Jerry has been featured in the San Francisco National Maritime Historic Park’s sea music concert series, Mystic Seaport Museum’s annual Sea Music Festival, South Street Seaport in New York, and many others. His recording The Ballad of Harbo and Samuelsen showcases old and new songs. He can also can be heard on the Mystic Seaport CD American Sea Chanteys, and on Contentment by Rick Spencer. His latest release, Roast Beef of Old England, is a collection of traditional songs from the man-of-war days of the British Navy, and is a companion to the seafaring novels of Patrick O’Brian.
Captain Barton's Distress On the Lichfield
Jerry Bryant and Starboard Mess Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Give ear to my story, so true to maintain,
Concerning the Lichfield, that was cast away,
On the Barbary shore by the dawn of the day.
The tenth of November, the weather being fine,
We sailed from Kinsale, five ships of the line,
With two bombs and two frigates, with transports also,
The 29th of November by the dawn of the light,
We spied land that put us in great fright.
We strove for the weather, but we run quite aground,
With the seas mountain-high made our sorrows abound.
Our masts we cut away, our wreck for to ease,
And being exposed to the mercy of the seas
Where one hundred and thirty poor seamen did die,
Whilst we out for mercy most loudly did cry.
Two hundred and twenty of us got on shore,
No sooner we landed but were stripped by the Moors
Without any subsistance but dead hogs and sheep
That was drove on shore by the sea from the ship.
For seven days together with us did remain
Our bodies quite naked for to end and pain,
Till some Christian merchant that lives in the land
Sent us relief by his bountiful hand.
Unto (?) our fleet the same fate did share,
Then unto Morocco we all marched there,
Where they are captives in slavery to be
Till old England thought proper for to set them free.
When the black king we all came before,
He stroked his long beard, by Mahomet he swore,
"They are all stout and able and fit for the hoe -
Pray, to my gardens, pray let them go!"
We had cruel Moors, our drivers to be,
By the dawn of the day at the hoe we must be,
Until four o′clock in the afternoon,
Without any remission, boys; work was our doom.
If that you offer for to strike a Moor,
Straightway to the king they will have you before,
Where they will bastonade you till you have your fill,
If that will not do, your blood they will spill.
So now in Morocco we shall remain
Until our ambassador cross the main
Where a ransom he'll bring and soon set us free,
And then to Gibraltar we will go speedily.
So now my brave boys to old England were bound,
We will have store o′liquors, our sorrow to drown.
We will drink a good health, success never fail,
Success to the bawds and the whores of Kinsale!
The song "Captain Barton's Distress On the Lichfield" by Jerry Bryant and Starboard Mess tells the true story of the shipwreck of the Lichfield in November 1758, as experienced by one of the crew members. The song begins by calling all seamen to listen and learn about this unfortunate event that took place on the Barbary shore. The opening verse sets the scene, providing context and foreshadowing the imminent danger that the crew finds themselves in. The next verse describes the journey thus far, with the fleet sailing from Kinsale with the intention to fight a strong enemy.
The third verse is where the story takes a turn towards disaster as they encounter the land that puts them in great fright. Despite their efforts, they run aground, their ship wrecked, and the crew thrown into a dangerous and threatening situation. The crew cuts away the masts to ease the wreck and begs for mercy but loses 130 poor souls to the mercy of the sea. The fourth verse describes the extremely difficult conditions on the shore as they wait for help. The Moors strip them, and they have to survive with only dead hogs and sheep and with no clothes for seven days. In the end, a Christian merchant provides them with relief.
The song takes a lighter tone in the fifth verse as the crew finds out that they have company, and the fate of their fleet is similar to theirs. The sixth verse describes the cruel conditions of slavery in which the crew found themselves upon their arrival in Morocco. The last verse talks about their hope and longing to go back to their homeland safely, free from slavery, and enjoy some liquor to forget their sorrows.
