Evening star., 1906-06-16
MELODIES OF THE FoREcAsr1E.
MOST OF the Old Sea Chanteys Were
of American Origin.

From the London Express
The chantey is another of the passing
conditions of the picturesque and romantic
Side OF the sea life. The snortine of the
donkey engine and the champing of the
steam capstan have almost entiely takken
its place
1t is the music Of the sailing ship; the
measures to which the windass Is hove
around. sheets and halliards bowsed taut.
the pump wheels kept cianking and by
which hundred and one toiIsome iobs re
lightened.
Curiously enough. although the British
sneiioack has made these songs peculiarly
his own. most of them are American n,
their origin. Their titles and choruses hear
evidence Of this
In the '40s, when the famous Baltimore
clippers wehe seriously menacing our own
commercial supremacy Of the sea- the Stars
and Stripes waved over as splendid a race
OF sailors as the world has ever seen
Tnose were the days of skyscrapers and
moonrakers when the dog funneled pad
and the mariner whose every finger was
dshhook and every hair a rope yarn
had not yet dreamed that steam would
potent.
So the chantey was devised In order that
pulling and hauling might be done in uni
son ana with that gusto which is bred of
Very plaintive are many of these tunes.
whose echoes have been flung back from
every league along the trackless highways
OF the seven seas.
To hear chantey In its full effective
ness you must needs be sufficiently distant
not to catch the jarring falsetto into
which mercantile jack inevitably breaks,
nor to hear his impromptu anathemas upon
the skipper and the mates.
AS the work OF seamanship varies from
the rapid .swigging down" Of jib sheets
Of the windlass handspikes In picking up an
anchor. 30 Is there a range Of melodies to
suit the cadence Of every job.
There Is picturesque appropriateness
ship is weighing to start upon her voyage
her crew will heave in the ponderous cable
to to, the slow. almost pathetic refrain Of
Many q moist eye and many a lump In
the throat has been raised to this sailor
chant OF farewell to "a. fair little maiden"
who ts told that ''the wind does blow, so
the ship must CO."
On the other hand. when a vessel is
heaving-up to start for home the favorite
chantey Is 'Hurrah. my lads, we're home
bully boys to fresh exertions by the as
surance that when we come to the West
Indee Docks. oh! won't the gels be there In
iccksr For Jack never forgets that the
nymphs have hold of the tow rope.
The haliiard chanteys offer the largest
variety. Probably the most familiar of
these Is BLOW the Man Down. which is q
swinging, hand over fist air. Haul the
Bowline" IL another melody which I have
heard hummed ashore. With these two ex-
ceptions, have never heard chantey save
on shipboard.
1t Is in the Enthusiastically Yankee chanteys
that we find the prettiest music. The long.
lingering refrain Of Shenandoah, I Love
Your Daughter" has a wild. yearning
beauty about 1t which is reminiscent of
Irish melody at Its best.
Way Down Rio,' Blow Boys. Blow
Roll the Cotton Down. Whisky. John
nie.'' ACROSS the Plains of Mexico" and
ssRanzo. are indigenous to the American
fo'c'sle although for three generations past
they have been very familiar In our town.
There Ii an indescribable haunting charm
about the very simplicity OF all these Yam
kee chanteys. Doubtless the romantic
quality of their associations counts for
much.
Among the purely English chanteys we
may count Storm Along. Boys, stormy,
.Boney Was a Warrior" "Cheerily. Men,
and "Dandy Ship and Dandy Crew.
These working sea songs may stll pc
heard. bat with growing rureness. Yet SO
long as the sailing ship and the 5riusn
sheIlback continue to exist they VIII not
utterly die.