The Republican journal., 1901-04-04
BALLADS OF THE TASTY DEEP.

- os ~ Vastly DEEP.
Sung by Ye Ancient Mariner in Forec,stle
and or Deck
There is something particularly vivid
and grewsOme in the Character az those
old-time songs of the.sea. such AZ were
popular on shipboard half a century
or more ago.
Those ancient ballads of the deem
were usually Of great length, vet thew
held the excited listener from start to
finish by reason of their dramatic tales
of love, murder, suicide, shipwreck
and spooks; showing as they did the
lights and shadows particularly the
latter-of a life on the ocean.
A once popular sailor. song was enti-
tied ''The loss of the Albion" of which
two illustrative stanzas are given:
All night in this condition we were tossing
to and fro,
At o'clock in the morning we were in the
midst of woe;
Full twenty seven men on deck, with each
L broken heart,
The Albion struck against rock, and mid
ships she did part.
Our passengers were Twenty-Five, when
from New York she came,
With twenty five bold sailor lads as ever
crossed the main:
Full ffty-four we had on board, when first
we did set sail,
And only nine escaped the wreck to tell the
dreadful tale.
Two or three line ''shanty songs" as
they were called, were sung by the
crew in chorus when making sail, heav-
ing the anchor or warping ship. These
were often imprOvised, and some were
of lasting use, such as Knocking the
Dutchman Down." "Across the Wide
Ocean," and my Old Man Has Gone to
Sea-"
Another famous sea song was 'Capt.
Ward" Its hero was that prince of pi-
rate chiefs whose name and title it
bears. We learn that this bold buc-
cancer, having fooled several European
monarchs by pretending to be their ally
against the enemy, and having taken
valuable prizes on his own account, the
King of England rugged and sent out
ship, the Rainbow, with $500 bold mari
ners" and ''full so good brass can
mons, well charged on every side," to
hunt up the terrible Ward and bring
him to merited doom. After sailing
east and west long time in vain, the
would be Nemesis at last found his
man. A brief parley closed with bold
defiance from the pirate chief, and the
Rainbow opened fire, sending a full
broadside at Ward Then ensued this
remarkable episode:
''Fire ON, fire on says Captain Ward,
81 value you not a pin;
Ii you are brass on the outside,
am good steel Within"
They fought from eight O'Clock in morn
Till eight O'Clock at night,
At length the gallant Rainbow
Began to take her flight.
$50 home, go home, says Captain Ward,
And tell your King from me,
If he reigns king upon dry land,
L will reign king at Sea!'
The Gallant Rainbow adopted his
gentle suggestion, and stood not upon
the order of her going.
''The Sailor Boys Dream" in its Wis
ion of home and the loved ones who re-
jOice at his return, is in it's opening re-
mindful of the soldiers Dream but
it is a different metre and with sadder
ending. For the sailor boy springs from
his hammock, not to enter upon the
days irksome routine of duty, but to
find the ship laundering in gale and
himself doomed to watery grave:
0, sailor boy sailor boy! never again
Shall home, love or kindred thy wishes
repay,
Unblessed and unhonored, down deep in the
main,
Full many score fathom, thy fame shall
decay.
In the Rocks of Sicily is told with
dramatic effect the story of the sailor
parting from his wife-his Molly whom
he dearly loved-and shipping on voy-
age to the East Indies; of fearful
storm which assaulted the ship when only
seven days out; of the captain offering
$50 to whoever should first descry land;
of the boatswain's mate climbing to the
maintop and then seeing a light, to-
ward which the vessel was now steered,
only to founder upon the fatal rocks Of
The first stroke that our ship did get
Our captain he did cry:
"The Lord have mercy on our souls,
For in the deep we die.''
Of eighty jolly sailors bold,
But four could reach the shore,
Our gallant ship in pieces went,
And never was seen more.
When Molly heard the fatal news
Her tender heart did break,
And, like a faithful lover, she
Died for her true lovers sake.
Other popular old-timers are: "Bold
DightOn" the story of a vOunp naval