Chapter IV: Part 4

‘A splinter from our ship was forced,
Which took my arm, to my sad loss,
And now I’m found to wander up and down,
Seeking relief where it can be found.
We all are seamen to our right,
And on the seas we took delight,
But by hard fortune you plainly see
We lost our limbs on the raging sea.
All you who extend your charity,
The Lord preserve your family.’
(_The Seaflower._)

The last action of importance before the peace of Amiens was that between Linois and Sir James Saumarez in the Straits of Gibraltar on July 12, 1801 (Clowes, iv. 466). The ballad on it is a parody of the despatch in which Linois is said to have represented his escape as a victory (p. 298).

One feature in this war was the attempted invasion of Ireland by the French. A fleet appeared in Bantry Bay under Admiral Morard de Galle in December 1796; a landing was actually effected at Killala on August 22, 1798, by General Humbert; a squadron under Commodore Bompart was engaged by Sir John Borlase Warren on October 12, 1798. A number of ballads relating to these incidents are collected in Crofton Croker’s _Popular Songs Illustrative of French Invasions of Ireland_, parts iii., iv., published by the Percy Society in 1847, but they are too entirely political in their character. The best is one beginning:

‘Now fair and strong the south-east blew, and high the billows rose,
The French fleet bounded o’er the main freighted with Erin’s foes.
Oh, where was Hood and where was Howe, and where Cornwallis then,
Where Colpoys, Bridport, or Pellew, and all their gallant men?’

The question asked in these lines formed the basis of a motion made subsequently in Parliament. The author of the ballad answers:

‘Nor skill nor courage aught avail against heaven’s high decrees:
The storm arose and closed our ports, a mist o’erspread the seas.’

Captain Mahan, however, points out that the inefficiency of the British dispositions against invasion was to blame (_Influence of Sea-power upon the French Revolution and Empire_, i. 360). The fleet which reached Bantry escaped with impunity excepting the Droits de l’Homme, seventy-four, which fell in with Sir Edward Pellew, in the Indefatigable, forty-four, and Captain Reynolds in the Amazon, thirty-six, was badly mauled, and wrecked with all her crew on the coast of France. This engagement, which took place on January 13, 1798, is celebrated in _The Amazon Frigate_ (p. 276). An earlier exploit of Pellew’s, the capture of the Cleopâtre on June 18, 1793, is also the subject of a ballad (p. 267). The fight between the Pique and the Blanche on June 4, 1795, and that between the Mars and the Hercule, on April 21, 1798, and an action fought by the sloop Arrow in September 1799, are commemorated in the same way (pp. 285, 289).

In the civil history of the navy the great event was the mutiny of 1797, illustrated here by five ballads. _The New Song_ about ‘the seventeen bright stars’ gives a sailor’s history of the origin and progress of the mutiny of the fleet at Spithead, and was evidently written about the end of May (p. 277). _British Tars Rewarded_ expresses the satisfaction of the fleet at the concessions obtained from the Government, and _The Genius of Britain_ shows the sympathy with which the movement was regarded by the Radical politicians of the time (pp. 279, 280). The more dangerous mutiny of the ships at the Nore, which began on May 20 and lasted till about the middle of June, is represented by _A New Song on Parker the Delegate_ and _The Death of Parker_ (pp. 281, 282). The latter is one of the commonest of all ballads relating to the navy, and the frequency with which it was reprinted seems to show that popular feeling was inclined to regard Parker as a hero and a martyr.

The period from the renewal of the war with France in May 1803 to the general peace in 1815 supplies few ballads of any merit, and the more important the event celebrated the worse, as a rule, is the ballad. Trafalgar produced at least a dozen, of which two are selected here--_Nelson’s Glorious Victory at Trafalgar_, and another, entitled _The Death of Nelson_, which begins:

‘Come all you gallant seamen that unites a meeting.’

(pp. 301, 302). A third, beginning _Arise, ye sons of Britain, in chorus join and sing_, which usually bears the title of _Nelson’s Death and Victory_, is reprinted by Mr. Masefield (p. 131), and by Mr. Ashton (p. 18), under the title of _The Battle of Trafalgar_. Mr. Ashton also prints a fourth entitled _Nelson and Collingwood_ (p. 19). There is yet another _Battle of Trafalgar_, which begins well:

‘Come all you British heroes, come listen to my song,
It is of a noble battle by our brave seamen won;
The 20th of October that was the very day
The combined fleet from Cadiz, my boys, did put to sea;
The _Euryalus_ made the signal, the _Defence_ she did repeat,
The _Mars_ and the _Colossus_ conveyed it to our fleet.

‘It was off Cape St. Mary, nine leagues from the shore,
When the signal they saw down from Cadiz they bore.
On Sunday the twentieth so early in the morn
We espied our enemy, my boys, four leagues astern;
The day it being foggy we lost them all again,
But on the twenty-first, my boys, we met them on the main.’

The rest of the narrative, however, is a mere catalogue of the names of ships.

_The Death of Nelson_, better known as _’Twas in Trafalgar’s Bay_, is from John Braham’s opera entitled _The Americans_, which was produced at the Lyceum on April 27, 1811. In Bell and Daldy’s _Sea Songs and Ballads_, 1863 (p. 263), the words are attributed to Samuel James Arnold. There is another _Death of Nelson_--a rough and ungrammatical popular ballad--which seems to deserve reprinting in spite of its defects, as a testimony to popular feeling in England (p. 302).

Sir Richard Strachan’s victory on November 4, 1805 (Clowes, v. 171), is the next important event celebrated, and it is treated as completing Nelson’s work (p. 304). Clowes describes it as ‘a creditable pendant to Trafalgar’ (_The Royal Navy_, v. 174). Cochrane’s attempt to destroy the French fleet in the Basque Roads in April 1810 was also made the subject of a song. ‘Cochrane undaunted’ has his due praise; Gambier is not mentioned either for good or evil. The rest of the incidents recorded are cutting out affairs or frigate fights. Yeo’s exploits on the coast of Spain in 1805, and the capture of the Thetis by the Amethyst in November 1808, were both held worthy of recognition in verse (pp. 300, 305; cf. Clowes, v. 362, 427).

