> Louis Killen > Songs > The Dreadnought
The Dreadnought
[
Roud 924
; Laws D13
; Henry H194
; Ballad Index LD13
; DT DREDNGHT
; Mudcat 166643
; trad.]
Joanna C. Colcord: Songs of American Sailormen Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann, John Moulden: Sam Henry’s Songs of the People Stan Hugill: Shanties From the Seven Seas
The version of this song in Sam Henry’s Songs of the People is called The Zared and dated 30 July 1927. Joanna C. Colcord says in Songs of American Sailormen (1938) that The Dreadnought’s tune is “a variant of an old English naval song, The Flash Frigate, or La Pique.” Both the Henry and the Colcord versions do not yet have the Derry Down chorus.
Ewan MacColl sang The Dreadnought on his, A.L. Lloyd and Harry H. Corbett’s 1954/5 Topic album The Singing Sailor. This track was also included on their albums Row Bullies Row (1957), Chants de Marins Anglais No 1 (probably 1957), Singing Sailors (1957), Off to Sea Once More (1958), and The Coast of Peru (1963) and on the anthologies Sea Songs and Shanties (Topic Sampler No 7, 1971), Chants de Marins IV (1984) and Sailors’ Songs & Sea Shanties (2004). The last album’s booklet noted:
There have been few songs made to celebrate the qualities of particular ships but The Dreadnought is an exception. It pays homage to the famous Western Ocean packet built at Maryport, Mass, in 1853. Though not the fastest of her class, she could stand any amount of hard driving in hard weather and once ran from Rock Light to Sandy Hook in 19 days.
Bill Barber of Cadgwith Cove, Lizard, Cornwall and the Cadgwith Fishermen’s Chorus sang The Liverpool Packet in a recording made by Peter Bellamy in November 1956 on the anthology Sailormen and Servingmaids (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 6; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970). This track was also included in 1994 on the Saydisc anthology of traditional English sea songs and shanties from the last days of sail, Sea Songs and Shanties. The Caedmon album’s booklet noted:
A chorus of Cornish fishermen in a seaside tavern at the western tip of Cornwall, and led by a member of the local lifeboat crew, launches this voyage through the sea-going ballads of Britain. The heroine of the first ballad is the famous clipper packet, the Dreadnought. She was built in 1853 and made many a fast passage between New York and Liverpool during her brief and brilliant career, before she went down off Cape Horn in 1869.
Competition between Great Britain and the United States for the control of the merchant marine business of the world was keen during the 19th century. American naval designers built ships that had the trimmer lines and carried more canvas than any vessels ever seen before. American officers drove their ships and men without fear or mercy. The American clipper broke all records and for several generations seriously challenged British control of the sea routes. The passenger packets, loaded with mail, businessmen, and immigrants were the swift workhorses of this period. Ship’s discipline was maintained with pistol, sea boot, and belaying pin. The owners, in order to save money, paid low wages, fed the men slop, and recruited their crews from the riffraff of the waterfront. The mates swore that they could eat a rebellious sailor for breakfast, and the deckhands bragged that they were the toughest men of their time! Sails were raised, lowered, reefed, and furled to the profane commands of the mates and the equally violent shouts of the shantymen. Since all sail handling was to the tune of the shanties, one can say that the clippers were sped along on the wings of the wind and of song. And in the lee of the foc’sle, or at night on the afterdeck, or in the foggy confines of the crews quarters, the tough old salts sang ballads about the ships they loved and mastered.
Stan Hugill [Shanties From the Seven Seas] opines that our present ballad comes from an old English naval ballad called, The Flash Frigate and agrees with Captain Whall that its original heroine was La Pique, a flash packet of the Navy in her time. The song was popular aboard both British and American vessels, spread through the lumber camps of the American middlewest and was quoted in Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous as a Grand Banks fisherman’s favourite.
Martin Carthy sang The Dreadnought on the Hullabaloo ABC Television programme broadcast on 30 November 1963.
A recording of Barbara Dickson singing The Dreadnought live in between 1969 and 1973 was included in 2013 on her folk club album B4 Seventy-Four.
Tom Sullivan sang The Dreadnought on the 2004 Folkways anthology Classic Maritime Music.
The Belgian band Kadril sang The Dreadnought on their 2005 album De Andere Kust.
