Don’t Forget your Old Shipmate
This is a Napoleonic-era song of the British Navy.
Jack and Joe, our jolly tars, are home again after a four-year tour of duty, and are reflecting on the voyage.
From the verses we discover that Jack and Joe are valuable seamen indeed – they man a cannon in the quarterdeck division, which fires first, from it’s elevated position, and is under the watchful eye of the captain. They are foretopmen – the spryest sailors, setting sails on the highest masts and most dangerous yards in all manner of weather.
So these men are right sailors; steady crewmen integral to the working of the ship, and a cheerful example to the other crew. They were probably tie-mates – with no women around for years on end, the men often formed a close bonds, almost partnerships, to look out for each other.
The most obvious expression of this was on Sundays before church was rigged, when the ship was brushing up for Sunday best. The tie mates would unbraid, clean, comb and rebraid each other’s pigtails – the measure of a seaman being the length of his pigtail in those days.
So Jack and Joe have endured the privations and hardships of sea life for four years with equanimity. There’s a slight sense of regret that the voyage is over, but they part with good cheer and a final drink together.
It’s unsurprising that this song, -- almost a textbook for how to be a good sailor --was one of the songs allowed by the Admiralty of the time.
Singing notes:
This suits a roar set to be heard above a stiff topsail breeze, and the final line of the chorus is much easier to learn if you don’t look at the words.
Drinking notes:
Grog with a dash of lime. Jack and Joe would have been allocated four-water grog during the blue-water legs of their voyage. This was a mixture of 70ml of rum with four parts water. Some ships added lime or lemon juice to the grog to stave off scurvy.
DON’T FORGET YOUR OLD SHIPMATE
Safe and sound at home again
Let the waters roar, Jack
Safe and sound at home again
Let the waters roar, Jack
CHORUS
Long we've tossed on the rolling main
Now we’re safe ashore Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate
Fal dee ral dee ral dee rye eye doe!
Since we sailed from Plymouth Sound
Four years gone, or nigh, Jack
Was there ever chummies, now
Such as you and I, Jack?
CHORUS
We have worked the self-same gun:
Quarterdeck division
Sponger I and loader you
Through the whole commission
CHORUS
Oftentimes have we laid out toil
nor danger fearing,
Tugging out the flapping sail
to the weather bearing
CHORUS
When the middle watch was on
And the time went slow, boy
Who could choose a rousing stave
Who like Jack or Joe, boy?
CHORUS
There she swings, an empty hulk
Not a soul below now
Number seven starboard mess
Misses Jack and Joe now
CHORUS
But the best of friends must part
Fair or foul the weather
Hand yer flipper for a shake
Now a drink together
