Lay System, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all my jolly Sailors ... The sailors are happy ... [but] Look out ..." for the ways the owners reduce your wage: "when you do settle things they will have it all" (see NOTES)
AUTHOR: Richard C. Reynolds (source: Frank-JollySailorsBold)
EARLIEST DATE: 1844 (source: Frank-JollySailorsBold)
KEYWORDS: accusation warning commerce money nonballad sailor boss whaler
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Frank-JollySailorsBold 152, "The Lay System" (1 text)
NOTES [200 words]: "'The Lay System' ... emphasizes the financial coercion by which otherwise happy seamen are ensnared. It is particularly notable for its specific mention of the dead horse, the sailors' from having received at the outset of the voyage an advance against future pay ... and the so-called lay system by which whalemen, in lieu of wages, theoretically receive a predetermined fractional share of the profits of the voyage, in this case a 1/200th 'lay.' An extremely rare, possibly unique feature is that it enumerates (in stanza 4) some of the hidden fees and expenses that are customarily charged by the owners against the sailors' puny share in profits by which, Reynolds [author of the text] contends, the owners and agents provide themselves still another opportunity to cheat sailors out of their rightful earnings." (Frank-JollySailorsBold p. 327) - BS
NOTES: For a bit more about the lay system, see the notes to "Soon May the Wellerman Come." It wasn't a purely abusive system -- more of a cost- and profit-sharing deal -- but it was hard on the sailors if a voyage yielded few whales.
For a list of the (highly obscure) works of Richard C. Reynolds in the Index, see the notes to "Cape Horn." - RBW
Last updated in version 7.0
File: FJSB152

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography