Discussion: Cruise of the Calabar

Subject: Cruise of the Calabar
From: Alison
Date: 28 Jun 97 - 09:23 PM

Hi

This is a song recorded by the Clancys and Tommy Makem. It's about a boat journey down the Lagan from Belfast to Portadown. I have most of the lyrics but some I simply cannot catch, (and I speak fluent Belfast, having lived there most of my life before moving to sunny Australia, which I have to say isn't very sunny at this present moment in time!!)

I need one word in the first line-

"Come all you ? sail-y-ors and listen to my song."

and in the last verse-

"There was a farmer standing there and he threw us the end of his ..............? (sound like galoshes, but that's not a word we use in Belfast very often seeing as we wear wellies!), and he pulled it all ashore."

Can anyone help?

Slainte

Alison

Subject: RE: Cruise of the Calabar
From: Susan of DT
Date: 28 Jun 97 - 11:03 PM

It's in the database. Search for Calabar. The first is dry-land sailors.

Subject: RE: Cruise of the Calabar
From: Murray
Date: 29 Jun 97 - 02:51 AM

The other words is probably "galluses" or "gallowses" or whatever, = braces, trouser suspenders. There is also a north Antrim version "gallowsters".

Subject: RE: Cruise of the Calabar
From: alison
Date: 29 Jun 97 - 05:24 AM

Hi

Thanks a lot.

Yes, throwing someone some braces makes more sense than pulling them ashore with a welly boot.

Slainte

Alison

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CRUISE OF THE CALABAR (from C Tawny)
From: Alison
Date: 29 Jun 97 - 09:58 PM

Hi
My version is slightly different being about the Lagan, (which runs through Belfast), and mentions several places in Belfast. (eg, "the Albert", is a big clock tower called the Albert Clock.)

So for anyone who's interested here is the "Belfast" version.

THE CRUISE OF THE CALABAR
Trad. Arr. Cyril Tawny

Come all ye dry-land sail-y-ors and listen to my song,
For it's only forty verses and it won't detain you long.
It's all about the advent-y-ures of this here Lisburn tar
Who sailed as a man before the mast on the good ship Calabar.

Now the Calabar was a spanking craft, copper-fastened fore and aft,
Her helm it stuck out far behind, and her wheel had a great big shaft,
With half a gale to swell each sail, she'd make one knot per hour,
She's the fastest craft on the Lagan canal, and she's only one horse-power.

Now the skipper he was a strapping lad, he stood just four feet two,
His eyes were black, his nose was red, and his cheeks were a Prussian blue,
He wore a leather medal that he'd won at the Crimea war,
And the captain's wife was passenger cook on the good ship Calabar.

Now the skipper he says to me, "Me lad, look here me lad," says he
"Would yous like to be a sail-y-or to sail the raging sea?
Would yous like to be a sail-y-or the foreign seas to roll
For we're under orders for Portadown with half a ton of coal."

The next morning we set sail, the weather being sublime,
And passing under the old Queen's bridge we heard the "Albert" chime.
'Tis then we came to the Gasworks Straight, a very dangerous part,
And ran head on to a lump of coal that wasn't marked on the chart.

Then all became confusion while the stormy winds did blow,
Our bo'sun slipped on an orange peel and fell into the hold below,
"Put on more steam," the captain said, "for we are sorely pressed,"
But the engineer replied from the bank, "The horse is doing his best."

And we all fell into the water and then let out a roar
There was a farmer standing there and he threw us the end of his galluses and he pulled it all ashore.
No more I'll be a sail-y-or to sail the raging main,
And the next time I go to Portadown, I'm bloody sure I'll go by train.

The tune is slightly different too. But I hope this is of interest to someone.

Slainte

Alison