Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate
We’re the boys that fear no noise
Whilst thundering cannons roar,
And long we’ve toiled on the rolling wave,
And now we’re safe on shore.
Don’t forget your old shipmate,
Fol de rol.
Since we sailed from Plymouth Sound,
Four years gone, to-night, Jack,
Were there ever chummies known,
Such as you and I, Jack?
Don’t forget, etc.
We have served the self-same gun,
Quarter-deck division,
Sponger I, and loader you,
Through the whole commission.
Don’t forget, etc.
Oftentimes have we laid out,
Toil nor danger fearing,
Hauling out the flapping sail
To the weather ear-ring.
Don’t forget, etc.
When the middle watch was on,
And the time went slow, boy,
Who could tune a rousing stave,
Who like Jack or Joe, boy?
Don’t forget, etc.
There she swings an empty hulk,
Not a soul below now;
Number seven, starboard mess,
Misses Jack and Joe now.
Don’t forget, etc.
But the best of friends must part,
Fair or foul the weather;
Tip us your flipper for a shake,
Now a drink together;
And don’t forget your old shipmate, etc.
Notes
P. 1. The Battle of Sluys. From Joseph Hall’s edition of the Poems of Lawrence Minot, p. 14. The following explanations of references and words are from Mr. Hall’s notes:—
Line 1. Lithes = listen.
Stanza 1.—Suth = true; sad = serious; salue = greet; bute (bote) = remedy, benefit.
Stanza 2.—Sir Hugh Kyret = Hugues Quiéret, Seigneur de Tours en Vimieu; leve = believe; lare = teaching; brin (bren) = burn; unkind = unnatural; sowed = smarted; lered = taught.
Stanza 3.—Buriase = burgesses; sone = soon; mekill = much, great; grame = hurt.
Stanza 4.—Sergantes = sergeants, soldiers; snell = quick.
Stanza 5.—Dight = ready; kene = bold; byfor = before; Blankebergh = Blanckenberghe, in West Flanders; sary = wretched; waniand = waning (moon).
Stanza 6.—Sir Robard, &c. = Sir Robert Morley, Marshal of Ireland; wonnen = captured; oway = gone, worthless.
Stanza 7.—Erle of Northamton = William de Bohun; wede = armour; Sir Walter the Mawnay = Sir W. Manny; bede = offer.
Stanza 8.—The duc of Lankaster = Henry of Derby; drive = rush, dash on; mody = courageous, proud; stint = stopped; strive = a conflict; fone = few.
Stanza 9.—Eth = easy; raw = line, order of battle; fer = far; bud = behoved.
Stanza 10.—Earl of Glowcester=Hugh de Audley; glade = gladden; biker = fight; baldely = bravely; brim = sea, flood; at = to.
Stanza 11.—Prest = ready.
Stanza 12.—John of Aile = Jan van Eyle or Heylle; scheltron = squadron; schene = bright; Cagent = Cadzant, in Zeeland; cantly = eagerly; tene = sorrow.
Stanza 13.—Swith = quickly; skrith = escape; kouth = knew; kith = show.
Stanza 14.—Kogges = cogs, or cocks, ships of burden; stound = time, short time.
Stanza 15.—Wall = choice; flude (flode) = sea; confort = cheer.
Stanza 16.—Gert = caused; blin = cease.
P. 3. Les Espagnols sur Mer. From Joseph Hall’s edition of the Poems of Lawrence Minot, p. 33.
Stanza 1.—Spede = cause to prosper; wight = stout; dale = earth, grave; fele = many; fare = brag.
Stanza 2.—Taburns = tabours, small drums; weremen = warriors; holl = hull.
Stanza 3.—Hurdis = bulwark; on here = on high; neghed = approached; snaper = stumble; ferr = farther; fine = come to an end, die; tyne = lose; reved = carried off.
Stanza 4.—Boy with thi blac berd—Barbenoire or Bocca-Negra, pirate of Genoa; rede = advise; blin = cease; were on = fight against; domp = plunge; lout = bow low to.
P. 4. The Pilgrims’ Sea Voyage. From a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Edited by J. F. Furnivall for the Early English Text Society in 1867; also printed in Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, p. 1. Date of MS. temp. Henry VI. A translation is given by Clowes, The Royal Navy, i. 344.
On p. 5, line 15, ‘lyle’ is a misprint for ‘lyke.’
Stanza 1.—Gramys = troubles.
Stanza 2.—Hissa = hoist away: French ‘hissez’; crake = talk.
Stanza 3.—Taylia = haul aft the sheet.
Stanza 4.—No nere = steer no nearer the wind. The note of interrogation is clearly wrong.
Stanza 5.—Trussa = haul on the truss; probably the French ‘troussez.’; Wartake = French ‘uretacque’ (Jal); defined by Falconer as ‘the preventer fore tack.’ Cf. Inventories of Henry VII., p. 71.
Stanza 6.—Pery = a squall; Thou canst no whery = thou understandest not a ship.
P. 6. Sir Andrew Barton. Text in Hales and Furnivall, Bishop Percy’s Folio MS., iii. 399, and in Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, iii. 334. There is also a later broadside version which is printed in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, i. 159, and in Roxburghe Ballads, i. 10. Percy’s Reliques contains a composite version.
Bishop Percy’s MS. is said to belong to the reign of Charles I., but the version of this ballad it contains probably belongs to an earlier period. It apparently attributes to Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, who died in 1624, the exploit of his kinsman, Sir Edward Howard, who died in 1513, a kind of confusion which is not uncommon in ballads handed down by tradition.
Contemporary narratives give no account of Sir Edward Howard’s tactics, and the details given are probably the invention of the author of the ballad. The reference to ‘beams’ in stanzas 7 and 9 on p. 9 has been explained in many different ways. One explanation is that it refers to some primitive form of ram, such as that described by De la Roncière in his Histoire de la Marine Française, i. 256. Another is, that the ‘beams,’ also termed in the MS. ‘beanes’ or ‘beaves,’ were heavy weights designed to be dropped on the enemy’s ship. It seems more likely that some apparatus for grappling the enemy’s ship was meant. ‘He clasped me to his archborde’ says the merchant in stanza 3 on p. 9. ‘Archborde’ is explained by Hales and Furnivall in a note to mean the side of a ship, and to be the same as hatch-bord.’ Bishop Percy’s Folio MS., iii. 407.
The two following stanzas from Percy’s Reliques, i. 335, ed. 1893, will serve to fill the gap on p. 10 of the text:
‘And seven pieces of ordinance,
I pray your honour lend to mee,
On each side of my ship along,
And I will lead you on the sea.
A glasse Ile sett, that may be seene,
Whether you sayle by day or night;
And to-morrowe, I sweare, by nine of the clocke
You shall meet with Sir Andrew Barton, knight.’
The Second Part.
‘The merchant sett my lorde a glasse
So well apparent in his sight,
And on the morrowe, by nine of the clocke,
He shewed him Sir Andrewe Barton, knight.
His hachebord it was gilt with gold,
So deerlye dight it dazzled the ee:
“Nowe by my faith,” lord Howarde sais,
This is a gallant sight to see.’
P. 16. John Dory. Text in Ritson, Ancient Songs and Ballads, ed. 1877, p. 198, and in Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 131. The ballad was first printed in 1609, but is mentioned in 1575. Tune in Chappell, Old English Popular Music, i. 93, ed. Wooldridge. It refers to no known historical event, but is perhaps a traditional account of some incident in the Hundred Years’ War. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, refers to the ballad as ‘an old three-man’s song’ about ‘one Nicholas, son to a widow near Foy’ (ed. 1602, p. 135).
