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Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies (midi file from Lesley Nelson-Burns)

As you will have found - if your Internet Browser is compatible - I have added a tune that plays when you click on the 'Spanish Ladies'. It plays each time you open this page, so turn down the volume if it is not to your taste. This site is constantly developing, and we hope you will find something fresh to amuse you each time you return. I have put a great link under 'General Links' to a site called 'Songs of the Sea' where you will find many more sea shanties or if you want to go there now click on the link above.

This is also known as Farewell and Adieu to You. This was a capstan shanty (a shanty sung as the capstan was turned to raise the anchor), sung as ships were homeward bound. A ballad by the name of Spanish Lady was registered in England December 14, 1624 with the Stationers' Company. It is possible that tune is related to this tune or one of the variants listed. However, according to the Oxford Book of Sea Songs the earliest known reference to Spanish Ladies is in the logbook of the Nellie of 1796. As you may remember, this is the tune that Robert Shaw's fisherman in Jaws keeps singing (a great fishing yarn and one of my favourite films).

Collections list different distances from Ushant to Scilly. It is variously given as 34, 35 and 45 leagues. The depth of the Channel also varies from 55 to 45 fathoms by version. Special lyrics were written to the tune for the Bluenose (a famous Canadian sailing ship which sailed out of Nova Scotia). There are also American, Canadian and Australian versions, and plenty of bawdier versions! Here are some of the oldest (cleaned-up) British verses.

Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
For we've received orders for to sail for ole England,
But we hope in a short time to see you again.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;
'Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom,
So we squared our main yard and up channel did make.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

The first land we sighted was called the Dodman,
Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portsmouth the Wight;
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover,
And then we bore up for the South Foreland light.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor,
And all in the Downs that night for to lie;
Let go your shank painter, let go your cat stopper!
Haul up your clewgarnets, let tacks and sheets fly!
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

Now let ev'ry man drink off his full bumper,
And let ev'ry man drink off his full glass;
We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy,
And here's to the health of each true-hearted lass.
We will rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

If you are interested to learn more, look in second-hand bookshops or on the web for Shanties from the Seven Seas by Stan Hugill. This is taken from one review: "Stan Hugill was the last living shantyman in the United Kingdom, having sailed on board ships where shantying was still alive and well. He gained his information and his songs from primary sources, all of whom are no longer available. Every person who works to keep the maritime traditions alive, particularly the sailors' work songs of the 18th and 19th centuries, owes Stan a huge debt for developing an interest in a dying custom in time to preserve some of it. Stan was above all a meticulous scholar and born educator; Shanties from the Seven Seas is the outcome of an incredible amount of recollection substantiated by extensive research. Among professional shanty singers we refer to this book as Stan's Bible, and if one is interested on an enthusiast's level in maritime music, Shanties from the Seven Seas is a must-read. Stan has written many other books and papers, but this is the one that without fail will be found in a maritime historian's library."