List of the Bound for the Magelhan – heaving shanties family
Interesting facts about the Magelhan – heaving shanties family
Magelhan – heaving shanties family is the German version of the most famous homeward-bound ever “Rolling Home”, a capstan shanty. Version comes from the book “Knurrhahn – Seemannslieder und Shanties” Richard Baltzer, Klaus Prigge, Knurrhahn-Lotsen-Gesangverein (1936).
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 shipdeck action when sailors used it.
The above image displays sailors working at a capstan.
Short story of the Magelhan – heaving shanties family
The title of the song from the Knurrhahn is Magelhan, which is the title of an older song from which the German words of the shanty were taken. Capstan shanty which is in German “gangspill” shanty.
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.