P. 17. The Mariner’s Song. From the Comedy of Common Conditions, circa 1570. Printed by J. P. Collier, English Dramatic Poetry, ed. 1879, ii. 293; also in Stone’s Sea Songs and Ballads, p. 4.
P. 18. The Obtaining of the Great Galleazzo. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 384. Also printed in Arber’s Tudor Tracts, p. 485, and in J. P. Collier’s Broadside Black-Letter Ballads, 1868, p. 79, which gives some variants. By Thomas Deloney.
P. 21. The Winning of Cales. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 402. Printed also in Hales and Furnivall, Bishop Percy’s Folio MS., iii. 453, which gives some variants. Written by Thomas Deloney, and probably first appeared in his Garland of Good Will, about 1596, soon after the capture of Cadiz.
P. 23. The Sailor’s Onely Delight. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 408. A version with variants is given by Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 133. In Fletcher’s Two Noble Kinsmen, the jailor’s daughter sings a fragment of an earlier version:
The George Alow came from the South
From the coast of Barbary-a;
And there he met with brave gallants of war
By one, by two, by three-a.
Well hail’d, well hail’d, you jolly gallants,
And whither now are you bound-a?
O let me have your company
Till [I]come unto the Sound-a.
The second part of the ballad was licensed in 1611: the first part is not entered, but the tune is that of a ballad registered in March 1611 (Arber, Stationers’ Register, iii. 206, b.). The ballad may refer to an historical event. ‘In 1596 letters of reprisal were granted to Diggory Piper in the Sweepstakes of London.... He was authorised to attack Spanish and Portuguese ships; he commenced with some Flemings, continued with two French traders, and finished with a Dane having goods worth 3,000l. on board.’ (Oppenheim, The Administration of the Royal Navy, p. 180).
P. 25. The Seaman’s Song of Captain Ward. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 784. Date of first publication July 3, 1609 (Arber, Stationers’ Register, iii. 185, b.).
P. 27. The Song of Danseker. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 423. Same date as the preceding.
P. 30. Captain Ward and the Rainbow. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 426. The earliest printed editions of this ballad belong to the latter half of the seventeenth century. It was reprinted as a broadside by J. Pitts in the early part of the nineteenth century. See Logan, A Pedlar’s Pack, p. 7. The ballad is possibly a legendary version of Rainborow’s expedition to Sallee in 1637. Essex is celebrated as a naval commander in Queen Elizabeth’s Champion (Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 405).
P. 31. The Lamentable Cries of 1,500 Christians. Text from a MS. in the Bodleian Library (MS. Rawlinson Poet. clii. f. 36).
P. 34. The Honour of Bristol. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 429. A later version, entitled The Jovial Mariner’s Resolution, is contained in a chapbook, called The Jovial Mariner’s Garland, in the Bodleian Library (Douce P.P. 183).
P. 36. Neptune to England. Printed by Halliwell, Early Naval Ballads, p. 68, from MS. Sloane, 1514, f. 40, in the British Museum.
P. 36. On His Majesties Fleet. Text from Add. MS. 29, 975, f. 109, in the British Museum.
P. 37. Upon the Great Ship. Text from MS. Rawlinson Poet. clx. f. 164, in the Bodleian Library. A poem on the same subject in Latin and English is printed in Sir Richard Fanshawe’s Pastor Fido and Poems, ed. 1676, p. 228.
P. 40. Sailors for my Money. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 797. Date somewhere between 1630 and 1655. Mr. Ebsworth dates it 1635. On its author, Martin Parker, see Dictionary of National Biography, xliii. 242.
P. 42. The Jovial Mariner. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 369. Attributed by Mr. Ebsworth to John Playford and dated circa 1670–84.
P. 45. Neptune’s Raging Fury. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 432. Written about 1635, says Mr. Ebsworth. For the tune see Chappell’s Old English Popular Music, ed. Wooldridge, ii. 47.
P. 47. The Famous Fight at Malago. Roxburghe Ballads, iv. 412; and Halliwell, Early Naval Ballads, p. 64. The fight took place in July 1656. The five frigates were the Lyme, Nantwich, Newbury, Maidstone, and Ruby, with the Fox fireship, so that only one of the names given in verse 2 is correct. See Thurloe State Papers, v. 195, 233, 257.
P. 48. Elegy on the Death of Robert Blake. From a pamphlet in the British Museum (669. f. 20 [21]).
P. 53. The Valiant Seaman’s Congratulation to King Charles II. From the Euing collection in the Library of the University of Glasgow (No. 368). For the tune see Chappell, Old English Popular Music, ii. 15.
P. 54. England’s Valour and Holland’s Terrour. From the Euing collection (No. 103).
P. 56. Song Written at Sea. By the Earl of Dorset, printed in Rochester’s Works, ed. 1731, vol. ii. p. 53, and reprinted in Ward’s English Poets, ii. 412. Tune and words in Chappell’s Old English Popular Music, ed. Wooldridge, ii. 154. In the last line of verse 3 Chappell reads ‘bring’ instead of ‘waft.’ For another version, see Pills to Purge Melancholy, v. 168.
P. 58. The Royal Victory. Printed in Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 435. Dated by Ebsworth, June 9, 1665. Tune given in Chappell, ed. Wooldridge, i. 259.
P. 61. The English Seaman’s Resolution. From the Euing collection (No. 106).
P. 63. England’s Tryumph and Holland’s Downfall. From the Euing collection (No. 93).
P. 68. England’s Royal Conquest. From Anthony Wood’s collection in the Bodleian Library (Wood, E. 25. f. 55). Printed for Richard Burton, at the Horse-Shoe in West-Smithfield.
P. 69. Holland turn’d to Tinder. From the Euing collection (No. 134). Printed by E. Crowch for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright.
P. 72. A New Ballad of a Famous German Prince. From Anthony Wood’s collection in the Bodleian Library (Wood, E. 416. f. 111). The Second Part is from the same source (f. 113).
P. 79. The Dutch Damnified. From the Euing collection (No. 60).
P. 82. A Song on the Duke’s late Glorious Success. Printed by Halliwell, Early Naval Ballads, p. 62, from a broadside in the possession of Mr. Rimbault. On the battle of Solebay, May 28, 1672.
P. 83. News from the Coast of Spain. From the Rawlinson collection in the Bodleian (Rawlinson, 566, p. 82). Action February 13, 1674.
P. 86. Captain Mansfield’s Fight with the Turks. From the Madden collection in the Cambridge University Library (Slipsongs, i. 120, No. 260). Probably based on Kempthorne’s repulse of the seven Algerine ships, December 29, 1669. May refer to Captain Michael Mansfield, on whom see Charnock, Biographia Navalis, i. 348.
P. 88. The Algiers Slave’s Releasement. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 447.
P. 89. The Benjamin’s Lamentation. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 529.
P. 92. The Treachery of the Spaniards of Porto Rico. From the Pepys collection in the Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge, v. 374. The Journal of Ignatius White, the captain of the Dartmouth, gives an interesting account of this incident, dated April 1686 (No. 3819). See also MS., Rawlinson A., clxxxix. f. 337.
P. 95. The Golden Voyage. From the Pepys collection (iv. 199). Printed for J. Blare, at the Looking Glass on London Bridge.