Line by Line Meaning
Come all you brave seamen that plough on the main,
Attention all brave sailors who travel on the sea,
Give ear to my story, so true to maintain,
Listen to my tale, which is completely true,
Concerning the Lichfield, that was cast away,
This is about the Lichfield, which was shipwrecked,
On the Barbary shore by the dawn of the day.
It crashed on the Barbary Coast in the morning.
The tenth of November, the weather being fine,
On a fine weather day, November 10th,
We sailed from Kinsale, five ships of the line,
We left Kinsale with five warships,
With two bombs and two frigates, with transports also,
There were two bombs, two frigates, and transports too,
We was bound unto to fight the proud foe.
Our mission was to go fight the enemy.
The 29th of November by the dawn of the light,
On November 29th, when the sun was just starting to rise,
We spied land that put us in great fright.
We saw land and it scared us a lot.
We strove for the weather, but we run quite aground,
We tried to stay ahead of the storm, but we got stuck on land,
With the seas mountain-high made our sorrows abound.
The waves were very high, and we were very sad.
Our masts we cut away, our wreck for to ease,
To make things better, we cut off our ship's masts,
And being exposed to the mercy of the seas
We were at the mercy of the sea,
Where one hundred and thirty poor seamen did die,
One hundred and thirty sailors died,
Whilst we out for mercy most loudly did cry.
We loudly begged for mercy.
Two hundred and twenty of us got on shore,
Two hundred and twenty of us made it to shore,
No sooner we landed but were stripped by the Moors
As soon as we got there, the Moors took away our clothes,
Without any subsistance but dead hogs and sheep
We had nothing to eat except for dead pigs and sheep
That was drove on shore by the sea from the ship.
They were washed up from our wrecked ship onto the shore.
For seven days together with us did remain
We were left there for seven days,
Our bodies quite naked for to end and pain,
We suffered, without clothes on our bodies,
Till some Christian merchant that lives in the land
Until a Christian merchant who lives there found us,
Sent us relief by his bountiful hand.
And helped us by giving us supplies.
Unto (?) our fleet the same fate did share,
Our whole fleet suffered the same fate.
Then unto Morocco we all marched there,
We all marched to Morocco,
Where they are captives in slavery to be
Where we are now slaves, and will remain so,
Till old England thought proper for to set them free.
Until England decides to free us.
When the black king we all came before,
When we were presented before the black king,
He stroked his long beard, by Mahomet he swore,
He stroked his long beard and swore by Mahomet,
"They are all stout and able and fit for the hoe -
He said, "These people are strong and can work hard in the fields,
Pray, to my gardens, pray let them go!"
So let them work in my gardens."
We had cruel Moors, our drivers to be,
The Moors were very cruel to us, and made us work like slaves,
By the dawn of the day at the hoe we must be,
Every morning at sunrise, we had to work in the fields,
Until four o′clock in the afternoon,
Until four in the afternoon,
Without any remission, boys; work was our doom.
Without any breaks, we had to work until our sentence was over.
If that you offer for to strike a Moor,
If you try to hit a Moor,
Straightway to the king they will have you before,
They will take you straight to the king,
Where they will bastonade you till you have your fill,
Where they will beat you until they are satisfied,
If that will not do, your blood they will spill.
And if that doesn't work, they will kill you.
So now in Morocco we shall remain
So we will stay here in Morocco,
Until our ambassador cross the main
Until our ambassador arrives from England,
Where a ransom he'll bring and soon set us free,
And hopefully he will bring a ransom and free us soon,
And then to Gibraltar we will go speedily.
So we can quickly go to Gibraltar.
So now my brave boys to old England were bound,
So now, my brave boys, we are heading back to England,
We will have store o′liquors, our sorrow to drown.
We will have plenty to drink and forget our sorrows,
We will drink a good health, success never fail,
We will toast to good health and success,
Success to the bawds and the whores of Kinsale!
And to the prostitutes of Kinsale!
Writer(s): Traditional
Contributed by Scarlett V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.