Salt Horse Chantey

(Sailor's Grace)

Salt horse, salt horse, we'd have you know That to the galley ye must go; The cook without a sigh o' grief Will boil ye down an' call ye beef; An' we poor sailors standin' near Must eat ye though ye look so queer; Ch: Salt horse, salt horse, what brought ye here? Salt horse, salt horse, both near an' far, Yer food for every hard-worked tar. In strongest brine ye have been sunk Until yer hard an' coarse as junk; To eat such poor an' wretched fare Would whiten any negro's hair; Ch: Salt horse, salt horse, what brought ye here? Salt horse, salt horse, what brought ye here? After carryin' sand for many a year, From Bantry Bay to Ballywhack, Where ye fell down an' broke yer back, An' after years of such abuse, They salt ye down for sailors' use.

Source: Stan Hugill, Shanties From the Seven Seas

Hugill says that in American ships the places in the third verse were "Portland Bay to Saccarapp." He gives other couplets: "They tan yer hide an' burn yer bones, / An' pack ye off to Davy Jones"; "They'll salt ye down for sailors' use, / They'll pick yer bones an' suck yer juice"; and "An' if ye don't believe this true, / In the harness-cask ye'll find his shoe."

Old horse! Old horse! What brought you here? From Saccarap' to Portland Pier. I carted stone for many a year, I laboured long and well a-lack, Till I fell down and broke my back. They picked me up with sore abuse, And salted me down for sailors' use. The sailors they do me despise; They pick me up and damn my eyes, They eat my flesh and gnaw my bones, And throw the rest to Davy Jones.

Source: W. A. Bryce of Sutton Coldfield, in Stan Hugill, Shanties From the Seven Seas

Salt Horse, Salt Horse, both near and far, You're food for every hard work'd tar; In strongest brine you have been sunk, Until as hard and coarse as "Junk"; To eat such tough and wretched fare, Would whiten e'en a Negro's hair, Salt Horse, Salt Horse, What brought you here Salt horse, salt horse, we'd have you know That to the "Galley" you must go; The cook without a sign of grief Will boil you down, and call you beef; And, we poor sailors standing near, Must eat you, though you look so queer; Salt horse, salt horse, that brought you here.

Old horse, old horse, what brought you here? You have been dead for many a year. You carted stones from Ballyhack Till you fell down and broke your back. You put up with sore abuse; Now you're salted down for sailors' use Who pick your bones and suck the juice. And if you don't believe it's true, Look in the harness cask and you'll find a horse and shoe!

Between the main-mast and the pumps There stands a cask of Irish junks; And if you won't believe it true, Look, and you'll see the hoof and shoe. Salt horse, salt horse, what brought you here, After carrying turf for so many a year, From Bantry Bay to Ballyack, Where you fell down and broke your back? With kicks, and thumps, and sore abuse, You're salted down for sailor's use. They eat your flesh and pick your bones, Then throw you over to Davy Jones.

Source: W. Clark Russell, Sailors' Language, 1883

“Salt horse” is a term for salt meat, typically beef, but especially of bad quality. In the words of Gale Huntington, “how often it was salt horse is a good question.” Before being cooked, it was soaked for days in the harness cask on deck. After it was divided, William Main Doerflinger writes, one of the crowd would hold his portion on the point of his sheath knife and recite some form of this traditional rhyme. Huntington gives a scrap from the 1842 voyage log of the ship Carthage.

The grace was usually spoken, but it was sometimes sung. Doerflinger prints a version of Blow the Man Down made from its words, and its “Bantry Bay” lines turn up in the Dead Horse ceremony alongside Poor Old Man. John Masefield heard an old sailor repeat a version with an “Oho! Oho! Oho!” chorus, which he printed in Sea-Songs. Tunes are printed in Hugill’s Shanties From the Seven Seas and Huntington’s Songs The Whalemen Sang. The first version here is Hugill’s, and the third is one sent to him by W. A. Bryce, in which the old horse speaks for himself. Hugill notes that in American ships the horse came “from Portland Bay to Saccarapp” instead of from Ireland, and Bryce’s horse worked “From Saccarap’ to Portland Pier.” Saccarappa was a mill village on the Presumpscot River just outside Portland, Maine. The Claque recorded the second version in 2008.

Junk, in Tover & Davis’s version, is old, condemned rope.

The galley is the cook-house on board a ship.

As for loathsome sea fare, W. Clark Russell gives the names of several contemptible dishes: lobscouse, dandy-funk, dogsbody, seapie, choke-dog, twice-laid and hishee-hashee.

Sheet Music (2 melodies)