Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique

Subject: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 11:51 AM

Iv got an old Topic LP by the Exiles,on it is an old sea song about an East India frigate called La Pique.Its a great song and I wondered if any of you chantymen new the background or any info about the ship....Ake

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 12:25 PM

It's a version of "The Flash Frigate." This info is from a Polish site:

"Lsniaca fregata" ("The Flash Frigate") - in the archives of Royal Navy there are three vessels named "Pique". This song probably concerns one of them, a 36 gun vessel, which entered the fleet in 1834. It was first sung as a forecastle ballad and then, with a changed rhythm, also as a capstan shanty. There are many text variants and several different melody lines, e.g. "The Liverpool Packet", "The Flash Frigate" and "Don Pedro". Some of them even have around 40 verses.

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 12:35 PM

Info from folktrax:

FLASH FRIGATE, THE - "O tis of a FF, La Pique was her name" - British Navy song - ROUD#2563 - WHALL SSS&S 1927 pp17-21 (w/o) - SPIN 5/2 p14 - SEEGER-McCOLL SI 1960 p68 - HUGILL SSS 1961 pp462-3 -- TAVERNERS: LEADER LER-2080 1973 - JENKIN'S EAR, Guernsey F/Group rec 1994: CASS-1301 "Pique La Balleine"

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 02:03 PM

Thanks Masato...The song tells of a captain Mcivor who was a right bastard apparently and threatened the crew with a pump handle...
I got some information from a Canadian site,about a frigate called La Pique that called at Halifax in 1820. The captain was a Mr McKellar
I wonder if it could be the same ship?..

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: Gareth
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 02:52 PM

Hmmm ! This informative Web-Site here gives the following :-

(Sorry for the lengthy cut & paste, but as you will see it is neccessary)

La PIQUE,38. (French, taken by Capt. Robert FAULKNER in BLANCHE off Guadaloupe in the West Indies on 6 January 1795. Wrecked 1798.) Capt. FAULKNER was shot through the heart just after he had lashed the enemy`s bowsprit to the capstan with his own hands. Blanche lost 8 killed and 21 wounded out of only 198 men on board. La PIQUE had 36O men of whom 67 were killed and 110 wounded. As the boats of both ships had been destroyed or damaged, BLANCHE`s 2nd Lieutenant, David MILNE boarded La PIQUE, after her surrender, with 10 men along a hawser and took possession. The weight putting the bight into the water they had to swim part of the distance. He was advanced to the rank of commander for his conduct.
After commanding ALARM, David MILNE, who had been posted on 2 October, was appointed to command La PIQUE. In the spring of 1796 he assisted in the reduction of Demerara, Issiquibo and Berbice by the forces under Commodore PARR and Major General White. About this time he captured the French brig, LACEDEMONIAN.
On 29 June 1798 La PIQUE was cruising off the French coast with JASON and MERMAID. They gave chase to a French frigate, la SEINE,42, and captured her after a running fight of about five hours. Out of 610 men (including soldiers) on board the Frenchman, 170 were killed and 100 wounded. La PIQUE and JASON lost 8 men killed and 18 wounded, the former bearing the brunt of the action. MERMAID could not get up in time. All the contestants took the ground near Pointe de la Trenche and La PIQUE was bilged so it was necessary to destroy her. Captain MILNE, his officers and crew were removed into the prize, to the command of which he was afterwards appointed by the Admiralty.


