A-Cruising We Will Go

DESCRIPTION: "Behold upon the swelling seas With streaming pennants gay, Our gallant ship invites the waves, While glory leads the way." "And a-cruising we will go." The singer asks the girls to be kind, recalls "Hardy's flag," and hopes for peace with America
AUTHOR: almost certainly Frederick Pilon (1750-1788) (in The Liverpool Prize)
EARLIEST DATE: 1779 (The Liverpool Prize)
KEYWORDS: navy ship nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads XXV, pp. 37-38, "A Cruising we will go" (1 text)
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 118-119, "A-Cruising We Will Go" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Frederick Pilon, _The Liverpool Prize; A Farce: In Two Acts_, T. Evans, 1779 (chapbook available on Google Books), p. 40, “SONG” (1 text)
(no author listed)_The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure_, Vol. 64, No. 443, James Hinton, Jan., 1779 (available on Google Books), p. 159, "SONG in the Liverpool Prize" (1 text, identical to the Pilon version but with the spelling changed from "cruizing" to "cruising")
(no author listed), _The Scots Magazine_, Vol. 41, A. Murray and J. Cochran, March, 1779 (available on Google Books), p. 162, "SONG in the Liverpool Prize" (1 text)
(no author listed), _The Scots Nightingale: Or, Edinburgh Vocal Miscellany. A New and Select Collection of the Best Scots and English Songs; and a Great Number of Valuable Originals..._, James Murray, 1779 (available on Google Books), p. 150, "A NEW SONG" (1 text)
(no author listed), _St. Cecilia: or, the Lady's and Gentleman's harmonious companion ..._, C. Wilson, 1779 (available on Google Books), p. 113, "SONG" (1 text)
(no author listed), _The Bird: Containing a Choice Collection of Love, Hunting and Bachanalian Songs..._, A. Richardson, 1781 (available on Google Books), p. 31, no title (1 text)
(no author listed), _The Universal Scots Songster: A New Collection of the Most Celebrated Songs in Three Parts_, Part 1, "Printed and sold by all the Booksellers in Great Britain, and Ireland," 1781 (available on Google Books), p. 168, "Adapted to the Times" (1 text)
Elizabeth Billington [author according to catalog entry], _The Billington: Or, Town and Country Songster_, E. Wenman, 1790 (available on Google Books), p. 51, "Song in the Liverpoole (sic) Prize" (1 text)
J. Woodfall Ebsworth (editor), _The Roxburghe Ballads: Illustrating the Last Years of the Stuarts_, Vol. 8, The Ballad Society, 1897 (available on Google Books), p. 323, "[The Cruisers.] A New Song, adapted to the Times" (1 text)
C. H. Firth (editor), _Publications of the Navy Records Society, Vol. 33: Naval Songs and Ballads_, Navy Records Society, 1908 (available on Google Books and The Internet Archive), p. 247, "[The Cruisers.] A New Song, adapted to the Times" (1 text)
(no author listed), _Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society_, Series 3, Vol. 8, Adnitt and Naunton, 1908 (available on Google Books and The Internet Archive), p. 350, "'The Cruisers.' A New Song, adapted to the Times" (1 text)
Roud #8825
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dusky Night" (tune)
NOTES [413 words]: Shay gives no information about the origin of this piece, and no tune; in my initial notes, I said that I doubted it was traditional, or even a song. It looks to me like some broadside poet's praise of the British navy.
Jim Dixon proved my suspicion partly right, by finding it in Francis Pilon's "The Liverpool Prize; A Farce: In Two Acts." Presumably Pilon wrote the song as well as the rest of the play. Based on the number of citations Jim found of this song, it seems to have been Pilon's hit; not a single work of his is listed in Granger's Index to Poetry. He has a Wikipedia entry with a few biographical details, although it's mostly a list of his works. It says that "The Liverpool Prize" made its debut on February 22, 1779, with comic actor John Quick playing the lead.
"Hardy," mentioned in Shay's text although ot Pilon's original, is presumably Thomas Masterson Hardy (1769-1839), Nelson's chief captain, who was made rear admiral in 1825, served as First Sea Lord 1830-1834, and finally reached the rank of vice admiral in 1837. The original referred to Keppel's Flag, i.e. Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel (1725-1786), who eventually rose to be First Lord of the Admiralty. He wasn't particularly noteworthy as a commander, who was perhaps mentioned because at this time he was involved in a vicious controversy with his subordinate, Sir Hugh Palliser. Keppel seems to have fascinated Pilon; his next work, "Illumination, or the Glazier's Conspiracy," was based on Keppel's trial over the Palliser affair.
Maybe the whole thing is a satire on Keppel's service. The one big battle he commanded, at Ushant (July 27, 2778) was a muddled affair with no real winner, but it was close-fought enough that the French could argue they won the battle (N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 (1997; I use the 1999 Norton edition), p. 337). And his administrative service was marked by lack of force and excessive concern with politics -- indeed, his placing party values above telling the truth was what led to the fight with Palliser (Rodger, pp. 354-355). He frankly sounds like a terrible officer. - RBW
The tune is identified as "The dusky night." Ebsworth... identifies the tune as "Henry Fielding's Hunting Song of 1735": "The dusky night rides down the sky, and ushers in the morn; the hounds all join in jovial cry, the huntsman winds his horn: And a hunting we will go!" Complete lyrics have been posted at Mudcat. - JD
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File: ShaSS118

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