Wadham's Song

DESCRIPTION: Coast sailing pilot's guide "from Bonavista Cape to the Stinking Isles ... till Pilley's Point covers Syme's Stage." Directions on how to reach Notre Dame Bay from Bonavista
AUTHOR: R.N. Wadham
EARLIEST DATE: 1756 (cf. Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland)
KEYWORDS: sea ship nonballad recitation sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 119, "Wadham's Song" (1 text)
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, p. 13, "Wadhams Song" (1 text)
Doyle-OldTimeSongsAndPoetryOfNewfoundland "Wadham's Song" (1 text): p. 70 in the 4th edition; p. 83 in the 5th
ADDITIONAL: James Murphy, editor, _Songs Sung by Old-TIme Sealers of Many Years Ago_, James Murphy Publishing, 1925 (PDF available from Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 15, "Wadhams Song" (1 text)
James Murphy, _Songs Their Fathers Sung: For Fishermen: Old Time Ditties_, James Murphy Publishing, 1923 (PDF available from the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 14, "Wadmans Song" (1 text)
John Feltham, _Northeast from Baccalieu_, Harry Cuff Publications, 1990, pp. 2-3, "The Song of the Wadhams" (1 text)
Bruce Stagg, _The Blackwood Schooner_, Flanker Press, 2009, pp. 3-5, "The Song of the Wadmans" (sic.) (1 text, taken from Feltham)
ST GrMa119 (Partial)
Roud #5449
NOTES [193 words]: According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site, "although called a song it was always recited and there is no tune available"; Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland heard it recited.
On the other hand, the Renaissance Dance site claims "Pilot verses were sailing directions sung to popular tunes ... Hugill [apparently not in Shanties from the Seven Seas] quotes [Wadham's Song] to the tune of 'I'll Tell me Ma', which is still well known." - BS
Doyle4 says that the song "was placed n record in the Admiralty's Court in London after it was first composed and was considered the best coasting guide for that part of our Island to which it refers."
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland report that they heard it recited because it's still accurate. The Wadham islands, mentioned in this song and presumably related to its title, are a series of mostly-uninhabited islands about ten miles east of Fogo and twenty miles northwest of Cape Freels. They were famous, or infamous, as a sealing site, e.g. the horrid "Spring of the Wadhams" is named after them; for that dreadul year, see the notes to "Maurice Crotty." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: GrMa119

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