P. 97. The Boatswain’s Call. Roxburghe Ballads, iii. 463.
P. 99. The Undaunted Seaman. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 551.
P. 101. The Seaman’s Adieu. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 524.
P. 104. The Maiden’s Frolick. Roxburghe Ballads, iii. 402.
P. 106. The Courageous Commander. From the Pepys collection (iv. 219). Printed for R. Kell, at the White Hart, near Pye Corner, in West Smithfield.
P. 108. The Seaman’s Victory. Bagford Ballads, i. 283.
P. 110. Torringtonia. From the Pepys collection (v. 377).
P. 112. England’s Triumph at Sea. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 745, and Poems on State Affairs, I. ii. 263. The text of the two versions differs. Verses 9 and 10 are added from a manuscript.
P. 113. England’s Great Loss by a Storm of Wind. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 40*. Another version is in the Madden collection, entitled A Copy of Verses made upon the Loss of the Coronation, and eight more Ships of War (Slipsongs, i. 174, No. 372). A third version, printed in Marryat’s Poor Jack, is headed The Return from the Baltic of the English Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Russell. All are late versions, and full of corruptions. They place the disaster in November, instead of September 1691, and differ in the names of the ships. According to Burchett, the Coronation was lost with most of her crew, the Harwich ‘ran on shore and bulged,’ the Royal Oak and Northumberland ‘tailed on the ground, though afterwards they were luckily got off’ (Transactions at Sea, p. 102; cf. Clowes, ii. 345). The second line of verse 4 is, in Marryat’s version, ‘But fiercely to the west did run’; in the Madden copy, ‘The sea strong to the west did run.’ In verse 5, Marryat’s version runs:
‘A-shore went the Northumberland,
The Harwich and the Cumberland,
The Lion, and the Warwick too;
But Elizabeth, she had most for to rue,
She came stem on, and her Lion broke,
And she sunk the Gloster at the stroke.’
Marryat’s version draws a moral from the disaster:
‘They was punished for their misdeeds
For grumbling when they had no needs.’
The Madden copy, on the other hand, says:
‘Walking Plymouth streets one day,
I heard some sea captains for to say
“God will reward us for our deeds,
In flogging men when there’s no need.”’
There are many minor variations in the three versions which are not worth noting.
P. 114. Naval Warfare of 1692. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 746.
P. 117. The Royal Triumph. Bagford Ballads, i. 297. ‘Fistula master’ in verse 10 is an allusion to the fact that Louis XIV. was operated upon for a fistula November 18, 1686. (Martin, Histoire de France, 4th ed. xiv. 74).
P. 119. Admiral Russell’s Scowering the French Fleet. Printed in Bagford Ballads, i. 119, from a copy in The Midshipman’s Garland, published in Queen Anne’s reign. The tune and four verses of the ballad are given in D’Urfey’s Pills to Purge Melancholy, iv. 333. In the second verse D’Urfey reads ‘scupper-holes’ instead of ‘port-holes,’ and ‘king’ instead of ‘queen’ in verse 4. Verses 5 and 6 are probably later additions to the original. For tune see The Edinburgh Musical Miscellany, 1804, p. 270.
P. 120. A Merry New Ballad. From the Pepys collection (v. 382). A broadside printed ‘for R. Baldwin near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane,’ 1692. In the last verse ‘Petres’ refers to Edward Petre the Jesuit, confessor of James II.
P. 125. The Valiant Seaman’s Courage. From the Pepys collection (v. 385). A broadside printed for C. Bates at the White Hart in West Smithfield.
P. 126. England’s Glory in the Behaviour of Brave Killeygrove. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 10. Original in British Museum (pressmark l. 20. c. 30 [18]). See Charnock, Biographia Navalis, ii. 328. In the last line ‘Marseilles’ is evidently a misprint for ‘Messina.’
P. 128. The Frighted French. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 446. The original reads ‘do tide’ in verse 5.
P. 129. The Cæsar’s Victory. From the Pepys collection (iv. 198). A broadside printed for J. Deacon at the Angel in Giltspur Street.
P. 131. A Copy of Verses by Captain Henry Every. From the Pepys collection (v. 384). There is an eighteenth-century version in the Madden collection (Slipsongs ii. 72, No. 1, 166) entitled Bold Captain Avery. The numerous variants in the later version are merely corruptions and not worth noting. The ballad follows very closely the facts set forth at the trial of six of Every’s crew in 1696. Henry Every, alias Bridgman, on May 30, 1694, seized a merchant ship called The Charles the Second, Charles Gibson master, as she lay at anchor about three leagues from the Groyne (i.e. Corunna). Having set Gibson and sixteen honest men ashore and renamed the ship, Every sailed for the coast of Guinea. A proclamation against Captain Henry Every, of the ship Phancy, was issued July 18, 1696 (Luttrell’s Diary, iv. 86). The reference to the different flags used by pirates in verses 9–12 is explained by the following extract from the narrative of a captive: ‘About eleven of the clock one night, after the whole crew had been some time assembled in the great cabbin, I heard three huzzas, and then they all came up on deck and hoisted Jolly Roger (for so they call their black ensign, in the middle of which is a large white skeleton with a dart in one hand striking a bleeding heart, and in the other an hour-glass).... When they fight under Jolly Roger they give quarter, which they do not when they fight under the red or bloody flag.’ (From Captain Richard Hawkins’s account of his capture by Captain Spriggs and his sufferings amongst the pirates of the Spanish Main in the year 1724, reprinted in Boyer’s Political State of Great Britain, vol. xxviii. pp. 147–156).
P. 133. Villany Rewarded. From the Pepys collection (ii. 99). A broadside printed for Charles Barnes, 1696. See The Trial of Joseph Dawson &c. for several Piracies and Robberies by them committed in company of Every the Grand Pirate: London, 1696, folio. The six accused were all condemned and hanged at Execution Dock, November 25, 1696.
P. 134. Captain Kid’s Farewell. This ballad is reprinted, for the first time, from the unique example in the collection of Lord Crawford. The trial of William Kid (or Kidd), which took place in 1701, is contained in volume xiv. of the State Trials, p. 123. The ballad follows the trial pretty closely. One indictment against Kid was for the murder of his gunner, William Moore. The dialogue which caused the assault is thus related. Captain Kid called Moore ‘a lousy dog.’ ‘Says William Moore, “If I am a lousy dog, you have made me so; you have brought me to ruin, and many more.” Upon his saying this, says Captain Kid, “Have I ruined you, ye dog?” and took a bucket bound with iron hoops and struck him on the right side of the head, of which he died next day.’ Another indictment was for the capture of a merchant ship called The Quedagh Merchant, bound from Bengal to Surat, the property of certain Armenian merchants and Moors, but commanded by an Englishman (see verse 7). This was in January 1698. About June 1696 Kid had taken on his voyage to New York ‘a French banker,’ as a witness calls it, i.e. a French fishing-ship bound for Newfoundland (see verse 8). At Babs Key or Bobs Key, ‘a small island at the entrance of the Red Sea,’ Kid projected an attack upon ‘the Mocca fleet,’ fourteen or fifteen merchantmen of various nationalities, but found them too strong for him (verse 9).
