The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-20
MELODIES OF THE FORECASTLE.
Most OF the Old Sea Chanteys were Of
American Origin.


The chantey Is another Of tho passing
conditions OF the picturesque and romantic
side OF the sea life. The snorting Of the
donkey engine and the champing Of the
steam capstan have almost entirely taken
Its place.
1t Is the music Of the sailing ship, the
measures 10 which the windass is hove
around, sheets and halliards bowsed taut,
the pump wheels kept clanking and by
which q hundred and one toilsome Jobs
are 'l~ightened.
Curiously enough, although the British
shellback has made these songs peculiarly
his own, most Of them are American In
their origin, says the London F1press.
Their titles and ohoruses bear ample evi-
dence d. this.
In the 'ios, when the famous Baltimore
clippers were seriously menaoing Our own
commercial supremacy Of the sea, the Stars
and Stripes waved over as splendid o race
Of sailors as the world has ever seen,
Those were the days Of skysorapers and
moonrakers, when the dog ~funnelled pad
de packet was still viewed with derlsion
and the mariner whose every finger was
a fshhook and every hair q rope yarn
bad not yet drsam med that steam would
presently render his tattooed muscles I'M
potent.
So the. ohantey was devised in order
that pulling and hauling might be done
In unison and with that gusto which 10
bred Of a ~rousing chorus.
Very ~plaintive are many OF these tunes,
whoee echoes have been flung baok from
every league along the taokless highways
Of the seven seas.
/ TO hear a ohantey In It's full effect
iyeness you must needs be sufficiently
distant not to catch the Earring falsetto
into, which mercantile jack Inevitably
mas upon. the skipper and mates.
AS the work Of seamanship varies from
the rapid swinging down" Of jib sheets
or royal haliards to the leisurely surging
of the windlass handspikes in picking up
an anchor, 30 is there a range OF melodies
to suit tho cadence Of every job.
8 There is a picturesque appropriateness
about many of these chanteys. Thus
when a ship is weighing to start upon her
voyage her crew will heave in the pom
refrain Of 4Good-by, fare ye we'll"
Many a moist eye and many. a lump
IA the throat has bsen raised to this sailor
chant Of farewell to "a fair little maiden
who is told that .the wind does blow, so
the ship must go
heaving-up TO start for home the ~favorite
ward boundlT The chorus encourages
the bully boys to fresh exertions by the
assurance that when we come to the West
Indee Docks, OIL won't the gels be there in
flocksl' For Jaok never forgets that the
nymphs have hold of the tow p
The ballard chanteys offer the largest
variety. Probably the most familiar OF
these is BLOW the Man Down. which is a
swinging, hand over fist air. Haul the
Bovine is another melody which / have
hard bummed ashore. With these two
exceptions, / have never heard q ohantey
save on shipboard.
1t is in the Enthusiastically Yankee chanteys
that we find the prettiest music. The long,
lingering refrain OF Shenandoah, / Love
Your Daughter, has a wild, yearning beauty
about it which il reminiscent Of Irish melody
at its best.
Way Down Rio" BLOW. Boys, Blow, 4"
"Roll the Cotton Down, ""Whiskey, johnnie, :
Across the Plains Of Mexico and "Ranzo'
are indigenous to the American fo'o'sle,
although for three generations past they
nave been very familiar in our town.
There ia an ndescribable haunting charm
about the very simplicity Of all these Yankee
chanteys. Doubtless the romantic quality
Of their associations counts for much
Among the purely English ohanteys we
may count Storm Along, Boys, Stormy
honey wa a Warrior "Cheerily, Men, y
and Dandy Ship and a Dandy Crew
These working sea songs may still be
heard, but With growing r%areness. Yet
so long as the sailing ship and the British
sheffback, continue to exist they viii not
utterly die.