Shanty

A work song of the age of sail, sung to coordinate rhythmic crew labor such as hauling halyards or heaving the capstan. A shantyman led the verses and the crew answered on the chorus, the heave or pull timed to a fixed word. Types follow the task: short-haul, halyard, and capstan or windlass shanties. The form peaked aboard deep-water merchant ships from roughly 1820 to 1870 and faded with steam and mechanical winches. Stan Hugill’s “Shanties from the Seven Seas” (1961) is the standard documentary collection.