Captain Culliford (mentioned in verse 15) was a notorious pirate, commander of the Resolution, formerly the Mocca frigate, whom Kid met at Madagascar. When they met, Culliford thought Kid had come to arrest him. But they became friends at once. ‘And on the quarter-deck they made some bomboo and drank together; and Captain Kid said, “Before I would do you any harm I would have my soul fry in hell fire,” and wished damnation to himself several times if he did’ (State Trials, xiv. 153, 167). In the report of the trial Culliford is described as now in custody, and he probably followed Kid to the gallows.
Kid was executed May 23, 1701.
On his case see also A full Account of the Proceedings in relation to Capt. Kidd, in A Collection of State Trials, published during the Reign of King William III., vol. iii. p. 230.
A fragment of a traditional version of this ballad is given in Masefield’s A Sailor’s Garland, p. 17.
P. 137. A Satyr on the Sea Officers. Printed in the Miscellaneous Works of George Duke of Buckingham, i. p. 90, 1704. Probably written about 1691. The players were at Oxford in July 1691 (Cal. S. P. Dom., 1690–1, p. 430).
P. 140. The Sea Martyrs. From the Pepys collection (v. 375). The broadside has no printer’s name or date. Probably written about January 1691. Luttrell notes, about the middle of December 1690, that ‘some seamen belonging to the Suffolk man-of-war, having mutinied for want of their pay, are secured and sent to the Marshalsea in order to their trial’ (Diary, ii. 144.)
P. 143. Advice to Young Maidens. From The Hampshire Garland in the Douce collection in the Bodleian Library.
P. 145. The Seamen’s Wives’ Vindication. From the Pepys collection (iv. 185). A broadside printed for J. Deacon, at the Angel in Giltspur Street.
P. 146. Billy the Midshipman’s Welcome Home. Bagford Ballads, i. 112. From the Midshipman’s Garland, published about the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign. The tune is given in Pills to Purge Melancholy, v. 301.
P. 148. Admiral Benbow. Printed in Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, p. 38. A slightly different version is given in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 19*. A chapbook dated 1784, entitled Four Excellent New Songs, in the Bodleian Library (Douce S. 370) seems to be the earliest printed version. From it, with the omission of three or four words, the stanza about Captain Crosbie, which is not in Halliwell’s version, has been added. A slipsong printed by Jennings, Water Lane, Fleet Street, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, gives the verse thus:
‘And there Captain Kirby proved a coward at last,
And with Wade played at bo-peep behind the main-mast;
And there they did stand, boys, and quiver and shake,
For fear those French dogs their lives should take.’
This was originally a much longer ballad: in the Jennings and Douce versions there are many variants and some additional lines. The third and fourth stanzas in the former run as follows:
‘We took our leave of them, and made quick dispatch,
And we steered our course to the island of Vache;
And turning to the windward as near as we could lie,
On the 14th of August ten sail we did espy.
‘They hoisted their pendants and their colours spread,
And they hoisted their bloody flag at the topmast head;
Then we hoisted our jack flag at the mizen peak,
And so brought up our squadron in a line most complete.’
The Douce version has this fourth stanza in slightly different words, but omits the third. It reads ‘chance shot’ instead of ‘chain shot.’ No good text can be put together till some older and more authoritative edition of the ballad is discovered. For the tune, see Chappell’s Old English Popular Music, ii. 92, and also Sharpe’s Folk Songs from Somerset, No. 73.
Historically the first line of the ballad is incorrect. Benbow sailed first to Barbadoes and thence to Port Royal (see Clowes, ii. 368). As to the details of the engagement, the account of the court-martial on Benbow’s captains is printed in State Trials, xiv. 538–546. The fight was August 19–24, 1702; the trial, October 8–12, 1702. Benbow was wounded at three in the morning of August 24, ‘his right leg being broke, but commanded the fight to be vigorously maintained,’ after which, says the report, he ‘lay wounded in a cradle.’
Crosbie in verse 6 should be Kirkby. Captain Richard Kirkby, commander of the Defiance, was sentenced to be shot. In the report it is alleged ‘that during the six days’ engagement he never encouraged his men; but by his own example of dodging behind the mizen-mast, and falling down upon the deck on the noise of shot... the said men were under great discouragement.’
P. 149. The Death of Admiral Benbow. Printed by Halliwell, Early Naval Ballads, ‘from a broadside printed at Salisbury by Fowler, a noted ballad printer of the last century.’ A chapbook printed at Edinburgh in 1823 supplies some variants in verses 1–7, and adds verses 8–10. Some of these variants have been adopted in the text, especially in verses 4 and 7, where they supply the rhymes missing in Halliwell’s version. The three verses given in brackets are evidently a later addition.
In verse 4 ‘Noah’s Ark’ is perhaps a nickname, but more probably a corruption of the name of Benbow’s flagship, the Breda. In the report of the trial it is called throughout the ‘Bredah,’ and the accentuation of the last syllable would account for the appearance of ‘Ark.’ No doubt the line originally ran ‘’Twas the Ruby and Bredah.’
For the tune see Chappell, Old English Popular Music, ii. 94.
P. 151. Sailor’s Account of the Action at Vigo. From the collection of the Earl of Crawford. A broadside printed by Sam. Farley of Exeter.
P. 153. On the Sea Fight between Sir G. R. and Toulouse. Poems on Affairs of State, ed. 1716, iii. 112.
P. 153. A Song on the Same. Ib., p. 113.
P. 154. The Sailor’s Tragedy. From the Douce collection in the Bodleian Library (The Sea-faring Garland: Douce P. P. 183).
P. 156. The Valiant Admiral. Ib.
P. 158. The Sea-Fight, or the French Prize taken. From The Diverting Muse, or the Universal Medley, part vi., 1707.
P. 159. The Dismal Lamentation, &c. From the Douce collection in the Bodleian Library (The New Portsmouth and Spithead Garland: Douce P. P. 183). On the accident see Clowes ii. 529.
P. 162. The Sailor’s Complaint. Text from a volume of songs called The Nightingale, printed in 1738. A nineteenth-century version from a broadside is given in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 65*. For the tune see Chappell, Old English Popular Music, ed. Wooldridge, ii. 165.
P. 163. Fair Sally. Text from A Collection of Diverting Songs, published about 1740, p. 217. Another version, which substitutes ‘seaman’ for ‘sailor,’ may be found at p. 174 of the collection called The Lark, published in 1740, and also in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 63.
P. 164. ‘How Pleasant a Sailor’s Life Passes.’ From A Collection of Diverting Songs. Also in Ramsay’s Tea Table Miscellany, p. 168, where it is entitled The Sailor’s Rant.
P. 165. The Boatswain’s Whistle. From the collection entitled The Lark, 1740, p. 25. In this version line 4 of the chorus runs ‘My boy, let us stir, let us toil,’ but Smollett’s reading has been adopted as preferable. I have not been able to find a copy of the original or the date of its publication.
P. 166. The Downfall of Piracy. From The Worcestershire Garland in the British Museum (pressmark, 11621. c. 4 [89]). Reprinted by Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 7.
