Indeed, I have seen captains laugh very heartily at these
exquisite comic thrusts which were intended to shape the
policy of himself and his officers towards the crew. If the
captain happened to be a person of no humour and without the
sense of music this method of conveyance was abortive, but
it went on all the same until nature forced a glimpse into
his hazy mind of what it all meant! Happily there are few
sailors who inherit such a defective nature. It is a good
thing that some of these thrilling old songs have been
preserved to us. Even if they do not convey an accurate
impression of the sailors' way of rendering them, they give
some faint idea of it. The complicated arrangement of words
in some of the songs is without parallel in their peculiar
jargon, and yet there are point and intention evident
throughout them. For setting sail, "Blow, boys, blow" was
greatly favoured, and its quivering, weird air had a wild
fascination in it. "Boney was a warrior" was singularly
popular, and was nearly always sung in hoisting the
topsails. The chanty-man would sit on the topsail halyard
block and sing the solo, while the choristers rang out with
touching beauty the chorus, at the same time giving two
long, strong pulls on the halyards.
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