Louis Killen sang The Dreadnought in 1970 on his South Street Seaport Museum album of songs of the Cape Horn Road, 50 South to 50 South, in 1973 on the National Geographic Society anthology Songs & Sounds of the Sea, and in 1995 on his CD Sailors, Ships & Chanteys. The last recording was also included in 2004 on the Lancaster Maritime Festival anthology Beware of the Press-Gang!!. He noted:
Launched in 1853, this packet was renowned for its fast passages between Liverpool and New York under the command of Sam Samuels. Captain Samuels was a colourful character who published an autobiography extolling his exploits as a bully skipper.
Hughie Jones sang The Liverpool Packet in 2014 on his Fellside album Maritime Miscellany. He noted:
The Liverpool Packet so called because she carried the trans-Atlantic mail as well as passengers wishing to settle in the new world. Her famous captain was one Samuel Samuels who was in command in 1854 when she raced from New York to dock in Liverpool in a record breaking 13 days and 11 hours.
Jack Rutter et al sang The Dreadnought (Bound Away) in 2022 on the Topic anthology Sea Song Sessions.
The “derry down” chorus is also used in the song The Old Bachelor (Roud 7162, G/D 7:1390) which was collected by Gavin Greig from John Quirrie in ca 1906.
Lyrics
Ewan MacColl sings The Dreadnought
There is a flash packet, flash packet of fame
She hails from New York and the Dreadnought’s her name
She’s bound to the westward where stormy winds blow
Bound away in the Dreadnought, to the westward we’ll go.
Chorus (after each verse):
Derry down, down, down derry down
Now, the Dreadnought she lies in the river Mersey
Awaiting the tugboat to take her to sea
Out around the Rock Light where the salt tides do flow
Bound away to the westward, in the Dreadnought we’ll go
Now, the Dreadnought’s a-howling down the wild Irish Sea
Her passengers merry, with hearts full of glee
As sailors like lions walk the decks to and fro
She’s the Liverpool packet, O Lord, let her go!
Now, the Dreadnought’s a-sailing the Atlantic so wide
Where the high roaring seas roll along her black sides
With her sails tightly set for the Red Cross to show
She’s the Liverpool packet, O Lord, let her go!
Now, a health to the Dreadnought, and all her brave crew
To bold Captain Samuels, his officers, too
Talk about your flash packets, Swallowtail and Black Ball
The Dreadnaught’s the flier that outsails them all
Bill Barber and chorus sing The Liverpool Packet
We were going to sea from the Waterloo Dock
And the boys and the girls on the pier-head did flock
To give us three cheers, with a hearty weigh-ho,
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
Now a-ploughing our way down the wild Irish sea,
Our passengers happy, as happy can be,
And all the sailors say, as they walked to and fro, –
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
Now we crossed o’er the Banks of Newfoundland,
Where the water’s all shallow, and the bottoms all sand,
Says: All the little fishes, that swim to and fro, –
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
And now we’re a-waitin’ in the River Mersey,
Waitin’ for the tugboat to haul her to sea,
To haul us to sea, boys, where the stormy winds blow, –
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
And now we’re a-crossin’ the Atlantic so wide,
Where the high-rolling billows crash down on her side,
Her sails set high and the stormy winds blow, –
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
Here’s to our ship and to all our ship’s crew
And one for our captain and the officers, too,
Of all the flash packets, she’s the fastest we know, –
She’s a Liverpool packet—O Lord, let her go.
Louis Killen sings The Dreadnought
There’s a saucy wild packet, a packet of fame;
And she hails from New York, and the Dreadnought’s her name;
Bound away to the westward where the wild winds do blow;
Bound away to the westward and the Dreadnought will go,
Chorus (after each verse):
Derry down, down, down derry down
O, the Dreadnought’s a-waiting in the river Mersey
For the Independence to tow her to sea;
To round that Rock Light where the wild winds does blow,
She’s the Liverpool packet, O Lord, let her go!
And the Dreadnought’s a-sailing down the wild Irish Sea
Her passengers merry, with hearts full of glee
As sailors like lions walk the decks to and fro
She’s the Liverpool packet, O Lord, let her go!
The Dreadnought’s a-sailing the Atlantic so wide
With the high roaring seas roll along her black sides
With her sails tautly set for the Red Cross to show
Bound away to the westward, in the Dreadnought we’ll go.
And the Dreadnought’s arrived in New York once more,
So go ashore, shipmates, to the girls you adore.
With your wives and your sweethearts, how merry you’ll be,
Drink a health to the Dreadnought, wherever she may be.
Here’s a health to the Dreadnought and all of her crew,
And the bold Captain Samuels and his officers, too.
You just can keep your flash packets, Swallowtail and Black Ball
The Dreadnaught’s the flier that can lick them all.
Links
Shipping Wonders of the World: The Wild Boat in the Atlantic