, but at length they were roused to activity by the word of preparation for a song having been passed among them, and the negro pulling the oar nearest to us, began a singular prelude which sounded between a grunt and a groan, like a paviour's accompaniment to his labour, or the exordium of a quaker, when " the spirit" begins to move. He became more energetic with each succeeding stroke of the oar, which produced a corresponding ardour, and greater precision in pulling among the other rowers, and when this was effected, another negro, whose countenance bore
the stamp of much covert humour and sagacity, and who appeared to be a sort of improvisatore among them, commenced a lively strain which accorded exactly in time with the motion of pulling, each line of the song accompanying the impetus given to the boat, and the whole crew joining in chorus in the intervals between every stroke of the oars. The subject matter of the song was as discursive and lengthy as Chevy Chase; and it showed an aptitude at invention on the part of the leader, as well as a tolerable acquaintance with the weak side of human nature, on the score of flattery: a small portion of it will suffice.

Hurra, my jolly boys
CH: Fine time o' day
We pull for San Thamas boys
CH: Fine time o' day
Nancy Gibbs and Betsy Braid
CH: Fine time o' day
Massa come fra London town
CH: Fine time o' day ETC
Massa is a hansome man,
             Fine time o' day.
Massa is a dandy-man,
             Fine time o' day.
Him hab de dollar, plenty too,
             Fine time o' day.
Massa lub a pretty girl,
             Fine time o' day.
Him lub 'em much, him lub 'em true,
             Fine time o' day.
Him hunt 'em round de guaba bush,
             Fine time o' day.
Him catch 'em in de cane piece,
             Fine time o' day.

It includes musical notation. Incidentally, Roger Abrahams reprinted the score in his whalers' shanties book, and Finn & Haddie used that, I presume, to work up this interpretation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DwR-ADStXQ

****

Back in the United States, this 1820s rowing reference is courtesy of Lighter on 22 March, 2010. [copy/pasted]

*SNIP*
From James Hall, "Letters from the West: Letter III," The Port Folio, XII (Sept., 1821), p. 446. Judge Hall made a trip down the Ohio from Pittsburgh to Shawneetown, Ill. This comes from a letter about Parkersburg, Virginia:

"To the admirers of the simplicity of Wordsworth, to those who prefer the naked effusions of the heart, to the meretricious ornaments of fancy, I present the following beautiful specimen verbatim, as it flowed from the lips of an Ohio boatman:

"It's oh! as I was a wal-king out,
One morning in July,
I met a maid, who ax'd my trade,—
Says I, 'I'll tell you presently,'
'Miss, I'll tell you presently!'"

Obviously the first stanza of a predecessor of the capstan shanty "New York Girls/ Can't You Dance the Polka?"

When Hall revised his article for book publication in 1828, he added a second stanza:

And it's oh! she was so neat a maid,
That her stockings and her shoes,
She toted in her lilly [sic] white hands
For to keep them from the dews, &c., &c.

So it isn't quite "New York Girls." And that unfortunately is that.

Except that Hall also quotes "the words which the rowers are even now sounding in my ears as they tug at the oar,

Some rows up, but we row down,
All the way to Shawnee town
Pull away - pull away!"

I believe Hall makes the earliest reference to the "Shawneetown" rowing song. Its form and the "pull away" chorus brings it very close to the apparently soon-to-evolve halliard shanties.
*SNIP*

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 10:39 PM

There are several interesting ideas brought in here so far that I want to pursue. I will be traveling soon, however, so please don't mind me if I seem dis-engaged while just adding a boatload of historical references. I am try to get them up while I still have my "bookmarks" handy!

Here is a poem supposed to have been written aboard a frigate during the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars (i.e. pre 1815). (from an 1825 publication.) Though we know this from elsewhere it serves to reinforce the common use of fife (and drum?) rather at the capstan in that era. There is a line that also might have belonged to a chantey.

