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

explains, “In no circumstances were shanties ‘quaint’ or whimsical and rarely indeed had they any suggestion of jolly.”10 “Blood-Red Roses,” one of the few shanties to have originated from the navy during the 1700s, highlights the men’s bleak existence: “We wisht ter hell we’d niver bin born… ‘Tis growl ye may but go ye must, If ye growl too hard yer head they’ll bust.”11 The seamen’s lament of their circumstances and fear of punishment reveal that life at sea was unromantic.

Sea shanties, songs created by sailors themselves, emerged in the 1780s. They assisted in various shipboard tasks that required group coordination by having the sailors work in time with the music, directed by a lead singer. These songs were also effective at providing motivation, as one source explains, “The purpose of a hauling shanty was to harness rhythm to the task of extracting just that last ounce from men habitually weary, overworked and underfed.”12 Following the American Revolution and the War of 1812, the British Royal Navy shrunk, leaving sailors to work on merchant ships where discipline was less harsh. No longer facing the threat of forced conscription by press gangs, sailors had more autonomy and more time for leisure activities, including music. This shift is reflected in ballads, known as forebitters created by the seamen themselves. In contrast to a shanty, forebitters were exclusively for entertainment and encouraged by the implementation of the second dog watch, a two-hour rest period that was observed every day. Believing that movement could prevent the contraction of illness, especially scurvy, singing and dancing was encouraged in merchant services and navy ships during this two-hour break.13 Many of these forebitters demonstrated the unique experiences of seamen. This golden age of sailor folk music lasted from the 1820s to the 1850s and was eventually overshadowed by the introduction of the steamboat. Industrialized ships no longer required many of the tasks that had been performed by sailors. In 1900 Kidson commented that “chanties, like everything else oldfashioned, are fast disappearing, for the simple reason that much of the pulling and hauling on steamers is done by the engines.”14

Shanties, unlike forebitters or ballads, were created specifically for work. Typically sung as call-and-response, the leading singer or shantyman sang the first line and the working men responded with a refrain, completing a certain action on a specific word.15 The name shanty or chanty derives from this action.16 The chanties’ tempo and mood was adapted to the task at hand; there were many slower and more solemn songs which contrast the ballads about sea life that were so popular on land. For example, anchor shanties had long choruses and slow pace because drawing up the anchor required a large group to pull the weight in. The song’s purpose “was not to supply sharply accented rhythm to concentrated bursts of energy, but to relieve the monotony of a treadmill-like walking round and round.”17 In contrast, the halyard shanty was shorter and sung at a quicker tempo. The halyards were ropes used to hoist the sail, a quick task that could become especially crucial if a ship was caught in a storm.

Performing tasks on ships, such as hoisting the sail, required great exertion and group coordinator that was facilitated by shanties. Arthur Briscoe, “The Shadow of the Mainsail,” Print, 1932, National Gallery of Canada, Fair use.

“Blow, Boys, Blow” was one of the shanties sung quickly as men were expected to pull the halyards twice in the refrain, every time they sung the word “blow.”18 The types of shanties reflected the tasks performed by sailors and music’s role in providing coordination and motivation.

The ships that traversed the Atlantic were multicultural spaces. As Whates explains, “In the little world of sailing ships one saw perhaps a microcosm of the process known in the larger world as the diffusion of culture.”19 This was especially evident among packet seamen, who delivered mail and other goods across the ocean. The packet ships were especially prevalent from the 1820s to 1870s as they also provided cheap transportation for Europeans migrating to the Americas. The sailors learned the songs of the various immigrant groups and spent time working in the Americas, where they picked up songs from African Americans and the West Indies. Working alongside different groups on board or on shore facilitated the

transmission of music. This is reflected in many sea shanties, such as a hauling song with lyrics in Anglo-Hindi, signifying the presence of Indians in the Caribbean and their interactions with sailors. The global context is also evident in forebitters such as “The Flying Cloud,” which describes British pirates’ journey transporting African slaves on the grim Middle Passage or the song, “Rude Boreas,” whose main subject is a Greco-Roman god sung with syncopation common in African American spirituals.20

“Sally Brown,” one of the most popular shanties of the 1800s, also illustrates the societal changes taking place in the Atlantic world. The piece originated among Africans in the West Indies, then spread to American and British sailors, and was still sung in Jamaica in the 1930s. The subject is “Sally Brown,” described in the first line as “a bright mulatter.” Despite years of courting, Sally refuses to marry her love interest, the singer. Rejected, he “shipped away on a New During the 1800s, merchant crews not only interacted with different cultures at Bedford whaler” and sailed away again ports but also had increasingly diverse crews. George Cruikshank, “The Sailor’s when he discovered she had a new Description of a Chase & Capture,” Print, 1822, The British Museum, Fair use. lover.21 This shanty, though used for manual labour, highlights the frequent travel of this period and how race became an increasingly important classification. Intermixing in the Atlantic world, in addition to the expanding slave trade, gave rise to groups distinguishing themselves according to race.22 Sally, immediately identified as a “mulatter,” shows that, even among the working class of sailors, racial classification was prevalent. Moreover, the lover’s frequent trips across the Atlantic demonstrate how common it was to cross the ocean multiple times; people were not just migrants but also seasoned travellers.23 This shanty reflects an increasingly interconnected region.

Sailors’ folk music, for amusement and labour, demonstrates the immense economic and cultural changes that the Atlantic world underwent in the early modern era. Through firsthand experiences with various peoples and cultures, sea men adopted and exchanged musical traditions, a process of cross-cultural interaction that happened in every sphere of society. This transformation also reflects the economic changes brought about by a globalized economy facilitated through trading vessels. Through this folk music, a contemporary audience can hear the perspectives of a particular demographic and how they adapted to a changing Atlantic world.

Jessica Vriend

Education major, History minor, Intercultural religious studies minor