List of the Bound for the South Australia – heaving shanties family
- South Australia (Harlow version)
- South Australia (Doerflinger Version)
- South Australia – L. A. Smith Version
Interesting Facts about the South Australia – heaving shanties family
South Australia – heaving shanties family is usually sung at capstan (anchor) and pumps. This shanty had a rather poor regulation pattern and all shantymen had to improvise to make it see the job through.
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 Rolling Home – South Australia family
The “South Australia (Harlow version) version” comes from Frederick Pease Harlow’s “The Making of a Sailor” (1928). According to Harlows shipmate, this version was sung as anchor shanty on the very famous clipper ship Thermopylae. A couple of words about Harlow’s shantyman, I know usually shantymen were anonymous artists, they turned sailors’ life for better, and also made jobs easier due by using shanties, this time we don’t know a surname but at least we know the name of the Harlow’s, so we can call him a Shantyman Dave.
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.