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I speak French but most others around me don't so I won't get into French chanties yet. By the way , the word "chant" means "sing" in the French language. Coincidence?? Perhaps not. Some shanties were changed through the centuries to become what we have now. The kinds of work defined the type of shanty. The forecastle itself was also called the shanty as in a structure. | A shanty or chanty is a work song. In the same way Chinese coolies had work songs and the way the African slaves of the south had work songs so too did the sailors and whaling men and dockhands of the era. The tradition spanned many years. The first shanties found were in early texts
written by a monk describing a chant sung to the job of work done by sailors on
his trip to the Holy land from England in the 1400's(?) It was many moons ago.. The 1700's and 1800's brought us the most memorable shanties. |
Note the cramped quarters in this partial view of bunk beds, etc. as well as a wood stove in the foreground . This was used for heat. |
A forecastle shanty, (pronounced foke-sal) or a forebitter are the same. They were sung usually when waiting around between bouts of hard work. Their time off was spent with these songs of home or romantic business or of betrayal by a wench on shore or military battles, as well as popular songs of the day. The dead horse shanty was sung with the men all together, when a man paid off his debt to the ship for his supplies. Some were for crossing the equator. |
Here is the windlass of the Charles E. Morgan A capstan shanty: used when working the large vertical drum with a mushroom shape on the top which had holes for the bars that were inserted to push the capstan around and around, So, they worked in a circle. They would stamp on deck at times with the rhythm, therefore, "stamp & go Shanties". |
Here's Roger Chartier on the windlass. Windlass and Pumping Shanties A windlass is shaped like a barrel on it's side, horizontally that is, with handles at either end. Handles were worked up and down. On pump brakes (downtown pumps) an eye splice on the end of a rope was fitted over the end of a handle so that several men could work on it together. |
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| You can see the current web site for the Mary E. now out of Greenport Long Island. www.schoonermarye.com |