Handsome Cabin Boy, The [Laws N13]

DESCRIPTION: A disguised girl signs aboard ship as a cabin boy. The ship's captain discovers her secret and, even though his wife is aboard, gets her pregnant. One night the "boy's" cries awaken the crew, who learn she is in labor. All are thoroughly astonished
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Journal from the Champion)
KEYWORDS: cross-dressing ship pregnancy adultery disguise childbirth sailor infidelity love
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE) Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws N13, "The Handsome Cabin Boy"
Greig/Duncan1 181, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, p. 160, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #26, pp. 157-158, "The Handsome Cabin Boy [Laws N13]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 32, "The Female Cabin Boy" (1 text)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #6, "The Female Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 163, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lane/Gosbee-SongsOfShipsAndSailors, p. 174, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 280-281, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 174-175, "The Female Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-OxfordBookOfSeaSongs 97, "The Female Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill-SongsOfTheSea, p. 86, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #836, p. 56, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 reference)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 123-125, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 192, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (1 text)
DT 445, CABINBOY*
Roud #239
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Mary Ann Galpin, "The Handsome Cabin Boy" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Bob Hart, "The Female Cabin Boy" (on Voice12)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:035, "The Female Cabin Boy," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
NOTES [64 words]: For accounts of women who served in the navy or the army, and sometimes became pregnant as a result, see the notes to "The Soldier Maid."
According to Edwin Wolf 2nd, American Song Sheets, Slip Ballads, and Political Broadsides 1850-1870, Library Company of Philadelphia, 1963, p. 56, there is a De Marsan broadside of this, with eight verses. This would imply a date before 1865. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LN13

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