Three Fishers Went Sailing

DESCRIPTION: "Three fishers went sailing out into the west," but are caught in a storm and killed, leaving their wives behind. "For men must work, and women must weep, Though the storms be sudden and the waters deep, And the harbour bar be moaning."
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) source: Heart-Songs and many others)
EARLIEST DATE: 1851 (source: Wikipedia)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea sailor wife death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Heart-Songs, pp. 192-193, "Three Fishers Went Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune -- the Hullah melody)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 68, "Three Fishers Went Sailing" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #9, p. 46, "The Three Fishers" (1 text)
DT, THREFSHR
Roud #29975
NOTES [119 words]: Most readers of the Index will probably know this with the tune written by Garnet Rogers and recorded by Stan Rogers. However, this is at least the third tune used for the song. The first was by John Hullah; according to the Wikipedia entry for the poem, it was written soon after Charles Kingsley wrote the poem. Robert Goldbeck wrote another tune in 1878.
Both the Wikipedia entry and a Mudcat thread report that hearing the tide moan as it went over the harbor bar was a sign of tragedy to come. But they do not cite primary sources.
The song is very rare in tradition, if it is traditional at all, but the poem is very well-known -- probably the best-known thing by Kingsley other than The Water-Babies. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: DSB9046

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