Part 33
Hoarse was the slaving captain’s voice, and deep the oath he swore: ‘Haul down the flag; that’s shot enough, we don’t want any more.’ Alongside dashed the cruiser’s boat to board and seize the prize. Hark to that rattling British cheer that’s ringing to the skies! ‘Up, up with the negroes speedily; up, up, and give them breath; Clear out the hold from stem to stern: that noisome den is death; And run aloft St. George’s Cross, all wanton let it wave, The token proud that under it there never treads a slave.’
_THE RUSSIANS WON’T COME OUT._
Written by a seaman on board the _Cressy_.
What can we luckless sailors do? no fun comes to our share; The enemy keeps out of view--to meet us they won’t dare! In vain our pennants fly so gay, our cruisers roam about, We might as well in Portsmouth lay--the Russians won’t come out!
In Helsingfors they lay quite close; ’neath Cronstadt mole they crowd; They’ll not come out and meet the foes whom once they dared so loud. Like to some worn-out batter’d hulk each gallant ship so stout Behind the batteries does skulk--the cowards won’t come out!
The _Arrogant_ and _Hecla_, too, gave them a lesson rough; Tho’ fighting to our lads was new they proved both smart and tough; They strewed the ground with soldiers gay, their batteries knocked about, And brought their merchant ships away, yet still they won’t come out!
While in the Baltic we deplore our idle time at sea, Our comrades on the Turkish shore are as badly off as we. Though many ships they’ve made their own, ta’en many a strong redoubt, And batter’d half Odessa down, the Russians won’t come out!
That mighty man, Prince Menschikoff, in harbour still does lie, And at the Allied Fleets does scoff as they are sailing by. ‘Don’t think,’ says he, ‘that I’m a fool, a valiant, headstrong lout; I’m safe and snug in Sebastopol, and be hanged if I’ll come out.’
Oh! would they but their anchors weigh and boldly put to sea, With joy to see a sight so gay how full each heart would be; But oh! such wishes are in vain: they know there’s little doubt, They never would get in again if once they venture out.
_DON’T FORGET YOUR OLD SHIPMATE._
We’re the boys that fear no noise Whilst thundering cannons roar, And long we’ve toiled on the rolling wave, And now we’re safe on shore. _Don’t forget your old shipmate, Fol de rol._
Since we sailed from Plymouth Sound, Four years gone, to-night, Jack, Were there ever chummies known, Such as you and I, Jack? _Don’t forget, etc._
We have served the self-same gun, Quarter-deck division, Sponger I, and loader you, Through the whole commission. _Don’t forget, etc._
Oftentimes have we laid out, Toil nor danger fearing, Hauling out the flapping sail To the weather ear-ring. _Don’t forget, etc._
When the middle watch was on, And the time went slow, boy, Who could tune a rousing stave, Who like Jack or Joe, boy? _Don’t forget, etc._
There she swings an empty hulk, Not a soul below now; Number seven, starboard mess, Misses Jack and Joe now. _Don’t forget, etc._
But the best of friends must part, Fair or foul the weather; Tip us your flipper for a shake, Now a drink together; _And don’t forget your old shipmate, etc._
NOTES
P. 1. =The Battle of Sluys.= From Joseph Hall’s edition of the _Poems_ of Lawrence Minot, p. 14. The following explanations of references and words are from Mr. Hall’s notes:--
Line 1. Lithes = listen.
Stanza 1.--Suth = true; sad = serious; salue = greet; bute (bote) = remedy, benefit.
Stanza 2.--Sir Hugh Kyret = Hugues Quiéret, Seigneur de Tours en Vimieu; leve = believe; lare = teaching; brin (bren) = burn; unkind = unnatural; sowed = smarted; lered = taught.
Stanza 3.--Buriase = burgesses; sone = soon; mekill = much, great; grame = hurt.
Stanza 4.--Sergantes = sergeants, soldiers; snell = quick.