P. 168. Admiral Cavendish’s Distress on Board the Canterbury. The Canterbury was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Philip Cavendish from July 16, 1728, to January 24, 1730–31. She sailed from Spithead on September 18, 1728, and arrived at Gibraltar on the afternoon of October 14. The log of the Canterbury thus describes the storm. ‘Monday, September 23.—About 11 this forenoon we were taken with a violent squall out of the N. W., which carried away our mizen mast and split the main topsail. In this squall we lost sight of the Romney. 24.—For the most part strong gales of wind with violent squalls. Yesterday in the afternoon we lowered down our fore and main yards and got the sails reefed and furled and cut away the main topsail yard, sail and all, as it was split. About nine last night we lost our mainmast, and soon after the foremast, which fell to windward, and took away our best bower anchor stock. In the fall of the mast it stave both barge and pinnace (which we hove overboard) and fell on the outer part of one of our quarterdeck guns, which it carried away overboard with it. Also we likewise lost our two lower stunsail booms. In this disaster we lost seven of our men, and had one man’s thigh broke, and another very much bruised.’ The name of the purser referred to in the last verse was Walter Harris. There are two later versions of this ballad in the Madden collection. One is called The Sailor’s Lamentation, and is dated in ink ‘1736, Dec. 23’ (Slipsongs, iii. 92, No. 1661). The other, printed later still, is called A New Sea Song (Slipsongs, ii. 264, No. 1260). A version in the editor’s possession, dated in pencil ‘1728,’ has been made the basis of the text adopted, with one or two corrections supplied by the Madden versions.
P. 170. The Pacifick Fleet. From a folio pamphlet in the Bodleian Library, dated 1729 (Godw. Pamph. 1667 [19]).
P. 172. The English Sailor’s Resolution. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 254, No. 535).
P. 174. England’s Glory in the Declaration of War. From a broadside in the possession of the editor.
P. 175. The Taking of the Princissa. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, iii. 148, No. 1781). The original prints ‘Orphan,’ instead of ‘Orford,’ and in verse 3, line 2, ‘with courageous skill.’
P. 177. English Courage Displayed. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 252, No. 531). For the tune, see Chappell’s Old English Popular Music, p. 109. Vernon’s popularity is further attested by two little songbooks—Vernon’s Glory, containing 15 New Songs occasioned by the taking of Porto-Bello and Fort Chagre. London: printed by W. Webb, 1740, price sixpence. Vernon’s Glory, Part II., sold by the same publisher, contains not only new songs on the exploits mentioned, but also others on the admiral’s birthday. As, for instance:
‘Freeborn Britons, fill your glasses,
Give this day to generous mirth;
For the circling bumper passes
To your Vernon’s happy birth.’
P. 179. Hosier’s Ghost. The version of Hosier’s Ghost given on p. 179 is the usual text, viz. that which is reprinted in Percy’s Reliques. It no doubt represents the final version of Glover’s poem. A version published in 1740, ‘printed for Mr. Webb, near St. Paul’s (price sixpence),’ states that it was to be sung to the tune of ‘Come and Listen to my Ditty.’ It supplies some various readings. Stanza 1, line 1, instead of ‘our,’ ‘my’; stanza 4, line 7, ‘yet to hear of my undoing’; stanza 5, line 7, instead of ‘tale,’ ‘fate’; stanza 6, lines 5–8,
‘Oh that, with my wrath complying,
I had cast them in the main,
Then, no more unactive lying,
I had lowered the pride of Spain.’
Stanza 7, line 4, instead of ‘hast achieved,’ ‘didst achieve’; stanza 7, line 8, ‘of these gallant men had been,’; stanza 9 runs as follows:
‘Unrepining at thy glory,
Thy successful arms we hail,
But remember our sad story,
When to Britain back you sail!
All your country’s foes subduing,
When your Patriot friends you see,
Think on vengeance for my ruin,
And for England sham’d in me.’
Stanzas 10 and 11 are omitted, and the form of stanza 9 seems to show that the original version of the ballad did not contain these two.
For the tune, see Chappell, Old English Popular Music, ii. 165.
P. 181. Vernon’s Glory. Roxburghe Ballads, vii. 280. This ballad was probably written in 1741, about May, before the failure to storm Fort San Lazar on April 9 had become known. Vernon’s despatch, dated April 1, had just come to hand, giving an account of his forcing the passage through the Bocca Chica, and of having the whole fleet inside the harbour. The capture of Cartagena was a natural, but incorrect, inference. See Clowes, The Royal Navy, iii. 67–75. Another contemporary ballad anticipates the capture in the same way—English Courage Displayed: or Admiral Vernon’s taking of Cartagena. To the tune of Glorious Charles of Sweden (Madden collection, Slipsongs, i. 252). It is an imitation of the ballad printed on p. 177.
P. 184. The Saphirah in Triumph. From the Madden collection (Garlands, iii. 107, No. 699).
P. 186. Admiral Matthews’ Engagement. Roxburghe Ballads, viii. 289.
P. 187. A Song in Praise of Captain Hornsby. From The Pretty Milkmaid’s Garland, in the British Museum (pressmark, 11621, c. 2 [59]). Several corrections have been made in the text.
P. 189. Captain Cobb’s Bravery. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 119, No. 258). The text is corrupt, and several corrections have been made.
P. 190. The Princess Royal’s Escape. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, iii. 62, No. 1597).
P. 192. The Loss of the Victory. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 42*.
P. 192. Disconsolate Judy’s Lamentation. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 223, No. 472).
P. 193. England’s Glory. Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 29; pressmark of the British Museum copy, 1876. e. 7. Date 1745; see Beatson, Naval and Military Memoirs, i. 280.
P. 195. The Lucky Sailor. Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii, 156, No. 1034). In verse 6 the original gives ‘survive,’ instead of ‘revive.’ On Anson’s action with La Jonquière, May 3, 1757, see Clowes, iii. 125.
P. 197. Tit for Tat. From a copy in the possession of the editor, without name or date. On the action see Clowes, iii. 127, and Burrows, Life of Hawke, ed. 1896, p. 67.
P. 199. A New Song on Admiral Knowls. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 312). Rear-Admiral Charles Knowles captured Port Louis in Hispaniola, March 8, 1748 (Clowes, iii. 133).
P. 200. A New Song Sung by Hannah Snell. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 333, No. 1406). The original has a cut of a woman in sailor’s dress, with long hair, a cutlass, brace of pistols, and boarding axe. Hannah Snell’s narrative of her life, entitled, The Female Soldier, or the Surprising Adventures of Hannah Snell, was published in 1750, and reprinted in Women Adventurers, 1892. Her life is contained in the Dictionary of National Biography, liii. 205,
P. 201. The Lighterman’s Prentice. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 137, No. 993). In line 32 ‘Portsmouth’ is a correction of ‘Plymouth.’
P. 203. Great Britain’s Resolution to Fight the French. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 87, No. 199). ‘Plods’ in verse 8 means ‘plaids,’ and ‘Charley,’ Prince Charles Edward.
P. 204. The Terrible Privateer. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor. ‘Valance,’ in verse 3, is a popular rendering of ‘Vengeance.’ ‘Carteel,’ in verse 8, means the ship employed to exchange prisoners. ‘All into a hell’ is the last line in the original.
P. 205. Captain Death. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor, with some corrections from Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, p. 120. Another version is in Logan’s Pedlar’s Pack, p. 31. For the facts see A Faithful Narrative of the Cruel Sufferings of Captain Death and his Crew. By Samuel Stoaks. For the tune see F. Kidson’s Traditional Tunes, Oxford, 1891, p. 105,
P. 206. A New Song. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 270, No. 1227). The following extracts will explain the reference. ‘Captain Edgcumbe, with his little squadron, had been obliged to return from off Minorca on the appearance of the French. He had left behind him Captain Carr Scrope of the Dolphin, who commanded the naval detachment on shore, to act as signal officer in the event of the appearance of a British squadron before the island.’ When Byng appeared he sent the Phœnix, Chesterfield, and Dolphin ‘to reconnoitre the mouth of Mahon harbour, to pick up intelligence, and to endeavour to send ashore a letter to General Blakeney... the enemy’s fleet appeared in the S.E., and the detachment had to be recalled’ (Clowes, iii. 147–8). In the absence of Scrope, the Dolphin was commanded by Benjamin Marlow. Scrope, who was on shore all the time, could not have distinguished himself in the way the ballad makes him do, though he did good service during the siege (see Entick, History of the Late War, ii. 282, 301). The ballad is a specimen of the fictions circulated to increase the popular hatred of Byng.
