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Captain Glen / William Glenn / Sir William Gower / The New York Trader

[ Roud 478 ; Master title: Captain Glen ; Laws K22 ; G/D 2:191 ; Ballad Index LK22 ; Bodleian Roud 478 ; Wiltshire 328 , 814 ; Folkinfo 857 , 859 ; DT CAPTGLEN ; Mudcat 19424 , 128435 ; trad.]

Dean William Christie: Traditional Ballad Airs Helen Creighton: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia Maud Karpeles: Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs Frank Kidson: A Garland of English Folk-Songs George Petrie: The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland Cecil J. Sharp: One Hundred English Folksongs Alfred Williams: Folk Songs of the Upper Thames Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd: The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

This song is listed in A.L. Lloyd and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Penguin Book of English Folk Songs as The New York Trader.

Dave and Toni Arthur sang The Guilty Sea Captain in 1967 on their Transatlantic record Morning Stands on Tiptoe. They noted:

In ballads the theme of bad luck being attached to a ship through the presence of a criminal on board has been noted in Scandinavia, Russia and Great Britain. In some ballads, Brown Robyn’s Confession (Child 57) for example, after confessing his guilt, in this case incest, the criminal is thrown overboard, but saved from death by divine intervention. In others as in The Guilty Sea Captain he is just thrown overboard and the ship sails on in safety. A song with a similar set of words as those sung here, is the New York Trader (F.S.J. VII 2). This was printed at least three times by Catnach in London and by numerous other printers around the country.The version sung here is from Alfred Williams’ Folk Songs of the Upper Thames to the tune of the New York Trader.

John Faulkner sang The New York Trader in 1970 on The Critics Group’s Argo album As We Were A-Sailing. They noted:

The theme of the Jonah legend turns up fairly frequently in English and Scots folksong; Brown Robyn’s Confession (No. 57 in Professor Child’s collection of ballads); the mid-seventeenth century broadside of William Grismond’s Downfall, and William Guiseman, are some of the older songs which make use of this theme. A more modern example is the late eighteenth century broadside, Captain Glen, from which The New York Trader and Sir William Gower are obviously derived.

In both these songs, the guilty sea-captain is saddled with the additional crime of having starved his crew and passengers, a feature absent in Captain Glen.

Hedgehog Pie sang The New York Trader in 1974 on their eponymous Rubber album Hedgehog Pie.

Tony Rose sang this song as Sir William Gower in 1976 on his third album, On Banks of Green Willow. He noted:

It was a common superstition, possibly originating with the story of Jonah, that the presence of an evil-doer on board a ship might imperil both vessel and crew, unless the guilty party were sought out and thrown overboard. Such is the theme running through The Banks of Green Willow and Sir William Gower, both of which were collected by Cecil Sharp in Somerset.

Fairport Convention recorded Sir William Gower a few years earlier than Tony Rose for their LP Angel Delight. Their BBC session recording broadcast 27 March 1971 on “Folk on One” was included in the 4 CD box Live at the BBC.

Nic Jones recorded this ballad as William Glenn with somewhat different verses in 1978 for his album From the Devil to a Stranger. Another version was included in 2001 on his compilation CD Unearthed where it is called Captain Glenn. He also sang it in a BBC Radio 1 John Peel session recorded on 19 April 1977 and broadcast 26 April 1977.

John Wesley Harding also sang this ballad on his Nic Jones tribute album, Trad Arr Jones.

Graham Moore sang William Glenn on his 1995 album Tom Paine’s Bones.

Brian Peters sang Sir William Gower in 2001 on his Pugwash album Lines. He noted:

Sir William Gower (reputedly a version of Child 57) combines the seaman’s superstition of the ‘Jonah’ with an avenging ghost. It’s pretty much the version Cecil Sharp collected in Somerset in 1905—dramatic story, interesting tune.

Chris Foster sang The New York Trader in 2004 on his Tradition Bearers CD Jewels. He noted:

The New York Trader (collected from Ted Goffin of Catfield. Norfolk in the 1920s) is also about crossing the Atlantic but in very different circumstances. The story, which has echoes of the ballad Brown Robyn’s Confession (Child ballad number 57) combines high action and supernatural undercurrents. The interesting tune, which was written down in 5/4, has evolved into something a bit more uneven over the years.

CrossCurrent sang The New York Trader in 2005 on their Focal album Momentum. They noted:

New York Trader is a version of the ballad William Glen, which we found in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. This version was collected from Ted Goffen in Norfolk in the early part of last century.