In June 1812 the field of the war was widened by President Madison’s declaration of war against England. This provides us with some ballads which give the point of view of England’s opponents, and advantageously supplement the productions of our own soil. A ballad beginning ‘Ye Parliament of England’ states the case of the United States against Great Britain, and summarises the naval history of the war for American hearers (p. 308). ‘It was still,’ says an American, ‘a favourite song in many parts of the country as late as 1859, and it is valuable as a reflection of the spirit in which the war of 1812-14 was regarded by those who fought in it’ (G. C. Eggleston, _American War Ballads_, 1889, i. 131). The capture of the Guerrière by the Constitution on August 19, 1812, was the subject of an American song subsequently reprinted as a broadside in London (p. 309). The capture of the Chesapeake by the Shannon in June 1, 1813, was the subject of three English ballads, two of which are here reprinted (p. 311). The metre of the best known is the same as that of the song on the Constitution and Guerrière, and one was evidently intended as an answer to the other, though it appears uncertain which was published first. The last of the series narrates the capture of the President on January 15, 1815, and is called _The Endymion’s Triumph_. It just mentions the existence of the rest of the squadron, but does not attribute any part in the result of the fight to the Pomone or the Tenedos (p. 313).

Peace was not wholly welcome either to the younger officers or to some of the sailors. In 1815, as in 1763 there were some who openly expressed their regret. One example is a parody of Dibdin, entitled _The Midshipman’s Lamentation_. It begins ‘What is it to you if my eye I am piping?’ If the peace is a fact he trembles to think what his next station will be:

‘Four years of my time I’ve served and better,
But what’s that to me? Why, it’s not worth a groat.
Besides, to the purser I am a great debtor--
I have not yet paid for my cockt hat and coat.’

No resource will be left him except to turn shoe-black:

‘How oft in the cabin I’ve studied navigation
Out of a book writ by John Hamilton Moore,
But now I’m afraid I shall soon take my station
With my brushes and black ball close to my door.’
(_Madden Collection_, Cambridge.)

A sailor took a more cheerful view of the situation:

‘When I was on the yard the topsail for to furl,
The pilot came on board and said “There’s peace with all the world”;
But if war should come again I’m damned if I won’t enter,
And for my country and my king my life and limb I’ll venture.’
(Fragment communicated by Sir J. K. Laughton.)

As at every peace, there were complaints that when the sailor was no more needed a thankless country turned him adrift to starve. _The British Tars_ enforces this moral (p. 316). Sailors who remained in the service had a different cause of complaint, namely, the increasing strictness of discipline in minor matters. ‘About 1806,’ says Clowes, on the authority of Lord Dundonald, ‘undue prominence began to be assigned to what is still vulgarly called in the service “spit and polish.” Too much importance was attached to “the brightening of brass heads, of bitts, and capstan hoops,” and too little to the condition of the ship as a fighting machine’ (_Royal Navy_, v. 19). After the peace this tendency increased, and the discomforts of a sailor’s life in a smart ship with a martinet for her captain became the theme of several ballads. _The Fancy Frigate_, _The Saucy Scylla_, and _The Vanguard_ are examples of this (pp. 316-21).

An older grievance now ended. Impressment had risen to its height during the great war with France. In a volume of Northumbrian Minstrelsy published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne are many songs referring to the press-gang.

‘Here’s the tender coming pressing all the men!
Oh, dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming off at Shields’ bar,
Here’s the tender coming full of men-of-war.’

Another is a woman’s lament:

‘Oh, the lousy cutter,
They’ve taen my laddie frae me,
They’ve pressed him far away foreign
Wi’ Nelson ayont the salt sea.

‘They always come in the night,
They never come in the day;
They always come in the night
And steal the laddies away.’

A certain Captain Bover was particularly energetic in pressing men, of whom a sailor and his lass thus sing:

‘Where hes ti’ been, maw canny hinny,
Where hes ti’ been, maw winsome man?
Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard,
Cruising back and forrard,
Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard,
Cruising sair and lang,
Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard, cruising back and forrard,
But daurna come ashore for Bover and his gang.’
(L. Smith, _Music of the Waters_, 1888, p. 112.)

When the war ended the press-gang lost its very real terrors, though their memory long survived in tradition. It became a subject for sentimental or burlesque treatment, as in _Oh Cruel!_ and the _Answer_ to that song. Its special function in the sentimental ballads printed during the first half of the nineteenth century was to prevent the course of true love from running smooth:

‘This jolly young sailor, as true is reported,
Had been but a very few weeks on the shore
But as he and his love together was walking,
By a large press he from her was tore.’

A villainous rival invariably availed himself of its assistance:

‘A friendly voice young William hailed;
A ruffian gang the youth assailed;
’Twas done by cursed gold.
The tender for the offing stood,
The cutter skimmed the yielding flood,
They hatched him in the hold.’
(_Young William._)

It afforded opportunities for the more romantic forms of the sentimental ballad, in which the maid disguised herself as a sailor in order to accompany her lover when he was pressed to sea. There are several seventeenth and eighteenth century ballads about disguised women who served as sailors, and there are some genuine instances. One of them, Hannah Snell, became celebrated, and about 1750 attracted crowds to hear her sing a song describing her adventures (p. 200). In the street ballads of the early nineteenth century the theme is a perpetual favourite. Other ballads of the same period celebrated the courage or dexterity with which the maiden contrived to obtain her lover’s release. The most celebrated example of this class of ballad is _Billy Taylor_, which is a parody on an earlier romantic ballad entitled sometimes _William Taylor_, sometimes _The Female Lieutenant_ (pp. 326-27). Another example is _Cawsand Bay_ (p. 328), which is a late imitation of an older ballad called either _The Valiant Maid_ or _The Undaunted Lieutenant_.

Impressment ceased about 1835, though not formally abolished, and its cessation seems to have been somehow connected in the popular mind with King William IV. His sympathy with sailors was the theme of several street songs. _The King and the Sailor_ celebrates his affability; _Duke William’s Frolic_ narrates how he had learned to sympathise with the sufferings of sailors by being himself impressed. Both are reprinted in John Ashton’s _Modern Street Ballads_, pp. 228, 232.