P. 207. The Letter of a Certain Admiral, printed in Bungiana (a collection of poems and letters against Byng, published in 1756), p. 17. It appeared in The Evening Advertiser for July 3, and is a parody of Byng’s despatch of May 25.
P. 209. A Rueful Story. From a broadside in the possession of the editor. Said to be printed ‘at the sign of the Gibbet, near Execution Dock; and sold by all well-wishers to Old England.’
P. 210. Admiral Byng and Brave West. Printed with the tune in W. Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs, ii. 261, 1881. In the last line ‘deen’ apparently means ‘done.’
P. 211. Song on the Isle of Aix. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 337, No. 1418). Verse 4 seems to refer to the old ballad on Henry V.’s conquest of France. ‘Recruit me Cheshire and Lancashire, and Derby hills that are so free,’ says that King (see Hales and Furnivall, Bishop Percy’s Folio M.S. ii. 597).
P. 212. Bold Sawyer. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor. Also in the British Museum (pressmark 11621. l. 1 [190]). Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 13. In verse 1 Sawyer = James Sayer, captain of the Nassau. In verse 12, ‘Maclome’ is possibly a misprint for ‘Mahon.’ Goree was taken December 28, 1758.
P. 214. Captain Barton’s Distress. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 118). For the shipwreck, see Duncan, Mariner’s Chronicle, iii. 118.
P. 216. Gilchrist and Hotham’s Bravery. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 322, No. 680). ‘And’ is omitted in the title of the original. The action took place March 28, 1759 (Entick, iv. 299).
P. 217. Hawke’s Engagement. Two copies of this are in the British Museum (pressmarks 11621. c. 3 [81] and 11621. c. 6 [29]). Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 14. The original gives the month as September instead of November. The engagement was on November 20, not November 15.
P. 218. Neptune’s Resignation. Printed in Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, from a broadside, p. 131. Said to be written by J. Wignell.
P. 219. Hearts of Oak. It is agreed that this was first sung in the winter of 1759. The version printed here is from The Choice Spirits Chaplet, Whitehaven, 1771, p. 251, and is also to be found in The London Songster, 1773, p. 232. Tune in Chappell’s Old English Popular Music, ii. 189. Chappell entitles it ‘Heart of Oak,’ and gives that phrase in the singular in the chorus also. The Choice Spirits Chaplet also gives it in the singular.
P. 220. Thurot’s Dream. Printed in T. Crofton Croker’s Popular Songs Illustrative of the French Invasions of Ireland, published by the Percy Society, pt. ii. p. 17. Croker obtained it from Mr. Mac Skimin, author of a History of Carrickfergus, who got it from oral recitation. In verse 3, l. 2 there is a varia lectio ‘That a spirit came unto him.’ A printed version of the ballad entitled Thurot’s Defeat is in the Garlands in the British Museum (pressmark, 11621. a. 2 [29]). It is excessively corrupt. Croker also prints another ballad called The Siege of Carrickfergus, printed in 1801, which barely mentions Thurot’s fight with Elliot.
P. 222. A New Song on Captain O’Brian. Original in Captain O’Brian’s Garland in the British Museum (pressmark, 11621, c. 5 [15]). On the action described see Charnock, v. 410.
P. 223. A New Song on the Taking of Havannah. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 15*. Original in a chapbook in the British Museum called The Havannah’s Garland (pressmark, 11621. c. 5 [14]). The names of the Spanish commanders have been corrected.
P. 225. Lord Anson and Hawke. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 94. Original in Lord Anson’s Garland in the British Museum (11621. c. 5 [34]). The original gives the title ‘Lords Anson and Hawke.’ As Hawke was not made a peer till 1776, this would lead to the conclusion that the ballad was written about 1779, and, if so, it should have been placed later in the volume. It is also possible that a single ship may have borne the double name. On the other hand, the Anson and Hawke privateers were cruising together about 1757.
P. 226. A New Song on the Blandford. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 316, No. 1373).
P. 227. The Sailors’ Dialogue. From a broadside in the possession of the editor, printed by Fowler of Salisbury.
P. 228. Distressed Men-of-War. From a broadside in the possession of the editor, printed by J. Davenport, 6 George’s Court, St. John’s Lane, West Smithfield.
P. 230. The Sailor’s Complaint. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, iii. 87, No, 1649). In verse 3, ‘to a navy officer’ is possibly a misprint for ‘to the Navy Office.’
P. 231. The Sailor’s Garland, or the Ticket Buyer’s Lamentation. From a broadside in the possession of the editor, without date or printer’s name.
P. 233. The Sailor’s Complaint, or the True Character of the Purser of a Ship. From the Douce collection (Douce Ballads, iii. 85). A broadside ‘printed for W. O., and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Pye-corner and London-bridge.’
P. 234. The Sailor’s Resolution to Fight the Spaniards. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, iii. 93, No. 1663).
P. 235. Jack Tar. From the Douce collection; a garland entitled Tibbie Fowler (Douce, S. 370).
P. 236. The Jolly Sailor’s True Description of a Man-of-War. From the Douce collection (Douce Ballads, iii. 47). A broadside printed and sold in Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Lane, London.
P. 239. New Sea Song. From the Madden collection (Country Printers, i. 258 verso). In line 5 the original reads ‘life,’ and in line 30 ‘roar.’
P. 240. The Humours of the Royal Billy. Printed by Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 93* (British Museum, pressmark 11621, k. 5 [159]). Probably belongs to the early part of the nineteenth century rather than to the beginning of George III.’s reign.
P. 243. The Dolphin’s Return. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 230, No. 485). On the voyage, see Clowes iv. 119. Samuel Wallis commanded the Dolphin and Philip Carteret the Swallow. The Dolphin arrived at Plymouth May 20, 1768; the Swallow did not return till March 1769.
P. 244. The Brags of Washington. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 82, No. 181).
P. 245. On the Late Engagement in Charlestown River. Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 15. From The Shepherd’s Garland in the British Museum (pressmark 11621. c. 1 [7]). In verse 5 the original reads ‘displayed.’ On the attack upon Charleston, June 28, 1776, see Clowes, iii. 372.
P. 246. Sullivan’s Island. From Frank Moore’s Songs and Ballads of the American Revolution, 1856, p. 135. Sir Peter is Commodore Sir Peter Parker, to whom the American satirist attributed this ‘war-song.’
P. 247. The Cruisers. Roxburghe Ballads, viii. 323. Said to be ‘written by Frederick Pilon, and sung in The Liverpool Prize.’
P. 248. The Arethusa. Words by Prince Hoare, music by Shield, in the opera of The Lock and Key. In verse 2 some versions substitute ‘old Keppel’ for ‘the spring fleet.’
