Sea shanties
Sea shanties were the work songs of the big merchant sailing ships. A good shanty set the rhythm for hauling ropes, turning the capstan or working the pumps, so that a whole crew pulled together. They flourished for about fifty years in the 1800s and have never quite gone away.
- What they are
- Traditional work songs sung to time hard labour aboard sailing ships
- Heyday
- Mid-1800s; the 1870s were the peak
- Also spelled
- Chantey, chanty
- Sung
- Without instruments, led by a shantyman with the crew answering
Where the word comes from
Nobody knows for sure. The most widely believed explanation is that "shanty" comes from the French chanter, to sing. The earliest known printed use of the word for a sailors' work song is from 1867. American writers tended to spell it "chantey", while British books settled on "shanty".
A short history
Shanties grew up in the Atlantic merchant trade in the early 19th century. Their use spread in the middle of the century, helped by the gold-rush voyages to California and Australia, and by the American Civil War the form was fully developed. Steam ships and machinery ended their working life: by the early 20th century there were few sailing ships left to sing on.
Collectors arrived just in time. Cecil Sharp published English Folk-Chanteys in 1914, Richard Runciman Terry The Shanty Book in the 1920s, and Alan Lomax made field recordings in the 1930s. Stan Hugill's huge Shanties from the Seven Seas (1961) became the standard reference, and in the folk revival singers like A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl brought shanties to clubs and records. Shanty festivals, pub singarounds and shanty choirs keep them going today.
Types of shanty
Different jobs needed different rhythms, so sailors had different kinds of shanty, though songs often moved between jobs.
| Type | Used for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Long-drag (halyard) | Long hauls to hoist the heavy upper sails | Blow the Man Down, Whiskey Johnny, Hanging Johnny |
| Short-drag | Short jobs needing one strong pull per chorus | Haul Away Joe, Haul on the Bowline, Boney |
| Capstan | Winding the capstan to raise the anchor; long, steady work | Shenandoah, Rio Grande, Santiana |
| Pump | Pumping water out of a wooden hull | South Australia, Strike the Bell, Leave Her, Johnny |
| Stamp and go | Large crews marching a rope along the deck | Drunken Sailor |
The shantyman
Every shanty had a chorus, and most worked as call and response. The shantyman, an ordinary sailor who was usually self-appointed, sang the lines and the crew roared back the refrain on the pull. Words mattered less than rhythm: a shantyman would string together stock verses and improvise to keep the work going, which is why one song can have dozens of different versions.
Shanties and sea songs
Strictly, a shanty is a work song. The songs sailors sang for pleasure in their off hours, such as "Spanish Ladies" or "The Leaving of Liverpool", are sea songs, sometimes called forebitters, and they could be sung with a fiddle or concertina. Today the word "shanty" is often used loosely for both.
We describe these songs rather than print their words: versions differ widely from singer to singer, and the best-known ones come from particular recordings.
Where to start
Begin with Shenandoah, the slow capstan shanty that became one of the best-loved American folk songs. Then try a short-drag song like "Haul Away Joe" with friends: one person sings the line, everyone else pulls on the chorus. To hear historic recordings, see where to listen to old folk recordings free.