Maritime Time: Great Lakes shanties

Interlochen Public Radio | By Tyler Thompson

Published May 21, 2024 at 6:37 AM EDT

1822 Print "The sailor's description of a chase & capture" by George Cruikshank. (Photo: The British Museum/Creative Commons License) — 1822 Print "The sailor's description of a chase & capture" by George Cruikshank. *(Photo:* The British Museum/Creative Commons License)

Shanties were the tune to nautical labor ships out at sea and that includes the Great Lakes. Shanties were used to coordinate tasks and improve efficiency of the work.

Sea Shanties recently had a moment on social media. It was hard to escape 'The Wellerman' sung by Scottish musician Nathan Evans.

The Library of Congress says it has no evidence that the Wellerman song was ever used as a shanty, meaning it could only be documented as a sea song and not a sea shanty.

Shanties were sung by sailors out at sea while working on vessels. They could be about the task at hand, or stories of past maritime events.

The fact that shanties are sung at sea, is what set them apart from "work songs" during physical labor.

In 1938, Alan Lomax a folk music documenter or ethnomusicologist, came to northern Michigan to record shanties on Beaver Island.

One track “The Gallagher Boys” is about a small fishing boat that attempted to make it to Beaver Island from Traverse City in a storm in the late 1800's.

Some these shanties are recorded and preserved by the Library of Congress.

We have more Great Lakes shanties to share with you in later segments of Maritime Time.