"Sailor's Song"

When the topsails are set, and the bars are all shipp'd,
And the drums and fifes merrily play,
Round the capstan we dance, till our anchor is tripp'd,
When the Boatswain bawls, "Heave and away!"
To the fife's shrill sound,
While the joke goes round,
We step with a pleasing delight;
Dry nippers clapp'd on,
We soon hear the song,
"Heave, heave, rny brave boys, and in sight." [ETC.]

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 08:58 PM

1820s, continued.

Capstan shanty description!

Fiction, from 1829: "Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean" -- excerpts discovered in THE LADY's MAGAZINE. Full context not given; a whaling vessel. :

Our visitors were particularly animated in their extemporaneous effusions, and ran round the capstan rapidly, to words signifying their hope of soon sharing an allowance of spirits; a luxury of which our prudential regime had deprived them whilst we remained beset, occasionally varying their exclamations with anticipations of the other benefits which they expected to obtain by the deliverance of the vessel from her icy fetters. The limit of the choral expression is always marked by the velocity with which the leader of the band, that is, the individual who first gives out the stave, completes a circle on the deck as he heaves round his bar, and he recommences his chant at the same spot at which it was begun. Hence, when the circumvolutions of the performers are quickened by the yielding of the obstruction to the winding-in of the warp, and the velocity of the turns will not allow the repetition of the canticle first set up, the choir break into a more brief outcry, suited to their movements; and at times, especially when reinforced by an accession of hands, they whirl round the capstan with the utmost swiftness, shrieking, laughing, dancing, and flinging out their heels, like a company of savage revelers capering about some object of convivial worship with extravagant demonstrations of mental and bodily excitement. Such was the glee of our Hialtlandmen, when they found the Leviathan, so long immovable, and consequently unprofitable, now gliding onward with increasing speed toward freedom and the possibility of exercising her whale-capturing functions. No sooner had they got the ship under weigh, and felt her yield to the impulse of their warp, as if she gradually awoke from a deep lethargy, and slowly resumed her suspended faculty of motion, than they began their song, one of them striking up, seemingly with the first idea that entered his imagination, while the others caught at his words, and repeated them to a kind of Chinese melody; the whole at length uniting their voices into one chant, which, though evidently the outpouring of a jovial spirit, had, from its unvaried tone and constant echo of the same expression, a half-wild, half-melancholy effect upon the ear. The foreign accent of the singers contributed not a little to invest their music with a strange imposing character, while the strong contrast between the import of their exclamation and its somewhat dirge-like accompaniment of voice, gave their stave a serio-comic air, well illustrated by the ludicrous display of joyous feelings depicted on the habitually grave and simple countenances of the performers. As the vessel advanced, the momentum she had received from the previous exertions of the capstan-heavers, and the strain upon the warp, yielding readily to the increasing resolution of the men, allowed them to run round with their bars at a more soulstirring pace, and the song grew fast and furious. It had begun with "Yah! yah! here's a full ship for the captain, and a full pannikin for Peytie Pevterson, la— la—lalla—la—leh; but this sentence, after many repetitions, was changed for others of briefer duration and more expressive import, as they coursed after each other with intoxicating rapidity; their steps grew frolicsome, and their voices were elevated till they cracked with energy; they shouted, shrieked, and capered ; and at length they wanted nothmg requisite to make them true representatives of a troop of roaring bacchanalians but old Silenus perched upon the drumhead of the capstan, and some of that good liquor whose very expectation had thus inspired them with frantic mirth.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 07:40 PM

Steve, I for one would love to read the etymological conjecture on "shantying."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 06:26 PM

Just been rereading the articles by L G Carr Laughton in Mariner's Mirror for 1923 Vol 9 No 2. He sets out an excellent case for the slaves' shanties origin and the whole custom originating with the cotton ships coming across from the southern states post 1815 to Liverpool and then it spreading from there into the packet ships. He mentions several examples of 'Cheerly men' in use as possibly the earliet example. He also postulates there may be something more to Stevenson's 'Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest' it being a Caribbean island. I assume you have the references from the United services Journal for 1834 which give the account of shantying on a revenue cutter. Here 'Cheerly men' as with Dana is given as an example. The author claimed then that CM had been attached to revenue cutters 'for time out of mind', 'and sometimes the burden is not celebrated for its decency'.
Later Carr Laughton suggests the approximate order of development for the shanty being, the cotton trade as already mentioned; then the Packet service; the emigrant ships to America; the California gold rush round the Horn; the Blackwall East Indiamen; the tea clippers, and finally the Colonial clippers. he then goes on to link individual shanties with particular periods, largely according to their origins and content.
In a later article (1952) another writer puts forward an extremely strong case for the development of the word 'shantying' from the French in New Orleans, quoting 2 contemporary accounts. I can post this if required.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 05:10 PM