John Doyle sang Captain Glenn on his 2005 CD Wayward Son. He noted:

Nic Jones recorded this on an early out of print record called From the Devil to a Stranger. Many thanks to the Rusby family and to Ken Cope each for getting a copy to me.

Belgian group Kadril sang The New York Trader on their 2005 album De Andere Kust.

Mawkin:Causley sang New York Trader in 2008 on their Navigator album Cold Ruin. They noted:

The gorgeous Nancy Kerr taught Jim [Causley] this jolly ditty when he asked her for a song she thought would suit his voice. It can be found in that bible known as the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and it makes Jim’s spine shiver every time he sings it.

Bryony Griffith sang William Gower in 2011 on her and Will Hampson’s CD Lady Diamond. They learned it “from the singing of Tony Rose and Cecil Sharp’s collection of English Folk Songs.” and coupled it with the tune The Tankard of Ale “from the manuscript of Joshua Jackson, North cornmiller and musician, by Bowen & Shepherd for Yorkshire Dales Workshops.”

Tarras sang New York Trader in 2011 on their CD Warn the Waters.

Eliza Carthy sang New York Trader in 2012 on The Imagined Village’s album Bending the Dark and in 2024 on her album No Wasted Joy. She noted:

This song, which I first recorded for The Imagined Village on our album Bending the Dark, is an example of a morality tale with a hefty warning to not be a baddie. It would seem common sense to not want a murderer on a small wooden ship with you hundreds of miles from anywhere in the middle of the sea; turns out our ancestors felt the same. I love Neptune rising to warn the villainous Captain that he is about to “play” with the Lord of the ocean…we all know who wins).

Steve Turner sang William Glenn in 2012 on his Tradition Bearers album Rim of the Wheel. He noted:

The owners of the ship captained by William Glenn the psychopathic killer and his devious assistant must have been fairly gullible to have given him the job in the first place. But it pans out into a dramatic tale which I heard sung for the first time in Manchester in the late sixties by Clive Wolfe, a wonderful singer/guitarist whose career was sadly curtailed by illness at a far too early age. I was not able to remember the version he sang, so this set of words comes from Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs. The tune I use, which may be different from Clive’s, is a variation on the one given in Christie’s and is also found in Petrie’s Ancient Music of Ireland, and in Bunting’s Collection as There Was a Lady All Skin and Bone. Sir Walter Scott also refers to the song in The Pirate. The story is also the basis of Brown Robyn’s Confession and William Gower. In Child the song is referred to as Captain Glenn and Helen Creighton has it in Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia.

Mick Ryan and Paul Downes sang The New York Trader in 2013 on their WildGoose album When Every Song Was New. Mick Ryan noted.

I got A New York Trader from yet another anonymous floor singer in Swindon. This, too, is in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. The notes there say that the song is often conflated with the similar, but different, William Glen. This is, obviously, what the folk club source did!

Pete Coe sang Captain Glen in 2014 on his and Alice Jones’ Backshift album of songs from Frank Kidson’s collection, The Search for Five Finger Frank.

(A Garland of English Folk-Songs) The tune is from Charles Lolley’s mother and the lyrics probably originate from a broadside.

False Lights sang William Glenn on their 2018 CD Harmonograph. They noted:

Learned from Nic Jones’ version on From the Devil to a Stranger, with some extra lines based on Tony Rose’s recording under the name Sir William Gower. It was a common superstition that an evil-doer onboard could endanger the whole crew, and the best solution was to find the guilty party and throw them overboard to calm the storms they had caused.

Lankum sang The New York Trader in 2023 on their Rough Trade album False Lankum. They noted:

We learned The New York Trader, like so many other great songs, from Ringsend native and all round legend Luke Cheevers. It is one of a group of songs (sometimes referred to as the ‘Jonah Ballads’), which describe a criminal on board a ship being detected by supernatural means. It was believed that their presence would bring bad luck to the vessel and that the only way to escape this fate was to throw them overboard. The words to the song may be based on an older ballad called The Pirate in which the destination was New Barbary rather than ‘Amerikay’. It was printed on broadsides in the UK where it was quite popular in the 19^th century, and versions were subsequently collected in Wiltshire, Norfolk and Nova Scotia in the 20^th century.

Shoon sang New York Trader on their eponymous 2024 EP Shoon.

Allister Thompson sang The New York Trader on his 2024 album Ancestors.