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La PIQUE,40. (The French La PALLAS (44 guns 350 men) taken by LOIRE, DANAE. FAIRY and HARPY on 6 February 180O. Sold 1819) La PALLAS was captured after a "close and running action" lasting two hours. She was quite new, on her first cruise, having left St Marloes six hours previously bound for Brest and then Mauritius. Harper, the master of a trawler, encountered LOIRE, and La PALLAS two leagues S.W. of the Eddystone and put a pilot on board the prize as she was much disabled, her main top-mast had gone over the side and standing and running rigging and sails cut to ribbons. LOIRE and La PALLAS then bore away for Falmouth with the wind blowing hard.
180O Capt. YOUNG, Plymouth. On 9 September 180O George BARNET, one of the mutineers of the DANAE, was hanged at the yard arm of PIQUE which was then lying in the Hamoaze. After an hour his body was lowered and taken to the Royal Naval Hospital for burial. He had been sentenced at a court martial on board CAMBRIDGE on 2 September.
Capt. W. CUMBERLAND, Aug. 1802. 1803 Downs for Jamaica. On 6 December 1803 PIQUE and the CUMBERLAND,74, captured two feluccas, REPUBLIC and TEMERAIRE; one French schooner, BELLE LOUISE, and two American vessels, ACTIVE and SALLY WALTER, all carrying the French garrison of Cape Nicola Mole in the North West corner of San Domingo, which they had evacuated during the night. The French commander General Noailles escaped with one brig.
1804 Charles Bayne Hodgson ROSS, Jamaica station. After a chase of five hours PIQUE captured the French national cutter TERREUR,10, on 18 March 1804. Six of the enemy's guns were thrown overboard in their effort to escape. She was commanded by Lieut. Colliner and had left San Domingo two days previously. The Spanish corvette ORQUIJO was captured on later occassion.
Lieut. William WARD in PIQUE's gig and Mr EVELEIGH, midshipman, in her yawl, boarded and captured without loss, the Spanish armed schooner SANTA CLARA off Ocoa Bay on 17 March 1806. The enemy was armed with one 9-pounder and carried 28 men.
On 26 March, while PIQUE was on passage from San Domingo to Curacoa, she encountered two French brigs of war standing in to the land. By superior sailing she closed and subjected both of them to heavy fire. A fluke of the wind enabled Lieuts. WARD and P. H. BAKER with no more than 30 men to board one of them and, although she was stubbonly defended, she was taken after about 5 minutes. Mr John THOMPSON, the master, and eight seamen were killed and both lieutenants and 12 seamen and marines were wounded. Capt. ROSS meanwhile had taken the other brig after a few broadsides. The brigs were the PHAETON,16, with 120 men, commanded by Lieut. Freyanet, and VOLTIGEUR,16, with 115 men, commanded by Lieut. St. Craig.
On 1 November 1806 Capt. ROSS sent off three boats to intercept a schooner coming round Cabo Rojo in the S.W. of Puerto Rico but they lost her during a squall in the night. Lieut. BELL, in command, pushed on with Lieut. Baillie of the marines, landed at Caberet Bay, destroyed a three gun battery and captured a Spanish brig. The following day Lieut. BAKER, in the launch, drove a French privateer of 2 guns and 26 men on to the reef off Cabo Rojo and then, while returning to the ship, captured a 1-gun privateer after a long chase.
1811 Under repair at Woolwich. In the autumn Capt. Hon. Anthony MAITLAND commissioned her at Woolwich for service first in the Mediterranean and then in the West Indies during the latter part of the war with America. Two Swedish ships were taken by PIQUE in January 1814 and sent in to Guadaloupe; BERNAT, laden with flour and rice, on the 13th and MARGARET, in ballast, on the 19th.
On the morning of 26 April 1814 off the Silver Keys PIQUE captured the American privateer HAWK armed with four 6-pounder guns and one long 12-pounder and carrying 68 men.
PIQUE returned to Portsmouth at the end of the year and was back in the West Indies in the spring of 1815.
1816 Capt. James Haldane TAIT, Jamaica.
1817 Capt. John MACKELLAR. He exchanged into PIQUE from SALISBURY at Jamaica on 17 March 1817 due to the ill health of Capt. TAIT. When she left for home in September 1818 PIQUE encountered a dreadful hurricane during the passage and nearly foundered. She paid off at Deptford in December.


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PIQUE,36. (1834 Plymouth. Sold 1910) 1834 She was first commissioned by Capt. Hon. Henry J. ROUS on 17 November 1834 and employed in the blockade of Santader. In July 1835 she took the Governor General, Lord Gosford, to Canada and returned in September with his predecessor, Lord Aylmer. To avoid bad weather in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Capt. ROUS took her through the Straits of Bellisle to the north of the island of Newfoundland. On 22 September, in fog, she grounded on Point Forteau in Labrador and was on shore for 10 hours. Despite gales and the later loss of a rudder she made the voyage back across the Atlantic. At the beginning of October she was assisted by the French brig SUFREN which stood by until the weather moderated. When she was docked at Portsmouth on 20 October it was found that her bottom was almost rubbed through and that a rock was plugging a hole. The Captain and the master, William HEMSLEY, were acquitted of blame by a court martial.
Capt. ROUS recommissioned PIQUE in July 1836 after she had been repaired and the following year her seamen and marines were landed in Northern Spain during the Carlist War.
1837 Capt. Robert BOXER commissioned her in August 1837. Her foremast was damaged by lightning in the St. Lawrence River.
In 1840 Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia signed a treaty supporting Turkey against the rebellious Mehemet Ali of Egypt. PIQUE joined the British, Austrian and Turkish ships off the Syrian coast and on 9 September she among those covering Napier`s troops as they landed north of Beirut. On the 15th HASTINGS, CARYSFORT and PIQUE captured Batroun and on the 24th CASTOR and PIQUE captured Tyre on their own. She was nearly wrecked in December when she was dismasted during a storm while in the Bay of Acre. She was repaired in Malta.
1841 Capt. Henry FORBES. 1842 Capt. Hon. Montagu STOPFORD, North American station.
She was out of commission under repair during 1846 to 1851 . PIQUE was next commissioned by Capt. Sir Frederick NICOLSON in December 1853 for service in the Pacific. She took part in the bombardment of Petropovlovsk during the war of 1854.
After she returned to Plymouth in 1859 she remained laid up until 1871 when she was used as a quarantine ship to treat seamen with smallpox. Later she was used as a permanent floating hospital. She was finally sold in 1910.