During the great war, the patriotic sea-song and songs about sailors, such as those written by the Dibdins and their imitators, had attained enormous popularity on shore, and some at sea too. Charles Dibdin’s first naval song, _Blow high, blow low_, was produced about 1776, and he continued to produce till about 1810. It was said by a biographer that ‘he brought more men into the navy in war time than all the press-gangs could,’ and he boasted in his autobiography, ‘My songs have been the solace of sailors in long voyages, in storm, in battle; and they have been quoted in mutinies to the restoration of order and discipline (_Autobiography_, i. 8). Except in a very few cases, such as _Tom Bowling_, this popularity was not lasting. ‘It is doubtful,’ says Sir C. Bridge, ‘if they were even very popular in the forecastle. At places of entertainment on shore, some of them may have been heard with pleasure by seamen, but the great majority of them were either never favourites afloat, or at any rate had but a short-lived popularity. By the middle of the nineteenth century, when the old fore-bitter had still a vigorous existence, C. Dibdin’s songs were very rarely sung on board ship’ (Introduction to Stone’s _Sea Songs and Ballads_, p. xiii).

Novelists and playwrights imitated Dibdin. Captain Marryat, who brought together a few genuine old songs in _Poor Jack_, inserted some nautical songs of his own composition in _Snarleyow_, the best of which is reprinted in this collection (p. 322). Others, apparently never published, which include defences of flogging and impressment, are to be found in his Life by his daughter. Captain Chamier, who published between 1830 and 1849 a number of novels in imitation of Marryat, included in them many nautical songs of his own of little merit. Captain Glascock also in his novels and sketches of naval life printed various lyrics. One seems to be the expression of a genuine feeling, viz. _The Lieutenant’s Lament_:

‘As sure as a gun
We shall all be undone
If longer continues the peace.’
(_Naval Sketch Book_, 1834, 2nd series, i. 267.)

Of nautical plays an enormous number were produced during the first half of the nineteenth century. This species of drama reached its greatest vogue about 1830. The most successful example of it was Douglas Jerrold’s _Black-eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs_, played at the Surrey Theatre in 1829. Another successful play was Fitzball’s _Pilot_, an adaptation of Cooper’s novel of the same name, in which the hero was transformed from an American into an English sailor. The success of both was due to the acting of T. P. Cooke, who had himself served some six years in the navy and was declared by Christopher North to be ‘the best sailor that ever trod the stage.’ ‘Mr. Cooke,’ says Fitzball in his preface to _The Pilot_, ‘added a new feature to the sailor’s character. It was that of thoughtfulness and mystery--of deep-toned passion and romance.’

The popularity and the prevalence of conventional representations of sailors and artificial naval lyrics seem to have put an end to the production of genuine sea songs. In the vast mass of street songs issued by various printers between 1815 and 1870 there are many about sailors at sea and on shore, but they are mostly amatory or romantic. The most interesting are stories about shipwrecks or crudely realistic ditties about sprees on shore which illustrate the history of the merchant service rather than the navy. Such titles as _The Liverpool Landlady_, _The Sailor’s Frolic or Life in the East_, and _Rolling Down Wapping_ are a sufficient indication of their contents. Amongst this miscellaneous mass there are a few ballads relating to incidents in naval history occurring between 1815 and the Crimean war. They are poor things, lacking in the spirit and the vigorous realism which often redeem the doggerel verses of the previous century.

For that reason it will suffice to quote a few of those which survive, and to print half a dozen of the best as specimens.

The bombardment of Algiers by Lord Exmouth on August 27, 1816, was the first important naval event after the peace of 1815. It is narrated in a ballad printed by James Catnach, in which a sailor who had served on board the Superb undertook to tell ‘how we fought like any lions bold to set the Christians free.’ Three verses may be quoted:

‘On the twenty-seventh of August, just by the break of day,
We espied the city of Algiers to windward of us lay;
“All hands, all hands to quarters,” it was the general cry,
“Come load your guns with round and grape before we draw too nigh.”

‘The first was the _Queen Charlotte_ so nobly led the van,
She was followed by the _Superb_, Captain Atkins gave command,
The next was the _Leander_ with all her warlike crew,
She was followed by the _Impregnable_, Rear-Admiral of the Blue.’

Then comes a catalogue of the rest of the fleet, in which the six Dutch frigates taking part in the action are not forgotten. ‘Take pattern by those English lads, they show you gallant play,’ said the Dutch admiral to his crews.

‘Now there’s one thing more that I relate, which is to be admired,
At five o’clock that afternoon we set their ships on fire,
Our rocket ships and bomb ships so well their parts did play
The Algerines from their batteries were forced to run away.’

The last verse concluded with healths to Lord Exmouth and to Captain Atkins (or properly Captain Charles Ekins) of the Superb.

The battle of Navarino, fought on October 20, 1827, inspired several ballads. _The Battle of Navarino_, which will be found at length in John Ashton’s _Modern Street Ballads_, 1888, p. 225, begins thus:

‘You’ve heard of the Turks and the Greeks,
For all Europe’s been told their bad habits,
How they cut down each other like leeks,
And the Turks slaughter children like rabbits:
But John Bull could bear it no more,
Said he, you death-dealers, I’ll stop you,
And if you don’t both soon give o’er
I swear by St George that I’ll whop you.’

It concludes with a cheer ‘for the staunch gallant crew, That manned the brave ship the Genoa’--a 76-gun ship whose captain, Walter Bathurst, was killed in the battle--on board of which the author perhaps served.

A second, entitled _The Glorious Victory of Navarino_, gives more details:

‘On the 20th of October the glorious fight began,
Bold Ibrahim vainly boasted he’d slaughter every man;
But Codrington resolved was the _Asia_ should display
A bright example to the rest, and he would lead the way.

‘The _Genoa_ and the _Albion_ he placed by his side
And near to him De Rigny, commander of the _Armide_,
The _Glasgow_ and the _Cambrian_, the _Dartmouth_ and the _Rose_
Were placed in fine order alongside of their foes.’