Màiri Morrison and Alasdair Roberts sang Uilleam Glen in 2025 on their Drag City album of songs collected by Helen Creighton in Nova Scotia, Remembered in Exile. They noted:

Variants of Uilleam Glen first appeared on 19^th century broadsides. It was published in A.L. Lloyd and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (1959) under the title The New York Trader and memorably recorded by Nic Jones as William Glenn in 1978. The variant Creighton collected, again from Hugh F. ,MacKenzie, has the uniquely Nova Scotian twist of alternating verses in Gaelic and English, and we have retained that macaronic format here.

Lyrics

Tony Rose sings Sir William Gower

A bold young seaman, stout and strong,
To a lofty vessel I do belong:
Well rigged, well manned, well fit for sea,
Bound for New York in Amerikey.

Our captain’s name was William Gower
And his crew in the number were just four score.
All seamen bold for to sail the sea
Bound for New York in Amerikey.

Our captain in his cabin lay
When an awful voice to him did say:
"Prepare yourself and your company
Tomorrow night in the deep to lie."

Our captain woke in an awful fright
It being in the first part all of the night,
And to his bosun aloud did call
To him revealed his secret all.

"Oh, it’s bosun, bosun, let no-one know
What we poor sailors do undergo,
But keep the secret within your breast
And pray to God now to give you rest."

"I killed my master, a merchant there,
And ’twas all for the sake of his lady dear;
I killed my wife and my children three
And ’twas all for the sake of jealousy."

"Oh, it’s on my servant I laid the blame,
He was hung and quartered all for the same.
And it is his ghost I am much afraid,
This very night has my heart betrayed."

Early next morning the storm did rise
Which our poor sailors did much surprise,
And the sea washed o’er us, both fore and aft
Till scarce one man on deck was left.

At this our bosun he did declare
Our captain he was some murderer.
Which so enraged the whole ship’s crew
They overboard then the captain threw.

When this was done, oh, a calm was there
And our good ship homeward did steer.
Oh the wind abated and calmed the sea,
And we sailed safe to Amerikey.

Nic Jones sings William Glenn

Oh it’s of a ship and a ship of fame
Launched off the stocks, bound to sail the main;
With one hundred and fifty brisk young men
Well picked and chosen every one
And William Glenn was the captain’s name.
He was a fine and a tall young man
As fine a sailor as sailed the sea;
And we were sailing to New Barbary.

On the first of April, then we set sail,
Blessed with a fine and a prosperous gale.
And we were bound for New Barbary
With all of our whole ship’s company.
We hadn’t been sailing a league or two
Till all of our whole ship’s jovial crew,
They all fell sick but sixty-three
As we were sailing to New Barbary.

One night the Captain then he did dream,
A voice came to him and said to him:
“Prepare yourself and your company
For tomorrow night you must lie with me.”
This woke the captain in a terrible fright,
It being the third watch of the night.
And aloud for the bosun then he did call
And to him told his secrets all.

“Bosun,” he said, “it grieves my heart
To think I’ve played a villain’s part:
A man I slew in Staffordshire
And all for the sake of his lady fair.
And of the ghost of that I am afraid
That has in me such terror bred.
So keep the secret within your breast
And pray to the lord that he gives you rest.”

We hadn’t been a sailing a league but three
Till raging grew the roaring sea.
There rose a tempest up in the skies
Which did our seamen much surprise
And the main mast sprung by the break of day
Which made our rigging all but to give way;
And did our seamen much affright
The terrors of that awful night.

And then the bosun he did declare
That the captain was a murderer.
This so enraged the whole ship’s crew
That overboard our captain threw.
Our treacherous captain he being gone
Immediately there came a calm
And the winds abated and so did the sea
And we went sailing to New Barbary.

And when we came to the Spanish Shore
Our good little ship for to repair,
The people there were amazed to see
Our dismal case and such misery.
Now seamen all wherever you may be
I pray you take a warning from me:
As you love life won’t you have care
And never go sailing with a murderer.