Stanza 5.--Dight = ready; kene = bold; byfor = before; Blankebergh = Blanckenberghe, in West Flanders; sary = wretched; waniand = waning (moon).
Stanza 6.--Sir Robard, &c. = Sir Robert Morley, Marshal of Ireland; wonnen = captured; oway = gone, worthless.
Stanza 7.--Erle of Northamton = William de Bohun; wede = armour; Sir Walter the Mawnay = Sir W. Manny; bede = offer.
Stanza 8.--The duc of Lankaster = Henry of Derby; drive = rush, dash on; mody = courageous, proud; stint = stopped; strive = a conflict; fone = few.
Stanza 9.--Eth = easy; raw = line, order of battle; fer = far; bud = behoved.
Stanza 10.--Earl of Glowcester=Hugh de Audley; glade = gladden; biker = fight; baldely = bravely; brim = sea, flood; at = to.
Stanza 11.--Prest = ready.
Stanza 12.--John of Aile = Jan van Eyle or Heylle; scheltron = squadron; schene = bright; Cagent = Cadzant, in Zeeland; cantly = eagerly; tene = sorrow.
Stanza 13.--Swith = quickly; skrith = escape; kouth = knew; kith = show.
Stanza 14.--Kogges = cogs, or cocks, ships of burden; stound = time, short time.
Stanza 15.--Wall = choice; flude (flode) = sea; confort = cheer.
Stanza 16.--Gert = caused; blin = cease.
P. 3. =Les Espagnols sur Mer.= From Joseph Hall’s edition of the _Poems_ of Lawrence Minot, p. 33.
Stanza 1.--Spede = cause to prosper; wight = stout; dale = earth, grave; fele = many; fare = brag.
Stanza 2.--Taburns = tabours, small drums; weremen = warriors; holl = hull.
Stanza 3.--Hurdis = bulwark; on here = on high; neghed = approached; snaper = stumble; ferr = farther; fine = come to an end, die; tyne = lose; reved = carried off.
Stanza 4.--Boy with thi blac berd--Barbenoire or Bocca-Negra, pirate of Genoa; rede = advise; blin = cease; were on = fight against; domp = plunge; lout = bow low to.
P. 4. =The Pilgrims’ Sea Voyage.= From a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Edited by J. F. Furnivall for the Early English Text Society in 1867; also printed in Halliwell’s _Early Naval Ballads_, p. 1. Date of MS. temp. Henry VI. A translation is given by Clowes, _The Royal Navy_, i. 344.
On p. 5, line 15, ‘lyle’ is a misprint for ‘lyke.’
Stanza 1.--Gramys = troubles.
Stanza 2.--Hissa = hoist away: French ‘hissez’; crake = talk.
Stanza 3.--Taylia = haul aft the sheet.
Stanza 4.--No nere = steer no nearer the wind. The note of interrogation is clearly wrong.
Stanza 5.--Trussa = haul on the truss; probably the French ‘troussez.’; Wartake = French ‘uretacque’ (Jal); defined by Falconer as ‘the preventer fore tack.’ Cf. _Inventories of Henry VII._, p. 71.
Stanza 6.--Pery = a squall; Thou canst no whery = thou understandest not a ship.
P. 6. =Sir Andrew Barton.= Text in Hales and Furnivall, _Bishop Percy’s Folio MS._, iii. 399, and in Child, _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, iii. 334. There is also a later broadside version which is printed in _A Collection of Old Ballads_, 1723, i. 159, and in _Roxburghe Ballads_, i. 10. Percy’s _Reliques_ contains a composite version.
Bishop Percy’s MS. is said to belong to the reign of Charles I., but the version of this ballad it contains probably belongs to an earlier period. It apparently attributes to Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, who died in 1624, the exploit of his kinsman, Sir Edward Howard, who died in 1513, a kind of confusion which is not uncommon in ballads handed down by tradition.
