Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage

DESCRIPTION: "Heigho, my lads, for the tenth of March, And a gallant ship and crew." The singer declares that the crew will happily go to sea, brave the conditions, fill the holds, and return to Harbor Grace
AUTHOR: George T. Sheppard
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff); reportedly written 1926
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, p. 117, "Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #V44727
NOTES [209 words]: The lyrics of this appear to be based on "A Capital Ship" or one of its relatives; the verse form is the same and there are reminiscences in the lyrics (including an excessive fondness for "heigh-ho"). But there is no chorus; the author may not have meant it to be sung.
The tenth of March was, for many years, the day the sealing fleet left St. John's to head for the ice. This was the result of law and tradition; according to William Howe Greene, The Wooden Walls among the Ice Flows: Telling the Romance of the Newfoundland Seal Fishery, Hutchinson & Co, London (PDF available on the Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 94 n. 1., the sealing fleet set out on that very day in 44 of the 71 springs from 1863 to 1933, and most of the other springs were close to that day.
It is interesting that the ship, at the end, is supposed to head for Harbour Grace, not St. John's, at the end of the trip. This implies that the poem is intended to evoke an earlier time in the sealing industry, before the steamers all were based in St. John's (although it is just possible that the ship would have picked up crew in Harbour Grace, it's not likely it would have returned them there, since they would not be paid until the fat made it to port). - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: RySm117

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