I just Googled Hodge but all that came up were references to the auction, nothing on what happened to it after the auction. I doubt if the Ennis mentions give any detail on what's in the diary. It seems to be dwelling on impressment and his time in the RN which would not include refs to shanties. It's the 1815-33 period refs that would be of most interest.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 04:59 PM

With regard to Steve's note on "George Hodge", I came across this on Google Books. However, the very page referred to is "not available". Perhaps someone has this book and can take a look.


ENTER THE PRESS-GANG: NAVAL IMPRESSMENT IN EIGHTEENTH -CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE‎ - Page 140
Daniel James Ennis - Literary Criticism - 2002 - 219 pages
"The case of George Hodge, as related in his unpublished diary, is instructive.
... By the late eighteenth century, the Royal Navy began showing signs of ..."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 04:43 PM

Here is a link to Dena Epstein's book. Only parts of it are on line, but if you scroll down to Chapter 9, you will find that it is on "Worksongs" and has many of the quotes and references that we have been working with so far.

http://books.google.com/books?id=WUHaLYzhiSoC&pg=PA68&dq=Worksongs&cd=5#v=onepage&q=Worksongs&f=false

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 04:03 PM

Okay, I've managed to get time to start looking at some of my references. One interesting and tantalising reference I have comes from the Times Aug 15th 2008. It refers to a sailor's journal up for auction, George Hodge, and covers the period 1790 to 1833. Apparently he was in the RN from 1790 to 1815 then joined the MN. Quote 'It includes everything from the lyrics of sea shanties to a picture of the first ship on which he served.' The auction was at Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the whole collection of his memorabilia was estimated to fetch about $50,000. I didn't manage to find out anything further, but Googling might bring up something. It would be great if the journal had been published???? or was on its way to being published.
Anybody else spot this one or know what happened to the journal?

I must add that journalists and those with a passing interest often mistake sea songs for shanties, so it may be a red herring. Even if it is it would be interesting to see what the sea songs were.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 02:58 PM

The most significant "gem" follows. I'm taking it directly from its original appearance in James Kennard, Jr.'s article, "Who Are Our National Poets?" (Knickerbocker, Oct. 1845, p. 338):

"One day during the early part of the Indian war in Florida [i.e., 1835] we stepped into a friend's boat at Jacksonville, and with a dozen stout negro rowers, pushed off, bound up the St. Johns with a load of muskets, to be distributed among the distressed inhabitants, who were every where flying from the frontier before the victorious Seminoles. As we shot ahead, over the lake-like expanse of the noble river, the negroes struck up a song to which they kept time with their oars; and our speed increased as they went on, and become [sic] warmed with their singing. The words were rude enough, the music better, and both were well-adapted to the scene. A line was sung by a leader, then all joined in a short chorus; then came another solo line, and another short chorus, followed by a longer chorus, during the singing of which the boat foamed through the water with redoubled velocity. There seemed to be a certain number of lines ready-manufactured, but after this stock was exhausted, lines relating to surrounding objects were extemporized. Some of these were full of rude wit, and a lucky hit always drew a thundering chorus from the rowers, and an encouraging laugh from the occupants of the stern seats. Sometimes several minutes elapsed in silence; then one of the negroes burst out with a line or two which he had been excogitating. Little regard was paid to rhyme, and hardly any to the number of syllables in a line: they condensed four or live into one foot, or stretched out one to occupy the space that should have been filled with four or five; yet they never spoiled the tune. This elasticity of form is peculiar to the negro song."

