Ballad of Sealing Ships and Sealers

DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye hearty Newfoundlanders, join your voices now with me: Of our sealing ships and sealers let us sing." The speaker describes how the fleet leaves port, hunts the seals, survives problems; he urges listeners to pray for crew and captains
AUTHOR: A. C. Wornell ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (Wornell, Rhymes of a Newfoundlander)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small-HaulinRopeAndGaff, pp. 147-148, "Ballad of Sealing Ships and Sealers" (1 text)
Roud #V44818
NOTES [57 words]: "Whitecoats" are baby harp seals, the primary objective of the seal hunt.
"Signal Hill" is the hill by the St. John's narrow that all ships leaving the city's harbor passed on their way out the Narrows.
A "patch" was an area where many seals bore their young, making it a place where sealers could gather many "sculps" (skins with fat). - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: RySm147

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