The second La Pique would seem to be akenaton's vessel, and the West Indies Station could well include cruises to Halifax.

But be warned - This archieve only referes to vessels of the Royal Navy, and not the mercantile marine. Somehow I can not see a Post Captain RN threatening violence with a pump handel, extra pumping duties yes.

Gareth

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 04:10 PM

Thank you Gareth for all your help that was a magnificent effort,and it seems that the second La pique is indeed the one in the song.
Re the violence threatened to the crew...Perhaps a bit of "poetic license"...Thanks again and Best wishes Ake..

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: LA PIQUE
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 07:59 PM

The tune, lyrics and notes from Whall's Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties:

X:1
T:La Pique
M:3/4
L:1/4
B:W.B. Whall, Ships, Sea Songs and Shanties, 3rd ed. (James Brown, 1913, pp. 20-21)
K:C
HE/ D/|C C C|C HE D|D C C|HC2 G|
w:O, 'tis of a fine fri-gate, La Pique was her name, All
G E G|A/B/ Hc B|{c/}A G G|HG2 G|
w:in the West In - dies she bore a great name: For
G E G|A/B/ Hc B|A G E D2 E|
w:cru-el bad us - age of ev-'ry de-gree, Like
F G A|G E C|D C C|HC2|]
w:slaves in the gal-ley we ploughed the salt sea.

O, 'tis of a fine frigate, La Pique was her name,
All in the West Indies she bore a great name:
For cruel bad usage of ev'ry degree,
Like slaves in the galley we ploughed the salt sea.

Now at four in the morning our work does begin,
In our 'twixt decks and cock-pit a bucket might swim,
Our fore and main topmen so loud-ly do bawl,
For sand and for holystones both great and small.

Our decks being washed down and swabbed up quite dry,
It's lash up your hammicks our boatswain does cry;
Our hammicks being lasht up black clews and black shows,
It's "all the world over, and over she goes."

Now, Mister Macliver, you knows him quite well,
He comes upon deck and he cuts a great swell;
It's damn your eyes here and it's damn your eyes there,
And strait to the gangway he takes a broad sheer.

Our di-vision officer now takes his rounds,
Not a hole or a spot on your clothes must be found,
For an hour or more in this form we must be,
Our ropes flemished down both in port sand at sea.

Divisions being over the next thing comes on,
Jack of Clubs now is calling for swabs in his song.
Three or four dry swabs then each cook they must find,
And the bright copper hoops on our mess-kids must shine.

Our pikes and cutlashes are bright as the sun,
Our shot-racks are copper boys every one,
Our pomelins and handspikes, belaying pins also,
With our bright iron stanchions we cut a fine show.

And now look aloft, my boys, every one,
All hands to make sail going large is the song,
From under two reefs in our topsails we lie,
Like a cloud all our sails in a moment must fly.

And now, my brave boys, comes the best of the fun,
It's hands about ship and reef topsails in one;
So it's lay aloft, topmen, as the hellum goes down,
And clew down your topsails as the mainyard goes round.

Trice up and lay out and take two reefs in one,
In a moment of time all this work must be done,
So it's man your head braces, your halliards and all,
And hoist away topsails at "Let go and haul."

Now, your quids of tobacco I'd have you to mind,
If you spits upon deck it's your death warrant signed,
If you spits over bow, over gangway, or starn,
You're sure of three dozen just by way of no harm.

So, now, brother sailors, wherever you be,
From all fancy frigates I'd have you keep free,
For they'll haze you and work you till you ain't worth a damn,
And send you half dead to your dear native land.

Notes:
   Verse 3-- "Black shows": I do not know the meaning of this unless it refers to the number painted on each hammock. "All the world over," etc., seems to have been some naval saying now obsolte. Alternate verse three ran--

       "Seven turns with your lashings so equal must show,
       And all of one size through the hoop they must go."

