The Princess Royal (forebitter) [421]

*From the unabridged edition of Hugill's SHANTIES FROM THE SEVEN SEAS (1961).

[Damn fan on the computer....]

Here's a short forebitter (sea ballad) about an encounter with a pirate ship. Stan Hugill included this in his original text with the excuse of comparing it to "High Barbaree." Now, remember that Hugill's text is supposed to be a compendium of chanties, not non-work songs like this. And "High Barbaree" is basically a forebitter, too... it's just that High Barbaree was allegedly sometimes *used as* a chanty, which merited its inclusion! And then, some similarities to it in "The Princess Royal" also seemed to merit *its* inclusion! Anyways, it was cut from the current edition.

While in "High Barbaree" the threatened ship engages in a firefight with the pirate and eventually sinks him, in "The Princess Royal" the threatened ship's captain says, "Screw you, I'll not heave to" and his ship manages to evade the pirate. It is a victory of tactical maneuvering, not fire-power.

Hugill learned this version from a Bill Fuller of Cornwall, who in turn got it from a Navy sailor.

Doerflinger also collected a variation of this ballad, and two tunes to go with it. IMHO the poetry of that version is better, however the one in Hugill does also have a certain "ring" of simplicity and authenticity. Indeed, this version seems to mess up the story a bit.

Please check out the whole chanteys project playlist, at
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58B55DD66F22060C

Category:

Music

Tags:

• challah
• day
• forebitter
• sea
• song
• ballad
• not
• shanty
• bold
• princess
• royal