Sea Songs from Two Oceans:

The International Ballad Conference, Terschelling, Holland, July 8 2010

Presented by:David Gregory

Athabasca UniversitySong illustrations performed by Rosaleen Gregory

A Comparative Analysis of Maritime Songs from the Coasts of

Yorkshire and British Columbia

1855-1926Frank Kidson Phil Thomas

Pioneering Yorkshire folksong collector, especially during the

1880s and 1890s

Foremost collector of English language folk songs in BC

1921-2007

ÊÚÊÚ

Yorkshire, U.K.British Columbia,

Canada

NorthSea

Straitof

Georgia

Pacific Ocean

AtlanticOcean

Introduction

To what extent do we find parallels between the songs of fishermen, tug-boat men, and ocean-going sailors braving the gales of the North Sea and Atlantic and those of their counterparts working in the Strait of Georgia and on the Pacific Ocean?

Sea Songs in the Frank Kidson Collection

• Songs come mainly from two geographical areas in the North-East of England: the coast of North Yorkshire between Scarborough and Saltburn, and the seaport of Hull in East Yorkshire.

• Mainly collected by Kidson himself and by his close friend, bricklayer/fiddler Charles Lolley.

• Six main categories of song.

Scarbourough Harbour, 1865 © Yorkshire Coast Maritime Archive

• Shanties• Life at Sea• Shipwrecks• Marine Battles• Pirates and Smugglers• Sailors as Lovers

Shipwreck near Scarborough© Unnetie Project

Herring girls, Scarborough, Yorkshire© National Maritime Museum

Whitby Harbour, Yorkshire© National Maritime Museum

Sea Songs in the Phil Thomas Collection

• Collecting spanned three decades: the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

• Songs were noted mainly on the B.C. coast: in greater Vancouver, on the mainland coast north of that city, and on Vancouver Island.

• Eight categories of song.

Vancouver Island

Province of

BritishColumbia

Vancouver

• Shanties• Life at Sea• Shipwrecks• Marine Battles• Encounters with First Nations• Individual Sailors• Fishing

– Local Off-shore Fishery– Pacific Ocean Fishery

Haida encounter with sailing shipPainting by R.J. Banks

Unloading salmon troller, 1947

Paddle wheeler, 1913

Photos © BC Archives

Photos© BC Archives

Comparing the Two Collections

• Parallels and similarities• Differences• Explanations?

Yorkshire Yawl Skipper, mid 19th C© Yorkshire Coast Maritime Archive

Commercial Fishermen, British Columbia, mid 20th C© BC Central Coast Archives