Full Loads to the Sealers

DESCRIPTION: "And here's grand success to the sealers, The pride of our city and town, Who face the doghood on the ocean, And with bat like heroes knock down." The singer bids success to the sealers and hopes they have happy reunions at home
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke (1851-1930)
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Burke's Ballads)
KEYWORDS: hunting reunion
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, p. 122, "Full Loads to the Sealers" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Johnny Burke (John White, Editor), _Burke's Ballads_, no printer listed, n.d. (PDF available on Memorial University of Newfoundland web site), p. 28, "Full Loads to the Sealers" (1 text)
Johnny Burke (William J. Kirwin, editor), _John White's Collection of Johnny Burke Songs_, Harry Cuff Publications, St. John's, 1981, #68, p. 107, "FUll Loads to the Sealers" (1 text)
Roud #V44582
NOTES [193 words]: Most of Johnny Burke's songs are intended to be sung to a traditional tune. This particular text fits many melodies, and doesn't have the hints of parody found in many Burke pieces. It fits "Rosin the Beau," for instance. But I have this feeling it's sung to "The Badger Drive" (which, admittedly, is close to "Rosin").
The piece refers to "you sons of bold Neptune." Is this Neptune the god of the sea, or the sealing ship Neptune? I would have guessed the former, but the Burke/Kirwin text italicizes the name, which implies the ship. If so, you can find more about the ship in the entry on "Neptune, Ruler of the Sea."
For a brief biography of Johnny Burke, see the notes to "The Kelligrew's Soiree."
The "doghood" (dog hood) is the male hooded seal, one of the two Newfoundland seal species. "Hoods," unlike the harp seal, were hard to hunt; they were much heavier than men, and they defended themselves and their young, whereas the harp seals were smaller, more timid, and did not protect their pups. Generally speaking, sealers only hunted "hoods" when they had failed to catch enough "harps" and their "whitecoat" pups to make a trip profitable. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: RySm122

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