Sailor's New Leg, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer was a sailor at Trafalgar. With Nelson on the foredeck, he lost a leg to a cannonball. Dr Keg replaced it with one from "fighting Jim." Immediately he returned to the fight "and flew aboard the Frenchman like a rocket O!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Greig/Duncan1)
KEYWORDS: battle navy humorous sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 21, 1805 - Battle of Trafalgar
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greig/Duncan1 147, "The Sailor's New Leg" (1 text)
Roud #5822
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oh My Comrades You Must Know
NOTES [61 words]: It probably goes without saying that the physician on the Victory was not named "Dr. Keg." John Keegan, The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare, Penguin, 1988, 1990, p. 102, states that the surgeon who was with Nelson in his last hours was Doctor William Beatty. In addition, Nelson at least was not killed by a cannonball but by a musket round. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1147

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