Contemporary narratives give no account of Sir Edward Howard’s tactics, and the details given are probably the invention of the author of the ballad. The reference to ‘beams’ in stanzas 7 and 9 on p. 9 has been explained in many different ways. One explanation is that it refers to some primitive form of ram, such as that described by De la Roncière in his _Histoire de la Marine Française_, i. 256. Another is, that the ‘beams,’ also termed in the MS. ‘beanes’ or ‘beaves,’ were heavy weights designed to be dropped on the enemy’s ship. It seems more likely that some apparatus for grappling the enemy’s ship was meant. ‘He clasped me to his archborde’ says the merchant in stanza 3 on p. 9. ‘Archborde’ is explained by Hales and Furnivall in a note to mean the side of a ship, and to be the same as hatch-bord.’ _Bishop Percy’s Folio MS._, iii. 407.
The two following stanzas from Percy’s _Reliques_, i. 335, ed. 1893, will serve to fill the gap on p. 10 of the text:
‘And seven pieces of ordinance, I pray your honour lend to mee, On each side of my ship along, And I will lead you on the sea. A glasse Ile sett, that may be seene, Whether you sayle by day or night; And to-morrowe, I sweare, by nine of the clocke You shall meet with Sir Andrew Barton, knight.’
THE SECOND PART.
‘The merchant sett my lorde a glasse So well apparent in his sight, And on the morrowe, by nine of the clocke, He shewed him Sir Andrewe Barton, knight. His hachebord it was gilt with gold, So deerlye dight it dazzled the ee: “Nowe by my faith,” lord Howarde sais, This is a gallant sight to see.’
P. 16. =John Dory.= Text in Ritson, _Ancient Songs and Ballads_, ed. 1877, p. 198, and in Child, _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, v. 131. The ballad was first printed in 1609, but is mentioned in 1575. Tune in Chappell, _Old English Popular Music_, i. 93, ed. Wooldridge. It refers to no known historical event, but is perhaps a traditional account of some incident in the Hundred Years’ War. Carew, in his _Survey of Cornwall_, refers to the ballad as ‘an old three-man’s song’ about ‘one Nicholas, son to a widow near Foy’ (ed. 1602, p. 135).
P. 17. =The Mariner’s Song.= From the _Comedy of Common Conditions_, circa 1570. Printed by J. P. Collier, _English Dramatic Poetry_, ed. 1879, ii. 293; also in Stone’s _Sea Songs and Ballads_, p. 4.
P. 18. =The Obtaining of the Great Galleazzo.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 384. Also printed in Arber’s _Tudor Tracts_, p. 485, and in J. P. Collier’s _Broadside Black-Letter Ballads_, 1868, p. 79, which gives some variants. By Thomas Deloney.
P. 21. =The Winning of Cales.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 402. Printed also in Hales and Furnivall, _Bishop Percy’s Folio MS._, iii. 453, which gives some variants. Written by Thomas Deloney, and probably first appeared in his _Garland of Good Will_, about 1596, soon after the capture of Cadiz.
P. 23. =The Sailor’s Onely Delight.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 408. A version with variants is given by Child, _English and Scottish Popular Ballads_, v. 133. In Fletcher’s _Two Noble Kinsmen_, the jailor’s daughter sings a fragment of an earlier version:
The George Alow came from the South From the coast of Barbary-a; And there he met with brave gallants of war By one, by two, by three-a. Well hail’d, well hail’d, you jolly gallants, And whither now are you bound-a? O let me have your company Till [I]come unto the Sound-a.
The second part of the ballad was licensed in 1611: the first part is not entered, but the tune is that of a ballad registered in March 1611 (Arber, _Stationers’ Register_, iii. 206, b.). The ballad may refer to an historical event. ‘In 1596 letters of reprisal were granted to Diggory Piper in the Sweepstakes of London.... He was authorised to attack Spanish and Portuguese ships; he commenced with some Flemings, continued with two French traders, and finished with a Dane having goods worth 3,000_l._ on board.’ (Oppenheim, _The Administration of the Royal Navy_, p. 180).
P. 25. =The Seaman’s Song of Captain Ward.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 784. Date of first publication July 3, 1609 (Arber, _Stationers’ Register_, iii. 185, b.).
