The following is an article I wrote in 1987 about the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's Traditional Sea Music Program while I was Director of Education at the museum. The program is still in operation. For further information, call 415-556-3002. Programs are currently held on the first Saturday of the month from 8 PM to Midnight aboard the schooner C.A. Thayer , ferryboat Eureka, or the ship Balclutha at the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco. For a current calendar of events at the maritime park, click here.
"...for shanty singing was of the very essence of seafaring life, a part of its special flavor as well as a practical necessity in the work that daily and hourly went forward. Once the situation had become established, ships could hardly be handled without shanty singing. And in a folk sense, they were a ship's local color; as such we find them used in every story of ships sailing today."
Colcord, Joanna. Songs of American Sailormen. Bramhal House, New York, 1924.
In merchant vessels of the mid-nineteenth century, the tasks of raising anchor, hauling on the halyards to raise sail, pumping ship, handling cargo, etc. were done by hand without the assistance of engines or other forms of artificial power. During this period a vast number of "work songs" were developed and used aboard ships as a way of rhythmically working in unison and allaying the boredom of this sometimes longs and tedious work.
The Traditional Music (Chantey) Program at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco (a unit of the National Park System, United States Department of the Interior), was first conceived and implemented in September/October of 1981 as a spinoff of the museum's second annual Festival of the Sea. What began as a group of thirty or so people trading chanteys and sailorsongs in the hold of the schooner C.A. Thayer has blossomed into a once a month, year-round program which draws between 100 and 300 participants per program. A total of 3,000 people are currently (1987) listed on the program's mailing list.
These loosely-structured programs are run by the museum staff with the assistance of volunteers. Typically, a flyer mailing is done once every three months, announcing the next three programs. People call to RSVP so that a "gate list" can be made, since the park is closed to the general public in the evening. A children's program (aimed at school-age children, their parents, and friends) is held from 3-5 PM, followed by the regular program from 8 PM to midnight. Participants may arrive and leave as they wish.
The program, in a large sense, depends on the audience. Although park rangers lead the program by teaching and leading some chanteys and sailorsongs, any member of the audience is welcome (and encouraged!) to share their music as well -- either accompanied (by traditional instruments such as the melodeon or concertina) or a cappella. Generally the program runs for a 45-minute "set" followed by a 15-minute break (for conversation, use of restrooms, and "wetting you whistle") each hour. The traditional pumping chantey for the end of a voyage -- Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her - - is the last song sung at midnight.
Copyright © Dave Nettell, 1987
Festival of the Sea (date unknown)
(left to right) Jon Berger, Gary Keep, Dave Nettell
A Reunion of Chantey Program Rangers
Aboard the schooner C.A. Thayer
Festival of the Sea, 1998
Photo by Marc Hayman
(left to right) J. Revell Carr III, Dave Nettell, Celeste Bernardo, Peter Kasin
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