Sounds of the Sea Resound by Robin Dudley PT Leader

I opened an email from Mike James to read: "Holy Mackerel!  Front page, section B.. Robin did a nice job."

I agree. Great article and photo. Thank you for telling our story, Robin!

Robin Dudley, reporter for the PT Leaders interviewed Mike James, Jay Hagar and friends... "Tug" Buse, Jim Scarantino and Steve Blakeslee, about our Sing Shanties Song Circle and songbook.

Sounds of the Sea Resound  - "The skies above Victorian seaports like Port Townsend are accustomed to loud and lusty sea shanties, which are sailors’ work songs. At the Northwest Maritime Center, 30 to 40 people meet each month to sing songs that “echoed across this waterfront like cell phone conversations do today,” said Mike James, one of the acknowledged leaders of Port Townsend’s Sing Shanties group.

People who just want to listen are also welcome at the monthly sing-alongs, and it’s free live music. Beware, matey: when surrounded by voices belting out familiar, repetitive tunes, even stalwart non-singers have been known to chime in. (Almost everybody knows the chorus to “What do you do with a drunken sailor?”)

“When it comes to shanties, you don’t have to sing well, just loud,” James said. “Number one, it’s not a talent show.”

Shanties were developed and sung by sailors who did physical labor requiring concerted effort, often lined up pulling hand-over-hand on a rope, or pushing the bars of a capstan around and around in a circle, raising the anchor.

James has sung shanties at the Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, astonished that the 900-seat theater was filled to overflowing when his group took the stage. The songs are so old, people just seem to know them, and performances turn into sing-alongs.

“That’s the crazy thing,” he said. “You sing through one verse, and after the first three words, everybody knows the refrain.” For the full article click here.

Singin' Shanties - Victorian Heritage Festival

I had no idea of what to expect in the way of attendance at the Port Townsend Victorian Days shantey sing. We had set up eight chairs thinking that would be adequate. Within minutes of the first song those chairs were full, and people kept streaming into the Hastings Building on Water Street to join in the music…some leading songs, joining in on choruses, or just enjoying listening. It reminded me of my days in Michigan during the great folk scare. People got together to share in the joy of a community voice, singing, unrehearsed and unfettered by what someone else might think. Wow! What fun!

Mike James, Sing Shanties song leader

The shanty sing was a huge asset to this year's Victorian Festival. Shanties bring together so much of what is Port Townsend - community and the sea, music, earthiness and good humor. It distills why we're here into something we can share. 

Nathan Barnett, Victorian Festival director

Join us for Our Sing Shanties July 4th Celebration & Song Circle with Mark Olson

Join us for our July 4th Celebration and Song Circle with Mark Olson. The theme of the evening is Singing Shanties Aboard American Ships. Come have fun with us - sing a song, request a song, or pass - our motto is "singin' is encouraged, but knot required." This song circle is also a community potluck. Bring your favorite dish, bring friends. Win prizes! Coffee and tea are provided. Songbooks available. Enjoy Port Townsend's fireworks display following our gathering.

Shanties as Oral History

When Every Thumb was a Marlinspike

The Longwinded Shantyman

Photo by Rande Gjerstad - The children still gather to listen

  My next-door-neighbor Earl is 98 years old. Earl tells a story of breaking his arm when he was a boy. He remembers that day vividly because the trip to the doctor was his very first ride in a car. Imagine that, Earl’s parents, just one generation back in time, had grown up without ever seeing cars. In that very recent past, most of the world could not afford a cart, much less a horse. It would be a banner day indeed to travel by coach. This situation must have impacted people’s world view tremendously. What truly mattered, the “scope” of our ancestor’s existence, was the distance that could be traveled in half a day, on foot - then you must turn around, if you were to safe at home by nightfall. That truth scaled the size of communities and shaped our collective mindset. A sad fact was that a good portion of the population was illiterate - what was beyond the horizon could not travel to you in the form of a book.

  In this world walked, (or rode) the travelers. Those men moving from inn to lodge, fort to garrison, carrying news, language and songs. What must have those rare bards been like to those with an experience spanning a mere 30 miles? The maps, stories, strange new words and songs they would bring would be as memorable as Earl’s first ride in that car. The traveler might have even seen a city, or a snow-topped mountain - things almost impossible to believe.

  Now, imagine a sailor coming into the village. He is not a traveler on horseback, bringing news from hundreds of leagues distant. No, this strange man is telling stories of the far side of the world. He speaks casually of people of different colors, of mountains that smoke, of salt water without end. At first you think him mad, but the elders of the village say others like him have come this way before, with similar stories, words and songs.

  And that is the crucial point: reinforcement. Everything out of his mouth is memorable and will be repeated, everywhere he goes. Your village may die out, victim of a killer plague - your whole world, its unique words, customs, and language, destroyed in a few months, but not the sailor’s. His world is everywhere. His words are sprinkled all around the globe, waiting for a parallel development to again push that term to the fore, reinforcing it yet again. Or perhaps with some expressions the continuity will never be lost and people will never stop using them, we will just forget their origins.

  I wonder if his songs will ever die? Will the tunes he ground out to pass the time while on watch stay with us over the centuries? Will there come a day when folks gather in a circle and remember the first world traveler, his words and his stories of far-away places? Maybe the leader of the circle will keep track of the time on an instrument named after those long lonely hours our first shantyman spent on deck, watching the sea and sky…

Who knows?

Mark Olson