In other words, a halliard shanty without the halliards. Such rowing songs must have been just as important to shanty development as were the cotton-screwing chants.

I'll revise my theory of shanty creation. Regardless of how later shanties were "composed," the first "halliard shanty" may have been nothing more than a rowing song sung in a new context. And maybe "Cheerly Man!" was that song!

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 12:32 PM

Another early rowing reference that I think is really important --perhaps the earliest setting so far-- is one I've discovered in this article:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/895685

(I don't have access to read it all. If someone else does, perhaps they'd like to scan it for other gems.)

It refers to observations by W.J. Grayson (born 1788) of South Carolina, who "from his boyhood" --1790s or 1800s-- remembers African-American oarsmen that would bring people to Charleston. He describes their call and response canoe-rowing songs as "partly traditionary, partly improvised" and goes on to relate their incidental themes, as have the other authors.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: GUEST,Gibb Sahib
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 09:16 AM

Next reference from the 1820s. I am suspending my judgement as to how "Cheerly Man" fits into all this! Where did it fall along the hypothetical "transition"? It was used for halyards, and had the "extempore" quality, yet its form was not like later halyard chanties. Had it really been around a VERY long time, or was it perhaps among the earliest of the newer songs? Are there any earlier references (i.e. that I'm overlooking) for "Cheerly Man"?

The text is JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO QUEBEC IN THE YEAR 1825, by P. Finan.

The narrator is leaving Quebec in a brig in July 1825.

A ship getting under weigh displays a lively, active scene. "Man the windlass !" was the first order of the mate: the windlass was quickly manned, and the seamen commenced weighing the anchor—and, as the great chain cable clanked along the deck, and the sailor sent forth his long and slow-toned "yeo— heave — oh!" the sounds reached the ear with more important meaning than merely that the anchor was raising from the bottom.

...

"Man your topsail sheets, and overhaul your clue-lines and buntlines!" cried the mate; the seamen sprang to their places with the greatest alacrity, and the command was soon executed. The topsail haliards, or rope by which the topsail is hoisted, was next ordered to be manned, and the hoisting was accompanied by a lively song, the words of which, being the extemporary composition of the seaman who led, afforded me a good deal of amusement.— One.man sung, and the rest joined lustily in the chorus. The following is a specimen:—

Oh rouse him up, .
Chorus—Oh, yeo, cheerly ;
Newry girls,
Oh, yeo, cheerly;
Now for Warrenpoint,
Oh, yeo, cheerly;
Rouse him up cheerly,
Oh, yeo, cheerly;
Oh.mast-head him,
Oh, yeo, cheerly;
Oh, with a will,
Oh, yeo, cheerly;
Cheerly men,
Oh, oh, yeo,
Oh, yeo, cheerly ;
Oh, yeo, cheerly.

I'm not sure if I have parsed the verse/chorus structure as intended. See the original on pg. 329, HERE

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: mikesamwild
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 06:17 AM

The song I mentioned, Yellow Girls is the Doodle let me go one.

'It's of a Captain's daughter belonged to Callao etc'

I have been struck by the similarity of some shanty tunes to Irish polkas which came in during the mid 19th century boom of Quadrilles across society worldwide. London, Bristo, Liverpool and Cork could be jumping off points


Dan Worrall has just produced a good book (2 vols)on the Anglo Concertina which explores playing in various comunities amongst which is the work on black African players who use songs as an essential part of all aspects of life.


He has done a lot of work , based in Texas.using digital archives . The section on the concertina at sea is excellent ( no evidence of concertina accompaniment to shanties but used in 'forebitters')

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: doc.tom
Date: 23 Mar 10 - 05:28 AM

Just chuck this in to test others' opinions - it derives from analysis of dear old John Short's repertoire (which he aquired between 1855 and 1875): The capstan/windlass stuff seems to tend (yes, deliberately imprecise) to utilise shore-song narratives (often Anglo-Irish except where they derive from contemporary American popular song) whereas the shorthaul stuff seems to use much more discontinuous texts deriving from hoosier/river sources (the latter also being the opinion of Short himself given to Sharp).

