Forecastle Songs and Ballads
200 songs
After the day’s work, when supper had been eaten and mess-kits put away, came the sailor’s leisure time. Pipes were lit, a fiddle or accordion was brought about, and singing, dancing, and yarn-spinning commenced. These are generally sentimental ballads or stories of famous men, battles, romance, humor, or longing for home. Popular tunes filtered in from the shore as well.
The forecastle serves as the crews quarters. In British merchant service parlance, these songs were known as “fore-bitters.”
Songs (200)
- A Sailor's Prayer
- A Trip to the Grand Banks
- Adieu Madras
- Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy
- Adieu to Maimuna
- Admiral Benbow
- All For Me Grog
- Allen Die Villen Naar Island
- Andrew Rose
- As I Went A-Walking Down Ratcliffe Highway
- Barney Buntline
- Bell-Bottom Trousers
- Ben Backstay
- Besanschoot An
- Blow Ye Winds In The Morning
- Bold MacCarteney
- Bold Manning
- Boston
- Bound Down to Newfoundland
- Brave Admiral Benbow
- Call John the Boatman
- Canso Strait
- Cantu À Timùni
- Captain Bover
- Captain Elwell and His Crew
- Captain Kidd
- Captain Nipper
- Captain Ward and the Rainbow
- Carrying Nelson Home
- Cawsand Bay
- Centennial Johnsen and His Dory Sail
- Charge the Can Cheerily
- Charles Gustavus Anderson
- Come All You Tonguers
- Come, Loose Every Sail to the Breeze
- Corbitt's Barkentine
- Curaçao
- Der Allerbeste Koch
- Derby Ram
- Des Seemanns Trinklied
- Dirty Cook
- Do Me Ama
- Eight Bells
- Enterprise and Boxer
- Far, Far at Sea
- Farewell to Tarwathie
- Fischerlied
- Flash Gals of the Town
- Frisch Auf Mit Alle Mann An Deck
- Get Up, Jack! John, Sit Down!
- Go to Sea No More
- Go To Sea No More
- Hambord Du Schöne Stadt
- Handsome Cabin Boy
- Heart of Oak
- Her Bright Smile
- High Barbary
- Home, Dearie, Home
- I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
- I Come from Salem City
- In De Mornin'
- In Measure Time We'll Row
- Jack Monroe
- Jack Tar
- Jack the Guinea Pig
- Jack the Sailor
- Jolly Roving Tar
- La Danaë
- La Pique
- Lady Franklin's Lament
- Le trente-et-un du mois d'août
- Les Filles de la Rochelle
- Les Trois Marins de Groix
- Let Go the Reef Tackle
- Liberty for the Sailors
- Limejuice Ship
- Little Mohee
- Magelhan
- Maggie May
- Married To a Mermaid
- Mein Vader Vos Ein Dutchman
- Mettons La Chaloupe à L'Eau
- Nancy Lee
- Nelson's Death
- Nelson's Death and Victory
- Nelson's Victory at Copenhagen
- Old Fid
- On Board a Ninety-Eight
- On Board of the Victory
- Our Jack's Come Home Today
- Paddy West
- Paul Jones
- Red Iron Ore
- Retour de Marin
- Rocks In De Mountens
- Rolling Down To Old Maui
- Rolling Home
- Row, Bullies, Row
- Rude Boreas
- Sally Monroe
- Salt Horse Chantey
- Sampan Girl
- Sinbad
- Sling the Flowing Bowl
- Song of the Steamship Washington
- Soon May The Wellerman Come
- Southerly Wind
- Spanish Ladies
- Stormy Winter's Night
- Störtebeker
- Swansea Town
- Ten Thousand Miles Away
- The Adventure of the Scupper Nails
- The Anchor's Aweigh
- The Balena
- The Banks of Newfoundland
- The Banks of the Nile
- The Bay of Biscay
- The Bay of Biscay O
- The Big Five-Gallon Jar
- The Bold Princess Royal
- The Boston Come-All-Ye
- The Coast of Peru
- The Constitution and Guerrière
- The Cruise of the Bigler
- The Cumberland's Crew
- The Dark Eyed Sailor
- The Diamond
- The Dolphin
- The Dom Pedro
- The Donzella and the Ceylon
- The Dreadnought
- The Drummer and the Cook
- The Ebenezer
- The Female Smuggler
- The Female Warrior
- The First of the Emigrants
- The Fishes
- The Florida's Cruise
- The Flying Cloud
- The Flying Dutchman
- The Gale of August, '27
- The Ghostly Crew
- The Girls Around Cape Horn
- The Grey Funnel Line
- The Jam on Gerry's Rock
- The Jamestown Homeward Bound
- The Jolly Sailor Lads
- The Lawlands o' Holland
- The Leaving of Liverpool
- The Light on Cape May
- The Little Beggar Man
- The Little Golden Ring
- The Loss of the Cedar Grove
- The Loss of the Druid
- The Maid I Left Behind
- The Mermaid
- The Nightingale
- The Norfolk Girls
- The Ocean Burial
- The Persian's Crew
- The Press Gang
- The Race of the Flying Fishermen
- The Saga of Howard Blackburn
- The Sailor Boy
- The Sailor Boy
- The Sailor Cut Down In His Prime
- The Sailor's Grave
- The Sailor's Hornpipe
- The Sailor's Way
- The Saucy Arethusa
- The Schooner Blizzard
- The Schooner Kandahar
- The Seventeen Bright Stars
- The Shannon and the Chesapeake
- The Shenandoah
- The Ship In Distress
- The Ship Rambolee
- The Spring Trip of the Schooner Ambition
- The Stately Southerner
- The Sweet Trinity
- The Valiant Sailor
- The Voice of Her I Love
- The Wreck of the Ellen Munn
- The Zubenelgenubi
- There She Blows!
- They All Love Jack
- Tom Bowline
- Topman and the Afterguard
- Un Petit Navire
- Under the Southern Cross
- Unmooring
- Way Down in Cuba
- We Be Three Poor Mariners
- When Johnson's Ale Was New
- While Cruising Around Yarmouth
- Wild and Ugly
- Will Watch
- Ye Parliament of England
- Yellow Meal