A fragment of a third ballad, said to consist of seventeen verses in all, is quoted by Mr. Kipling in _The Black Sheep_:

‘Our vanship was the _Asia_,
The _Albion_ and the _Genoa_,
And next came on the lovely _Rose_,
The _Philomel_ her fireship closed,
And the little _Brisk_ was sore exposed
That day at Navarino.’

The intervention of England in the Syrian war in 1840, which fills so large a place in James Hannay’s naval novel, _Singleton Fontenoy_, produced a ballad on _The Capture of St. Jean d’Acre_ which will be found on p. 333. It attributes all the credit of the success to Charles Napier, and makes no mention at all of Sir Robert Stopford. It seems to have been written or at least inspired by someone serving on board the Wasp, from the particularity with which it relates the movements of that ship.

The popularity of Napier comes out very plainly in the whole group of street songs and ballads relating to the Crimean war.

‘We’re off to the Baltic with Charley Napeer
To singe the whiskers of the great Russian bear’

ran the chorus of a song which a friend of mine heard some sailors singing in the streets in 1854. _Give it to him, Charley_, is the title of another; _I am Baltic Charley and no Mistake_, is that of a third. In this last, the author, through the form of a dialogue, expresses the sympathy of the British public with the admiral in his quarrel with Sir James Graham:

‘“I have sailed too many miles at sea
For any land-lubber to frighten me,
I fought in Nelson’s victory
Like a Briton,” said Baltic Charley.
Said Jemmy to me “What have you done?
Why did not you into danger run?”
“I wopped the Russians at Bomarsund
And a victory gained,” said Charley.

‘“Now, Jemmy, you shall see by-and-by
I will make you open your weather eye
And like a pig for quarters cry
For insulting Baltic Charley.
Boatswain’s mate, come quickly jump,
Seize old Jemmy up to the pump,
And give him a dozen over the rump
To the tune of Baltic Charley.”’

Another series of this Russian group consists of sentimental verses. _Bold Napier_, for instance, begins:

‘Old England calls her sons to arms the Russian bear to meet,
Our brave old admiral commands and guides the British fleet,
The battle calls me from thy arms, let not my Susan fear
In the cause of liberty we go to sail with bold Napier.’

Similar in type is _Jack and Susan and Long Life to Sir Charles Napier_. Bolder is _The Baltic Lovers_, which relates how a merchant’s daughter of Southampton city:

‘Did fall in love with a brisk young sailor
Who had engaged with Sir Charles Napier,’

and announced her intention of following him to sea in disguise:

‘He said “Mary, my charming fairy,
Are you deranged or what can you mean?--
On board the _Wellington_ you know I’ve entered
To fight the Russians and serve the Queen.”’

In spite of this discouragement and of the active opposition of her father she entered on board the Wellington, and passed for a long time as a man.

‘One lovely morning the fleet had warning
To fight the Russians at seven bells,
And her true lover did her discover
And met his Mary at the Dardanelles.’

Shedding ‘large briny tears’ she was brought on the quarter-deck before Sir Charles Napier, who was much moved by the spectacle.

‘Old Charley said, “You are an angel,
You are an angel I plainly see,
You love your Queen, you love a sailor,
And soon made happy you shall be.”’

And thereupon he discharged Mary and the brisk young sailor and sent both back to England singing ‘God save the Queen and Sir Charles Napier.’

In addition to this there are of course many songs of a purely patriotic nature of which the naval glories of England are in part the theme. The most familiar of them is _The Red, White, and Blue_. ‘It had a considerable vogue during the Russian war,’ writes Sir J. K. Laughton. ‘I often heard it sung up the Baltic: but of course it is a music-hall song. It was always understood that the ‘red, white, and blue’ meant the three admirals’ flags. Since then it has been taken to mean that these are the national colours--a mistake which has led to a thousand absurdities.’

Out of all the popular songs illustrating the naval side of the Russian war only one deserves reprinting in this volume. That is a song called _The Russians won’t come out_, which reflects the general disappointment of the navy at the absence of any opportunities for fighting at sea (p. 336).

In order to illustrate the work of the navy during the period which intervened between the close of the French war and the beginning of the Russian war four other ballads have been inserted. One, entitled _General Campbell_, describes the part taken by the navy in the capture of Rangoon in 1824. A second, _The Borneo Heroes_, narrates an incident in the suppression of piracy in the Eastern seas, viz. the fight at Malluda Bay on August 19, 1845. The third, entitled _The Slave Chase_, illustrates the suppression of the slave trade. From the style it is clearly an imitation of one of Macaulay’s _Lays_; however, it is a spirited thing, and was a great favourite with the late Captain Montagu Burrows, who served for some time in African waters. It was also a popular favourite, and was very often reprinted by Fortey, Such, and the later publishers of street ballads. Arctic exploration is illustrated by a fourth, which celebrates the return of Ross in 1833 and the welcome he received at home (pp. 330-334). Another incident, in the search for the North-West Passage, namely the voyage of Sir John Franklin, and the long continued efforts to discover his fate also attracted the attention of the writers of street ballads; but neither _Lady Franklin’s Lament_ nor the _Lament on the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his crew_ deserve reprinting. The last was written in 1860; ten years later the old street ballads practically became extinct. Once they had been the instrument used to convey information about public events to the people, but that function had now passed to the cheap newspapers. Popular opinion had found other modes of expression, and as songs they had been superseded by the more taking melodies of the music-halls.

Sir Cyprian Bridge speaks of the ‘general taking over of the songs of the music-hall of late by sailors.’ The process began long ago. Captain Glascock in 1834 noted the supersession of the old naval songs by ditties fashionable at the moment on shore.

‘For the whole three years as I sarv’d in that there _March-o’-Mind
man-o’-war_ I was tellin’ ye about I never hears so much as a
sailor’s song--a song as ye could call a reg’lar built seaman’s
stave.’

‘No, Ned, you doesn’t now often hear the staves as we used to sing
in the war--you never now hears _Will ye go to Cawsin Bay, Billy Bo,
Billy Bo!_--nor the _Saucy Arethusa_--nor the _Bold Brittany_--_Black
colours under her mizen did fly_--_From Ushant to Scilly is
thirty-five leagues_, an’ many more of the sim’lar sort.’