P. 249. The Greenlandmen. From Portsmouth Jack’s Garland in the British Museum (pressmark 11261. c. 2 [58]).
P. 252. Admiral Keppel Triumphant. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor.
P. 253. Keppel and de Chartres. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 272, No. 1275). The captain of the Egmont, John Carter Allen, is called Adieu, Allech, or Allen in the original, and in the last line of stanza 7 it reads ‘we gave him a broadside, which put their heart in fear.’
P. 255. A New Song in Praise of Admiral Keppel’s Fleet. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor. Jack the Painter was the nickname of an incendiary hanged March 10, 1777, for attempting to set fire to the dockyards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Bristol. See Lord Mahon’s History of England, ed. 1858, pp. 141–145.
P. 255. Admiral Keppel Triumphant. Roxburghe Ballads, viii. 326. From Dr. Burney’s collection of English songs in the British Museum, ix. 110. Words and music by J. Timms, of Dartford, published about February 1779 after Keppel’s acquittal.
P. 257. Keppel for Ever. Roxburghe Ballads, viii. 325. ‘Sir Hugh’ is printed ‘Sir You,’ in the original. ‘Twitcher’ means Lord Sandwich.
P. 258. A New Song on Admiral Barrington. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 311, No. 1364). On the battle, July 6, 1779, see Clowes iv. 434.
P. 259. Paul Jones. There are many versions of this ballad. One is printed in Roxburghe Ballads, viii. 332 (with four others). A more correct version was printed by Such, Forth, and other country printers. The version given in the text is a composite one put together from these different sources by the editor.
P. 260. Captain Farmer. From the Madden collection (London Printers, ii. 36). On Tyrrell and Cornwall see Clowes iii. 300, and Charnock iv. 131.
P. 261. The Bold Blades of Old England. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 73, No. 164).
P. 262. The Royal Sailor. From a song-book called The Vocal Companion, published at Preston, in the Bodleian Library (pressmark 2802. e. 1). In verse 6 ‘coral-red’ is an emendation for ‘coral-clad.’ The Royal Sailor is also printed in The New Vocal Enchantress, 1789, p. 180.
P. 263. Hood’s Conquest over the Count de Grasse. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 34, and also Garlands, i. 1.)
P. 265. The Loss of the Centaur. Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 40. See Clowes iv. 88, and Duncan, The Mariner’s Chronicle, i. 191.
P. 266. The Robin Hood. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 265). It has proved impossible to identify either the Robin Hood or her captain.
P. 267. Nymphe and Cleopatra. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 315, No. 1371). The statement of the ballad as to the armament of the two frigates is inaccurate, as such statements frequently are in songs. The Nymphe had on her main-deck twenty-six 12-pounders, the Cléopâtre, twenty-eight; the Nymphe had eight carronades, 24-pounders, the Cléopâtre four 36-pounders. Their force was practically equal.
P. 268. The Downfall of the French Fleet. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 319, No. 1379).
P. 271. A New Sea Song. Bodleian Library (pressmark 2803. f. 4).
P. 274. The Blanche Frigate. A composite text put together from three versions in the editor’s possession, printed by Pitts, Keys, and Ferraby, and from one in the Madden collection (Country Printers, i. 48b). The latter is the earliest and best, but some readings have been adopted from the others, and there are several conjectural emendations. An alternative title is The Tars of the Blanche.
P. 276. The Amazon Frigate. From a slipsong in the possession of the editor, printed by J. Pitts. On the action see James’s Naval History, ii. 12; on the wreck of the Droits de l’Homme see Duncan, Mariner’s Chronicle, ii. 300.
P. 277. A New Song (The Seventeen Bright Stars). Record Office, Admiralty, Secretary. In Letters cxi. Correspondence of Bridport and Others, August 1798.
P. 279. The Genius of Britain. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 318).
P. 280. British Tars Rewarded. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, i. 96, No. 316).
P. 282. A New Song on Parker. Printed by Masefield, A Sailor’s Garland, p. 121.
P. 282. The Death of Parker. Printed by W. H. Logan, A Pedlar’s Pack, p. 62. Other versions with variants are in the possession of the editor.
P. 283. A New Song in Praise of Admiral Duncan. From the Madden collection (Country Printers, i. 50).
P. 285. A New Song on the Engagement between the Mars and La Hercule. From the Madden collection (Slipsongs, ii. 318, No. 1378).
P. 286. Verses Written on Board the Astræa. Extracted from the Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, 2nd edition, London 1827, p. 57. Stanza 5, l. 5 ‘my poor half-pint.’ Half a pint of rum (or arrack in India) was the ration till about 1825. Officers, and apparently the midshipmen, got it in bottles. To the men, since Vernon’s time, it was served out as grog twice a day.
P. 289. The Arrow. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 23. Original in the British Museum (pressmark 11621, c. 6 [1]).
P. 290. Copenhagen. Printed in Laughton’s Nelson Memorial, p. 196, and in Beattie’s Life of T. Campbell, ii. 42–6.
P. 295. Action off Copenhagen. From the Madden collection (London Printers, ii. 7). In the original the first line of the last verse runs, ‘Now, my brave boys, we have beaten the Danes,’ and there is another verse beginning, ‘Now to conclude and to finish my tale.’
P. 296. A New Song on Lord Nelson’s Victory. Printed in Ashton’s Real Sailor Songs, p. 16. Original in the British Museum (pressmark 1077. g. 47 [18]—a chapbook entitled Nelson’s Wreath).
P. 297. A New Song composed by the Wounded Tars at the Siege of Boulogne. Versions of this, entitled The Battle of Boulogne, were printed by Catnach and Birt, and are reprinted by Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 17. The version in the text is from a chapbook in the British Museum (pressmark 1076. l. 2 [45]).
P. 298. France Covered with Glory. From Haslewood’s collection of songs in the Bodleian.
P. 300. La Loire Frigate. From Fairburn’s Naval Songster for 1806, p. 34. The action was June 2, 1805 (Clowes v. 362).
P. 301. Nelson’s Glorious Victory at Trafalgar. From Logan’s Pedlar’s Pack, 1869, p. 67.
P. 302. Death of Nelson. Versions of this, differing slightly in the words, were printed by Pitts, Such, Forth of Pocklington, and other town and country printers during the first half of the nineteenth century. In The Scouring of the White Horse, by T. Hughes, p. 153, it is described as sung in a Berkshire public-house about 1859. ‘The Doctor walked over to a lower table and spoke to a grisly-headed old man in a velveteen coat and waistcoat and a blue birdseye neckerchief, who seemed pleased, and drew his sleeve across his mouth, and cleared his throat. Then there was a rapping on the table, and the old bargee began in a rumbling bass voice: “Come all you gallant seamen as unites a meeting.”’
Four verses only are given, the third in our version being omitted. The last verse ends:
‘And now to conclude, and to finish these verses:
“My time it is come; kiss me, Hardy!” he cried.
Now thousands go with you, and ten thousand blessings
For gallant Lord Nelson, in battle who died.’
The text adopted on p. 302 is a composite version from Such’s and Forth’s: the first four lines are from Such’s version, the last four from Forth’s, and readings are taken from both. The order of the second and third verses has been changed, and the two halves of stanza 3 transposed. Some verbal emendations have been made—e.g. ‘rest on,’ for ‘resting,’ in the last line.
P. 304. Admiral Strachan’s Victory. From Fairburn’s Naval Songster for 1806, p. 32. The action was fought November 4, 1805 (Clowes, v. 171).
P. 305. The Amethyst and Thetis. From the Madden collection (London Printers, ii. 227, No. 451). See Clowes, v. 427; James, iv. 376. The action took place November 10–11, 1808.
