Shanties

Here is the first volume of Shanties and Sea Songs for the Bundanoon Shipmates Shanty Group.

Recordings will be added over time to help shipmates learn the tunes and words.

Some Background

As the change-over to steam driven ships moved on with the imperatives of speed and reliability, the sailors that sang the work-songs of the sailing ships became elderly and if it weren't for the work of folk song collectors their songs would have died with them.
The best known sea shanty collectors include:

Stan Hugill (1906-92)
Known as ‘The Last Shantyman’, Stan Hugill was a sea shanty collector from Merseyside, the epicentre of England’s shanty tradition. He spent 23 years at sea, including a stint as the shantyman on the final voyage of Garthpool, Britain’s last commercial sailing ship. After retiring in 1945, he transcribed and recorded the shanties he had learnt at sea. He also penned several books on shanties, which remain a go-to resource for singers today
Alan Lomax (1915-2002)
Alan Lomax collected and recorded songs, particularly from the African-American music traditions. In 1935, he travelled with folklorist Mary Elizabeth Barnicle to record work songs and interview sponge fishermen on Andros Island in the Bahamas, continuing that work across the Caribbean and West Indies.
Cicely Fox Smith (1882-1954)
A leading nautical poet of the early 20th century, Cicely Fox Smith also collected sea shanties, publishing a book which included ‘Whiskey Johnny’ and ‘Blow the Man Down’. It's believed that she travelled on a steamship to Montreal with her sister in 1911, and then continued on to British Columbia. While living and working in Vancouver Island, she spent time talking to sailors. It was here that she transformed the stories of these sailors into her poetry and written work.
Australian collectors, mostly inspired by communist leaning, recorded the work songs from all areas of work which included shanties. John Meredith amongst others recorded a number of sailors singing both work and fore-bitters songs.