Alfred William Roberts was born in 1907 in the village of Hampreston, Dorset England, where his parents taught in the village school. Robert’s father, who was brought up in North Wales, ran the church choir as well as playing the piano, church organ, melodeon, concertina and fiddle for village dances. These musical interests led Ralph Vaughan Williams to visit him at the village.
Roberts attended Wimborne Grammar School on a choral scholarship. After leaving school at 17, he eventually became a journalist at the Orpington Gazette, before moving to work as a sports reporter for the Daily Mail on Fleet Street. Robert found it difficult to settle at job at the Mail, and twice took off on long sea voyages. Finally he left the newspaper to work on a Thames sailing barge. Apart from a short stint as a sub-editor at the East Anglian Daily Times in the late forties, Roberts would work on eight barges over the next 35 years, initially as a mate and on his final five boats, as skipper. His other voyages at sea would take him to the West Indies, Ascension Island, West Africa and Brazil.
In 1940 Roberts married his wife, Amelia or ‘Toni’, whom he’d first met in the late 1920s and in 1949 they moved to Pin Mill, on the River Orwell. And it was while working at East Anglian Times that F.T. Everard and Sons offered Roberts the captaincy of the Cambria, the Thames Sailing Barge he was to make famous.
Working as a bargeman allowed Roberts to collect songs from bargemen and others he met along the East Anglian coast, which he added to his repertoire of his own songs. Working on barges also affected Roberts literary output, because even as a skipper his wages didn’t support his family, which included two daughters. So, he supplemented his income by writing books and articles, often while waiting for good sea-going conditions.
Roberts had a good selection of songs by the 1950s when he met the folklorist Peter Kennedy. Kennedy was making field recordings for the English Folk Dance and Song Society and the BBC, and together they recorded some of Robert’s folk singing contacts for the BBC folk programme As I Roved Out.
From the 1950s onwards, Roberts appeared in folk clubs and festivals. He gained the reputation as a great story teller, distinctive singer and charismatic personality. In 1966, Roberts read five sea-faring stories on the BBC children's programme Jackanory.
As Thames Barges became increasingly economically unfeasible, Everards offered to sell Roberts the Cambria which he ran as owner between 1966 and 1970 when it was sold to the Maritime Trust. He then bought a replacement, a motor coaster called the Vectis Isle. In the seventies Roberts and his wife moved to live on the Isle of Wight where he made his last two records, as well joining in sing-alongs. After Toni died in 1978, Roberts married his second wife Sheila. Bob Roberts died in 1982 at the age of 74.
Recordings:
Songs from the Sailing Barges, Topic Records 12TS361, 1978
Breeze for a Bargeman, Solent Records SS054, 1981
Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais (Various Artists: Chants de Marins IV – 2 tracks), Le Chasse-Marée SCM005, 1984
Sea Songs and Shanties (Various Artists - 14 tracks recorded by Peter Kennedy), Saydisc CD-SDL 405, 1994
Hidden English (1 track), Topic Records TSCD600, 1996
My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean (the Voice of the People series Vol. 2 - 1 track) , Topic Records TSCD652, 1998
To Catch a Fine Buck Was My Delight (The Voice of the People series Vol. 17 - 1 track) , Topic Records TSCD668, 1998
The Worst Old Ship
Bob Roberts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sailed out of Harwich on a windy day
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
She was built in Roman time
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
The skipper's half Dutch and the mate's a Jew
The crew are fourteen men too few
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Nothing in the galley, nothing in the hold
But the skipper's turned in with a bag of gold
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Off Orford Ness she sprang a leak
Hear her poor old timbers creak
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
We pumped our way round Lowestoft Ness
When the wind backed round to the west-sou'-west
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Through the Cockle to Cromer cliff
Steering like a wagon with a wheel adrift
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Into the Humber and up the town
Pump you blighters, pump or drown
And we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Her coal was shot by a Keadby crew
Her bottom was rotten and it went right through
So we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
The Worst Old Ship is a song by Bob Roberts that tells the story of a disastrous journey taken by a ship that was in terrible condition. The first two lines of the song set the tone for the rest of the lyrics, with the ship being described as "the worst old brig that ever did weigh." The ship sets sail from Harwich on a windy day, and the crew is waiting for the day that they will receive their pay. This sets up the idea that the crew is struggling to make ends meet and perhaps took this job out of desperation.
The second verse gives us a glimpse into the condition of the ship, with it being described as having been built in Roman times and held together with bits of twine. The crew is still waiting for their pay, and we can sense their frustration building. The skipper's half Dutch and the mate's a Jew, and the crew are fourteen men too few, adding to the sense of chaos and disarray on the ship.
The remaining verses continue to tell the story of the ship's disastrous journey, with leaks, poor timbers, and a lack of provisions. The crew continues to pump the water out of the ship, and they eventually make it to the Humber and the town. The final verse reveals that the ship's coal was shot by a Keadby crew, and her bottom was rotten and it went right through. The crew is still waiting for the day that they will receive their pay, but it's clear that they may not ever see it.
Line by Line Meaning
The worst old brig that ever did weigh
This ship is the absolute worst one that has ever existed
Sailed out of Harwich on a windy day
The ship left Harwich on a day with intense winds
And we're waitin' for the day
Throughout all of these terrible experiences, the crew is patiently waiting for the day that they will receive their pay
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
She was built in Roman time
The ship is incredibly old, dating back to Roman times
Held together with bits of twine
The ship is so old that it's being held together with some amount of twine
The skipper's half Dutch and the mate's a Jew
The captain is of mixed nationality and the mate is Jewish
The crew are fourteen men too few
The crew is severely understaffed, lacking fourteen people
Nothing in the galley, nothing in the hold
There is no food or other supplies to be found on the ship
But the skipper's turned in with a bag of gold
Despite the lack of supplies, the captain has a bag of gold and is sleeping soundly
Off Orford Ness she sprang a leak
At some point, the ship began to take in water
Hear her poor old timbers creak
The wooden beams of the ship are audibly creaking under stress
We pumped our way round Lowestoft Ness
The crew had to manually pump out water as they sailed around this area
When the wind backed round to the west-sou'-west
The wind changed direction to blow from the west-southwest
Through the Cockle to Cromer cliff
The ship navigated through a stretch of water known as 'The Cockle' near Cromer cliffs
Steering like a wagon with a wheel adrift
The ship is not behaving as it should, and it's difficult to keep it moving in the right direction
Into the Humber and up the town
The ship sailed into the Humber river and towards a town
Pump you blighters, pump or drown
The crew is frantically pumping water out of the ship to prevent it from sinking
Her coal was shot by a Keadby crew
A crew from Keadby delivered coal to the ship
Her bottom was rotten and it went right through
The bottom of the ship was in such bad shape that it actually began to break apart
So we're waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
Waitin' for the day
That we get our pay
Contributed by Josiah J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.