P. 27. =The Song of Danseker.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 423. Same date as the preceding.
P. 30. =Captain Ward and the Rainbow.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 426. The earliest printed editions of this ballad belong to the latter half of the seventeenth century. It was reprinted as a broadside by J. Pitts in the early part of the nineteenth century. See Logan, _A Pedlar’s Pack_, p. 7. The ballad is possibly a legendary version of Rainborow’s expedition to Sallee in 1637. Essex is celebrated as a naval commander in _Queen Elizabeth’s Champion_ (_Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 405).
P. 31. =The Lamentable Cries of 1,500 Christians.= Text from a MS. in the Bodleian Library (_MS. Rawlinson Poet._ clii. f. 36).
P. 34. =The Honour of Bristol.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 429. A later version, entitled _The Jovial Mariner’s Resolution_, is contained in a chapbook, called _The Jovial Mariner’s Garland_, in the Bodleian Library (Douce P.P. 183).
P. 36. =Neptune to England.= Printed by Halliwell, _Early Naval Ballads_, p. 68, from _MS. Sloane_, 1514, f. 40, in the British Museum.
P. 36. =On His Majesties Fleet.= Text from _Add. MS._ 29, 975, f. 109, in the British Museum.
P. 37. =Upon the Great Ship.= Text from _MS. Rawlinson Poet._ clx. f. 164, in the Bodleian Library. A poem on the same subject in Latin and English is printed in Sir Richard Fanshawe’s _Pastor Fido and Poems_, ed. 1676, p. 228.
P. 40. =Sailors for my Money.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 797. Date somewhere between 1630 and 1655. Mr. Ebsworth dates it 1635. On its author, Martin Parker, see _Dictionary of National Biography_, xliii. 242.
P. 42. =The Jovial Mariner.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 369. Attributed by Mr. Ebsworth to John Playford and dated circa 1670-84.
P. 45. =Neptune’s Raging Fury.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 432. Written about 1635, says Mr. Ebsworth. For the tune see Chappell’s _Old English Popular Music_, ed. Wooldridge, ii. 47.
P. 47. =The Famous Fight at Malago.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, iv. 412; and Halliwell, _Early Naval Ballads_, p. 64. The fight took place in July 1656. The five frigates were the Lyme, Nantwich, Newbury, Maidstone, and Ruby, with the Fox fireship, so that only one of the names given in verse 2 is correct. See _Thurloe State Papers_, v. 195, 233, 257.
P. 48. =Elegy on the Death of Robert Blake.= From a pamphlet in the British Museum (669. f. 20 [21]).
P. 53. =The Valiant Seaman’s Congratulation to King Charles II.= From the Euing collection in the Library of the University of Glasgow (No. 368). For the tune see Chappell, _Old English Popular Music_, ii. 15.
P. 54. =England’s Valour and Holland’s Terrour.= From the Euing collection (No. 103).
P. 56. =Song Written at Sea.= By the Earl of Dorset, printed in Rochester’s _Works_, ed. 1731, vol. ii. p. 53, and reprinted in Ward’s _English Poets_, ii. 412. Tune and words in Chappell’s _Old English Popular Music_, ed. Wooldridge, ii. 154. In the last line of verse 3 Chappell reads ‘bring’ instead of ‘waft.’ For another version, see _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, v. 168.
P. 58. =The Royal Victory.= Printed in _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 435. Dated by Ebsworth, June 9, 1665. Tune given in Chappell, ed. Wooldridge, i. 259.
P. 61. =The English Seaman’s Resolution.= From the Euing collection (No. 106).
P. 63. =England’s Tryumph and Holland’s Downfall.= From the Euing collection (No. 93).
P. 68. =England’s Royal Conquest.= From Anthony Wood’s collection in the Bodleian Library (Wood, E. 25. f. 55). Printed for Richard Burton, at the Horse-Shoe in West-Smithfield.