‘No, no, Sam--you’re right enough--your _March-o’-Mind_ men must now
come your simmy-dimmy quiv’ring quivers--tip ye soft sentimental
touches--sigh away like ladies in love, an’ never sing nothin’ but
your silly sicknin’ stuff, as often used to frighten the geese an’
make ’em cackle in the coop, for all the world like the comin’ of a
heavy hurricane. Moreover, your _March-o’-Mind_ men never will sing
a single stave as admits of the main thing--for what’s a song as
won’t allow all hands to jine in reg’lar coal-box? (chorus). No, no,
your _March-o’-Mind_ men haven’t, you may depend on it, the mind
of men--they think far more like people as rigs it in petticoats,
nor they as tog in trowsers. Now what looks more young-ladyish nor
to see a fellor with a fist like a shoulder of mutton, flinging his
flipper about an’ suitin’ his antics to his song, as he snivels out
“Strike--strike the light guitar!”... Then, again, we’d another
chap--a chap, too, as big and bulky as a bullock--easin’ it off
an’ mincin’ it out like a lank boarding’-school miss--“I’d be a
butterfly, born in a bower”’ (_Naval Sketch-book_, 2nd series, i.
236).

Dana noticed the same phenomenon amongst merchant sailors about 1834. ‘I shall never forget,’ he writes, ‘hearing an old salt who had broken his voice by hard drinking on shore, and bellowing from the mast-head in a hundred north-westers, singing with all manner of ungovernable trills and quavers, in the high notes breaking into rough falsetto, and in the low ones growling along like the dying-away of the boatswain’s “All hands ahoy!” down the hatchway, “Oh no, we never mention him!”[_sic_]:

‘Perhaps, like me, he struggles with
Each feeling of regret:
But if he’s loved as I have loved,
He never can forget.’

The last line he roared out at the top of his voice, breaking each word into half a dozen syllables, This was very popular, and Jack was called on every night to give them his sentimental song’ (_Two Years before the Mast_, chap. xxix.).

In conclusion it is only necessary to give some short account of the sources from which the present collection has been compiled.

The best account of the collections of old ballads which exist in various public libraries is given by Chappell in the introduction to volume i. of the _Roxburghe Ballads_, published by the Ballad Society. The British Museum contains the collections known as the Roxburghe and Bagford Ballads, besides others of minor importance. The four volumes of the Roxburghe collection contain 1,466 ballads, the Bagford collection and the smaller ones referred to about 1,500 more. Since 1871, when Mr. Chappell made this estimate, others have been added. The Bodleian Library contains the collections formed by Wood, Ashmole, Rawlinson, and Douce, numbering 1,500 or 1,600. At Cambridge there is the Pepys collection, which consists of 1,800 ballads, and is of special value for naval history, because Pepys, by virtue of his office, was peculiarly interested in that subject. The Society is under great obligations to the Master and Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge, for permitting the publication of ten of the Pepysian ballads in this volume, and for allowing the editor the opportunity of thoroughly searching the collection for the purpose. The library of the University of Cambridge possesses a large collection of ballads printed during the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth, which has proved extremely useful as supplementing and continuing the older collections. It was formed by Sir Frederick Madden, and has been hitherto neglected by nearly all students of ballads, but deserves to be searched carefully by anyone interested in the later history of the English ballad.

The University of Glasgow possesses a collection of 408 black-letter ballads presented to it by Mr. Euing. The Euing collection consists mainly of ballads printed during the reign of Charles II., and has supplied several on the Dutch wars and other incidents of the period.

Of collections in private hands, that of the Earl of Crawford has proved particularly useful. The Society is indebted to him for three ballads reprinted in this volume, and the editor has found the catalogue of Lord Crawford’s ballads invaluable throughout his work (_Bibliotheca Lindesiana: Catalogue of a Collection of English Ballads of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_. Privately printed, 1890).

As to printed collections of ballads, the editions of the _Roxburghe_ and _Bagford Ballads_, published by the Ballad Society, have been freely drawn upon. The labours of Mr. Chappell and Mr. Ebsworth have alone made it possible to select and put together ballads relating to any particular side of English history, and their researches into the questions of the origin and text of the ballads have furnished all students of any special kind of ballads with a solid basis for further investigations. To Mr. Ebsworth the editor is further indebted for personal assistance and encouragement.

Two other collections have also been of special service--_The English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, edited by Professor F. J. Child, 5 vols., Boston, 1895, and _Bishop Percy’s Folio Manuscript_, edited by Professor J. W. Hales and Dr. F. J. Furnivall, 3 vols., London, 1868.

There are also several special collections of Naval Ballads, to which references are frequently made in this introduction and in the notes. Of these the most important are:

(1) _Early Naval Ballads of England_, collected and edited by J. O. Halliwell for the Percy Society in 1851.

(2) _Sea Songs and Ballads by Dibdin and others._ London, Bell and Daldy, 1863. This contains an appendix consisting of ballads written before Dibdin’s day.

(3) _Real Sailor Songs_, collected and edited by John Ashton, 1891, which is valuable from the number of modern street ballads it contains.

(4) _Sea Songs and Ballads_, selected by Christopher Stone, with an introduction by Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, Oxford, 1906.

(5) _A Sailor’s Garland_, selected and edited by John Masefield, London 1906.

One word as to the text of the ballads and songs contained in this volume. It was at first intended to preserve the exact spelling of the originals. In the older pieces it was possible to do this because there was usually an authoritative text accessible, which it was easy to follow throughout. But the later ballads, issued on broadsheets and slips, and frequently reprinted again by country printers, swarmed with misprints due to mere carelessness which it would have been unnecessary and undesirable to reproduce. Moreover, it was often needful to compare several versions in order to obtain a tolerable text. For these reasons a certain number of obvious errors of the press have been corrected. Some variants, with comments on the text of the ballads, and an indication of the source from which the text is derived, will be found in the notes at the end of the volume. It should be noted that in order to save space two lines have often been printed as one.

