Square-rigged sailing ships were labour-intensive. It required the co-ordinated muscle of several men to weigh anchor and to hoist and trim sails. The working shanties were the songs used to provide that co-ordination and to encourage greater effort.
Most were in call-and-response form. The shantyman – a skilled crew member who had a powerful voice – would sing or chant each verse (the call) and the rest would sing the response, which contained one or more heavily-accented syllables on which everyone would haul or push. It was common for the call to be in a major key and the response in a minor key.
These songs were only sung at work. There were other songs sung ‘at the bitts’ by off-duty crew (sometimes known as fo’c'sle shanties), and in the taverns when ashore, which were ballad-like.
Many of them have been sung and recorded in styles totally different from the original – in operatic and other classical music styles, and as gentle folk songs – but in their original form you would have bellowed them at the top of your lungs.
There were several classes of shanty, defined by the nature of the work:
- Halyard shanties, also called ‘long haul’ or ‘long drag’ shanties, were used for long tasks like hoisting sails. Typically, there were two pulls per response (chorus). Examples are Hanging Johnny and Blow the Man Down (chorus Way hay, blow the man down!).
- Sheet shanties, also called ‘short haul’ or ‘short drag’ shanties, were used for short tasks against a heavy load, like adjusting braces and sheets. Typically, there was one pull per response. Examples are Haul Away Joe and Haul on the Bowline.
- Capstan shanties were used for the long, back-breaking task of pushing capstan bars round and round to drive a continuous loop of cable to which the anchor cable was ‘nipped’ (temporarily seized, with a new seizing added as fresh cable was brought on board). They are long songs, often with a full chorus as well as the calls and responses. Examples are Santy Anna, sung below in a modern French popular music version by Hugues Aufray,
Another example is Rio Grande, sung below in traditional style by Whelan’s-Daniel O’Connor, with melodeon accompaniment:
- Stamp-’n'-Go shanties were used on ships with large crews, where a team of men would stamp backwards, hauling on a rope and taking it with them. Sometimes, they would peel off from the tail and take a new purchase at the head of the line as it came in, providing a continuous pull longer than the available deck space. Drunken Sailor (also used as a capstan shanty) is a popular Stamp-’n'-Go shanty, sung below by Trim Rig and a Doxy – probably after a few beers.
- Pumping shanties were originally used for the seesaw-handled pump used to empty the bilge hold. (Even when they had not been shot at or battered by storms, wooden ships leaked). Here’s one by William Pint & Felicia Dale:
- Fo’c'sle shanties (some purists say that non-working songs should not be called shanties) were typically ballads. Here is one, of Irish origin. The ‘Holy Ground’ referred to is the red light district of Queenstown (now Cobh) County Cork – a major stopping place for transatlantic voyages in the 19th century.
