A Song for a Sunday Morning — Tom Munch Sings We Build the Ships

Singer/songwriter Tom Munch plays his original song about the last great historic wooden schooners of Maine in the early 20th century. The photos are historic shots of the Wyoming and other ships built at Percy and Small shipyard in Bath, Maine … Continue reading

Sea Shanty Sessions 20th Anniversary Celebration at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor

In the summer of 1995, a group of lovers of the music of the sea got together on the deck of the windjammer Peking at the South Street Seaport Museum on the East River in New York to sing sea shanties. … Continue reading

Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm — Remembering the Deadly 1900 Galveston Hurricane

One hundred and fifteen years ago today, on September 8, 1900, the city of Galveston Texas was struck by what today would be classified as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 145 mph and a storm surge of 14 feet. Somewhere … Continue reading

Snug Harbor Shanties, A Short Documentary — Singing the History that Can’t be Found in Textbooks

My novel, The Shantyman, begins with a fictionalized Bill Doerflinger recording the tale told by a retired ship’s captain of a shantyman who saved his ship and its crew. The old captain lives close to the sailor’s retirement home, Sailor’s Snug … Continue reading

Before Caitlyn Jenner, Louisa Jo Killen, Folk Song and Shanty Singer

Not quite two years so, we posted about the death of the British folk and shanty singer who as born as Louis Killen.  The post title was “Lou Killen, British Folk Song and Shanty Singer, Dies at 79.”  Now after the … Continue reading

“On Board a Man o’ War” – Nelson’s Victory & Death at the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805

On Trafalgar Day, the anniversary of Admiral Horatio Nelson‘s victory and death at the Battle of Trafalgar, a ballad describing the battle, “On board a Man o’ War,” sung by Ian Page. Feel free to grab a mug of porter, … Continue reading

Sting’s The Last Ship — A Musical of Love and Loss in a Tyneside Shipyard

Just over a year ago, I was surprised — shocked might be a better word — to hear of a play about a shipyard. The Boat Factory was set in Harland & Wolff of Belfast, the shipyardyard that built theTitanic as well as roughly 1,700 … Continue reading

Hardtackers’ Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmates – A Review

The Hardtacker Shanty Crew, a seven-man shanty crew based in Columbus, Ohio, released a great new CD a few months ago, Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmates, which features a wonderful mix of shanties and sea songs, old and new.  The twenty one songs … Continue reading

Trevor Grills of the Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends, Dies at 54

Trevor Grill was a self employed builder from Port Isaac on Cornwall’s rugged north coast, who enjoyed getting together with friends to sing sea shanties and folk songs.  The group came to call themselves the Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends and they performed at … Continue reading

Sea Songs in New York – Sailing to Staten Island: The Immigrant Experience, and Other Events

This will be a great couple of weeks around New York harbor for lovers of the music of the sea.  “Sailing to Staten Island: The Immigrant Experience” is a free concert Saturday night at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug … Continue reading

For the Love of Sea Music – Mystic Seaport’s 33rd Annual Sea Music Festival

Mystic Seaport has put together a wonderful short video where lovers of sea music speak of just it means to them, just in time for the Seaport’s upcoming 33rd Annual Sea Music Festival from June 7-10, 2012 in Mystic, Connecticut.  The three … Continue reading

Shanty Sings All Over – Mystic, New York, San Francisco, Port Townsend & Washington DC

This Saturday night, January7th, the Mystic Seaport will be hosting a “Chantey Blast and Pub Sing” from 1-5 PM in the Frohsinn Hall (aka the German Club), 54 Greenmanville Avenue, in Mystic CT as a fundraiser for the 33rd Annual Mystic Seaport Sea … Continue reading