Brigantine Sirocco

DESCRIPTION: The Sirocco/Sorocco/Sinorca/Sirorca springs a leak and lays aground at Shelburne. The leak is found and fixed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-Nova Scotia)
KEYWORDS: sea ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Smith/Hatt/Fowke-SeaSongsBalladFromNineteenthCenturyNovaScotia, p. 15, "Brigantine Sorocco" (1 text)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 106, "Brigantine Sinorca" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST SmHa015 (Full)
Roud #1814
NOTES [102 words]: No two versions of this song seem to give the ship the same name. I've called the song "Brigantine Sirocco" because that's the only title that means anything in a language I know. A sirocco is a desert wind, not exactly suitable for a ship -- but it's also a fast wind, so maybe it makes sense.
The other possibility is that "Sinorca" is a corruption of "Saint (something-or-other)," and the rest corruptions of that. But only one of the four names known to me starts with the S[?]n phoneme combination; the others are S[?]r. So I think Sinorca a secondary corruption, probably of something like "Sirorca." - RBW
File: SmHa015

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