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Battle of Sluys 1

Les Espagnols Sur Mer 3

The Pilgrims Sea Voyage 4

Sir Andrew Barton 6

John Dory 16

The Mariner’s Song 17

A Joyful New Ballad, declaring the Happie Obtaining of the Great Galleazzo 18

An Excellent Song on the Winning of Cales by the English 21

The Sailor’s Onely Delight 23

The Seaman’s Song of Captain Ward 25

The Song of Dansekar the Dutchman 27

The Famous Sea-Fight between Captain Ward and the Rainbow 30

The Lamentable Cries of at least 1,500 Christians (now Prisoners in Argiers under the Turkes) 31

The Honour of Bristol 34

Neptune to England 36

On His Majesties Fleet 36

Upon the Great Ship 37

Saylors for my Money 40

The Jovial Marriner; or, the Sea-man’s Renown 42

Neptune’s Raging Fury; or, the Gallant Seaman’s Sufferings 45

The Famous Fight at Malago 47

An Elegie on the Death of the Right Honourable Robert Blake, Esq. 48

The Valiant Seaman’s Congratulation to his Sacred Majesty King Charles II. 53

England’s Valour, and Holland’s Terrour 54

Song Written at Sea (‘To all you Ladies now at Land’) 56

The Royal Victory 58

The English Seaman’s Resolution; or, the Loyall Subjects Undaunted Valour 61

England’s Tryumph, and Hollands Downfall; or, the Second Royal Victory 63

Englands Royall Conquest 66

Holland Turn’d to Tinder; or, England’s Third Great Royal Victory 69

A New Ballad of a Famous German Prince and a Renowned English Duke 72

The Second Part of the Late and Terrible Fight on St. James’s Day, 1666 76

The Dutch Damnified; or, the Butter-Boxes Bob’d 79

A Song on the Duke’s Late Glorious Success over the Dutch 82

News from the Coast of Spain 83

Captain Mansfield’s Fight with the Turkes at Sea 86

The Algiers Slave’s Releasement; or, the Unchangeable Boat-swain 88

The Benjamin’s Lamentation for their Sad Loss at Sea by Storms and Tempests 89

The Treachery of the Spaniards of Porto Rico to the Dartmouth Frigot and her Company 92

The Golden Voyage; or, the Prosperous Arrival of the James and Mary 95

The Boatswain’s Call; or, the Couragious Marriner’s Invitation 97

The Undaunted Seaman 99

The Sea-Man’s Adieu to his Dear 101

The Maidens’ Frolick; or, a Brief Relation how Six Lusty Lasses has Prest full Fourteen Taylors 104

The Couragious Commander; or, a Brief Relation of that Most Noble Adventure of Sir Cloudesly Shovell, in the Bay of Dublin 106

The Seamen’s Victory; or, Admiral Killegrew’s Glorious Conquest over the French Fleet 108

Torringtonia; or, a New Copy of Verses on the Late Sea Engagement 110

England’s Triumph at Sea (1691) 112

England’s Great Loss by a Storm of Wind 113

Naval Warfare of 1692 114

The Royal Triumph; or, the Unspeakable Joy of the Three Kingdoms 117

Admiral Russell’s Scowering the French Fleet 119

A Merry New Ballad on the Great Victory over the French Fleet 120

The Valiant Seamen’s Courage 125

England’s Glory in the Behaviour of Brave Killeygrove 126

An Excellent Song, Call’d The Frighted French; or, Russel Scouring the Seas 128

The Cæsar’s Victory 129

A Copy of Verses, composed by Captain Henry Every 131

Villany Rewarded; or, The Pirate’s Last Farewel to the World 133

Captain Kid’s Farewel to the Seas; or, The Famous Pirate’s Lament 134

A Satyr on the Sea-Officers 137

The Sea-Martyrs; or, The Seamen’s Sad Lamentation for their Faithful Service, Bad Pay, and Cruel Usage 140

Advice to Young Maidens in Chusing of Husbands 143

The Seamen’s Wives’ Vindication 145

Billy the Midshipman’s Welcome Home 146

Admiral Benbow 148

The Death of Admiral Benbow 149

The Sailors Account of the Action at Vigo 151

On the Sea Fight between Sir G. R. and Toulouse, 1704 153

A Song on the same 154

The Sailor’s Tragedy; or, The Last Farewel of Captain Smith 154

The Valliant Admiral; or, The Wonderful Success of Sir John Leake 156

The Sea-Fight; or, The French Prize Taken 158

The Loss of the Edgar 160

The Sailor’s Complaint 162

Fair Sally Lov’d a Bonny Sailor 163

‘How Pleasant a Sailor’s Life Passes’ 164

The Boatswain’s Whistle 165

The Downfall of Piracy 166

Admiral Cavendish’s Distress on Board the Canterbury 168

The Pacifick Fleet 170

The English Sailor’s Resolution to Fight the Spaniards 172

England’s Glory in the Declaration of War 174

The Taking of the Princissa 175

English Courage Display’d; or, Brave News from Admiral Vernon 177

Hosier’s Ghost 179

Vernon’s Glory; or, The Spaniards’ Defeat 181

The Saphirah (sic) in Triumph; or, British Valor Display’d 184

Admiral Matthews’ Engagement against the Combined Fleets of France and Spain 186

A New Song in Praise of Brave Captain Hornsby 187

Captain Cobb’s Bravery 189

The Princess Royal’s Escape from the Goodwin Sands 190

The Loss of the Victory Man-of-War 192

Disconsolate Judy’s Lamentation for the Absence of her True Love ... on Board the Victory ... now Missing 193

