Sea shanties have grown in popularity in recent years, but they've been a firm part of British – and international – maritime history for centuries. But what was the origin of the sea shanty and what are the different types of shanty?
When were shanties first sung?
Arguably, the transatlantic route is where shanties took off. Though historians have traced examples of what might be called sea shanties back to at least the 16th century, shanties as we know them really set sail during the 19th century. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, new trade routes opened up, especially from Britain to America’s eastern seaboard.
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What were shanties used for?
Vessels such as Cutty Sark needed groups of sailors to co-ordinate during routine tasks, including setting the sails and raising anchors. Singing not only alleviated boredom, it galvanised the workforce too. As time rolled by, the function of the songs evolved, the rhythm of the songs mimicking specific on-board actions.
What are the different types of shanty songs?
The capstan shanty
The ‘capstan’ shanty goes round in a circle, like you would when heaving an anchor. ‘Drunken Sailor’ is one example.
The pump shanty
‘Pump’ shanties are shanties like ‘Rolling Down’ to ‘Old Maui’. These were designed for the rhythm of pumping water out of ships, which would have historically been very leaky.
The hauling (or halyard) shanty
The ‘hauling’ shanty [or halyard] like ‘Hauling Away Joe’ was used for jobs like hoisting sails. Each of those styles had different rhythms and speeds, albeit they weren’t sung at the pace they are now – or you'd be in danger of killing the crew!
The musical structure of sea shanties – and why they're so catchy
Shanties follow a call-and-response structure that has its roots in Africa. One person sings a line of a song, which is then repeated by the rest of the group. “The owners of the merchant ships quickly realised that if you had a good shantyman it made the crew work more productively," explains Tristan Netherton of the Stuns’ls shanty group, and founder of the Mevagissey Sea Shanty Festival. "That’s why a good shantyman was one of the highest paid people on the ship.
“It’s also why shanties were arguably one of the first music forms to spread around the globe and why shanties are influenced by the globe,” Netherton adds. “Think about the British Empire. They would have been in America with slaves loading cotton on to ships. A shantyman would have heard slaves singing between themselves and thought, ‘I like the tune of that’. They’d then adapt and reuse it.”
Shanty singing as storytelling
Shanties are a hearty mix of linguistic and musical influences, from hymns to folk music. They were performed by multicultural crews whose only shared language was song. They were also a living, breathing piece of history for sailors, who could neither read nor write, let alone chronicle their existence in diaries. Shanties let us connect with the lives and loves of the crews of old and the worlds they inhabited. Their tough lives are captured by songs that are sometimes tragic, often humorous and inevitably bawdy, against a tune and chorus that are easily learnt.
That’s all encapsulated by ‘A Drop of Nelson’s Blood’, adds Netherton. “That song always makes me smile,” he says. “After smashing through the French and Spanish fleets in Trafalgar, Nelson was fatally shot onboard HMS Victory. To preserve his body on the voyage back to Britain, the crew put him in a barrel full of rum. Essentially, they pickled him. The crew, however, thirsty for a drop of alcohol, tapped the barrel and started drinking the contents. Hence, the name of the song.”