Shotley Stew

DESCRIPTION: "There's a half a pound of bully-beef left from the month before" and other unsavory items, all mixed together, "And when they finished boiling it, it tasted just like glue, They gave it to the Ganges boys And called it Shotley Stew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy)
KEYWORDS: food cook navy hardtimes derivative
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy, p. 48, "Shotley Stew" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Little Bit of Heaven" (tune)
NOTES [91 words]: Although this song refers to the Ganges, you'll look in vain for a British Navy ship by that name. HMS Ganges was a shore establishment, founded near the beginning of the twentieth century and lasting until 1976, where new sailors were given their initial training. It was near Shotley in East Anglia (hence the song name), close to the naval base at Harwich, where the Orwell and the Stour join close to the sea; the nearest major town is Ipswich, a few miles up the Orwell.
The Ganges is now memorialized by the HMS Ganges Museum at Shotley.
Last updated in version 5.1
File: Tawn031

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