Each hammock had to be so tightly lashed as to pass through the regulation hoop.
   Verse 7-- "Pomelins," or "pomellions," was Jack's name for the cascable, or knob on the breech of a cannon: it is from the French.
   Verses 9, 10-- A very favourite evolution in old sailing days in all navies. "Trice up" refers to the studding sail booms, which had to triced up so that the men could "lay out" on the yards.

There's an illustration of H.M.S. Pique in Whall's book (p. 16), whose caption is: "From a print by Brierly. She was a 36-gun frigate, named after a French prize captured by H.M.S. Blanche. The date of the song here given is probably about 1838, at which date the Pique was notorious for 'smartness.'"

Subject: RE: Chantyrasslers : can you help?
From: akenaton
Date: 24 Aug 03 - 08:26 PM

Thanks Masato, for that very informative post.   Its amazing how these historical details,set beside the song brings the past to life 200years seems no time at all.. Best wishes Ake

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 May 10 - 05:30 PM

Sheet music for THE FLASH FRIGATE—arranged for one voice only—can be seen in Naval Songs (New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1883), page 9.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 15 May 10 - 05:59 PM

Such songs were generic and were adapted to be sung about different ships at different occasions. Probably the earliest is the 19 stanza 'Flash Frigate' which starts 'It is of a fine frigate, dare not mention her name' Later adaptations of selected stanzas from the main crop were broadsides in which the ship was the 'Scylla' and another 'Forte'. La Pique is just another one of these so it is pointless trying to match the info to a specific ship of that name.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 15 May 10 - 06:53 PM

They were so generally applicable that "The Flash Frigate" is mentioned as one of the favorite songs of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in the 1860s.

Subject: Lyr. Add: Pique la baleine
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 May 10 - 09:19 PM

Lyr. Add: Pique la beleine

(C)Pour retrouver ma donc' amie oh mes (D)boués
ouh la ouh la la la (G)pique la ba(D)leine (G)joli balei(D)nier
(G)pique la baleine je veux (D)naviguer

Pour retrouver ma douce amie oh mes boués
Ouh la
Ouh lalala

Pique la baleine joli baleinier
Pique la beleine je veux naviguer

Aux mille mers j'ai navigué

Des mers du Nord aux mers du Sud

Je l'ai retrouvée quand je m'ai neyé

Dans les grands fonds elle m'espérait

En couple à elle me suis couché

Traditional. From Michel Colleu and Nathalie Couilloud,
Chants de Marins, chasse-marée. No. 18 on included disc,
Bernard Subert.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Les from Hull
Date: 16 May 10 - 09:21 AM

There never was a ship in the Royal Navy called 'La Pique'. There have been several called HMS Pique. As Steve rightly points out this sort of song is fairly generic on an 'insert name of ship here' basis.

But merchant ships were often referred to as 'frigate-built' or indeed frigates.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 May 10 - 01:09 PM

I feel I ought to qualify slightly what I said earlier. Many, not all, of these glorifying particular warship exploits are generic in this way, but the earliest versions sometimes are written about a specific ship/event, and also some, like the Nottingham/London/Wasp/Dolphin/Lion series are about real ships and rewritten every twenty years or so to apply to a currently popular different vessel.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 16 May 10 - 02:07 PM

Very tangential indeed... but if anyone is interested in a parody of "The Flash Frigate"...and they've also experienced the American corporate university system since 1970-ish...and don't mind a bit of strong opinion, frank language, and hyperbole... I wrote this version about a different kind of "hellship":

Ballad of a Modern Graduate Student

With apologies,

Gibb

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 May 10 - 05:38 PM

Gibb-

A most intriguing ballad and I'm sure it will earn you the highest recommendations from your graduate committee.

It reminds me of one I composed a few decades back titled "The Tenure Tango."

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, Ph.D.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Stringsinger
Date: 16 May 10 - 07:37 PM

Good job Gibb. Lots of truth there. Not too many footnotes required to appreciate.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Sailor Ron
Date: 17 May 10 - 06:03 AM

I've often thought this song should/could have been about H.M.S. Hermione, who's captain was so brutal that he caused a mutiny. The final straw being when he reefing the tops'ls he swore he'd flog the last man down on deck. As they rushed down three seamen fell to their deaths, Captain Piggot ordered their bodies to be flung overboard stating that he wouldn't waste a Christian burial on scum like them. That night the crew mutinied, killed Piggot and all his, equally brutal, officers, and handed the bosun to the ship's boys who flayed him alive. They then handed the frigate over to the Spaniards.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Les from Hull
Date: 17 May 10 - 06:20 AM

It was HMS Surprise that recaptured the Hermione from the Spanish, a feat that Patrick O'Brian admired so much that he he used the ship in many of his books. The Captain was Pigot, though.