England’s Glory; or, The French King Stripped 194

The Lucky Sailor; or The Sailor’s invitation to go with Admiral Anson 195

Tit for Tat: A Sea Kick for a Land Cuff 197

A New Song on Admiral Knowls taking Port Louis 199

A New Song sung by Hannah Snell, alias James Gray 200

The Lightermans Prentice Prest and Sent to Sea 201

Britain’s Resolution to Fight the French 203

The Terrible Privateer 204

Captain Death 205

A New Song (on Blakeney and Byng) 206

The Letter of a Certain Admiral 207

A Rueful Story: Admiral B----g’s Glory; or, Who Run Away First 209

Admiral Byng and Brave West 210

A New Song Written on the Isle of Aix 211

Bold Sawyer 212

Captain Bartons Distress on Board the Lichfield 214

Gilchrist and Hotham’s Bravery 216

Hawke’s Engagement 217

Neptune’s Resignation 218

Hearts of Oak 220

Thurot’s Dream 220

A New Song on the Gallant Behaviour of Captain O’Brian and Captain Taylor 222

A New Song on the Taking of Havannah 223

Lord Anson and Hawke 225

A New Song on the Blandford Privateer 226

The Sailors’ Dialogue 227

Distressed Men of War 228

The Sailor’s Complaint 230

The Sailor’s Garland; or, The Ticket Buyer’s Lamentation 231

The Saylor’s Complaint; or, The True Character of the Purser of a Ship 233

The Sailor’s Resolution to Fight the Spaniards 234

Jack Tar 235

The Jolly Sailor’s True Description of a Man-of-War 236

New Sea Song (‘Our boatswain calls out for his bold British heroes’) 239

The Humours of the Royal Billy 240

The Dolphin’s Return 243

The Brags of Washington 244

On the Late Engagement in Charles Town River 245

Sullivan’s Island 246

The Cruisers 247

On Board of the Arethusa 248

An Excellent New Song Composed by Eighteen Greenlandmen 249

Admiral Keppel Triumphant; or, Monsieurs in the Suds 252

Keppel and de Chartres. A New Song (‘Come, all ye valiant seamen that plough the raging main’) 253

A New Song in Praise of Admiral Keppel’s Fleet 255

Admiral Keppel Triumphant 255

Keppel for Ever! 257

A New Song on Admiral Barrington 258

Paul Jones 259

Captain Farmer 260

The Bold Blades of Old England 261

The Royal Sailor 262

Hood’s Conquest over the Count de Grasse 263

The Loss of the Centaur 265

A New Sea Song called The Robin Hood 266

A New Song on the Battle Fought between the La Nymphe and the Cleopatra 267

The Downfall of the French Fleet 268

A New Song on the Sea Engagement Fought the First of June Last 270

A New Sea Song written by a Lieutenant of the Bellerophon 271

The Blanche Frigate 274

The Amazon Frigate 276

A New Song (The Seventeen Bright Stars) 277

The Genius of Britain 279

British Tars Rewarded 280

A New Song on Parker the Delegate 281

The Death of Parker 282

A New Song in Praise of Admiral Duncan 283

The Engagement between the Mars and La Hercule 285

Verses written on board H.M.S. Astræa 286

The Battle of the Nile 287

The Arrow Sloop of War 289

Copenhagen 290

Action off Copenhagen 295

A New Song on Lord Nelson’s Victory at Copenhagen 296

A New Song Composed by the Wounded Tars at the Siege of Boulogne 297

France Cover’d with Glory 298

La Loire Frigate, or Yeo! Yeo! 300

Nelson’s Glorious Victory at Trafalgar 301

The Death of Lord Nelson 302

Admiral Strachan’s Victory 304

The Engagement between the Amethyst and Thetis 305

The Attempt of Destroying the French Fleet in Basque Roads 306

A Copy of Verses on Jefferys the Seaman 307

Ye Parliament of England 308

The Constitution and Guerrière 309

Shannon and Chesapeake 311

Battle of the Shannon and Chesapeake 312

The Endymion’s Triumph 313

The British Tars 316

The Fancy Frigate 316

The Saucy Scylla 319

The Vanguard 320

The Port Admiral 322

Oh! Cruel 324

The Answer to Oh! Cruel 325

The Female Lieutenant 326

Billy Taylor 327

Cawsand Bay 328

General Campbell 330

The Bold Adventures of Captain Ross 331

The Capture of St. Jean d’Acre 333

The Borneo Heroes 334

The Slave Chase 335

The Russians Won’t Come Out 336

Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate 337

Notes 339

Index of First Lines 365

Index of Proper Names 370

Index of Ships 382

Index of Tunes 386

SONGS AND BALLADS

_THE BATTLE OF SLUYS._

Lithes and the batail I sal bigyn
of Inglisch men and Normandes in the Swin.

Minot with mowth had menid to make
Suth sawes and sad for sum mens sake;
The wordes of sir Edward makes me to wake,
Wald he salue vs sone mi sorow suld slake;
War mi sorow slaked sune wald I sing:
When God will sir Edward sal vs bute bring.

Sir Philip the Valas cast was in care;
And said sir Hugh Kyret to Flandres suld fare,
And haue Normondes inogh to leue on his lare,
All Flandres to brin and mak it all bare;
Bot, vnkind coward, wo was him thare:
When he sailed in the Swin it sowed him sare;
Sare it tham smerted that ferd out of ffrance;
Thare lered Inglis men tham a new daunce.

The buriase of Bruge ne war noght to blame;
I pray Ihesu saue tham fro sin and fro schame,
For thai war sone at the Sluse all by a name,
Whare many of the Normandes tok mekill grame.

When Bruges and Ipyre hereof herd tell,
Thai sent Edward to wit that was in Arwell;
Than had he no liking langer to dwell,
He hasted him to the Swin with sergantes snell,
To mete with the Normandes that fals war and fell,
That had ment if thai might al Flandres to quell.

King Edward vnto sail was ful sune dight
With erles and barons and many kene knight:
Thai come byfor Blankebergh on Saint Ions night;
That was to the Normondes a well sary sight,
Yit trumped thai and daunced with torches ful bright,
In the wilde waniand was thaire hertes light.

Opon the morn efter, if I suth say,
A meri man, sir Robard out of Morlay,
At half eb in the Swin soght he the way;
Thare lered men the Normandes at bukler to play;
Helpid tham no prayer that thai might pray;
The wreches er wonnen thaire wapin es oway.

The Erle of Norhamton helpid at that nede,
Als wise man of wordes and worthli in wede,
Sir Walter the Mawnay, God gif him mede,
Was bold of body in batayl to bede.

The duc of Lankaster was dight for to driue,
With mani mody man that thoght for to thriue,
Wele and stalworthly stint he that striue,
That few of the Normandes left thai oliue;
Fone left thai oliue bot did tham to lepe;
Men may find by the flode a ·C· on hepe.

Sir William of Klinton was eth for to knaw;
Mani stout bachilere broght he on raw.
It semid with thaire schoting als it was snaw;
The bost of the Normandes broght thai ful law;
Thaire bost was abated and thaire mekil pride,
Fer might thai noght fle bot thare bud tham bide.