Chris Foster sings The New York Trader

To a New York trader I did belong
And she was built for sea both stout and strong
Well rigged and well manned and well fit for sea
She was bound for New York in Ameriky

Well our cruel captain as we did find
Left half of our provisions behind
Our cruel captain as we understand
Meant to starve us all before we made the land

At length our hunger grew very great
We had but little on board to eat
And we were in necessity
All by our captain’s cruelty

Our captain in his cabin lay
And a voice come to him and it thus did say
“Prepare yourself and your company
For tomorrow night you shall lay with me”

Well our captain awoke in a terrible fright
It being the first watch of the night
And aloud for his bo’s’n he then did call
And he to him related the secret all

“O Bo’s’n” says he “it grieves my heart
To think I acted a villain’s part
And to take what was not my lawful due
To starve the passengers and the whole ship’s crew”

“Now there is one thing more I have to tell
When I in Waterford town did dwell
O I killed my master a merchant there
All for the sake of his lady fair”

“I killed my wife and my children three
All for that curséd jealousy
And on my servant I laid the blame
And hanged he was all for the same”

“O Captain” says he “if that be so
Pray let none of your ship’s crew know
But keep your secret within your breast
And pray to God for to give you rest”

Well early next morning a storm did rise
Which did our seamen much surprise
The sea was o’er us both fore and aft
Until scarce a man on our deck was left

O and then our bo’s’n he did declare
That our captain was a murderer
And this so enraged our whole ship’s crew
That they overboard their captain threw

And when this was done a calm was there
Our good little ship homeward did steer
The wind abated and it calmed the seas
And we sailed safe to Ameriky

And when we came to anchor there
Our good little ship for to repair
O the people wondered much to see
What a poor and distressed shipwrecked crew were we

Bryony Griffith sings William Gower

A bold sea captain named William Gower
And his loyal crew of just four score.
All seamen brave for to sail with he
Bound for New York far across the sea.

This captain in his cabin lay
When a dreadful voice unto him did say:
"Prepare thyself and thy ship’s company
For tomorrow in deepest waters may be."

The captain woke in a shivering fright
And it being the third part all of the night,
Unto the bosun he loudly cried
And shared the secret of how they might die.

Saying, "Bosun, bosun, let no-one know
What our poor ship might undergo,
Pray keep the secret close to thy chest
And pray to the Gods that they give us rest."

"For, I killed my neighbour back on the land,
All for the sake of a lady’s hand;
Then I killed my wife and my children three
All for the sake of damn jealousy."

"And on a poor young sailor I laid the blame,
He was drawn and quartered all for the same.
Now it is his ghost I am afraid
Has come this night my poor life to take."

Then the sea burst over both fore and aft
Till hardly any crew were left,
Then the bosun cried, “I do declare,
It’s the captain’s fault, he’s a murderer!”

This news, this news did enrage the crew
And overboard their bold captain threw,
Then the wind it ceased end the sea was calm,
Bound for New York they sailed free from harm.

Steve Turner sings William Glenn

Now it’s of a ship and a ship of fame
Launched from the stocks, bound to sail the main,
With a hundred and fifty brisk young men
Well picked and chosen every one.
And William Glenn was the captain’s name,
He was a tall and handsome man,
As fine a sailor as sailed the sea,
And we were sailing to High Barbary.

On the first of April we set sail,
Blessed with a sweet and a prosperous gale.
But the crew fell sick but sixty three
And we were sailing to High Barbary.
One night the captain lay in his sleep,
There came a voice out from the deep,
“Prepare yourself and your company,
Tomorrow night you must lie with me.”

This raised the captain all in a fright,
It being the third watch of the night.
And straight for the bosun then he did call,
And to him told his secrets all.
“I slew a Lord in Staffordshire
All for the love of his lady fair.
And through the king he has pardoned me,
He’s daily in my company.”

“O worthy captain if it is so,
I pray you let nobody know,
But keep your secret all in your breast
And pray to the Lord that you get some rest.”
Well then the seas they did rage and roar,
We never thought that we’d see the shore.
The ship was washed both fore and aft,
Till scarce a man on board was left.

Our foremost man at the helm he stood
Was swept away by the raging flood.
Crying for mercy on us all
As to the bottom he then did fall.
Well then the bosun he did declare
That our captain he was a murderer.
Which so outraged our whole ship’s crew,
That overboard our captain threw.

Our treacherous captain he being gone,
Immediately there came a calm,
And the winds were calmed and so was the sea,
And we went sailing to High Barbary.
And when to High Barbary we did come,
Our dismal fate unto them we then made known.
So all young sailors I pray beware,
And never sail with a murderer.

Acknowledgements and Links

Thanks to Garry Gillard for transcribing the lyrics from Tony Rose’s singing.

Nic Jones’ lyrics were copied from the Digital Tradition.