Here list of this shanties family
- Horraw For The Blackball Line
- Horraw For The Blackball Line (Liverpool Jacks Tune)
- Horraw For The Blackball Line (solo variations)
Interesting Facts about the Horraw For The Blackball Line – Shanties Family
Horraw For The Blackball Line – Shanties Family, was sung at the capstan or windlass All those shanties with words “Hurrah”, “Horray”, or “Horraw” in the refrain or chorus were known by sailors as “horraw choruses” and very often was said that “our wild horraw chorus soon raised the mud hook (or hoisted the tops’l)”. Here is one of the best “horraw choruses” shanty.
The capstan was used on sailing ships. It was a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to multiply the pulling force of seamen when hauling ropes. The capstan was used for multiple pulling (heaving) jobs. However, raising the capstan was the heaviest job so the tempo was the slowest used on capstans. Below image of the capstan working on its sailors.
On this occasion, I will show you this shanty, described by Stan Hugill in his “Shanties From the Seven Seas”. I hope it brings you closer to the notion of how they were used at the capstan. all video reconstructions tried to direct the listener to how they sounded in actual ship deck action when sailors used it.
The above image displays sailors working at a capstan.
Short story of this shanties family
This version of Santiana, Stan Hugill had from the shanty book “Opsang”. It hails from the port of Stavanger and is a ‘Westland’ version. The English translation is by B. Streiffert. It is also possible that the translated song has never been sung, and Hugill just posts a translation of a Norwegian song, whatever, in My opinion, this beautiful translation deserves to use it. And even feel proud of the possibility I will be the first person to sing this text.
My private collection of books
Shantyman library – you will see descriptions and recommendations of positions worth diving into, true sources of knowledge about sea shanties. To gain knowledge about sea shanties is the main ultimate purpose of this library, every book in this library is somehow related to sea shanties and before mast songs.
More involvement in Traditional Sea Shanties
You can find this record here or directly listen below. If you want to discuss the record or share your opinion you can do it in my Facebook forum here.