We're also currntly having fun with the fact that A Hundred years Ago and Tommy's Gone Away effectivly use the same tune. And have you noticed that Santy Anna, Whip Jamboree and the Irish tune King of the Fairies (A-phrase) all share a majority of melodic phrases too!

TomB

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: John Minear
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 10:23 PM

This is great stuff, Gibb! I like the approach and am rowing fast to catch up. I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention and you got launched without me realizing it. Thanks for doing this and for keeping this very important discussion alive and well.

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 10:15 PM

That is it for my 1810s and earlier references, for now. I am moving on to the 1820s. Please join in! I imagine many of these will be pilfered from the Sf-Sydney thread, including one that Lighter mentions a few posts up.

The first rowing reference comes from TRAVELS IN NORTH AMERICAN IN THE YEARS 1827 AND 1828, by Basil Hall. It's March 1828, and the author has headed into the interior of Georgia from the sea islands area.

On reaching Darien, a neat little village on the left bank of the gigantic Alatamaha, one of the largest rivers in America, but the name of which I had never even heard of before, we were met by a gentleman we had formerly known, and at whose invitation we were now visiting this part of the country. Under his escort we proceeded down the current in a canoe some thirty feet long, hollowed out of a cypress tree. The oars were pulled by five smart negroes, merry fellows, and very happy looking, as indeed are most of their race, in spite of all their bondage. They accompanied their labour by a wild sort of song, not very unlike that of the Canadian voyageurs, but still more nearly resembling that of the well-known Bunder-boatmen at Bombay.

Interesting comparisons: "Canadian voyageurs" and "Bunder-boatmen at Bombay."

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:51 PM

In tracing the advent of the "chanties," it is important to distinguish the songs used for halyards from those used for capstan. For as a chantey designed for halyards, with modifications, might work for capstan, it rarely goes the other way. The forms are different. Halyards required quite a strict form; most of those chanties are of uniform...er, form. Capstan work could use material from many sources. This is what makes halyard chanties distinctive and potential revealing with respect to their origins. The form of the rowing songs appears to lend itself better to halyards this was the song format that appeared relatively new to the scene, from the perspective of the Euro-American commenters.

Capstan songs, on the other hand, had been around longer, though I cannot say specifically what their form may have been like from one period to the next.

I suggest we maintain a distinction between the songs for capstan and the ones potentially used for halyards, lest we muddle the stream of development of these different kinds of work-songs.

Here is a reference to singing at the WINDLASS from the beginning of the 19th century.
It is found in an edited volume of a poem THE SHIPWRECK by a sailor, William Falconer. This edited edition is from 1806; seems the first edition was probably 1803. It is a footnote reference to the old spoke windlass, in which one must continually remove and replace one's handspike.

As the Windlass is heaved about in a vertical direction, it is evident that the effort of an equal number of men acting upon it will be much more powerful than on the Capstan. It requires, however, some dexterity and address to manage the Handspec, or Lever, to the greatest advantage; and to perform this the Sailors must all rise at once upon the Windlass, and, fixing their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the same instant; in which movement they are regulated by a sort of Song pronounced by one of the number. The most dexterous managers of the Handspec in heaving at the Windlass, are generally supposed to be the Colliers of Northumberland; and of all European Mariners, the Dutch are certainly the most awkward, and sluggish, in this manoeuvre.

[Was the action anything like cotton-screwing?]

For an illustration of this kind of windlass (not sure just how realistic?) see here, at 2:40:
old fashioned windlass

Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 09:22 PM

A NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE TO SURINAM.., by Albert Sack, pub. 1810. Translated from German notes.

The place is Surinam, 1805.

We continued our journey very easily. The tides in these rivers
flow, five hours and a half, and ebb six hours and a half. The
spring tides are twice a month, at the new and full moon; the
tide runs at the rate of about seven miles an hour, and as we only
pursued our course by it, our boatmen in these short stages were
not in the least fatigued: they are eight stout negroes, who sing in
chorus all the way.

In the following decades, more rowing references will come.