P. 69. =Holland turn’d to Tinder.= From the Euing collection (No. 134). Printed by E. Crowch for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright.
P. 72. =A New Ballad of a Famous German Prince.= From Anthony Wood’s collection in the Bodleian Library (Wood, E. 416. f. 111). The Second Part is from the same source (f. 113).
P. 79. =The Dutch Damnified.= From the Euing collection (No. 60).
P. 82. =A Song on the Duke’s late Glorious Success.= Printed by Halliwell, _Early Naval Ballads_, p. 62, from a broadside in the possession of Mr. Rimbault. On the battle of Solebay, May 28, 1672.
P. 83. =News from the Coast of Spain.= From the Rawlinson collection in the Bodleian (Rawlinson, 566, p. 82). Action February 13, 1674.
P. 86. =Captain Mansfield’s Fight with the Turks.= From the Madden collection in the Cambridge University Library (_Slipsongs_, i. 120, No. 260). Probably based on Kempthorne’s repulse of the seven Algerine ships, December 29, 1669. May refer to Captain Michael Mansfield, on whom see Charnock, _Biographia Navalis_, i. 348.
P. 88. =The Algiers Slave’s Releasement.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 447.
P. 89. =The Benjamin’s Lamentation.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vii. 529.
P. 92. =The Treachery of the Spaniards of Porto Rico.= From the Pepys collection in the Library of Magdalene College, Cambridge, v. 374. The Journal of Ignatius White, the captain of the Dartmouth, gives an interesting account of this incident, dated April 1686 (No. 3819). See also MS., Rawlinson A., clxxxix. f. 337.
P. 95. =The Golden Voyage.= From the Pepys collection (iv. 199). Printed for J. Blare, at the Looking Glass on London Bridge.
P. 97. =The Boatswain’s Call.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, iii. 463.
P. 99. =The Undaunted Seaman.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vii. 551.
P. 101. =The Seaman’s Adieu.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vii. 524.
P. 104. =The Maiden’s Frolick.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, iii. 402.
P. 106. =The Courageous Commander.= From the Pepys collection (iv. 219). Printed for R. Kell, at the White Hart, near Pye Corner, in West Smithfield.
P. 108. =The Seaman’s Victory.= _Bagford Ballads_, i. 283.
P. 110. =Torringtonia.= From the Pepys collection (v. 377).
P. 112. =England’s Triumph at Sea.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vii. 745, and _Poems on State Affairs_, I. ii. 263. The text of the two versions differs. Verses 9 and 10 are added from a manuscript.
P. 113. =England’s Great Loss by a Storm of Wind.= Printed in Ashton’s _Real Sailor Songs_, p. 40*. Another version is in the Madden collection, entitled _A Copy of Verses made upon the Loss of the Coronation, and eight more Ships of War_ (_Slipsongs_, i. 174, No. 372). A third version, printed in Marryat’s _Poor Jack_, is headed _The Return from the Baltic of the English Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Russell_. All are late versions, and full of corruptions. They place the disaster in November, instead of September 1691, and differ in the names of the ships. According to Burchett, the Coronation was lost with most of her crew, the Harwich ‘ran on shore and bulged,’ the Royal Oak and Northumberland ‘tailed on the ground, though afterwards they were luckily got off’ (_Transactions at Sea_, p. 102; cf. Clowes, ii. 345). The second line of verse 4 is, in Marryat’s version, ‘But fiercely to the west did run’; in the Madden copy, ‘The sea strong to the west did run.’ In verse 5, Marryat’s version runs:
‘A-shore went the Northumberland, The Harwich and the Cumberland, The Lion, and the Warwick too; But Elizabeth, she had most for to rue, She came stem on, and her Lion broke, And she sunk the Gloster at the stroke.’
Marryat’s version draws a moral from the disaster:
‘They was punished for their misdeeds For grumbling when they had no needs.’
The Madden copy, on the other hand, says:
‘Walking Plymouth streets one day, I heard some sea captains for to say “God will reward us for our deeds, In flogging men when there’s no need.”’