Here's another Corbet

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FLASH FRIGATE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 May 10 - 08:04 PM

Here's the text from the book Naval Songs (see the full citation and link above):


THE FLASH FRIGATE

1. I'll sing of a frigate, a frigate of fame,
Which in the East Indies she bore a great name,
For cruel, hard treatment of ev'ry degree,
Like slaves in the galleys we plough'd the salt sea.

2. At four in the morning our day's work begun;
Come lash up your hammocks, boys, every one.
Seven turns with the lashing so neatly must show,
And all of one size through a loop they must go.

3. The next thing we do is to holystone decks,
Mizzen-topmen from the fore-hatch your buckets must fetch,
And it's foremain and topmain so loudly they bawl,
Come, fetch up your holystones, squilgees, and all.

4. The decks being scrubbed and the rigging coiled down,
It is now clean your bright work, which is found all around,
Your gun-caps and aprons so neatly must shine,
And in white frocks and trowsers you must all toe a line.

5. The next thing we hear is "all hands to make sail,"
For under topgallant sails she must not remain.
Oh, your royals and your skysails and your moon-sails so high,
At the sound of the call your skyscrapers must fly.

6. But now, my brave boys, comes the best of the fun:
"All hands about ship and reef topsails," in one.
Oh, it's "lay aloft topmen" as the hellum goes down,
And it's "clew down your topsails" as the mainyard swings round.

7. "Trice up and lay out, take two snug reefs in one;"
And all in one moment this work must be done.
Then man your head braces, topsail-halliards, and all,
And hoist away topsails as you let go and haul.

8. Our second lieutenant, you all know him well,
He comes up on deck and cuts a great swell.
Oh, it's bear a hand here, boys, and it's bear a hand there,
And in the lee gangway he serves out our share.*

9. Now, all you bold seamen who plough the salt sea,
Beware of this frigate wherever she be,
For they'll beat you and bang you till you ain't worth a d——n,
And send you an invalid to your own native land.

* Of the colt.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jun 10 - 03:35 PM

Friends, mates!

I am a retired printer and amatoursailor. During some months I translated Leutenant Blighs story about his jourey in the south sea into swedish. But it was not the real log. I am a bit cripeled, so translating good stories is one of the greatest joy I have left.

So I would be very glad if anybody could provide me with the original text from Bountys log. That would be a fine projekt during next winter.

Torgny Ullerstam
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Jun 10 - 04:43 PM

This web site, Fateful Voyage, claims to have all the relevant documents, including the complete Bounty logbook.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Flash Frigate / La Pique
From: Lighter
Date: 15 Sep 19 - 09:16 AM

Another American text (the one I mentioned in 2010), from Park Benjamin's "The United States Naval Academy" (1900):

It's of a flash frigate, a frigate of fame,
All o'er the East Indies she bore a great name,
For work and for usage of every degree
Like slaves in a galley, we ploughed the wide sea.

So early in the morning, our work does begin,
From her waist to her bulwarks the buckets do ring,
Fore- and maintopmen so loudly do call
For sand and for holystones, both great and small.

The decks are swabbed up, the ropes are coiled down,
Then it's "Up with your hammocks, boys, every one";
With seven round turns both equal and true,
And all of one size, the hoops they go through.

Now, my brave boys, comes the call to make sail,
We can double reef topsails and that without fail,
From royal to skysail or moonsail so high,
At the sound of the whistle, star-gazers must fly.

It's "All hands 'bout ship! Reef topsails in one!"
And quick to the rigging, your place must be won,
Then settle away topsails, as the helium goes down,
And "Lay aloft topmen!" as the main-yards swing round.

"Trice up! lay out! take two reefs in one!"
'T is the work of a moment and all must be done,
Man well the head braces, topsail halliards and all,
Settle away the foretopsail as you let go and haul.

Now there's our first Luff, you might know him well,
All around the lee gangway he cuts a great swell,
All around the lee gangway he has a broad share,
And at that very moment it's "D--n your eyes there!"

Now all you bold sailors who plough the salt sea,
Beware of this frigate, wherever she be;
They'll beat you and bang you till not worth a d--n,
And then send you home to your own native land.

Benjamin himself graduated from the Academy in 1867. As he says,

"At these [free-time] gatherings [of midshipmen and staff] the ballad which appears to have been the most popular (there are half a dozen versions of it, and every oldster who nowadays recalls it avers that his memory contains the only correct one) was the ' Flash Frigate'; and as will appear by its perusal, it is a protest against the miseries of the old smart ship. The best form of it runs as follows—expletives and all—and 'sings,' I am assured, 'much better than it reads.'"

Benjamin offers no tune.