The gude Erle of Glowcester, God mot him glade,
Broght many bold men with bowes ful brade;
To biker with the Normandes baldely thai bade
And in middes the flode did them to wade;
To wade war tho wretches casten in the brim;
The kaitefs come out of France at lere tham to swim.

I prays Iohn Badding als one of the best;
Faire come he sayland out of the suthwest,
To proue of tha Normandes was he ful prest,
Till he had foghten his fill he had neuer rest.

Iohn of Aile of the Sluys with scheltron ful schene
Was comen into Cagent, cantly and kene,
Bot sone was his trumping turned to tene;
Of him had sir Edward his will als I wene.

The schipmen of Ingland sailed ful swith,
That none of the Normandes fro tham might skrith.
Who so kouth wele his craft thare might it kith:
Of al the gude that thai gat gaf thai no tithe.

Two hundreth and mo schippes on the sandes
Had oure Inglis men won with thaire handes;
The kogges of Ingland war broght out of bandes,
And also the Cristofir that in the streme standes;
In that stound thai stode, with stremers ful still
Til thai wist full wele sir Edwardes will.

Sir Edward, oure gude king wurthi in wall
Faght wele on that flude, faire mot him fall;
Als it es custom of king to confort tham all
So thanked he gudely the grete and the small,
He thanked them gudely, God gif him mede,
Thus come oure king in the Swin till that gude dede

This was the bataile that fell in the Swin,
Whare many Normandes made mekill din;
Wele war thai armed vp to the chin;
But God and sir Edward gert thaire boste blin,
Thus blinned thaire boste, als we wele ken:
God assoyle thaire sawls, sais all, Amen.

_LES ESPAGNOLS SUR MER._

How King Edward and his menye
Met with the Spaniardes in the see

I wald noght spare for to speke, wist I to spede,
Of wight men with wapin and worthly in wede,

That now er driven to dale and ded all thaire dede,
Thai sail in the see-gronde fissches to fede;
Fele fissches thai fede for all thaire grete fare
It was in the waniand that thai come thare.

Thai sailed furth in the Swin in a somers tyde,
With trompes and taburns and mekill other pride;
The word of tho weremen walked full wide;
The gudes that thai robbed in holl gan thai it hide,
In holl than thai hided grete welthes, als I wene,
Of gold and of silver of skarlet and grene.

When thai sailed westward, tho wight men in were,
Thaire hurdis, thaire ankers hanged thai on here;
Wight men of the west neghed tham nerr.
And gert tham snaper in the snare, might thai no ferr,
ffer might thai noght flit bot thare most thai fine,
And that thai bifore reved than most thai tyne.

Boy with thi blac berd, I rede that thou blin,
And sone set the to schrive with sorow of thi syn;
If thou were on Ingland noght saltou win,
Cum thou more on that coste thi bale sall bigin;
Thare kindels thi care kene men sall the kepe,
And do the dye on a day and domp in the depe.

Ye broght out of Bretayne yowre custom with care,
Ye met with the marchandes and made tham ful bare;
It es gude reson and right that ye evill misfare,
When ye wald in Ingland lere of a new lare,
New lare sall ye lere, sir Edward to lout:
For when ye stode in yowre strenkith ye war all to stout.

_THE PILGRIMS SEA VOYAGE._

Men may leue alle gamys,
That saylen to seynt Jamys!
Ffor many a men hit gramys,
When they begyn to sayle.
Ffor when they haue take the see,
At Sandwyche, or at Wynchylsee.
At Brystow, or where that hit bee.
Theyr hertes begyn to fayle.

Anone the mastyr commaundeth fast
To hys shyp-men in alle the hast,
To dresse hem sone about the mast,
Theyr takelyng to make.
With “howe! hissa!” then they cry,
“What, howe, mate! thow stondyst to ny,
Thy felow may nat hale the by;”
Thus they begyn to crake.

A boy or tweyn anone up styen,
And ouerthwart the sayle-yerde lyen;--
“Y how! taylia!” the remenaunt cryen,
And pulle with alle theyr myght.
“Bestowe the boote, bote-swayne, anon,
That our pylgryms may pley theron;
For som ar lyle to cowgh and grone
Or hit be full mydnyght.

“Hale the bowelyne! now, vere the shete!--
Cooke, make redy anoon our mete,
Our pylgryms haue no lust to ete,
I pray god yeue hem rest!”
“Go to the helm! what, howe! no nere?
Steward, felow! A pot of bere!”
“Ye shalle haue, sir, with good chere,
Anon alle of the best.”

“Y howe! trussa! hale in the brayles!
Thou halyst nat, be god, thow fayles!
O se howe welle owre good shyp sayles!”
And thus they say among.
“Hale in the wartake!” “hit shal be done.”
“Steward! couer the boorde anone,
And set bred and salt therone,
And tary nat to long.”

Then cometh oone and seyth, “be mery;
Ye shall haue a storme or a pery.”
“Holde thow thy pese! thow canst no whery
Thow medlyst wondyr sore.”
Thys mene whyle the pylgryms ly,
And haue theyr bowlys fast theym by,
And cry aftyr hote maluesy,
“Thow helpe for to restore.”

And som wold haue a saltyd tost,
Ffor they myght ete neyther sode ne rost;
A man myght sone pay for theyr cost,
As for oo day or twayne.
Som layde theyr bookys on theyr kne,
And rad so long they myght nat se;
“Allas! myne hede wolle cleue on thre!”
Thus seyth another certayne.

Then commeth owre owner lyke a lorde,
And speketh many a Royall worde,
And dresseth hym to the hygh borde,
To see alle thyng be welle.
Anone he calleth a carpentere,
And byddyth hym bryng with hym hys gere,
To make the cabans here and there,
With many a febylle celle.

A sak of strawe were there ryght good,
Ffor som must lyg theym in theyr hood;
I had as lefe be in the wood,
Without mete or drynk;
For when that we shall go to bedde,
The pumpe was nygh oure beddes hede,
A man were as good to be dede
As smell therof the stynk!

_SIR ANDREW BARTON._