Rocks of Scilly, The [Laws K8]

DESCRIPTION: The singer leaves his new wife to go to sea. Lonely, he fears a disaster -- and meets one when a storm runs his ship onto the Rocks of Scilly. Another singer tells how only four sailors survive, not including the first singer. His wife dies of sorrow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(83)); a probable version is in "Four New Songs" (1796)
KEYWORDS: sailor storm wife death
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South,West)) US(NE)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws K8, "The Rocks of Scilly"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "ROCKS OF SCILLY, THE"
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 51-53, "Rocks of Scilly" (1 text)
Palmer-FolkSongsCollectedBy-Ralph-VaughanWilliams, #45, "The Rocks of Scilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, p. 87, "Scilly Rocks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #52, "The Wreck off Scilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 200-201, "Rocks of Scilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-FolksongsFromSouthernNewBrunswick 62, "The Rocks of Scilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 50, "The Rocks of Scilly" (1 text)
Beck-FolkloreOfMaine, pp. 175-176, "The Scilly Rocks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 167, "The Rocks of Scilly" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
DT 400, SCILLRCK
Roud #388
RECORDINGS:
Kate McCarthy, "Seafaring Song" (on MUNFLA-Leach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(83), "Rocks of Scilly," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth c.12(118), Harding B 17(261a), Harding B 16(231a), Harding B 11(3303), "[The] Rocks of Scilly"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gentle Boy (Why Don't Father's Ship Come In)" (theme)
NOTES [206 words]: "The Isles of Scilly -- 40 miles off the extreme western tip of England -- are a beautiful, sometimes wild, place where more ships have been wrecked than anywhere else in the world." (Source: Tresco Times -- The Last Piece of England quoted at the Tresco Isles of Scilly site) - BS
Michael Taft points out to me Four New Songs (Philadelphia: William Jones, 1796), pp. 2-4. "THE SHIPWRECKED SAILORS ON THE ROCKS OF SCYLLA" with the first line: "Come all you jolly sailors bold." The obvious strong supposition is that it is this song, which would make the EARLIEST DATE 1796. But all we have is the title and first line, not the text, so I can't absolutely prove it.
Many ships were wrecked on the Scilly rocks over the years, but the most famous of all accidents there was the Scilly Naval Disaster of 1707. Four Royal Navy ships struck the rocks on October 22, 1707. The total number of sailor lost is uncertain, but it almost certainly exceeded 1400. Among the dead was the admiral, Cloudesley Shovell. There is no reason to connect this song with the disaster, but it would have made even people who lived far from the sea aware of the Rocks of Scilly. I'm a little surprised there isn't a popular song about the disaster. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.2
File: LK08

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