Fire Down Below

DESCRIPTION: "There is fire in the lower hold, There's fire down below, Fire in the main well, The captain didn't know." All places where fire has arisen (or might arise), from mast to keel, are listed. It perhaps started in the galley, and "The cook he didn't know"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (JournalOfAmericanFolklore, Bolton)
KEYWORDS: fire ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) West Indies(Nevis) Bermuda
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, p. 117, "Fire Down Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 123-125 "Fire Down Below" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 519-522, "Fire Down Below" (5 texts, 5 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 378-381]
Sharp-EnglishFolkChanteys, XXIV, p. 27, "Fire! Fire!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 112-113, "Fire Down Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, p. 39, "Fire in the Foretop" (1 text)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 148-149, "Fire in the Foretop" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Abrahams-DeepTheWaterShallowTheShore, pp. 47-49, "Fire Down Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 83, "Fire Down Below" (1 text)
JournalOfAmericanFolklore, H. Carrington Bolton, "Gombay, a Festal Rite of Bermudian Negroes", Vol. 3, No. 10 (Jul-Sep 1890), p. 226, "Fire Down Below" (1 text)
DT, FIREBELO
Roud #813
File: FSWB083A

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