Saturday Night at Sea

Paul Clayton recovered this song from the logbook of the Samuel Robertson, a New Bedford whaler. From the given date (6/20/1845), this would be the logbook kept by John Ayers and then William Alfred Allen, on a voyage to the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans that lasted from Oct. 22, 1841 to Jan. 18. 1846. Although some logbooks of the Samuel Robertson can be found online, this one appears to be kept by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society Library for now.

The logbook includes:

descriptions of types of whales (blackfish, blue, finback, humpback, right, and sperm) seen or taken, accidents and death at sea, mutiny, indigenous people, women on ship, and cruelty and punishment on ship; and illustrations, inventories of whale oil and bone, and poems. Other places represented include Faial Island, Juan Fernández Islands, Callao, Nuka Hiva, Tahiti, Lahaina, Maui, and Honolulu.

Clayton's rendition of the song is jubilant -- almost like a hoedown -- as the sailors strive to make the best of their monotonous journey.

The popular English composer Charles Dibdin wrote a separate song called "Saturday Night at Sea" for his theater piece The Oddities (1789). Some 70 years later, a poem with the same title was contributed to the compilation Sea Songs and Ballads by Dibdin and Others (1865) and several other poems within echo the joys of Saturday night. This is all to say that Dibdin's music was popular and his title (if not the theme and music) likely inspired the present version.

Yet another "Saturday Night at Sea" is found in Joseph Howe's Poems and Essays (1874). This contemplative version is put to melody by Roll and Go on the album Look Out (2010).