High Barbaree [Child 285; Laws K33]

DESCRIPTION: (Two) ships meet a pirate man-o-war. In the ensuing battle, the pirate is sunk, disabled, or taken.
AUTHOR: unknown (the "High Barbaree" recension is by Charles Dibdin)
EARLIEST DATE: 1670 (the title is mentioned 1611; a fragment is found in 1634)
KEYWORDS: battle navy ship pirate
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland US(MA,NE,NW,SE)
REFERENCES (38 citations):
Child 285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (1 text)
Bronson 285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (15 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 285, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (2 versions: #6, #10)
Laws K33, "High Barbaree"
Greig/Duncan1 38, "The Coasts of Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Shay-AmericanSeaSongsAndChanteys, pp. 91-92, "The High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord-SongsOfAmericanSailormen, p. 153, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow-ChantyingAboardAmericanShips, pp. 161-162, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-ShantiesFromTheSevenSeas, pp. 419-4212, "High Barbaree" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 320-321]
Kinsey-SongsOfTheSea, pp. 133-135, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 413-418, "High Barbary" (1 text plus 2 songster and 1 broadside version)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 118, "High Barbaree" (1 short text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 118, "High Barbaree" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #21, "High Barbaree" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #2, #9}
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 25, "The Queen of Russia and the Prince of Wales" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 229, "New Barbary" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland4, pp. 176-187, "The Coast of Barbary" (4 texts plus 3 fragments, 5 tunes) {F=Bronson's #8}
Thompson-APioneerSongster 7, "The Bold Pirates" (1 text)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 665-667, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake"; pp. 777-778, "High Barbaree" (2 texts)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 399, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake"; p. 407, "High Barbaree" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 131, "The 'George-Aloe'" (1 text)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 142, "Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 38-39, "(The Bold Pirates)" (1 text)
Grigson-PenguinBookOfBallads 79, "The Salcombe Seaman's Flaunt to the Proud Pirate" (1 text)
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 12, "The Coasts of High Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Karpeles-TheCrystalSpring 5, "The Coasts of High Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 212-213, "The High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ashton-RealSailorSongs, #11, "The Sailor's onely Delight. Shewing the brave Fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstake, and certain Frenchmen at Sea" (1 text)
Shay-BarroomBallads/PiousFriendsDrunkenCompanions, pp. 102-104, "High Barbaree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Frank-NewBookOfPirateSongs 5, "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake" (1 text, 1 tune; composite; #5 in the first edition); also 6, "High Barbaree" (4 texts, 1 tune; #6 in the first edition)
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 8, "The Sailor's Only Delight" (1 text)
Stone-SeaSongsAndBallads XLI, pp. 61-64, "The Saylor's Only Delight" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 100-101, "High Barbaree" (1 text)
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 166, "The Coasts of High Barbary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 91, "High Barbaree" (1 text)
Olson-BroadsideBalladIndex, ZN953, "The George-Aloe and the Sweep-stake too"
DT, HIGHBARB* HIGHBRB3*
ADDITIONAL: John Ashton, _A Century of Ballads_, Elliot Stock, London, 1887; reprinted 1968 by Singing Tree Press, pp. 205-208, "The Sailors onely Delight" (1 text, of "The George Aloe...")
Roud #134
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "The Coast of High Barbary" (General 5017B, 1941; on Almanac02, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Bob Roberts, "High Barbaree" (on LastDays)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 4o Rawl. 566(183), "The Saylors Only Delight; shewing the brave fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstake, and certain Frenchmen at sea" ("The George-Aloe, and the Sweep-stake too"), F. Coles (London), 1663-1674; also Douce Ballads 2(196b), "The Seaman's Only Delight: shewing the brave fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstakes and certain French men at sea"
LOCSinging, as102370, "Coast of Barbary," L. Deming (Boston), n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sailor's Joy" (tune, broadsides Bodleian 4o Rawl. 566(183) and Douce Ballads 2(196b))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Blow High, Blow Low
NOTES [512 words]: Scholars continue to debate the relationship between Child's text "The George Aloe..." and the better-known "High Barbaree." Laws considers them separate, as does Roud (listing "The George Aloe" as #6739 and "Barbaree" as #134, which will give you some idea of their relative popularity); Coffin, in Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland4, reports that "High Barbary" retains "little of [its] model beyond the plot outline and the Barbary refrain."
I, obviously, think them the same. (Or, more correctly, regard them as separate recensions, but see no point in separating two songs so often filed together, particularly given the rarity of "The George Aloe.") Bronson doesn't even note the difference.
Frank Shay and Coffin, among others, reports that "High Barbaree" was written by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814), who wrote a number of songs for the Royal Navy (including "Blow High Blow Low"). If so, it seems likely that he was inspired by "The George Aloe..."; I do not consider this by itself reason to separate the two (again, most especially since certain publications do not distinguish them).
For more on author Charles Dibdin, see the notes to "Blow High Blow Low."
The first known text of "The George Aloe..." is found in the Shakespeare/Fletcher play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" (perhaps written c. 1611; printed 1634), Act III.v.59-66 (a section generally attributed to Fletcher):
The George Alow came from the south,
From the coast of Barbary-a;
And there he met with brave gallants of war,
By one, by two, by three-a.
Well hail'd, well hail'd, you jolly gallants!
And whither now are you bound-a?
O let me have your company
Till [I] come to the sound-a." [The word "I" is missing in the quarto print; conjectured by Tonson.]
Child can find no historical records of a voyage of these ships, particularly in the vicinity of Barbaree. But it is noteworthy that, in the 1540s, Henry VIII had a ship called the Sweepstake. According to Rodger, p. 181, this ship and three others were set to patrolling Scotland in 1543 (?). And the enemy ship in "The George Aloe" was French, and the English squadron kept a French fleet from joining with the Scots.
We also find a ship called the Sweepstake in commission in the 1580s, commanded by Captain Diggory Piper; she was a privateer who took at least a couple of Spanish ships. This is interesting because Piper seemed to inspire music; there is a "Captain Diggory Piper's Galliard" mentioned on p. 343 of Rodger.
I won't say that either event inspired this song, but it might have influenced the name of the ship.
In addition to the Shakespeare mention, there is a 1611 item in the Stationer's Register with this name. Rollins, #955, p. 87, gives this entry: "George Aloo and the Swiftestake, Item the second parte of the (Mch. 19, 1611, III, 456, Rich. Jones). [The Sailor's onely Delight: Shewing the brave fight between George-Aloe, the Sweep-stakes and certain French-men at Sea. To the tune of The Saylor's Joy.... Beg. 'The George-Aloe and the Sweep-stake too,' R[oxburghe] B[allads] VI, 409." - RBW
Bibliography Last updated in version 6.2
File: C285

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