Spanish Ladies

"Spanish Ladies" (Roud 687) is a traditional British naval song, typically describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of ratings of the Royal Navy. Other prominent variants include an American variant called "Yankee Whalermen", an Australian variant called "Brisbane Ladies", and a Newfoundland variant called "The Ryans and the Pittmans".
A broadside ballad by the name "Spanish Ladies" was registered in the English Stationer's Company on December 14, 1624. Roy Palmer writes that the oldest text he has seen is from the 1796 logbook of HMS Nellie. The timing of the mention in the Nellie's logbook suggests that the song was created during the War of the First Coalition (1793–96), when the Royal Navy carried supplies to Spain to aid its resistance to revolutionary France. It probably gained in popularity during the later Peninsular War when British soldiers were transported throughout the Iberian Peninsula to assist rebels fighting against the French occupation. After their victory over the Grande Armée, these soldiers were returned to Britain but forbidden to bring their Spanish wives, lovers, and children with them.
The song predates the proper emergence of the sea shanty. Shanties were the work songs of merchant sailors, rather than naval ones. However, in his 1840 novel Poor Jack, Captain Frederick Marryat reports that the song "Spanish Ladies"—though once very popular—was "now almost forgotten" and he included it in whole in order to "rescue it from oblivion". The emergence of shanties in the mid-19th century then revived its fortunes, to the point where it is now sometimes included as a "borrowed song" within the genre.
"Spanish Ladies" is the story of British naval seamen sailing north from Spain and along the English Channel. The crew are unable to determine their latitude by sighting as the distance between Ushant to the south and the Scillies to the north is wide. Instead, they locate themselves by the depth and the sandy bottom they have sounded. Arthur Ransome, in his novel Peter Duck, suggests that the succession of headlands on the English shore indicates the ship tacking up-channel away from the French coast, identifying a new landmark on each tack. However, one verse (quoted below) states that they had the wind at southwest and squared their mainsails to run up the Channel, rather than beating against a northeasterly.
This is the text recorded in the 1840 novel Poor Jack. It is one of many. Notable variations are shown in parentheses after each line.
Some traditional English performances of the song can be heard on the British Library Sound Archive:
The folk song collectors Edith Fowke, Laura Boulton and Helen Creighton recorded versions from traditional singers in Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia.
Helen Hartness Flanders recorded a man named William J. Thompson of Canaan, Vermont, US, singing "Gay Spanish Ladies", which can be heard online courtesy of the Helen Hartness Flanders Collection.
The song has been found in several different minor and major keys. Cecil Sharp considered the minor key version to be the "original". The song has been localized to many different regions, usually with the phrase 'British sailors' in the first line of the chorus being substituted to another local identity. "Yankee Whalermen" is a prominent American variant, which is in a major mode and describes whalers instead of navy sailors. "Brisbane Ladies" is an Australian variant, about drovers instead of sailors. A significantly modified version called "The Ryans and the Pittmans", widely known as "We'll Rant and We'll Roar", is a traditional song from Newfoundland, Canada.
The song forms part of Sir Henry J. Wood's 1905 composition Fantasia on British Sea Songs.
As mentioned above, the song is quoted in full in the 1840 novel Poor Jack. It appears in part in the 40th chapter of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and in chapter 7 of Post Captain, the 2nd book and in Treason's Harbour, the 9th book of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set during the Napoleonic Wars. It also appears in Arthur Ransome's books Swallows and Amazons and Missee Lee and Wilbur Smith's works Monsoon and Blue Horizon.
The "Yankee Whalerman" variant of the song notably appeared in the 1975 film Jaws, sung by the shark hunter Quint (portrayed by Robert Shaw). It was also sung in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on the O'Brian books.
Robert Shaw, the actor who sang the tune in Jaws, also sang it years earlier in a 1956 episode of the television show The Buccaneers. It has also appeared in the series Homicide, Hornblower, Jimmy Neutron, The Mentalist, Gossip Girl, Monsuno, and Turn.
A variation called "The Spanish Bride" was written and recorded by John Tams for the TV series Sharpe, with the lyrics changed to reflect British soldiers returning home at the end of the Peninsular War.
The video games Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed: Rogue feature "Spanish Ladies" as one of the collectible sea shanties that the sailors on the player's ship may begin singing while sailing between islands while out of combat.
In The Mentalist episode "Ladies in Red", Patrick Jane sings the tune to himself whilst attempting to find the correct code to open the victim's panic room.
Michael McCormack and guitarist Greg Parker recorded a version of the song for the end titles of the Jaws documentary "The Shark Is Still Working: The Impact & Legacy of Jaws".
Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko produced a cover of the song which featured in the series Turn: Washington's Spies.