Sea Shanties: A Microcosm of Exchange
ENDNOTES
Sea shanties are a form of folk music created by sailors in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They have recently come back into the forefront of popular culture with the song “The Wellerman” going viral on Tiktok in 2021, mimicking trends from the 1600s that romanticized the life of sailors in song.1 Though they have become a popular subject, very few of today’s ballads have actually been written by or regularly sung by sailors, making true shanties an overlooked form of music.2 The songs seamen composed in the early modern period can be separated into two categories, which each served different purposes. Frank Kidson explains: “A sailor sings two kinds of songs–those to assist him in his work, and (like other mortals) others for his own and his comrades’ amusement.”3 Shanties were defined as the songs that assisted in sailors’ work while sea songs or forebitters were sung for entertainment.4 This music’s rise and fall follows the history of the Atlantic world from an increasingly interconnected region to industrialized societies. Ballads centering on the life of seamen became very popular in Europe, particularly in Britain, beginning in the 1600s. These songs formed the majority of popular music at the time, being sung in theatre, in the streets, and in the homes of private citizens.5 Even Jane Austen (1775–1817) had a personal sheet music collection that contained several sea ballads.6 This genre of music focused on the navy or men who were press ganged into that occupation, yet it was unlikely that these songs originated from this population as sailors regarded singing on a navy vessel as undisciplined. Neither were songs developed on merchant ships, as is evident by the lack of mention in the sea literature of the period.7 Since this music was not performed on vessels, it is unlikely to have been created by sailors nor be a reliable source for their experiences at sea. The popular ballads romanticized a life at sea, which was actually strictly disciplined with harsh punishments and poor pay and food. Debt was often a function of acquiring simple necessities.8 The eighteenthcentury ballad “The Sea Martyrs” describes this harsh reality for sailors with “their starving families at home, expected their slow pay would come… their debts increase.”9 There was little time for song aboard vessels; if there had been, the subject matter would have certainly been more grim. As Henry Whates Flogging was one the most common punishments on naval vessels that could be enforced for small offenses, such as drunkenness or anti-social behavior. George Cruikshank, “The Point of Honour,” Print, 1 July 1825, (London: National Maritime Museum), Fair use.
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