Rosie Belle Teeneau, The

DESCRIPTION: In habitant dialect. The Rosie Belle Teeneau is manned by Jean Baptiste DuChene and family, and sails the Great Lakes. On one trip, they carry a cargo of gunpowder without knowing what it is. It, and DuChene, are blown up. Sailors are warned of explosives
AUTHOR: unknown (published by William Edward Baubie)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Baubie, French Canadian Verse)
KEYWORDS: humorous sailor ship death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm-Windjammers-SongsOfTheGreatLakesSailors, pp. 158-160, "Legend of hte Rosie Belle Teeneau" (1 text)
Roud #19882
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "De Scow Jean La Plante" (main character)
NOTES [111 words]: That this is a legend, and not fact, is obvious from the fact that gunpowder is not itself explosive; it *burns*, and must be primed. No such events are described in the song.
It is not clear to me that this poem/song is traditional. Walton's version is from print, and there is no mention of having heard even a portion of it from tradition. But the notes imply that the legend of DuChene and the gunpowder is traditional -- indeed, there is another poem about him, ""De Scow Jean La Plante," which involves a different boat and a different voyage but has a "Captain Batteece" and ends with the boat blowing up. This probably isn't folk song. It may be folk tale. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: WGM158

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