There are many minor variations in the three versions which are not worth noting.
P. 114. =Naval Warfare of 1692.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vii. 746.
P. 117. =The Royal Triumph.= _Bagford Ballads_, i. 297. ‘Fistula master’ in verse 10 is an allusion to the fact that Louis XIV. was operated upon for a fistula November 18, 1686. (Martin, _Histoire de France_, 4th ed. xiv. 74).
P. 119. =Admiral Russell’s Scowering the French Fleet.= Printed in _Bagford Ballads_, i. 119, from a copy in _The Midshipman’s Garland_, published in Queen Anne’s reign. The tune and four verses of the ballad are given in D’Urfey’s _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, iv. 333. In the second verse D’Urfey reads ‘scupper-holes’ instead of ‘port-holes,’ and ‘king’ instead of ‘queen’ in verse 4. Verses 5 and 6 are probably later additions to the original. For tune see _The Edinburgh Musical Miscellany_, 1804, p. 270.
P. 120. =A Merry New Ballad.= From the Pepys collection (v. 382). A broadside printed ‘for R. Baldwin near the Oxford Arms in Warwick Lane,’ 1692. In the last verse ‘Petres’ refers to Edward Petre the Jesuit, confessor of James II.
P. 125. =The Valiant Seaman’s Courage.= From the Pepys collection (v. 385). A broadside printed for C. Bates at the White Hart in West Smithfield.
P. 126. =England’s Glory in the Behaviour of Brave Killeygrove.= Printed in Ashton’s _Real Sailor Songs_, p. 10. Original in British Museum (pressmark l. 20. c. 30 [18]). See Charnock, _Biographia Navalis_, ii. 328. In the last line ‘Marseilles’ is evidently a misprint for ‘Messina.’
P. 128. =The Frighted French.= _Roxburghe Ballads_, vi. 446. The original reads ‘do tide’ in verse 5.
P. 129. =The Cæsar’s Victory.= From the Pepys collection (iv. 198). A broadside printed for J. Deacon at the Angel in Giltspur Street.
P. 131. =A Copy of Verses by Captain Henry Every.= From the Pepys collection (v. 384). There is an eighteenth-century version in the Madden collection (_Slipsongs_ ii. 72, No. 1, 166) entitled _Bold Captain Avery_. The numerous variants in the later version are merely corruptions and not worth noting. The ballad follows very closely the facts set forth at the trial of six of Every’s crew in 1696. Henry Every, _alias_ Bridgman, on May 30, 1694, seized a merchant ship called The Charles the Second, Charles Gibson master, as she lay at anchor about three leagues from the Groyne (_i.e._ Corunna). Having set Gibson and sixteen honest men ashore and renamed the ship, Every sailed for the coast of Guinea. A proclamation against Captain Henry Every, of the ship Phancy, was issued July 18, 1696 (Luttrell’s _Diary_, iv. 86). The reference to the different flags used by pirates in verses 9-12 is explained by the following extract from the narrative of a captive: ‘About eleven of the clock one night, after the whole crew had been some time assembled in the great cabbin, I heard three huzzas, and then they all came up on deck and hoisted _Jolly Roger_ (for so they call their black ensign, in the middle of which is a large white skeleton with a dart in one hand striking a bleeding heart, and in the other an hour-glass).... When they fight under _Jolly Roger_ they give quarter, which they do not when they fight under the red or bloody flag.’ (From Captain Richard Hawkins’s account of his capture by Captain Spriggs and his sufferings amongst the pirates of the Spanish Main in the year 1724, reprinted in Boyer’s _Political State of Great Britain_, vol. xxviii. pp. 147-156).
P. 133. =Villany Rewarded.= From the Pepys collection (ii. 99). A broadside printed for Charles Barnes, 1696. See _The Trial of Joseph Dawson &c. for several Piracies and Robberies by them committed in company of Every the Grand Pirate_: London, 1696, folio. The six accused were all condemned and hanged at Execution Dock, November 25, 1696.