| Author | Topic: Add: All on Spurn Point | |
| dmcg | Posted - 24 Feb 08 - 10:18 am | |
All on Spurn Point a vessel lay, All on Spurn Point, ay! all the day, We launched the lifeboat true and brave, Expecting ev'ry soul to save. I want no help." the captain cried, "She will come off with flowing tide." Source: Broadwood, L, 1893, English County Songs, London, Leadenhall Press Notes: Lucy Broadwood wrote: This fragment was taken down by Mr. [H. M.] Bower from a Whitby fisherman, in December 1891. The singer has tried to get hold of more words, but without success. It was an old saying in Whitby that at last the ship broke up. The captain was picked up at night; he lived to say that but for his refusal of help, all hands might have been saved, and then died. A comparison of this tune with "Sweet William" will give a remarkable illustration of the curious transformations which airs undergo in transmission. | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 24 Feb 08 - 10:20 am | |
Given the number of entries in the Roud Index for this song, I hope someone can provide a fuller set of lyrics. | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 24 Feb 08 - 09:18 pm | |
Beside the examples listed in Roud, a full text and tune from George Wray of Brigg is in O'Shaughnessy, Yellowbelly Ballads Part Two (Lincolnshire & Humberside Arts 1975, 40 and 74-5). O'Shaughnessy comments: '"Spurn Point" or "The Wreck of the Industry" is reported to have been a favourite with "turnpike sailors", tramps who dressed in seamen's clothes and imposed upon the charitable with doleful tales or ballads of shipwreck.' Of particular interest is Steve Gardham's article in ED&S (reference in Roud) which details the historical background (the wreck took place in February 1819) and the song's occasional appearances in tradition. I seem to have copies of all the examples in Roud, but as usual am rather short of time; so for now, here is a broadside edition by Forth of Pocklington (elder brother of William Forth of Hull, who printed a later edition around 1870) at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: The loss of the Industry off Spurn point | ||