John Martin, The

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye jolly fishermen a-going to the ice, Beware of the John Martin and don't go in her twice." Skipper Nick Ash is cruel; he throws the singer's teapot overboard and makes the crew work ever harder. They still gather many seal.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship hardtimes work
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, pp. 20-21, "The Song of the John Martin (1)," "The John Martin (2)" (2 texts)
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. 6, "SOng of the 'John Martin'" (1 text)
Shannon Ryan, _The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914_, Breakwater Books, 1994, p. 263, "[The Song of] The John Martin" (1 excerpt)
ST RySm020 (Partial)
Roud #12524
NOTES [277 words]: Doyle, who published this song in his 1927 edition, claims it was written by "in 1845 by Stephen Reardon of Perry's Cove," but the earlier publication by Murphy does not list an author. Doyle also says the John Martin was captained by John Bransfield, who is not mentioned in the song. The sources claim the song was written in the 1840s. I have no information about skipper Nick Ash, but Francis Ash commanded the sealing steamer Lion 1872-1880, then the Bear in 1881-1882 and the Kite in 1886-1888 (Levi George Chafe, Chafe's Sealing Book: A History of the Newfoundland Sealfishery from the Earliest Available Records Down To and Including the Voyage of 1923, third edition, Trade Printers and Publishers, Ltd., 1923 (PDF scan available from Memorial University of Newfoundland), p. 87). I would assume he was Nick Ash's son; Newfoundland sealing captains tended toward dynasties.
Shannon Ryan, The Ice Hunters: A History of Newfoundland Sealing to 1914, Breakwater Books, 1994, p. 280 n. 193, says that a ship John Martin sailed from Carbonear or Harbour Grace to the seal hunt on several occasions in the 1850s, most often commanded by a Captain Taylor, and notes that (contrary to Doyle), Captain Bransfield commanded several sealing ships in the 1840s, but not the John Martin. On the other hand, this does not preclude the possibility that he commanded the John Martin during the months when she was not sealing.
The John Martin was credited with helping rescue the crew of the Mary Francis when she was wrecked in 1849 (Ryan, pp. 293-294).
I have a note, the origin of which I cannot trace, that the John Martin was lost in 1859. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.4
File: RySm020

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