Ward Line, The

DESCRIPTION: "De cap'n's in dce pilot house ringin' de bell, Who's on de way, boys, who's on de way? 'N' de mate's down atween decks givin' de niggas hell, Tell me, whar you goin?" Complains of a Black sailor on a Great Lakes ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (collected by Walton from several Great Lakes sailors)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 41-45, "The Ward Line" (1 composite text plus some stray verses, 1 tune)
Roud #19878
NOTES [83 words]: Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors reports that Sam Ward founded the Ward Line in 1820, and that Captain Eber Brock Ward was Michigan's richest man at the time of his death in 1875. One of the ships of the Ward Line was the Sam Ward, known as the "Old Black Sam." Julius F. Wolff, Jr., Lake Superior Shipwrecks, Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., Duluth, 1990, p.4, says the Sam Ward was a 433 ton steamer which had an accident in 1854 but survived. She was wrecked in 1861. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: WGM043

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