P. 306. The Successful Attempt... in the Basque Roads. From the Madden collection (London Printers, i. 174). See Clowes, v. 252–270; James, iv. 395–430.
P. 307. Jefferys the Seaman. From the Madden collection (London Printers, ii. 2). A full account of the case is given by James, Naval History, iv. 273, ed. 1886. Captain Warwick Lake was dismissed from the Navy, February 1810, for marooning Robert Jeffery on the desert island of Sombrero, in the West Indies.
P. 308. ‘Ye Parliament of England.’ Text from G. C. Eggleston’s American War Ballads and Lyrics. New York (1889), i. 131. ‘It was still a favourite song in many parts of the country as late as 1859,’ writes the editor.
P. 309. The Constitution and Guerriere. Text from Eggleston’s American War Ballads and Lyrics, i. 115. Action August 19, 1812. See James, v. 372; Clowes, vi. 34; Mahan, Sea Power: its Relation to the War of 1812, i. 330.
I have been unable to discover the date of the tune mentioned in the title, nor is the date of the song itself certain. It is contended on the American side that this song preceded that on the Shannon and Chesapeake, which was imitated from it, and on the other side that The Constitution and Guerriere is the later of the two. The evidence alleged for the priority of the American song is, briefly: William Dunlap’s Yankee Chronology (a spirited musical drama) was produced at the Park Theatre, in New York, September 9, 1812 (Ireland’s New York Stage, i. 288), and Mr. Brander Matthews thinks that may be the origin of these verses. An intelligent veteran of the war of 1812, present at the unveiling of the Perry statue at Cleveland on Lake Erie in 1860, told the historian Lossing that he heard them sung at the Park Theatre, in New York, early in the fall of 1812, and that they were much heard at public meetings, in bar-rooms, in work-shops, and in the streets of the city (extract from the Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Salem, Mass., vol. xx.). These arguments are not very conclusive. The discovery of the original song, The Landlady of France, which both imitate, would probably settle the matter. In the meantime it seems best to print the song on the victory of the Constitution first, because the incident it celebrates happened first.
P. 311. Shannon and Chesapeake. The text is a traditional version supplied by Sir J. K. Laughton. There is a broadside version, reprinted in Logan’s Pedlar’s Pack, p. 69, which omits the third verse and gives many different readings. The most important differences are the following:—In verse 4, ‘The engagement scarce begun, Ere they flinched from their guns, Which at first they thought of working, &c. Then brave Broke he drew his sword,’ &c. In verse 5, ‘They no sooner heard the word, Ere they quickly jumped on board, And hauled down the Yankee ensign, &c. Notwithstanding all their brag, Now the glorious British flag At the Yankee’s mizen peak was quite the dandy O.’ The last verse begins, ‘Here’s a health, brave Broke, to you, To your officers and crew, Who on board the Shannon frigate fought so handy O!’ Another version is to be found in the Harrow School Song-book.
On the action see James, vi. 50; Clowes, vi. 75; Mahan, Sea Power in its relations to the War of 1812, ii. 131.
P. 312. Battle of the Shannon and Chesapeake. Text from two broadsides, one printed by Pitts, the other by Such, both in the editor’s collection.
P. 313. The Endymion’s Triumph. From the Madden collection (Garlands, i. 257). Action on January 15, 1815. See James, vi. 238; Clowes, vi. 167; Mahan, Sea Power in its relations to the War of 1812, ii. 398.
P. 316. The British Tars. Text from the editor’s collection. Printed by J. Pitts, 6 St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials. Line 15 reads, ‘haughty Gaul,’ clearly erroneous.
P. 316. The Fancy Frigate. Text from British Museum Ballads, 1871, f. 32. Also printed by Ashton, Real Sailor Songs, p. 78*.
Another version supplied by Sir J. K. Laughton begins, ‘There was a fine frigate, the Pique was her name.’ Some corrections of the printed text have been adopted from the traditional version. In line 9 this traditional version gives ‘Mr. McCleverty,’ which was apparently the real name of the officer whose nickname is given in the text. A third and shorter version, called The Flash Frigate, is printed in Mr. Masefield’s Sailor’s Garland, p. 188.
P. 319. The Saucy Scylla. From the Madden collection (Country Printers, vii. 267).
P. 320. The Vanguard. From the Madden collection (Country Printers, vii. 163). In the last line, ‘Jondy’ = Master-at-Arms.
P. 322. The Port Admiral. By Captain Marryat, printed in Snarleyow, or the Dog-Fiend.
P. 324. Oh, Cruel. Text from a broadside printed by Evans, Long Lane, London, in the editor’s collection. Another version is headed, ‘written and sung by a gentleman in the character of a female ballad-singer at Liverpool Theatre.’
P. 325. The Answer to Oh, Cruel. Text from a broadside in the possession of the editor, printed by J. Pitts, 14 Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials.
P. 326. The Female Lieutenant. From a broadside in the possession of the editor, without printer’s name or place. Another version, frequently found, makes the two lovers come from Lichfield, names the lady Sarah Gray or Sarah Dunn, and makes her marry the captain. In Douce’s collection in the Bodleian Library there is a much longer version, in three parts, called The Female Sailor’s Garland.
P. 327. Billy Taylor. Printed in Fairburn’s Naval Songster for 1805, p. 16.
P. 328. Cawsand Bay. Version supplied by Sir J. K. Laughton, who writes: ‘It was brought into vogue about fifty years ago by a dear friend and brother officer of mine, Richard Creagh Saunders, then Naval Instructor of the Marlborough, the flagship in the Mediterranean. He was a man of poetic feeling, with a pretty turn for versifying, and a good knowledge of music, though no voice to speak of. The account he gave me of it is this: He was staying in the country with an old messmate—I don’t think he mentioned the name—who one day gave him some old journals, scrapbooks, &c., to look through; and among them he found this song, which he copied there and then. Of its origin there was no trace. I more than half suspect that he was himself the author of it. The tune to which he always sang it, and which his successors have of course followed, is, he said, an adaptation of an air in Don Giovanni.’
Mr. Saunders was born in January 1809, entered the navy in 1839, retired in 1865, and died in March 1886. There was a song called Cawsand Bay, popular in the thirties, according to Captain Glascock. See Introduction, p. cxiv.
P. 330. General Campbell. Text from British Museum, 1876 (d. 217). On the events mentioned, see Clowes, vi. The names of the ships in verse 9 should be the Liffey and the Larne. The latter was commanded by Marryat.
P. 331. Captain Ross. From the Madden collection (London Printers, vii. 16). Date 1833. See Clowes, vi. 514–16.
P. 333. Capture of St. Jean d’Acre. From the Madden collection (Country Printers, iii. 51). Action November 3, 1840. See Clowes, vi. 318. In verse 6, line 3, the original reads ‘Curasford’ for ‘Carysfort.’
P. 334. The Borneo Heroes. Text in British Museum (1876, d. [810]). Also in the editor’s collection, printed by Riall & Co., 2 Monmouth Court, Seven Dials. Boat action in Malluda Bay, August 19, 1845. See Clowes, vi. 329.
P. 335. The Slave Chase. From a broadside in the possession of the editor, printed by H. Such, 177 Union Street, Borough, S.E.
P. 336. The Russians Won’t Come Out. Text in The War Song Book, 1855, p. 8.
P. 337. Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate. By R. C. Saunders. Communicated by Sir J. K. Laughton.