Shanties

Shanties & songs

Shanties are traditional work songs sung by sailors to coordinate physical tasks aboard ship — the 18th century Royal Navy's answer to the team productivity app, except instead of Slack notifications you got a bearded man bellowing in your ear and a rope to pull. They provided rhythm for heaving the anchor, hauling lines, manning the capstan, or any other activity where seventeen men had to do the same thing at the same moment without crushing each other's fingers.

The structure is call-and-response: a lead singer known as the shantyman delivers the verse, and the crew responds in unison on the chorus — typically on the exact beat the rope needs pulling. The shantyman was traditionally chosen for his powerful voice, broad repertoire, and ability to make up obscene verses about the bosun on the spot. In our case, the shantyman is whoever has the loudest voice and the least shame after the second glass of rosé. 

Shanties also served the secondary purposes of boosting morale, complaining about the food in a way the captain couldn't punish you for, and providing the only acceptable form of group emotional expression permitted to a 19th century sailor.

Our Official Cruise Repertoire

1. Drunken Sailor
 

2. Nelson's Blood / Roll the Old Chariot
 

3. Wellerman
 

4. Sailing — Rod Stewart
 

5. Molly Malone
 

Shantyman's Code of Conduct

The shantyman is selected by acclaim, not appointment. The shantyman does not announce themselves; the crew anoints them. Anyone declaring "I'll be the shantyman" is, by maritime tradition stretching back four centuries, immediately disqualified.