Why the Old-Time Sea Shanty Will Make You Feel Much Better

Even If You’re Not a Sailor

Late to the sea-shanty party

Call it literary luck, that stroke of pure bliss when your work leads you to an unexpected discovery that brings you joy.

It happened to me a few days ago, when I was researching a new idea for a book involving the ocean. I was browsing around looking for info on sea shanties, and I happened onto a story I had missed in January, a story that had already trended.

An incredible, happy, rollicking, rousing story that made me sing and laugh and smile. (And how many stories do that for the world?)

It’s never too late to join the party, and believe me, you want to be part of this wildly popular sea shanty craze if you like having a good time.

Why Would You Care About the Historical Sea-Shanty?

Yikes. You may think I’m crazy. Why the heck should you want to know about old sailing songs sung two centuries ago?

Because they’re so much fun!

They’re rhythmical. They’re energetic. They tell good stories. They’re fantastic for group collaboration. You don’t have to be a talented vocalist to take part. (Heck, you don’t even have to be able to carry a tune.) They make you feel good. You won’t be bored if you’re singing a shanty.

The sea shanty has been around for centuries, traceable back to the 1400s. You may see shanty spelled as “chantey,” or “chanty.” Many believe the word derives from the French word “chanter” (pronounced shaun-tay) meaning to sing. Others believe the word comes from the old English word “chant.”

Shanties were sung on merchant ships, not military ones, and they were sung on board, not on land. Sea shanties were job-related, so in their free time, that is NOT what sailors would sing, choosing to croon ballads and folk songs instead.

The whole purpose of the shanty was to synchronize the physical movements of the sailors as they did heavy, hard, manual labor of life on the “tall” ships. The movements of dozens of men had to be exactly timed to get the work done, so the shanty songs presented heavy, consistent rhythms with the right amount of pause so the men could rest between physical bursts of energy.

Think of shanties were like the marching songs of soldiers, with the same kind of call and response. You might remember the old, “Do-wah-diddy-diddy-dum-diddy-o…” made popular by Manfred Mann in 1964:

There she was just a-walkin’ down the street, singin’‘Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do’Snappin’ her fingers and shufflin’ her feet, singin’‘Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do’…

The sea shanty was the much earlier, maritime equivalent.

Specific Shanties for Specific Tasks

Short-handed by Percy Lionel Smythe, 1874 (BHC4163, © National Maritime Museum)

Not just any old shanty would do for any old job. The lyrics and rhythms had to be matched to the tasks the sailors were performing. Some jobs took more “oomph” and longer recovery times. Some were quick push or pulls with a quicker rhythm.

Capstan shanties were sung when the crew was pulling up anchor, done by pushing the spokes of the capstan winch, which in turn, (literally), would pull up the anchor. The men would push when they sang the chorus of each line sung by the shantyman.

Short-drag, short-haul, or hand-over-hand shanties were used for those lighter tasks that need short, hard pulls. Every time a certain word was sung, the crew pushed or heaved or shoved depending on what was required. “What Will You Do With a Drunken Sailor” is one of the most well-known short-drag shanties.

Long-haul or halyard shanties are used for sustained periods of pulling. The shantyman would sing long verses between the refrain so the crew could rest. One of the best known long-haul shanties is “Blow the Man Down.”

The Shantyman Singeth…

The leader of the shanties was obviously good with words, had rhythm, and a strong voice. But it was a self-appointed role. When a man signed on for a voyage, he wasn’t auditioned for the role of shantyman. No one was commissioned as a shantyman. Instead, the role was self-appointed or assigned by default when the crewmen discovered who had the knack. Whoever became a shantyman, didn’t receive any extra pay. His vocal leadership was done in addition to his other chores.

Thinking of the shantyman, my brain started whirring with possibilities: Did the men ever fight over the role? What happened if the shantyman was injured or killed? Did shantymen learn the ins-and-outs of being a song leader from years and years of onboard experience? Could a shantyman ever have a terrible voice, but a great sense of rhythm?

Even though the role of shantyman was not a paid position, it did elicit respect and was valued on board the ship because it was necessary for work and morale.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

We might not have known even this much about the old art-form of the sea shanty had it not been for a guy named Cecil James Sharp. An English man, Cecil James Sharp started out as a lawyer but decided music was his true vocation, and he went after it with heart and soul. He became interested in folk music and made it his vow to preserve it, study it, and publish it.

Sharp was even credited with the movement to teach folk song and dance in English schools.

Cecil James traveled to the Appalachian region of the United States on three different occasions so that he could study the songs of English origin. He also was responsible for preserving many of the sea-shanties that had been popularized in the 19th Century. By interviewing retired sailors, Sharp was able to record the melodies and words of more than 200 songs in a volume first published in 1914.

The Demise of the Sea Shanty

The heyday of the sea shanty was in the early 1800s, when the tall ships wandered the oceans, most often in search of a specific type of whale, the right whale.

Think about it. Electricity didn’t exist. Gas lamps were just getting their start in major cities. The world operated on whale oil. Lights were lit with it. Whale baleen (whalebone) was used for tools and corsets. Everyone needed whale byproducts.

The Right Whale was the prime target of whaling ships in the 1800s because they swam near shore, floated when they were killed, and produced lots of oil, meat, and baleen when butchered. But too much hunting killed the whale population and shut down the entire industry. in 1839, more than two hundred whaling ships were hunting off the coast of New Zealand. By the 1850s, the whale population was depleted after 150,000 whales were killed.

When steamships took over the ocean, the number of tall ships decreased. Crews got smaller. Less manual labor was required, so the importance of working sea shanties disappeared.

Sea Shanties Get Another Chance at Popularity, Thanks to Nathan Evans

This is where you walk into the party.

Nathan Evans is a Scottish postal worker who does music as a sideline.

In January of 2021, he posted a video to Tik-Tok of an old whaling song, called “Soon May the Wellerman Come,” and no one could have anticipated the good time that followed.

A Wellerman was the name of an employee of the Weller Brothers, a company that supplied the whaling ships off the shores of Australia and New Zealand. The song, “Soon May the Wellerman Come,” is a folk-telling of a ship and a whale, sort of a cross between Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea and Melville’s Moby Dick.

“Soon May the Wellerman Come” talks about the whale hunt, the butchering and the cutting out of the tongue of the whale, but it does it with catchy words and a foot-pounding rhythm. Some historians say that this is not strictly a shanty because it’s not about work or keeping men in rhythm, but it is definitely a whaling song born of a bygone era.

Why this Sea Shanty / Whaling Song Will Make You Feel Better

Nathan Evan’s rendition of “Soon May the Wellerman Come” on TikTok was so catchy that dozens of other people joined in, adding harmonies and accompaniment with different instruments. Even dancers joined in. Millions of people around the world have viewed the video — because it’s hard not to feel good about people singing and adding their varied talents to a viral group performance.

One viewing of this great video, and you’ll be smiling. Your feet will be tapping, and you’ll feel like dancing. It’s a party of people gathered together by a story, a melody, a beat, and an old art form that shouldn’t be forgotten.

I saw this version first, but there are others now, with millions of views. Nathan Evans’ TikTok rendition of “Soon May the Wellerman Come.”

The Sanitization of Sea Shanties

Sea shanties and whaling songs are meant to be performed, an entertainment carried out by folk groups all over the world. Because they are multi-cultural, composed in different cultures, sung in different languages, and repeated in unison by sailors of different nationalities, sea shanties hold wide appeal. They are a combination of ballads, slave songs, and global influence.

Sailors were a raucous crowd, often singing with gusto in bad language about sex acts, different races, and drunkenness. When the Victorians preserved the songs, they sanitized them, or “bowdlerized” them, often changing the words from their original meaning.

“Whores” would become “fair maidens.” Drunkenness was toned down, and the bawdy language was altered. Truth be told, I ordered a book with the original lyrics to the sea shanties, unsanitized, so that I could know what they were like before they were cleaned up. Oh, my goodness! The words embarrassed me and made the books on either side go scarlet with shame. I was afraid that someone would judge me as lewd and smarmy if they pulled that book off shelf!

Today, it might be hard to find and perform original sea shanties and whaling songs because the majory include feature racism, sexism, and lewd behavior, but “The Wellerman” isn’t offensive — except for the brutality involved in the “tonguin’” of the whale.

The Popularity of “Wellerman”

Some people are suggesting that the reason Nathan Evans’ version of “Soon May the Wellerman Come” caught on is because of the pandemic. With TikTok, people could connect. Find camaraderie in music. Smile with other singers even during lockdowns.

But I think it’s because, when performed well, the sea shanty is a joy to behold, a communal act that feels good.

Nathan Evans performs it well. So well, in fact, that he has quit his postal job and signed a big record contract with Polydore records.

Sea shanties are memorable. How else do you account for the fact that “What Will We Do with a Drunken Sailor” is a well-known song in popular culture?

What DO You Do With a Drunken Sailor?

• You put him in a longboat and make him bail her.

• You put him in the guardroom ’til he gets sober.

• You shave his belly with a rusty razor.

• You stick him in a scupper with a horsepipe bottom.

• You put him in bed with the Captain’s daughter.

• You keelhaul him until he’s sober.

Whatever you do, join in the sea-shanty craze while you’re doing it!

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Melissa Gouty was born a landlocked Midwesterner who loves the sea. Shanties and songs of all kinds float her boat. The author of The Magic of Ordinary, Melissa is contemplating an ocean-based setting for her next book.